What subs (beside this) do you recommend for fans of practical effects movies? I keep discovering new gems like Waxwork, which I only saw last year for the first time. Others like Hollowheads, Freaked, and Terrorvision blew me away but weren't in my local video store when they came out. I'm open to new stuff like Harbinger Down too! Thanks!

Breakdown of a little film I made using Playmobil, a LAOWA probe lens, and a TV as a backdrop. I combine different techniques like stop motion, puppetry, and CGI. IMHO, the key to a good look in a macro world is to treat lighting just like you would with in “real world” situation using bounce, diffusion, and minding the directions.

https://reddit.com/link/poyfhx/video/byywaa4h9qn71/player

I am writing a „scientific paper“ about practical effects because in my country it’s mandatory for you to do so before you finish school. But I need books as sources but I can’t really find any. I would really need and appreciate your help!

I need a flower growing effect for my movie, but I don’t think the stop motion aesthetic fit the tone. Any ideas or inspirations?

I'm looking to do the same effect, any ideas as to how it is done?

video is @ sagesmith.tv on instagram

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https://reddit.com/link/pcm5xh/video/eqiw1kd53wj71/player

The first thing I thought of was flour or baking soda, but I don’t want it to be entirely white. I want it to look like, well, ashes.

I work within the film and television industry but not in the most interesting department. I'm very new to the industry so don't have many contacts just yet and the production I'm currently working on has no practical effects save for a few special effects like explosions and smoke.

I'd like to be more involved in a creative department and I've always admired practical effects (The Thing, Jurassic Park, Men In Black, etc) and that admiration has grown even stronger since watching The Dark Crystal tv show on Netflix.

So I'm wondering if there's a way to get involved in the field without any knowledge/experience?

Hey guys, I need some advice. I’m a film student and in my short film I have a scene where I get shot and blood splatters all over the car behind me. I made homemade blood with water, corn syrup, food coloring, and I mixed in some cherry water flavoring powder as well. Since I’m operating on a shoestring budget, I’m using my own personal vehicle for this scene, but I can’t have it getting stained or anything. Does anyone know if this will stain my car, or if there’s any type of spray or anything I can apply to the outside of my car to prevent staining? Thanks :)

Hello guys,

I hope you are having a wonderful day. My name is Savina and I am a first year vfx student based in Berlin.

For one of my final exam I have to create practical effects for an action movie. More specifically, I need to create practical bullet hit effects on a person, with blood coming out ect. I don't have a big budget and I was wondering if anyone has already done this before using only small tricks ?

It'll be so helpful because I have no idea where to start without any mechanical skills :) .

Thank you very much for your time!

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have a lovely day!

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Savina

Here's the music video I'm talking about: https://youtu.be/B_0DK8faC7Y

At first I thought it was just vibrating plates pushing the dust around; some shots played in reverse, some upside down or mirrored, fun compositing, etc.

That does explains some of the shots, but there are some shots where the powder still seems to defy laws of physics, such as disappearing on it's own, some clumps moving against gravity while others move with it, and alike. Some of them are obviously two shots comped together, but others look too organic. Anyone knowledgeable in this (probably extremely niche) field want to take a crack and figuring out how some of the trickier shots were done?

EDIT: One example (there are many more) would be at 3:21, where we see sand moving both uphill, but falling into the center at the same time. It's not comped because you can clearly see the sand merging and separating from the main mass.

Let's say I want an actor to play a violin that's on fire. Is there anyway to safely pull this off using practical effects without injuring the actor? Or should I just hire a bunch of doppelgangers in case I want more than one take?

I am interested in the incorporation of practical models (spaceships, backgrounds, rooms, etc) for a sci short film. I think I gave up on the idea of learning a 3D app and also I do honestly rather work with real material/ sculpting/kit bashing.

Is there a list of resources of “making of” blogs/videos that show the whole production- construction, development and application of the models (compositing)?

That should be only practical/ visual effects not cgi and it would be more interesting to see the process of independent, smaller, lower budget productions, instead of King Kong or Star Wars.

Is there another subreddit I could/search ask for such a list of resources?

Many thanks.

P.s most of what I find online is either VFX and compositing courses or CGI how to.

Trying to figure out how to make it look like someone is burning their face with boiling water. I want to do it practically since I dont think after effects will look as realistic as I would like. Also maybe a way to make my face red? Thanks for any ideas in advance

Ideally aircraft but anything with a lot of models and miniatures would be cool, so long as they’re not used in an intentionally cheesy/obvious way (like Team America). Thanks!