Depth of Field and Fore/Mid/Long shots

I'm not entirely sure what I'm asking here, but I will do my best to explain what I mean.

Suppose you set up an out door shot wherein principles are ranged in the fore, medium and back ground. Actor 1 is, say, 5 m from the camera, Actor 2 is 14 m from the camera and Actor 3 is 25 meters from the camera. They all have blasters or ray guns or whatever and energy bolts are travelling horizontally across the screen.

How would you comp the effect so that Actor 3's blaster bolt isn't as bright or intense as Actor 1's? Or so that it doesn't look as though all three laser effects are not on the same plane?

I guess what I'm getting at is difusion of light by the atmosphere over distance. Or if there was very light smoke, fog or haze that doesn't really obscure the action, just fine detail, (like those mornings whens the sun hasn't burned off the all the moisture.)

Peace,
Mark

 

I guess (if your using AE) you could lower the opacity of the farther away laser so it would be less prominent.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Leave the opacity be. Lessen brightness.

M. Scott

 

I agree ^

 

Something that doesn't get mentioned often in this forum - or at least I seldom see it - is the very important concept of a reference pass when shooting scenes that will have FX added later.

Reference footage is a very important part of on-set FX work - sometimes we spend more time shooting the reference footage than we do shooting the actual plate. For example, if there will be a CG model or creature in the shot, we try to have a real scale model of the thing on set, and shoot a pass of the model from the same angle and under the same lighting and so on. It's not going to be a perfect representation of the final look, but it's something tangible to look at later. If it's a digital character, we might have someone act out the moves. A gray or reflective sphere is often shot as a lighting reference, also color charts, grayscales, and whatever else will be useful in adding the effects later.

So, in this case - assuming the shot you're talking about hasn't been shot already - I'd suggest getting a light source of some kind... a flashlight, a worklight, a laser pointer, whatever... and shoot as many clips as you need of it at the various distances from the camera that your blaster bolts will be placed later.

This will give you a real-world comparison of how distance and atmosphere affect the look of things in your shot - very useful later when you're adding the effects and trying to make them look "real".

 

oOoOo a porfessional ^^

Thats what i was going to say, but i was going to suggest just a rod of some sort poking out of the gun or whatever, and just angle the line anlong that, other than that, i doubt the brightness would change much. I'd probly just make the brsuh a tad smaller.

then again ive never tryed to do laser beams, im just a modeller.

 

Something that doesn't get mentioned often in this forum - or at least I seldom see it - is the very important concept of a reference pass when shooting scenes that will have FX added later.

I think it's a good idea, but may be too time consuming for nobuget films.

If it's a digital character, we might have someone act out the moves. A gray or reflective sphere is often shot as a lighting reference, also color charts, grayscales, and whatever else will be useful in adding the effects later.

I thought about that. Color cards, etc. Is there a book or a website around that explains how to utilize the collected data?

So, in this case - assuming the shot you're talking about hasn't been shot already - I'd suggest getting a light source of some kind... a flashlight, a worklight, a laser pointer, whatever... and shoot as many clips as you need of it at the various distances from the camera that your blaster bolts will be placed later.

Well, the blaster designs I'm using (Innovative Technologies Xbox Light Gun) will have Xenon strobes built into the muzzles to produce a flash effect, plus they will also have integral laser sights. Will this work as well?

This will give you a real-world comparison of how distance and atmosphere affect the look of things in your shot - very useful later when you're adding the effects and trying to make them look "real".

Which is pretty much the run of the matter. I at least want there to be an appearance of diffusion to account for the thickness of the atmosphere or smoke/fog. I just don't want all the blaster bolts to have the same intensity.

 

Something that doesn't get mentioned often in this forum - or at least I seldom see it - is the very important concept of a reference pass when shooting scenes that will have FX added later

Actually, I never move the camera without first shooting my trusty o'le lightprobe (a nice "real glass" chrismas ornament, works like a charm). You can see some of it in action here

/Z

 

I think it's a good idea, but may be too time consuming for nobuget films.

Actually, that's the usual counter-argument on hi-budget films. It's often a struggle to convince the production company to spend the extra time on-set to get our reference footage. Usually we're able to convince them on the grounds that without proper reference the FX costs will go up because of the extra effort that will be required in post. But they're always looking at the short-term cost of all the salaries of the film crew standing by for fifteen minutes, when they could be breaking down the setup and moving on to the next one. So you tend to get very practiced at grabbing that reference footage really really quickly.

But on a self-produced project, it really shouldn't be too much of a problem to grab some quick reference... after your take, you just let the camera roll again while you literally walk thru the set with your model or your lighting reference or whatever and let the camera see it for a moment. Mostly what you're going to want later is just a sample frame or two, to compare your real-world standin thingie to the virtual thingie you'll be adding later. Believe me, it pays off... any reference is better than none.

Actually, I never move the camera without first shooting my trusty o'le lightprobe

Dang, that's an excellent demo of lighting reference, Master Z! 'Zactly the sort of thing I'm talking about.

Perhaps this has something to do with why Zap's stuff looks so good..?