Effect needed for "Weather Man": Snow Particles. How?

During the script of a short, "weather man" that we're starting preproduction for, it calls for a tricky sequence.

As might be expected for a film entitled "weather man" the title character can affect the weather. The climactic sequence begins with a standoff between him and a marching band. As they advance toward him to beat him up, he starts to make it snow. The snow falls, and grows somewhat deep, they keep marching and pound him really bad. Poor Weather Man.

Anyway, we need to find a way to do the effects of this sequence. I can get a marching band assembled to shoot in both snowy and clear weather. The difficulty is going to be how to create the increasingly intense snow effects falling from both elevated camera shots and ground-level shots.

Any ideas/solutions?

Thanks!

 

There was a fanfilm on here that had some very good CG snow added to it (just the falling snow, not the snow on the ground). I can't remember which one it was, but I think that it was Bounty Trails.

I think that he used a 3D app, but not sure. PM the director.

 

perhaps you could use fake snow.


perhaps.


~Brent

 

I think PixelMagic is doing a similar effect (or at least it looked like it from the screen cap). Maybe you could ask him?

 

Ah, I do remember that picture from Pixel magic... I'll PM him now.

 

Dude, my snow effects are like the most asked of how I did them. I simple use the 3DS Max Blizzard Particle system with a wind space warp applied to it. Really nothing to it.

 

so modest.

hehe

 

Hey, thanks, Pixel Magic.

I'll have to figure something out like that with a program I have access to.

 

Might I suggest that if you have access to After Effects Production bundle, that you try using particle playground. If not, I feel this is a good time to bring up a point. Just because you CAN do something in CG, doesn't always mean you should. To creat falling snow, why not do it in the old days before they had computers. Just film some "fake snow" falling in front of a black background and use that to composite over your footage. I'm not to knowledgeable in what they use as fake snow at studios, however, you might try shaved pieces of white plastic, or perhaps white sawdust. Remember, if you can shoot an effect WITHOUT using CG, then do it. Use CG only when you have to.

 

*nod*

That may work as well, I'll have to try some fx tests for that. What would I do, have some black fabric, and light the falling particles in a direction parallel with the fabric plane.
If I had a big-budget production, I'd rent some snow machines, but I don't think that's going to happen.

 

As for the accumulation of snow on the ground, you may want to consider making a cg plane with a heightmap that's animated procedurally and increase the amplitude over time, but keep the frequency to a low setting, and it would look like snow was compiling, similarly to how the lava in Shrek worked. Just a thought.

 

No, I would backlight the particles of snow falling. Try to keep light from you key light from hitting the black background. You want the background as black as it can get, and the snow as white as it can get.

 

yeah, i agree with pixel, doing it CG may seem "cooler" or more fun but why do something CG when you can do it in a few minutes in real life which would take you hours in CG?

 

By parallel to the fabric, I meant not shining at the fabric. That would be perpendicular ;D

And, thanks for the advice on the snow accumulation!

Anybody else?

 

*bump*