1 point directional light
2 point ambient light
3 point rim light
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Monday, November 17, 2014
Special Effects in Animation and Live Action
I have chosen not to write the third term paper. My previous scores were both 92.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Outline for the Third Term Paper
Snow Special Effects
I. Intro: Snow seems to be a fairly simple concept. It's frozen rain that looks like little white dots that flow through the air. However, if one looks closely at a snowflake, one may realize they are one of the most intricately designed features of nature. Like a snowflake, the special effects it takes to create snow is also a complicated process. The two movies that will be discussed are Ridley Scott's "Legend" and the Rankin-Bass production "Rudolph the Red Nosed-Reindeer". Both of these examples predated computer special effects and they get creative with their use of effects.
II. Body:
A. Legend: This film shows some of the greatest visual effects to come before the use of computer special effects. Naturally, their creative use of snow is noteworthy. In the beginning of the movie, winter sets in rapidly and forest is completely covered in snow in an instant. To make all of this snow, the filmmakers used a mix of paper and plastic for the snow along with several well placed fans to keep all the flakes moving. This, along with the gas used to make all of the fire scenes in the film contributed to... a catastrophic fire at the set. Luckily, no one was injured, but almost all of the sets were destroyed. Nevertheless, "Legend" creates a beautiful, believable scene with their technique.
B. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: Rankin-Bass is well known around America as the series with all the holiday specials. Their cute doll designs and simple stop-motion animation capture the hearts of children. Snow is often seen in their productions, particularly in Rudolph. Their technique was coined 'animagic', in which traditional animation cel drawing were placed over the pre-recorded stop motion animation. While Rankin-Bass does not create believable snow, it does fit in with the visual design of their films. Rankin-Bass succeeds with creativity and appeal, but fails in authenticity.
III. Conclusion: Visual effects for snow have come a long way since the days of "Legend" and "Rudolph". Snow is still often created in live action through live special effects, though the formula for the perfect snow has changed often; in fact it is sometimes preferred to it this way in order to properly put the actors in the element. Computers are also used for snow effects, as seen with Frozen. Snow can light and airy or dark and dramatic; it is up to filmmakers to decide how to best create a believable, perfect snowflake.
I. Intro: Snow seems to be a fairly simple concept. It's frozen rain that looks like little white dots that flow through the air. However, if one looks closely at a snowflake, one may realize they are one of the most intricately designed features of nature. Like a snowflake, the special effects it takes to create snow is also a complicated process. The two movies that will be discussed are Ridley Scott's "Legend" and the Rankin-Bass production "Rudolph the Red Nosed-Reindeer". Both of these examples predated computer special effects and they get creative with their use of effects.
II. Body:
A. Legend: This film shows some of the greatest visual effects to come before the use of computer special effects. Naturally, their creative use of snow is noteworthy. In the beginning of the movie, winter sets in rapidly and forest is completely covered in snow in an instant. To make all of this snow, the filmmakers used a mix of paper and plastic for the snow along with several well placed fans to keep all the flakes moving. This, along with the gas used to make all of the fire scenes in the film contributed to... a catastrophic fire at the set. Luckily, no one was injured, but almost all of the sets were destroyed. Nevertheless, "Legend" creates a beautiful, believable scene with their technique.
B. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: Rankin-Bass is well known around America as the series with all the holiday specials. Their cute doll designs and simple stop-motion animation capture the hearts of children. Snow is often seen in their productions, particularly in Rudolph. Their technique was coined 'animagic', in which traditional animation cel drawing were placed over the pre-recorded stop motion animation. While Rankin-Bass does not create believable snow, it does fit in with the visual design of their films. Rankin-Bass succeeds with creativity and appeal, but fails in authenticity.
III. Conclusion: Visual effects for snow have come a long way since the days of "Legend" and "Rudolph". Snow is still often created in live action through live special effects, though the formula for the perfect snow has changed often; in fact it is sometimes preferred to it this way in order to properly put the actors in the element. Computers are also used for snow effects, as seen with Frozen. Snow can light and airy or dark and dramatic; it is up to filmmakers to decide how to best create a believable, perfect snowflake.
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