Scott's airplane effects shot

[MovieStuff]

Hi, all!

I am working on some special effects shots for Scott's magnus opus, "In My Image". He needs some scenes featuring a 1930's Junkers Transort.

This is the plane he needs:



As his original footage suffered from the damndable Kodak Jitters (making compositing even harder than normal for non-pinregistered footage)we decided after consultation to go with an in-camera foreground miniature technique. I've done this before and it works just great.

Here's an example from another client's project:



This is the behind the scenes look:



The two cars, the gantry with rocket and the radar truck are miniatures. The guy on the ladder and the building and black Caddy are real.

What makes this technique so effective is the reality of it all. The lighting always matches and there is never any matte lines or fringing. Very satisfying.

More to come......

[MovieStuff]

(I can only post 4 pics at a time on Hostboard)

So, as I was saying, I am building a model to meet the needs of the shots. One of the first things I needed were some really, really, really tiny motors for the props, since they need to turn in a few of the shots



My assistant, Keith Bienkowski, did a terrific job of integrating the motors into the the body and wings.



The motors will be powered via three small sockets in the rear (off camera).



I will post more pics as I get them. Actually the plane is much further along but I don't have the photos at hand.

Stay tuned.... [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 19, 2002 02:59 PM: Message edited by: MovieStuff ]</font>

[Scotness]

Bloody hell Roger you're a genius (spose that'll be censored) - magnum opus oh dear - I thought it was just long and overly written ;-) --- actually 2hrs and 5 at the moment - but I've only just got it to the stage where I can sit back and watch it also I'll be making a few decisions on cutting it down soon -- anyway that's looking great - motors in the wings man I'm blown away it'll probably be the best looking stuff in the film!

thanks again - I'm getting those hi res shots now for you too and will email them

Scot

[Brian Maier]

So is the picture with the guy on the ladder combining both the minature in the forground with the guy on the ladder in the background?

What ever it is it looks good!

Brian

[TA 152]

Guess you have finished the work but there is actually one in flying condition in the USA:
http://www.greatlakeswing.org/

Yes, I know about S8 budgets too!



R

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 20, 2002 07:13 AM: Message edited by: S8 Booster ]</font>

[Scotness]

How about that - small world - I've actually seen one of these flying too - we were in Germany last year and as we were leaving tom come home - we were sitting in the plane on the runway at Frankfurt airport and I looked out the window and saw it comibng in to land - my eyes almost fell out of my head - I watched it carefully to see if I could learn anything useful from it and just noted it had along flat approach and landing which must have been hell in New Guinea (where my film is set) which is famous for having some small suicidal landing strips carved in mountain sides! - they obviously must have avoided these - perhaps it was the one owned by Lufthansa

Scot

[TA 152]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 20, 2002 07:32 AM: Message edited by: S8 Booster ]</font>

[TA 152]

Lucky to se it in air!
That was prbaly the lufthansa one.

As far as I know there are a total of 7 still flying:

Switzerland: 4
Germany: 1
USA: 1
and South Africa: 1

If my memory serves me fair.

Ju 52 at a glance: http://www.geocities.com/hjunkers/
Check Museums & wrecks in the menu left.

R

[MovieStuff]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Brian Maier:
So is the picture with the guy on the ladder combining both the minature in the forground with the guy on the ladder in the background? </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi, Brian!

Yeah, that's the whole idea! That's why it's called a foreground miniature and if you have enough depth of field (who wouldn't with a 7.5mm lens, eh?) then you can keep both the miniature and the background in focus at the same time. By careful alignment, the foreground miniature can be lined up with the background elements to form one complete setting. Notice the cut out in the miniature platform so that the ladder and guy can shot through and "exist" in the same plane as the model. I also used a nodal point pan and tilt head so I could follow the action, which really helps sell the shot. I'll be doing the same thing with Scott's airplane shots, though I'll just be using a nodal pan only (no tilt).

Roger

[Brian Maier]

I have starred at those pictures for the last 5 minutes and even though i know the miniature ends i can not see where it ends.

That is really cool!

Brian