Ghosts

[deanl]

Hey there.

Have you guys ever made a movie featuring ghosts? Did you actualy show the ghost. How did you do it. Did you do it on set on in post. How did you do it.

I realy like the effects used in the Frighteners (an underated movie)has anyone got any ideas of how they were done.

Hope you have some good techniques and ideas.

Despin out.

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"Ive got bad feeling about this."

[manwithplan]

im not sure for definite but i would hazard a guess that the majority of it was shot in 2 takes. 1 of them would be a blank plate for the backgrounds and human characters and then the 2nd would be of the ghost actors inforont of a blue/green screen. then composite the two together having made the ghosts transparent using digital effects.

at least that the way I would do it, if i had the money, resources, time and story

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[Dirty Cricket]

I read once that you can do it all in one take, by putting a large peice of glass in front of your actors and then having the "ghost" stand behind the camera and shine a light on him. This should have the effect of reflecting his transparent image on the glass. But the problem then is the actors have to play to him when he is not there. But that would be the same situation if you did two shots.

I guess it depends on what you want. If you want to give the ghost a certain look, like a diffrent color or something, then i would shoot it twice. But if you just want it in one shot, the glass idea would work. If you can get ahold of a big enough peice of glass.

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[redlum]

That glass idea is very low budget and guerilla - its great.

Dont forget the simple way too. Having the ghosts on-screen played by normal actors is very effective when it is subtle. Think of the Sixth Sense with the Young boy with the hole in the back of his head and the old woman who kept opening the drawers. I would say using this and hinting to an invisible presence would be the best way to do it without using expensive special effects. If its a 'gory' movie, you can have fun inventing various ways in which the ghosts were killed with the use of some not so subtle makeup.

redlum

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[deanl]

Hey there.

Some good ideas there. Thanks.

Anyone else?

Despin out.

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"Ive got bad feeling about this."

[Mods]

Ooh, Redlum, you're not far from me

Anyways, no, I didn't show the ghost in our movie "Insomniac". We kinda hid it, plus it was shot in the dark, kinda.

There was a shot where a guy got pulled out of a caravan by the ghost thing, so we just made him fall on the floor and get dragged out, with a table obscuring the view of the guy pulling him.

I guess we kinda featured the ghost. In the end, this guy walked into a room and this ghost was on the bed, we just shot it in the dark-ish and made him roll up his top (he's as hairy as an ape) and the shot lasted about 2 seconds. Then we just saw the good guy smack the area the ghost was seen in.

Easy stuff.

Still, i'd like to try this glass thing now.

Shadows always work well too as ghosts or spooky beings


Mods

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Mark "Mods" Lovegrove

[redlum]

Mods : Oh yeah!

Let me know if you ever need any help on a shoot.

Redlum

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[hairbrain]

If you're using a locked off camera you could try shooting an image of the set without your actors on it. Then get your actors on it, ghosts and all, and shoot the scene as if it were involving lots of scary ghosties. Afterwards, in After Effects or something, you could create a quick matte around the general area of where your ghosts are and fade the first image of the background back over the actor a bit. This would give the effect of the actor being slightly transparent.

Another nice touch would be to add a bit of a glow to the actor through some After Effects filter and a basic animated matte.

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[Mods]

Redlum, I come from Wallingford.

Come and shoot Static Fear for me ol' buddy, LoL.

:P
Mods

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Mark "Mods" Lovegrove

[Picture House Films]

Ghosts, these have always been simple to fake, the two most honored by time are the Plate glass and the straight double exposure. The plate effect is done live but so too is the double only you have to back-wind your film by the apropriate frame count before the second take. A well composed scene can multipul expose the film up to ten times to create stunning effects. This system is still used today, mostly for model shots reqiring different lighting combinations or beauty passes. Get yourself a good domestic Super 8mm camera and access a tried and tested movie effect that can't be done on digital!

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