In camera special fx

Anthony Powell · November 21, 2005

Does anyone have any ideas on a situation I have been confronted with on a film that is due to be shot on Super 16mm with a Bolex EBM?

Their is a scene where a beam of light is to shine through a crack in a wall and transfix an old man who is caught in it's beam. The effect that the director wants to achieve from either a neutral angle, or from the side, is that the beam of light should appear to have an almost 'material' quality to it, and that instead of just instantly enveloping the old man who is in it's path (as say a torch would when switched on and pointed at something), it should appear to advance slowly towards him.

Been scratching my head about this for some weeks so any help / insight would be greatly appreciated. Must stress though, that this effect must be achieved IN CAMERA if possible.

Thanks...

Dickson Sorensen · November 21, 2005

If I understand what you are trying to achieve I will suggest 2 things.

the first is that you need a very directional source of light. The best start with some sort of arc lamp with a parabolic mirror, check your local lighting rental for a xenon spot light. What you are looking for is a lamp that will give you a highly directional beam. I have also used aircraft landing lamps which have a very tight pattern.

The second thing you will need is smoke or a fog machine so that you can see the shaft of light as it comes through the air. Position the light so that the smoke is backlit and the shaft will be stronger.

I once saw a setup where mirrors were positioned to reflect sunlight from outside into an interior set. As you can imagine the effect was dramatic though the production was at the mercy of the weather.

Anthony Powell · November 22, 2005

That's really helpful, thanks

David Mullen ASC · November 22, 2005

In the future, don't cross-post the same question. Now the replies are spread out in different discussion forums...

Anthony Powell · November 24, 2005

Thanks for your reply to my question -also, does every member read every forum?

David Mullen ASC · November 24, 2005

All the new posts appear from different forums on one page together, so there's no need to post the same question in multiple forums.

We all just see the same question repeated on the "View New Posts" page if you do that, but not necessarily right next to each other, hence I might answer it the first time I see it posted only to realize that it has been reposted further down the page and everyone else has been replying to that post.