Kerry Beyer

HEADSHOT PHOTOGRAPHY HOUSTON

After FX

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SUBTITLES FINAL CUT PRO

I just finished subtitling the opening scene to Deep Terror using Final Cut. The entire scene was shot in Russian, and this was the first time I used final cut for subtitling. After FX is usually my choice for text and motion graphics, but titling directly is simpler.

We shot on Sunday, and 4 days later, picture is essentially locked, complete with sound design scoring and FX for the opening scene.

Now I’m on to opening title design….

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Million Dollar Visual FX on a Indie Budget

Visual FX extravaganzas dominate the box office, but independent filmmakers can play in the same arena, at a fraction of the cost. A recent debate of Facebook stirred controversy over whether or not indie filmmakers should attempt to compete with Hollywood in genres like action and sci fi – The gist of the debate was that indie filmmakers shouldn’t attempt it…

Proper visual FX takes time and planning to integrate and composite correctly, but it’s not out of reach for the indie filmmaker. Almost anything is possible with After FX… but subtly is the key. FX should be transparent… and by that I mean, the audience should never go “oh, cool effect.” They should be completely immersed in the story, and not notice that it was an effect.
I recently shot and edited a short film over the course of one weekend. As co-founder of SplatterFest, I wanted to make a film to screen at the event, even though I couldn’t compete. The result is CASTLE OF THE DAMNED – a dark fairy tale where a lone Knight must battle and army of the damned to save the Princess from an Evil Queen.
The entire 4 minute short was shot on green screen, and composited over the weekend. The backgrounds were generated in a 3D modeling program, and exported as still frames.
One of the most important things to make your composites look real is to match lighting between your live action elements and your computer generated backgrounds. For this reason, I try to light and generate my backgrounds before I shoot live action elements, so I know where to place the lights.
Castle of the Damned is currently in consideration at Slamdance. Check out the IMDB page, and look for it on the festival circuit and online afterwards.