B3: Special Effects

Special Effects are the illusions used within film, television, theatre or entertainment industries which stimulate the events that are imagined in a story. They are traditionally divided into two separate categories:

Optical Effects: These are techniques in which images or film frames are photographically created. They can be created “in-camera” or in post-production processes using an optical printer. An example of an optical effect is the “Green Screen”, used to place actors or sets against a different background.
Mechanical Effects: These are usually accomplished during live-action shooting. This includes the use of mechanized props, scenery, scale models, pyrotechnics and atmospheric effects (creating physical wind, rain, fog, snow etc.). A few examples of mechanical effects are break-away doors or walls, or prosthetic make up used on an actor.

Since the 1990s, Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) has become one of the most used of special effects technologies. Using CGI enables filmmakers to have more control and allows numerous effects to be created more safely and convincingly. With technological developments, CGI comes at a lower cost. As a result of this, CGI has taken the place of many optical and mechanical effects techniques.

After researching numerous American SFX companies, I came across a London based company – “Double Negative”. This company was formed in 1998 with a team of 30 staff. Since then, Double Negative has grown to a team of over 500 staff, and has recently opened their Singapore office. The first film they worked on was “Pitch Black”, released in 2000.

“Over the past 12 months, Double Negative has completed work on projects including; Sherlock Holmes, 2012, The Green Zone, Angels & Demons, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, The Boat that Rocked and Fast & Furious.
We are currently in production on John Carter Of Mars, Inception, Iron Man 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Paul, The Wolf Man, Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.”

When looking at the specific work they had done for the latest Harry Potter release, I found a brief explanation of the type of effects they had created:

“Double Negative provided stunning visual effects for the new Harry Potter film the Half-Blood Prince, including the devastating Death Eater attack on London's iconic Millennium Bridge.

Starting with the Dark Mark towering menacingly over London, Death Eaters issue forth from it, plunging down into London spread out below, where they weave furiously through the streets of London into Diagon Alley before re-emerging later back out to the city. Lightening announces the arrival of the Death Eaters as they swoop down over the dome of St Paul's Cathedral before twining themselves around Millennium bridge, becoming invisible as they do so.”

The company goes on to explain how “The entire central area of London was modeled at several levels of detail. The primary source of reference was an extensive set of aerial and ground-based photographs supplemented with street plans and manual ground surveys…Hundreds of vehicles and thousands of CG pedestrians were added with an in-house crowd tool.”

Double Negative also explains to the readers of their website how effects were created, including a specific example that the audience can relate to…
“As the bridge starts to move it becomes fully CG for wide shots and has a partial set build for close ups. Once the bridge collapses into the water, all the plate water has been replaced by CG water generated by proprietary software dnSquirt. Double Negative also worked on the opening titles, the Burrows Attack and the painfully beautiful Pensieve sequence amongst others."

After coming up with our storyline and creating our storyboard, we decided that as we have not got the technical equipment or budget to create effective special effects, we would not use them within our production. However, if we applied for funding to companies such as Screen East, we could contact a company such as Double Negative to encorporate possible special effects into our teaser trailer.

Some images of the finished work of Double Negative:

"Lava-bombs!" - 2012