Practical Effects
Practical effects is an effect produced physically without the use of computer gernerated imagery or other post production techniques. Practical effects have been around almost as long as film itself, and have created some of the best visuals ever put on screen. Technology has moved on to visual effects and cgi, but practical effects have stayed reliable and cheaper than than its counterparts and are still used by big studios to this day. But this doesn’t mean practical effects haven't experienced their own innovations throughout the years. This site will look at practical effect technology and what could arise in the future.
Software
Practical effects can look good on their own but sometimes editing is needed to make it look truly believable. Maybe the editor needs to stitch multiple cuts together to make the effect look fluid, or a practical shot needs to be composited on another shot, mixing practical effects from one shot onto another or a cgi shot. Editing softwares are important to practical effects and some of the best editing softwares are Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, iMovie etc.
Stop motion is an animation technique in which inanimate objects are moved in small increments to give the illusion of movement. Stop motion is also a practical effect that was used a lot in older movies when CGI (computer-generated-images) didn’t exist. Some of these movies are the original Star Wars and the original King Kong. Nowadays stop motion can be made using a phone with specific apps to make the process easier. Another useful software is video sharing platforms like Youtube. Many video tutorials on how to make practical effects can be found, ranging from beginner practical effects to big productions.
Hardware
Practical effects hardware can be expensive, but there is useful hardware that can be used for productions with smaller budgets. Squibs or “Electric matches” are small devices used to simulate bullet wounds and blood. When detonated they let out blood simulating a bullet go through someone, these were used a lot in older action movies but are still used to this day for their low cost and looking better than CGI blood (if done right). Other hardware are sewing machines to make/modify costumes and 3D printers to make masks/prosthetics.
Large production technology
The Volume is a relatively new piece of hardware, being used in projects like “The Mandalorian” and “The Batman”. The Volume is made up of a bunch of screens to produce amazing backgrounds without the use of greenscreen. It’s a mix of CGI and practical effects because the background needs to be modeled in a computer but it’s also practical because the footage is captured on camera, at the end of the day the best visuals come from a blend of practical and CGI. This hardware allows filmmakers to get perfect lighting for scenes, helps the actors know what the environment looks like, and since the volume can replicate any environment, it reduces travel costs.
More big budget hardware includes crane-like robots to control the camera and get otherwise impossible shots and animatronics. The robots can also be used to get dangerous shots that a camera person wouldn't be able to get like the middle of an explosion. Animatronics were more popular in older movies like “Jurassic Park” and “The Thing (1982)” but are occasionally still used in modern productions. Animatronics can give the actors something to interact with and most of the animatronics seen in these older movies still look great to this day.
Future Technology
The future of practical effects is unknown, but here is some idea of what possible future technology for practical effects might look like: An app with every and any resource on practical effects. Researching how to do practical effects and reaching out to people who have similar interests can be time consuming and annoying, but this lumps everything together.
- The app has an interface where you can go to different places within the app. For example: tutorials, technology, tools, and social (where you interact with others).
- Tutorials has its own search where you can look up tutorials for anything special effects related, it can be cheap homemade tutorials or big budgets tutorials.
- Technology updates you on any new technology, or already existing technology you would like to research.
- Tools can be paired with tutorias, it would tell you what you need and how much money it would cost.
- Social is a place where you can ask for help or get in a group with people to work on projects. Since practical effects are more hands-on there's an option to turn on location, then you would only be able to talk to people near you and maybe meet up to work on a project.
An ai program that makes storyboards for you to use:
- Stop motion can be difficult but having to draw a storyboard can be annoying, especially if you have difficulty drawing, so this makes it instantly.
- Ai art tech has only been increasing, this could take some of that to make some quick sketches of whatever prompt you wrote. The prompt can be as detailed as you want, and you can even insert some of your own storyboard drawing if you want a specific thing to happen.
- Since this is for stop motion, there could be an option for the sketches to have color and lighting, the program would then tell you how many lights you’ll need and where to place them, it could also tell you how far to place the camera.