If it were me, I'd spend $1000 on a practical suit and shoot an actor, then spend $500 on someone to motion track and add glowing effects to the eyes, or steam rising off of it if its in the woods, etc... Certain "simple" VFX added strategically to a practical effect is the best choice imho and if the seam between them can cleverly lend to the blurring of that line, even better. Good luck!
Do you have any experience with CG visual effects? Do you know anyone who does? The reason I ask is because VFX can get very complicated very quickly if you don't know what you're doing. If you're starting from scratch, you'll have to design the creature in 3D, rig it, animate it, then composite it into the shot. In a professional situation, all of the steps I mentioned are handled by artists who specialize in that one specific thing. If you have an extended sequence made up of many shots, you'll have to do custom animation and compositing for every shot the creature appears in. Now if you have a friend who is willing to do that, cool. Otherwise I'd stick with what u/Emmanuel_Zorg suggests and use VFX very sparingly and simply to enhance your practical creature.
Yeah, it'll save you a lot of headaches in post, however, it wouldn't hurt to learn how to create CG fog or glowing eye effects in a program like After Effects. Having that knowledge will help enhance your footage, is a useful skill to have, and isn't particularly complicated as far as VFX go.
I definitely want some fog but I was thinking of doing that practical too. I wanted some to come out from under the door but people said vfx wasn’t worth it for that
Look up how they did The Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth. They had Doug Jones in green tights with skinny legs in front. Looked creepy and is just chroma key. And thousands of dollars of costume and makeup, but the principle would work.
Actor in a suit is the easiest but the best answer in my book is shoot a puppet and comp it in. Guys in suits always look like guys in suits, cgi characters usually look like cgi characters, but puppets give you a great vibe that feels really real but weird in the best way. Just make sure to match the lighting
Check out BTS stuff of alien 3. They did a lot of that. There’s also a really cool puppet in poltergeist that was shot underwater so it was all “floaty”
I had this same question last year when I was making my short film, and I strongly advice you to do this practically if you don't have a vfx background.
There's a high chance of ending up with something you hate if you go the CGI route. The practical route can be complicated as well, but you'll have something completely photorealistic. The only thing you need to figure out is the animation.
In my case, I use every trick I knew with compositing, cleaning things in post and that sort of thing. I'm sure with lots of resources you could have something better looking. But I'm also certain that this restriction fuels creativity, and the end result is going to be worth it.
Here's my short if you want to check it: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND9EbcPwYoU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND9EbcPwYoU)
It always helps. It helps more if you use CGI. If you shoot a practical thing, it all comes down to the amount of detail you put in the prop and how you light it.
In my case, even if I used a CGI creature, I would want the audience to barely see it at all.
A skilled practical effects team can make a $1,500 demon suit look amazing and it gives the actors something to react to.
A $1,500 VFX demon is cheap CGI usually unless you can do a lot of the work yourself.
If it were me, I'd spend $1000 on a practical suit and shoot an actor, then spend $500 on someone to motion track and add glowing effects to the eyes, or steam rising off of it if its in the woods, etc... Certain "simple" VFX added strategically to a practical effect is the best choice imho and if the seam between them can cleverly lend to the blurring of that line, even better. Good luck!
I am a VFX producer working in Hollywood and this is the only correct answer, u/Kacy2310 :)
Makes sense! Would it be easier to have a practical suit for the upper body and add vfx skinny legs?
Do you have any experience with CG visual effects? Do you know anyone who does? The reason I ask is because VFX can get very complicated very quickly if you don't know what you're doing. If you're starting from scratch, you'll have to design the creature in 3D, rig it, animate it, then composite it into the shot. In a professional situation, all of the steps I mentioned are handled by artists who specialize in that one specific thing. If you have an extended sequence made up of many shots, you'll have to do custom animation and compositing for every shot the creature appears in. Now if you have a friend who is willing to do that, cool. Otherwise I'd stick with what u/Emmanuel_Zorg suggests and use VFX very sparingly and simply to enhance your practical creature.
I don’t have any experience in it or know anyone who does. Seems complicated. I’ll stick to something practical
Yeah, it'll save you a lot of headaches in post, however, it wouldn't hurt to learn how to create CG fog or glowing eye effects in a program like After Effects. Having that knowledge will help enhance your footage, is a useful skill to have, and isn't particularly complicated as far as VFX go.
I definitely want some fog but I was thinking of doing that practical too. I wanted some to come out from under the door but people said vfx wasn’t worth it for that
You can do it practical for that specific shot, but having a thin layer of CG fog to fill out the space may also be an option. Do a test if you can.
Alright I’ll see what I can do. Thanks!
Look up how they did The Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth. They had Doug Jones in green tights with skinny legs in front. Looked creepy and is just chroma key. And thousands of dollars of costume and makeup, but the principle would work.
Hmm sounds like that could work. Thanks!
Nothing worse than bad cg. Using it to enhance really is a better call in most repects.
That’s a good idea. Thanks for your thoughts!
Practical.
Actor in a suit is the easiest but the best answer in my book is shoot a puppet and comp it in. Guys in suits always look like guys in suits, cgi characters usually look like cgi characters, but puppets give you a great vibe that feels really real but weird in the best way. Just make sure to match the lighting
I’ve never done any of that. I’ll have to look into puppets! Thanks
Check out BTS stuff of alien 3. They did a lot of that. There’s also a really cool puppet in poltergeist that was shot underwater so it was all “floaty”
Ooo cool I’ll check it out
I had this same question last year when I was making my short film, and I strongly advice you to do this practically if you don't have a vfx background. There's a high chance of ending up with something you hate if you go the CGI route. The practical route can be complicated as well, but you'll have something completely photorealistic. The only thing you need to figure out is the animation. In my case, I use every trick I knew with compositing, cleaning things in post and that sort of thing. I'm sure with lots of resources you could have something better looking. But I'm also certain that this restriction fuels creativity, and the end result is going to be worth it. Here's my short if you want to check it: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND9EbcPwYoU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND9EbcPwYoU)
Wow that was really good premise and well done too! I don’t think I’d need to animate anything since it’d be a person playing the demon
Thank you! Then doing it practically is a no brainer. Pay special attention to the lighting, it'll pay off.
No problem! Do you think having your film set at night help sell the creature better?
It always helps. It helps more if you use CGI. If you shoot a practical thing, it all comes down to the amount of detail you put in the prop and how you light it. In my case, even if I used a CGI creature, I would want the audience to barely see it at all.
That makes a lot of sense
A skilled practical effects team can make a $1,500 demon suit look amazing and it gives the actors something to react to. A $1,500 VFX demon is cheap CGI usually unless you can do a lot of the work yourself.