Flood The Streets

SpecialFX · Post by **SpecialFX** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 9:32 pm

i have an idea for a special effect but i want to know if it would work

okay so i take a background plate of a street in town,then i set up blackbackground and dump a huge bucket of water mixed with milk so it will show then if put itno ae because black disappears will it look like the street actually got flooded?

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:12 pm

Eww kill the milk. Water will show enough on its own. Also, what exactly are you describing? Pouring the milk water into what?

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:14 pm

Actually, profesinal filmmakers mix milk with their water for a better rain effect, it's done in hollywood all the time. Deffintly add the milk.

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:19 pm

That depends. What are you doing with the water?

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:20 pm

Yeah, explain a little more

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:23 pm

The goal is obviously to flood the street!

I'm asking how does pouring water over a black screen achieve this.

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:26 pm

I wouldn't film it going across a black screen, heres what you would want to do : 1) put up a big green screen in the street where the waters to come down. 2) film the other part of the street with the water comming down, and composite them together. Althougth, I doubt you'll be able to flood your street.

SpecialFX · Post by **SpecialFX** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:41 pm

okay what i mean is so i would have a picture of this street for the background then i would set up a blackscreen because black is invisible in ae so i would set up a blackscreen back at my house then dumps huge buckets so its like stockfootage flood then put it on to the picture so it look like the street is flooding.

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 11:26 pm

Don't know if thats going to work to your expetations.. mabye it's best just to work around this effect in your film as best as you can.. ( it's going to be really hard to dump that much water in your backyard) if you want you can take a still from a distance, and use footage of a local stream or river and some good composting and 3d to destroy the smaller objects in the background..

Syras · Post by **Syras** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 1:45 am

it might work if u zoomed in quite a bit. probly a good idea to make a plastic channel roughly to scale with your street so water can hit "buildings" on the side and wash back (look more realistic)

bad_karma24 · Post by **bad_karma24** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 4:25 am

I'd suggest black as opposed to green, because since we're working with water the light characteristics will make it a b**ch to take out (as they found out on Hollow Man).

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 6:23 am

Pouring a bucket before a screen... hmm. I don't see any for to do it that way and make it look anywhere near how you might expect it to! I would go either CG or a scale model. Even a keyed out model just to get the water to run correctly would be better.

Meade87 · Post by **Meade87** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 8:38 am

Ok this is just a hunch but maybe If I understand what you want to do correctly maybe this will work. I used a lot of imagination on this one. Now I will first state what I think you are trying to do if I am wrong disregard this. Do you want to make water flood down the street and fill up the street and take a shot from the distance? I was thinking if you took the still shot of your street and traced onto a piece of paper the exact are you want the water to pore down (again I am thinking you want water to rush like a river) if you were to trace down the path in which you want the water to pore down the streets than with modeling clay recreat the path with barriers and then cover the clay with a black tarp and press it down into the clay then take the water mixed with milk and poor it down. Tape it and then back in ae take out the black and you should have water poring down a path in 3 dimensions with nothing showing a guide and it should be a very close match to your street and then place the street into the back ground and there you should have a flood effect. (if in fact you wanted it in that way).

Caveman · Post by **Caveman** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 1:27 pm

Are you wanting there to be people, cars etc. in this street? If you aren't then I get the feeling the shot'll look quite contrived/fake. If you are however I can't reeli see how you're going to do it...

reeli stupid suggestion 1, - why not check out how these kind of effects were done in films like "Day After Tomorrow" or older, less high-tech films?

reeli stupid suggestion 2, - Couldn't you work round it with, say, a radio close-up and "some road got flooded today....."

reeli stupid suggestion 3, - Why not buy a shot like this from a film library? (eg. www.wpafilmlibrary.com). It'd make your film look v. high-budget and I get the feeling you'd like that seeing as you're trying to flood a street in the first place...

bad_karma24 · Post by **bad_karma24** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 2:40 pm

reeli stupid suggestion 3, - Why not buy a shot like this from a film library? (eg. www.wpafilmlibrary.com). It'd make your film look v. high-budget and I get the feeling you'd like that seeing as you're trying to flood a street in the first place...

The problem with this is that it will look jarring when compared to the regular footage.

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 3:26 pm

lol, theres only 2 ways this can really be done to a good extent.. one - actually have the abillty to flood your street 2- have a combination of footage from your local river ( a close up of course ) composite that in with some 3D ( To apply destruction and such and ) , it will require some very good composting, and a lot of patience, you will literally have to match wave from wave of the river to crash onto each indivudual object, when done properly it looks amazingly real, I have seen it done before, and have done it before but not with a steet.

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 9:42 pm

Just flood out the street for real. It is perfectly legal to use water from a fire hydrant.

Go ahead, look it up!

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 10:03 pm

Haha , if he were a big buget company, he would be able to flood a street, since hes not mabye he should look for alternitives.

SpecialFX · Post by **SpecialFX** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:54 am

yeah shame im not big budget but when i say flood i mean like huge wave rushing through town down a street i think im going what meade said and make models of the picture with clay and to make it more realistic i think im going to have it be pour from around a corner of the model so it looks like it shooting out from down another street so it hits against a building and rushes down the road.

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:56 am

lol your going to make models out of clay?

SpecialFX · Post by **SpecialFX** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:10 am

have any better suggestions what you have suggesting i wouldnt know how to do.

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:18 am

Clay models would be horrbile what are you thinking?

SpecialFX · Post by **SpecialFX** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:19 am

what i am think is for building taking a bow then putting clay over it to get the right shape what else can i do?

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:27 am

Good composting, use any sort of models gonna look pretty fake..

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 4:22 am

I was serious when I mentioned the fire hydrants.