SFX Zombie Graveyard Projections

            For my next project in special effects is a short featuring zombies rising from the grave. I can either use clips of graveyards supplied by my professor or collect clips for myself on my own time. I think I’ll do a mix of both. For a while now I’ve thought of making a zombie music video short using the song “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons. While their official music video is cool, I just could never understand how the lyrics translate into a dog/cock-fighting ring with puppets–or should the term be sockfighting? I digress. Nevertheless, whenever I listen to it, I just think of this scenario involving a zombie apocalypse and I think this assignment will give me the opportunity to produce it. This is partly the reason why I would use clips supplied by the class and some of my own.

            My story involves a girl visiting a graveyard carrying books on dark magic. She is going to attempt to resurrect a lover of hers, who unfortunately died an untimely death. The spell worked . . . a bit too well. And the result is a mass of zombies rising from the grave to wreak havoc and unleash a zombie apocolypse. 

            Before I begin this project, I think I should dwell on the potential pitfalls I would have in making it. First, in the past I’ve had this pattern, this tendency to think up high-concept projects and failing to deliver when the due date arrived. I partly attribute this to my congested schedule and choking on other assignments due around the same time. Completing this project will probably be no different because in the next few weeks my schedule is going to be very tight.

            If I were, however, able to get started on my project, this is what I should consider. I need to find a working camera. I’m not sure if my school’s library now has them available on loan, especially after my attempt from my first video project for music video class. Nevertheless, I need a camera and actors to film the parts storyboarded as well as the actions depicting typical zombies rising from the grave. Finding actors should be tricky, as I’ve never garnered a large circle of friends. I wonder, however, if the friends I do have could introduce me to their other friends that might interested. I’ll see how well this plan turns out.

            Next is scheduling when shooting dates. Like I have mentioned, my schedule is tight for the next few weeks, and I’m sure some of the actors are in similar situations in addition to having jobs. In order to effectively film, we have to schedule proper meeting times.

            Part of the project is utilizing Adobe After Effects to implement certain effects into the short. Including but not limited to rack effects, turning night into day, flashlight effects, figures rising from the ground, masking, type floating into space, and green screen/rotoscoping. Half of these I know how to do well such as masking and potentially turning day into night and flashlight. Some skills I still need to learn such as green screen and making a figure rise from the ground. And some skills that I’ve started to learn but unsure that I’ve attained mastery over, namely rack effects. 

            However, in the event that this project is too complex for me to complete on time or I’ve just bitten more than I can chew; I could just forgo the narrative aspect completely. The second page of storyboards are just vague ideas based on the supplied clips, I could easily start there instead of having to work from scratch.

You're A Wizard, Harryhausen!

Ray Harryhausen is a household name in Hollywood, stop motion animation, special effects, and most nerd and geek inner circles. Originally inspired by King Kong, a young Harryhausen took up stop motion animation and experimented in his garage during his adolescence, creating his own puppets and sets with the help of his parents. He then started creating his own shorts based off the Grimm Fairy Tales. It was a dream come true when Harryhausen was hired to work on a spiritual successor to the film that inspired him, Mighty Joe Young, and would inspire generations after, with his work.

            I know who Harryhausen is, was, and the impact he had on cinema. To be honest, at the time of this writing, I am twenty-two years old and I have just started watching his movies, my first being the 7^th Voyage of Sinbad. Scandal! Nevertheless, I can still explain who this man is and why he is forever mythologized as a genius, a Master of Creatures and a Special Effects Wizard.

            The most basic rule in animation is that it takes twenty frames to compose one second of animation. Most animated films today run at ninety minutes average, which would take 108,000 frames to make one animated film (not including the supporting cast and effects). The most frames that can be completed within one day are a few seconds, provided there are no mistakes. Modern animators accomplish this feat by dividing the workload among teams. Harryhausen, however, did all the animation by himself. One man animated less than 108,000 frames of animation by hand, as well as being heavily involved in the designs and production of the film.

            His dedication is comparable to Walt Disney as men who’ve tried to be technologically innovative in their field. Looking at his early fairy tale shorts, you could tell the amount of skill he put in his craft. For example, despite the crude facial animation in Hansel and Gretel, the characters' body language spoke volumes, especially the Witch, whose character oozed sinister intentions and feigned sweetness. I think I haven’t seen stop motion animation of this quality, especially in the Fifties, since the earliest stop motion features I could recall were the ones by Rankin/Bass, and they were crude. I think later stop motion animated films took notes on Harryhausen’s techniques as they acted and emoted with skillful quality.

             In special effects, I admire Harryhausen’s devotion in making his monsters believable. For example, despite a satyr nor a Cyclops exist in Islamic mythology, Harryhausen chose a Cyclops to be featured in the 7^th Voyage of Sinbad because he wanted the challenge and he wanted the audience to know that it isn’t a man in a suit by giving the creature goat legs as well as three fingers on each hand. His techniques also included studying the animals that provide the basis for his creatures, like studying a gorilla for Mighty Joe Young and big cats for a saber tooth tiger in another Sinbad picture.

            The living skeletons remain Harryhausen’s signature creature. The first skeleton battle I’ve seen was the one featured in Sinbad. First the skeleton was summoned and would hang and bob around like a puppet. Then it would come alive and take a solid stance, ready to fight. What made the sequence, as well as the one featured in Jason and the Argonauts, stand out was animating the puppet to move in a choreographed fight sequence with a living actor and affect its environment. Occasionally the puppets would leap over the actors, instead of around them; a feat that would be difficult to pull off.

We got a bone to pick with you.

Harryhausen (center right), Peter Jackson (right),
John Landis (center left), Rick Baker (left).

            Harryhausen remains a legend of Hollywood cinema because of the artistic integrity he has done with his craft. In today’s world where special effects are mostly done through CGI and completed across various companies rendering it, they all lacked the intimate craftsmanship. In addition, special effects is seen as a form of magic trick, and Harryhausen was a great magician; there are some tricks FX artists have been trying crack for years. King Kong inspired one man to be the father of special effects, this one man inspired the imagination of generations of dreamers and artists.