Low Budget Visual Effects

Helicopter Model Used In The Wolf of Wall Street

Low budget visual effects.. really? Yes low budget visual effects are very much possible and it is used in not only low budget movies but also big budget movies.  Today lets get into low budget visual effects which you can use in your short film with limited resources. But first Lets understand the phrases Miniatures And Forced Perspective.

A miniature effect is a special effect created for motion pictures and television programs using scale models. Scale models are often combined with high speed photography. Where a miniature appears in the foreground of a shot, this is often very close to the camera lens — for example when matte painted backgrounds are used. Since the exposure is set to the object being filmed so the actors appear well lit, the miniature must be over-lit in order to balance the exposure and eliminate any depth of field differences that would otherwise be visible. This foreground miniature usage is referred to as forced perspective.

Pic Credit : http://petapixel.com/

Pic Credit :http://petapixel.com/

Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is.Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is.It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator or camera.Watch the following video to understand forced perspective.

Pic Credit : http://petapixel.com/

Pic Credit : http://petapixel.com/

On Vashi Nedomansky’s blog you can read a fantastic post about the low budget visual effects. Although these both techniques are replaced by computer-generated imagery (CGI) to some extent, yet these are very effective in low budget visual effects. Watch the following  documentary on the Low Budget Visual Effects,Miniatures And Forced Perspective.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htWY43bEYA4