Achieving the effect of a man climbing into a hole in the ground + light ray effects

[Charlie Reader]

(I have After Effects CS5.5 on a mac)

[John Cuevas]

I think you should look into purchasing(Red Giant has trial versions) Trapcode Lux. Then with a little masking/solid layer to obscure the light, you could really create a good look. If Lux is out of the budget you could try trapcode shine or use Optical Flares.

For the smoke, you could create some type of smoke using fractal noise or maybe you have some smoke footage you want to use. You could then duplicate you light source layer, place it above the smoke and change the smoke layer’s track matte to a luma matte. The smoke will only show in the light source layer. Lastly I would adjust the transfer mode of the smoke to overlay, soft light(play around and pick what looks best)

And of course–Dave is right, shooting it pratical is always the best choice.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[Vishesh Arora]

Charlie

1) Could I create a dramatic looking light source from the ground using purely AE with plugins like Co-pilot flares and CC Light Rays etc.

Yes you can create the desired effect with Co-pilot flares and CC Light Rays.

Another plugin which may give good is Red Giant Trapcode Shine.

If so, how could I incorporate these artificial beams of light with the haze/smoke.

You have to play with Blending Modes and find out which one suits you best.

I want his whole body to disappear but am unable to dig a huge hole due to location restrictions.

You can mask out the Character and animate the Mask path and character’s position. Can’t say much but it will be a difficult task as to mimic exactly that he is climbing the hole. It should look natural at the end.

One last thought- We’re going to film a lot of the video day/dusk for night….as dramatic.

I would suggest you to shoot at Night if its not too problematic.

Though its easy to go for Day to night conversion but again Solving all the issues during shoot is the best approach.

as it would mean there’s already some light I could mask on the characters face etc.

You can create this effect creating a mask on a solid and then playing with its opacity. Wiggle expression will help.

See the tutorial :Simulated lighting

Vishesh Arora
3D and Motion Graphics Artist
Films Rajendra

Blog:
https://digieffects.wordpress.com

Demo Reel(3D):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHPgIJU_BR8

[Charlie Reader]

Thanks very much for all of your advice.

I agree that shooting as much as possible practically is the best way to go, but unfortunately there are a lot of limitations with the location we are filming at- We can’t shoot after sunset and can’t do anything destructive to the area we are filming in (IE digging holes for lights).

I’ve looked into the plugins you guys have mentioned and am feeling more confident about creating the rays in After Effects. I then might shoot an extreme closeup of the characters face at another location like my garden and use a real light to intercut with the medium wide of the beams coming out o the ground- this would add the realism hopefully.

But is there a good way to create shadows for the medium-wide shot?

With regards to the character climbing into the hole- I had thought about animating the mask path of the character, but I’d probably need to film the action in front of a green screen which we don’t have access/time to do. I think I’ve thought of a solution though where the climbing in can be implied rather than shown.

I’m going to do some day-to-night tests this weekend- as I said I can’t shoot at night so am looking to shoot early morning and early evening when theres light but not a huge amount. I’ve done a fair bit of research on day-to-night shooting already but if anyone has any advice they feel would help, please do let me know!

I’m also wondering about creating 3D fog in After Effects in some shots- Again, any tutorials or thoughts on this, feel free to share.

Thanks so much guys!