Night shot and.. Fireflies

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

If you can still do this I would HIGHLY recommend that you ask them to do some practical effects on set when they shoot. There’s no way to get lights and shadows in post as in reality.
If not, then using Particular, with Lights as Emitter and custom particles may be the way to go. You can cut the shot in pieces (or rather some elements) and recompose it as a 2.5d scene to be able to create some shadows- but this will be a lot of work.
Another way to simulate the shadows would be to build several 3d objects (that exist in the shot), camera track and comp them in the shot matching the real life position.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Michele Poggi]

I still have the time to say them how to shoot it. The idea is to make them shot it with some lights on, and then use masks to englight where the fireflies fly. Of course if there is any further advice it would be gold for us.

I was thinking about how to efficiently use particular, and custom particles is an interesting suggestion!

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[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

It’s great that you can give your input- take a few shots of the set- video simulating the final move it’s even better. Play around with Particular trying to figure out how you want to animate the fireflies. This will give you a good idea on how the lights can be placed in the shot. Use small LED lights – have them come on as the fireflies appear and then move over the objects in the shot. If you have motion control you can do multiple passes of lights flying in the shot, if not see if you can get away with a locked down shot with a move in post (maybe you can shoot this 4k).

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Michele Poggi]

Yours is an amazing and useful description about how to do this, sadly I know that we won’t have such tools, but I’ll do my best to deal with it. 😉 I’ll keep you informed!