Microbudget Movies:
CGI & F/X

Microbudget movies aren’t usually associated with CGI (computer generated imagery) or other computer F/X (special effects) but it’s actually one area where you can really close the gap between your efforts and your big budget counterparts.

When you look at the credit roll on a Hollywood blockbuster you’d get the impression that it took hundreds of people and millions of dollars to utilize these techniques but in truth, one talented person using a home computer can achieve remarkably similar results.

A blue or green screen studio can be set up in a garage with some basic lighting and a roll of seamless “chroma key” paper. (Blue tends to work better for people with light hair and green for people with dark but either can do the job. Clothing is another consideration. If you’re building a “virtual set” of a spaceship and your crew is wearing blue uniforms you’ll want to go with a green screen.) The trick here from a production standpoint is lighting. You want to light everything as evenly and flatly as possible. Shadows tend to cause problems for keying programs.

Matte shots (where a portion of the screen is replaced by some kind of graphic) have been a staple of “movie magic” since filmmaking began. In the “old days” it usually involved a very talented artist creating a photo realistic painting on glass, but with computers you can marry your live footage with just about any kind of photo, video or other graphic element without too much trouble. Even things like sky replacement and wire removal are options for the microbudget moviemaker to consider.

CGI and F/X are skills that require some time and practice to learn and it may not be your strong suit but if you can find a “computer whiz” and convey what you’re trying to accomplish you may be astonished by the results. There are people who do this sort of thing basically for fun who might be thrilled by the prospect of putting their skills to use on a movie project.

Action elements like muzzle flash, bullet hits and explosions can also be rendered on the computer bringing more big budget elements into your reach. Trying to create those things “live” on the set can be very expensive (if you do it according to the book) and very dangerous and possibly illegal (if you don’t.)

There certainly are plenty of “old school” effects you can use that don’t cost a fortune. Bouncing light off of a small piece of reflective material can create a great fire effect. Fog machines are ridiculously cheap these days and can be picked up at places like Target or Wal-Mart at Halloween. Stage blood can be manufactured out of corn syrup and red food coloring (although everyone seems to have their own favorite recipe) and running a tube with compressed air under the actor’s clothes can simulate bullet hits.

Case Study: CGI & F/X