Anyone know of effects artists in the NYC area?

B

Brandon

Hey all,

I'm actually moving into pre-prod on my first feature venture. Phew, still can't believe I'm giving it a shot haha. I'm incredibly excited, and with the story I've written, it requires a scene where two people are shot. My SFX editing skills after plenty of tutorials have yielded me subpar at best results. I would like to consider either hiring a practical FX person to come on set to do the three squibs total or maybe consider a professional to work superior SFX magic onto us.

I am Googling until the end of days and cannot for the life of me find a place in NYC that offers a practical FX person. Do you guys have any input on what is a better option between the practical or SFX route? I know it's choice and practical is usually more realistic, but I'm open to either. Most importantly, don't trouble yourselves to dig, but if you happen to know of any places to look to find a practical place, please share!

Thank you all for always coming to my rescue!

Regards,
Brandon
 
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Brandon said:
Do you guys have any input on what is a better option between the practical or SFX route?
Click to expand...

I've confused these in the past myself, because I think the names are backwards. But practical and SFX are the same thing.

http://filmescape.com/whats-the-difference-between-special-effects-visual-effects

VFX are the ones that can't be visually seen on set. (go figure)
Sorry I don't really know anyone.

I used some putty in the past and got a pretty decent headshot. But it took literally over a year before I got the footage so I've never edited it just yet.
 
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Brandon said:
Hey all,

I'm actually moving into pre-prod on my first feature venture. Phew, still can't believe I'm giving it a shot haha. I'm incredibly excited, and with the story I've written, it requires a scene where two people are shot. My SFX editing skills after plenty of tutorials have yielded me subpar at best results. I would like to consider either hiring a practical FX person to come on set to do the three squibs total or maybe consider a professional to work superior SFX magic onto us.

I am Googling until the end of days and cannot for the life of me find a place in NYC that offers a practical FX person. Do you guys have any input on what is a better option between the practical or SFX route? I know it's choice and practical is usually more realistic, but I'm open to either. Most importantly, don't trouble yourselves to dig, but if you happen to know of any places to look to find a practical place, please share!

Thank you all for always coming to my rescue!

Regards,
Brandon
Click to expand...

Hi Brandon. Just wondering, are you still searching for a special effects artist or studio? And what area of NJ are you located?

As for the definition? Practical or special effects are effects you actually make with your hands and are shot in-camera or in front of the camera while in production or principal photography. Digital FX or visual effects are now considered effects made in the computer but at one point in history for example because they were even being done before this time but in 1977, ILM made models and miniatures, stop motion puppets and matte paintings and these were called "Visual Effects" then but like I said, they were and now are mostly or all considered digital made in the computer. A good example of practical special effects are clay sculpts, walk-on sets, hand props but sometimes vehicles actors can interact with, makeup prosthetics, rubber monster or creature suits, rod and cable puppets and more and then you have the atmospheric effects like rain bars, fog, squibs, pyrotechnics. An example of visual effects are light sabers, laser blasts, digital set extensions, armies of characters in the thousands, CG models, roto, clones which the only time I thought were used in film decently was in the movie Multiplicity but you get the picture by now I hope. Oh here we go, just look at these and you'll see a difference between the two. https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/
 
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