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How much to do a Phantom Zone scene?

I don't know where to put this thread, so I'll put it here.

Smallville, the TV series on Kal-El's younger days, put the Phantom Zone in a barren desert. That, to me, is the perfect depiction of the Zone, not a glass as in Superman I and II or an ice whatever as in Man of Steel. Anyway, since Smallville was filmed in Vancouver, I was wondering where this Phantom Zone scene was done - did they go to Sahara to do it? And how much would it cost to do a short of a Kryptonian fallling down onto a desert, where he will meet other imprisoned Kryptonians dressed in black shrouds?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8O42XavKys
 
Step 0: Use your favorite DSLR and Post tools to develop a look that is unique for your short. Just because you want to do a Phantom Zone piece with a similar location doesn't mean you should use the same grade to do it.

Step 1:

Drive to someplace with a large Sand Dune formation (Think Pismo/Oceano dunes, Oregon's Gold Coast, Maybe Bodega Dunes, but they are kinda small), Canada is a big place, and I would be mildly surprised if there were no dune formations anywhere along their coastlines. IIRC, there are dunes somewhere around Lake Superior maybe? Anyway, no reason for them to make it an intercontinental travel event. If they were in Canada, the absolute farthest they would have to travel to get large dunes is here in Cali. ;)

For example:

http://www.saskparks.net/Default.aspx?DN=468f5b70-ab8c-4f28-95b2-bd178dcd2f2b

Step 2:

Shoot with your actor and your favorite DSLR. No, they did not do that for this, but you are asking how to do it as cheap as possible. If it were me, I would be doing some/much of the look in camera because of the compressed codec. In this case just Technicolor Cinestyle or similar to give you freedom. Unless you are well versed in older (read photochemical) filtration, netting, and so on; of course if you were then you would already be thinking what combination gives your DSLR the best foundation upon which to build your look in post. For most folks just starting out - that means giving yourself the most leeway.

Step 3:

Davinici Resolve/Apple Color/MB Looks depending on your skillset, toolset, budget, etc.

Step 4:

Enjoy your 0 budget version of that scene (minus the crystalline tube he falls through at the beginning. That's just the right combination of green screen and vfx plates. This is the absolute cheapest way I can think of to get there.

Under the right parameters you could do that a scene for "no money" or you could spend thousands making it very elaborate and technical. The end result will vary in "production quality," but that goes with out saying.
 
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Thanks - I should get a director of photography to help me, and maybe pay the starving student/artist a small sum. But an alternative would be to see the Phantom Zone as a desolate Arctic wasteland - there's lots of snow in Canada. :)

My grand vision would be to redo the scene in Superman 1 and MOS, where Zod gets banished. I would have the initial scene where he confronts Zor-El, then a light would shine on Zod from above, and, after some light and magic, he falls into the Phantom Zone.
 
IMO, What you want (since you are not tied to desert) are generally called "Badlands."

800px-HellsHalfAcre.JPG


That is "Hell's Half Acre" in Wyoming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badlands
 
I'm pretty sure I see A LOT of layering and compositing in that 'Smallville' YT clip.
It was likely shot in a sand or gravel quarry with some "extra" dunes added in, especially in the foreground.

Wherever you live there are probably roads :rolleyes::lol: which means some local contractor mixes tar and crushed gravel to make asphalt to resurface your roads.
Find out where their quarry is, goto the office, tell 'em what you're doing, ask if there's an appropriate place and time for a little location scouting.

Also, you can find out where your local plant nurseries and concrete companies are getting their bulk sand from.
Pea gravel usually gets dredged out of a river but they may have a bulk storage area that you can utilize.

GL!
 
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