Low budget scifi special effects - suggestions?

K

Komitact

Hello all, I'm working on a science fiction comedy spoof ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/komitact/untitled-low-budget-comedy-about-low-budget-filmma ) and I'm looking for ideas for how to do practical special effects.

It's supposed to be like a spoof of the old star trek show - so I'm not looking for super realistic effects, just fun stuff.

In particular, I've got a model spaceship, and I'm trying to come up with creative ways to make the stars in the background. Any ideas?
 
It's harder to do it practically, it would be much easier to shoot the ship on a green screen, and replace the green with footage of space. Practically? I can think of something that could possibly work, but it's a bit cheesy. You set up a black background, like you would a green screen, and poke tiny holes through the background. Then you shine an LED light through the holes, creating the look of stars.
 
For that excellent science fiction comedy spoof look use your model in front of a a back-lit flat black poster board with pin & pencil holes sensibly distributed.
You might have to put a couple of them end to end to move your model across in front of.
 
This is just off the top of my head, so I don't know how well it will work... for a low budget Star Trek-style warp travel through space effect:

Place a black cloth on the ground. Set the model up a couple feet above it, pointing towards the ceiling. Mount the camera above it looking down, so the ship looks like it's coming towards the camera. Use a strong light from the side on the ship, flagged so no light falls on the floor. Sprinkle glitter from above the camera, so that it falls past the ship and catches the light as it flies by. Use a slow shutter speed on the camera to turn the glitter into streaks.
 
Greensreen is the best way. Just get a DP who knows how to light the set and model ship properly.

Paint the ship's stand with greenscreen paint to blend in to be removable with the greenscreen background
 
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