Green Screen Magic

Recently in class, we have been learning how to insert ourselves into scenes from movies and TV shows using green screens. The process has been pretty fun, and it's something that real world productions actually use. One thing that comes to mind is a show I've been watching a lot recently, Fringe. In this science fiction show, the characters have to deal with an alternate universe, including alternate versions of themselves. This often involves scenes where the actors are talking to themselves, sometimes in camera angles that make it nearly impossible to just use a body double.

So they made use of a number of special effects techniques, including green screens, in order to get the actors to appear next to themselves. Sometimes this can be quite the experience for some actors. To get an idea of how working with green screens can be for actors, just take a listen to this interview with Jasika Nicole, who played Agent Astrid Farnsworth.

Fringe and Floating Text

Not too long ago, we learned how to utilize motion tracking in After Effects. The ability to have an image or piece of text that you've created follow the camera movements to appear as part of the environment is a very valuable skill. As a media production major, the more tricks of the trade I learn, the more I start to see them used everywhere, and motion tracking is no exception. Lately I've been binge watching the Fox series Fringe on Netflix, and old favorite of mine that makes heavy use of motion tracking techniques.

Fringe is a show about the investigation of pseudo-science and unnatural phenomena. As you can imagine, a science-fiction show like this would make use of a lot of effects, but perhaps most notably are the floating text effects that the use during their establishing shots. Multiple times each episode, there are giant 3D letter floating in establishing shots, indicating where the story is taking place at the time. 

These words move with the camera movements, making them appear as though they are a part of the environment. The show creators also use other effects to really try to make the words appear to be in world, by including reflections in glass buildings and puddles, and even having the weather interact with letters. To see effect in motion, check out any episode, you'd only have to watch the first couple of minutes before seeing this effect used. Or you can check out this quick little demonstration video.

Fringe Title Sequence and Overwhelming Assets

This is the opening titles for "Fringe" on Fox, which I just learned recently was designed by Andrew Kramer of Video Copilot fame. The thing I want to draw your attention to is how much is going on in this sequence, but also its simplicity. The whole thing is incredibly slick, the "moving off into the horizon" transition is very cool, and there are several lens flare effects in there too. There are several easily identifiable assets, like the hand and the frog that are fairly straightforward. But there are a bunch that you have to go frame by frame to figure out. This style of "overwhelming assets" seems pretty common in a lot of TV title sequences, where the designers through up so many images it's impossible to keep up.

Another prominent example of this is the title sequence for "The Big Bang Theory" where the whole intro is literally an overwhelming series of flash images. The thing I think is interesting, and why I personally appreciate the Fringe intro more, is the elegance at which the Fringe intro comes back to a non-scattered state. It has a bunch of flash images, then comes back to the sci fi words, and back again. You never feel completely overwhelmed, whereas in the Big Bang Theory titles the same effect is used to overwhelm intentionally.