zero gravity effect

[Bryan Colvin]

I am gearing up to do a zero gravity effect in a short. The best way I can come up with is heavy greenscreen use and cable system to hold up the talent.

i think if i over crank it will help sell the effect. I have to worry about things like hair on the talent appearing to be in zero gravity. I think telling the guy to cut his hair short would make it easiest. But there is a girl character with long flowing hair so I'm worried about how to make that appear the right way. Seems almost like underwater would give me the right look on the hair, but that makes things quite complicated. and they have to deliver lines so underwater doesn't sound like the solution.

I'm hoping CGI hair is not the answer haha, but if it comes to that it comes to that.

if you guys can give me any pointers or articles i can read up on to learn more about this before going into it i'd love to do a few test shots with some more knowledge on this effect.

its early enough that i can try a lot of different things to achieve the look, so any help is appreciated!

 

[Domenic Barbero]

what about putting a fan underneath her blowing up? keeping the hair sort of suspended.

 

[Paul S.]

Depending on the context, maybe you can work around the long flowing hair, and have it tied back or something for that scene? I think long flowing hair in zero-G done realistically would be quite distracting.

 

[Eric M Hurt]

Depending on the context, maybe you can work around the long flowing hair, and have it tied back or something for that scene? I think long flowing hair in zero-G done realistically would be quite distracting.

I would agree.
I've shot actors that were supposed to be in zero G and it was best to have the actors really practice "floating". If you combine that with correct framing (like not showing their legs too much), use of a steadicam to make the camera float and allow it to roll (thus amping the floating feel) and creative cutting you can make it look pretty darn good. Fan on the hair would look like a breeze, not zero G.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Check out HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon" Mini-Series. All the zero-gravity shots were faked.

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I remember picking up something that they did on the BHS of Superman returns where which ever way the camera was moving they had the actor moving in the opposite direction.

 

[Robert Hart]

As well as actors faking the slow floating motion, you might consider shooting vertically down with them reclining on a hard greenscreen and have them slowly kick themselves around in a circle or roll over really slowly. Hair will remain an issue but between your vertical-down and "floating" enactments you may be able to cut it convincingly. I would also consider shooting a high framerate for the vertical downs so that hair movements reproduced in slow-motion will appear to float, especially if your actor does a bit of a headshake or fast head turn in a reaction to something. You might even get hold of a playground carousel, install a smooth plywood deck painted green. Incline this steeply so the hair hangs more freely as you rotate your actor. It will tend to swing unevenly like a pendulum so you will need about five strong crew to control it smoothly. Ask actor to hang upside-down from a monkeybar out of shot for CU head and shoulders. That's about the limit of my imagining short of buying places on a specialised aircraft NASA use for short real or near to zero G conditions.

 

[Matthias Hutter]

I have an weird idea without idea if it works in practice, but I tell it anyway

If the actor would jump on a big trampoline in front of a greenscreen (and the camera would move in parallel) you get real zero G as long as he/she is in the air.
You could say it's a cheaper version of the NASA reduced gravity aircraft (minus air resistance)

(from an ex physics student)

 

[Peter Stelzhammer]

If the actor would jump on a big trampoline in front of a greenscreen (and the camera would move in parallel) you get real zero G as long as he/she is in the air.

This - WITHOUT the camera moving parallel - was done on a music-video shoot where I was 2nd camera assistant some time ago (or rental observer if you want to call it like that - since they rented out our EPIC for just these shots)… It was not for zero gravity but for a similar during-the-air-slo-mo-feel shot after a car crash basically. It came out very nice I think… Trampoline, some air-mats, big green screen…

here's the video - the better looking stuff is at about 3:20;

If you like it here's some behind the scenes/making of;
http://lasgafas.at/work/countably-infinite/

If you know it (that a trampoline was used) you can spot it - if not it's not so bad actually…
But I guess the trampoline-stuff only works for short shots as it really is happening pretty fast.
I guess some proper wire action plus a fan or something and the actors moving "slow" will give you better results.

greetings,
Peter

 

[Brian Merlen]

any chance you can get them to budget going into one of those zero gravity training planes?

 

[Peter Moretti]

Peter, THANK YOU so much for sharing those links!

 

[Christopher Mills]

Do you have any budget at all?
Stunt coordinator with harness to ceiling, and green screen ceiling works well!
shoot looking up.. paint the cables either hi contrast or green chroma.. and talk to a vfx person first....

OR.. Set has slots cut into ceiling to guide the cable... shield light spill from those cut outs outside set.

since you are looking up, you don't have to have the talent crazy high up..

RE: girl's hair.. if going for accuracy.. tie it back with hair tie/scrunchy for talent who won't cut their hair short..

if for art... well.. some slo mo of them turning head is not crazy.. or stylist with lotsa hair spray designs a look for you that involves hair not hanging tight to actress's head..(this would work better with fine or curly hair..
OR... NASA baseball cap...

Though.. if you can't really get zero g effect don't despair..
a friend of mine production designed this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVxTsXRjNTw

most of the spaceship is real... and real simple..
lots of forced perspective..

 

[Robert Hart]

As a long shot, you might enquire with the EAA in the US. I vaguely recall that there may have been a smaller Lear Jet doing weightless flights. Members of the EAA comes from a wide spectrum and they may have a wider network to enquire with. I understand the weightless flight aircraft were referred to as "vomit comets". --------- http://www.eaa.org/about/