The death blow of “street thug” Nick Caminata was too tricky to capture in the kitchen.
The hallway was cramped. “The Man in the Mask” actor (Joseph Janswig) could not lift the airsoft gun to aim at Nick’s head. Joseph’s body blocked the camera and the film light.
The best dramatic image was to see Nick’s head take a bullet and drop to the ground.
We wanted both the gun and the characters in sharp focus. So we split them up. By shooting the characters and gun separately we achieved the best visual.
Nick’s head blast was filmed on set in the kitchen.
To crank up the shock for Nick’s moment, he was told to crash down fast. Kneepads were strapped on him for protection.
Original image of Nick falling down in the kitchen. (back view)
Special effects bullet wound makeup was crafted by Sara Smudzinski.
Original image of Nick falling down in the kitchen. (front view)
Test Mockup
A prototype of the gun was created in Photoshop prior to using the green screen.
Everything had to be in sync with Nick’s head–the arm, hand, and gun.
Chroma Key Wall
We slapped Chroma Key green paint on the garage wall of DOP Dirk van Sloten’s pad. The wall was our canvas—perfect for any wild VFX he wanted to throw down.
The airsoft closeup was captured against a garage wall painted Chroma Key green.
Original image of the airsoft gun using the Chroma Key wall. (back view)
Original image of the airsoft gun using the Chroma Key wall. (front view)
The Edit
The elements fused together seamlessly. The gun footage received a gritty color grade to blend into the kitchen scene. The gun’s rotation was tweaked just enough to nail the perfect angle.
Final composites flashed on screen for a quick second.
Sound effects intensified the moments.
Bang! Bang! The audience accepts the cinema trickery.
To fuse the front kill shot the gunman’s arm received a gritty blur filter. That hack let the arm vanish behind the cabinet.
Composite of the gun and Nick in the kitchen. (front view)
The comic book visual filters are added for the kitchen scene.
A comic book bullet is added.
Flash-bang effect is added.
Finished composite in the film INDEFINITE. (back view)
Finished composite in the film INDEFINITE. (front view)
P.S. I decided against uploading the gunshot clips to YouTube. I was worried my account would be flagged for promoting violence.
Plans Fell Through
Opportunities were wasted on NOT using the Chroma Key wall more.
First–There was NO time for kitchen effects testing. We powered through with our script in hand. Any effects shots would wait for the fallout. We were not sure what problems would pop up in the edit.
We had a deadline to finish production for the class project.
Instead Dirk killed it with the VFX. He built sick animations straight from the raw footage for all other clips.
P.S. I trusted Dirk’s animation skills and knew my edits could make it work. Still, we did not know if we had to circle back to use the green wall.
Second–We missed our shot at cranking up the SFX and VFX in the script.
SFX and VFX creativity died before principle photography.
Co-director Christopher Kuiper and I only thought in terms of “logical” actions when writing the script.
It would have been killer to see how far we could have twisted the script. We had no clue back then. We were still lost fixing the story.
We slapped green paint on garage walls without a plan for maximizing the space.