It's VFX V...ednesday,
and you know what that means! I spin the subject spinner to pick
the subject I'm legally required to spin. Ah! Wall walking. No one knows why the simple visual
of a person strolling effortlessly up a wall or ceiling has fascinated
artists throughout history. From viral videos to classic films, even the subjects of early cave paintings
were technically walking on walls. But it's not my place to judge why people
like a weird thing -- I never do that. I just want to help! So, here are three classical approaches
to creating a wall-walking effect that you can use in your next big...content! Hollywood style: You'll need: lumber, steel,
an expert scenic construction crew, multiple kinds of insurance,
and a million dollars. Simply build your full-scale set
inside a huge cylindrical scaffold that rotates along with the camera and all
the lights smoothly, quickly, and safely-- [Screaming]
[impact sound] -This takes a lot of coordination. No wonder the director of Lionel Richie's
"Dancing On the Ceiling" video had to do a trial run first, using Fred Astaire
in the 1951 film "Royal Wedding." There is no making-of footage
of this iconic scene because Instagram didn't exist yet, but animator Galen Fott composited
a fascinating reconstruction of the set's rotations
that's worth checking out. And if your scene doesn't need
to start on the floor, you can shave a few hundred grand
off the budget by just building a stationary set on its side. Hey, it was good enough
for the original Batman and the One True Spider-Man! Hong Kong style: You'll need: wires, a legendary action
choreographer, and actors with some balls. But not so big they get
in the way of the harness. Set up some complex wire
rigs that cleverly exploit gravity, angular momentum,
and the human body's weight distribution to create a convincing
illusion of weightlessness. Your team of experienced spotters
will need to perform in perfect unison with the actor, like a dance that
can cause serious injury if you miss a step. And ideally, you'll want to paint out
the wires and harness mounting points using some minor visual effects. There's also a more economical Soviet
variation where you just tie a rope around the actor's waist,
and it doesn't matter if they cry in pain [Russian accent] because all of
the audio will be re-dubbed. [Normal voice] Web style: You'll need: a friend. Ill just use myself Let's go. (Ugh...) Point all the lights
away from the thing you're filming so as to create soft, minimal shadows. Lean onto your friend
in a way that doesn't obscure any part of your body from the camera. Also, film a pass
without either of you in frame. Then, mask the friend away, replacing him
with an empty version of the shot. I've explained a variation of this
so many times, it's bruising my soul! But remember, conventions
are learned to be broken. Mix it up! Do it all! Build a rotating set
and use wires inside it, and shoot multiple passes
using motion control! Use a freaking robot arm, I don't mind! With enough ingenuity, there's
no limit to what crazy architecture your characters could walk up. Maybe even some sort of endless stairwell!
[Chuckling] Get out. Wall walking is such a simple,
elegant symbol for breaking the rules, an act that's not possible
but somehow feels it should be, a reminder that we still
don't fully understand the nature of one ever-present phenomenon, that it'll probably stay a cinematic
staple for years to come. The only question is... Wouldn't all this have been
better as an episode of VFXCool? ...Crap!
It's great that the cheap "use a friend" approach is created with himself as the friend, thus slightly one-upping the original poster.
The rotating set thingies look amazing
How can he reference so many wall-walking scenes yet leave out the greatest one ever?
Just turn your center of gravity... Why doesn't anyone else know this?
One of my favourite tilted room sketches:
Drunk Tilted Room Sketch
That explanation from Gaylan Fott of the Fred Astaire Royal Wedding dance he mentions
My uncle works creating sets in Hollywood. He said that for smaller budget films (when they can't afford to build a rotating set) they build a reinforced closed room instead. Then they pump out all the gravity from the room and use special magnetic wall studs to anchor the actors' magnetic shoes to specific parts of the walls. To the untrained eye the effect looks fairly realistic.
I'm always down for a quick D.
CD confirms Raimi-verse as the best spider-verse, as if we needed to hear it any more.