One of Syfy’s newest shows is Warehouse 13, a somewhat X-Files show where the two main characters go out in search of a new rare artifact each week, and mischief and mayhem follows. With any show like this, the VFX play a major part and for Warehouse 13, Keyframe Digital got the job. Film & Video sits down with the co-founders of KeyFrame Digital, Clint Green and Darren Cranford, to talk about some of the effects they’ve made for the show.
DC: This is the Tesla Gun. When she pulls the trigger, it takes a few seconds for the tubes inside to warm up. Once it charges, it disperses not just Ghostbuster electricity, but a plasma ball that shoots out with electricity behind it, hits the person, and knocks them back with a ball of electricity and smoke. So that’s part 2D and part 3D. We make a 3D electrical ball that shoots out and wraps around the character, and then paint out one side of the ball so that it looks like it’s on both sides of the character, and then use that 3D ball to make distortions on the background. And then we enhance it with a little bit of an electricity hit in 2D and a little bit of 2D smoke or 3D smoke, depending on the needs. If he falls back in a certain way, we want the smoke to trail the proper way, so we’ll use our particle system, FumeFX. Depending on the particle effect, we might even use another program, Frantic Films Krakatoa.
via Keyframe Digital Fills a VFX Warehouse for Syfy | Film & Video.
