Stull: Effects First

I knew it was going to take a long time to edit Stull. But I didn't think this far out I would still be working on the same one shot.

Admittedly, this is the climax of the short film, and a reasonably complicated effects shot. My goal was to capture the plates I needed at full resolution and ship those off to the guy who is doing the effect. And then I thought, well, he won't know what I want unless I do a mock-up.

So I've been doing a mock-up. For a long time. And it doesn't even look good.

When I'm finished with it, though, it should have the timing I think I want. I won't know the exact timing I need on it until I do the whole cut. Talk about a chicken-egg situation.

Hopefully I'm saving time and trouble by putting the chicken before the egg, or the cart before the horse, or the effect shot before the film. I output a short clip to show you what I'm talking about: stulltest01.mov (See Update #2, below.)

Warning: It's a bit of a SPOILER, if you don't already know how the story ends. Do not be alarmed by just how bad my special effects work is. That's why I'm having a professional do the real thing.

P.S. A photo gallery from the shoot is on it's way. I just have to upload all the pictures I've been sent.

UPDATE #1: Well, the gallery is done.
UPDATE #2: Still working on the rough version of the effects shot. Here is a later progression.