Storyboards and technical research

Here is an initial storyboard for my shot, although elements may change this is what I think might be realistically doable within the time, if I had an unlimited budget and timescale for example it would be nice to have an over the shoulder dolly shot of the tackling player's run up, however my equipment will not allow this.

I have some friends that play rugby and I plan to shoot during one of their training sessions, I'll probably take around 5-10 different shots so that I get a good range to choose from. The camera will be static throughout.

The idea is to create a spraying particle effect which mimics the colours of the player before the tackle and should make the tackle look almost explosive. I would like to use a super slo-mo effect on this shot, so I should end up with a longer shot than the storyboard may suggest.

One way of creating a super slo-mo effect without a camera that can take many thousands of frames per second is a plug in called Twixtor, this or other similar interpolation effects may well be the way forward for my project. The video below shows a test and how well the effect is achieved.

This tutorial shows you how to take a geometric object in Max and disintegrate it into particles, if the particles are textured well and given the right trajectory and lighting properties, this could work very well as a technique  for exploding the player.




Whilst I may be able to create the effect in Max, Autodesk Composite will be used to bring these elements together using alphas and masking techniques.

Initial inspirations and examples

Sports broadcasters and advertisers increasingly use special effects shots to highlight major sporting events or advertise during idents. These shots often try to capture the spirit of competition or the solidarity of fans.

STV Football Ident from Enry on Vimeo.

These shots often contain effects which seek to emulate the movement of a player and accentuate certain aspects of their movement to dramatic effect.

Super Sunday Titles 2008/09 from Justin Bates on Vimeo.

The world of sports advertising is obviously one of the most lucrative and prized, this means that the level of spending in this sector of the market is relatively high, this can be seen in the high production values of many VFX shots used in the industry, Justin Bates is one of the most successful 3D artists/Producers in this field and much of his work is instantly recognisable to any British sports fan. His show reel displays much of this sports work together with for ident work for Sky and advertisements for companies such as Tiger Beer.

Justin Bates Visual Effects Reel 2010 from Justin Bates on Vimeo.

Rugby events are one of the most heavily advertised in britain, and as guinness was the official sponsor of the English Union Premiership from 1987-2010, as well as other rugby tournaments such as the World Cup. Over this period many different visual effects compositions were created using a strong visual style and theme.

This one was a very character based approach and is entirely 3D, perhaps not what I would aim to produce but a nice animation.



I particularly like the use of slo-mo water in this one, and the way it is used to display movement and forces.



I really like this composition and the effect created. It looks like it may use some sort of particle system to animate the characters. The effect created here to emulate and accentuate movement appeals to me.

John Hayes: Guinness - Rugby 2007 from Smile on Vimeo.

This example is slightly simpler and shorter but still effective for the time its on screen. This seems to be created using a nicely animated sequence over a sped up and saturated shot of eye movement.

Guinness Commercial from Little Ease Films on Vimeo.