| Magazine > 2008 > July - August > A sneak peek at the DIGITAL JUICE VISUAL FX ELEMENTS LIBRARY |
A sneak peek at the DIGITAL JUICE VISUAL FX ELEMENTS LIBRARY
by Chuck Peters
You already know that Digital Juice offers great graphics, magnificent music, super sound effects and stellar stock footage, but you may not be aware of some of the powerful products that we have in development. Juice has always been an innovator in royalty-free content development, and we're constantly looking to offer new never-before-available types of content to editors and graphic designers. Right now we're deep in production on a new line of high definition video elements that will make a BIG impact on the production world. I'm talking about a collection of ultra high-res (2k), ultra high-speed video elements designed to meet the needs and demands of visual effects artists, motion graphics designers, compositors, and video editors. We call them Visual FX Elements, and they're going to blow you away (some of them literally)! This article will introduce you to the product and give you a sneak peek at the project.
THE PRODUCT
Paint and smoke effects from upcoming volumes in the Digital Juice Visual FX Elements Library.
The Visual FX Elements product line is designed to provide high quality organic elements to visual effects artists and editors for use as components in composites. Visual FX Elements are specially produced video clips, shot at the highest possible resolution (2048x1536) and high frame rates (typically 200-700fps). While they look cool on their own, most of the clips aren't meant to be used as shot, but as layers in effects comps or motion graphics designs. The current plan is to produce 10-15 thematic volumes of elements like smoke, particles, fire flashes, water, paint, ink & cloud chamber, and fabrics among other things. Eight volumes are nearly complete at the time of this writing, and the team is producing about a volume per week. While final packaging decisions haven't been made, customers can expect each volume to contain 10-15 clips at a price point you have come to expect from Digital Juice.
Milk and ink effects were shot in 100-gallon water tanks.
Fire flashes and particle explosions shot for one of the upcoming Digital Juice Visual FX Elements volumes.
THE JOB
Creative Director, Perry Jenkins and Producer/Editor Charlie Burket check the lighting and setup for their next shot on one of the Visual FX sets.
To be clear: this isn't a product that's being created "for Digital Juice" or "under Digital Juice's supervision." The job isn't being farmed out. It's 100% Juice, including the design and rigging all of the effects. We saw the need, came up with the concept, spec'd the elements that we thought the package would need, then we counted the cost and decided to do it. We bought the equipment, and we pushed aside our DJTV sets so we could reconfigure our studio and we started shooting.
- Built, used, and disassembled an elevated 500+ gallon water stage
- Designed and built a recycling rain machine (using garden hose and 2x4's)
- Made their own blood squibs and breakable candy glass panes
- Blasted baby powder through industrial leaf blowers
- Dumped countless gallons of milk and ink into gigantic fish tanks
- Ironed hundreds of yards of fabric and
- Blasted, blown and burned everything from mashed potato flakes and coffee creamer to WD-40
Since then the team has:
Sound like fun? In a lot of ways it is. But it's hard work too. And because of the big investment in resources (including equipment, talent and time), there's a lot of pressure on the team to make it great, and to make it fast.
THE CAMERA
You can't shoot a product like this with just any camera. Until now it hasn't been possible or practical for anyone to create a collection like this. We had to find an entirely new acquisition system for the project. After considering several options, including 35mm film (which turned out to be too slow and too costly), we decided that the high speed Phantom HD camera from Vision Research would provide the best combination of quality and workflow. We bought the Phantom and it's in use in our studio every day.
Producer/Editor Charlie Burket on-set with the high-speed Phantom HD camera.
Calling the Phantom a high-performance production tool is an understatement. It delivers film-like depth of field and ultrahigh frame rates. It records at 2K (2048x1536), with a maximum resolution of 2048x2048, and shoots HD at frame rates up to 1000fps (adjustable in singleframe increments), and it's capable of shutter speeds as fast as two microseconds (1/500,000 second).
With 14-bit sensor depth (42-bit color), 11-stop dynamic range, approximately ISO 640, 35mm depth-of-field, and complete compatibility with 35mm accessories, the Phantom HD is more accurately described as a digital film camera than a video camera. Working with new technology has its challenges. We've had to return the camera for repairs or upgrades at least twice. There's not even a written users manual for the Phantom. The team just had to figure it out. Fortunately, our team is strong.
THE CREW
The Digital Juice Visual FX team: Producer/Editor Charlie Burket (far left), Creative Director Perry Jenkins (front center),Visual FX Supervisor Sean Mullen (far right), and Technical Specialist Mike Mullings (back).
The project is being led by Juice Creative Director, Perry Jenkins and Sean Mullen, Digital Juice's Visual FX Supervisor under the supervision of DJ President, Viv Beason. Filling another key role on the set is Producer/Editor, Charlie Burket. While there are as many as six people on set at times, Perry, Sean and Charlie are the core of the crew. Charlie and Perry both have experience in film production. That's a big benefit because the project uses film-style lighting and lens setups and a film-style workflow.
Adding Sean Mullen to the team was a huge step in making this project a reality. Sean spent 10 years in LA as a visual effects supervisor and artist on a number of big effects-driven movies and a few TV shows that you may have heard of -- Charmed, Ally McBeal, Nip/Tuck, Six Feet Under and Alias, to name a few. His knowledge and experience make him a huge source of inspiration on the project. With Perry and Charlie controlling things on the set and Sean scrutinizing each shot from a nearby computer, the project is in the hands of a talented and trustworthy team that's committed to creating a world-class collection.
THE BEGINNING
The release of this exciting collection of 2k elements will mark the beginning of a new era in video production. An era in which the very best production elements will be available—for the first time ever—to every producer at every level. We're excited to offer these elements to the industry and we can't wait to see how you (our customers) will put them to use in your productions. So get ready, Digital Juice's Visual FX Elements collection is coming soon!
Chuck Peters is VP of Production at Kidmo/Rivet Productions in Nashville, TN and is an Emmy Award Winning writer/producer.
