[Multiple gun shots]
[Electric guitar playing]
[Niko:] Oh, hey, what's up again?
[Laughing]
Ugh, we've been working on this video for
like non-stop two weeks now
Most of our videos that we do with our brand intergrations
We have plenty of time to turn them around, well, not plenty - enough.
This PUBG video in particular; we have three weeks shooting it, to finishing it
We need to finish it early
We need to finish it in time to send off
The companies time to look at the video. Give us the thumbs up
That means being really on top of things and the only way we're gonna get this done
is to actually coordinate the entire studio
to work on this project, all at the same time.
I'm like a task manager, and this is a multi-core processor
and I'm trying to thinking out which tasks should go where and like
kind of thinking - if this task is going to take Clint three hours
and this task is going to take Adrian one hour, then...
how do I balance that out? How, what do I have Adrienne do for those next two hours?
It's been challenging
Doing these kind of video game videos is what I love doing. We're...
We're filmmakers that are very inspired by video games
and if...
If we fail at this, we like - if we can't get this done in time, the team can't work together
Not only doesn't mean that we're not cut out to do what we want to do
It also means that
this whole growing the studio, and growing the team thing
may not be...working out as well as we planned
but I don't think it's going to happen
The channel is not going to get deleted. But then, that, that's the thing
It's like, we need to prove ourselves in this project.
'Cos we're proving that as a team
We're gonna do good work and we're gonna do it fast and we're gonna do it good
I said that twice. I said good twice
Well!
[Laughs]
Carmichael, your'e correcting my grammar
[Laughs]
It's hard to focus on five different things. have you ever tried?
You only have two eyeballs, and they usually focus on one thing
[Laughs]
[Adrian:] Unfortunately...
we just don't have the same time that you do on a short film
where you might have like a week or two to do an entire color grid
I have a day and a half
What is color? What is color grading?
To me - it's the best part of the film making process
You basically have, like this bland looking thing
You're looking at something for so long. Looks so bland
Suddenly, putting on sunglasses that just saturate your image and it makes everything beautiful
Like, imagine seeing everything black and white your whole life and then something just putting on glasses
and everything just becomes...
colorful
That- that to me is what color is
It can create tone, mood....
You can create a unique look. You can use color as a storytelling device
Going into Da Vinci - building a LUT
Going back into Premiere - creating an adjustment layer
bringing in that LUT that you just created, onto the adjustment layer.
Locking that layer and then going into individual clips to
tweak certain exposures. Change the ISO - 'cos we're still working with like the raw files
Is this the only way, or even the right way to do color correction?
Definitely not
But is it a quick way? And is it an efficient way?
I would say so.
[Clint:] But I'm just
I'm not one thing. It's a form of self-care
resting, relaxing, stretching
yoga, rock climbing
I like to go home and just rest on a block
and it stretches my back out
I like therapy balls that I'll rest my neck on
I mean, this is why I have a standing desk
I like to get massages a lot. I like to go the spa a lot
I like Wi Spa
I go to Wi Spa a lot
Wi Spa's in K-town
It's a four-story 24-hour spa. It's the best -
Manicures, pedicures, body scrub, facials, like all that good stuff
Have a hot tub. They have a super hot tub
They have a cold pool
Ones much hotter
Well I call it the soup
Can I ride this real quick?
[Off screen - Wren:] Uh, yeah. Why not
[Clint:] Is your batt--
[Wren:] So here's the battery. This things fast dude
[Laughing]
What was that sound?
[Clint:] This is insane!
You're not doing a good job of steering this
[Incomprehensible]
[Laughing]
What! Dude! You're going to spill all over me!
[Wren:] Dude, try the pot pies. They're great
[Clint:] Ugh...
[Background music]
[Wren:] Stand up
[Laughing]
[Clint:] Jeez!
[Clint groaning]
I'm gonna do one more solo run
[Background music]
[Electric motor whirring]
[Clint:] Oh, jeez!
[Laughing]
[Wren:] Ah!
What are you--
You flipped the board and it flipped the direction?!
[Electric motor whirring]
[Crashing]
[Laughing]
[Glass jar rattling]
[Adrian:] I will-- I will seriously get a picture if you try it
[Clint:] Three. Two. One. Go
Ugh
[Wren:] Oh my God. This is a thing!
What is this?!
What?!
[Off screen Carmichael:] Dude, there is a pillar coming
[Laughing]
[Grunting]
[Laughing]
[Skateboard rolling]
[Off camera Carmichael:] Woah. Woah!
[Laughing]
[Drill running]
[Clint:] Dude that was so--
[Off camera Carmichael:] Dude, I love your--
Where'd you get your 'T' from?
[Wren:] Mine?
[Off screen Carmichael:] Gotcha
[Laughing]
But seriously, your shirts covered in dirt
So you're not being-- you're not that stressed out right now?
[Clint:] No, we're gonna make our-- we're gonna make our time
Yeah, we're gonna make it
Well, three hours left in the day
One day left on top of today
I have...seven more shots to get...
...to...
a work-in-progress levelled out to Kevin - who's doing our sound
so he knows where to put gunshots and
Bullet hits and whatnot
That's for sound
A VFX sound pass. I'm thinking about hitting all the things that would
require sound
It has the gunshots. It has the muzzle flashes, right? It has the bullet hits
Not even rotoscoping
Not even like, touching up anything. Some-- some people go
as quick as doing little squares in any corner of the frame or a square on the gun
One frame in Premiere just to get it out to sound. You know?
You don't even need to do all this. For me. It's fine
Do this anyway
We all do a lot of different stuff
It's easy for us to get the VFX halfway there and send it to Kevin
and it works
[Off screen Carmichael:] A stylist?
Over a mouse?
[Clint:] Well besides the fact that it saves your wrist from deteriorating
Uhm...
That's the main benefit
The other benefit is uhm...
I find it faster
[Niko:] Gun visual effects, Hollywood still sucks at
I feel like It's because and really the key to doing a good gun effect is to just go out there and shoot guns
be familiar with how they work, and I don't think a lot of visual effects artists do that
I'm sure some do, but the ones that do the gun effects certainly aren't
[Laughs]
While there's people out there who are amazing at visual effects, far better than I am
I can safely say, that Sam and myself, are the best
at gun visual effects.
This is pure confidence guys
What's there between confidence and arrogance?
[Off screen Carmichael:] Backing it up?
[Niko:] Backing it up
[Laughing]
Hey, what's the difference between confidence and arrogance?
[Wren:] Proof
[Niko:] Sounds like Carmichael's confident
Sam what's the difference between confidence and arrogance?
[Sam:] Results!
[Triumphant grunt]
[Wren:] We're not talking, like, specifically muzzle flash
You're talking like the gun hits and like ground hits--
[Niko:] The whole thing
[Wren:] I've been learning from these guys for that
[Niko:] Me and Sam
[Wren:] Gun effects, yeah
[Niko:] Are the best at gun effects
[Wren:] I'd agree with that, yeah
[Sam:] Although
I really, I would caution you against saying that or posting anything
of you saying that in this video what that's going to do
Is going to bring extreme scrutiny for the VFX in this video
which I do personally believe
are not actually at a class level
It's not because of a skill thing, but it's because of a time constraint
the actual gun effects in the PUBG video
Just 'coz-- not saying they're bad
I look at them and I'm like
if you really wanted to go... "ah"
like if that extra-- like, it's missing that
[Off screen Carmichael:] What would you do to get that--
"Ah"
[Sam:] Well
The cloudy blood hits are cool. But I think they're too circa 2011
The cloudy blood hit thing that was...beat that to death
There's so many other ways to do squibs. You do the chunky ones
You do the little...little pieces. Stuff like that
Decals. The lasting effect of the environment--
[Niko:] When you're worrying about, like decals and both bullet holes and blood
It's about all the stuff that requires extensive 3D tracking, and like masking and stuff like that
Which Sam's right
We don't have the time to do on this project
But really the true like, outside of like decals which
Play this. Like the true...
Effect of guns working well, comes from the impact they make
[Sam:] That impact happens here on the body not on the gun
[Niko:] It happens on both ends. The gun is the tool...
...throwing a piece of metal at Mach 2 and
Then the rock, or the body, or whatever that is hitting
is a thing that's receiving the impact
[Sam:] So are you watching the gun being shot?
Or are you watching the stunt guy do the crazy backflip as he falls down from the gunfire?
[Niko:] Well both because you have a shot at one and you cut to the shot of the next
[Sam:] But when you only got one eye that looks that way at the gun
then that way at the guy
[Niko:] Well no, it's editing
[Laughing]
[Sam:] I am playing devil's advocate a little bit
Does anyone get head-shot at, in this video yet?
[Niko:] No
[Wren:] The effects have to be done by the end of today and we've got...
not enough time
[Sam:] I can do a million VFX shots in like a minute
[Niko:] Sam's not kidding
[Laughing]
[Sam:] I will do it
I'll do a VFX shot
I'll do gun-- one gunshot.
Is there one that isn't done I can do?
[Niko:] Yeah. Ask Clint
[Sam:] Hey Clint!
I have like 15 minutes to do a VFX shot, 'coz have to head out a little early today
Um...
What shot should I do?
I want to do like a really-- really like...ugh!..
Shot. Like a woah!
[Clint:] I stood by Jake with a pistol over the rock.
[Sam:] Okay, cool. Great. I'll do it. Uhm...
So I need to...
[Clint:] Let's see if it's a head shot though,
'coz you're looking for a head shot right?
[Sam:] I'll make it a head shot
[Off camera Carmichael:] So, supposedly he's done.
With the whole shot
[Niko:] Who is...Sam? What, already?
No way
I call shenanigans.
[Wren:] Here's the thing
Sam is really good at effects, and he's
faster than anyone I know
but he brings it to like, 80%
[Niko:] Oooh!
(Yelling from background) Damn!
[Wren:] I don't-- I don't want to be mean. Sam's very good at effects
I wanted to clarify that
That's what I've got going into this
I've got strict glasses on
[Sam:] --classic RSMB issue you know
[Clint:] Where does the jank thing?
[Sam:] Where you get your jank...
...hank...
...going.
[Niko:] I see it
[Sam:] It's fucking blasphemous straight in the head--
[Wren:] Ok that's pretty good
Not gonna lie Sam I came in here with like, doubts
being like, you only spent 15 minutes on this shot
I don't know how it's gonna look
and it's pretty solid
[Sam:] Thanks. I really appreciate that
[Wren:] Dude Red Giant--
[Sam:] Red Giant they got it all
they got all the best plugins
[Niko:] Tell you guys a seceret
I haven't done
visual effects. Well specifically gun visual effects
for like, over two years now
Ever since Wren joined
He's really alleviated a lot of the work off my plate
But it's time to come back
time to come out of retirement
for this shot right here
[Mouthing gun noises]
And I want to tell you some of the tips and tricks
and secrets to making this stuff look good
You'll notice in this shot
There's bullet hits that seem to have shading on them. They're casting shadows
They feel like they're connected to the environment
And if you've ever tried doing some these effects yourself - probably wondered why
when you start out, it doesn't look so good
You probably make your background footage. Drop it in
and you grab one of your ground hit elements that maybe you get from drop that in
Action VFX or Action Essentials
You drop that in. Oh, it needs transparency
So you put it on the screen mode or something
and you got yourself, cool bullet hit
and it looks really fake
Ehh...
Right?
Even if it's motion tracked
It doesn't look like it's supposed to be there, does it?
so I'm gonna show you a secret to gun effects and what I do to make this stuff look good.
What I do to make it feel like it's part of the scene
Even if you're not doing visual effects, interesting to see how people create reality and bend reality with their shot
It's like watching a painter sit down and paint a photo-real painting
So at the end of the day when it comes to making good visual effects. It's the same dicipline
You're going to be inventing something
with your tools and with your mind that looks real
so you need to know about real life and how to represent it and make it look real
If you can draw a good picture. If you can paint a nice picture
You can definitely do visual effects
First things first. I'll talk about these bullet hits here coming off this rock
So there's a lot of things you want to think about when making a bullet hit look good
You need a good element that you're going to drop in
Some of the best ones are either from Action Essentials
But they're really kind of old by now and used by everybody
Or action VFX. Which is a
VFX stock footage company based in the UK and they're really putting on some really solid stuff
Once you drop the stuff in it's going to need work to make it look good
Here's some of the things to think about
lets say you just have your footage. Your background footage here and you drop in an element
In this case, I'm gonna grab the element. "Wall side hits 3"
Boom. It's in
Now, I did some motion tracking here. You can track points in After Effects.
Or you can track little areas in Mocha
It's not very hard to track a point in a scene
So if you're going to have a bullet hit or an impact in your scene, need to track the point where it's going to hit
So it sticks there if your cameras moving. Basic stuff
But one of the first steps to making things look like the part of the environment
Secondly you have your element in there
It doesn't look real. It's in there right now
It's just like-- it looks like a piece of footage pasted on top. We got to start making it look real
In drawing, they talked about making a drawing on a piece of paper
You're connecting it to the page
and you connect something to the page with a shadow
So anytime you add elements, and you really want to feel like it's connected to the environment
You need to add a shadow
There we go. Suddenly. It feels like this dust hit, is actually there on top of the rock
It looks pretty solid. But you know what
still kind of flat. Like look at the dirt all around us here
There's all these different tonalities
there's lighting coming from a certain direction
and this dust hit, just it's kind of one color
even though it has some depth to it now there's a shadow there
It's just not reading. I'm gonna add another element. It's from the same pack
So I'm going to add "Wall side hit 11"
Wow
Here's the thing. So this element I added behind the other one
It's a slightly different color. It didn't come that way
I made it that way. You have basic ways to adjust your color
I just use hue and saturation, and I also added some levels to thicken
The effect. Because I didn't do levels on the color channels
I did levels on the Alpha channels
You can treat your alpha channels like a black and white image and increase the contrast
decrease the contrast. Brighten it, darken it. And it will affect your transparency accordingly
Now these two elements, layered together, feel a little bit more robust
It feels a little bit less--
Like I just pasted a piece of footage on my shot and like I'm actually getting an element crafted for the shot
But you know what? It's still super flat. So this is my number one secret
This is the thing that I teach everybody when they come into Corridor and they start doing gun effects
I duplicate it again, and I draw a mass around
half of it, from the direction the light is coming from
and if I want to, I can also brighten it a little bit
This little trick of just duplicating it and masking it gives it volume and gives it shape
it actually starts making it look like it's being shaded from the light
and this is where a little bit of that drawing and painting like, know-how comes into play
So you think about like drawing a sphere on a piece of paper and you give it a light direction
Oh, I'm gonna put the shadow over here. I'm gonna shade the sphere here
It's the same thing from these elements. You need to think about them existing in this world
Is this element be lit by the sun?
Yeah, probably - it's out there under the Sun
[Laughs]
Which direction would it be lit from? What would the colors be like?
How bright would it be?
Not done yet. That little shading a bit looks great, until the smoke starts thinning out
'Cos once those-- the dust gets thinner, it shouldn't really be picking up a thick
Volumetric kind of look. So I just simply framed transparency
Starts at 100 goes down to about 20% and sits that through the rest of the shot. Nice
This dark element behind it, that kind of needed shadow too. So I added one of those as well
and to add a shadow...it's pretty simple
All I did to add a shadow, was take my element
duplicate it, blur it. Oh and I put on multiply
Now, shadows in real life could be different colors depending on the color of your ambient light
This case, I did just a slight shift back towards...
purplish oranges. Because blue sky tends to make your shadows blue
Or you can always look at the shadows in your scene - the real shadows, for a reference
All that together, pretty much makes it look like this...hit is part of the shot
there's one last thing I did
Last little bit of magic here is...
A little bit of a bullet hit...right there
I added some camera shake, actually as a second pass
For when the hit happens
Which helps make it feel like it's part of the scene. It also hides all my small mistakes
[Laughs]
A good VFX artist is always looking to the elements in their scene that are real
for reference to make sure your colors match
These elements will give you really good looking bullet impacts
If you can
Hit all those check marks and hit all those boxes. Turn everything back on here...
[Multiple gun shots]
[Character:] Sam!