- That's very Men in Black. - Well maybe I make this look...
Good.
- Camera! - Jake!
- I love movies, and being able to step into the world of those movies.
is an incredible experience.
This is your last chance, you monster! Give me the galaxy!
- Cut! - We talk about this big menacing alien
that's about to kill us, and then we reveal that it's Rosanna Pansino,
who is probably the least threatening person that I know.
- Never! Like, I'm gonna take it back with me to my planet!
But I am an alien! And not a very friendly alien.
- With CYSTM, we're trying to recreate the scale and the scope of these movies,
it's not just with fancy cameras, or sets,
it's also by using visual and practical effects.
A practical effect is anything that's done physically on set
and then recorded by the camera,
so me being pulled back is a practical effect.
Any time you see a performer actually doing a physical stunt,
it adds just another layer of authenticity to it.
Woo!
(crew applauding)
So, I actually was scared. (laughing)
'Cause it was a little spooky. But it was fun.
- What are you doing? We gotta get out of here!
- And practical effects aren't just things like stunts or explosions,
you can also use geotextiles and latex moulds to create something like...
...an alien. - What's his name? - Geraldo.
Practical effects can only get you so far.
- What are you doing? We gotta get out of here!
The whole place is gonna explode! - This case for us,
we had to rely on visual effects to elevate the story that we were trying to tell.
But yeah, so right now we're going to do a wide shot.
It's a plate shot, 'cause I accidentally shoot her.
(indistinct chattering)
Just, wah! Bloop! Blow up!
Takes a lot of effort to pull off a visual effect.
It's not as easy as it might seem. To me, it's an art form.
It also requires a lot of planning and coordinating.
- The VFX are for blowing up, it's just going to be liquid.
- Visual effects are meaningless if you don't have great talent to work with them,
to make them feel alive. (sneezing)
Bless you. - That was for the bio? - Ah, yes.
Create a black hole, whoosh! And then we'll just have...
- Just the radiant energy.
Yeah, Jake was like, do you want to be in this short film I'm making?
And I was like, "Yeah!"
"You also have to teach science." And I was like...
How much does it weigh?
And here we are. (laughing)
- It's beneficial to be a DP and a visual effects artist
because I can visualize what the effects are gonna be before we shoot them,
and then while we're shooting, I have basically the concept of what the visual effects
is gonna be in my head. - Roll sound, please!
- Imagine a cloud of gas. And galaxies are massive.
- Virtual effects, they like to have practical lighting
to base their virtual effects lighting off of.
The Astera Titan Tubes, we've been using these almost every day.
They're wireless, bluetooth, battery powered.
We've been able to do fire effects.
The green glow when we were doing Ghostbusters...
- The last past of this episode required...
- Put your hands on your head!
- ... a lot of practical and visual effects
to bring Rosana Pansino's true form to life.
(intense music) - Ah...
- And also in this scene,
we got to have a little bit of fun
where she pulls her flesh off just like Edgar does in Men in Black.
(roaring)
- This sucks...
- To build Ro alien required a 3D model.
I added slime elements and different practical elements to make it look more realistic.
And to look like it's living in the scene, one of the ways we did that,
we had a 360 camera on set, and shot a 360 spherical image.
And when you put an object inside of it, it gives realistic lighting,
reflections, it makes it look like it lives in the scene.
- I'm about to get slimed! And be covered in purple slime.
As weird and foreign as it was for me
to act against a thing that isn't really there,
it paled in comparison to that purple slime.
Oh, this is just very cold.
- This is our alien stomach.
- Oh, it stinks.
- And it smells just as bad.
- Ready, Jake? - Ugh! Yeah. Okay.
- Action!
- Ugh! Why does this keep happening to me?
Alright! So obviously in Men and Black, and what just happened...
- Let's cut. - Hey, Jake.
- Yes? - How was it?
(laughing) - It was great!
I'm not sure why, but I feel that the crew had a really nice time
throwing slime on me. Maybe they were enjoying themselves a little too much.
- Action!
- Ugh! It's gross! It's so gross!
(laughing)
(intense music)
Cool. Pew pew!