Special Effects Technician by Matt Mullins

Author:Matt Mullins
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781610801423
Publisher: Cherry Lake Publishing

CHAPTER THREE

BECOMING A SPECIAL EFFECTS TECHNICIAN

If you would like to create special effects someday, you can start by watching a lot of movies! The next thing you should do is borrow a camera and make movies of your own. Try out effects. Get an idea of how movies are made.

You don’t have to study special effects in college. Instead, study something else that you enjoy. Do you like to build things or take things apart? Take classes in mechanical engineering and physics. Maybe you like to draw. Take art classes, animation classes, and design classes. Take theater classes and learn to do makeup. You can also learn to build sets or work with lights.

Learn to use computers well. Play with photo and moviemaking software. Do whatever you enjoy, but keep moviemaking in mind. Special effects technicians work with many different materials. Some do makeup and prosthetics. Some create robotic devices. Others edit photography or design characters on their computers. All of them work with computers.

Learn to notice and solve problems. Study how things move and look in the real world. Try to figure out how moviemakers created the effects in your favorite movies. Watch the special features on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs that take you behind the scenes.

One of the exciting things about making movies is that you can explore anything you are interested in. Emberly created skeleton-like mummies for The Mummy. She remembers how she placed the creepy-looking creatures in scenes with live actors. “It fit really nicely together,” she explained. “I was really intrigued by the possibilities.”

That’s what led her to work more with motion capture. She founded a brand-new visual effects company. If you study what interests you and learn a variety of skills, you could work some movie magic of your own!

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