Welcome back to the latest installment of The Ask, where I share with you how Gaffers/DPs or Designers asked for an effect and then share with you my answer. If you haven’t already read the setup blog, take a moment to read the post previous to this one. It’s one of the funnest requests I’ve ever gotten.
As a quick reminder, I had been told the Coyote gets caught in the microwave and then asked simply to “make an effect”. Not a lot to go on. For me, this request is more about the thought process and less about the actual effect, but I’ll give you both.
The moment after I got the request, my brain raced to think through a way to view the problem creatively. Here is my thought process as someone who watched every Warner Brothers cartoons many times.
What do we know about the Coyote? He’s been broken or blown up in every way possible.
As the child of a medical professional (thanks, Mom!) I decided we should expect that there is some metal in his bones after being put back together many times.
As a child, I once accidentally put a bowl with a tiny piece of metal in it (sorry, Mom!) and fortunately saw my mistake before things could go too far. (If you’ve never seen metal in a microwave, look it up on YouTube.) But the overall image is sparks and glowing metal that happens really fast.
So I whipped up an effect using this wave form:
This gave the chaotic, explosive quality I was looking for. I think we settled on about 4000k since we were shooting with 4300 1/4 green with most of the other lights. I showed it to Jay (the gaffer) and he liked it so we showed it to Brandon (the DP) and he did too. We filmed the scene a few times and moved on.
Over time, as I teach, I often mention this effect as an example of how Programming is a service. Sometimes you do exactly what you are told and other times you provide creative solutions. One class asked if they could do the effect themselves and the results were pretty great. Special shout out to Chris Cotone, whose effect literally made me laugh out loud.
I hope you enjoyed this little exercise and got some insights that may help you approach fun creative puzzles that get presented to you in your work. I adore moments like this, so if you have fun requests for effects you’ve had, I’d love to see them in the comments!
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Mark LaPierre is a programmer in film, television and theater based out of Albuquerque. He grew up in live entertainment and has been a designer/programmer for musicals, concert dance, live music, circus and corporate. Mark is a proud member of IATSE Local 28 and 480, an ETC Eos trainer and an enthusiastic trainer of many other platforms and subjects. He offers remote console coaching in 30 minute to 4 hour times as well as a full range of training in person. If you enjoy his content, please consider commenting on his posts on the website to appease the Algorithm.