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It’s funny – we’ve all gotten so used to seeing computer generated special effects, we’re often stumped by some of the oldest tricks in the book. When people see this video, most assume the floating feather effect was achieved using computers. Of course it was, but not the way they think.
I made this video last year in a workshop with a small group of kids. When we decided to adapt this scene from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (or Philosopher’s Stone, for you Brits), we started down that same familiar path… We thought blue or green screen, CG feather…
Then, convinced there had to be a simpler way to achieve the floating feather effect, we started thinking about strings. Invisible strings. Fishing line, whatever. This didn’t work. Feathers make lousy marionettes.
And then – in a flash – it hit us…
All we needed to do was videotape the falling feather and play it backwards.
Oh, sure it seems obvious now. You look at the video and you think, of course that’s how they did it. How else?
There were a few things to consider, though. Our actors had to act in reverse as well! They had to look surprised (or smug, in Hermione’s case) before we dropped the feather. And we can tell you, acting in reverse is not so easy!
Also, we had to do many takes, because the free-falling feather had to land precisely where it was supposed to have been resting before Hermione cast her spell. Feathers do not take direction well.
In addition to reversing the feather’s descent, we slowed it down – just slightly. Just enough to make the feather’s ascent last a little longer. The scene went so quickly as it was, the audience didn’t have enough time to marvel at our onscreen “miracle.”
Also, notice the editing of the scene, which was cut to elongate the effect. You actually see a couple of different takes of the feather drop. And what you do see doesn’t last very long. You really only see the feather rising for about two seconds. For most of that sequence, we’re watching the kids watch the feather.
We used iMovie HD to run the clip backwards but the effect shouldn’t be too difficult in just about any basic video editing application. In iMovie HD, simply highlight your clip on the timeline, and then click Editing. Click Video FX, and then click Fast/Slow/Reverse. Select the Reverse direction check box and click Apply.
And that’s it. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most effective.
We didn’t think THAT hard about what to do. You thought of it right off the bat.
That’s how it looked to you. I pondered for at least a few seconds before I thought of it (outside of class).
This isn’t really a ‘film effect’ is it?.
When I was a child growing up in the 1960′s-70′s and even in film school in the ’80′s we relied on ‘in-camera’ tricks to accomplish effects such as this.
When I was 15 a friend & I shot an 8mm x 100′ short for a local Vancouver amature festival and needed a similar effect.
We first shot the ‘master’ of my friend circling with his magic finger, then back-wound the 8mm in my Bolex & turning the camera up side down shot a key lite pensil floating to the ground against a black b.g.
Obviously it was more time consuming and not as precise as using software. We had to acc.framing, light meter reading, etc. but it worked great & software wasnt invented at the time!
and has the same effect with half the t.