(Actor Diaries) Halo JUMP: Godzilla Re Creation - Me Jumping out of a plane! (WATCH NOW)
Hey Steemies! So I starred in an AMAZING short VFX masterpiece recently which attempted to recreate a scene from the most recent Godzilla film where a bunch of soldiers jump out of a plane in to a city under siege from the beast-mother herself. At least thats what I assume is going on, I havn't actually seen the film we based this on!
Considering we didn't have the millions of dollars at our disposal that the big studios have, I think the teams did an INCREDIBLE job! (Im not going to post it here, because its not my work, but if you feel inspired then just search Halo Jump scene Godzilla ad you can watch the real scene to see how close we managed to match our version!)
Anyway, I know most of you aren't used to seeing me doing ANYTHING serious so try not to be alarmed. Theres no dialogue in it so its mostly just me trying to look soldiery (not exactly a natural fit for me!)
CHECK IT OUT:
WOAH! Its almost as if I actually joined the US Army and then jumped out of a plane in to an apocalypse! Not especially likely to happen anytime soon.....but thats what makes being an actor so exciting! I get to do some really cool stuff sometimes, and although I didn't actually jump out of a plane, I did get to hang out in one at the RAF base in Birmingham all day!
Heres the Behind the Scenes Footage so you can get a glimpse of what was really going on:
This video doesn't really quite convey what RIDICULOUSLY hard work it was on that second day in the studio.... for one I had to wear that wooden body board UNDERNEATH my clothes all day so I couldn't actually sit down at ALL, it was really heavy and I was melting like an ice lolly in an oven under all those layers. I couldn't go to the loo without having a long and frustrating process in which 2 people would have to undress me and redress me afterwards so I was trying hard not to drink any liquids, despite the fact that I was basically having to perform hours of intense core workouts while floundering around on a box or being hoisted in to the air. At one stage my legs were hoisted right in to the air above my head and I was doing a rocket man pose with my legs and arms up behind me, to make it look like I was shooting down through the air. The wooden board was throttling me and Im not even gong to describe what was happening at the other end.....
Jonathan Jones is an incredible Emmy Award winning Cinematographer for his work on Planet Earth and he is VERY particular about his lighting set ups and how he frames his shots. We were shooting the same scenes OVER and OVER again so it really was exhausting! But so rewarding to see this final result!Although Im not sure if that damned rocket pose was even used in the end! haha....thats just the way it goes!
Anyway, enough of that waffle. Heres me looking cool on set:
(you can see where it looks like Ive done something VERY strange to my knee.... thats the wooden body board sticking through my trousers!)
and heres me just casually falling through the sky like a total pro:
Well I hope you enjoyed seeing this! It is always a lovely treat when a finished project like this pops up on my facebook timeline.... I will be sharing some more of the projects I have been involved in so keep an eye out.
Also you can visit the hitfilm website https://hitfilm.com/#jump-to-hitfilm-studio where you can download the express version of their 2 in1 FILM EDITING and VFX COMPOSITING software for FREE and then learn to make the Halo Jump film that you just watched with their masterclass tutorials! Just think.... You could be downloading my face and making me jump out of a plane ALL BY YOURSELF in no time at all! Pretty cool right?
Lots of love to you all you legendary Steembrigade
Be good to each other!
xBasil
The video looks so real, however I enjoyed behind the scene, even more.
One silly question, why recreating a scene from popular movies, just eager to know ☺
good question! The company FXHOME who developed The Hitfilm Software wanted to re create this scene because its very highly regarded due to the fact that the camera appears to follow the divers out of the plane. They also wanted to appeal directly to fans of the Godzilla movie and perhaps especially fans of Gareth Edwards who directed it. He came to fame by making the feature film Monsters for something like only $10,000 and it made millions at the box office. So he's a bit of a hero for lots of aspiring film makers and vfx artists who are trying to work on a budget. The actual purpose of the video now is to be used for tutorials so that the users of Hitfilm can practise doing Hollywood style effects on really exciting high quality footage!
I had the exact same question after watching this :)
Very cool! What a fun job you have! :)
hehe. it is really fun although technically it isn't my job because I only get a handful of paid jobs per year. Its more like an exciting hobby that helps me sure my acting bug :)
Well done mister bit-time hot-shot protagonist! I really like the shot of you getting all pumped for the jump. Also really enjoyed the behind the scenes video, very pro, and seems like such fun!
Cant appreciate enough how awesome it is that you are writing original songs for the openmic all while doing all these badass acting gigs!
haha! Im actually 'resting between jobs' at the moment so its not as hard to find the time! Winter in England is not so attractive for independent film makers....so unless your are REALLY trying to be a part of the jobbing actor industry (which I am most certainly not!) then its a pretty slow season.....although I have an interesting project lined up for February which I'll be sure to let you all know about when Im allowed :)