Plan and design physical special effects
Overview
This Standard is about your ability to plan and design physical special effects. It will involve creating and developing an effect, knowing which materials are the most appropriate and communicating the necessary information to production. You will need to work in collaboration with a range of production departments in order to design the effect and plan for its implementation. You will also need to work in collaboration with your team and any third party such as private fire crews, so as to ensure the safe, accurate and effective execution of effects. This Standard is for you if you research, design and plan physical special effects.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
design physical special effects that meet the brief and budget and
schedule constraints
- work in collaboration with other departments and other key
personnel when designing and planning physical special effects
- prepare and present design specifications for physical special
effects in expected formats,
- ensure all aspects of designs and their implementation meet
health and safety standards and legislation
- provide required documents on safety precautions to relevant
organisations
- assess the risks involved and assign appropriate precautions to
combat them
- provide advice and guidance to production at appropriate times
and in relevant formats on all aspects of health and safety for
effects
- confirm that designs incorporate all key aspects of effects,
including mechanics, chemicals and materials to be used
- liaise with prop and material manufacturers to ensure all parts are
appropriate for intended effects
- ensure that necessary approvals have been sought and confirmed
by production
- ensure that any testing is conducted in line with safety standards
and recorded in appropriate documentation
- record all aspects of risk assessment and risk management in
required formats, providing documentation to others when
required
- suggest and provide alternatives designs, within budget and
schedule, when original ones cannot be employed
- communicate all aspects of designs to relevant people on your
team and the production
- employ competent crew with relevant skills and experience for the
job
- provide documentation and instructions in sufficient detail for team
members to produce effects
- ensure that locations will be returned to a safe state once physical
special effects have been executed
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
how to research and plan required elements and materials for
designs
- how to assess what will be required in terms of materials to create
effects, how they will impact on effects and the rationale for their
use
- the mechanics of desired effects and how to recreate them in a
convincing manner that meets safety legislation
- how to simplify the physical special effects process so that it is
film friendly
- different camera formats and technical specifications available
including different lenses, formats, framing principles and ratios,
mounts, angles of shots, depth of field, principles of perspectives
and scale limitations
- the current legislation and parameters for using physical special
effects on a production
- the productions legal requirements and policies, including health
and safety, insurances, budgets and schedules and how these
affect physical special effects
- measures to put in place to ensure safe, accurate ahd effective
execution of effects
how to fabricate and implement action props and materials
how to use inanimate and articulated dummies and the mechanics
involved in using these
- how to create models and scale up and down from existing
elements
- how to use photographic projections, methods of scaling, digital
scanning, printing and rapid prototyping, materials and processes
- the benefits of assessing locations where possible prior to
implementation
- the challenges of testing effects in workshop conditions and how
this can be replicated in both studio and location settings
- how stunt performers work and the safety parameters they must
operate within
- the hierarchy of production and who needs to be passed
information and at which stage of the design process
- timetable, budget, schedule, constraints and planning of both your
department and the needs of other departments
- the process to follow to gain approval for physical special effects
work during production
- how to employ competent individuals or third party specialists to
work collaboratively within a team
- what can be achieved by post production and visual effects for the
effect required