Cinefex Blog: What’s the best visual effect of them all? Which camera trick brings everything together to make a perfect whole – conceptual elegance, technical expertise, editorial sleight of hand, dramatic performance? Which cinematic illusion wins the grand VFX prize? My answer may split opinion.
It’s the twinning effect.
2 comments:
I think this is one of the most incredible things happening in film and television. I commented on the article about Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black a few weeks ago, and the detail of the process they go through is totally insane and very cool. When I was young and watching the Parent Trap, I remember being totally blown away by the fact that there was actually only one actress playing the twins. It has always been one of the most amazing feats in my mind, and I think it's an incredible challenge for a group of people to take on. Not only is it incredibly difficult for an actress to take on several roles (which I totally understand having done similar activities in high school), but it is a huge filming challenge, obviously. It also makes the casting of the show more difficult, because the team needs a stand-in for the actress to interact with before her "twin" is put in. Obviously there are more hours involved, more specialized filmmakers, etc...It just makes things very difficult so I have a lot of respect for the people who make it happen.
I think the refining of the twining effect, which has become popular in television and movies, is a truly interesting and amazing feat. While I haven’t seen much Orphan Black another show that has been heavily employing the tactic recently is The Vampire Diaries. On the show, they have several characters played by the same actors interacting with each other on screen. It is great to look at it from a technical standpoint, but in my opinion even more interesting as an acting challenge. Nina Dobrev who has played as many as three dramatically different characters in the same scene is always really fascinating to hear talk about her experience on the show. The idea of play one person that isn’t myself seems so crazy to me, so having to keep up with several personalities for the same project is unfathomable. I really want to know more about the collaboration between the technicians and the actors that make these scenes happen.
Post a Comment