Personal Research Project - Artefact 3
The aim of my third artefact was to measure the effectiveness of both the traditional and digital special effect techniques tested in my second artefact. To do this I produced two short 30 second video clips showcasing the two different zombies I had created using prosthetic make-up and with After Effects. I then conducted a survey and recorded a series of focus group discussions in order to see which use special effects people generally preferred. I also included questions to do with realism in film to grasp a better understanding of their views.

For my first clip I produced a short clip showing an actor dressed in prosthetic make-up chasing a girl through the park; my second showed a girl turning on her bedroom light to a CGI zombie hiding behind the door. The prosthetic make-up effect was a fun and easy to film, where applying digital effects was fiddly and time consuming.

My results showed that the majority of audiences definitely prefer realism in horror films. They also generally defined realism in creatures as having human or animal like characteristics that we can relate to and identify with. The vast majority of people also preferred my prosthetic zombie test clip deeming it far more realistic and scary due to the realistic skin textures and filming in live action.

Overall my results show that using traditional make-up techniques is cheaper, faster, easier to work with and overly looks more realistic than using CGI. I think CGI has the potential to provide effective realism however requires highly paid skilled digital artists, more time and a much higher budget. Therefore I have found that traditional special effects

For my next artefact I shall be testing the time, cost and effectiveness of combining the use of prosthetic make-up with CGI to create a similar creature.

Here is the clip I made using a prosthetic make-up zombie:


Here is the clip I made using a CGI zombie: