We Used A Simple VFX Trick to Create Our Own Planets!

How to shoot your own planets, without using CGI! InCamera practical effects tutorial video on how to create out of this world shots with practical filmmaking techniques.
We use medium format projection on to a hemisphere to create incredible planet shots.
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EQUIPMENT USED IN THIS VIDEO:
Shot on BMPCC4K
Dedo 150w DLH4 Kit
Accsoon Cineeye 1080p WiFi Video Sender
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- We post original content every two weeks.
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- We'd love to make InCamera our full time jobs, so need all the support possible!

[@InCameraTV]

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE! We're so close to 3000 Subscribers now, let's hit that milestone with this Episode! Thank you for all the support so far!

[@mcwalton6721]

I would love to see you guys recreate the big "wheel" space station fly through in 2001: A Space Odyssey! I have seen a few paper models online. Keep up the interesting videos!

[@ticiusarakan]

amazing video! but i think led is a hard way to do this effect. it is more fast and cheaper make holes in dense cardboard sheets, than backlight it.

[@M_Lopez_3D_Artist]

TheLens! What type of lens did you use? I own a Black Magic Pocket 4K like your exact same one

[@obifuntoknowme]

That would be amazing and so interesting.

[@topramen4330]

ok I just subscribed, I just want to learn :)

[@DanteYewToob]

I noticed something funny. Humans minds abhor randomness. We just cannot do it. The more random they tried to make the snooted LEDs, the more even the pattern became. The lights ended up in an almost perfect grid... lol but that's just how human minds work. The harder we try to make something random, the less it works. Your best bet is to not try. Just turn off your brain and make random dots without actually looking at what you're doing. Once you do, your mind will go "Well, it doesn't look random enough... I'll add a few here, one over there.." etc and you think you're helping, but you're actually making it less random lol your brain is trying to even it out. True randomness has clumps and gaps. Just a little observation. Lol Good video! It looks awesome

[@glennledrew8347]

Exactly right!

[@jp-incamera]

Excellent observation (and true)....but what wasn’t described in this episode is that the LED’s were somewhat evenly placed as tracking reference, with a plan to track and replace with a composite of a NASA star field image. Since we mainly focus on what could be captured incamera, we did not explore or explain this in this particular episode. - JP

[@KayOSweaver]

Its so nice to see there are still people passionate about practical effects. I hope to use some of these techniques in the future with my own film and photography projects.

[@chrismofer]

super inspiring! of course there's also cgi earth tutorials in blender and such, which may be better for certain use cases but practical effects like this are so accessible and tangible and the results speak for themselves. For the stars they could be projected as well or small pieces of retroreflective material and a 'star' light near the lens could also work.

[@InCameraTV]

Spot on! Of course this could be done with CGI, but we love the practical approach and think the final product looks amazing!

[@actioncom2748]

You got the rotation of the earth right. A funny fact: The remastered(cgi) Star Trek got Earth's rotation backwards. Assignment: Earth shows California getting sun first.

[@Wailwulf]

It was an alternate Earth in an alternate dimension...😀

[@sliceoflifefilm]

Always wanted to try this effect. Looks so frickin amazing! and turntable trick is is a wonderful idea.

[@MaxskiSynths]

You guys are amazing

[@CallYourselfAFan]

Another ‘out of this world’ episode! Getting better each week! Deserve so many more subscribers!

[@MathieuStern]

Amazing content, i wish i could join you and have fun

[@InCameraTV]

Thanks Mathieu, glad you loved the episode!

[@Left-Earth]

Your channel rocks too, Mathieu ! ✌️🤓🎸 I'm definitely subscribed to the right channels. 👍✨🏆

[@glenis83]

Genuinely happy to see this kind of work being done. My jaw dropped when you showed us the first shot of earth. There's plenty of great channels on KZbin but this one is f---ing fantastic! Well done, everyone & best wishes for the future.

[@InCameraTV]

Wow thank you so much, glad you liked how the final shot turned out!

[@risbill1]

For the stars you could have tried one of those star map projector lamps.

[@KayOSweaver]

Or another slide projector.

[@risbill1]

@@CymruCreator that might work but glitter gets everywhere so if you need to do multiple takes it might make clean up a real nightmare.

[@chrismofer]

@@risbill1 retroreflective safety stickers, get white ones and cut them up into small circles of varying size and stick to the wall. a small light by the camera could be dimmed or gelled to change the color or intensity of all lights at once.

[@risbill1]

@@chrismofer if you can make it so it doesn't cast light onto the surface you're projecting onto then yes that would be an option. Light source would probably have to be behind the projection surface.

[@chrismofer]

@@risbill1 I suppose pinholes in blackwrap is easier and bringing it closer to the planet would sharpen the bokehness. Indeed the light would have to not cast onto the planet, thankfully the nature of retroreflectors let you use a very dim light and additionally a circular matte could be placed in front of it to not cast onto the planet if need be.

[@Fendeguard]

Earth looks great, but the stars could use some work. Love the practical approach!

[@elliotmarks06]

This takes projection mapping to a whole new level

[@eaty1232]

By far it's the best practical effects channel I'm aware of. Superb quality and presenter with good presence.

[@TryptychUK]

Pretty good, but I would have backlit the globe and added a waft of smoke to give it a bit of a halo. Also, the stars are WAY too big and bright. Old trick is small sequins on nylon filament.

[@TheDisTract]

Great content guys! Keep it up. Almost at 3K!

[@InCameraTV]

Thanks man, glad you're enjoying the episodes! Not far off that 3k mark now at all!

[@lampadophoros]

Great effect! A good trick for LEDs is to paint them black and then scratch a tiny, tiny hole with a needle through the paint. This gives a really small star, not oversize

[@Left-Earth]

_"Out of this world !"_ ✌️😮

[@exooptik]

This sells the effect really well, just looking at these shots I got a weird feeling I'm expecting a spaceship to enter the frame. Great job!

[@indevelopment]

Making tinkering and all the technical bits fun and interesting as always, guys. Love love love the inclusion of medium format slides over digital too. And get those end cards on!

[@elliotmarks06]

That end result is INSANE! I would have never guessed it wasn't all digital!

[@apow3rs]

I love how excited you all get, and why wouldn’t you? What a wonderful career path to choose! I hope to be able to work with you one day. Keep up the good work 🙌

[@InCameraTV]

Thank you so much! And yeah, we absolutely love what we do! I'm glad to see you find our energy infectious!

[@crystallynnbyrne5511]

Love this. I actually started looking up practical effects and I enjoy how you guys make this look doable as well as effective! Great work!

[@InCameraTV]

Thank you so much!

[@TK42138]

Another superb episode. Interesting to note the same technique of projecting a planetary surface on a white globe was also used in the film 'Alien' to depict the planetary system that the Nostromo visits.

[@Dug6666666]

The stars need to be smaller and less bright particularly since they are not there in actual exposures from space on such a bright object as the Earth.

[@glennledrew8347]

Indeed, the bloated blobs for stars pretty badly detracted from the otherwise awesome look.

[@steelbluesleepR]

It needed to be shot at a smaller aperture, they were just bokeh balls at that point.

[@chrismofer]

​@@steelbluesleepR yep, hard to do this shot without such a wide open lens unless you slow the planet motion down and take longer exposures (would work for stationary camera or motion control) or physically move the stars to be only a bit behind the planet rather than on the back wall.

[@graphicsgod]

The stars can be easily adjusted with a resistor.

[@HFHProps]

Dude, the ingenuity involved with projects like this is inspired. I found this really motivational for my own ambitions so thank you for the excellent content 😁

[@InCameraTV]

That's so amazing to hear Harry, glad we've inspired you; hope you're enjoying the videos!

[@HFHProps]

@@InCameraTV I really am! I hope you don't mind if I pick your brain at times, keep up the excellent work!

[@mcwalton6721]

Just found this channel today. Love it!! You got yourself another subscriber!! Looking forward to more videos!!

[@VectanProduction2]

You guys are AMAZING ! You definitely step up the youtube game 🤠👌

[@carstenkoloc5226]

You guys been a real Shool for S.E.F.🎥🎬🎞🥁🥁

[@TrevorSpeed]

Awesome work team. Thoroughly enjoying the content.

[@InCameraTV]

Thank you Trevor!

[@fabianluescher]

This makes me happy. Thank you.

[@InCameraTV]

That's great thanks Fabian, glad you liked it!

[@jaimie1938]

That title burn just looks so amazing! The work you guys do is incredible, so glad I found this channel :)

[@InCameraTV]

That's amazing to hear! Glad to have you onboard!

[@AnimationGoneWrong]

Some cool work, guys! You've earned my "Subscribe"! Love the planet footage, it looks amazing.

[@DennisTrovato]

Behold, Planet Urf!

[@joelonsdale]

Another amazing video, I'm hooked!

[@daiz2006]

Hey I love your channel it really helps out a lot of us who want to make movies or short films so thx for showing us what we need and what we need to do to recreate scenes or create our own scenes

[@InCameraTV]

Thanks so much, glad you're enjoying the videos! It's always nice to hear that we've helped/ inspired someone through our effects tutorials!

[@ClarkKentsRockandRollRevue]

Noomi Spook mentioned your channel during a video for a channel I run. Impressed with the attention to detail and the tips that I've picked up here in relation to a shoot using miniature planets tomorrow. There have been comments on the size of the stars being too big and the lack of haze to create more atmosphere, but it's a taste thing and your final shot still sells the idea rather well. Subbed ages ago and will continue to do so. Rock on x

[@gameoverwehaveeverypixelco1258]

This is beyond epic. Love this stuff.

[@InCameraTV]

Wow thanks so much, glad you're loving the videos!

[@AddlerMartin]

My God, man. THIS IS GENIUS! Subscribed, bell rung and all!

[@InCameraTV]

YES! Thank you so much, glad to have you as part of the InCamera family!

[@hallucinationltd]

Looks dead good. Might have to whip up a paper mache semi orb to try it out for myself!

[@studio2magic]

Wow! That was a totally new approach to creating a planet for film! (or a totally old approach, but very cool!)

[@InCameraTV]

Haha thanks guys, glad you liked it!

[@beefknuckles]

Subbed. Great set of videos and perfect final product! Proud to say I started following you guys when you were at only 19.6k followers. Remember this comment when you hit 1 million

[@InCameraTV]

Awesome! Thank you! Well here's hoping we get to 1 mill one day!

[@eifionjones8513]

Excellent work 👏🏻

[@UhloMuhlo]

This is really amazing! You guys are amazing!

[@InCameraTV]

Thank you so much!!!

[@mascarademermelada8746]

Flawless.

[@InCameraTV]

Thank you!

[@UnexpectedCreativeStudios]

Keep going guys I love your content! I do have to admit that I sit here watching it thinking 'I could do that in 20 minutes in After Effect' at times but it's the craft of practical effects I love to watch.

[@InCameraTV]

Thank you, we're glad you're loving the videos! That's one of the main reasons we started this channel, to showcase to people that the art of practical effects is still alive, and that it can produce some beautiful shots that we believe look so much better than with CGI. And they're so much more fun to produce!

[@UnexpectedCreativeStudios]

@@InCameraTV Honestly guys, keep doing what you're doing. It really is great and you can tell you're all having fun doing it! Plus it's great that you're here in the UK!

[@blxckovt]

Sensational

[@fenston]

Ok guys, that's an amazing job. You got me. You have a new subscriber. And probably a bunch of other ones when my friends will see your work.

[@InCameraTV]

ayyy thanks so much, glad to have you (and your friends) onboard! Hope you're loving the videos!

[@Natervader13]

Unreal, dude.

[@SidBarnhoorn]

Fantastic and inspiring! :D

[@BucketheadStudios]

Sooo title sequence, planet and a motion controlled miniature rig....there's only 1 way to go......Star Wars ANH opening! Love your channel btw, amazing stuff!

[@willredgrove]

Just discovered this channel and very quickly subscribed! Great content

[@InCameraTV]

Thanks Will!

[@GOREgeousGriff]

This is an awesome video - great idea. Its perfect for a trailer i wanted to do for a SFX makeup tutorial, that i have planned to do next year ;)

[@KK4CNM]

Freakin' EPIC!

[@MartinFutter70]

What would seem an easy shot, is backed up here by showing us all those elements needed to make it SEEM easy, great stuff as always, seeing planet Earth made me think of Gerry Anderson's end titles from UFO along with Derek Meddings wonderful work

[@InCameraTV]

Thanks Martin, glad you liked all the details; people often underestimate how many aspects go into achieving certain shots!

[@jkapp374]

G R E A T W O R K ! ! ! ! ! Awesome channel, looking forward to all future videos

[@InCameraTV]

Awesome, thank you so much!

[@Rockhopper1]

Get some new tights, cut a square out, stretch it between camera body and lens, you will get a nice glow effect. If you need any anamorphic lens flares, stretch fishing nylon over the lens, off camera point a light at the lens, take the lens hood off or matte box (you need that aberration to punch through). Great job guys,

[@HAMMERSMASHD]

How is this video at 8.9k. It's great content. I don't do vfx at all but i find it super interesting! Im sure the channel will keep growing! keep it up!

[@russelltyler9363]

REALLY ENJOYING THIS CHANNEL! SUBBED.

[@InCameraTV]

YES!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH RUSSELL!

[@hanna_m_issa]

great work!

[@InCameraTV]

Thank you!

[@Gryzeus]

Super interesting and entertaining episode

[@InCameraTV]

Thanks so much, glad you liked it!

[@nicholasagneta]

This is SO COOL!

[@InCameraTV]

Thanks Nicholas!

[@voronOsphere]

Thank you!!!!!

[@InCameraTV]

You're welcome, glad you liked it!

[@newaccount7.8bviews3second8]

You guys are cool.

[@InCameraTV]

Thanks dude!

[@nicktheritter]

HAHA, that intro! Amazing!

[@InCameraTV]

haha, thanks Nick!

[@anzmhd]

damn. thats awesome. great channel

[@InCameraTV]

Thank you so much, glad you liked it!

[@anzmhd]

@@InCameraTV do some kind of marketing for your channel . Some colab. The channel deserve it.

[@res-publica]

Thr intro reminded me of Quake 4

[@RaymondHamby]

Such a cool way of doing things. I prefer practical effects. The only issue I see and I could be wrong is if your camera was exposed for the lancet like that you would see any stars behind it would you? I know it’s most likely for style but still.

[@anthonywright0910]

That looks amazing. I may need to take inspiration in that’s ok?

[@2660016A]

Were the planet slides designed to compensate for the distortion of projecting onto a spherical surface or were they normal 2D shots, with you guys just accepting that they would stretch when projected onto the hemisphere?

[@yanikkunitsin1466]

It is distorted - look at 10:15 - and as they explain they are making tight mid shot so disstorted parts are either not seen or mimicking parallax of a spherical object(slide is flat earth image like on google maps) - things closer to the edge of a half-sphere become squished from camera POV. It's very similar to Hollow-face illusion and preference to seeing things as concave objects as opposed to convex in motion parallax.

[@2660016A]

@@yanikkunitsin1466Ahhh of course. Makes sense. Thanks!

[@yanikkunitsin1466]

@@2660016A no prob.

[@Jestunes]

I like it. Looks good. Shame us Indy's don't have access to globes that big. Back to the drawing board... my only recourse is to cut large arcs from wood with some trammel points. Then glue them all together to make a partial globe. Mount it on a table. Sand the heck out of it using multiple grits. Primer and paint the finished product and figure out how to get a picture of the earth projected on it with gel lights. Then use my mini camera glider with my Sony CX 45 on a track going at its slowest speed, and Viola! A perfect replica of the earth without any connections.

[@JFBence]

The Thing is: you can actually see the increments of the stepper motor, as the projection of the Earth skips, and not rotates smoothly.

[@TK42138]

Watching this and now thinking of the opening scene of 'Predator'.

[@InCameraTV]

We've had a couple of people suggest that, very similar openings!

[@santimaspons]

1000 yes/yeahs in aprox 15 min.

[@Noone-of-your-Business]

The blue shine of the atmosphere is most notable _outside_ the bounds of the sphere: where does the halo effect come from if there is nothing behind the ball for projection? Did you fog up the air in the room?

[@codywisenbaker8236]

Did you guys ever do the spaceship and pan video? Im late to the channel so I haven't been able to find it if you did.

[@bbucketio]

Starting up a car be like: 2:26

[@magaz]

Is it a rule that every studio has to have those blue and orange shelves crammed with gear?

[@shotbytomasz]

lol yes

[@danielgibbons4858]

I was surprised they didn't do the star field the old way as they did with Star Wars. Taking a sheet of glass, painting one side black with stencil paint and scratching pin holes in to shine a light through.

[@SAVETHEPLANET-KILL-A-GLOBALIST]

Exactly how the ISS footage is filmed!

[@MichaelSavidgeStoryteller]

Fascinating! Projecting on a spherical surface? Was not expecting that, but it makes total sense! I'm wondering, are there any digital equivalents of a medium format protector? Oh, and 6:00 = 😲 ATMOSPHERE!!!

[@MichaelSavidgeStoryteller]

11:49 WAIT, IT'S ON A TURNTABLE?!

[@charlie1872]

I am a Bladerunner fan and a fan of tge guys who made “Slice of Life” As a result I made a short video on Bladerunner locations in L.A. I have been collecting shampoo bottles with the plan to build my own small portion of a future city. I don’t have any special equipment or software but do have an Apple laptop , iphone11 and a GoPro . Any suggestions on how I could proceed would be greatly appreciated. Love the effects Thanks

[@RedStarRogue]

Can those medium format projectors only shoot 6x6 or would 6x7 and 6x45 slides also work in them?

[@WarioWareProductions]

What kind of lens did you use for this?

[@rxz4140]

How did y'all put a digital picture on celluloid? Need to know

[@mackjsm7105]

as I said before.. is CrapoHollywood did this it would cost $10,000,000... you guys have talent.. period.

[@InCameraTV]

haha thanks dude, appreciate it!

[@adilator]

This is fucking amazing

[@centaur1a]

For the Star field. Would it have been easier to get a black or dark background construction paper or cheap material and poke holes randomly, then light it from behind? You should do a segment on “Story boarding”.

[@stinkyham9050]

I did that exact same thing with a DSLR and my kids. It turned out great. We got a kick out of trying different lighting and camera settings. One afternoon taught us a lot about VFX.

[@4Everlast]

Next video, how the used this in the moon landing video. :D

[@anonymousaccordionist3326]

I just thought of a way to capture the entire title sequence in camera. The secret is Pepper's Ghost. Use an angled pane of glass in front of the camera to reflect an inverted burn of "the Thing" logo from the side while the planet appears straight ahead.

[@alexpollock6932]

Just found the channel, did you ever make the spaceship video?

[@InCameraTV]

Not yet, it's a video in the pipeline!

[@SimonRandall]

So it's going to be the Predator opening shot ?

[@shotbytomasz]

Whats that app/system that allowed for video monitoring on the ipad?

[@jp-incamera]

It is the CinEye transmitter from Accsoon - JP

[@blaster-zy7xx]

Love this stuff and was very educational, BUT for this perticular shot, you did way more work than you had to. Since this was really a quick background shot, it could have been 2D all along. Also the stars were too few and bright. I would have tried projecting a star field behind so it doesn't look like seven bright fake LED stars and looked more numerous and distant. Fun stuff. I wish I were there doing it with you guys.

[@InCameraTV]

Thanks for the feedback; and again that's the magic of practical fx, you can experiment and try different ways to get the end results!

[@chrisjhart]

I wonder if you got a haze of smoke in there... perhaps that could be used to illuminate the atmosphere of the planet? Anyway, great work :)

[@InCameraTV]

We did put a little in 😉

[@garthmccarthy4911]

Can you guys share a lighting diagram, I want to try this in my short Scifi flim

[@EdNorty]

More projector effects!

[@InCameraTV]

Noted!

[@willwaggenspack6411]

@@InCameraTV I love to see more projections effects too

[@VideoBite]

nice. waiting for the spaceship scene. Stars are too bokeh. Maybe higher aperture would be better?

[@kunaikai]

I wonder if this will work with a digital projector.

[@TryptychUK]

If the brightness and resolution are good enough. They don't come cheap.

[@bobrew461]

Fantastic video! Such a shame they used paintings for 2001 and The Thing earth shots

[@fillerbunnyninjashark271]

Is there a low cost projector I can do things like this with? I keep looking into getting one but the market is very confusing and prices are all over the place, loll