Lost in Space Retractable Helmets

>>>>>Especially interesting were the shots featuring the crew's retractable safety helmets. The shots were executed not with full-CGI helmets, but with careful compositing of multiple takes of the actors performing moves first with the helmet on, and then with the helmet off. Careful attention to shadows and animation make these shots quite memorable.>>>>>>>>>

ok, now i think this idea over and over again, and i don't get it...does anyone else exactly know what they mean? how does it work etc?

You've got stupid guy from Friends standing, gun in hand, ready to face the alien spider things. Have him stay as steady as he can. Get the shot. Then, from the same camera angle (or using a computer controlled motion rig), have stupid guy in the exact same pose, except this time have him in the helmet.

Then, in post, bring the two shots together. Start with the no face mask shot. Then, put mask shot over the top of it, except only use the top "rung" of the mask. Then, next frame, show the next rung. And so on, until you have the full shot of stupid guy in his mask.

Personally, I think CG would have been easier...

------------------
TL
daa Productions

Nobody lives forever, so you might as well go out with a good caffeine buzz...

There's always hope, because it's the one thing that they haven't figured out how to kill yet...

The helmets must, to a large extent be cgi.

They will shoot the actor first.

This will then go to post digital who will import the footage into a high end animation package like alias. they then recreate the relevant parts of the scene, ie face,
lighting etc. the animation is match moved to the scene, rendered and then output to film after they have been color matched etc.

Simple really.

Have you seen the Cinefex article on the fx.
If youre interested I,ll dig it out to get the exact low down.

Bye.

------------------
I Thank You

on page 69 it tells how it was done, the helmet was a stop motion effect, each section was added one at a time, filmed and the sound of course was added afterward.

i still like the way it looks

I'd say doom1701 is pretty close to it.

The "helmet on" sequence goes like this:

Film the shot on set with Matt Leblanc without the helmet. He comes up into the frame facing away from the camera and then turns around as the shot progresses. Now film the same action, probably with a stand in (I believe the reason for the helmet was that Matt Leblanc had to be in the US when those scenes were scheduled) wearing the full helmet. This might have been shot in front of a green screen, but I think it was probably shot on set and roto'd (it was about eighty something frames, I think, but the matte shapes were pretty easy).

The background, and Matt Leblanc's head are one shot, and the jacket, gun and mask are another. The segments are made to appear (each takes two or three frames) by warping.

------------------
"V is for victory! Go tell your friends!"

on page 69 of "The Making of Lost in Space" by pat cadigan "Major Don West's fantastic battle helmet (upper left)-its appearance on the Proteus is actually a stop-motion special effet, where each panel of the helmet is added one at a time and then filmed, with sound added later"

on page 31 there is a picture of a woman useing a drill on the helmet, dont actually know if thats for the reason, kinda doubt it, but maybe.

i cant find anything about the cyro chamber eyepiece things, but they're probably stop motion too, although they may be easier to have done CGI.

anyone know for sure?

What I'm talking about is the fact that as the segments come down over his face, because the mask is wider than his face (naturally, or his face wouldn't fit into it) at the side of his jawline you can see the fully closed mask. If the mask had really appeared via stop motion, those segments wouldn't be there.