How we used Visual Effects to enhance the practical makeup effects and props.

Watch the Original Scene, Our Remake Scene, Audience Reaction, and Behind-The-Scene! Photos!

Ghostlight did the Visual Effects for this special Macy Gray music video for the South Africa World Cup 2010. It features photographer Giuliano Bekor, BEBE, LA Models, and of course Macy Gray. Thanks to everyone involved! Can you spot the VFX shots?

Watch on YouTube.

Director Joey Boukadakis appointed Ghostlight to create this Visual Effect for the new Dave Barnes “God Gave Me You” music video. The effect involves a photograph developing in Dave’s hands, who looks up to see it has come to life. Click the image to see how we did it!

Watch the Music Video!

Ghostlight provided three animations for MyBestFriendsDoctor.org, a non-profit online healthcare community. It is founded by Andrew Kaiser, who also composed the music for our Intro Reel and Cinematography Reel. Ghostlight created the word “Broken” crumbling and falling to the ground, the pull-back revealing the web address, and the fluttering swarm of cash. Enjoy!

Director Chris Cantwell needed Cinematography and Visual Effects for this very strange self-interview portion of a reel submission. It’s a fairly basic “split-screen” technique until Chris walks in front of himself, casting and receiving his own shadow.

We created these Visual Effects for the Nightawk-Six. The movie was shot in one day and didn’t have the budget for firing blanks, so we added every single gunshot, shell ejection, bullet trail, bullet hit, bullet splash, spark hit, and muzzle flash. We also erased crew members, logos, and crew helicopters. Oh, and the explosion at the end. And the cat’s eyes crossing. Thanks to Craig Dyer, Doug Blake, and the entire crew for an amazing project to work on!

Watch in HD! Watch Nighthawk-Six and see our Cinematography and Editing! See photos from behind the scenes!

We did the Visual Effects for the short comedy Ledge Fighters. This video, narrated by director Scott Gairdner, shows how we used a dummy, on-set supervision, HDR photography, fireball stock footage, and 3D computer generated barrels to create the explosion scene. Thanks Scott!

Watch in HD! Watch Ledge Fighters to see James’ lighting and laugh (at the jokes, not the lighting)!

Ghostlight did the Visual Effects for Krantz, a dark comedy directed by Chris Cantwell. The opening scene required John Krantz to give a speech in front of a giant banner, which we created as a miniature. The movie was shot on the RED, and the Visual Effects were completed at 2K resolution – the same as major motion pictures.

Watch in HD! Watch Krantz! See photos from behind the scenes!

We did the Visual Effects for this music video by Shuttlecocks, directed by George Cornelius. The effects include a gunshot, a flying dove, flowing rose petals, a picture coming to life, some slow-motion shots of the band, and finally the cityscape at the end.

We did the Visual Effects for the series Nowheremen, DigiSynd’s social reality experience in which players discover the next episode by following a trail of clues. Thanks to directors Matt Wyatt and Rob Maigret, DigiSynd and everyone involved!

Watch in HD! Watch the Nowheremen Trailer.

We created this logo for Comedy.com. Using 3D physics simulation, each letter was dropped repeatedly at different orientations until it lined-up with the previous letter. This logo features high quality rendering aesthetics such as soft shadows, light occlusion, and blurred reflections.

We shot up some kid’s room for College Humor’s latest short, Grand Theft Auto for the NES. Watch for our digital gunshots, bullet holes, and fire. We also added an effect where people get sucked into a TV.

Ghostlight made this commercial for the Apple i! It was used in a sketch by College Humor, which parodies Steve Jobs’ product presentations. We built the Apple i in 3D to match College Humor’s prop. For the dancers, we filmed buddies from Invisible Engine and DigiSynd on a green screen. The music was composed by Alfred Montejano.

Watch in HD! See the 3D stills! Watch College Humor’s Apple i sketch!

Ghostlight brought this idea to life for College Humor and the Rock Band folks. They sent us the concept, Dave was the Director, James was Cinematographer, and we did the Visual Effects. It stars Nick Mundy and Michael Ryan Truly from Team Tiger Awesome.  Enjoy!

Watch in HD!

We executed a long list of Visual Effects for College Humor’s Viral Video Politician. And here it is: the Rubik’s cube, the ping pong ball, the Hadouken, and the falling light. No, we didn’t animate the awesome kitty.

Ta da! The world-famous Street Fighter: The Later Years Series Finale aired today at College Humor, and features more of our Visual Effects such as far-more intense Hadoukens, punches as a means of travel, extended jumps and falls, flying fists of fury, and a guy totally getting stabbed. The very first Street Fighter aired on CollegeHumor.com over 1 year and 3 months ago!

Watch in HD! Watch Street Fighter: The Later Years Series Finale!

We added 3D sugar cubes, fructose corn syrup, camera wooshes, a rainbow, an awesome pile of burning qbooks and more to give a sugar-crazed energy to College Humor’s candy ad Spazzz!!!

Watch in HD! Watch Spazzz!!!

Fight! Fight! Fight! Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 8 aired today. It features Ghostlight’s Visual Effects: ultra-fast kicks, making kicks connect, digital camera shake, electrocution, flaming chest hair, and the biggest Hadouken to date!

Watch in HD! Watch Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 8!

Ew, gross! We supplied Visual Effects for College Humor’s video Urban Legend ER with a bloody explosion and an empty skull. Sick!

Watch in HD!  Watch Urban Legend ER!

The Roadie Hero video game ad was released today by College Humor. Ghostlight provided the Visual Effects, including titles, fire, and a fire extinguisher. The gameplay animations were created by Lee Mar.

Watch in HD! Watch Roadie Hero!

Kids fighting? Sign us up! Ghostlight created the Visual Effects for College Humor’s new comedy Million Dollar Babies! We added titles, camera flashes, spittle, and a 3D retainer. Ding, ding!

Watch in HD!  Watch Million Dollar Babies!

We produced yet another Christmas short! This one was for National Banana, a comedy site created by Jerry Zucker, who’s known for his comedy movies Airplane and the Naked Gun series. We shot stills of the house, isolated lights using Photoshop, animated the lights to the music, and did the Visual Effects (except that last explosion, that was them). Awesome!

We created several Visual Effects for this short comedy at JoeyandDavid.com. Some people think it’s offensive, so check it out!

Ghostlight created two epic Visual Effects shots for Team Tiger Awesome and their new short comedy Claus, a hilarious combination of The Santa Clause, Lord of the Rings, and 300.

Watch in HD!  Watch Claus!

We added a sky, candle flames, tranq darts, and lightning to CollegeHumor’s Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 7.

Watch in HD! Watch Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 7!

Ghostlight provided sonic booms, teleportation, destruction, and the “Hundred Hand Slap” for College Humor’s Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 6.

Watch in HD! Watch Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 6!

We created Visual Effects for 24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot. This College Humor parody strips the popular Fox series of its modern technology by setting the show in 1994. Ghostlight created the opening 24 logo and added old computer graphics to the monitors.

Watch in HD! Watch 24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot!

We made a digital “lights up” effect and “leg wipe” for the opening of College Humor’s Brohemian Rhapsody – the fraternity version of Queen’s legendary song. Enjoy the short and beware the “mature” content!

Check out the sonic booms, fast kicks, teleportation football, and baby hadoukens we created for the latest episode of College Humor’s popular comedy series!

Watch in HD! Watch Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 5!

DigiSynd hired us to create these three commercials for the Twisted Terror Collection from Warner Brothers. Dave Directed and Edited, James did the Cinematography, and Ghostlight did the Visual Effects.

Starring David Nash, Evan Gaustad, Jenna Finley, Beck Bennett, Ashleigh Sumner, Sarah Atwood, Jessica Wheeler, and Sarena Khan. Narration by Adam Ray. Music by Andrew Kaiser. Thanks everybody!

Watch in HD!

We did these Visual Effects for College Humor’s Gummi Bears: The Movie Trailer. Watch for our flying 3D hair balls and glowing gummi berries.

Watch in HD! Watch Gummi Bears: The Movie!

Street Fighter has returned! We created two Visual Effects for this episode: a taxicab license plate and a flying inverted spinning helicopter splits kick!

Watch in HD! Watch Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 4!

Dutch West hired us to create these Visual Effects for their funny and ambitious series Robert De Niro Back in Time. Ghostlight created time portals, the main title, a night sky, gunshots, and a saber-toothed tiger. These shots often required time-consuming rotoscoping, or tracing a subject frame by frame.

Watch in HD!  Watch Robert De Niro Back in Time!

DigiSynd produced this video, also known as Houdini’s Moon, for Ashton Kutcher’s Room 401. Ghostlight did the Cinematography and Visual Effects for this video, which was just one of many clues for DigiSynd’s online alternate reality game, eventually becoming Nowheremen. Thanks to DigiSynd and everyone involved!

Watch in HD! Read fans dissecting the video here!

We blew up our front door and totally nuked Los Angeles for Invisible Engine’s new short film Pop It. Here’s how we did it!

Watch Pop It! See photos from behind the scenes! See screenshots of Pop It featured on several sites!

We made our own iPhone before it’s available! College Humor parodied the new iPhone ads using a prop phone with a green screen. We created and animate the screen’s graphics from scratch. Sometimes the finger didn’t point to the right place, so we warped it. Click the picture to see how we did it!

Watch iPhone Parody One, Two, and Three!

Here’s how we created the Visual Effects for College Humor’s hilariously offensive short WHIT Radio. We placed radio station graphics on taxi cabs, buses, billboards, and a blimp using 2D and 3D animation. Enjoy!

Watch WHIT Radio!

We levitated a possessed girl in What Revver Did 5, the final Revver.com ad created by Invisible Engine. We did the Cinematography and Visual Effects. This video shows how we made Sean fly!

Watch What Revver Did 5! See photos from all of the What Revver Did shoots.

Watch how Ghostlight tackled these challenging Visual Effects for College Humor’s latest short Mementos, a Mentos commercial in the style of the film Momento. We helped plan the effects with College Humor before the shoot. Always a good idea!

Watch in HD! Watch Mementos!

Ghostlight summoned butterflies for College Humor’s The Sopranos Censored. The 3D butterflies were modeled, surfaced, and animated in 2 days. Here’s how we did it!

Watch in HD! Watch The Sopranos Censored!

Most of the time, filmmakers don’t want you to notice the Visual Effects in their movies. Here are some shots from Rushers that director Joey Boukadakis DIDN’T want you to see!

See more about Rushers! Check out photos from behind the scenes!

In addition to Editing the film, Ghostlight provided the Visual Effects for Rushers. Here’s how we gave more life to this shot of Greek Row with crowd duplication and a 3D banner. It also required careful planning and on-set supervision. Enjoy!

See more about Rushers! Check out photos from behind the scenes!

Here’s how we created these 3D titles tracked into real environments shot with a hand-held camera for Branham High School.

Check out how we created the Visual Effects for College Humor’s Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 3.

Watch in HD! Watch Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 3!

See how we created 3D Santa ornaments for College Humor’s new short Nick’s Commercials: Winter Wonderland!

We did the Cinematography and Visual Effects for the second Revver.com ad by Invisible Engine. This video shows how we did the gnomes. Yummy!

Watch What Revver Did 2! See photos from all the shoots!

We made Nick Clark fly in an ad for Revver.com, produced by Invisible Engine. This video shows how we did the Visual Effects, but we also did the Cinematography. Enjoy!

Watch What Revver Did 1! See photos from all the shoots!

Ghostlight created the Visual Effects for the second part of College Humor’s comedy series. Here’s how we did it!

Watch Street Fighter: The Later Years – Part 2!

Ghostlight lent College Humor a hand for their latest short comedy series. What’s that you say? You want in-depth behind-the-scenes info with more details than you care to know? No problem! Just click the image and enjoy.

Watch Street Fighter: The Later Years!

Check out how we burned Chad in Eulogy for Chad, a short comedy by Invisible Engine.

Watch Eulogy for Chad!

We created this bleeding title for the re-release of Jefrey Obrow’s 1982 horror film The Dorm That Dripped Blood. Thanks to Glenn Hemanes for the font treatment!

Ghostlight finished the last Visual Effect for The Harvest in which one actor puts a cigarette out in someone’s eye. Because the cigarette was not lit during filming, we shot and composited smoke and spark elements in post.

We created some cool Visual Effects for The Harvest, a horror film about revenge from beyond the grave. Here’s how we replaced this actor’s eyes with scarier ones!

Ever wonder how Disneyland does those amazing fireflies? Well, this ain’t it. We used Visual Effects to populate this scene from The Harvest with tons of 3D fireflies. Here’s how we did it!

This was Zoe Jarman’s best take, but it could’ve used more fish in the background. Here’s how we added fish from other takes!

See more from The Prototype!

How to light a kitchen on fire! Borrow a friend’s barbeque. Build a trough out of blackwrap. Fill with lighter fluid. Film the flames in front of a black background. Composite the flames over the shot. Add a little glow. On-set light interactivity preferred.

See more from The Prototype!

Ghostlight created this train entirely in the computer for the film The Prototype. The handheld shot was never intended for Visual Effects, which made incorporation difficult due to a lack of on-set supervision and measurements. This video shows how we modeled, surfaced, animated, and composited the train for the film’s climax.

See more from The Prototype!

Today we completed our most technically complex DVD ever. The disk will accompany the filmmakers and script for 4×4 on financing missions. Behind its seemingly simple interactive environment are months of intense Visual Effects and programming work. This video is a guided tour of the completed DVD.

Check out the rejected 4×4 title Visual Effects we did! See photos from behind the scenes!

Ghostlight created this 3D title for the “4×4″ pitch DVD.  The title, which is an early example of camera tracking, was later rejected, but here’s how we did it!

Ghostlight was hired by Merging Promotions to provide Cinematography, Editing, Visual Effects, and DVD services to promote New Directions For Women, a chemical dependency treatment center for women. Here are highlights from the video!

Check out the DVD we created!

Enjoy this walkthrough of the DVD we created for our documentary Leigh In Hawaii.

You can also watch the trailer! See photos from us working in Hawaii!

Ghostlight shot this joke video for a medical company which required an office to be infested with butterflies. We cut out paper butterflies, which were lightly taped to the walls and actors, then blown with fans. For the butteflies in the air, we used computer animation.

See behind-the-scenes photos!

Dave shot and directed this during film school at USC. It stars Aaron Fischer and Trevor Peterson.

Ghostlight did the Cinematography and Visual Effects for this Captain Morgan commercial produced by FunnyorDie.com and directed by Scott Gairdner. James shot the ad on the Red One camera upgraded with the amazing new M-X chip for improved exposure latitude and skin tones. Our Visual Effects work included wire and stunt rigging removal, sparks, flames, brand removal, time machine effects, fireworks and smoke simulation. Special thanks to Scott and the incredible crew at Funny or Die!

Coming Soon: how we created the Visual Effects!