- What is the 'Great Balls of Fire' Effect?
- Filming Tips
- Step 1: Setting Up Your Project
- Step 2: Adding the Media to the Project and the Timeline
- Step 3: Marking the 'Flame On' Point for Adding the Fire Footage
- Step 4: Adding the Fire Clip to the Timeline
- Step 5: Repositioning the Fire to Match the Ball
- Step 6: Tracking the Fire to the Movement of the Ball
- Final Steps: Test Render and Add Sound
- Resources
Filming Tips
The footage used with this article was created outdoors, using a camera-mounted tripod to film an actor throwing a ball. The actor clicks his fingers when the ball is in midair, signifying the point when the ball should burst into flames.
When creating a scene like this, try to make sure that the actor throws the object within the field of the camera to retain a level of realism. Check also that there is little or no movement in the background, that the thrown object is large enough to be seen, and that the object has a color that clearly differentiates it from the background (see Figure 1).