Epic Frisbee - Director's Notes

Two dudes drag along their younger nephew for a rousing game of "Knock the Head off the Mannequin With a Frisbee."  When the kid asks if he can try, his beginner's luck is epic and absurd.

Watch Epic Frisbee Here:

Director's Notes:  Green Screen Galore

The key skill that one must master for almost every movie idea I ever have had is using a green screen.  Yes, I love my sci-fi movies, my fantasy movies, model ships and explosions and puppets that are green screened into the footage to make them look huge, and all that jazz.  But there are subtle green screen shots that go largely missed until you're trying to figure out how to film it yourself, and you say, "oh, well, you just green-screen it." 

Our high-tech, shielded slow-motion rig.
The only way to protect the camera from
damage when throwing a Frisbee at it was
 to use a sheet of acrylic and secure it in
front of the lens.

Green screen can look really fake though, and I never wanted to risk a movie's quality because I'm not experienced enough to pull it off.  So, instead, I decided to green screen something fast moving and not overly large - two things that make it easier to hide the amateur flaws in the process.  Things like discoloration, transparency, a green halo around everything green-screened,  etc.

Because I did it in a comical movie makes it easier to excuse as well.  I feel like if I took the material seriously, every critic would too.

That's really all the more there is to this movie.  You film a shot without the Frisbee there.  Then film the Frisbee in front of a green screen.  Put one over the other, and ta-da!, the Frisbee looks like it's there.  You can do the same with a picture.  In this movie, I went through NASA's public archive of images to get shots of satellites and the earth.  Then, overlay the Frisbee, manipulate its size and where it is onscreen, and it looks like it's flying.   

I know that gets a little dull to explain.  And reviewing the raw footage recorded in the green screen studio was rather boring for me, too.  But it paid off, and it looks pretty convincing.  If I ever do it again, maybe I'll try with something bigger.  Probably not a human.  I tried a few optional green screen shots with the actors in this movie, but I couldn't make those shots work.