How to Make a UFO Look Realistic on a Low Budget

[The Company]

Hey all. I'm planning to shoot a movie soon involving UFOs. Does anybody have any ideas that I could use to make the ship look realistic? Is a model the best way to go? Has anybody ever had a similar problem? How did you solve it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[desktopmunchies]

Do you absolutely have to show the UFOs? I think if all you can do is make crappy UFOs you would be better off not showing them at all but just implying them with lights.

 

[The Company]

Yeah. It's looking like that may be the only option. Although, I don't think the film will have the same effect without showing them. I'm still pondering what I'm going to do at the moment.

 

[BrownCowStudios]

You may want to check out this site for some ideas, or actual models to use in the film.



Just browse around, and I'm sure you'll find something.

 

[DerekEastham]

UFO's... I love sci-fi.

While I've only attempted the UFO in a music video format...

One way to do it is the obvious CG.

However, if you don't have access to that... then the best suggestion
that I can give you for a realistic looking space ship... is to make an
extremely detailed model. Seriously, the more details you put into it,
the more believable it will be.

Good luck!

 

[The Company]

Thanks for the help. I'm checking out that website right now.

 

[markcheng]

Do the UFO's have to be moving in the shot? A while ago I made some fairly realistic stills using Photoshop and some miniatures. Some examples are here:





These background plates were taken with a digital camera. The miniatures were also taken with a digital camera. I took them outside so the lighting would match.

You can see in the first link, that I split up the digital photo a bit so that the skyscraper appears in front of one of the ships.

In the second image, I used the airbrush tool to create a shadow and used the blur tool to make the tentacles appear to be in motion.

My tip about making compelling UFO footage is to try and compose the image so that it doesn't look like a toy in the sky...Maybe add detail or position the UFO next to something to establish scale.

Good luck! I'm dying to see what you come up with!!!

Mark