Sharkboy & Lavagirl:blogs

Hey my name is John McCleod, I am the special effects coordinator of the movie 'Shark boy and Lava girl' I'm also a Pyrotechnics expert.

During my job as a special effects coordinator, I have to work on the computers which makes my job very behind the scenes, I also develop the special effects that are shown during the course of the movie such as: Blue screen, the explosions, computer animation and also 3D affects. The things that I like about my job is that I get to play around with special effects and computers and I get to discover new things. What I dislike is, the special effects department isn't always recognised by the others. My favourite parts of the movie are when the 3D effects kick in it is great! The reasons I believe that the audience will like this movie is the 3D effects hands down, they make the movie fun, and lively. There hasn't been any incidence the past few weeks and if there were any, I am sure we would've resolved them.



3D glasses



Today I start my day of work at my office looking through the current scenes which have been filmed, today I have to start adding the special effects to the movie, I then have to send it over to the editing department so that they approve of it and start editing through it, then add it to the whole movie.

In this movie we are only adding 3D effects, they appear in the movie, often, but can only be seen with the use of 3D glasses. They appear in the movie briefly during explosions, when things are being thrown at you and when something is coming to you, though these happen at the briefest of times it still sends a jolt of adrenalin down your spine.This is what happens during my time on the set.



A 3D picture in the movie



In the movie, many things pop up and shock you, due to the 3D effects. I added this so that the viewers which are the under 12's they would get a shock, but not enough to scare them. They appear at the times in which you don't expect during the movie and add a lot of fun to the movie.



I'm not always on set everyday though, most of the time I spend is at my home office doing the effects there, but only on urgent calls and emergencies will I be called to the studio to have a talk with the editing crew or have a meeting with Robert Rodriguez, the director of the movie.



I finish my work on the set at around 8pm, I sign out and I am on my way home.