Mysterious Flying Phenomenon VFX Perspective
This post isn’t meant to be informative, this post is just a story about an artists perspective on the shocking event that had the internet confused on an ordinary Saturday night. Scrolling through my Twitter timeline, I saw one tweet in particular caught my eye, @natmatic, from the East Coast tweeted “There will be a meteor shower tonight after midnight. You're welcome.”
That’s cool, I thought... kept scrolling. Thirty minutes later I come across @koifresco, in the West Coast who tweeted a 30s video of something in the sky as he watched and described “a massive meteor/ufo explode in the sky and leave a trail of light like 4 miles long.” I stopped and correlated both tweets, and tried to figure that what he saw was just a meteor of some sort.. and it sure was beautiful.
Five minutes later I read “What in the absolute fuck just flew across the sky in the valley just over the 405??? Julien just got it all on tape.” by popular youtube star @jennamarbles. Followed by a hilarious rant of her pro-conspiracy theories and THE video that turned heads.
Wow, beautiful, insane, yes I thought. Finally the internet has caught up enough that we can all agree we see something inexplicable, and literally the NASA or government can’t say anything to alter our views. Well, or to say the least, while it lasted. What if youtube sensation hadn’t caught it on tape, would it be as intense of a subject?..
It was beautiful to see the mysterious phenomenon trending gracefully and the government momentarily stumped. It’s Aliens! a UFO! no, it’s a Taurid meteor! no it’s a “Trident II missile fired as scheduled from a submarine off the coast of Southern California, as part of an ongoing system evaluation” a Navy spokesman ‘confirms’.
Excuse me while I contain my nausea.
My evening unraveled as I spent it with some new friends, human interaction for a change. Then I was reminded why I like my bubble so much. In a way grateful though, because it is, the tiny secluded human brains and thoughts, that I find the most beauty in.
I met Keron, who is Kala’s boyfriend, Ann and her boyfriend, Maggie and hers; who in particular had glasses, long hair that covered his cool beard and an english accent yet I don’t recall getting his name. Aside that everyone seems to be happy in a relationship, and I brought my favorite date, my sister, the night ended up being cool and delighting. Los Angeles still trending while we sip margaritas, and eat cool spicy Indian home made food (which was amazing Kala thank you!) The controversial ufo conversation steered up.
It’s an effect guys, we go to art school, you don’t believe in that shit do ya!? says Kala’s boyfriend.
I laugh out loud, dude it’s trending. I show them the video. Guy with cool beard says, oh yes, this is was superimposed in After Effects, I recall a similar effect, oh yeah a total fake, in his cool english accent.
My anxiety starts to build. I’m a visual effects student for Christ sakes. Google it I say.. didn’t take much for him to latch on the first thing he saw, oh yea it’s a missile he says, as he reads whatever news ‘reliable’ article he’s reading. So quick to be right, so quick.
Why do we even have to brand it, I start to think. Why can’t we just accept the phenomenon and let it be. I recall being in my Physics class last year and studying all theses weird phenomenons that do occur with the right circumstances. Professor Michael Leitch had a favorite website in particular in which he always spoke about, EPOD, short for Earth’s Science Picture of the Day. Where scientists all around the world, upload cool pictures that raise questions and they stand up to the challenge of explaining them.
Candles in the Dark - October 05, 2015
or Seawater Bioluminescence and Milky Way Glow - June 08, 2015
Whatever theory you choose to believe, whether it’s a UFO, or a meteor or a missile, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened so remember to be open minded.
Anyways, I digress. I think any visual effects artist with a keen eye can agree that the footage has too much soul for it to be fake, plus to the addition that there were other simultaneous similar recordings across LA. The beautiful thing about Visual effects technology, it’s that it is so advanced that it applies physics and mathematics to our beautiful creations, visual effects artists come in and perfect this technology within it’s imperfections frame by frame. To create something like this:
Following the Supermoon, I hope the universe starts gifting us more supernatural gifts, as they are the proof that will expand the consciousness and awareness of those who need to see things to believe them. I think that’s the strength that visual effects has, it can create the unimaginable, and affect you to think more, to ‘what if’ more.
