Mistborn Movie Special Effect

[Blackhoof]

I've started this thread to discuss the ways that we would like Allomancy and Feruchemy depicted on screen. Some powers are very easy to depict, others not so much. So how would we like it done?

I'll get started with some suggestions.

Allomancy:

Steel/Iron: pretty easy. Include the blue limes, but only briefly to avoid overpowering the audience. Pushing/pulling is easy to depict.

Zinc/Brass: harder. Not really sure at all.

Pewter: easy. Flaring doesn't need a depiction, and once it is established it should be obvious when it is being burned or not.

Tin: have a HD effect occur when a character burns it, zoom in on things, maybe do a POV shot.

Bronze: have the pulses be drumbeats, and have Vin zoom in on different characters or locations combined with the beats increasing/decreasing in volume to show where they are coming from.

Copper: no visual depiction needed.

Atium: an easy one to depict, but all the ghosts could be confusing. Maybe only do ghosts for immediate threats?

[DSC01 he/him]

For zinc and brass, I would say usually nothing, but in cases where we know emotional allomancy is happening, you could do something like a less dramatic version of the tin, just showing the subject's reactions. Maybe some kind of subtle visual distortion to indicate power being used, too (which could work for copper, as well--in that case, something like a wave of fuzzy distortion briefly flowing out around the allomancer to show the cloud going up).

[Khyrindor he/him]

Weight feruchemy would be the toughest, especially if they did a Wax and Wayne movie. Most of the feruchemist powers don't have obvious visual effects.

[VoltCruelerz he/him]

Yeah, weight Feruchemy would be a pain, at least while storing it (when he releases it, the effects are usually rather dramatic, so sinking into the ground would probably make it self-evident).  My only guess is that you'd have to adjust the way Wax's hair flaps in the breeze, but that's... iffy...

Edited January 31, 2016 by VoltCruelerz

[Weltall]

On Tin (both allomantic and feruchemical), they could do what Sherlock does and have fun with subtitles showing the things the user is observing with their enhanced senses, plus toying with the volume knob selectively. You could do similar things with subtitles for feruchemical Copper to show the memories being recalled.

 

Cadmium and Bendalloy are obviously within the bounds of special effects. Make the edge of the bubble shimmer and speed up or slow down the inside/outside depending on the metal and the perspective.

 

Duralumin/Nicrosil: Whatever you're doing for the other metals, but flashier if appropriate (Steel/Iron/Atium etc).

 

Aluminum/Chromium: Nothing.

 

Electrum: Basically the same as Atium, you could probably film this mostly with practical effects.

 

Gold: Since this one is all mental, get the makeup artists and costume department involved to create past selves and do a little special effects work to make them look a bit spectral afterwards. And for its feruchemical application, people have had a lot of practice with rapid healling effects so that's easy.

 

Feruchemical Steel: See above, super-speed is a pretty easy effect to create.

[Stormgate he/him]

You forget sound effects. Might be cool for aluminum. Maybe a flash of light for nicrosil and chromium. Pewter might have some change like bulking up, but not as much as Feruchemy. I'm thinking it turns Steve Rogers into Captain America, as opposed to turning Bruce Banner into the Hulk. Emotional Allomancy could be done with the eyes, or maybe a glowing beam of energy that nobody sees.

[amulligan99]

What might be really cool is a subtle beat for each metal so by the end of the movie you've leaned the different beats or possibly instruments so you just know what's being burned. Now just imagine a fight scene line that.

Edited February 3, 2016 by amulligan99

[KnightGradient]

What might be really cool is a subtle beat for each metal so by the end of the movie you've leaned the different beats or possibly instruments so you just know what's being burned. Now just imagine a fight scene line that.

Upvote because when I read Vin's fight scenes, I hear 'Iron' by Woodkid. Especially the one at the end of HoA

[Uilos he/him]

Every time they mention copperclouds, I imagine a brownish cloud surrounding an area. Not physically but perceptually. I think that it would be interesting to see when Copper gets discussed and dealt with when using Bronze.

I like the notion of beats or 'themes' for each metal, as that ties in with how Bronze would work. It also makes sense in universe as Bronze is how every one can identify Pushing/Pulling and so on.

[Kaymyth she/her]

I've thought for a while that the music video for "Take Flight" has some stuff in it that really looks like steeljumping to me.

 

[natc]

What might be really cool is a subtle beat for each metal so by the end of the movie you've leaned the different beats or possibly instruments so you just know what's being burned. Now just imagine a fight scene line that.

Then the beats are turned up and the background drowned out a bit when one concentrates on burning bronze?

[amulligan99]

Then the beats are turned up and the background drowned out a bit when one concentrates on burning bronze?

This is a good solution to having to many beats at once.

I also had another idea for feruchemy. Maybe different screen and sound effects so music will set the mood for storing or tapping determination and maybe a subtle sound leading someone who is tapping luck. Maybe a more vibrant screen for heat or wakefulness. What do you guys think?

[Orsium he/him]

Atium was kind of already done in Next with Nic Cage.  I think that realistically for a live action movie they would have to only focus on the "flashy" metals.  Steel, Iron, Pewter and Tin.  And Atium for the climax/final fight scene.  There's just not enough time in a movie to really hit all of them.

 

Now, if it were a TV show...you could spend the first season world building and developing powers, and then move on to actually using them and story progression. 

 

But yeah...steel/iron lines are easy, so is moving things and jumping/floating.  Pewter is just your basic overreaction of hits and tin could be done with camera zoom and selective volume control.  Emotional metals I think would just be a fuzzy edged screen focusing on the target with a voiceover like Breeze does in the books explaining what emotions are being affected.  Copper would be a general muting(think post explosion hearing loss scenes.  Starts real quiet and then adjusts back to being able to hear), and bronze would be a heartbeat pulse that gets louder as the person zeroes in on who they are seeking.