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How 4 films used LED strips to illuminate actors for interactive light

The Nic Cage example is…awesome (of course).

You may have seen the Project Power effects breakdown video I posted about already, in which the actor playing Newt was fitted with some LED lighting strips to aid in interactive lighting during the fire fight sequence. It reminded me of a couple of other films where LED strips were utilized like this.

Those films include Watchmen (on Billy Crudup playing Dr. Manhattan), Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters (on various ghost characters) and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (featuring an incredibly unhinged Nicholas Cage).

I’ve collected a few breakdowns together that show some of the live-action shoot work with the LED strips and the final VFX shots. Love to hear from you about any other films/TV shows were that kind of interactive lighting has been used.

Bonus factoid: At one point, the LED lighting cowl worn by Cage was up for auction. It’s unclear if it ever sold.

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The Ghost Rider 2 cowl.


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  1. Chris Gilman

    Global Effects Inc. developed and built both the Watchman / Billy Crudup and Ghost Rider / Nic Cage LED suits.

  2. Christian Manz

    Another good example was the LED coat that was put on a dog to stand in for the Patronus running through the forest in Potter 7

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