Question: How did the people behind the film achieve the effect of making the actors look like ghosts. I truly have no idea.
The Frighteners (1996)
1 question
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Dee Wallace, Jake Busey, John Astin, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson
Visible crew/equipment: Outside the chapel, when Frank backs into the pedestal the statue begins to topple over. In the shot facing up, as the pedestal falls and Frank puts his arms out to catch the statue, the wires used in this stunt are perfectly visible. (01:35:05)
Old Lady Bradley: The wicked will be punished.
Trivia: At the beginning of the film Lucy and Ray watch a videotape called 'Murders, Madmen and Psychopaths', with the news report of Johnny Charles Bartlett. The reporter is a genuine TV reporter in NZ (where the film was shot), cast presumably due to her real American accent. (00:11:10)
Chosen answer: For the most part, the actors playing the ghosts were shot separately on blue-screens, and then comped into the scenes. (By removing the blue background through a process called "color keying", and placing them over the scenes) They were simply given a blueish glow and made semi-translucent to complete the effect. It was pretty cutting edge back in the 90's, but nowadays, it'd be very easy to make the exact same effect using a simple program like Adobe After Effects.
TedStixon