On a recent Disney movie, effects supervisor Michael Crabtree worked with director Peter Bogdanovich and the effects team at DAVE to construct some jaded-kid-proof effects to illustrate what might happen when an NFL quarterback and a pregnant art teacher switch identities.

In Your Shoes, which was shot north of Toronto late this summer, is a youth-oriented TV movie about two children who use witchcraft to create family unity, casting a spell with a Barbie and a G.I. Joe to switch the personalities of their feuding parents.

The payoff shot occurs near the end of the movie when the parents’ identities are switching back.

Bogdanovich was looking for an invisible yet sophisticated effect to show internal energy transferring back to its original source without using a heavy-handed ‘inner glow’ approach. The challenge was to come up with something fresh that could convey the intangible situation of a personality switch. The resulting ‘light snapping’ effect was used in all the other transitions in the movie, but to a lesser degree than in the payoff scene.

The effect involves a tracking shot around the actors. DAVE Inferno artist Mike Morey created light rays with 3D geometry and then colored and feathered in various sizes. To enhance the effect, Crabtree’s intention was to create a fluttering or interruption in the light to give the appearance of having an internal energy and life source.

As the light spikes radiated, spun and snapped they were tracked into the scene. The effect was modified to work with all the other relevant shots where the transition between the parents comes into play.

In-camera plates were shot on set to provide varying light intensity levels and, for exterior scenes, to separate foreground elements.

The DAVE team consisted of Morey and executive producer Michael Lambermont. Post-production supervisor was Jan Dutton. The project was edited at Panic & Bob by David Baxter. James Gardner was the DOP and the show’s executive producer was Sally Hampton.

The movie will air later this year on ABC.