Beam up Ideas

Inspired by one particular piece of concept art I did in which I introduced my floating pyramid beaming somebody up in a city, I decided to develop the kind of beam I wanted.

My first idea was lightning; lightning would come down, strike the human and then vanish along with him. However, as technologically cool as this would be, it doesn't demonstrate a lot of ability. It would be a case of making a flash, a bolt, and making myself vanish after a single frame. It isn't all that exciting. I worked on several colours regardless, thinking maybe there could be a few bolts of energy leaping out at or around the area in which I was standing, before or after being beamed up - or bolted up, as I referred to it.

I worked on visual interpretations of how these beams would work. The first is the lightning beam. As mentioned, it isn't too exciting. I did like the idea of there being a cloud of smoke. That idea kind of fits in with the comedic appeal I was looking for. 

This is the next idea I had which I am glad I did because I think I will instead settle for this. The idea being a red beam comes down and surrounds me (I refer to myself as I will be acting in my own film). The beam then has an increasing gravity / black hole effect in which my body becomes distorted, warped and stringy and I get sucked up as the beam gets thinner, eventually vanishing entirely.

I chose red because aside from grey, it is the main colour of the pyramid and the technology that the aliens use. It fits in and suits better than the lightning bolt and I think it is much more interesting and exciting to watch. I don't think  it's out of my ability produce but it is harder, and much more specific about the kind of effect I want. I am still keen on the idea of smoke appearing somewhere though so I might have that for when I appear inside the ship, but until I have a final idea I will probably just use this beam effect in reverse, perhaps coming from the ground upwards.