It doesn’t take a genius to realise dry ice is awesome, and with Halloween right around the corner, you’re bound to be seeing a lot of it. But did you know dry ice bubbles can be used as a practical effect to make whirling, churning alien planets?
Like all good practical effects, the premise is simple; just create a soap film over a chunk of sublimating dry ice to capture the gaseous clouds in a fragile globe. Shoot it the right way, and you could swear you’re staring at some unknown gas giant, floating in the furthest reaches of space. You’d be hard-pressed to find an easier way to make planets in your kitchen. [Shanks FX]