Backyard FX

     I assume that most people reading this blog are emerging film makers who do not have much money to spend on production, especially effects, but that doesn't mean that you should avoid putting effects into your movie.  Effects can make a film look like it had a bigger budget and make it look more professional. I was wandering around YouTube when I discovered Backyard FX, a channel dedicated to showing you how to make good effects for cheap.

     One video that I thought was very interesting was the camera slider for under $20. You don't really notice how small things, like a gentle move in camera position, can really effect the mood of the shot, and being able to do such a move gives your film a a distinct feel.  Being able to do it for under $20 doesn't hurt either. I highly suggest watching the other videos that Backyard FX posts as well.  They are fun and can help bring a production to the next level. Enjoy.

Non CG Special Effects

So I was reading online and came across this article. The article explains that modern technology has effected the special effects in films and shows, but just because we have the technology to add in effects and such, sometimes adding effects in in post-production doesn't necessarily make things look better. This article shows a few examples of ways in which to create effects, while shooting a production. Its actually really interesting. The link is in the title if you want to take a look at it.

Detonation Films

I forgot to mention this when we had that presentation on FX with the exploding head. For those who don't have Adobe After Effects or some other program with a blood-gush generator, there's a site where you can download blood, explosions, bullets, and a bunch of other SF stock footage put against solid backgrounds, making it easy to key into you videos. Most of the good stuff costs money, but you can get some pretty good free samples that work well. It's worked well for me in the past.

Fighting tutorials

For our GDK we have a fighting scene, and this video was really helpful to kinda figure out how are we going to shoot this scene. they also have other videos with different tricks and effects, so they are definitely worth checking out.

This is another good one, WHACK!