Cheap Special Effects

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or clear tape. Also, the string often shows up in the final movie, but that¶s ok because it looksfunny.

You can perform many other effects by reversing your film. Another knife trick you might want

to try is the "knife catch´ « instead of using a piece of wood, the defender actually catches the

knife. Simply film the defender throwing the knife, and run it in reverse as if he¶s actuallycatching it. This is very similar to the "jedi force move" effect that we'll soon discuss.

Home-made special effects:The "Jedi force move" Last updated 5-19-03

You know those cool StarWars Jedi powers « where Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan move

objects and retrieve their dropped light-sabers using only their mystical mind power? Well, now

your kids can do it too « and it¶s really easy to accomplish! The trick is to run everything inreverse in your computer editing software.

Here's one of the simplest examples. In this scene, we're going to make our fighters fightingsticks leap up into their hands.

Establish the scene by having your fighters hold their hands over their weapons (which are

currently laying on the ground). Next, film your kids holding their weapons in their outstretchedhands and have them dr op the weapons to the ground one at a time.

When you run this in reverse, the weapons will appear to leap off the ground into their hands.

This effect is great for making all kinds of things fly into your little Jedi fighter¶s hands.

Home-made special effects:The fake body Last updated 5-19-03

A fake body is incredibly useful for homemade fighting movies because there's a lot of funny

effects you can do with one. Spin it around, drop if from heights « the possibilities are endless!

Unlike the other homemade special effects in this series, creating a fake body takes a little work.However, if you keep your scenes short and fast, you don¶t need a very realistic body. This will

save us a lot of work. The easiest way to make the fake body is to stuff pants and a shirt with



crumpled newspaper and tape it all together with packing tape to keep it from falling apart. Youdon¶t really need a head on your body. Here are some fun things you can do with a fake body.

y swing it around

y drop it from great heightsy

run over it with your car y put a stick inside, and break the body¶s "backbone" over your knee

For example, you could film a scene (like the one below) where the attacker grabs the victim,spins him around, throws the body through the air, where it then hits a wall.

If you edit everything carefully, this looks very realistic (and funny). At the end, you can replacethe body with the real kid, and have him stand up and brush himself off.

Home-made special effects:The mid-air collision Last updated 5-19-03

If you've ever watched Saturday morning cartoons or a fighting movie like ³Crouching Tiger

Hidden Dragon´, there¶s always a fighting scene where two opponents fly through the air with

swords drawn, attack each other in mid-air, before falling to the ground and recovering. In the

movies this flying effect is done with supporting guy wires, but you can simulate this specialeffect in your own backyard.

Have your opponents run toward each other waving their weapons.



Mount your camera on the ground, and instruct each kid to run and jump OVER the camera.

Now, film the kids jumping past each other.

And finally, film each kid hitting the ground, rolling, and standing up.

When you edit it all together, you get a great mid-air clash. You can accentuate the actual pointof contact, with a sword-clang sound effect. You could even put a few frames of white at the point of contact, as if the impact created a flash of light.

Home-made special effects:

The matrix wall run Last updated 5-19-03





You can make your kids appear and disappear very easily. Simply film a scene with your kids init. Then, stop the camera and move your children off the scene, and restart the camera. Your kids

will seem to "suddenly disappear."

This is a very simple effect to make, and you theoretically don¶t even need editing software to

pull it off. To make this look perfect, though, you will need to do two things:

1. Tripod « You absolutely must have a tripod for this effect to look right.

2. Exposure « Turn the auto-exposure off on your camcorder. That¶s because the presenceof your kid may change the overall brightness of the scene, making the camera adjust to

this new level. If you don¶t turn off the exposure, when your kid appears/disappears,everything in the background will suddenly get darker/brighter.

You can use the vanishing trick for a couple of different effects. For example, if one of your

fighters is vanquished, you could make his body ³fade into nothing.´ This is how Yodadisappeared in Star Wars when he died. You can also use this special effect as a simplified Star-

Trek teleporter.

Home-made video effects:

Knife throw to the head Last updated 5-19-03

There¶s nothing better for spicing up a home kung-fu movie than the knife throw. This specialeffect is easy to create and involves virtually no setup.

The first thing you'll need is a knife. Don¶t use a real knife if you¶re working with kids ... you'd be amazed at the trouble kids get into when sharp objects are flying through the air.

Establish the scene by filming alternating views of both your attacker and the victim. These

establishing shots are important, because both characters won¶t be on the screen together whenthe knife throw actually occurs. First show your attacker brandishing the knife and the victim

running toward him in rage.

Now, clear a safe throwing area within your backyard. When everyone is safely out of the way,

film a side-view of the attacker throwing the knife off the screen. Instruct your knife master to







This effect looks seamless when edited correctly. You can even "ham things up" a little byhaving your impaled victim stumble around with the sword under his arm. After the sword is

removed, your dying fighter can fall to his knees and speak his final words.

Most of the plastic swords you'll find in toy stores are too short and don't look very realistic, so

you might want to check the online halloween websites for a better sword selection. If you can'tfind an appropriate toy sword, you can always make your own by painting a wooden dowel with black and silver spray paint. I've improvised by using metal tent poles as swords -- they look and

sound great, but the metal poles can be hard on the kid's knuckles.

Home-made video effects:The last-minute sword block Last updated 5-19-03

Here¶s a fun special effect that combines several techniques that we¶ve already discussed. In this

stunt, one of our fighters will fall to the ground, and the other will ³finish him off´ with his

spear. However, at the last moment, the doomed fighter will block the spear with his quick reflexes and incredible hand strength.

Here¶s how it works.

Prepare your scene by placing the fallen fighter on the ground. Now, place the attacker near him, but several yards away from the camera. The video camera has no depth perception, so it looks

like the fighters are actually next to each other.

Next, instruct your attacker to passionatly strike the ground in front of him with his spear. It willlook like he¶s impalling his fallen enemy. Hopefully, you¶ve placed your kids far enough apart

so that there is no chance of them actually hitting each other.

Finally, we¶re going to film the sword being blocked. To accomplish this, we are going to filmthis clip and r everse it when we edit on our computer. Place the spear in the fallen fighters hands

and have him hold the spear end close to his face. Then, instruct your attacking fighter to pull thespear away from him. Finally, have your the fallen fighter quickly drop his hand to his side.





Start filming again « but get a closer shot of the head so you can really see that ³viper spit´come flying out. Finally, film your victim being hit by water and rolling around on the ground

while rubbing his eyes.

From personal experience, I've found this effect to be quite messy, as you are pouring water all

over the backyard. It helps to use one of those "gun-squirter handles" as this will save water andmake the spray come out more forcefully.

Home-made video effects:How to make fake blood Last updated 5-19-03

You can do some funny effects with fake blood, but I recommend using it

sparingly, because this recipe makes some really sticky blood« and you

don¶t want your kids covered in the stuff.

I generally make my fake blood from three ingredients «

1. Corn syrup « you can find this clear syrup at the grocery store in the syrup section.

Look for the Karo brand.2. Food coloring « Use mainly red, and you might want to add a little blue or purple to

make the blood look darker.3. Milk « A little milk will make the blood look more opaque (you can¶t see through it).

When mixing your blood together, go for a dark color « blood is actually quite dark and

viscous, and if your blood is too light or transparent, it¶s not going to show up on film.

I rarely use blood, because it¶s so messy and rarely needed. One effect that does look good,however, is to film a close-up shot of your kids face, and have him dribble blood out of hismouth. Send your kid for a shower and change of clothes immediately afterwards « because

they'll be sticky!

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Cheap Special Effects