Assignment 4: Special/Visual Effects

I don't need superhero powers to foresee that the week ahead is going to be insane! Having 3 videos due next week is OMG CRAZZYY! I think at the end of this week I'm going to have huge black eye rings and eye bags :( Really can't wait for this week to be over.

Anyway, we've finished filming our second video last Sunday, and everything went smoothly as planned :D We even managed to finish early! BUT that means editing will begin!! We have such a huge pile of footages, I don't know how I'm ever going to finish looking through them. So much to do in such a short span of time :( I'm getting afraid that I will not be able to finish in time, and I don't want to submit some slip shot work. Sigh, I'm not even sure I can find the time to film my special effects assignment. OKAY, ENOUGH WHINING! I CAN DO THIS!! I MUST!!

As for Assignment 4, I kind of have an idea right now even though I have no clue about the implementation of the effects using After Effects. Got to find some time to look through those tutorials on Youtube! Youtube's my best friend right now :) Okay, let's get back on track...since my dog's birthday is coming soon, I've decided to dedicate this video assignment to him. & let him be the star of the video! So far, the stars of the past superhero assignments are all humans, so having an animal with special effects got to be quite refreshing right? :D Well, hopefully my dog will cooperate with me on the day that I will be filming. I plan to film this coming Saturday which is his birthday...so sorry Scooby, I can't celebrate your birthday and still got to force you to be on camera. Anyway, my dog's favourite toy is his Houndeken beer, so I thought of doing something like a Houndeken commercial which will end off with the line "Houndeken - the best beer in the world".

The story as of now will be something like this...

Actors:
SCOOBY - DOG with super powers
ME - THIEF with super powers

Houndeken being the best beer in the world proves to be really irresistible, so Me, the thief would attempt to steal SCOOBY's Houndeken which he keeps safely under his bed in a locked room. Having no access to this locked room, I decided to use my super powers and walk through the door! Who would expect that after I've gotten my hands on Houndeken, the alarm starts ringing and SCOOBY appears with his eyes burning in flame, literally! & so the chase begins. SCOOBY being a dog with pyro powers, starts shooting fireballs at me as he chases me down the street. I managed to dodge a few fireballs, but I eventually got hit and start to combust! So it will end with SCOOBY getting his Houndeken back, looking very satisfied and happy :D Then the tag line will appear..."Houndeken - the best beer in the world"

Well, like I always say...it's one thing to imagine it to be but another thing to actually materialize it! Alright, all the best to everyone for the coming week!

* EDITED at a later time...
Everything went smoothly as planned, except for the initial idea of making myself combust! I tried using the disintegration effect tutorial on Video Copilot, but I didn't manage to achieve the desired effect because the tutorial is really quite hard to understand with tons of layers to handle! BUT STILL thumbs up to Video Copilot for all the super detailed tutorials on super awesome effects!

I am pretty proud of myself for achieving pretty decent looking fireballs :D

Alright, so here's the video and draft!





Scooby's first shot at fame haha.