OK, so I Blew Up a Building Today!

[StormFactory]

This was my first test with VFX and blowing anything up. I got the footage while just randomly driving around. After this first test, I learned a few things.

First, when doing VFX shots like this, it helps to get out of the car. Second, once out of the car, try locking down the camera -- tripod would be smart. Third, figure out what scale you want your blast to be before making the shot.

All in all it was a fun experiement. And to go from never using AE to having my own VFX footage in less than a day feels pretty good.



Shot with the 5D Mark II and 28-135 IS lens while lazily sitting parked in my car.

Thanks to www.videocopilot.net for the great tutorials.

 

[NextWaveG]

Just a tip...

I would recommend adding some over all camera shake/hand held look to it. Having the explosion shake the camera without any other movement from the camera seems a bit unrealistic. VideoCopilot has a great free AE plugin called After Shake which I find great for controlling a hand held look.

Nice work.

 

[Lasvideo]

If you want to see and learn from a master of VFX then go to videocopilot.com.
Andrew has tons of free tutorials that will make your head spin if you really enjoy doing this kind of stuff!

 

[AndrewGentle]

Nice work, looked good! Was that actual video on the background plate? I didn't see any movement.

If you want to see and learn from a master of VFX then go to videocopilot.com.
Andrew has tons of free tutorials that will make your head spin if you really enjoy doing this kind of stuff!

Which is exactly what he already did.

 

[StormFactory]

Just a tip...

I would recommend adding some over all camera shake/hand held look to it. Having the explosion shake the camera without any other movement from the camera seems a bit unrealistic. VideoCopilot has a great free AE plugin called After Shake which I find great for controlling a hand held look.

Nice work.

I agree about the camera shake. The shake that's there was done in Vegas. I found out about After Shake after I had already rendered this first test.

I think next time I'll experiment with a still photo. A great example of that is this below.

 

[StormFactory]

Nice work, looked good! Was that actual video on the background plate? I didn't see any movement.



Which is exactly what he already did.

It was video that ended on that frame so I froze that last frame for the rest of the explosion to play out.

There is actual video footage at the start but because of all the camera shake when I shot it, I did a stabilize motion track in AE. It did alright but one side of the frame warps during playback. I cut that warping out and replaced it with a still frame. I just uploaded the original so you can see what I'm talking about.

 

[meauounji]

Second one looks better. If I may say though, the flames look too big. At that distance and an explosion that size, I would expect the fireball to have a lot more "blades" to the flame.

I have no VFX experience. Just saying this from a viewer's standpoint.

 

[wilbah]

I like the way this looks, but find myself perplexed at a few things... First off...silly as this may seem, the audio effect that you are using is too big for the level of explosion. It's the first cue that something is amiss, either the explosion needs to be on a wider scale, or the audio needs to be smaller and less of an overall impact.

It also seems to me that the direction of the initial flames moving to the right and the black smoke cloud going straight up (they seem unrelated to me) is a hair distracting. (of course it took me a few times viewing to understand this ).

That being said, I find it very impressive!

 

[Lasvideo]

Action Movie Essentials...
What a great name for a collection of flames, explosions and other visual effects.
Somebody should start a website that sells that and other products AND has the best tutorials Ive ever seen, bar none.
Oh...wait a minute. Andrew Kramer has done exactly that and he called it www.videocopilot.com.
If you want to be impressed by a true master of efx and motion graphics. check it out!

 

[AndrewGentle]

www.videocopilot.com

Yeah, thanks Lasvideo, we all know about Video Copilot by now since StormFactory has already been using it, NextWave mentioned it and you yourself already suggested it.

 

[Lasvideo]

Well, I guess the subtlety of my sarcasm couldn't get past you...Never mind ;-)

 

[AndrewGentle]

Well, I guess the subtlety of my sarcasm couldn't get past you...Never mind ;-)

Do you know where there's a great tutorial for creating sarcasm in After Effects? Videocopilot.net! What a fantastic site, you might have heard of it?