Explosion

This is a fake explosion applied to a video clip made in After Effects.

Scope of the project (goal)

One of our more recent projects was to learn elements of special effects through applying an explosion using various resources given to us to a provided video clip.

Process

To do this we had to learn by watching a video tutorial. If we followed along with the tutorial and did exactly as the instructor said, the final product generally came out looking pretty nice. I had a little bit of trouble figuring out timing on certain things, such as when to have the smoke come in after the explosion, or when the debris should hit the ground.

What did I learn?

While doing thisI learned how to better organize layers in After Effects. For this to work, you really need to have your layers in the right place, and doing that helped with my organization

What would I do differently?

I would probably try to fix some things with the timing, and try to add a camera shake of some kind. I can't really do anything about the people ignoring the explosion, but it would be cool if there was some kind of reaction.

What would I keep the same?

I like how my lighting came out, with the flash of light that reflects on the wall and overhangs of the building, so that's probably what I would keep.

My experiences

After completing this project, I feel like my files could be more organized and also now I know how to apply lighting while editing, rather than having to put some pieces of lighting in during filming.

Thoughts and conclusions

This project was really easy and fun for me. I like having a video to follow when I'm learning something new, since you can go back if you miss something.