Special Effects Tips for Home Movies

Make It Real: Special Effects Tips for Home Movies

Who says you need to have the most highly technological equipment just to create the most convincing scene when shooting for a home-made movie? There are a lot of special effects tips that are easy to do. All you need is some cheap and good sound effects and you're good to go.

Kung-fu Fighting

Are you fond of Jet Li? Inject some kung-fu in your own movies. But how? You can relive knife throwing, which practically doesn't need any kind of setup at all.

Of course, to do the scene you need a knife, but you don't have to stick with a real one, especially if you're dealing with children. You can create a scene by shooting different kinds of angles of both the victim and the attacker. This is actually very critical as you don't simultaneously film them for the actual knife throwing.

For the actual shoot, you can either start with the attacker. Look for a clear area which means there is no unsuspecting person who can pass by to avoid harming anyone while shooting. You may ask him to throw the knife with full force, as if someone's is actually in front of him. Stop the roll, and proceed to make a shot of the victim. You can picture him holding a stuck knife in one hand, surprised for being hit, and instruct him to make some jerking moves until he collapses into the ground.

The ultimate trick is to place these 2 clips very closely together during film editing. As much as possible, leave no gap. It can further help if you can include sound effect of an arrow flying in the air and hitting its target.