My backyard got way cooler when I added a dragon

I have a question for all of you. What is your favorite movie?

If I say the name of a movie, clap really loudly if you like the movie, and don’t clap if you don’t like the movie.

First, I have Superman. Frankenweenie. Pirates of the Caribbean. Star Wars. Avengers: Age of Ultron. And finally, Harry Potter.

One of the things that all of these movies have in common is that they all have or include special effects.

Why am I interested in special effects? I’ve always wondered how movies were made.

For example, In Star Wars Episode 4’s X Wing attack on the Death Star, how did they do that?

And in Pirates of the Caribbean, how did they do Davy Jones’ face? I decided to find out for myself. What are special effects?

They create everything imaginary in movies or TV shows and its purpose is to make something imaginary look real.

And let me talk a bit about the history of effects. George Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon, made in the year 1902, was the first movie to use miniature models.

Here is a picture of the miniature model of the moon from his movie. Modern movies still use this kind of miniature technique today like in the movie Lord of the Rings.

On the right, you can see a picture of the Argonath from the movie. While it appears to be gigantic, you see on the left in real life while it’s only as big as a human.

There are two types of special effects - mechanical effects, or practical effects, and digital effects, or visual effects.

Mechanical effects have been used since the beginning of film, like George Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon with the use of miniature models.

They create wounds, blood splatter, dirt, grime, real makeup, and even more.

Digital effects use computers, like putting in the miniature Argonath in the movie The Lord of the Rings.

They create digital creatures, animation, explosions, digital makeup, and even more than that. Here’s a video of my sci-fi effects.

I will explain to you how I did them as the video’s playing. I used the Efexio and FxGuru apps to create this.

For this one, I took a picture of a space background and then I put the ships in. For the ships, I positioned the direction and the rotation.

This took me about 35 minutes. For this one, I wanted a computer-generated background, so I did that. I changed the light direction and rotation of the ships.

This took me about 45 minutes. For this one, I took a picture outside and then I put the monster in. The challenge here was that I had to position the light direction of the effects monster to the real light direction of the sun.

This took me about 45 minutes, as well. Here are some more sci-fi effects. This one’s called Dragon in the Wild.

I used the Creature FX app to create this. The dragon is a digital effect and everything else is mechanical. The trees in the background were moved using a stick and timing was essential to make the scene more realistic.

Here’s my Star Wars effect called The Lightsaber. I used the Saber Movie FX app to create this. The challenge here was that I had to position the individual lightsaber blade in every single frame in this little film.

This took me about an hour and 15 minutes. What does this do? Hi-yah! Oh no. I sliced it. Here’s my Blaster Effects.

This one, just like the last one with the lightsaber, I had to position the individual blaster shot in every single frame.

This took me about 15 minutes. The blaster shot was the only digital effect here, and the coolest mechanical effect is the box that’s really on fire. I also added a Stormtrooper Blaster shot sound. Here’s my Star Trek effect called The Enterprise.

I used the Action Movie FX app to create this. In case you were wondering where I got the cloud background, I filmed this on the plane to get the altitude effect.

Here’s my Action Movie FX called The Crusher. The car and foot are both digital and everything else is mechanical.

Here’s my digital makeup. I used the Corpse Cam app to do this. Starting on the left, we have a Wolfman, Frankenstein, Water Creature, and even and Ape.

Now, let me talk a little bit about effects and moods. Horror increases your heartbeat, makes you feel more alive. Sci-fi does the same thing to me, but I like sci-fi way more than horror.

Comedies and laughter actually destress you and help your immunes system. For my presentation, I made a comedy animation that I’m not going to show you just yet.

I’m going to show it to you at the end like a little bonus. What can kids do when they have their hands on special effects? Of course, they can have fun! But it’s not just play.

They can be practicing for future jobs. Jobs in the effects industry can include animator, digital artist, creature modeler, digital compositor, and even a technical director.

What about the future of special effects? I think actors will still remain in the movie business because it would be kind of weird if everything was effects, including the actors. By then, you will be able to make three-dimensional movies in your own home.

And there will be no mechanical effects used whatsoever. Speaking of no mechanical effects, there is a car called the Blackbird which can become any car possible.

Sadly, you cannot see this cool trick with the human eye as it only works if seen using a special computer. Here’s a picture of the Blackbird. As you can see, it is basically just an exoskeleton of a car.

It can actually change its length and height to replicate any car possible. The little black thing that you can see at the top of the car is actually a 360-degree view camera which it uses to see everything around it and create the reflection on the car’s metal.

This is a picture of a normal Jaguar, isn’t it? Or maybe not. Let’s enlarge this photo. Now, cut out the middle part. As you can see, this is actually the Blackbird.

Here is a picture of the Blackbird becoming many cars at one time. As you can see, there’s no need for real cars in movies, TV shows, or advertisments anymore.

Finally, this is the comedy animation I promised you. It’s called I farted. I farted. I farted, also. Thank you!