Cheap Special Effects for Your Homemade Videos

Green Screen
Most computer video-editing software will have a feature called "Chroma Keying" or "Blue / Green Screen). This effect takes all of a certain colour out of the video footage, allowing you to see another video behind it. An example of this is the weather forecasts on TV, a presenter is really standing in front of a bright green wall, which is removed by their software and the nice sparkly picture of (rain!) put behind it.

Go to your local Department store and buy a king-size sheet that is a putrid "lime green" colour. It should be quite cheap as not many people would want this colour in their house! It might not look great on your bed, but this is the best colour to use as a background as the software can easily identify what is the background and what is your actor.

Hang up the sheet on your wall (you can use a length of bamboo along the seam, and then tape this to the wall with silver gaffer tape, or use pins, etc.) and you have a (removable, for when your more fashionable friends come to visit) green screen background.

Load your video onto your computer and the computer video editing software will remove the green, leaving your actor to: be chased by a giant tennis ball / walking on the Atlantic ocean / presenting a weather forecast / whatever you decide!

Particle Effects
Although this technique involves learning a new computer software package, it really is worthwhile as the results are outstanding. Get a particle effects software package. They are similar, but a recommended one is "Particle Illusion" from the company called "wondertouch".

A particle effects program allows you to add cartoons on top of your video. With normal animation it could take ages to draw hundreds of pictures, scan them in, line them up etc, but a particle effects program allows you to make animations in a minute! You can draw smoke coming out of your model rocket ship, sparkles on your white teeth, blood spurting out of the bad guy’s neck.

You just choose the effect you want, load up your video footage and drag the effect around the screen as the video plays. There are detailed controls too, if you need precision.

Colour Pass
This effect is used in films like Sin City, and (briefly) in Schindler’s List. You choose just one colour to shine through, while all other colours turn into black and white. So you can see a red balloon flying over the gray city. This effect comes with good video editing software programs, but it is important to make sure your "actors" are wearing vivid versions of the colour you want to shine through.

Look at your video software’s help file and do a search for "colour pass" or "color pass" for more details.

Reversing and slow & fast motion
If you are doing a stunt that involves a potentially dangerous action, the safest way to do it is to perform the action very slowly (but smoothly) and then speed it up afterwards using your video editing software.

An even more effective method is to perform the action backwards slowly, then "reverse" the action and speed it up. This is useful when, for example, you are punching someone: start filming with the actor actually touching the ‘victim’ and pulling his/her fist away from them. Reverse it and it looks like the punch connects. Add a "crunch" sound and your audience will really squirm. And no lawsuit for you, the director.

The reverse effect is a really good one, loads of everyday actions look eerie when reversed, so experiment. This is perfect for horror films.

Hopefully, these techniques will inspire you to think of your own, and will allow you to create the video you want to. Remember that these effects are just a beginning, you will need to apply them to your own ideas to really get an impressive unique "How did you do THAT?!" effect.

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