Assignment 6

Cheers rang out in the classroom in a "Singapore has gotten a gold medal in the Olympics" style when it is announced that Assignment 5 Animation is canceled.


Assignment 6 is all about using video effects in the theme of SUPERHEROES ABILITY. I had been looking forward to this assignment as it sounded really really fun. We were allowed to use any sort of effect, not being limited to time freeze only now. The requirement is that it has to have a plot and the plot has to be believable. Immediately, my ideas run wild. My natural instinct, as always, is to think of doing something funny.

First idea i had was two person fighting, but it turn out that there are actually fighting with rock, paper and scissors(RPS). Not the lame kind where you see them gesturing around menacing before breaking into a session of RPS. It is more of a street fighter kind where they can shoot projectile of RPS (sounds damn geeky i know). It is inspired by this video i saw in youtube.



The 2nd idea i had can be summed up by the title of the video that i have thought out for it - A guy who could freeze time.......for only 3 seconds. Yes, another lame idea. The basic idea is this loser guy who dont really have friends but secretly like this very popular girl(damn cliche i know). Den one day as he was getting bullied, he found out that he could stop time. But only for 3 seconds. Then stuff happens in between and the final scene is of him seeing the girl he like almost being knocked down by a car and he was at least 100 m away from here. He quickly stops time and started running, the scene remains where he last stood. 3 seconds later, the tires screeched and the pedastrians gapsed loudly. The camera den slowly pan to the other side of the street with the guy holding the girl in his arm. So he discovered that he not only can stop time (for 3 seconds) he also have super speed (in that 3 seconds). He then smirks, and the end.


After considering, i decided on my first idea, because well, it is kinda hard to get actors and actresses (exam time!) and it requires a lot different settings for the 2nd idea. The first idea is all shot and delivered at clementi woods with 1 actor (my fren) in 1 hr. However, it is not all smooth sailing. THREE times i arranged to film and THREE times it rained like the earth needs Noah's Ark again. On the Fourth try, i managed to get all the filming done in 1hr and get back to the safety of shelters before it rained like it has never rained before. I feel that this exercise is not only a good exercise in video effects, but also in how one handles the camera. It is unbelievably hard to dolly with the canon HD handheld camera with just your hands. The tons of mosquitoes and exquisite insects flying around doesnt help either. And then i remember the ridiculously funny and creative fake trailers i saw on youtube and i decided to make this a trailer too. In addition to the effects of the projectiles and sort, i also have to use masking (coz i dun have green screen) to "merge" the same person acting as two different person on the same screen. I am quite satisfied with the results as those who viewed it said they cant tell that the fight scene is actually the same person but filmed separately. I will upload the final video when i get to uploading to youtube.

Here is the video that inspired me.