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How to Make Special Effects and Bend Elements in a Movie

Movie magic is the "wow" factor that drives audiences to theaters in droves for summer blockbusters. It's also the difference between an ordinary movie where each scene is shot from the same set of angles, and the final product you see on the silver screen. Creating special effects like bending elements isn't relegated to multi-million dollar films; extreme effects can be created from the humbleness of your own home. 

Things You'll Need

  • Adobe After Effects
  • Trapcode Particular
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Instructions

    • 1

      Load your movie into Adobe After Effects. Scroll through your movie to find a scene that needs special effects. 

    • 2

      Select "Layer" from the tab, choose "Solid" and click "Make Comp Size." Choose "Effect" followed by "Trapcode" and "Particular."  

    • 3

      Open Particular settings and go to "Position XY." Drag the resulting reticule onto the position you wish the special effect to be seen. Use the mouse arrow to click the position for your special effect while moving from frame to frame for the duration of the effect. 

    • 4

      Set the particulars per second to 0 at the frame where the effect is to start. Set it to 200 on the subsequent frame. Reduce it to 0 on the last frame of the effect. 

    • 5

      Set the direction of the particles to "Directional" and refigure the "Y-Rotation" to negative 90. Under "Physics," set the gravity to negative 20. Increase the velocity to 750, raise the particle size to 40 and set the opacity to 80. Set the color to bright red and the layer to "Add." Duplicate the layer twice and rename them to avoid confusion. For example, "Fire 1," "Fire 2" and "Fire 3." 

    • 6

      Change the color of Fire 2 to a bright orange and Fire 3 to yellow. Change the size of each layer of fire. The first layer should be bigger than the second to give off an "ignition" illusion, with the third layer should be the biggest. 

    • 7

      Select all the fire layers and hit "Layer" followed by "Precompose."

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