The jump-cut magic effect is often described as the appearing-disappearing effect where the camera records a scene without the main subject, then shoot it with the subject, then shoot it again without the subject. This works only if the camera is locked in the same position for each shot. Once the three shots are played together, it will show a scene where the main subject appears from the empty space, then disappears soon after. For best results, it is best that the subject's entire background is not moving.
This technique is similar to the stop-motion effect, where you shoot a subject, such as a stuffed toy, for a split second, move it a little forward, then shoot again for another split second, and so on. After doing this dozens of times with continuous movements from the stuffed toy, the playback of the footage will show the stuffed toy moving on its own.
The time-lapse effect is popular for sequential scenes that vary in look after a certain period of time, such as cloudscapes, sunrises or sunsets, plants growing, flowers blooming, fruit rotting, traffic on a busy highway and building construction. By lowering the frequency of the frames being shot at a certain time interval, shooting for a long period of time results in a playback where time appears to move much faster. This leads to magical effects, such as advancing the blooming of a flower or seeing the sun set in a matter of seconds.
Making a time-lapse is usually done with a camera with the feature called intervalometer, which makes it easy to set the time-lapse setting for a shoot. However, any camera can actually be used without it by simply recording, stopping, then recording again in specific intervals until your desired end for the footage.
The speed ramping effect combines slow motion, normal motion and fast motion shots together in one continuous action. This is used for dynamic shots, where the main subject moves a lot during the duration of the scene.
It is a widely popular effect used in scenes that are action-packed, surreal or magical. Using the speed ramping effect requires the use of the camera's variable speed shooting feature. The subject can be shot initially in slow motion. As the shot continues, the ramping starts, and the speed of the shot changes from slow to fast, then, at some point, slow again. In between, there can be moments where the scene goes back to normal speed. The speed changing or ramping depends on what suits the scene best.
The dolly zoom effect uses the camera's zoom button and grip equipment called a dolly to create a certain kind of magic camera effect. It often is called the Vertigo shot because it was made famous by the Alfred Hitchcock film "Vertigo." This is done by using the camera to zoom in or out from the subject, then track forward or back using the dolly. Both the zooming and tracking should be done at exactly the same speed.
Dolly equipment features a platform where the camera, tripod and camera operator sit. The dolly's small wheels are connected to a rail-like metallic track. This allows the camera to move forward, backward or sideways. To achieve the magic effect, the subject in the foreground should stand in a faraway background such as a building or mountain, then the two get separated in opposite directions when shot. To do this, zooming should be opposite to the tracking motion. For instance, to make the foreground smaller while the background gets bigger, use a zoom-out, dolly-in motion.