4 Super Hero Effects You Can Use in Your Next Film

Over the last decade or so, super hero movies have gotten unbelievably popular. In the last five years alone we’ve seen Man of Steel, Thor, Suicide Squad, Iron Man, The Amazing Spiderman, Deadpool, Doctor Strange, The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America, Ant-Man, and about a million others. Looking at the lineup of the next few years, the trend doesn’t seem to be going anywhere for quite some time.

So, we figured it was time for all of you aspiring visual effects artists out there to learn a little bit about superhuman visual effects. Take a look at these four video tutorials (courtesy of our film friends on YouTube) to learn how you can put a few super powers in to play in your next film.

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Teleportation

In 2008, the movie Jumper hit theaters and had us all day dreaming of teleportation for months (despite the rather lackluster performance of the film). While modern science may still be ages away from making this dream a reality, the film industry has brought our fantasies to life. The tutorial below is specifically for Adobe After Effects, but it provides a great baseline of instruction regardless of the software you are using. Check it out!

Super Speed

If you’ve seen X Men: Days of Future Past, Kung Fu Hustle, or The Flash, you’ve seen some variation of the super speed effect in action and you’ve probably wondered how to do it. Well, it doesn’t take much more than a leaf blower, an actor who knows how to move, and a little editing know-how. The team over at Film Riot can show you how this one is done! 

 

Cloning

Have you ever wished that there were two of you? That you could get work done in half the time, be in two places at once, have someone take your place in sticky situations? Then you have probably entertained the idea of cloning yourself. While you may not have the ability to do it in real life, having the ability to create the cloning visual effect can lead to some pretty interesting plot lines for your films. Check out this video from Surfaced Studio to see how it is done.

Freezing Time

Freezing time might not be as popular as powers like teleportation and super speed, but when it comes to film, this visual effect is definitely a hard hitter. In fact, in movies like X-Men Days of Future Past, it is used to demonstrate super speed! Below is another great tutorial from Film Riot that should be able to help you create suspenseful shots frozen in time.

Is editing and visual effects right for you?

Want to see if editing and visual effects is the area of film you should dedicate your time to? Take our Degree Emphases Quiz. Here at Columbia College Hollywood, we offer emphases in acting, directing, writing, producing, cinematography, sound, new media, and of course, editing and visual effects. By answering a few short questions, you can see which area of study you match up with based on your personality and skill set!