Title Sequence 

This is my title sequence where I used the theme from better call saul over footage of taxi driver. It is a whole minute over the required time. Overall I am pleased with the results.

Here's a screenshot of the clips being cut up over the song to be insync with the beat of the song 

After i cut the clips together with the song I exported it then put it into another timeline where I added visual effects over it 

Special Effects Research 

Special effects is one of the key ingredients to producing a film. Let's start with the definition of special effects; an illusion created for films and television by props, camerawork, computer graphics, etc.

STOP MOTION 

First of all I've wanted to look into stop motion. Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames is played back. Some of the most well known movies use this method such as; Coraline (2009), King Kong (1933), Robocop (1987), The LEGO Movie (2014), Chicken Run (2000) and many others. Stop-motion animation techniques include object animation, clay animation, puppet animation, and cutout animation. The average movie would be 2 hours long but the average stop motion movie would cut down time to save on frames so the average stop motion movie is 90 minutes long. It takes 1440 individual pictures to make one minute of movement. However most stop motion films are shot at lower frame rates then the frames are doubled.

CGI

Next I wanted to look into CGI. Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the application of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, computer animation and VFX in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. Some of the most well known movies heavily rely on CGI such as; Interstellar, Avengers Endgame, Transformers, The Lion King Remake, Rogue One (Star Wars), Doctor Strange, Terminator Salvation, Avatar and many others. CGI is created using a range of different methods. The use of algorithms can produce complex fractal patterns. 2D pixel-based image editors can create vector shapes. 3D graphics software can create everything for simple primitive shapes to complex forms made from flat triangles and quadrangles. CGI is very easy to get into, but because it encompasses many, many different types of effects, it can be both very expensive and very time consuming to get good at. The time it takes to create a CGI movie can vary between 2 days and 8 years, it depends on the budget of the movie, the length of the movie and how much detail they are willing to put into the CGI.

GREEN SCREEN

The final thing I wanted to look at is a green screen. Now the green screen isnt a specific type of special effect but it is heavily relied on when using special effects. Blue screens can also be used. Green screens are also known as Chroma key compositing or chroma keying, and its a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing two images or video streams together based on colour hues. Shooting with a green screen involves filming a person or adding visual effects in front of a solid color. Then, by digitally removing or “keying out” that color, you can drop that scene onto the background of your choice in post-production. Removing the colored background is also referred to as “chroma keying.” this can create endless opportunities to create many masterpieces. I would list movies that use green screen but majority of live action movies of the modern era use green screen to some degree. It is a filmmakers most handy tool.

Reflective Journal

For this unit I have been tasked to research into special effects and create my own video. As for the video i chose to create my own title sequence. For my title sequence I was inspired by the "Better Call Saul" title sequence so I used the same soundtrack from the Better Call Saul title sequence and I wanted to imitate the visuals too as the visuals have very intense colours and very small dose of retro visuals, very sparkly effects. So i had the music and the effects chosen but not the actual footage itself, so I decided to use footage from "Taxi Driver" a film I have previously talked about in Unit 4. The end result ended up being Taxi Driver footage with the Better Call Saul theme and the Better Call Saul effects/visuals. This ended up being my title sequence and it was 1 minute 30 seconds long which is a whole minute longer than the target so I did go over board. I tried my best to make the footage match the song as well as be as insync to the beats as I can get it. I believe I did a really good job with that and combine that with the attempted visuals. I believe I made a great title sequence. As for the Special Effects Research I looked into different aspects of special effects. More specifically I looked into; Stop Motion, CGI and The Greenscreen. For each of these topics I looked into what they were and how they are used within the post production of film. I then looked into examples of these being used in film providing names of films and then I stated how long each of these methods of special effects take to create and how to create them. Overall I believe I did really well with this unit and the only problem I had was being over a minute over the target for creating my title sequence. From this Unit I have learnt more into the specifics of special effects and how to effectively use them as well as when to use them.