In the opening scene of 1997's Wild America, a young Jonathan Taylor Thomas nervously wades into a pool while his older brothers throw firecrackers at him. The guys are shooting a film, under the strict motto "Every Good Movie Needs an Explosion." Thomas, being the youngest, becomes the automatic stuntman.
Thankfully, those kinds of stunts aren't necessary anymore for cool effects — we've got YouTube instead.
Here at the office, we underwent the oh-so-strenous task of surfing the Internet to track down the best channels for DIY video effects (VFX) tutorials. (You're welcome, younger siblings.)
Many use high-end programs, like Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects. But if you don't have either, don't sweat it — you can download a free 30-day trial of After Effects on Adobe's website. For basic editing, the standard programs that come with Macs and PCs — iMovie and Windows Movie Maker, respectively — do the trick just fine.
Be warned: These guys make it look easy. If you're new to editing, it might take awhile to move as quickly as the videos. Regardless, the outcome will still be awesome — and you won't have to worry about losing a finger either.
1. Freddie W.
The skinny: Freddie Wong, known best by the Internet as "Freddie W," is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and VFX artist. He hosts two YouTube channels: freddiew and freddiew2. The first is a collection of his personal videos, and the second hosts his behind-the-scenes shots and tutorials. His movies generally include high-energy action sequences with gunfire, explosions and plenty of gaming culture references.
Wong also helped produce the 2010 horror "Z Movie" Bear.
Programs covered: Adobe After Effects; Final Cut.
Specialities: Action/Humor.
Recommended tutorials:
"Realistic Muzzle Flare" (above)
2. Final Cut King
The skinny: Zach King launched the "Final Cut King" channel during college at Biola University Film School after noticing a lack of easy, DIY tutorials for Final Cut and related programs. Currently, his channel — which features both original videos and tutorials — has more than 225,000 subscribers. He takes editing related questions from fans — sometimes, he told Mashable, he'll get as many as 100 emails a day.
"I love doing these kinds of things because it's a really fast turn-around. You can be on to a next project in a couple of days," he said. "I'm A.D.D. like that."
Similar to Wong, King's videos include a handful of gaming and app references.
Programs covered: Final Cut (6,7 and X); Apple Motion; Soundtrack Pro; DVD Studio Pro; Apple Color 1.5.
Specialities: Action/Humor.
Recommended tutorials:
"Explosions and More" (above)
3. VFX BRO
The skinny: VFX BRO, also based in Los Angeles, has been posting special effects tutorials on his channel since 2010. The tutorials focus heavily on background effects — 3D, slow motion and object tracking — and give great introductions to a variety of editing software in addition to After Effects, such as Cinema 4d, Mocha Pro and Pixel Farm PFTrack.
Programs covered: Adobe After Effects; Cinema 4d; Mocha Pro; Pixel Farm PFTrack.
Specialties: Special Effects.
Recommended tutorials:
"After Effects - Cloning Effect" (above)
4. Corridor Digital
The skinny: Corridor Digital's website bio,"Crazy action and visual fx? Heck yeah," sums it up nicely. The hosts, Niko and Sam, cover a wide range of action special effects — like explosions, muzzle effects and bullet hits — with their appropriately titled tutorial series "Shoot Your Friends."
Programs covered: Adobe After Effects; Final Cut.
Specialities: Action.
Recommended tutorials:
"Filming Basics" (above)
5. Surfaced Studio
The skinny: Surfaced Studio, like the others mentioned above, specializes in tutorials for action effects. Points of interest include zombie-like running effects, "blood hits" and 3D integration.
A few videos highlight the program Autodesk 3ds Max — originally, the software runs for around $1,000, but you can download a free trial on the company's website.
Programs covered: Adobe After Effects; Cubase 5; Autodesk 3ds Max.
Specialities: Action/Zombie Effects.
Recommended tutorials:
"Zombie Run" (above)
At Mashable, we're all about trying things out for ourselves.
We made our own short video, with Final Cut Pro and a free downloaded version of After Effects, using a few of the tips above. Again, if you don't have Final Cut, iMovie and Windows Movie Maker work just as well.
Using Freddie W.'s "Realistic Muzzle Flare" tutorial, we added a muzzle flare effect to the end of a Nerf gun. For extra fun, we even gave our adorable office dog, Holly, a fire-breathing makeover:
The sound effects and inserted images were all free from the Internet. Sweet Sound Effects, which is actually operated by Zach King, was where we found the audio clips, and we took the explosions from Detonation Films. We surfaced the muzzle image from a quick Google search.
Are there any good channels we forgot to include? Or, do you have any cool VFX videos you've shot yourself? Share them with us below.
Video contribution by Bianca Consunji / Thumbnail image courtesy of Final Cut King
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