Special Effects Video
Project Description
For this project, groups were required to make a 3-5 minute video that contained at least three chemistry related special effects. My group incuded Toby, Jason, Jack, and I. We brainstormed first on what we wanted our video to be about. Ultimately, we decided on filming the story of a ninja who is trying to save the world from destruction. Next, we started on what our special effects would be.
Eventually, it was decided that we used special effects on acid, the rocket take-off, and the earth explosion. These took a bit of time to create and I'll explain a little farther down about what the effects were and the science behind them. We first filmed all of the scenes that needed no special effects. Next, we focused on the special effects scenes. These were the most complicated parts and required alot of thinking. We split up to spearhead these effects, and we like the way they turned out.
For this project, groups were required to make a 3-5 minute video that contained at least three chemistry related special effects. My group incuded Toby, Jason, Jack, and I. We brainstormed first on what we wanted our video to be about. Ultimately, we decided on filming the story of a ninja who is trying to save the world from destruction. Next, we started on what our special effects would be.
Eventually, it was decided that we used special effects on acid, the rocket take-off, and the earth explosion. These took a bit of time to create and I'll explain a little farther down about what the effects were and the science behind them. We first filmed all of the scenes that needed no special effects. Next, we focused on the special effects scenes. These were the most complicated parts and required alot of thinking. We split up to spearhead these effects, and we like the way they turned out.
Scientific Concepts
The Earth Explosion
To show the earth exploding, we used an egg to model this scene. We emptied the egg of its yolk and whites by poking two small holes in the shell and sucking the insides out. Next, we painted the egg to look like the earth. To get the egg to explode, the hollow egg was filled with hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas was obtained as a by product of zinc and hydrochloric acid. When these two are mixed, hydrogen gas is created. Once we filled the egg with hydrogen, we lit the gas using a lighter. The heat source caused the egg to explode, making our special effect work. (At 2:15 in video)
To show the earth exploding, we used an egg to model this scene. We emptied the egg of its yolk and whites by poking two small holes in the shell and sucking the insides out. Next, we painted the egg to look like the earth. To get the egg to explode, the hollow egg was filled with hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas was obtained as a by product of zinc and hydrochloric acid. When these two are mixed, hydrogen gas is created. Once we filled the egg with hydrogen, we lit the gas using a lighter. The heat source caused the egg to explode, making our special effect work. (At 2:15 in video)
The Acid
We combined vinegar and baking soda to create our acid effect. In the movie,it was hard to depict what exactly the acid was. We had originally wanted to use hydrochloric acid, but since it is very corrosive, we could not use it safely in our movie. The chemical equation for the baking soda and vinegar reaction is NaHCO3 + HCH3COO = CO2. Carbon dioxide is one of the products of this reaction. (At 1:15 in the video)
We combined vinegar and baking soda to create our acid effect. In the movie,it was hard to depict what exactly the acid was. We had originally wanted to use hydrochloric acid, but since it is very corrosive, we could not use it safely in our movie. The chemical equation for the baking soda and vinegar reaction is NaHCO3 + HCH3COO = CO2. Carbon dioxide is one of the products of this reaction. (At 1:15 in the video)
The Rocket Take-off
To film the rocket taking off, we had to film the rocket upside down. We ended up hanging the rocket from the ceiling with fishing line. When we placed the flammable bubbles on the end of the rocket and lit them, the fishing line burned up and the rocket fell down. When the picture was inverted, it gave the effect that the rocket was actually moving up and taking off. The bubbles that we created were made by putting dish soap into a container filled with water. Next, we put a tube of natural gas into the container of dish soap and water. The soap bubbles trapped the natural gas in the bubbles, causing the bubbles to become flammable. When a heat source was added, the bubbles exploded and made our rocket take-off. (At 1:58 in the video)
To film the rocket taking off, we had to film the rocket upside down. We ended up hanging the rocket from the ceiling with fishing line. When we placed the flammable bubbles on the end of the rocket and lit them, the fishing line burned up and the rocket fell down. When the picture was inverted, it gave the effect that the rocket was actually moving up and taking off. The bubbles that we created were made by putting dish soap into a container filled with water. Next, we put a tube of natural gas into the container of dish soap and water. The soap bubbles trapped the natural gas in the bubbles, causing the bubbles to become flammable. When a heat source was added, the bubbles exploded and made our rocket take-off. (At 1:58 in the video)
Reflection
Our project went well. In creating our script, we wanted to make sure that our plot was very understandable. I think that we did a good job of doing this. We had a legitimate storyline that we wanted to follow. Working with Toby, Jason, and Jack was alot of fun. Although we started out slow and finished our project later than we would of liked, it ended up good and I thought that our final project was very good.
One of my peaks in this project was doing the rocket take-off effect. I learned about little editing tricks - like flipping the picture upside down so it gave the appearance that the rocket was taking off. Another peak was just filming in general. I learned from Jason about how to do certain scenes and it was fun running around campus shooting shots. Something that I think that we could have done better was the acid special effect. I feel like it was very difficult to understand what was going on in that scene. I think that we could have made it more obvious by telling the audience what it was. Another thing that we can improve upon is better time management. Our group slacked a bit on the work and it wasn't until the deadline was looming ahead of us when we really buckled down and started to really work.
One of my peaks in this project was doing the rocket take-off effect. I learned about little editing tricks - like flipping the picture upside down so it gave the appearance that the rocket was taking off. Another peak was just filming in general. I learned from Jason about how to do certain scenes and it was fun running around campus shooting shots. Something that I think that we could have done better was the acid special effect. I feel like it was very difficult to understand what was going on in that scene. I think that we could have made it more obvious by telling the audience what it was. Another thing that we can improve upon is better time management. Our group slacked a bit on the work and it wasn't until the deadline was looming ahead of us when we really buckled down and started to really work.