A Spring Break workshop for teens: learn to create mind-bending special effects with video artist Flick Harrison!

Special effects can mean computer graphics, including:

• Motion tracking with objects,
• Creating “magic” or “lasers” (using After Effects, Photoshop or Flash),
• Shooting with a green screen to key in other footage
• Digitally retouching footage and removing unwanted objects

Or it can be simple camera and editing techniques that are as old as movie-making itself, like:

• Creative camera movements, like shaking or tumbling
• Creative lighting movements
• Using mechanical aids to affect objects in the frame, like fishing line
• Cutting between different angles at just the right moment
• Using clever camera placement and framing to turn normal objects into bizarre visuals
• Coordinating actions to be reversed in editing

In this workshop we’ll explore both ways to give you a unique and flexible tool kit that can help you make better movies, whether you love complex graphics work or just enjoy getting on your feet and making the magic happen! Working in groups, we’ll walk through hands-on exercises and let you cut loose with your own creative ideas. You’ll end up with a highlight reel of the effects you came up with.

These skills are definitely essential for taking your Sci-Fi, Horror, and Adventure stories to the next level–but special effects enhance any movie!