Video and Sound Production - Project 3: VFX Video

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Name: Liong Xenyi (0383125)
Module: Video and Sound Production (VSP60104)
Date: 27/11/2025 - 01/01/2025 (Week 10 - Week 14)
Degree: Bachelor of Design (Honors) in Creative Media 
University: Taylor's University


Instructions
We were to separate into teams of two. We had to find a VFX tutorial that we wanted to do, make a storyboard for a roughly 1 minute video, and present our plan before we could proceed. Below are the things we need to include.


Process
I teamed up with Hsu as my partner. We watched Zack King's videos and other related VFX videos to gain inspiration. We chose some of our favourite ideas and put them in a list. At the same time, we came up with several story ideas that we'd like to explore. 
Fig 1.1 First ideas for our storyboard and VFX tutorials

I like the Alice in Wonderland idea, but considering our skills (as this is our first VFX video) and time juggling the other assignments, we went with the second idea. We discussed further and made some changes to the story. We also found the tutorials for the VFX. Surprisingly, some were hard to find the exact tutorial, like the passing things through a video call border. That's when I learned that Zach King's videos didn't use editing or VFX but real life props and camera angle tricks. Anyhow, we tried our best to find the tutorials or ones that has the same idea as the foundation. We worked out the basic storyline using the story plot structure and presented that with the tutorials.
Fig 1.2 Story plot structure + VFX Tutorials

After we got some feedback and suggestions, we changed certain parts and added or subtracted elements. We were told to reconsider doing some effects as normally students will only add one VFX to their video. We took this in consideration, and if we lack the time, we would cut some parts out. The two main characters are named after us, Hsu and Xen (myself). Hsu made the storyboard while I wrote down the scenes, shots and camera directions.
Fig 1.3 Written Storyboard

Fig 1.4 Drawn Storyboard 1

Fig 1.5 Drawn Storyboard 2

After this was completed, we presented again and got approval before moving to the shooting part. We added all of these into the slides.

We decided my bedroom is big enough to act as two separate rooms, as it is easier to get all the shooting done at once. Later on, we filmed the final scenes in school. Oh boy, was filming fun and a little pain. Because we were limited to our phones only, sometimes we cannot get the shot we want due to limited space and the lens of the phone. As one of our phones only has the 0.5x scale, we had to consistently switch between the phones, with some running out of battery, which in itself was confusing (and sometimes we did switch up between 1x and 0.5x). It was a little difficult with filming too as both of us have different understanding of how we want to film the scenes, but we got it figured in the end.

Overall, it was still fun trying to film and we got everything done in a day. We followed the storyboard in order, most of the time, so that we don't get confused to what we have done and to have the flow down in our heads too. 

This is the Google drive link to our raw footages:

Now comes the hard part. We somehow had to split the work and edit the VFX in. We decided the main VFX we wanted to include was Xen flying and Hsu teleporting. The other VFX are not as important and we would make it simpler if we didn't have time. And yes, we didn't have the time we wanted. So some parts like Xen throwing Hsu's clothes and on top of her with the hand to cross the border were cut and instead made simple instead as a screen passing thing. 

In the end, I edited the flying VFX and Hsu her own teleporting VFX. Hsu did the clothes changing transitions scenes and combined the beginning and middle parts together, while I edited the final part of the video, and later on combined the whole video together. 

Making the flying effect is harder than I thought, as I was still new to After Effects, and had to redo certain parts. When I first did it on a side angle video, I realised it didn't make sense on where I was supposed to fly in and had to scrap that and redid it with the forward camera angle. 
Fig 2.1 Side angle for flying

Fig 2.2 Forward angle for flying

As previously stated, we faced problems filming with the phone, and additionally, the camera stick was unsteady at times. The footage with just the scenery was different and doesn't align with the video directly, so I spent a lot of time trying to fix that by adding certain effects like the camera shaking and blurring. Hsu also faced the same issue, and some clips were weirdly cut off because it doesn't line up. But later on, we fixed it with editing it to somehow align. Even though it took me a long time, I did learn a lot on editing on After Effects. I added some effects like a smoke cloud and dust particles when landing. That was hard too, as I had to rotoscope again so that I can blend the dust smoke nicely. 
Fig 2.3 Flying editing

This is the flying video. Well, my first proper VFX. Still not as nice, but it is something.
Fig 2.4 Flying VFX

Finally when we have all the clips, I combined them into one video on Premiere Pro. Some were awkward, so I edited and cut off awkward spaces or tried to align the video nicely. The side by side videos weren't colour corrected first before combining them; I couldn't change to have them look similar, so it looks a bit awkward and stiff. But no matter, I tried my best to colour correct the lighting and shadows, and later on added some color grading too. 
Fig 2.5 Editing the final video

We finally finished and uploaded on YouTube, as well as fill all the details in the Slides.


Submission
Fig 3.1 Project 3 - VFX Video

Final Video (Youtube):
https://youtu.be/2cY-iEIQ0O8

Premiere Pro/After Effects Project file:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hV4RD-lLZP5HvLGyX36bsstmEC8KXlPc?usp=sharing

Raw Materials: jpeg seqs/video/sound effects/music:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_S1ff8Uc3F81mTsVu6mlk9yHL5M1nyyQ?usp=drive_link


Fig 3.2 Submission Slides


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