How To: Build prop break-away furniture cheap
This week on BFX we teach you how to build break-away furniture, because if you break one more real chair over your friend's head, he's never going to act in your movies again!
How To: See through people's clothes with a video camera
This video tutorial teaches you how to see through clothes using a blank roll of film and any video camera that has night vision. You won't see people completely naked, but you can see undergarments and the "shape" beneath...If your imagination just isn't cutting it anymore, check out this how-to video and start getting a peak at people in a slightly less clothed state.
How To: Make a dramatic spotlight from a household lamp
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make a guerilla spotlight using household items. Users will simply need a cardboard cylinder and a light source. Te materials used in this video were a toilet paper roll, piece of aluminum, gaff tape and a lamp. Begin by cutting a couple of 90 degrees slots in the middle of the foil, slide in the tube ad secure it with tape. It should be a bit longer than the tube. Now wrap it around the light source. This video will benefit those viewers who produ...
HowTo: Create a Six-Frame Animation with a Single Sheet of Paper
Pioneered by Rufus Butler Seder in his popular children's picture book Gallop!, and ably demonstrated by WonderHowTo favorite brusspup in the video below, "scanimation" refers to a novel (but distinctly old-timey) technique for cramming multi-frame animations onto a single sheet of paper by a process of superimposition and selective interference. Interested in creating your own scanimations? It's easier than you'd think. In the following clip, Paul Overton of Dude Craft presents a complete ov...
How To: Make a breakaway cardboard chair prop
A breakaway chair is one of the best pranks, or one of the easiest effects for your indie film project. A breakable chair can be made out of simple household items, and is very cheap. The biggest material needed is cardboard. So basically, you'll make a cardboard chair, that breaks. Watch this video tutorial to learn how to make a fake movie prop brick.
How To: Do a simple dutch angle camera trick with a tripod
MatttChapman shows you how to add a simple dutch tilt to your filmmaking bag of tricks. Tripods conventionally only pan and tilt, but this trick adds an extra dimension. All you need is a tripod and a camera! It's just a matter of messing with the base plate to get this simple dutch angle.
How To: Shoot low angle moving shots from ground level with a video camera
Low angle shots are a great way to evoke a sense of panic in movies, but if you're trying to get good quality shots from ground level with just your hands, then it's not going to work. The video footage will be all shaky, unless that's another look you're wanting to achieve in your film. If you want steady, fast-tracking low angle footage, then Ritwika has a great trick on taking those ground level moving camera shots. You'll need a monopod, water bottle (with water), 2 rubber bands and your ...
How To: Make a table top puppet theater
Make a folding puppet theater that stores easily and comes alive with your own designs, including decoupage, stencils, and stickers in this free craft video series.
How To: Make Realistic Fluffy Cloud Props from Things Around the House
If you need a cloudy background for a photo or video, you can always turn an old aquarium into a DIY cloud tank. But, if you want something more fun and less creepy, these fluffy cloud props by Serena Thompson might be more what you're looking for. It'd even make a good Halloween costume if you tweak it a little. All you need is some balloons, tape, flour, newspaper, and a bunch of pillow stuffing. Serena made them by taping balloons together and applying a mixture of water and flour, then co...
How To: Make an easy, cheap green screen with no posterboard
In this video you learn how to make your own green screen for less than $15 in under an hour. The material for the screen is a green felt-like fabric that can be easily found at a local fabric store or Wal-Mart. The fabric itself is just over 1 yard in width and you will need to buy 2 sheets 3 yards in length for a total of 6 yards at a price of about $2.00 per yard. You will also need a way to join the sheets together. For this, the video recommends a tube of Heat'n'Bond fabric joiner which ...
How To: Create a zombie bite special effect for film or tv
In this episode of Indy Mogul's "YourFX", learn how to make a zombie bite special effect. Indy Mogul's Backyard FX features cheap, DIY filmmaking tips and tutorials including special effects, props, and camera equipment. Be sure to search WonderHowTo for more videos from Indy Mogul and for more tutorials on building stage props as well as creating realistic film effects!
How To: Set up video interview lighting for multiple cameras
Interviewing lighting basic training tutorial provides easy to follow instruction in this step by step video. Set up the interview area to allow the best camera angles. Place your lights in key, fill, and backlight positions. Use back lighting spillover to fill subject area without camera spillover. Check your setup with the subjects and make any necessary adjustments to your camera or lighting angles. Place your crew and your ready for your interview. This scenario using key, fill, and back-...
How To: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Grenades (Portal 2's Cave Johnson Would Be Proud)
Portal has been one of the most critically acclaimed and universally loved games of the last few years, and there's plenty of fan art to prove it. From building a Portal gun, to a gravity defying Companion Cube, and even installing Portal onto a graphing calculator, fans have found some innovative ways to show their love for the games.
How To: Build a DIY professional animation studio
Indy Mogul Weekend Extra peers into the brilliant mind of Javan Ivey, who shows you how to to save thousands of dollars when building your own home animation studio.
How To: Change Your Voice from Male to Female
This sequence of instructional videos provides a near comprehensive lesson on how you can change your voice from that of a male to that of a female. This video series is aimed at aiding transgender individuals, but is also useful for people who want to learn to do really great voice exercises and impersonations.
How To: Make a Latex Skull Mold to Make a Plaster Skull
Dr Kreepy, Halloween craftsmen, shows a cheap and easy way to make full and partial skulls from Plaster of Paris! For this project, you will need a plastic skull, cheese cloth, a paintbrush, melting latex, anchoring cement, and Plaster of Paris. Watch this video special effects tutorial and learn how to build a latex skull mold to make plaster skulls or skull fragements.
How To: Create an effective candle lit scene in your movie
If you're trying to film a romantic dinner, you'll want the setting to seem dim and candle lit - but you'll still want the lighting quality of the film to be good. Here's how you can shoot an effective dimly lit scene.
How To: Make an easy and inexpensive DiY camera dolly out of PVC pipe
This is an easy and simple dolly you can make with just a few lengths of PVC pipe and some wheels taken from a pair of Rollerblades. You'll also need a few pieces of hardware to attach it, like screws.
How To: Make a Lightweight Body-Mount Rig for Filming Unique Front & OTS Shots
Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out, according to director Martin Scorsese, who asserted that when describing his life's work. Getting the perfect shot can turn an otherwise ordinary scene into something great, both on and off screen.
How To: Make fake sperm
This video will show you how to make fake FX sperm out of some household materials.
How To: Turn an Old Aquarium into a Cloud Tank & Create Creepy Alien Atmosphere Effects
Need some creepy visual effects for your alien flick, but don't want to spend a bunch of money? With some pretty basic materials, you can turn an empty aquarium into a "cloud tank," which can be used to create several different atmospheric effects. Before Hollywood started using CGI, cloud tanks were used for scenes in a lot of famous movies. Remember this one? Besides Raiders of the Lost Ark, cloud tanks also helped make some wonderful non-CGI effects in Independence Day, Close Encounters of...
How To: Record live video direct from camcorder to computer
Bill Myers shows us how to record live video direct to your computer from your camcorder. You will need: long firewire cable, camcorder with firewire output, computer. Procedure: Connect one end of the firewire cable to your camcorder, then connect the other end to your computer. Start your video editing program. Turn the audio down on your speakers to avoid feedback. Turn your camcorder on then check the capture option in your screen. Record the video then hit the stop button when you're fin...
How To: Make Your Very Own Hobbit Pipe—The Only Way to Smoke Pipe-Weed
A new trailer for Peter Jackson's Hobbit movie arrived recently, and it continues to look pretty awesome. If you're gearing up for the midnight premiere on December 14th, why not get into the spirit early by making your very own Hobbit pipe? In the film, the Hobbits smoke from signature rustic, wooden pipes with a very homemade look to them. Instructables user handcraftsup makes his own versions out of tree branches of what he believes real Hobbit pipes would like like. The tools he uses incl...
How To: Sound Like a Biological Woman When Speaking
In this tutorial, we learn how to sound like a biological woman while speaking. There are many different techniques to help you speak like a woman, including going into falsetto. This isn't about getting the sound, it's about learning how to not speak with resonance. You want to focus your voice up in your throat instead of deep down. You probably haven't used the muscles for this voice, so using falsetto is a great way to practice. You may be able to speak a few minutes and feel yourself fal...
How To: Make a military-style night vision goggles prop
Night vision goggles are one of the iconic pieces of equipment of the modern military. Getting a real pair is prohibitively expensive, especially if you just want to use it as a prop in your film instead of actually seeing at night. This video features instructions for making your own set of prop night vision goggles for cheap, giving any action or spy movie that you are making a much more modern, authentic feel. Also, now your characters can see at night, opening up all sorts of potential sc...
How To: Make fake break bottles for a film effect
Backyard FX show host Eric has an awesome new tutorial for all you aspiring film makers. He is going to teach you how to make your own fake glass bottles out of household products such as sugar, corn syrup and cream of tartar. This is generally for scenes where a glass bottle needs to be broken over an actor's head. This method is incredibly safe and won't cost very much to make either. Be sure to follow his tutorial closely because you may be forced to have to start over again if you skip a ...
How To: Simulate a dolly shot with just a camera tripod
brusspup has tons of ingenious tips and tricks for everybody! In this video tutorial, he shows you how to simulate a dolly shot with just a camera tripod.
How To: Create an extreme nose bleed trickle and gush
Here, we unveil a brand new type of BFX episode called "BFX On Location"! We've been invited by directors Giancarlo Fiorentini and Jonathan Grimm to create an extreme nose bleed effect for their film "The Old Man and the Seymour". This movie stars Streeter Seidell, Amir Blumenfeld and a VERY bloody nose. Check out all the action as Erik's skills get a real world test!
How To: Make a puppet from stuffed toys
Watch this video to learn how to make puppets from stuffed toys. In this video, Barbara Dewey converts Pink Panther, Bugs Bunny and several others into ventriloquist figures. Barbara also gives some tips for caring for your puppets and some ideas for modifying them. Stay tuned for the amazing performance in the last video of this three part video series!
How To: Make a retro ray gun prop for film or costumes
It's funny how unevenly the real world keeps pace with science fiction. Smartphones have capabilities that Gene Roddenberry never imagine a portable device could have, but guns still use tiny powder cartridges to launch hunks of metal at things. The phasers, ray guns, and blasters of Star Wars, Star Trek, and other sci-fi works have yet to appear. Don't let that hold you back! This video will show you how to make a cool retro ray gun prop that you can use with a Halloween costume or in a film...
How To: Make Lego figures fly using stop-motion animation
Stop-motion animation is somewhat out of favor in the digital age, but there will always be a demand for its timeless look. This video will teach you one important technique for making stop-motion animation out of Legos: how to make them fly. Or at least appear to by flying in your movie. It features detailed instructions on what to do in your digital photo editing software on each frame to erase the support structures you've used to elevate your Lego minifigures, leaving you with seamless im...
News: Do Do Do, DoDo Do-Do, DoDoDo-Doo DoDoDo DoDoo...
Does that (hopefully somewhat correct) tune ring any bells? Here's a reminder: Once upon a time there were two Italian plumbers named Mario and Luigi. Mario and his sidekick resided in the Mushroom Kingdom, a monarchy ruled by the beautiful Princess Peach. Mario's mission: stop the villain Bowser from his numerous attempts to kidnap the lovely princess.
How To: Make a cardboard shield
In this tutorial you'll learn how to make a cardboard shield, quickly and cheaply. All you need is some stuff you've probably already got around the house. Get to work, so you'll be ready to defend yourself against any barbarian invaders with cardboard swords!
How To: Make your own animated flip book
Why make a flip book? Because all animation – even stick-figure Flash animation and multilayered, highly technical 3-D effects – is built on, and can benefit from, the basics of the craft first developed by artists working at the beginning of the last century. And while fancy computer programs are nice, you can teach yourself these basics using nothing more than a pad of paper and a pen, and replay them over and over without any extra technology needed.
How To: Make a latex skin over carved foam
Are you in need of some kind of mold or cast for your next feature film, but need to save a few bucks? As an alternative to casting (making a shape from a mold) one can carve foam into a desired shape and then coat the foam with liquid latex. This will not create a perfectly smooth surface, but is much less expensive than casting as it requires fewer steps and less resources. So, with this video tutorial, you can learn what you need to know about making a latex skin over carved form.
How To: Make cheap lighting & barn doors
Check out this instructional lighting video that explains how to make cheap barn doors for your lights. For this project, you will need a total of 4 hinges, 12 nuts and bults, a screwdriver, cardboard, scissors, and a lighting fixture. This is a simple guerrilla filmmaking tutorial on how to design your own barn doors. A great addition to any low-budget filmmaker's lighting kit.
How To: Keep armature puppet standing without a tiedown
Armatures basically stand up on their own, but while animating, the balance might become uneven and precarious. An easy way to keep the puppet standing is to give the armature large feet. Watch this video animation tutorial and learn how to build an armature puppet that will stay down during the stop motion animation without using a tiedown.
How To: Rip a heart out of someone's chest for fun - or movies
If you've seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, you'll know one of the greatest special effects of the film is where Mola Ram rips the heart out of someone's chest. In this episode of Backyard FX, Erik recreates that effect with the help of his family members. Don't forget to check out our previous episode on how to create a fake heart.
How To: Film in a moving vehicle
Jennifer demonstrates an in car video camera techniques by showing different ways to shoot video from a moving vehicle.
How To: Build a snorricam for a cool camera effect
If you've seen Requiem for a Dream, you've seen the snorricam effect - the camera is worn around the actor's waist and as the actor moves it creates a wild camera effect. The guys at Indy Mogul show you how to build your own snorricam.
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