On this page are the demo and how to videos I created that present the video skills I learned and developed over time. A few of the videos are school assignments I worked on by learning from my instructors at Madison Media Institute. Most of the videos I worked on at home, where I developed my skills independently by watching other people’s how to videos on YouTube, which was helpful for me to create my original ideas and have a better understanding of certain skills and techniques.
College Demo Reel
This is a demo reel I created that has shots and clips of every project I worked on at the college. The demo reel ranges from testing camera equipment to doing interviews and from practicing special effects to making experimental videos of common media that people are familiar with.
Note: Some of the projects seen in the reel are presented on the other pages under a different category and some are not revealed or added to the pages as well.
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After Effects Demo #1
This is my first amateur special effect demo video, where I practiced my filming skills. Using After Effects, I created a touch screen-looking keyboard to show what advanced technology would look like if it were embedded in walls and other surfaces like an iPhone. I used simple empty shapes and word texts to cover over a piece of paper that had a keyboard drawing that I used to do my movements correctly, like a green screen with markers. And I used rotoscoping and color-filled shapes to make my hand appear over the keyboard and make it appear as if I’m typing on keys.
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After Effects Demo #2
This demo video is where I created a shockwave effect. In After Effects, I created several ring shapes, then modified them to expand out of nowhere and disappear. I make the rings invisible by doing zero opacity on them and then I use a technique called Displacement Map, which allows the rings to warp the background and create the optical appearance of a shockwave. And I used rotoscoping to make the shockwave look like it’s coming from my hand at the front. What inspired me to do this video was the superhero movie Push, where few characters create shockwaves when using telekinesis.
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After Effects Demo #2.1
This is Part 2 to my second demo video, where I added a new effect to the same shockwave to make it more realistic and cinematic, like something out of a movie. This effect is called Flo Motion, where it uses a center point to warp the background and make it look like it’s sinking into a black hole or expanding into a large circular optical shape.
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After Effects Demo #3
This demo video is a basic representation of a black hole. Like it was mentioned in the video above, I used Flo Motion and a black sphere shape to create the optical appearance of a black hole. For the starry background, I created a white layer and used a technique called Ball Action, which allows the layer to scatter into tiny ball shapes and create a cosmic view. Then I took a huge colored shape and blurred it heavily to add a nebula to the image. This is what a black hole would look like in space.
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After Effects Demo #4
This demo video is a second adaptation of a touch screen. I used a 3D technique to make the video clips and shapes align with the angle of the glass plate. Then I used a masking effect around the edge of the glass plate to make the clips disappear off screen when I pretend to swipe through a video archive. The idea is to present a common trope in science fiction, where computer technology becomes advanced enough that glass objects are embedded with sophisticated electronics and become next-level touch screens. The inspiration for this video came from watching the 2012 movie Looper, where I saw a few computer-sized, glass-made devices and I felt like making a glass computer scene of my own.
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After Effects Demo #5
This demo video is where I created a complex special effect to make the normal eye turn dark and ominous. I used a few overlapping solid layers and a few masking effects to enable a large black circular shape to expand from nothing at the center and across the eye. And for my own making, I copied the colored iris and turned it white to create a mystic, demonic appearance. What inspired me to do this video was from watching Into the Badlands, where several characters throughout the series have fully dark eyes and I felt like knowing how to create a dark eye effect of my own.
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Special Effect Comparison (Fan-made and Featured)
This demo video is a comparison between my creation and the VFX effect from Batman Begins, which is what inspired me to do this. Because the movie has a professionally made effect that I found interesting and cool, I researched about it and discovered a technique called Radial Fast Blur that allowed me to create something similar to it. By modifying the technique with several different sizes and by adding a little shape effect to my eyes just for fun, I am able to imitate the pulsating VFX scenes from Batman Begins.
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Transitioning Names and Letters
This demo video is where I created a simple but complex special effect sequence, where one name transforms into another name with different letters transitioning in between, merging with one another and revealing and masking each other. The inspiration for this video came from watching Maze Runner: The Scorch Trails, where a similar sequence occurs in the end credits when one or two letters of a name merge into another name as they’re being revealed.
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Avengers Endgame Example
This demo video is my very own amateur recreation of the end credits from Avengers: Endgame. By studying how it was done and knowing which tools to use, I put together some scene shots from recordings I did at Madison Media Institute, where I studied filming, and constructed the special effects with them. Unlike most other people who were inspired to recreate the end credits scene, the goal was to recreate and make the special effect as authentic and real as possible.
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Camera Tracking Demo
This demo video is where I applied camera tracking to a single shot by applying different texts in different areas and elapsed times. And I used rotoscoping to merge the texts into the background and make them appear naturally within the scene. Even though it is a basic representation of advanced editing, I made the video to create a unique style to credit rolling.
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How to Make Potato Salad
This is my first how to video about making potato salad. I decided to use potato salad as my option for the project because I already learned how to make the food in my own way and at the time, it was the only thing where I could remember the instructions step by step. Even though the video was another one of my school assignments, I created it so others can learn firsthand how to make it and then they can make it in their own way also.