This video is brought to you by Storyblocks
-So, tomorrow it's Copy Cat Friday, but we don't have an idea yet.
And Yannick, he can’t be found anywhere.
He’s probably playing…
Yannick, what are you doing?
[Cinecom's intro music]
What do you think, guys?
What do you think of my new set?
That's right, ‘cause I'm working on something super special,
there won't be any Copy Cat today, unfortunately.
-Let me do Copy Cat!
-Out of the screen!
Hey guys, Yannick here for cinecom.net
and welcome to a brand new episode of Copy Cat Friday.
In this weekly series we recreate visual effects from famous films and music videos.
This week we came across an eccentric looking artist named Oliver Tree.
In his newest music video clip ‘Hurt’ he does some crazy stuff,
like blowing his own head off with a tank.
Exactly what we are going to do today.
But before we build our own epic tank,
I would first like to thank our sponsor Storyblocks,
which is an online library packed with video effects, transitions, After Effects templates
and high-quality 4k stock clips.
Every day, new video assets are added to the growing library
and you can download everything you like without having to pay extra.
For more information, check out the first link in the description below.
[Music]
-Really, yannick is that the thank you we're talking about?
-Yeah, it's awesome!
Poof! Poof!
I think it's a cool tank!
Anyway, for this effect we are going to need 4 shots to make it realistic.
The first one is the tank that shoots,
then you have the impact, the head roll,
and in the last shot is the head laying on the floor.
We are going to follow the right order and start with the tank that shoots.
You can film this handheld, choose your framing and make a shot of the tank.
Then in Premiere Pro we are going to add a muzzle flash effect.
This is a stock clip from flame bursts of a gun.
You can find these on libraries such as Storyblocks,
but to make it accessible for everyone, you can download one for free
in the description below.
Just put your tank shot on the first track in the timeline,
and drag your muzzle clip above it.
Go to the Effects Control Panel and in Opacity Properties
set the blending mode to Screen.
This will remove all the black from the muzzle clip.
Adjust your position and scale to match it to the loop of the tank.
As an extra effect, you can add the Transform effect to that tank clip.
Scale up your clip and then you can animate the position up and down
and left to right over the part where you shoot.
This will create a shock wave effect and will really sell the effect.
Also, don't forget to deselect “Use Composition’s Shutter Angle”
and set this to 180 degrees to create motion blur.
[Music]
For our second shot, the setup is quite simple.
This time use a tripod and film your talent from the side.
Let him do a very small impact movement and then step away from the shot
to take an empty plain as well.
In Premiere Pro, you put the empty shot on the first track.
On top of that you place the shot of the talent.
The first thing you can do is duplicate the shot to track #3.
You are going to need this to cut out your head.
So look for the point where your talent fakes the impact.
Select the duplicate on track number 3, right click on it and add a Frame Hold.
Select the clip right from the cut, go to the Effects Control Panel
and select the Pen tool in the Opacity Properties
and create a rough mask around your head.
You can then delete everything left from the cut.
Now we are going to animate the head so that it flies backwards.
First you have to nest the clip,
because we are going to use the Transform effect, and this effect hates masks.
Drag the Transform effect to the nested sequence,
in the Effects Controls you can then enable the animation
for the position and the rotation.
Go two frames further in time
and move your head to the left with the Position properties.
You can also rotate it to make it more realistic.
When you are done, scroll down
and deselect to “Use Composition’s Shutter Angle” and set it to around 250
to introduce a lot of motion blur.
Next, we need to remove our head from the second shot.
Otherwise, you have two heads, which is weird.
Go to the point in your timeline where the clip on track number 3 starts.
Make a cut on your second clip and select the right part.
Go to the Opacity Properties and take the Pen tool,
create a very rough mask around your head and select the Inverse option.
Now that you have a flying head, we are going to add some extra effects.
First, the tank bullet.
From the Project Panel create a black video.
Drag this on top of everything and let it start two frames before the impact
and stop one frame after the impact.
This will give you a clip from 3 seconds.
In the Opacity Properties again, take the Pen tool
and create a bullet-shaped mask.
It's now time to animate it.
So nest the black video and drag the Transform effect to it.
Enable the animation for the position and move the bullet to the right off-screen.
Then go to the end of the bullet clip and move it back to your head.
Again, deselect “Use Composition’s Shutter Angle”
and set it to 250 for motion blur.
You also need some blood to make it real.
Just like the muzzle effects, the blood is a stock clip.
Like before, you can download one for free in the description below.
Add the blood clip on the top track and let it start from the impact.
In the Opacity Properties set the blending mode to Multiply,
then adjust the position and scale to cover your head.
Okay, there's one final step to really finish it.
Nest everything together and let the clip end 5 frames after the impact.
Then search for the Directional Blur in the Effects panel
and drag this to your sequence.
Create a keyframe for the blur length 2 frames before the clip ends.
Go one frame forward and set the blur length to 16.
Finally, set the direction to 90 degrees and scale it up to 102%.
[Music]
The rolling head was no visual effect,
but I do wanna show you guys how we did it.
This right here is Martin, which is just a mask that we found in a local shop.
Inside sits a ball and the bottom is just some paper painted red,
and that way it kind of seems like it's blood.
And now we can just kinda roll that head over the floor
and follow that with a camera.
For this movement we're going to use the Benro RedDog,
which is a 3-axis stabilizer, which we’re gonna make a video about as well
next week, it's a really awesome gimbal.
I’m already gonna leave a link to this one in the description below,
but it has this carry mode, as you can see,
and that way we can follow the head rolling over the floor,
very close to the ground.
[Music]
This looks pretty scary!
And he's supposed to look like me!
Damn, Jordy is a scary baby!
Now, for the last shot we are going to use some practical effects.
As you can see in the original, Oliver has some wounds on his neck.
Well, we are going to recreate this.
The only thing you need for this is Vaseline, flour and fake blood.
Make a mixture of the Vaseline and flour till you have this gooey paste.
This you can use to create the ripped flesh,
But first we are going to add a small green screen
so that we can key out his neck.
We took a small part from our green screen and tied it around Jordy's neck.
Then we started to add the paste to recreate the wounds
and finished it off with some fake blood.
After you're done, lay your head flat on the ground.
You can also add some extra blood on the ground, as a finishing touch.
Put your camera as low as you can and make the shot.
Very important, don't forget to take an empty shot.
In Premiere Pro we again put the empty shot on the first track.
The shot from the head goes on the second track.
In the effects library, search for the Ultra Key effect.
Drag this to your head shot go to the Effects Control Panel
and select the color picker.
With this, you can select the green to remove it.
From the Opacity Properties select the Pen tool and mask out your head.
Boom!
You have a decapitated head!
The only thing that is missing now is the shadows.
But this you can easily create with a color matte.
Select black, drag it underneath your head shot on track number 2,
select the color matte and mask out the shape of a realistic shadow.
Feather it to make it blend better and decrease the opacity accordingly.
[Music]
What you can do now is put every shot we've just made in the sequence
and you have yourself a cool effect!
-Look Jordy, I built a tank!
Ha ha! I got you, Jordy!
Damn it Yannick!
Wait a second…
Yannick, this is actually a great idea for tomorrow's Copy Cat!
And that is how you can shoot somebody's head off with a tank!
Thank you so much for watching, thank you Storyblocks for the support.
And guys, let me know in the comments below how my presentation was
and if I should do this more.
But like always,
Stay Creative!
-What shall I see if I look in here?
-I dare you Jordy, I dare you!
I have a reverse tank.
Faster, faster!