Stop Motion and Movies

Ghost rider stop motion in Machinima

2012-02-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, just finished a new video, its about Ghost rider fighting with Albert Wesker from Resident evil,
this is a video I made for Machinima, using 12 inch dolls from Hot Toys, they are really really cool and detail
action figure, amazing quality...well...lets take a look at the new video:

And now let get into some behind the scenes pictures.

These are the tools I used this time for the video

The main character, Nick Cages figure

The bad ass Wesker, the eye can glow with batteries

Some fighting scene was holded by hand and then delete it

The bike itself can shine, so no need for too much effect modification

The sun glass scene was really a sun glass in green screen

The ghost rider form in fire, the head also can glow using batteries

And below are some screen shots.

This video took me 25 days with around 3800 pictures.

Well this is all for this video, actually nothing special in skills, but mostly

the changing of camera moves is what differs from other videos.

And thanks for watching, see you guys next time on next video.

John H.

Black Diamond Stop motion

2012-02-14T05:09:00.000-08:00

This is a video I made for the promotion of Black Diamond recharge device,
this video took me 8 days and around 900 pictures, please check the video as below:

The cellphone I use

The battle arena

Me and the girl

Black diamond

the lightning for the girl scene

The background of the girl scene

Me, my friend and the model

Many of the phone scene are holding by hand

Hold by hand also

Screen shots

Thanks everyone for watching and see you next time on next video.

Kreo Transformers stop motion - Autobots VS Decepticons

2011-12-30T23:37:00.000-08:00

This is a video for the promotion of Kreo Transformers from Hasbro , and for some reason ,
I have to finish this video before 2012 arrives, so this video I speed up the production and
in total plus the musics and sounds effects, this video only took me 10 days for production.
and average around 3300-3500 pictures.

And here is the video:

Now lets check the behind the scenes pictures:

The toys

The scene is in the floor of my room

As these toys are heavy and weak in the joints, you must use lots of tools to hold the body

The box comes with pieces, and they can assemble to a vehicle or a robot

Each box comes with 2-3 small toy figures

As the figures body are too heavy, this mean the joints will no going to be strong

enough, so I have to use some tapes in the joints.

The scene where Megatron jumps was holding by hand

And for the explosion scene, the same technic, just adding some green screens.

The same with the starscream Jet mode

And final here is a picture of Optimus Prime.

Thanks also to Zoetrope international for the nice background music.
they do really nice movie like musics, if you are interested, you can also
contact with these cool guys : smith.zoe7@gmail.com

Software used:

Corel Video Studio
Animator HD
Adobe after effects
Adobe Premiere
Morpth

Well, hope you guys like this video and wish you all happy new year!!
See you next time on next stop motion.

Transformers Stop Motion - Race and Destroy

2011-12-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, this is another video I made for TheGameStation youtube channel,
this is the fight between Bumble Bee and Barricade, the first minute was a racing
scene, I study the game "Need for Speed" for the camera movements of the cars,
the last two minutes of the video of cource is the fight and transform of the robots.
This video took me 2 month of production and around 3500 pictures.

Please check the video first:

Below is the main characters of this video, bumble bee and Barricade,

they are actually very small in the size.

This video was shot in a small room of my house,the walls in the video are Gundam model boxes.

Corners is an ideal location to shot drift scenes.

Car in the sky was holding by my hand,

then deleted in After effects with layers

The TV screen in the background of this video is just a blue screen, after the key, just insert the video shot I want and will appear like the image in the video.

The explosion is also blue screen, I use blue instead of green because the color of Bumble bee is yellow and this may affect the result of the green screen.

Here are some shots of the video that I liked

Ok, and here is all the main skills of this video, actually is pretty simple, and hope you
guys enjoy the video, see you next time in the next stop motion project.

BTY,I will post every new information and progress of my videos in my facebook channel,
Please visit me sometime on facebook.

Facebook name : Counter656

Thanks again and wish you have a great day.

regards
John H.

Minority Report VFX Stop Motion

2011-11-28T18:08:00.000-08:00

This is a video I made for the Taiwan Business tour promotion purpose,
the idea comes from the movie Minority Report, I spend 3 days in total for the
making of this video, please see the video as below:

The Doll I choose to use this time is Black widow from Iron man movie, this is the most
beautiful girl face doll that you can find in the market of 12 inch dolls.

Below is the stage that I use to film this video, on top of my desk.

Comparison of the shoots, original and with green screen, this video was mostly made
in front of green screen, some scenes the green screen was not good because the green
screen was to near the doll and in some places the light was too strong, I will need to
improve next time about this problem.

Here are some runners effects I made for this video, first make the runners,
then apply to the video in after effects.

Some scenes of this video that I like the most.

Software used in this video:

Corel video studio pro
Paint shop photo
After effects
Premiere
Morpth

Well, hope you guys like this video, and will be back to you next time with transformers stop
motion.

regards
John H.

Assasin Creed Stop Motion

2011-11-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

This is a video made for Machinima for the promotion of the Game Assasin Creed,
this is the first video I made with 12 inch toys, these are really detail figures from Hot toys company,
they are beatiful with good articulation, but its not easy to film, they are very heavy and usually falls, could not stand well to film.

Please check the video as below :

Below is the filming scene of this video, blue posters plus some artificial plant decoration.

The toys are very loose in the articulation due to the heave body

The move of the cape in the wind is actually holding by hand

The real look of the bloody hand before After effects

The red part of the broken hand is made with red paper

Some of the video scene that I like the most

Well, here is some of the behind the scene of this video, hope you guys like it,

thank you and see you soon with the next stop motion video

Taipei World Design Exposition

2011-10-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

This is an ad video of the Taipei World Design Exposition, I helped them to make this ad with stop
motion, all the items and characters in this video are Exposition creations in the show.
This video took me around 5 days for the filming and editting.

Below are pictures of the behind the scene:

The place for the video taking

All of the tools that I used in this video

The rotation of the wooden toys

The color changing and size changing of the can is actually the replacement

of many other cans with the same style.

The rolling of the white little man is actually holding by hand

The wooden rabbit and the tiger are magnetic toys connected together with

magnets.

Softwares I used in this video are :

Corel video studio pro

Adobe premiere

Adobe after effects.

Well, hope you guys like the video, thanks for watching and see you soon

in the next transformers stop motion.

regards

John H.

Future new projects and testings

2011-09-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

First of all, thank you guys for the support and the vote recently I made in my blog here,
and yeap, Dragon Ball Z is definitely the best of all, personally I also like the most to make Gokus video,
unfortunately I am still waiting for his best opponent and friend Vegeta to be released from BAndai,
I know they are making it, but not know when could be done.

Check out first the previews:

So which comes first will be transformers : Race and Destroy.

And please check below for some original pictures related to this video:

Black widow

Guess who....:D

Bumble Bee

Three Kingdom ( 三國 )

Barricade

Halo?? For some reason I have to delay this video...

The best of All, DBZ Goku!!!

Well, thanks again for your visit, see you next time with next transformers video.

The Sexy Killer and some behind the scene pictures

2011-08-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

My new real life video, the purpose is to test slow motion scenes and try to do some more
realistic effects, new camera movements and angles.
I want to thanks to Nikon for the sponsor of D5100 camera and also thanks
to Beatube for the support of the girl.

Here are some pictures for the video.

Software used in this video:

Adobe after effects
Adobe premiere
Corel video studio pro
Morph

I know this video is not good, as I just start to learn real life videos, I expect to spend another
1 year to learn everything about real life videos, just the same effort as I do for stop motions
which I also spend around 2 year to learn and still today I am learning it, making films is
a very very long business, there is no limit for learning, there is always new things to explore.

Please leave your comments or suggestions for this video.

Thanks and see you guys on next video.

John H.

Street Fighter Stop motion - Ryu VS Ken behind the scene

2011-07-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone, I just finished my new stop motion video of Street fighter, will be showing up

first in Machinima channel, and I will upload to my channel after a week of the machinima.

Well, lets see the video first:

I want to thanks to Nikon camera for supporting me a lot in this new video.
And here is how the entire scene looks like, I use Taiwanese handwriting paper
as the background, and hang it with the metal closet bone.

The background using Taiwanese letter papers.

The artificial grass

                                  The book on the table is put the camera and make it able
   to move all around the table.

The Nikon D5100 camera I use this time for filming

I use clay in this video to stablelize the toys figures

The hands of the toys actually is very fragile, so I got to use clay also
in the articulation.

I use photoshop to get rid of the hands in the picture, check the difference between
the two pictures.

Some of the scenes in the video that I like:

In this video, about the color grading, I make high contrast, 10%blue and 5% green,
reduce color 10%.

Software used:

Corel video studio
Adobe premiere

Adobe After effects

Cinema 4D

Well, this is all the behind the scenes of this video, thanks everyone for watching,
and see you next time on next stop motion.

regards
John H.

Final Fantasy Stop motion- Behind the Scenes

2011-06-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, this is John again, just finished my new stop motion video, Final Fantasy stop motion – The World’s Enemy, thanks for Cloud, Aerith and Sephiroth from HLJ, great toys with detailed paintings.
This video was mostly made with After effects, the main skill here is the use of fire,light, twist light and twist fire, also some green screens.
Color correction of green and blue, medium contrast.

And for the tools I used in this video, please check the below picture:
knife, sccisor, tape, saw, etc

The cut made be Sephiroth to the box, I use saw to make this happen

This is how the meteor looks like…grey paper ball…

The last scene, real flower with fake grass, the fake ones
actually are much expensive

After several days of filming, the joing are too loose, need to paste them with tape

The blood actually are red water paint,
they could be deleted by water

Moving in the sky is actually green screen skill

The same with fire in front of Aerith

The lift of the motorcycle was just made with hand and then PS out.

And below are some of
the screen shots

Here is all the secrets of the video, hope you guys enjoy it, thanks for watching and
see you next time with the next video.

regards
John H.

Final Fantasy video in Machinima's Channel

2011-06-11T18:31:00.001-07:00

The video Final Fantasy stop motion will be set as private for a period of time, will be published soon in Machinimas channel, till now I make everything by my self but I really need some resource to make more videos in the future, please understand and very sorry for the inconvenience.

Counter656

Green world animal VFX

2011-04-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

This is a new video I made for a contest here in Taiwan.
Looking around youtube, I can see many people using effects on real person,
but very very few doing on animals or plants, so I will just make this video
for a trial testing, in the same time, practicing my skills for the effects.

I made lots of color corrections in this video, also liquify effects, lots of
layer addings, and mainly brightness on items.

And yes, I know, everyone is asking for the next stop motion Sephiroth, I will need
few more weeks to finish this, or maybe a month, I dont know, but it really takes time
if I want it with good effects, I will do my best, and hope you guys enjoy my videos,
thanks a lot.

About this video,I need your help to share this video with your friends, this is for a contest
here in Taiwan, for more views, the greater chance to win, so sincerely hope you could help me
on this,thanks a lot for all you guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ_nLPcFV3k

Megaman & Starscream stop motion Behind the Scenes

2011-04-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, this is my video number 14 of stop motion, its time for the adventure of Rockman and his friend Blues, and many thanks again to HobbyLink Japan for the nice action figure of transformers The Starscream, an awesome figure with awesome paintings, its one of the best transformers toy I ever seen.

Well, lets see first the video: Go!! ROCKMAN!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEudCCPeVo0

Below here are the actors for this little movie, I have to say Rockman models are
very very well acticulated, really love to make videos with them.

Rockman (megaman) and Protoman

Star scream

Stop motion of real life combined with gundams 自製動畫-真人合成到動畫

2011-04-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

to make a video of stop motions combined with real life persons,
the main technich is green screen, the make some color correction for contrast and yellow scene.

Please check the video as below:

The scene for the video, floor behind my bed.

The knife is actually hold by a tool, and quit it by photoshop

the background

the original footage of the robots, then quit the blue screen, add the scene of the above plus

the two prekeyed person.

Two pictures of the video scene

Software used brief percentage list:

Corel video studio pro X4 = 50%

Adobe AE = 50%
Premiere = 40%

PAINTSHOPPHOTO = 10%

Morph = 5%

Thanks everyone for watching and welcome any comments or suggestions!

Lego Pirates stop motion behind the scene 自製動畫-樂高海盜船

2011-04-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody, thanks for the support of my last video, Go!! Rockman!! today I am posting another new video, this is a video I made for Corel corporation, for their new software advertising purpose, they want me to make the video with LEGO pirates, so here it is, please check the video as below:

Software most used percentage list:

Corel video studio PRO X4 = 90%
PAINTSHOP PHOTOX3 = 50%
The sounds effects are mainly basic musics from Corel studio itself.

Here are some of the tips and technics that I used in this video:

The LEGO pirate ship is a very detailed and awesome toy:

In this video, the water waves are just cling film moving with 15 frames per second

The sun light are the warming light for the winter :D

Actually the whole island is based on books and magazines

Most of the special effects in this video was made with LED light then modified with
Paintshopphoto software.

Here is our hero, prince of persia, oh..no, here in this story I called him Luke the Hero

LEGOS are a little trick for posing as they are very small, it takes some effort to make
detail movements, but in the other hand, small is also the advantage, make fly movements
posing without too much trouble.

For the flying of the characters, is just another trick of photoshop, please check the
below two pictures for the comparison, the after and the before.

And here is all the secrets of this video, is not very difficult or complicated, the only matter is time.

Thanks again for watching, and welcome any comment or suggestions.

Behind the Scenes : Iron Man and Toy Story Stop-motion Movie

2011-04-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, this is my video number 13 of stop motion, finally here is Iron Man, have been planning this scene for a long time, I also added together here Woody and Buzz Lightyear received from HobbyLink Japan, thanks a lot to them for these nice action figures.

The video :

First of all, a picture of the family, they are very good actors.

In this video, all the character voices was recorded with my own voice, then translate the sound frequency with Voice changer software, so they can sound different for different charaters, the only original voice is Woody, the rest are all modified.

Some small trouble here with new toys is that sometimes they comes with very tight articulation, if so, make some turnings carefully to its connection points before playing with it.
Be careful, some of them are very fragile.

The arm cover of Iron Man that pops up the missile is just tape with red painting.

Below here is some of the techniques that I used in this video, actually most of them are green screen, this is definitely the most useful skill for making a movie.

For example, the flying scene of Iron Man in the start of the video is a typical form of combining video with video, first I recorded the scene of walking from first floor to the second, then combined with the video of Iron Man flying in front of the green screen, this is the skill that was most used on movies for flying scenes.

In the below picture is where Buzz was hit and broke his wing, this is just another green screen, first make a video of the wing rotating by itself, then apply this to the Buzz falling scene, modified it with some color correction.

Then same skill for the missile lanching.

In this scene, the hat of Woody fly away due to the strong wind pressure, here is very simple, use a stick or something similar and stick the hat, make the falling action scene, then cut out the stick using photoshot or photo impact, or even after effects, choose the way you like.

The explosion scene below, is also green screen, here I use green screen is to limit the explosion range only in front of Woody, get rid of the green color, then combine the photo of the background with the Woody flying out video.

A little trick I used, normally I take picture of simgle character first, after this then I start the action movements, this is because sometimes you may need a clean background to make effects or for scene modifications.

Here is about the facial movements of character, this is really simple, just use the pentool system in Photoshop or Photoimpact even also in after effects to pull or push the locations of the facial points.

In this video, actually stop motion here itself does not spend me too much time, because I calculate the locations and adjustments by my eyes, not with any motion capture software, the good thing of this is that I can make stop motion scenes very fast, one single camera scene I can make it within 10 minute, but the bad thing is the movements are not smooth enough, so this is still something I am trying to achieve.

Well, this is all for this video, thanks to HLJ for the great toys and thank you all for watching my video.

Wish the best for all you guys.
John Huang

Behind the scenes : Gundam Desktop Arena

2011-04-27T02:03:00.000-07:00

I always wanted to make a video of how to drive a gundam, thinking of how would the cockpit of Gundam looks like, and here it is:

1. Choose of models:

At least the Gundam I am going to use must have more detailed structure to open the cockpit, so they must be MG size or PG size, I choose MKII and ZAKU 2.0 as his opponent.

2. The scenes:

First the launch pad, the movable plates are CD box covered with foil paper, and the launch door are HG gundam model box covered with foil paper.

The cockpit are styrofoam covered with black paper, and the joysticks are made with toothpick.

The monitor: use black paper as the body, and cover it with invisible plastic board, the black bottom makes the effects more visible while we add them,

and the plastic board could reflect the pilot image make the monitor looks more realistic.

3. Main techniques

The main techniques here in this video is stop motion of course, the idea is using the fast changing between photos to make the models looks like moving by themselves.

Besides the above,the most used techniques here in this video is the green screen skill, like the photos below:

Saber Lily walking

MKII image

The Desktop Arena

ZAKU 2.0

The launch pad, the green side is where

I put the universe image.

A little trick for the green screen, the

main purpose of the green screen is to get rid of the color you pick from the image, so basicaly green screen can be blue or red screen, it does not matter,

the main point is to make sure the item you wish to keep has different color from the color of the background in order to get rid of it without deleting the item itself.

The space background:

below is the space background I choose for this video, I personally prefer them with more colorful space; in order to make

the space more alive, please set at least two layers, one layer in the bottom and another under it, then make

the two layer move toward the same direction with different speed, then you will see the scene looks more real and flexible, you can even add the third or forth layer with other elements like growing stars, planes,etc.

Well, this is all of the main techniques I used in this video, thanks for watching.

John Huang

Gundam stop motion - Master Huang

2011-04-26T04:21:00.001-07:00

This is a video I made last year, using gundam models to make a kunfu style fighting,
I use corel video studio for the connection of pictures, and the special effects using After effects.

Gundam stop motion - Met with Prime

2011-04-26T04:20:00.000-07:00