UniSA STEM Innovation Experience (STEMIE)

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Movie Magic References and Resources

Helpful Visual Effects (science task) link:

  • History of visual special effects – Cat Harris presentation

         This presentation is approximately 30 minutes long, but you can scan through and see some of the visual effects, including cheap, expensive, simple and complex examples. It includes explanations of effects used in Star Wars, Mary Poppins, 2001 Space Odyssey, Toy Story, The Matrix, Ben Hur, and more. 

The link to the above video is listed below, if the video does not play just copy and paste the information to view it. 

You Tube –  Cat Harris: A brief history of effects in film

www.youtube.com/watch?tv=ZrFwu-baYVo

The fascinating facts and secrets behind “Forrest Gump”

https://yourdailysportfix.com/about-interesting-forrest-facts-vs/?utm_source=facebook-vs&utm_campaign=vs-ww-d-yds-forreen-rdc-m08-c1264-a1&pixel_value=0.06#15

Helpful Technology Links:

  • How to use a breadboard when prototyping Arduino circuits  

https://www.losant.com/blog/how-to-use-a-breadboard

  • What is 3D printing and where is it used? 

https://3dprinting.com/what-is-3d-printing

  • Free online CAD program with tutorials

https://www.tinkercad.com

Helpful Engineering Ideas:

The engineering design process steps can be found here:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/engineering-design-process/engineering-design-process-steps

  • Example of a giant camera dolly, as well as discussion on cinematic techniques from the beach scene of the movie Roma (2018). 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/d8BanE_LKMQ?controls=0&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&loop=0&fs=0&hl=en&enablejsapi=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fe.unisa.edu.au&widgetid=2Play Video

  • Links to camera dolly ideas

https://www.2bridges.nyc/filmmaking-guide/diy-how-to-build-a-camera-dolly

https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/10-cheap-tripod-dolly-options

https://petapixel.com/2015/01/13/build-camera-dolly-lego-pieces

https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Motorized-LEGO-Camera-Dolly

Helpful Mathematics Links:

https://www.excel-easy.com/introduction/formulas-functions.html

https://learn.filtered.com/blog/10-most-useful-microsoft-excel-tips

https://support.office.com/en-us/excel

https://au.pcmag.com/office-suites/24315/20-excel-tips-for-becoming-a-spreadsheet-pro

Short Film Production

Camera tracking footage in the opening scene from Spectre (2015) shows a clever use of camera dollies, tracking, some well edited joins and a touch of computer graphics. Can you figure out where the scenes are stitched together from one tracking sequence to the next? 

How to create stop motion animations 

https://www.acmi.net.au/education/online-learning/magic-aardman-education-resources/how-create-stop-motion-animation

How to use chromakey

https://www.techsmith.com/blog/how-to-create-a-diy-green-scre

Editing software suggestions

  •  There are many free software programs, but beware of trial programs that let you edit but not save the final task. 
  • Suggested software links

Referencing Information: