:: Earl Green - Freelance Television Writer / Producer ::

Blowing Stuff Up In The Avid

This is one of the “explosions” seen in this spot, as seen in close-up on the Avid timeline. The explosions were created with nothing more than the Avid’s built-in effects, marquee titles and some Boris effects plug-ins. Here’s how you too can blow stuff up with an Avid.

Layers 1 and 2: Layer 1 is, of course, your background video. On layer 2, create a couple of “cuts” and drop in a Fire generator from Boris FX. On the timeline for that effect, create a center point and ramp up the fire’s scale so that it fills a majority of the screen. Place short dissolves (8-10 frames) at either end of the fire effect.

Layers 3, 4 and 5: These are, respectively, components of the station’s sports logo and the main sponsor for the program. On the topmost of these graphics, place a Particle Blast effect (from Avid Illusion FX) lasting roughly 8-12 frames. In the timeline for that effect, reduce the bumpiness of the image and the spacing of the particles to zero at the beginning of the timeline, and reduce the effect progression to zero - i.e. the original image, untouched. At the opposite end of the timeline, have the blast completely blow the previous image off the screen.

Layers 6 and 7: Create two cuts on the next layer and insert a Boris Puffy Rays effect as filler. At the center of the timeline for that effect, create a timeline event and bring the intensity to the desired level - basically, season to taste. At the ends of the timeline, make sure the effect intensity is reduced to zero. Create two cuts on the top layer, making sure to create a shorter event than the Puffy Rays layer. Drop in Boris Glow as a filled between these cuts. On the Glow effect timeline, make sure that both ends of the effect have an intensity of zero, and create a timeline event at the center of the effect. At that event, increase the intensity to the desired level.

What you should wind up with there is an “explosion” that blossoms out of your background video and shatters any graphics overlaid in the foreground as it momentarily creates a blinding flash. With suitable sound FX, you’ve got a convincing “explosion” that won’t get anyone arrested.

Alternately, you can skip the “shattering” effect and use Marquee Title to create animated text elements that are “blown” away in unison. (I’m assuming here that you’re already familiar enough with Marquee Title to create animated 3-D text.)

Using the same technique as outlined above for the Boris Fire generator, place your animated text on the timeline above the fire, and line things up so that the text flies apart at the point where the fire reaches maximum coverage of the screen.

As before, put Puffy Rays on the layer above, with a “peak” structure to the timeline.

…and a Glow effect on the layer above that. You may want to re-adjust the animated text on the timeline so that everything matches up with the peak of the “explosion.”

I had each line of text on this graphic fly off in different directions with different rates of rotation, to create a suitably chaotic look.

When the show’s over, you’re back to your video. It can take quite a bit of time to line everything up on the timeline to your satisfaction and glance through it frame-by-frame to make sure everything looks relatively realistic - but since it’s really a very short effect, there isn’t that much render time. Maybe a couple of minutes.

Now go forth and blow stuff up. And here you didn’t think that was in your budget, did you?