Scoutmaster Bucky

an area for Scouts BSA

Advisor Kodi

an area for Venturing

S.S. Seagal

an area for Sea Scouting

This is just one activity topic that you may choose to complete a Supernova award. The activity topic list has many others you may complete, plus information about what's needed for reports. Any resources listed are examples and you might use alternative or additional sources.

Entertainment Technology

This activity can be done individually or in a group. Many of today’s movies involve extensive use of technology to create illusions of magnificent landscapes, mythical beasts, epic battle scenes, and so on. This activity involves learning about some of these technologies and applying them in a real-life setting.

Part 1: Building Knowledge

Choose a favorite, recent movie that is heavily laden with special effects, available for home viewing, and accompanied by supplemental material that describes and shows how the special effects were created. After you have chosen a movie, do the following:

Watch and study the material on the special effects.

Do some supplemental research on some of these special effects to build your understanding of them.

Choose one scene in the movie, or even one frame, and describe in detail to your mentor how that scene or frame was put together using various special effects.

Discuss with your mentor which of the special effects you would implement (even if just crudely) if you were to take a still photo or make a short video and wanted to give the illusion of something magnificent or unusual happening.

Part 2: Creating a Grand Illusion

Develop a plan for creating a still photo or a short video that would require special effects to convey the image or action that you desire to show. Be sure you share your plan with your mentor before you get started. For a still photo, make a crude sketch of what you want the photo to look like. For a video, make a storyboard of the action sequence.

A storyboard is a sequence of rough illustrations that depict the primary scenes or action shots of your story.

In either case, describe the special effects you would use to create each element of the piece. Discuss the following with your mentor:

What you would do first and how.

The sequence of special events and how everything goes together in the end. Do as many of the parts of the photo or video yourself as possible and describe what would best be done by highly trained and/or educated professionals.

The elements of the video/photo that you created must be planned and implemented using the highest safety protocols. Have your mentor examineyour plan and suggest improvements. Your mentor must approve it before you get started. Create a report that shows your understanding of special effects and how they might be applied to the photo or video that you envisioned.

Resources

Troy Lanier and Clay Nichols. Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts. Michael Wiese Productions, 2010.

Richard Rickett. Special Effects: The History and Technique. Billboard Books, 2007.

Steve Wolf. The Secret Science Behind Movie Stunts & Special Effects. Skyhorse Publishing, 2007.