How to Keep Social Distance

Published on May 1, 2020

Cinematography & Filmmaking

after effects tutorial, force field, laser eyes, social distancing, sound waves, super sonic, ultra sonic

Laser Eyes

For this video we decided to make our visual effects in Adobe After Effects. The first visual effect is a laser beam that appears out of Jordy’s eyes. We did something similar in the past but in Premiere Pro. For achieving the laser eyes effect we used the free Saber plugin from Video Copilot. It’s quite simple to use and is not only useful for getting laser eyes but also for making light sabers, portals and other energy related effects. To show the impact of the laser we used a mask and enhanced it with some stock clips from Storyblocks.

Force Field

We created the force field without any plugins, we only used effects that are native to Adobe After Effects. We started with a fractal noise effect and used the spherize effect to curve it into a ball. Creating the look of the force field depends on your taste and creativity. You can have a very saturated force field or a transparent one that is barely visible. Definitely check out our tutorial to see how we made it but feel free to get creative with it and experiment with different looks.

Ultra Sonic Sound Waves

For this effect we used native After Effects effects and enhanced it with an effect from Red Giant’s Trapcode. Red Giant is quite expensive but it’s definitely worth having when you use a lot of vfx in your projects. Fortunately you don’t need to have the Trapcode plugin for creating the ultra sonic sound waves effect. It was just an enhancement to get the effect to a next level.

Social Distancing

Of course the theme of this video is about social distancing during this COVID-19 lockdown. We want to emphasize that it is really import to keep distance from eachother, at least 6 feet or 1.5 meters. We’re all in this together and for some it may feel uncomfortable but if we stick to the guidelines and rules we will get through this in time. So until scientist find a cure for COVID-19, let’s social distance with a smile on our face and let’s stay creative!

Storyblocks Video

This video was sponsored by Storyblocks. It’s an enormous online library full of high quality HD and 4K stock clips, After Effects templates, collections and much more. We use the library on a weekly base to download overlay effects, like smoke, dust particles, flares,… You can download an unlimited amount of clips for only one price per year so it’s super useful to have.