The Blocky Horror Picture Show
Chemistry Special Effects Movie
For our first project in our chemistry class this year, we were given the task of creating a movie that demonstrated special effects using chemistry concepts. Although the title of the movie says otherwise, we decided to parody the idea of Jurassic Park; A lego head is brought to life by scientists and is out to kill them. Our first special effect was the smoky fog created by dry ice used in our lab explosion scene. In the scene with the lake, we used vibrations from a sub woofer to manipulate oobleck. The last special effect used in our movie was light manipulation through a liquid lens.
To make our movie unique from others, we used a filming technique called stop-motion animation. This involved taking a picture of our scene, moving the characters and scenery lightly, and taking a new picture. By repeating this process 800 times and compiling the video (at 10 frames per second), we created a short, but intensive movie. At the end of our video, we show a small time-lapse of our work. While it only shows about 5-10% of our work, it is a glimpse into the massive amount of time the project consumed.
To make our movie unique from others, we used a filming technique called stop-motion animation. This involved taking a picture of our scene, moving the characters and scenery lightly, and taking a new picture. By repeating this process 800 times and compiling the video (at 10 frames per second), we created a short, but intensive movie. At the end of our video, we show a small time-lapse of our work. While it only shows about 5-10% of our work, it is a glimpse into the massive amount of time the project consumed.
Concepts:
Dry Ice - Smoke
Our first special effect is the smoke from the lab explosion. This was created using dry ice. Dry ice is the solid form of carbon which sublimates at -109.3 degrees Fahrenheit. Sublimating is the process of a solid going to a gas without passing through the liquid stage. The gas created in this process is denser than air which makes it form a cloud. This cloud falls which creates the smoke effect seen in the video.
Non-Newtonian Fluid - Lake Vibrations
The second special effect in our movie is the vibrations in the lake from the massive Lego man's stomps. We created this by placing ooblek (a non-Newtonian fluid) on a sub woofer. When playing bass-heavy music (Virtual Riot - Lunar), force is exerted on the fluid making it behave like a solid while parts where force is not exerted act like a liquid. This is due to the changing viscosity associated with non-Newtonian fluids.
We created this by mixing two parts cornstarch with one part water. We added some blue food coloring to it to make it resemble a lake. After covering the sub woofer with plastic wrap, we poured the fluid onto it. We played music and took multiple pictures to get the bouncing effect in our movie.
We created this by mixing two parts cornstarch with one part water. We added some blue food coloring to it to make it resemble a lake. After covering the sub woofer with plastic wrap, we poured the fluid onto it. We played music and took multiple pictures to get the bouncing effect in our movie.
Liquid Lens - Lens Distortion
To create our final chemistry special effect, we put water into a plastic bag. We then took pictures of our Lego man through this "lens" to create the cool lens distortion effect. This works because water is more dense than air which makes it refract light differently. This different refraction of light makes the picture distort.
Reflection:
Over the course of this project, we had a few ups and downs. Starting with the negatives, our time management was poor and our focus could have been better. During the week when we could have been filming, we were unable to film due to the idea of Lego stop-motion. This gave us very little in-class time to film, and too much time to prepare. If we had filmed earlier, we could have edited in class and used our time more wisely. Both in-class and during filming, we had issues with focus. We didn't stay on task as much as we could have. On the positive side, we managed to have lots of unique and creative ideas as well as dedicate ourselves to the project. We had lots of interesting ideas with the non-Newtonian fluid on a sub woofer and a liquid lens. We also had the awesome idea of Lego animation. This process was very time-consuming and took lots of dedication to execute. We had to take over 800 pictures with minute details changing each frame. Overall this project was an interesting and fun way to start our year in chemistry.