I Hope This Idea Works...

Honestly, I never know if a video is going to be successful until after I've made it. So many times I've had a cool idea for a trick, filmed it, and then discovered it's a complete disaster as I start editing.

But that's the creative process. You conjure up a finished idea and then challenge yourself to bring it to life - one way or another.

(I previously explored something similar to this effect, where I break your phone screen, here.)

I Wrote This Part Before Making the Video

The idea for this video is that I'll punch through paper. I'll square up to a very visible sheet of paper as a misdirection. When I punch, I'll somewhat miss and then my fist will burst through the actual video (which is now paper).

Potential problems:

• Narrative is a bit clunky. Do I need to justify why I miss my target?

• Staging the action. I'll need to position myself to camera so that my actions are all very clear (can't hide arm winding up behind my body).

• There's not a lot of time between winding up a punch, missing, and then having it surprise burst through a screen. If that's confusing, the whole thing won't work.

• To that point, I'll most likely make the choreography two practice punches and then the real thing. That'll prime the audience to anticipate the actual punch (helping with clarity).

• Want this to be visually impactful. So they'll need to be some experimenting with lenses and the scale of my fist coming at the camera. More drastic changes are better in this case.

• Because the effect will be so 'obvious' does that mean it's less enjoyable?

• When I film the punch through paper, maybe I'll wait a beat and then give a comical thumbs up? Gives me an option to add a satisfying end point.

I Wrote This Part After Making the Video

It works! This actually came out much more visually surprisingly and satisfying than I had anticipated.

Notes:

• Funny how simplified the final video is. A couple of wind ups and then punch!

• I did start the performance adjusting the paper (to show it off) but cut that out for time. It's a fun effect, so I want it to be as short and loop-able as possible.

• Trickiest part was filming the punching through paper. I couldn't get the angle or depth right. I think I filmed 25 different versions.

• Doing a 'thumbs up' didn't feel right (or motivated). I took my own advice from a previous post - show that you're going to do it, do it, show that you've done it. Showing that I've 'done it', or punched through paper, turned into simply pulling my fist back through and letting the paper settle.

• When the punch comes through, I'm basically freezing the original video and maybe blending 50% of the total picture area onto the original (the hand and it's shadow).

• I could see this technique being used in an ad format. Instead of simply pushing a hand through the screen, you'd grab a product and push that through.

Here are the two filming setups: