Toy Tornado

[Ron Hunter]

One of my kids received a "toy tornado" from his grandparents a few years ago. I've always liked the colors the toy produces, so I decided to create a video about it. Originally I tried "green screening" it but that didn't work out the way I wanted, so yesterday I filmed the toy in total darkness and the colors came through very well.

I shot the video with my GH4 in 4k 24fps and edited it on a FCPX 1080p 24fps timeline. For exposure I used spot metering on the tornado, not the background, and I think the exposure turned out well. (Lens was wide open at f/2.8.) I increased saturation in post to make the colors more vivid. Music is "Life of Riley" from Incompetech.com.

The video is barely a minute long. Let me know what you think of it.

[Steve Grisetti]

What cool visual effects, Ron! Very creative use of a 99 cent toy!

[sidd finch]

Toys make for some interesting subject matter. I could see it with a triptych effect. Very cool

Sidd

[momoffduty]

Very cool experiment Ron! The total darkness looks great and the exposure was spot on. Sidd's triptych idea is interesting. Will the lens focus closer? Would the light inside reflect something from the background? I was thinking a piece of scrap book paper behind the toy. If you can't get closer then you could crop the sides in post to hide the edges of the paper. Maybe a strip chevron in multi colors. The kaleidoscope effect may produce interesting results too.

[Francesco Carzedda]

It sounds very, very well and I have liked how you had centered the revolving object in the black background and panned vertically the bubbling one.
The essential arrangement makes the sound present (I don't know if the word in English fits as well as the Italian "presente", which means also perceivable without any distraction and preeminent) and so is the unique object, according with the introduction.
My compliments!