Cheap Tricks – It’s Wrinklin’ Time (VFX tutorial)

Portland, OR – April 26, 2018 – Red Giant today launched “Cheap Tricks,” a brand new YouTube series in collaboration with Action Movie Dad Daniel “Hashi” Hashimoto, the mastermind behind the massively popular YouTube channel, Action Movie Kid. Red Giant and Hashi are teaming up to show viewers how to quickly and inexpensively create Hollywood blockbuster-level visual effects and motion graphics, breaking down VFX shots from today’s most popular films and trailers in each episode, which will be featured on the Red Giant YouTube channel. Inspired by “A Wrinkle in Time,” episode one of Cheap Tricks walks viewers through how to recreate the film’s signature effect of tessering.

Dan Hashimoto explains the idea behind creating the first episode of Cheap Tricks, saying, “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved seeing imaginations come to life through visual effects on the big screen. When I went to see ‘A Wrinkle in Time,’ I couldn’t help but think about how many of the effects could be pulled off right at home using some of Red Giant’s tools. With a little planning, it turned out to be even easier than I imagined.”

A DreamWorks Animation alum, Hashi was on the studio’s visual development team for nearly a decade before ultimately becoming Head of 2D Compositing, working on such films as “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Kung Fu Panda” 2 & 3. Renowned in the animation industry for his mastery of Adobe® After Effects® (thanks in part to lessons from Red Giant’s own Aharon Rabinowitz) and visual wizardry in his Action Movie Kid videos, Hashi has since grown to work on projects for the likes of Disney, Sony, and Warner Brothers. He kept in close contact with Aharon, who introduced Hashi to Harry Frank and Seth Worley. Hashi explains, “This was truly a nerd love-fest. It was only a matter of time before we would be working together again.”

“I’ve known Hashi since he was an animator at DreamWorks and have always admired both his natural curiosity and his intense love of visual effects,” says Aharon Rabinowitz, Red Giant’s Head of Marketing. “He has an uncanny ability to take on a challenging VFX shot and to turn it into a unique experience where both the process and final result are incredibly fun. We’re excited to share his process for creating Hollywood motion graphics and VFX.”

In episode one of “Cheap Tricks”, which stars special guest Lyric Wilson, who played Young Meg in “A Wrinkle in Time,” Hashi explains how to use Red Giant Trapcode Particular, Trapcode Mir, Magic Bullet Looks, and Universe to recreate effects and motion graphics from the film and trailer. Some of the techniques covered include:

1. Using Displacement maps to distort environments and text
2. Creating shimmering, animated glass-like refractions
3. Building immersive alien landscapes from standard stock imagery

Get the tools used to make your own wrinkle in time effect at www.redgiant.com.

About Dan “Hashi” Hashimoto

Since early 2014, Hashi has used his CGI skills to turn his 3-year-old son James’ playtime into the viral web-series “Action Movie Kid,” which has earned 375 million views with over a million followers and subscribers on social media. For his ability to turn ordinary life into cinematic adventures, Toys “R” Us hired Hashi to co-write and direct over 60 commercial vignettes for their “C’mon Let’s Play” campaign.  He and his wife Mandy Richardville authored an imaginative children’s book adaptation of Action Movie Kid for Simon and Schuster. Hashi still performs occasional work for Disney, Sony, and Warner Brothers for work on upcoming feature film projects, but plans to venture into original series with his writing partners.

About Red Giant

Red Giant is a software company made up of talented artists and technologists who collaborate to create unique tools for filmmakers, editors, VFX artists, and motion designers. Our company culture is focused on finding the balance between work and life – we call it “the double bottom line” – this philosophy helps us ignore complexity in favor of building simple tools that yield giant results. Over the last decade, our products (like Magic Bullet, Trapcode, Universe, and PluralEyes) have become the standard in film and broadcast post-production. With over 200,000 users, it’s nearly impossible to watch 20 minutes of TV without seeing our software in use. From our experiences as artists and filmmakers, we aspire to not only provide tools for artists but inspiration as well. Watch our films, learn from over 200 free tutorials, or try our software at www.redgiant.com.