A few effects tips for your movies allowing you to broaden the stuff you can do

Pupil Contraction

A handy thing to use in horror movies or action movies for a pump of adrenaline use your imagination for when this can be suitable

There are two ways of doing this the first is this:

In a well lit room hold the camera near the eye and begin filming when ready shine a bright torch in the eye this will cause the eye to contract and becuase of the state of the lighting will be completely undetectable

Second Way:

In any type of room (this is what to do if the scene is supposed to be in a dark room) Use a Dimish torch (Bright enough to be able to work and make the eye contract but not so dim that it has no effect test it on your own eye in a mirrior to see if it works or not) Shine it near the eye and beign filming then quickly movie it do the center of the light is directly in the pupil making the pupil shrink

Blood

Need blood but your actor is too wussy to cut his arm open :P Just use this
2 parts water to one part Ketchup stir vigurously and you should get a solution that looks like blood to make it thicker add more ketchup and thinner add more water

Monsters

Good for horrors and any movie with a monster!
Becuase costumes can be expensive use this simple method of creating a monster simply get a bright lamp and shine it against a wall. Draw a monster on a piece of paper (just the outline) and movie it infront of the lamp creating a silouette (It' more effective if you only show the upper half of the body if it has legs) If you want to go into detail do the arms seperatly and use your finger to move them making it seem the arms are moving the shadow.
They always say that the human mind creates scarrier images than anything else

Bigger Objects

Say you want a big alien machine in your mvoie well using this simple bit of trick camera you can.... Get a modle of what you want (small modle) and palce it infrotn the camera have the actors stand quite far back.... This bit of trick filmography can make it seem there is a huge machine stood right next you your actors If you've seen that car advert (can't rember which one) you'll know what I mean

Fire!

There's a huge fire burning your movies hero alive how will he escape... well anyway he wants cos he's not in any danger.
Simply set fire to a bit of papaer or something similar and place infront of the camera have a house in the backgroun and make sure the fire looks like it is near the base of the house when you film it, it will seem weird but to the audience it looks as though you've set fire to your house in the name of art


Thats all I've got for now.... I might update it with more later