I recreated Varanasi's Ocean Energy Beam VFX in After effects (Zero budget)

You don't need a multi-million dollar Hollywood studio or expensive third-party plugins to create movie-level VFX. In this After Effects tutorial, we're recreating the massive laser ocean storm sequence from SS Rajamouli's upcoming epic, VARANASI - completely from scratch and for ZERO budget. If you want to master high-end element compositing without breaking your PC or your wallet, this step-by-step breakdown is for you. Resources and Links: Paid Project File: Connect me on Instagram Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vfxnirvanayt Input Video: Video: https://mega.nz/folder/MJsEXDwJ#SyhlGk2nLZfP5xs3MjgChg Thunder Cloud: https://youtu.be/8npvhQPUXSU Tornado 1: https://youtu.be/8Le9VGrIK7E Tornado 2: https://pixabay.com/videos/tornado-twirl-vortex-spiral-184369/ Video by Luis Humanoide from Pixabay TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro 0:19 - Tracking & Null Setup 1:17 - Building Laser with VC Saber 3:27 - Master Color Matching & Cinematic Grading 4:12 - Adding Dynamic Thunder Clouds & Scale Reflections 5:29 - Compositing Tornado & Shadows 7:37 - Add Fog Elements & Final Pre-comp Trick 8:37 - Final Result WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS VIDEO: *Tracking: How to track your shot and extract a precise ground point and Null object to anchor the entire scene. *The Saber Laser Core: Setting up a volumetric light beam with Video Copilot Saber in Firestorm mode, attached perfectly to your null so it locks into the scene as the camera moves. *Cinematic Color Matching: How to use Lumetri's Creative tab and Hue vs. Hue curves to lock in that moody, premium trailer grade. *Atmospheric Cloud Compositing: Linking thunder clouds to the null, using Motion Tile for seamless loop coverage, and creating realistic water reflections by duplicating the clouds, unlinking the scale, switching to Overlay, and re-applying Motion Tile. *VFX Element Integration: Keying and positioning a raging tornado, duplicating it for depth, and adding animated fog scaling to build massive environmental scale. *The Final Master Comp Wrap: Pre-composing all elements, adding a custom camera tilt/rotation to match the official trailer reference, and using Motion Tile alongside solids to cleanly hide frame edges. Make sure to watch until the final pre-composition step, because mastering that camera rotation and edge-hiding trick is what gives the entire shot its massive, blockbuster scale! If this tutorial helped you level up your VFX game, drop a LIKE and SUBSCRIBE for more zero-budget filmmaking breakdowns! #Varanasi #AfterEffects #VFXTutorial #Filmmaking #VisualEffects #SSRajamouli #VideoCopilot Music Credits: Music: TheFatRat & Everen Maxwell - Warbringer (feat. Lindsey Stirling) Watch the official music video: https://tinyurl.com/tfrwarbringer Listen here: https://thefatrat.ffm.to/warbringer Follow TheFatRat: https://ffm.bio/thefatrat Cosmic Storm by A Himitsu / a-himitsu Music by A Himitsu ( / @ahimitsu ) Free Download / Stream: https://www.audiolibrary.com.co/a-him... Music promoted by Audio Library https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4wXUdhNxZk Song: Culture Code - Fairytale (feat. Amanda Collis) [NCS Release] Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds Free Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/Fairytale Watch: http://youtu.be/qVAFNx1WRWE Keywords: I Recreated VARANASI's Manikarnika Ghat Trailer Shot (Zero Budget) I Recreated the Epic VARANASI Laser Ocean Shot for ZERO Budget (After Effects) How I recreated Varanasi's thunderstorm shot in After effects (Zero budget) #AfterEffects #NoPlugin #AEtutorial #AfterEffectsTutorial #MotionGraphics #vfxnirvana