Compositing Test

To make my first shot more interesting I decided to add more than one spaceship into the scene. I began with masking out the foreground and background sections in order for me to be able to place the maya sequences in between the two. Our original footage, the sky was quite grey and bland so I thought it would be nicer if there was a blue sky, again this was just done by masking out the certain area and I used a sky texture from cgtextures.com. To begin with the sky was too vibrant so created a ramp and an adjustment layer to counteract this. I also had to do some colour correction on the actual shot itself for it to be more of a seamless integration.

As I will be using a shot as a image plane within Maya, (to line up the animation so I know what's going where and how fast it will be travelling across the screen) I placed just two coloured solids into the shot so I would get the basic layout of where I wanted the spaceships to be / their ending position. From here I rendered out one frame and attached it to a new camera in Maya. Using this image as reference I then animated a few spheres adding fur to one of them to get an idea of what it would look like. The lighting still needs some work, at the minute there is 3 point lighting on it but the intensities may need some adjusting, especially around the edges of the fur ball. As I have mentioned in a previous post, I had issues with making the fur dynamic, in the way that the fur would always pierce through the geometry even though a collider was set to it. Apparently this can't really be solved the only way around it is for the object to be moving really slowly which would reduce the risk of the fur going through the geo. It was suggested to me that a way I could possibly get around this is by setting out the animation how I would like it within Maya, then applying the fur, slowing it down to where the fur doesn't puncture the geometry and then try speeding it up within After Effects. In theory this should work but I would need to test it out first, speeding up clips can sometimes create interlacing in the footage, depending on how much you speed it up by.

Abduction Tests

One of the elements to be included is our main actor being abducted onto the spaceship, there are many different ways you can do this, but for now I have just tried out a couple to see what is achievable in a short time. First of all, to make this shot possible we needed our actor infront of a green screen and also another shot as a back plate in which we would composite the two together. Keying out the green screen is a simple task using After Effects 'Keylight' - just select the colour you want the screen colour to be, in this case green and it will key it out for you. You then need to do some adjusting with the clip black and white to make it a cleaner comp and also adjusting the edges to fit the back plate. The more you do when filming the better really. We were lucky with the weather as no shadows were really cast at all which makes green screening easier.

Both these tests still need work but it was just a quick composite to test out ideas. I followed a couple of tutorials e.g how to get the laser beam and smoke effect and adapted these to suit my taste. The first video is just using the standard scatter effect that is within After Effects, I then decided to add some smoke in to make it more interesting and I think it turned out quite well. With both I had to set keyframes for the opacity of my actress, so she would disappear at the correct time and for it to be believable. I also adjusted the timing of the back plate shot so the reactions of the extras would match the performance of my actress. The effects themselves still need work, timings with the smoke, maybe if I can make the laser beam react/move more it could add a bit more to the shot, basically these were just tests and there is still room for lots of improvement but at the minute I am happy with where these are going.

ParaNorman

I recently went and saw ParaNorman after hearing many good things about it from a friend in America and I was not disappointed. For a stop motion it was quite ambitious with the high-speed chases, huge sets and a fair bit of vfx, however LAIKA pulled it off to a great standard. What really impressed me was how the animation for the faces was done. They used what was called replacement animation as the material in which they used to create the models couldn't be morphed in the way they wanted. In order to do the animation in this way they had to create thousands of different facial expressions, to put it into perspective you would need around 24 different faces for one second of voicing. 300 puppets was the total amount in the film which meant that there was around 40,000 faces created.

The amount of effort LAIKA did to create the sets is pretty impressive in itself. Whether someone realises it or not, every minute detail within a film makes it what it is and when you find out how much work went in to something it really makes you appreciate the process and dedication of the people who made it. Even though it is stop motion and the process for this animation differs from the way you would create CGI, it still involves a lot of time and effort and the final product is quite an inspiration.


Mark Shapiro, who works as Marketing and Brand Manager at LAIKA will be attending BAF explaining how ParaNorman was made so I am really looking forward to seeing the behind the scenes of the film and what it was like to work on it.

Star Wars

The most obvious thing to look at when wanting to explore the idea of alien planets, for me would probably be Star Wars. The moodboard below shows some images of a few different planets, some from the live action trilogy and some from the current animated series.

Both the live action and animated series draw inspiration from organic life and how weather would affect and change certain environments. Some of the live action environments are obviously more life-like and realistic to fit in with the human actors, yet the others even though we know they're not actually real, they are still believable and the characters do not look out of place. There needs to be a balance between story, environment and characters, they all have to work with one another. In my case it will be making sure the environment fits the story and the lighting and textures marry up to produce a believable game level.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is the animated series which takes place between Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It expands on The Clone Wars themselves and carries off where Episode II left off. As it is an extension from the live action films, the characters and the environments need to show similarities or else the continuity will be off. It's not been done before so there is the lee-way of creating new stories, and as it is animation, the sets and characters have become quite stylised. Kilian Plunkett, an artist that worked on The Clone Wars said that one of their planets, "Rodia took a long time. It was really hard to figure out what a Rodian city would look like, because all we really had to go on was Greedo (the unfortunate Rodian bounty hunter who met his end in A New Hope). It was hard to base an entire culture on one person." - The Art of Star Wars The Clone Wars

It's interesting to see how even if one character has been to a planet previously, they need to relate it to them in some form. A person who derives from a certain planet will have different qualities and characteristics from someone from elsewhere. This is something I will have to think about, even though I am not creating a character, the environment I build will give some suggestion to what may inhabit that planet. I will also have to come to a decision to whether I will want my level to be realistic or more towards the stylised area. I will have to start drawing up some ideas, trying out both styles to see what looks better and what I think I will be able to achieve. It's one thing to draw something down on paper, it's another thing to model and then texture it in the way you drawn it.

Norwegian Wood

Norwegian Wood was originally a book by Haruki Murakami and it recently got turned into a screen adaptation. When I first watched this film I was immediately drawn the how thought out and well done the shots were, because of this we are going to reference them for our second film. The images below are some stills from the film and they just reflect what we have in mind and would love to achieve. I got the stills from this website.

Each still is so beautifully shot, taking into consideration the lighting and the surrounding area. The depth of field varies between shots which break them up so your focus isn't on one thing constantly. The composition has been thought about really well too, the subject is to one side of the screen as to not make them the centre of attention. You are able to absorb the background along with the character and appreciate them in their surroundings. Though we would love to do some shots like this, it would all depend on the weather. Our initial plan was to film at Ilkley Moor, however due to the severe weather conditions on Sunday we were not able to get much done and nothing like we had planned. Because of this we are having to finish off the rest of our film at Hyde Park in Leeds , it isn't ideal but it's plan B. We have all come to realise that weather plays a big part and if you don't pick the right day things can go off course so you should always have a back up plan.

We will make the most of Hyde Park and still try and capture some shots that are similar to the ones below. It's not the end of the world it's just one of those things you have to adapt to.

Trieste

This is another example of how music and films work together in harmony. For this film, each shot is in synchronization with the music and its beats. By the looks of things I think the shots would have been edited to fit the music. Sometimes its the other way round, but in this instance I think it works really well, it gives the film a beat and a rhythm to go by. Again it shows you need a relevant and coherent piece of music that will work with the film.

For me I quite enjoy the contrast between the fast beat music and the long shots, it gives you time to process things. If it were to have quick cuts through the whole film it would be too much, you would not be able to take all the information in.

I have been looking for some pieces, mainly on Soundtrack Pro at the minute. I have come across a couple which could work, they have a delicate and calm feel to them, however I cannot really do anything yet until we get the storyboard properly sorted out so we know what each shot will be like. I can get an idea at this stage of what to look for, but apart from that it's hard to do much else.



Trieste from Andrija Kovač on Vimeo.

Memory Tree

So after looking at some inspiration for our next film, I thought I would check out something that is contrastingly different to the ones I've already seen. I came across the video below and there are major differences to the ones I have already comes across.

It's quite interesting to see what makes things different from one another. With this video even with a similar subject with the scenery and the model, the way it has been edited and the music on top of it drastically changes the mood of the whole piece. With the short clips and the sudden cuts between them, it gives the piece a powerful feel to it, this is also emphasised by the music and the colour grading of each shot. The timing of the music is essential as each beat is met with a cut to the next shot - we will have to bear this in mind when it comes to adding music to each of our films. Without the right track it can completely throw the whole meaning and feel of the film off.

Even though it doesn't give off a calm and tranquil atmosphere, the shots themselves are still really attractive. They have been composed really well and put together in a way that makes them work consecutively.


memory tree: Canon 5D, 50mm 1.2 from Mike Kobal on Vimeo.

Carrot or Corriander - Research / Inspiration

But We Emerge from Scott Foley on Vimeo.

This is a really lovely video I found on Vimeo, like the other. Again this has some really well considered shots with colour correction added in post production. What's different about this one is that instead of just music over the top, there is also a voice over. This could be a possibility for us, by reciting the poem over the top when its done. However the only problem with this is that as we want the film to be really tranquil and calm, the poem I don't think will come across as that, the wording of it wouldn't fit quite right I don't think. So if we wanted to do this we would have to pick out certain lines and try and see if it works. If it doesn't it's not the end of the world, we would just have some corresponding music with it.

The shots themselves are quite simple not much movement with the camera, most are actually just stationary. It would make life a lot easier as when editing the first film, Tom found that there was a lot of camera movement when following the actress and it didn't work as we planned. The way around that problem would be to either use a glide cam or to have stationary shots.

2nd Poem - Carrot or Corriander

As our first film is in its editing stage, me and Lija have decided to crack on with the second poem, trying to come up with some basic ideas and find some inspiration to relate to it. The poem that we have chosen is by Ayesha Hussain.

'carrot or corriander me love, with a buttered bun?'
on the cushioned grass we lay once,
the damp patch wet my bum; I watched as he
lay down a soft white linen sheet
his mouth curled into an 'O' as he spoke
and the moment felt wry, as if the damp
clogged up my throat, yet
he spoke silkily, softly
so solemn despite the cool wet wind

The initial ideas we thought about were a possible montage of serene shots as the poem itself comes across as quite calm and peaceful. You get the idea that the people in the poem do not have a care in the world about their surroundings, only to each other. Something that seems quite similar to this is the Heinz Soup Advert. There image below suggests that even though it is really cold and a miserable day, the man is not bothered by any of it because of his soup and its warmth it brings.

The video below is something I found on Vimeo with just searching 'field'. I really love the cinematography in this and this may be a route in which we pursue during our next film. Lija has produced a blog about another video by Camille Marotte HERE. The music for this piece is really stunning. I've come to realise that without music films, games or animations would not hold up well enough. The music can add more emotion to a piece than what is already viewable on screen. When done right it can open up so many doors. As our next film will have a calm feel to it, we will need to find an appropriate track to fit it well. The music we choose needs to emphasise the tranquility of the film.


.:Coquelicot from Camille Marotte on Vimeo.

John Carter

One of the directors from Pixar, Andrew Stanton has been working on a live action film. I think it will be really interesting to see how he can translate his style from animation to live action. John Carter is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan.

"Stanton admitted that directing 'John Carter' was like making two films in one. Firstly, he had to shoot the live-action section then "make an animated movie" with the special effects, which amounted to more digital shots than we normally see in a Pixar movie. Throughout the process of making this movie, Stanton said that he's known star Kitsch from the ages of 27 to 30."

This goes to show that even working away from Pixar the film process still takes just as long. The visual effects are really quite something from what I have seen so far, however the storyline has to be just as good to make the whole thing work. I myself am far more interested in animated features than live action, when I think about my favourite films they tend to be animations. I will however be going to see this when it comes out as Andrew Stanton is well known for creating really well executed films. I think what also will be interesting is to see the response between 'John Carter' and 'Brave' as even though only 'Brave' is Pixar, both are under the Disney franchise; and also both are coming out next year within a few months of each other, March and June.