Sunday 30 October 2011

Light Spell Reshoot V02

After receiving some feedback on my reshoot, I have made some alterations. I've added atmospherics and falling dust, reduced the light spill on the walls, added a light flicker to make it feel more organic and added a slight camera rotation as he moves up the corridor. It's looking much better now but still room for improvements.



I've already received more feedback and a V03 will be uploaded soon. Watch this space!

Saturday 29 October 2011

Canon 550D: Grain vs Depth of Field

So, as I had invested in a Canon 550D last year, I thought I would take advantage of it for my film project. I've been experimenting with the film settings on it since I purchased it, but this was the first time I had the opportunity to test it in the green screen studio. All my footage this term so far has been filmed on my 550D, and each time I have run into issues.

First off, for green screen work, particularly when tracking, it is important to have a crisp image with high depth of field. One MUST have the subject and the track markers in focus or tracking becomes a nightmare. After some reading, I discovered increasing the F-Stop (reducing the aperture) lengthens the depth of field.

Perfect, you would think, but no.

Though this did do as promised, it also meant that the image was far too dark. There are two ways to deal with this:
1. To dramatically increase the lighting.
2. Increase the ISO number.

Now as we were in a studio we were able to increase the lighting to an extent, however, it was also necessary to increase the ISO. This brought its own problems. Grain.

Grain is a nightmare, it makes keying difficult and the footage looks awful. Noise reduction plugins are available, but often make the image look out of focus.

The answer?

There isn't one, you have to compromise.

Lower the F-stop, so the green screen is less in focus, but using bright orange track markers makes tracking easier.

Reduce the ISO reduces grain, with the lower F-stop the image isn't as dark.

Increase the lighting to allow for the highest F-stop and lowest ISO possible.

In the end the footage looked ok. I used a neutral flat setting so the footage on it's own looks rubbish, but once taken into post the keying is easier and the noise easily removed. In hindsight it would probably have been much easier to use the Z7 for studio work, as it has a much higher depth field so these issues are irrelevant.

Thursday 27 October 2011

Light Spell Reshoot

This weekend I reshot all of the test footage that I had accumulated over the last few weeks to ensure my project is perfect. This is a rough attempt at the spell shot, just to see how the matte painting and footage work together with the VFX. The key is a little rough and I need to rotoscope out the track markers. I'm still not sure about the shadow. There needs to be one, but I think the angle is a little off, feedback on that would be appreciated. Thoughts on the VFX element would also be good.

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Reshoots and Stock Images

This weekend has been a busy one, with two full days in the green screen studio and a trip to Caerphilly to increase my file of castle stock images for my matte painting. Since then I have been hard at work putting together images in Photoshop and keying and rotoscoping in After Effects. I hope to be back on schedule by the end of the week.



Saturday 22 October 2011

Schedule and Feedback

I've neglected to post my latest schedule which I used in my pitch, this is as follow:


However we are already off schedule due to reshoots taking place this weekend. However I have a nailed down starboard as posted yesterday and the matte painting 1 is on schedule so it should not be too much of an issue.

I have had some great feedback from Jakub Krompolc, who worked on the Harry Potter movies, and Kayn Garcia, a storyboard artist on Walking with Dinosaurs, which have really pushed me forwards in terms of composition. A big thanks to them.

Hopefully great things to follow on the project. Watch this space.

Friday 21 October 2011

Final Storyboards

I have nailed down the final shots and put them together in a storyboard made up of stock images and stills from my test footage. This should mean our film shoot on Sunday and Monday will go off without a hitch. I am off to Caerphilly Castle on Saturday to get some images for my matte paintings.

This story follows a young wizard sent on a quest to battle a beast lurking in the bottom of a ruined castle. This is just an into promo and not the entire film, and is supposed to create an atmosphere of suspense and fear.









When putting together this storyboard I really had to work on my composition, my aim was to make every cell beautiful so that my final product will look great from start to finish.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Research : Matte Painting

One thing that came up in my meeting today, is that my Castle seems to safe. The comments made were that it needed to seem dangerous and away from the norm. I was looking at ways to make it feel more organic, as if the castle was grown rather than built by a person. Lord of the Rings have several beautiful examples of this, with castles and cities built in the side of rock faces and into tree.






Shots of three very different cities, and yet they all seem to be built out of their surroundings. Of particular interest to me in the tower in Mordor, which is dark and dangerous with something evil lurking within, which is definitely the sort of effect I am trying to simulate. Also, Minas Tirith is also of interest, as it is surrounded by incredibly high walls, a fortress that can never be breached. In my recent tests for my matte painting I have been concentrating on these sorts of high walls, and would like to continue with this sort of effect.

Feedback + Research: Composition

Today I had a one to one with my module tutor to go over my pitch and project tests. The main criticism I took away from is, is that I need to work on my composition. I tend to shoot strait on and central, it was suggested I research into Dutch Tilting and S curves.

Dutch Titling
Dutch tilting is often used to depict  madness, unrest, and disorientation in German Expressionism. It is where the camera is tilted so that the vertical lines come from the center at an angle. 





I particularly like image shot one with the high contrast open doorway really adds to the sense of foreboding.

The second shot of the castle across the water looks amazing, and would work perfectly as an opening shot, rather than the pan up the castle as originally visualised.

The use of light in the final shot is also quite inspiring for the internal shots inside the castle, and the Scream movies (shot 3) are a perfect example of creating intensity and claustrophobia which is exactly the sensation I am trying to create.

Composition
For extra help with composition I have been looking at stock images on shutter stock of corridors and arches. I'd like to bring extra depth and texture to the spell shot below.



I particularly like the depth and the curves drawing the eye into the image. I'll have to take this into considering the final compositions for the story boards. Ideally I'd like these to be nailed down before the end of the week. Every shot is to be a work of art!

Saturday 15 October 2011

50 Things I wish I'd known in Art School

I found this on Facebook and thought it was really insightful. As a third year about to enter into the work place I found some of the links useful. Enjoy.

http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/297

Friday 14 October 2011

Development: New Spell Test and Texture Research

Busy day again today, I have a new test which I have uploaded which you can see below.


The spell part of it is looking quite good now, the lighting in the footage sells it better and with a lens flare and possibly some extra atmospherics this will look good. The key is rough and I am working on a 3D corridor to composite into the shot to give it a bit more texture.

My 3D work is simple, but I am really trying to nail the texturing so have been researching bump maps to give it that extra realism.



I found this on http://www.marcogenovesi.com/gallery/ and I thought the finished result looked great!

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Pitch Feedback

I pitched my idea this afternoon to my class mates and 4 members of staff. Once I work out how to upload a powerpoint I shall post it here but in the mean time I shall just ruminate on the results. My feedback was surprisingly positive. I got a few suggestions on things to look at and also some tips on After Effects plugins I can use to get my wizard spell effects.

One of my classmates also pointed me towards the following video which is incredibly helpful for creating a spell effect without plugins and will possibly work with my bank of stock footage. I shall test this this week, along with finalising a storyboard and putting together a rough edit, complete with sound effects of my short film.




The general consensus was to nail the matte painting and the compositing, and really work to create the intense feelings that comes with the story. Extra film shoots will be required but I have plenty of footage to be getting on with for the moment and will be refilming as soon as the studio is free again.

Monday 10 October 2011

Update

The pitch for my Minor Project A is tomorrow, and I have been working on that pretty solidly. Aside from two slides it is now complete and ready to hand in tomorrow. Tonight we have the green screen studio booked out and we are heading in armed with props and costumes ready for the real run for the filming. Frightening but fun. Watch this space.

Friday 7 October 2011

Schedule

Week 1 - 26/9/11
Idea generation
Research
Obtain footage for tests
Work on tests

Week 2 - 5/10/11
Develop tests
Develop ideas
Further Research
Storyboards
Select an idea

Week 3 - 12/10/11
Break down shot by shot tasks 
Write shot schedule
Pitch Deadline

Tomorrow I will be breaking down each shot into tasks so I can write a structure schedule for the next few weeks of production. We have the studio booked out for Monday to film in, and I am taking a trip to Caerphilly Castle this weekend to take photos of the external and internal structure for research purposes.

The pitch is to be handed in on Tuesday, I'm incredibly nervous now!

Thursday 6 October 2011

Idea 3: Student Support

Idea 3: Student Support


Idea 3: My other main idea, is an advertisement for a student counselling service. As a high school student, I was involved in the Student Support Team, which was a counselling service for students run by students. My idea involes following an individual who is slightly out of sync with his environment. This would involve a lot of rotoscoping and matte painting.

I liked the idea of combining the illustrative and real life to visually create the effect of being out of step with reality. I wanted to take a character and make him and take away the colour and the detail, he could be anyone. This would require a lot of rotoscoping and matte painting.




These are just ideas and not so much a storyboard, but the main two shots are I think, the standing outside the window and the skyscraper shot. I did however think that these maybe a little cliched and may not be saved by the effects I wanted to use within the shots.



Idea 2 - Comic-book Hero

Today I am going into post overload. I have been out the last few days taking photos and working on storyboards and so have fallen behind on my blogging. First things first, I need to post all my ideas as the wizard sequence is not the only idea I have for this project.


Idea 2: Having spent my entire summer researching comic-books for my dissertation, I decided I wanted to incorporate this into my creative work. This would involve inventing my own comic books character, story and art.



I started off in the usual place, brain storming, but I wanted something a little different. Having developed a better understanding of comic-books, I realised that most were invented during a time of patriotism and heroism. Modern popular media characters, such as Dexter, House, Sylar from Heros, and the Jedi, are less reliant on strength and more famous for their intelligence, attention to detail and putting together pieces of the puzzle. My idea for a modern super hero, is one who can use super intelligence to solve crime. In the guise of a street performer, he can create illusions to blow peoples minds, but never uses his powers for evil.



Above are the brainstorms for characters and potential scenes to be carried out. Below are the initial character sketches for the magician character. 



However for this idea to really be pulled off, the costume needs to be perfect and this will require a budget outside of my financial situation however, this could be a contender for the Final Major Project. 

Saturday 1 October 2011

Research and Tests: Castles

If I do manage to get the spell effects looking good, then I will obviously need to place the character in some kind of environment and storyline. This will require a certain amount of matte painting and/or 3D structure. I have a few ideas for matte paintings, all requiring a castle and so I have undertaken some research on castle structure, both in real life and tv/film.

The castle closest to my location is obviously Cardiff Castle which would be ideal for base images for the matte painting. There are also a number of churches in Cardiff which are also useful. Particularly one just off the high street which has gorgeous arch windows which could be taken advantage of for looking through onto scenes or creating the sense on a hall way.

I have also been watching Harry Potter and Merlin avidly to get a sense of what a castle in a magical/wizard setting would look like. Camelot in the early series of Merlin for example is all spires and bright white stone surrounded my trees and greenery. Yet in later series, it is much darker, and in a state of disrepair.

Similarly, Hogwarts started out much like Camelot in the series of Merlin, and as the films have gone on this has become darker and moodier. This is emphasised by the dark clouds and stormy weather.  I believe this is to suggest the increased level of danger and also the maturing of the characters within. It certainly creates a higher level of intensity which keeps viewers on the edge of their seats.

My own ideas for the Wizard sequence would involve an external shot, perhaps a wizard in flight around the spire of a castle, and also an internal shot perhaps creeping down dark hallways and casting spells that light up the ceilings and cast shadows against the walls. I particularly like the dark and frightening sense of danger that is present in the later episodes of Merlin and Harry Potter and would like to try and recreate this in my own design, perhaps with destruction and disrepair evident on the castle itself.



My VFX shots still require work, however I also need to start developing a few other ideas I have, including an advert for a Student Counselling Service, and one or two other stand alone VFX shots.