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Self Promotion Project - Timescale: 4 weeks

Stop Motion Titles - Whiplash

I did not enjoy this task. I had low expectations of what I would end up producing and I think this has affected the end result and the motivation I had during this task. Originally, I thought I was going to choose The Godfather to make a stop motion title sequence but I completely ran out of ideas and inspiration. I decided on a POV video of somebody reading “sheet music” with a rather intense soundtrack from the film playing over the top of it. I think this links well to the film as it is all about the pressure of music and being the best.

#titles #college #whiplash

VFX Evaluation

The main purpose of this project was to understand how a variety of visual effects can be made. There were no restrictions which gave us a lot of freedom with what we wanted to do when it came to our final piece. I loved doing the project as I created pieces of work I initially thought I wouldn’t be able to achieve so soon into the course. Although very time consuming in some tasks, I thought the project was extremely helpful and an enjoyable experience.

My favourite part of the project would definitely be working on my final piece. Each specific task helped to create it and once I was confident in creating these visual effects, I could do them much more quickly in one big piece. My idea was to create a parodic trailer for a fake superhero film as this would allow me to use almost all of the effects I had learnt in the course of the project. I am very happy with how it came out. We started by writing down all of the effects we wanted to use in the final and then went out onto the college grounds to film each one. This didn’t take too long at all. We also used a short stop motion film so had to set up a green screen for the Lego ‘villain’. This part didn’t turn out very well at all as the photographing against the green screen could have been lit more effectively. When the footage was put into After Effects, the keylight effect could not remove the background without removing parts of the subject. Because of this, I spent a lot of the time working on this project removing the background of each photo manually in Photoshop importing the finished clip back into After Effects.

My favourite technique from this project would probably be the light sabre effects. Although extremely time consuming due to masking every single frame, this technique gave the most rewarding finished effect and this is why I wanted to make it a big part in my final piece.

The main technique I think I need to work on the most is both using and creating green screen footage as most tasks I did using green screens did not come out very well. I need to learn how to light up the subject properly and become more aware when the colours on the subject(s) may match the colour of the background. A better understanding and more knowledge about the different keying effects in After Effects would also be very beneficial when editing the footage.

If I was to do the project again, I would finish each task before beginning a completely separate task as this made me very disorganised with my work. I would have also created a very rough storyboard or design for my final piece as everything was done last minute.

#vfx #evaluation

Masking Task with Object:

This task was very similar to the first masking task we did to create two of the same person. Instead of duplicating our subject, we made him disappear when he waled behind an object. The task was very easy to do as we had already had a lot of practice when we did the first masking task. I am pleased with the outcome and I don’t think I would change anything if I was to do this again.

#vfx

Media Coursework Chelmsford College

#vfx

Stop Motion Task:

This task didn’t go as well as we had hoped. The first thing we did to create this was take the photos of the lego man for the stop motion footage. We then filmed one of us pretending to run away from this object, as we would then use After Effects to put the two together. When we began to edit the footage, we tried to remove the green screen behind the lego man using keying but this didn’t work well at all as the lighting when we took the photos wasn’t perfect. Everytime we would remove different shades of green from the background, parts of the lego man would be removed also.

If we were to do the task again, I would light the stop motion subject properly to make it easier when editing.

#vfx

Media Coursework

Masking Task:

I enjoyed this task very much as it was something I had never done before. The task was quite simple and I found it very easy. The only elements I would consider quite challenging is having to direct the video to make it interesting and to sync the two videos together. I am very happy with the outcomes of both of my videos.

#vfx

Masking Task:

#vfx

Media Coursework

Sci-Fi Gun Task:

I was not very fond with the outcome of this task as it doesn’t look very realistic nor very effective. It was quite time consuming as I had to change every frame so the glow in the gunpoint would stay in the right place. The shockwave I tried to create for when the gun shoots did not turn out as well as I had hoped. If I was to do this task again I would add more distortion to the scene.

#vfx

Gareth Edwards Research

Gareth Edwards is a visual effects artist, production designer, cinematographer, screenwriter, and director from Warwickshire, England. He directed the 2014 remake of Godzilla and gained recognition for his work on an independent film called Monsters. He worked as a director, writer, cinematographer, and visual effects artist on this film.

Since he was a child, Gareth wanted to be a director for his own films and credits Star Wars as the reason for his wanting to become a filmmaker. He attended the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham where he studied BA (Hons) Film & Video. He graduated from here in 1996. He received an honorary Master of Arts from UCA in 2012.

Gareth first began his career in special effects when he created the digital effects for shows including Heroes and Villains, Perfect Disaster, and Nova. He won international recognition for his 250 visual effects on Heroes and Villains. In 2008 there was a 48 hour film challenge that required all participants to create a movie start-to-finish in only two days, following certain criteria. Gareth entered and then won the contest and proceeded to direct and write Monsters. This was his first feature film, excluding the two main actors; the crew only consisted of five people. Due to the major success of this film, he ended up landing his first major Hollywood film, he became the director for the 2014 Godzilla remake.

It has been announced that Gareth will be directing the first stand-alone Star Wars film due to be released in December 2016. It was also announced that he will return as the director for the sequel of Godzilla which is now planned to be a trilogy. The sequel is due to be released in June 2018.

Godzilla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JurS6Q3-XCs

Monsters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yl-p_xAlpk

#research #vfx

Ken Ralston Research

Kenneth Ralston is a visual effects artist and currently works at Sony Pictures Imageworks as the Visual Effects Supervisor and Creative Head. He began his career working with Cascade Pictures, a visual effects and seminal commercial animation company in Hollywood. Here, he worked on over 150 campaigns throughout the early 1970s. Ralston has built sets, animated puppets, sculpted models, created stop motion animation and optical effects for multiple famous advertisement characters including Poppin’ Fresh, The Jolly Green Giant, and the Pillsbury Dough Boy. He started his job at Industrial Light & Magic after Dennis Muren hired him in 1976 to help George Lucas work on the effects for Star Wars. Ralston continued to work at Industrial Light & Magic for another 20 years and then he left to join Sony Pictures Imageworks as their President. His most famous work is his work on the films of Robert Zemeckis.

Ralston’s work has won him five Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, including one Special Achievement Award for his work on the visual effects in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in 1984. He has also won awards for his work as visual effects supervisor on Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cocoon, and Death Becomes Her.

Return of the Jedi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPZigWFyK2o

Who Framed Roger Rabbit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv6dWhBlsoM

#research #vfx

Bruce Nicholson Research

Bruce Nicholson is a special effects artist who has won awards for his work. He was the visual effects supervisor on Village of the Damned. He won his first Oscar for his work on Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981 in the Best Visual Effects category. He shared this award with Richard Edlund, Joe Johnson, and Kit West. His other Oscar nomination was in 1982 for the visual effects in the film Poltergeist. He lost to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

During his twenty years working in the visual/special effects industry, Bruce Nicholson has worked for Pinnacle Studios, Tippett Studio, Industrial Light and Magic, Douglas Trumbell, and Apogee.

Nicholson studied Social Science in U.C. Berkeley and received a bachelor’s degree. He also attended U.C.L.A. during his first years in the business for film classes.

In 1980, Nicholson received the Special Achievement Academy Award for his visual effects work on the film Empire Strikes Back. This award was shared with Dennis Muren, Richard Edlund, and Brian Johnson. Since 1977, Bruce Nicholson has worked on nearly 50 different films.

Raiders of the Lost Ark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr-8AP0To4k

Empire Strikes Back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaWUsIOLDoE

#research #vfx

Stan Winston Research

Stan Winston was a film and TV special makeup effects creator from Virginia, USA. His most famous work was his work on Avatar, Edward Scissorhands, Iron Man, Predator, Aliens, Jurassic Park, and the Terminator films. His work has won him four Academy Awards. He mostly specialised in practical effects, puppets, and makeup, but he also began working with digital effects as well within his studio.

Winston attended Washington-Lee High School where he graduated from in 1964. He then went on to attend the University of Virginian in Charlottesville to study painting and sculpture. He graduated from here in 1968. After attending California State University in Long Beach, Winston moved to Hollywood in 1969 so he could pursue an acting career. After struggling to find any work as an actor, he decided to begin an apprenticeship for makeup at Walt Disney Studios.

1972 was the year that Stan Winston established Stan Winston Studio, his own company. It was also the same year that he won an Emmy Award for his work with effects on Gargoyles the telefilm. He continued to receive nominations for different works and he then won again in 1974 for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. In 1978, Winston made the costumes of the Wookies for the Star Wars Holiday Special. He also worked as the special makeup designer for The Wiz.

Winston’s first Oscar nomination came from his work on Heartbeeps in 1982.

Star Wars Holiday Special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pR6gtr01Sc

Gargoyles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ0C0-OEUJ0

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOftjaiSbBI

#research #vfx

Ray Harryhausen Research

Ray Harryhausen was a producer, writer and visual effects creator from California, USA. He is known for creating “Dynamation”, a type of stop-motion model animation. Harryhausen is most known for his Mighty Joe Young animation from 1949, when he collaborated with his mentor, Willis H. O’Brien. This animation went on to win the Academy Award for special effects. He is also famous for his first colour film from 1958, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Ray Harryhausen died in 2013; his final film was Clash of the Titans in 1981. He retired shortly after this. Harryhausen became an inspiration to multiple filmmakers including Tim Burton, John Lasseter, and Peter Jackson.

From a very young age, Ray has had a passion for fantasy and dinosaurs and his parents always encouraged him to do what he wanted to do.

“My obsession with fantast has been lifelong, growing during my formative years and being taken to new heights by novels, paintings and of course films, and I was always encouraged by my parents. They nurtured this unusual passion in me by taking me to films and theatre, and later enthused about my experiments with marionettes, models and animation, eventually even helping me with productions. They never tried to discourage me in any way from my obsession, and could just as easily have said, ‘Get out there and be a doctor or a lawyer or follow some other profession that is going to bring you in money’. Fortunately, they didn’t.” – Ray Harryhausen

Ray learnt how to make model miniature set pieces of Californian Missions during his time at Grammar School. This was just the beginning; his next phase was making three dimensional figures and sets. This led Ray to making his own versions of prehistoric animals. He discovered the murals of prehistoric animals that were created by Charles R. Knight, and this visualisation became the vision that Ray used throughout his career.

When Ray was eighteen years old, he entered a contest called The Junior Museum Hobby Show which was held in the County Museum in 1938. He submitted a diorama, including his stegosaurus which was based on Knight’s paintings, and he won first prize.

#vfx #research

College Coursework

Superman Task:

I enjoyed this task very much and I am quite happy with my outcome. The one thing I think I could improve on with this is I could have made the video last a bit longer by making the subject fly across the screen in different places. I created the shockwave separately to make the take off more interesting and then added a bulge distortion effect to the ground.

#vfx

Media Coursework

Lightsabre Masking Task:

This task was relatively easy but very time consuming as every single frame that showed the lightsabres had to be masked in a different place. I enjoyed the task and am very happy with the outcome. If I was to do this again I think I would make the video slightly longer and make the sound effects more effective and time them to the movements better.

#vfx

Extension Task: Second Final Title Sequence - Whiplash

I decided to incorporate the opening credits into some of the film footage as I think this particular corridor scene is a perfect place for it. I am not overly pleased with the result as the camera tracking in After Effects did not work as well as I had hoped so the text I have put into the video does is not stationary.

#titles #whiplash #title sequence

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