Wow 4 months later and this project is finally at an end. It’s been great fun and very challenging. Way back ago when I decided to do Tomb Raider for my fmp I wanted to do a short action based piece that was true to the old games. That would show off my skills in compositing and matte painting, whilst helping to develop my rotoscoping and tracking skills which i’m not so good at.
Through looking at lots of fan films and photos, I knew that the best representations of Lara relied on the action poses, enviroment and the actress. I did alot of research into finding the right location. i wanted it to look like a one abandoned temples that Lara explores in the games so i looked to the Angilania Jolie film with the Cambodian temple for inspiration for photo realism that you dont see in the games. I also used that film for research on the edits, costumes and action. In the end I used a combination of footage ffrom Puzzlewood, Bath, and the quadcoptor aswell as some painting to create the temple enviroment. Mixing the roots and moss from puzzlewood with the colums from the roman baths to create an overgrown, abandoned temple, and adding carving to the walls.
I was really lucky with my actress, Sam looked perfect for the roles and was really enthuisastic and helpful when arranging to film and in the studio. And dispite not having a background in acting, she did a great job and always did what I asked of her and was patient and energetic whilst having to do multiply retakes.
My pitch could have gone better, there were alot of technical problems with the videos, but I hope that I put in enough idea development, it’s always been my downfall in pitches. I can see what I want to hapen in my head but never seem to get in down on paper in time for the pitch.
Filming at enfys studios was a great expirience. I had to be super prepared before going down to there, regarding lighting plans and shot lists. I did alot of research into planning how to do the lighting, making it look like a forest with the dappled lighting and planning which shots and camera details where needed. When at the studio all the staff were super helpful and keen to help us make the most out of our time there. It was great to get to use a proffessional studio and work alongside a crew. I had a few technical issues whilst there. The NEX camera which I wanted to film on had lots of sharpening on it which we couldn’t turn off, so had to film on the 5D until the new nex arrived to film the slow mo shots on. It did mean I had to deal with colour compression but atleast that was easier to deal with and didn’t damage the key.
I had a few problems with keying, mainly that there was alot of spill on the legs, guns and under arms so had to roto all of them on most shots, but due to the infinity curve at enfys and the space lighting I didn’t have that many problems with the keys. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to work properly on the keying over Easter back home so I got the majority of keying and roto done before easter so I could concerntraite on the matte paintings over easter.
The matte paintings took longer than expected so in thte end I decided to cut down my piece and concerntraite on the last sequence. I will get the rest finished at some point however I wanted quality over quantity so decided that doing that one sequence and getting it looking perfect would be the wiser option.
Unlike all the rest of my projects where I’ve corntrated on one shot, got it looking great, then paniced makeing the last few shots in the last 2 weeks, this time I make a concious effort to work on all the matte paintings equaliy and at the same time. Its definatly made a huge improvement to my final project. Unlike the last two projects where I have one shot that stands out, this time I think that most of the shots are at a simular standard. Shot 010 and 021 are my favorite however theres not too huger difference between the others.
I continued to do research and concept development through the project in order to get the best out of my work. This was especially helpful in the matte painting. I was struggling with the background of the temple and getting it to look right. Most of my work from here out was just getting on with the matte painting and compositing. I ran out of time to to do everything I wanted. I would have liked to add in some more carving on the walls, roots and the vines falling down, i’ll have to finish it as a later date.
If I could do this project again then I would have liked to have been a bit more decisive and proactive with the background of the forest, I couldn’t get anything to work and if I sorted it out sooner then I would have had more time to comp and develop the temple better to look more weathered. Theres also a few problems with the keys due to the canon compression and if I filmed on the nex with the atmos then I thing I could have had some nicer footage. Also the depth of field on a could of the shots have made keying/ roto hard. Also birds have ruined films for me.
Overall i’ve really enjoyed this project and i’m happy with how it has come out. Normally I get a bit stressed out and annoyed with my projects half way through but this time i’ve loved every second, and although its been very challenging at times, I can’t wait to get round to finishing off the rest of the film, and doing a “300″ version with all the slo mo shots and heavy grades!
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