Keith Richner's MFA Blog @krichner0908 - Tumblr Blog

First rough cut. Still a lot of things that need to happen. Cuts that don’t line up, Replacing some bad sound effects and visual effects, and generally tidying up the whole thing and making it flow better. Thanks for watching.

Finished pilot. This is character will barely be seen so I’m not spending too much time on it. Good enough!

Maya/Photoshop. The city my main character departs from.

rough 2 minutes of composites. Do not look at this as a film yet, because you will surely be confused. These clips are not meant to flow together, and are merely rough composites that I have strung together.

2/1/2016

At this point in the production of my film I am wrangling 100s of clips, VFX plates, and motion capture files in order to put together my first rough cut of the film. I am still about a week or 2 out from having that first rough cut.

Currently I have about 2-3 minutes of the film roughed out. My next step is to start heavily incorporating the 3d model of my character and the ship that will be pursuing him. This 3d character’s main role is to fill in the gaps of live action that would have either been too difficult or impossible to shoot given my limitations of time and space.

As I work through this first rough cut I’m generating a lot of ideas as to how I will edit the film. Many shots will be cut. This is in part due to me over shooting in the studio so that I had some wiggle room with the editing process. As the film is stitched together I am discovering its themes and rhythm. This editing process is where the film is truly being made.

For my critique I’m interested in initial reactions to individual shots/compositions, motion capture animations, use of music/sound effects, and color. I’d like a very open and casual discussion about what is plainly seen. If there are questions about story I’d gladly answer them, but at this point I have already gotten a lot of feedback and there is still a long ways to go in the editing process. As I mentioned in another post, I am compartmentalizing my brain a bit so that I do not get into an endless cycle of rewriting, reediting, reshooting etc. It is helpful to me so that I can stick to decisions I’ve made and not second guess them at this point. I think it’s essential to me finishing this short film. Thanks!

Textured model, cloth simulation and animation.

It’s working and I’m pretty happy with the rough results. I’ve gone ahead and started to render what I’ll be using for the final product.

1/26/2016

While I’m rendering some animated sequences I’ve found myself sometimes staring at a wall and just slipping into meditative state. I’m learning that when it comes to making a film by yourself there is a need to compartmentalize your brain a bit. For example during the filming process I have to think about the editing process and if what I’m shooting will come across, but then while editing I look back at what I shot sometimes and think “What were you thinking Keith?” This can lead to an endless cycle of re shooting and re editing. Editing Keith needs to fix camera man Keith’s mistakes. Sound Effect and Soundtrack Keith will have to deal with how editing Keith decided to cut this thing together. As with any creative endeavor there are always going to be things you wish you’d done better or could take out entirely. This is a good thing though as it is the reason we grow as creative people. Up until this point the highs are still greater than the lows and that the reason we do things like this. A script is nothing until its shot, and footage is nothing until its edited, and edited footage is nothing without a good story, and a good story is nothing without musical cues to enhance the overall experience. It’s very cyclical and almost an inverted pyramid. As I get further along in this process I’m finally starting to see what it is I envisioned in the beginning and that is exciting, and at the same time I’m completely surprised at what this is turning into. Due to the time constraints of school, limited resources (mainly people sharing the workload), and wanting to learn as much as possible from this process I am pushing myself to a new level and I’m very happy about that. I have to remain conscious of the fact that this film is to be consumed by others and keep my foot on the gas at the same time. Its exhilarating and masochistic. I can’t wait to be finished. Not because I’m not having fun doing this, but because I’m already excited for the next one. Live in the now rendering Keith.

first minute of the 2nd pass at my film. I will do at least one more pass in which I will be adding a bit more detail/depth (atmosphere, particles, effects) and tidying up the comps. I aim to have a completed rough cut by my next critique. There will still be placeholder 3d animations and minimal audio as those will be rendered and compiled at a later date. At this point I’m trying to nail down the look and story. The audio will be at least half of the experience. There may be some dialogue/voice over to come as well. Watch this with a huge grain of salt. Hopefully I’ll have a rough cut uploaded in its entirety before my next crit.

#ccadmfa #gradseminar

Rough Cut screenshots. I am about half way through my 1st pass of keying and compositing all of the shots.

Background Cloud Plate 2

Background cloud plate 1

Starting to composite. Long road ahead..

Stepping through the film and creating a more advanced animatic. Once this is completed I will shoot for one more weekend in order to get live action cutaways that match the mocap data.

Set Driven Key and Control Rig test #1

finalizing a ship and cockpit design.

Main character’s costume is finished.

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