Evaluation
I started slowly on the my fmp and maybe that’s half the reason I didn’t finish it 100%. I struggled thinking of ideas that I was interested in and that I wanted to do. After sleeping on it a while I decided I needed to just look at previous projects, what I liked and what I wanted to do again. The previous tracking 2 project came to mind because it was a project I was very proud of. I didn’t necessarily enjoy making it but I felt it was a strong project and as it was short could be done again.
The previous year I had created a promotional video for my hockey team and may have been slightly ambitious. I created some good shots but the piece of a whole wasn’t great and that was because of the way I approached the project. I let the teams needs influence what I wanted to do too much and as a result I got a weird mix of both. I had done slow motion in the project and it looked great but it was also a lot of work so I was vary it’s issues. If I was going to make a promotional video for mackintosh I knew I would need to be careful and learn from last years mistakes.
The first step was to show mackintosh my previous tennis promo and see if they liked it. I pitched my idea but made it clear I had to meet my university requirements and put my foot down more when they suggested any not so great ideas. It was very helpful to have an example of how the project would look as it can be hard to explain visual effects work to someone.
Basing my fmp off a previous project was very beneficial as I could use it as a base for my design work and look of the project. I can keep things I like and get rid of the bits that didn’t work. The courts at the club don’t look the prettiest so having a simulation effect would work well and had worked well for tracking 2. The bullet time effect I had created previously looked pretty cool but I felt the work time to effectiveness wouldn’t be justified for a longer project. Instead I went for slow motion and I am very happy with that decision.
The decision to use the NEX was brave with the problems it was having but it was definitely necessary for the slow motion effect I wanted to achieve. One of the shots is a faked slow motion backhand that worked well and increased the video quality but was a lot harder to achieve. If I was going to do more shots like that I would have used the studio camera to help with keying. But as I said the slow motion camera was necessary as many of my talents couldn’t ‘fake’ slow mo very well.
One important thing I have learnt is that it should be short and sharp. I started off with a long edit and then went through many versions until I had cut it down to the bare minimum. It still looked great shorter and allowed me to increase the quality of each shot. Before I sunk too much time into post I tried to figure out how much time each shot would take, being realistic I realised I would never finish in time. I painfully cut it down even more losing people and shots I really wanted to keep. Although I wasn’t happy making it shorter it was the right decision and knew I could keep working on it after the deadline. In fact in the last couple of days I cut it down even more to help me get it finished.
My usual work flow would been to create an edit with shots I had finished at the end but with so little time I knew every frame wasted could put me back ten minutes and with over ten shots, that adds up. Creating the edit exactly how I wanted it before I started post production was a huge advantage. I didn’t waste time and I could work on compositing until the last minute without worrying about the edit. From now on that is going to be a must.
I made it my mission to do all my compositing in Nuke even though I was more confident in after effects. I knew I needed to practice more in Nuke and this was a great way to force myself to do that. After a while adapting I think Nuke became a very efficient tool and I was able work much quicker and to a higher standard. Using Nuke also made it essential to again decided on my edit before I started and having a fixed timeline made sure I did this.
The final piece has lots of things I like and actually only a couple of things I would change. The biggest issue for me was the edit being cut and I think the promo feels too short and cut off. The soundtrack flowed really well in the original edit but not so great in the cut down version. Because of this I am going to label the final cut down version as a ‘teaser’ for the later to be released full version. Although I am disappointed I think I would have been even more disappointed if I had kept the original and rushed every shot. Quality over quantity.
A huge personal accomplishment was the amount of work and efficiency I managed to achieve over the project. In last years fmp I composited two slow motion green screen shots over the course of 2 months. This year I composited 12 green screen shots to a higher standard in under two weeks. If I hadn’t gone on the FMX trip I would have been able to finish the long edit and improve some of the shots more but FMX was totally worth it.
One area I really want to improve on is my matte paintings and I felt the paintings in the edit were a little weak. This is another reason why collaborating will be something I will try really hard to do next year. With a couple more people on board I think this project could have been taken to the next level.
In conclusion I am very pleased with the project but not necessarily pleased with how it turned out. In the end I ran out of time and even a couple more days would have made a huge difference. I'm not blaming this on my time management as I feel that has improved greatly. The piece is good but I think it has potential to go even further and I'm determined to continue working after the deadline to make sure it turns out the way I want it to.