#oudf504

[jeffinrealtime]

Invasion! Final Edit

The final edit of my fim, rendered out and uploaded in H264 Format for web friendly format. 

Complete with foley, music and dialogue.

[jeffinrealtime]

AVR Session and Foley

Since the sound in science fiction is so essential, I decided to undertake an AVR session with Mike Flower in the sound Booth.

He taught me a simple the process for re-dubbing sound using the voice over function in Final Cut pro. I also recorded my dialogue and cleaned up any stray noise in my video using professional recording equipment.

Foley is also important, but rather than use too many stock pieces, I created my own engine whir and laser blast using A guitar flanger sample and a choir clip respectively. I imported these to audacity and adjusted values like the pitch, warmth, gain and speed to achieve a sci fi sound. I also found and edited some chain sounds to emulate the buckles rattling on my jacket. 

[jeffinrealtime]

The green screen exercise we were set to demonstrate our understanding of green screen. This clip was created with a simple mask, over one of my own paintings. I have then used a choker to blend the edges a little. I then used a simple tinting tool to let Ollie blend in with his surroundings better.

[jeffinrealtime]

Visual effects: Evaluation Safe guard

Although this project may have had its ups and downs, the idea of a set brief was not only a challenge, it was practical in the way that we will not always (Or maybe barely ever) work on a creative project that we have any kind of control over.

Fortunately, past the theme and the opening sequence, we were given full control over the approach we could take. The definition of 'alien' can be interpreted countless ways, so there was plenty of scope for creativity, which is always a bonus.

At first, I wanted to create a completely physical set for the film, complete with a group of different puppets, but after much deliberation and trying to comprehend the scale of the build, plus the practicality of moving a camera around what would undoubtedly be a small space with no frame of reference or experience in doing so, it was soon abandoned. The puppets were a loss but after considering which materials could make it expressive within my limited skill range, that died too.

So I was stuck with a dilemma.

Firstly, after a few doodles, I decided to pick an area that I really enjoyed to base my alien off of. Since it's practically inhuman to love vegetables the way I do, I decided to use them as a starting point for my creation. The Broccoli concept was one of the earliest, but after a few iterations it was the one I enjoyed the most so I stuck with it. The ship is meant to represent the stages of botanical growth, from seed, to shoot, to flower and photosynthesis.

In order to cooperate with the group, I decided to volunteer as an actor for other films as well as my own. The outdoor shoot was in winter so the continuity had to be maintained, but I learned that in future it would be better to have your actor shiver for an hour rather than have them sweat under tungsten lights for many hours more. Black is also a good choice for keying, but a bad one for maintaining hydration.

When the design work was out of the way, I discovered that since so many responsibilities were to be carried out solo, I had to make sure that my planning was thorough. I drafted a script and created a concise storyboard/ shot list to hand out to my crew, who followed them to the letter while I was in front of the camera. The sound didn't turn out so well, so I made it a priority to learn how to use the sound booth properly, effectively dubbing over my film and lip syncing my dialogue which took much more practice than I had anticipated. What I thought would take an hour instead took close to four, which was due to a lack of knowledge and planning on my part. I also found that even though the sounds were crisp, they were not loud, so the entirety of the audio in my film has suffered as a result. It was still a very worthwhile exercise though.

This project was punctuated with an array of practical tutorials, some of which I regrettably missed but I managed to catch up using the VLE and my classmates, as well as asking tutors for advice. After Effects used to be a complete mystery to me until this project, where I really began to understand the 'Moving Photoshop' analogy. I can't do anything fancy yet, but I have the basics, including the fact that most attributes, layers and effects can be keyed and animated, even in 3D.

This allowed me to bring my Matte paintings to life, which were a substitute for the theatre set I had originally desired. The keys allowed me to illuminate them ('bring the house lights up') and create camera effects in post. The paintings themselves were created using a very basic Maya mock up in order to gain the correct perspective and scale for my shots, so they were still credible in comparison to the other subjects in the scene as far as placement was involved.

Modelling in Maya is still a struggle for me, one that will become easier with practice, but I learned that no matter how careful you are, there will always be something you missed. In this particular case, my ship had an odd face that I could never find, ultimately stopping me from painting in Mudbox, but instead letting me discover a new handy tool in Maya, the 3D paint set. Although it was comparatively primitive, it worked and after a while in Photoshop the UV map was ready to use.

Where Mudbox did excel however was on the Alien model itself, which caused barely any problems at all. I explored the sculpt tools for the first time and bump mapping finally made sense to me.

I finally delegated a task to someone else: Luca simply rigged my character and I finished the weight painting ready for animation. This was the first time I'd ever properly animated a rigged character, so the task took an embarrassingly long time, but after a few hours I settled into the flow and managed to create some cute, characteristic animation for my alien.

Compositing had always scared me but I was determined to get it right, keeping my files together and saving often, making back ups. The precautions with files are there for a reason because one careless file transfer could ruin your whole composition and cause you to start again.

Using film footage particle effects was a first for me, and it fit wonderfully with the aesthetic of my project, since the theatre uses real smoke and dust to create the effects.

Delegation was a problem for me, since I have a little bit of a control freak in me, plus the unwillingness to put other people under stress. As a director it's practically your job to assign tasks to those more skilled than yourself in particular areas. For example, I acted for others because of my willingness to help a lot of people in a condensed situation. I also designed a pin up poster for Tim's film, which he finally decided to use in his credits. As I said, the only job I delegated was to Luca, because his skills far surpass my own in Maya. Rigging is the next bridge I intend to cross, as the results of my model during the last project didn't reflect on my competence so well either.

However, I'm glad that I wore all the hats I did, as it enhanced my appreciation for the pipeline and just how efficiently it can move if you have the right people assigned to the task.

If I really learned something, it's that the answers to most of your technical problems can be found from a variety of resources, including books and internet tutorials, as well as from others. Rather than be scared of a problem and avoid it, it's always better to just save a copy of your work (if possible) and try to tackle it using a different approach. Even if you mess up, it teaches you what not to do in the future. Another important point for improvement is to avoid missing workshops. Much of the time it couldn't be helped, but there’s only so much you can efficiently catch up on in your own time. My attendance is an issue that I will address for the next project.

Time management ans scheduling was adequate for the practical side of this project, but in terms of written things I slipped. It might be an idea to assign a little time each day to blog and research rather than to post up all my work and notes at once, this can be made easier by drafting posts first.

In conclusion, the film is a modest success. I gained a new appreciation for sound design and have benefited from the surprisingly versatile tools in after effects that had previously scared me. While the conceptual stage is where my strengths still lie, I feel more confident to work further down the pipe line and assist others in the creation of the final product, even just as clean up or colour grading, which was invaluable too. I may not be a Jack of all trades, but I certainly feel like more of a generalist and that I've developed into a more well rounded visual effects practitioner, capable of taking on planning roles as well as post effects. The latter just requires a little more patience, that I'm happy to invest in my spare time.

[jeffinrealtime]

The video demonstrates the key skills I used to create my short 'Invasion!' film. 

The main techniques I used to create the composites for this film are masking and basic rotoscoping, green screen, alpha channels, Maya models and animation image sequences, colour correction and Matte paintings laid beneath the camera footage and particles.

I also re-recorded my own dialogue and synthesised some of my own Foley effects.

However, I discovered during the course of my after effects exploration that most effects can be animated and keyed, which was a revelation for me.

It allowed for lighting conditions changed in scene, painting layers to animatedly glow and shadows to be made for my Alien character. Camera effects like depth of field and pull focus could also be easily 'faked' between the 2D plates of footage and matte paintings.

[jeffinrealtime]

This footage of fluttering butterflies demonstrates the summations of our After Effects tutorials throughout the course of this project.

the butterflies themselves are 2D images imported in a Photoshop file,

These were animated using the keying tool, graph editor and brought to life in a third axis using AE's inbuilt 3D effects tool. The fluttering motion and randomization is created using a simple java script in the animation settings and creates a lovely randomisation among the flutter of Butterflies.

[jeffinrealtime]

Flight of the Navigator (1986)

Apart from being one of my most favourite films growing up, this film served as a good starting point for my space ship design.

Far from the wobbly saucers of the 50's, Flight of the navigator instigated a fresh new concept for alien ships... In that they looked alien. Using ground breaking visual effects, the ship is reminiscent of a walnut, with seamless entrances created by melting away the metal of the hull (not unlike the advanced android in 'Terminator 2')

Since this sleek design reminded me of a seed, I thought it could be useful when it came to designing a plant based ship, coincidentally called SEED. 

This film is a hidden gem for any 80's sci fi fan, and the ship is symbiotic with the alien that controls it, which is also quite cute for an eyeball on an arm. 

[jeffinrealtime]

From a visual standpoint, the 2012 film "Bunraku" is more like a stage production than an action movie, inspired aesthetically after the traditional Japanese play of the same name. 

This appealed to me when I was deciding upon the artistic direction of my film. The backdrops were curiously flat, inspired by a theatre set (and in many cases because they were theatre sets) with very stylised landscapes, skies and even trees. 

But after seeing this interview, it wasn't the only thing that was similar between our projects.

Director Guy Moshe talks about how even though his main occupation was directing, he also created a large volume of concept art, story boards, Casting ideas and set up the website for the crew so they would stay organized and on track for shooting and other jobs.

When a director is prolific and/or has a large budget s/he can delegate more tasks to more people, but some prefer to keep their fingers in the majority of pies.

As a student (and the director for my own film) I had to accomplish many tasks myself, including the acting!

The importance of clear storyboards was vital in allowing my small team to set up the lighting and angles without being behind the camera myself. Delegation only works if you have clear instructions for the crew and good communications are a must for any project to work I found. 

This film also demonstrated the importance of tint and lights in order to make this very flat and often unmoving world atmospheric and almost like a graphic novel, so I took extra precautions to outline lighting in the storyboards and extra notes to my crew.

And the colour script for my film wasn't so hard, since it mainly consisted of Green and Yellow.