I have started working on effects that change the length of a shot. This is especially relevant to shots with time ramps or any slow motion. The shot where the Wanderer dodges the laser blast and throws the energy grenade is one where I have made it slow motion only for the middle section of the shot to show him spinning and to focus on the fact that he has pulled out a grenade. I have created the effect as a whole in a 60fps After Effects document. This then allows the effect itself to be at a correct speed throughout, but then I can apply the speed ramp afterwards in Premiere, giving me more flexibility about timings and amount of slow motion.
The other main shots like this are later on in the big climax moment when he is running through the field. I want this to only go into slow motion when lasers are fired and explosions go off. This should create a very dynamic and exciting look. This example, I will do after I have the drone animation done because I don't know where or when the lasers would be happening.
Thursday, 14 March 2019
Friday, 8 March 2019
Major Project 9 - Starting Drone Animation
Dan sent me the finished drone model so that I could start animating. I got to work straight away, working on the first shots in the film. I am animating chronologically through all the drone shots in order to keep everything clear and simple for me.
The shots that I've animated are very simple, just the drones flying towards the house. Using the rig and controls set up by Dan has made this very simple to work with. The most complex of the shots I've done so far was when the 2 drones turn to look at the house after the middle drone was destroyed. Their shields then smash together as they charge towards the house. I wanted to really feel the weight of these hitting against each other and slightly bouncing. This accentuates the speed at which they react and turn their shields to protect themselves. I have also made a slight difference in reaction time between the Mrk IV drone and the Mrk II so that the Mrk IV reacts much quicker to show how it is a newer improved model.
I am however going to be putting this drone animation on hold for now. I will wait until Dan has finished the textures just in case there are any tweaks that may cause issues with what I have already animated. Hopefully this shouldn't take long so that I can get back to animating and back on schedule.
The shots that I've animated are very simple, just the drones flying towards the house. Using the rig and controls set up by Dan has made this very simple to work with. The most complex of the shots I've done so far was when the 2 drones turn to look at the house after the middle drone was destroyed. Their shields then smash together as they charge towards the house. I wanted to really feel the weight of these hitting against each other and slightly bouncing. This accentuates the speed at which they react and turn their shields to protect themselves. I have also made a slight difference in reaction time between the Mrk IV drone and the Mrk II so that the Mrk IV reacts much quicker to show how it is a newer improved model.
I am however going to be putting this drone animation on hold for now. I will wait until Dan has finished the textures just in case there are any tweaks that may cause issues with what I have already animated. Hopefully this shouldn't take long so that I can get back to animating and back on schedule.
Wednesday, 6 March 2019
Major Project 8 - Refining the Edit
In an attempt to cut the film down to a more concise running time, I went on a trimming spree. I watched through the edit multiple times, taking frames away from the beginning and ends of shots.
I remember hearing about this technique in an interview with the directors of Avengers: Infinity War. They learned when they worked in TV that once they were happy with the structure of the film, they would go through and literally just pull out frames to bring down the total run time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFuM1j1t7k0 36 minutes in.
Doing this in my edit, was successful in trimming the film down by around 20 seconds, however I still wanted to trim it further. So I went back through again and was much more aggressive with what I was cutting out. I cut shots that lingered for a bit too long, or just could be shorter and still serve the same purpose. I then found myself cutting a couple of lines which I realised did nothing for the story. I could have not had them in the script in the first place because they weren't really necessary if I had have combed through the script more thoroughly. This helped save me a lot more time, and bring the film to just under 10 minutes.
I am now going to go through and rough out any shot which has effects which might dictate the length of a shot, for example when there are time ramps and laser blast where the speed would change how much the shot needs.
I remember hearing about this technique in an interview with the directors of Avengers: Infinity War. They learned when they worked in TV that once they were happy with the structure of the film, they would go through and literally just pull out frames to bring down the total run time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFuM1j1t7k0 36 minutes in.
Doing this in my edit, was successful in trimming the film down by around 20 seconds, however I still wanted to trim it further. So I went back through again and was much more aggressive with what I was cutting out. I cut shots that lingered for a bit too long, or just could be shorter and still serve the same purpose. I then found myself cutting a couple of lines which I realised did nothing for the story. I could have not had them in the script in the first place because they weren't really necessary if I had have combed through the script more thoroughly. This helped save me a lot more time, and bring the film to just under 10 minutes.
I am now going to go through and rough out any shot which has effects which might dictate the length of a shot, for example when there are time ramps and laser blast where the speed would change how much the shot needs.
Saturday, 2 March 2019
Major Project 7 - Editing
The editing process was a fun challenge. This is the biggest project I have ever undertaken, with over 200gb of footage to sort through and pick out the best shots.
Dialogue was something that I was excited about trying out, part of the reason I added so much of it to the script. I think that this was definitely the greatest challenge about the edit. Choosing the best takes that fit with each other took a long time because there were so many takes. I knew when filming that I should take a lot of takes because the opening dialogue scene is very important for setting up the whole film. I could have probably worked a bit quicker on deciding takes as I spent so much time just watching over and over for the tiniest of differences that really didn't make much of a difference.
This would have been a good way for me to work quicker to get my first rough cut. Instead it took a bit longer than I expected however I am still on schedule. The first rough cut is longer than the animatic was, coming in at around 11 minutes verses the animatic's 7 minute run. This is due to more pauses and ebbs and flows that make everything feel more natural, I didn't account for this in the animatic. I will trim this a little more to make everything a little more concise.
Dialogue was something that I was excited about trying out, part of the reason I added so much of it to the script. I think that this was definitely the greatest challenge about the edit. Choosing the best takes that fit with each other took a long time because there were so many takes. I knew when filming that I should take a lot of takes because the opening dialogue scene is very important for setting up the whole film. I could have probably worked a bit quicker on deciding takes as I spent so much time just watching over and over for the tiniest of differences that really didn't make much of a difference.
There was an interview with the lead editor of Amazon Prime's Counterpart where he would just do his first edit using the last (or second to last) take, then if something isn't working, he runs back down the line of takes until something works. This lets him move a lot quicker and get a first edit quicker because the later takes are usually the best and most refined, it then becomes much easier to tweak from there once there is a rough version to watch.
This would have been a good way for me to work quicker to get my first rough cut. Instead it took a bit longer than I expected however I am still on schedule. The first rough cut is longer than the animatic was, coming in at around 11 minutes verses the animatic's 7 minute run. This is due to more pauses and ebbs and flows that make everything feel more natural, I didn't account for this in the animatic. I will trim this a little more to make everything a little more concise.
Monday, 25 February 2019
Major Project 6 - Filming Week
The week of filming was an incredibly fun and stressful week. Thankfully everything went smoother than I could have hoped, but I was still very nervous about it beforehand anyway. I am proud of all the planning work I had done in the weeks leading up to filming and I think this really helped the shoot run very well.
It was a great experience having a bit of a crew for this production as it let me delegate tasks to others allowing the whole process to move faster. Directing actors was a very fun experience, making sure they were all comfortable with everything they were doing and understood everything about the characters at that time.
I think sometimes I struggled to put what I was thinking into words to give them the prompts they needed to give me the performance I wanted. I feel happy with all the footage I got, though I'll have to look through it all next week as I'm editing it together to see for sure.
After each day of filming, I reviewed everything from that day to see if there was anything needing reshooting on the next day. This was only necessary a couple of times, mainly due to the sunlight being too strong when all the rest of the shots were overcast.
Using the gimbal was a new and fun experience. I was really satisfied with the results I got using it for the action shots. The rest of the time I filmed with the camera on my tripod just to add a little bit of stability.
Overall I'm really happy with the shoot. It went much smoother than I could have hoped. I did a lot of planning and organisation which I think really paid off and let us move really quickly. As well as having the people around me helping me out with other things so I could focus on filming and working with the actors.
It was a great experience having a bit of a crew for this production as it let me delegate tasks to others allowing the whole process to move faster. Directing actors was a very fun experience, making sure they were all comfortable with everything they were doing and understood everything about the characters at that time.
I think sometimes I struggled to put what I was thinking into words to give them the prompts they needed to give me the performance I wanted. I feel happy with all the footage I got, though I'll have to look through it all next week as I'm editing it together to see for sure.
After each day of filming, I reviewed everything from that day to see if there was anything needing reshooting on the next day. This was only necessary a couple of times, mainly due to the sunlight being too strong when all the rest of the shots were overcast.
Using the gimbal was a new and fun experience. I was really satisfied with the results I got using it for the action shots. The rest of the time I filmed with the camera on my tripod just to add a little bit of stability.
Overall I'm really happy with the shoot. It went much smoother than I could have hoped. I did a lot of planning and organisation which I think really paid off and let us move really quickly. As well as having the people around me helping me out with other things so I could focus on filming and working with the actors.
Sunday, 24 February 2019
Major Project 5 - Matte Painting Moodboard
Here is a moodboard I have made for Bach for him to start coming up with ideas for the city of Utopia in my film. The idea I have is for the same low poly and angular feel of the drones to be translated into the city. The frame will be in that design of shapes around a city. In between that frame will be energy shields to complete the dome.
Thursday, 14 February 2019
Major Project 4- Finding Actors
To find actors for my film, I put up a listing on Mandy.com. I am paying for their travel and food but I did state people should be Yorkshire based.
I found an actress for the Stranger quite quickly. I liked her showreel and felt that she had the right demeanour for the character. So I emailed asking her for an audition clip and she sent it back. She was then confirmed quite quickly, and costume details were given to start work on that.
The Wanderer was much harder to find. Most people who applied were from London which is just unrealistic for what I can afford. I emailed a few people who I thought looked the part however they either didn't respond, weren't willing to take time off work for a student project or were just slow to respond.
In the end, I asked Liam Shevill if he would be willing to be my actor again. He played the character in my COP film and did a very good job and he does look the part for the role. This was a massive relief and weight off my mind. Though I originally wanted a more professional actor in the role since it would be their specialty, I am confident Liam will do a great job.
I found an actress for the Stranger quite quickly. I liked her showreel and felt that she had the right demeanour for the character. So I emailed asking her for an audition clip and she sent it back. She was then confirmed quite quickly, and costume details were given to start work on that.
The Wanderer was much harder to find. Most people who applied were from London which is just unrealistic for what I can afford. I emailed a few people who I thought looked the part however they either didn't respond, weren't willing to take time off work for a student project or were just slow to respond.
In the end, I asked Liam Shevill if he would be willing to be my actor again. He played the character in my COP film and did a very good job and he does look the part for the role. This was a massive relief and weight off my mind. Though I originally wanted a more professional actor in the role since it would be their specialty, I am confident Liam will do a great job.
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