Film Poster Creation

Digital Compositing - Semester 2

Digital Compositing Tutorials & Assessments 




Motorbike Scene

.
Digital Compositing - Semester 2 - Assessment 1 from Sion Campbell on Vimeo.

Introduction

As a part of our Digital Compositing Assessment, I decided to select Week 3’s tutorial. The aim of this tutorial was to remove any green from the foreground image of Michelle on her bike, and seamlessly apply to the background plate which included movement along a road, making it look as realistic as possible.

Objective :

The objectives for the task were…

* Using Keylight to remove the green background from the foreground image layer

* Using a lightwrap to ensure both foreground and background layers blend well.

* Manipulating the movement of the foreground layer to create a realistic scene.

* Adding my own twist/element to the video, giving the scene a distinctive look.

My Method:

1. I first began by ensuring that all layers and images used were in order and organized easily for a clean workspace.

2. I then applied the Keylight tool onto the foreground image of Michelle on the Bike, ensuring that as much green could be eliminated as possible. This was done by adjusting the White Clip and the Black Clip options.

3. After eliminating as much green as possible using the Keylight tool, I then went on to use the Screen Matte Mode so I could see if there were still elements of the background that needed to be removed. Looking closely, there were still parts of the background visible due to poor lighting, therefore I went on to paint on the alpha channels. The important element to painting the alpha channels was to ensure that I had the option of Duration to Single Frame. If I hadn’t selected this, it would have affected the entire composition rather than just each frame, and would have had a disastrous outcome.

4. Happy with the outcome of the green screen removal, I then went onto create a lightwrap around my composition. The reason for doing so, was to ensure that the foreground layer blended well and realistically against the background layer. This was also done by using the blur tools.

5. Having previously done the lightwrap, I realized that the movement of Michelle on her bike was incredibly static. I wanted to create a more realistic movement along the road, therefore using the Wiggle tool in the effects and presets menu, I was able to make the bike and Michelle move from side to side.

6. As the assessment wanted us to put our own creative flair onto the composition, I decided to add some form of explosion in the background and make It appear that Michelle was driving away from the incident. To do this, I used stock footage which I managed to get from http://www.videocopilot.net. By selecting carefully the stock footage in which I wanted to include, I had to then repeat the same process as before, using the keylight tool to get rid of any background information from these files. Successfully doing so, I went on to select the relevant blend modes, and scale the layers up to create a somewhat realistic image.

7. Taking into consideration that Michelle was driving away from the background, I had to try and make the explosion appear that it was disappearing further behind from the foreground. I attempted doing this by using the 3D Tracker. The 3D tracker allowed me to analyze the background footage, then select the relevant 3 points to then pair up with my other layers. Although having numerous attempts of this, I wasn’t able to create it correctly, which sadly affects the compositions realness.

Research

As a part of my research, I decided to look into how to use the 3D tracker to help create a realistic explosion movement for my composition. Although I didn’t give the desired effect I was hoping for, I definitely learnt from this, and understood the fundamental points of how to use the 3D tracker.

Outcome

On the whole I am rather pleased with the Outcome of this Compositon. It is by no means perfect, far from it, but considering up until this point I had never used After Effects before.

To improve this composition, I would definitely spend more time on the 3D tracker tool, ensuring that the explosion was in line and moving with the background image correctly, as I felt this ruined the composition realness.

References / Bibliography

Lynda . 2012. Adobe After Effects CS6: Learn by Video. [Online] Available at: https://www.video2brain.com/en/after-ef ... n-by-video.

Video Co Pilot. 2015. Plug-ins and Stock Footage for Post Production Proffesionals. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.videocopilot.net/.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Digital Compositing - Semester 2 - Assesment 1 (Second Video) from Sion Campbell on Vimeo.

Assignment 1 – Hotel Death Scene

.

Introduction

As a part of our Digital Compositing Assessment, I decided to select Week 4’s tutorial. The aim of this tutorial was to remove any green from the foreground image of the man holding the girl, and seamlessly apply it to the background plate which was a Photoshop composition of a hotel bedroom. As the clip contains camera movement, we also had to use the tracker tool to ensure that the background moves with the movement of the camera.

Objective :

* Using Keylight to remove the green background from the foreground image layer.

* Using a lightwrap to ensure the foreground and the background layers blend well.

* Manipulate the movement of the background layer, by using the Motion Tracker tool.

* Adding my own twist/element to the video, giving the scene a distinctive look.

My Method :

1. I first began by ensuring that all layers and images used were in order and organized easily for a clean workspace.

2. I then applied the Keylight tool onto the foreground image of the man holding the girl, ensuring that as much green could be eliminated as possible. This was done by adjusting the White Clip and the Black Clip options. The important factor during this process was to ensure that the white markers that were applied to the green screen were still visible, as this would be used as our tracking points to ensure that the background plate moved in time and motion with the camera movement.

3. Having successfully removing the green from the foreground layer, I then went on to use the Motion Tracker tool. I had to ensure that I used two tracking markers for this method, but also made sure that the foreground wouldn’t affect the markers. Because of the movement of the camera, all green screen markers were covered at somepoint by the foreground image. This would create a problem for the motion tracker to work.

4. Following this issue, I then went on to split the foreground image up into several clips according to the point of where the markers would disappear. This would then enable me to apply separate motion trackers, which would eventually make the background move in line with the movement of the camera.

5. I applied all the tracking motions to separate null layers, that would then be parented with the background layer in order of movement. I was able to do so by using the switches and modes toggle on the bottom of the panel.

6. After a long process of creating the motion tracking correct, I then had to get rid of all tracking markers that were seen in the original foreground layer. To do this, I had to paint out the markers using the paint brush tool, but making sure It was done on the alpha channels.

The important factor during this process was to ensure that I was painting on the correct layer, as I had split them up into four, otherwise it would not affect the final composition. Another important factor with this was to ensure that the duration was set to Single Frame.

7. As the assessment wanted us to put our own creative flair onto the composition, I decided to make it seem like the building was currently on fire with the roof falling apart . To do this, I used stock footage which I managed to get from http://www.videocopilot.net. By selecting carefully the stock footage in which I wanted to include, I had to then repeat the same process as before, using the keylight tool to get rid of any background information from these files. Successfully doing so, I went on to select the relevant blend modes, and scale the layers up to create a somewhat realistic image.

With these added effects, I made sure that I parented them up with the original tracking markers that I had made. Doing this would make the effects move in time and accordance to the background plate.

Reasearch

As this tutorial was heavily based on the Motion Tracker, I decided to watch several tutorials on after effects trackers, to get a better sense of how they work correctly, and the best way to use them.

Outcome :

On the whole I am rather pleased with the outcome of this composition. It’s again like the other, far from perfect, but it’s definitely a stepping stone for someone who has only just started using After Effects for the first time.

To improve this composition I would definitely spend more time on the alpha channel paining, getting rid of the tracking markers more accurately, which in turn would give a better and more realistic composition.

References / Bibliography

Lynda . 2012. Adobe After Effects CS6: Learn by Video. [Online] Available at: https://www.video2brain.com/en/after-ef ... n-by-video.

Video Co Pilot. 2015. Plug-ins and Stock Footage for Post Production Proffesionals. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.videocopilot.net/.

Other Completed Tutorials :

Week 1 Tutorial - Screen Tracking - Sion Campbell from Sion Campbell on Vimeo.

Week 2 Tutorial - Light Wrapping - Sion Campbell from Sion Campbell on Vimeo.

Post Production - Semester 2

Post Production Tutorials & Assessments

Little Miss Sunshine 4 Minute Feature Film Re-production

As a part of our Post Production Module, we were given the assignment of re-producing a feature length film, and condensing it down to four minutes. Within this assessment, it was expected of us to keep the narrative, pace and continuity, ensuring that it made sense to the viewer. Along with the edit, we had to include new titles for the film, and they had to be created using Photoshop & After Effects.

The feature film that I decided to re-produce was Little Miss Sunshine by the Directors Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris. I chose this film because it's one that I thoroughly enjoy. I believe that to re-produce or to condense a film down to a limited time frame from an 'editors' point of view, it's important to understand a fully know your footage. As I have watched 'Little Miss Sunshine' several times, I had the advantage of knowing some key points within the movie without having to scrub too much into the footage. The film itself is very dialogue based, and is a comedy drama. Before beginning the editing, I had the idea that the comedy within the movie would be key to creating a good pace within the movie.

The assessment was indeed a difficult task, and one I had originally struggled with, but I learnt that it is possible, and It can be done. I had started with aiming for a 6 minute edit, and gradually I would condense it down more and more until I had reached the 4 minute mark. It was really important for me to keep many of the comedy elements of the film within my re-production, as I felt it would otherwise make the edit flat lined without anything that would engage the viewer.

Creating The Film Titles
As a part of the assessment we had to give the film new titles created on After Effects or Photoshop. For me personally, I think Titles and the way they interact with the video is important, and they can significantly add to a film or production.

The titles I was looking to create were to be similar to the sense of style the film already had. Therefore the font that I had chosen was ' Orator Std ', and I decided on the yellow color to keep in relevance to the way the film had been branded previously.


Here is the first set of titles that I had created for the re-production:

For these titles I used various effects using Adobe After Effects, such as Wave Warp, Noise & Venetian Blinds. The reason for doing so was because the background video was displaying a television screen, and naturally with that you can see wave lines which are almost distorted therefore I wanted to make the titles blend well with the background and make it seem like the titles are also on the television.

Click for Larger Image, to see detailed effect of Noise and Venetian Blinds

For the titles '' Little Miss Sunshine '' , I wanted to keep it rather simple, yet bold in it's appearance therefore I decided to use the rotobrush tool on After Effects.

To do this, I selected the Rotobrush tool and started outlining the girl 'Olive' who I wanted to become the foreground image in front of the titles. As she moves in the clip, I had to do this frame by frame to ensure that the roto was the perfect outline of her silhouette. After doing that.. the layer was only showing the silhouette of the girl that I had rotobrushed and not the background. As I still wanted the original background video, I duplicated the layer, ensuring that the text layer saying 'Little Miss Sunshine was sandwiched inbetween the backrgound layer, and the new rotoscoped layer of the girl. By doing so, it made the text appear that it was behind the girl rather than in front, and I think it's an effect that works rather well. The title again was used with the font ''Orator Std'' with the color yellow, as it made a bold statement and kept in line with the original look of the film.

Here is the final 4 Minute Re-Production of ''Little Miss Sunshine'' that I had created for the assignment... 


Little Miss Sunshine - 4 Minute Re-Production - Sion Campbell from Sion Campbell on Vimeo.

On the whole I believe that the edit works rather well. It has definitely been a challenge, but a great one for that matter, and has really opened my eyes to show that if you want to become and editor, knowing your footage is key, and that learning the important points within a film is important too. Although not exactly four minutes... (4.06 to be exact) It has shown me what I thought would be impossible... is actually possible and has been a great challenge to do!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3D Camera Tracking With Adobe After Effects

In this tutorial, we were  to Use After Effects to 3D track the motion of the camera, and the position and rotation of the Car within the video. After doing that had to add something to the video that would move in the same way that the Car would do, with the roation and scale similar.

As the car in the video was missing a numberplate, I decided to add one in, trying to keep in scale and in line with the car, and the way that it looked as the camera panned around.

I began by using the effect '' Warp Stabilizer ''  on after effects that would essentially get rid of any bumps and jumps that the video had previously that would inevitably effect the 3D tracking that I would create.  Having warp Stabilized successfully, I was then able to go forward and use the 3D track Motion tool. But just before doing so, I had to precompose the footage that I had already stabilized, as sometimes After Effects has a glitch that doesn't enable you to successfully 3D Track a video with previous effects on it, unless it had been pre-composed.

Using the track motion tool, the program would analyze the movement of the objects within in the video, tracking their 3D movements, and eventually leave you with multiple points on the screen.

From the tracking, you can then pick three (or more) points that you would like to use as the successful 3D Track, Right Click and create new Track and Motion.

After doing so, it allowed me to add an image to this new track, by dragging and clicking alt. The image I had used was a basic Number Plate image that I had searched off Google.
Having placed it within the new track motion layer, I was then able to position and scale the image more accurately ensuring that it looked realistic and blended well with the car.

Although there are many ways in which I could improve on this 3D track I had made, on the whole as a first time attempt, I think it was rather successful.

The video can be viewed below.



3D Camera Tracking - Sion Campbell from Sion Campbell on Vimeo.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


TITLE DESIGN AND CREATION USING AFTER EFFECTS

For this tutorial we were expected to create Titles by using After Effects. We looked at several different examples of title works made in after effects, whilst also looking at several examples on the website www.artofthetitle.com  which gave great examples used in the film industry and explained how they were made, which was something I found personally interesting.

The example we were given to create our title in the tutorial was from the film 'The Matrix'.
We were given the quote ' Unfortunately No One Can Be Told What The Matrix Is, You Have To See It For Yourself'
We had to type each word as a separate title which would then give us the control to animate it without affecting the entire sentence. Having done this, we were then able to begin animating the words on how we would like them to appear.

We did this by selecting the relevant title/layer and going to its transform properties in the drop down menu. The menu included position, scale, rotation, opacity ect, which would allow us to animate the words, but to do this we had to use keyframes.

I would have to add a keyframe from the scale option to the beginning of the timeline. From there I would scrub across the timeline to add my next keyframe. This would be done automatically after I had adjusted the titles size on another part of the timeline.

I would repeat this step with the keyframes until I had the desired effect. And then replicate the same using other options such as the position and rotation.

The title I had eventually created didn't quite have the desired effect I was looking for, but baring in mind it was my first encounter of creating titles with after effects therefore it was a beginning.

Matrix - Title Making After Effects from Sion Campbell on Vimeo.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo Displacement Using PhotoShop & After Effects
In this tutorial, we were introduced to the creation of Photo Displacement. Although I wasn't aware of how they were created, I did have a great interest to know how it worked.

-----------------------------------------------

One fine example that I remember seeing on the television of Photo displacement was an advert that was used by SKY to Advertise their High Definition Service. The advert cleverly had the use of Photo displacement which made the video seem like it was video and it was slowed down in HD, when in fact they were only images blended together.

 
Photo Displacement Trial - Sion Campbell from Sion Campbell on Vimeo.
Here is an example of the Photo Displacement Tutorial that we had done in the lesson, using the photo below. Although the effect wasn't extremely obvious in the video, 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Gravity Photoshop Work
Basic Photoshop & After Effects Tutorials In our Post Production Tutorial, we were learning the basics of Photoshop and also After Effects. For this we were given two seperate images. One of George Clooney from the film Gravity, and the other is a random high resolution image of a planet in space.The idea of this tutorial was to eliminate the original background image from the Gravity still and incorporate the new background by making it look believable.I had to select the image that I wanted to keep. To do this I used the Polygonal lasso tool, to select around the foreground image carefully. I would zoom in on the image to ensure that I wasn't cutting out any elements that were important, and working my way around the image slowly. Once the image was selected, I would use CTRL + J  to create the new layer, therefore the background image would still remain in the project had I need to go back and change.Once having done that I focused on the the new background image that I was going to use. The most noticeable issue with the image was the fact there was a 3D graphic of a UFO which made the image look incredibly unrealistic, and it would not blend well with the rest of my composition. For this reason I went on to try and eliminate the UFO from the image without it looking like it had been tampered with and that it blended seamlessly.To do this, I decided to use the Clone Stamp Tool on Photoshop, which would essentially enable me  to select a part of the background image, and recreate it on another part of the layer. This is something that can sometimes be incredibly successful, but other times not as much.Luckily for me I was able to do it rather successfully on the first attempt, by using a larger brush, which allowed me to select a larger area of the image.Having done that, I then put the layers in order, allowing the new background image to be behind the selected foreground.The most noticeable problem then was the fact that the colors did not match up very well, therefore they needed to be altered. I did this by applying multiple effects such as the Saturation, Levels & color balance to match up the colors between the foreground image and the background.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mobile Phone Chase Scene Challenge 

As a part of our Post Production Module, we were given the task of creating a chase scene sequence, using our mobile phones to film.

We were given a week to create an idea, film and edit, therefore time was not in our favor. Having this short space of time did teach us how to keep within timescales and enhance our time management skills.
For this task, we wanted to emphasize the main characteristics that make a chase scene successful, by including a solid reason for the chase, obstacles that may arise within the chase, whilst also giving a fitting ending without it becoming deflating.

The group members for this task were myself, Stinne Nielsen, Giorgia Perini & Charlotte Blount.
We spent around 3hours discussing idea's, ensuring we had a solid and vaild reason for the chase.We spent some time looking at different examples of chase scenes from different films on Youtube & Vimeo to gather some inspiration.

 After a long healthy discussion, we came up with our idea/plot...

The Storyline :  A Hacker who steals vital information from a corporate office building, but is caught in the act by the security guard. The chase will be the escape of the Hacker. 
With the storyline thought out, we then went onto create a shot list so when we went to film, we had a more accurate and clear idea of what we needed to film.

The Final Film :