Saturday, 31 May 2008
Live At Five
I've been looking at some of the work I did for Live at Five while trying to put together my portfolio. Some of it isn't that bad. I can see 100's of things I would do differently now. but I look at it all and realise how much I learnt from doing it. Sometimes it seems you learn so much more when there is pressure to perform. I will think this over and add more later...
Worries for the final week...
- We might have to leave a day to do rendering and sort any problems that result from that. I have spent enough time using AE and watching other students (broadcasting, film studies) to know that something will always go wrong at the last minute. Given that we will probably also need a day to finalise the DVD this means the film should be ready by end of Wednesday. I have mentioned this but I don't know if I was heard.
- I could easily spend all of next week comp'ing. The 3d scenes need to be re-loaded with their final effects plus I have to add in the 2d scenes, many of which don't fit the animatic so I have to "edit" as I go along.
- The above being true, when do I add the "special effects"? Especially as this is something I really want to do?
- How do I organise a team of people to do comp'ing? Pete has said that Dan and Will should be available to help but I don't want too many version of scenes floating around.
- How the F*$% do I put all the scenes together? It's gonna be one big AE file. Felstead had better be on hand or I might have to have a nervous breakdown.
- When do I finish my portfolio? When do I finish my sketchbooks for Kathy? Will I pass my first year?
- I could easily spend all of next week comp'ing. The 3d scenes need to be re-loaded with their final effects plus I have to add in the 2d scenes, many of which don't fit the animatic so I have to "edit" as I go along.
- The above being true, when do I add the "special effects"? Especially as this is something I really want to do?
- How do I organise a team of people to do comp'ing? Pete has said that Dan and Will should be available to help but I don't want too many version of scenes floating around.
- How the F*$% do I put all the scenes together? It's gonna be one big AE file. Felstead had better be on hand or I might have to have a nervous breakdown.
- When do I finish my portfolio? When do I finish my sketchbooks for Kathy? Will I pass my first year?
Compositing
Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. (Wikipedia)
The Library animation project is being done in several different stages and styles. The main background are 3d and created in Maya. Our "hero" in animated in 2d using Flash over the top of these scenes. And then there are additional scenes that are created entirely in Flash or are flat Photoshop images which we pan across. This means we have a large team of people each working within their particular area. And it means that at some point it all has to come together in one single, coherant form... that's my job.
So far so good; the 3d scenes have been completed (although without lighting as yet) and these are passed to me as different shot which I am cutting together to make the scenes. I have based all my timings with the animatic. Initially this was a little tricky because I only joined the project after the pre-production work was finished and so was unfamiliar with the finer details of the film. Andy pointed out to me that this is how it will almost always work for the compositing team; it would be unusual for a compositor to also be involved in storyboarding. The difference with this project of course is that this is our first experience of working together as a large group and within our specific roles. As a result, I felt a little out of my depth at the beginning because I was putting scenes together looking only at the backgrounds and the storyboard, whereas everyone else involved at that time seems to know exactly what should happen and when.
I have now become much more familiar with the story and know what happens in which scene (at least those scenes which aren't being changed as it goes along!) I am not having any real problems with After Effects, everything I am doing so far is within my exsiting knowledge. Sometimes I feel there are difficulties with the fact that the others in my team don't know After Effects. There are moments when someone will say "can we look at scene 3" and then someone else will want a render from scene 7, whilst in the meantime I am trying to work on scene 9: it's not that I can't do any of the above, but I can't move swiftly from one to the other, it's not like moving between Word documents, or even Photoshop documents! Each scene is a separate project, I have to close whatever I'm working on - making sure it's saved - and load the next scene. Always assuming that my computer doesn't crash in the meantime due to the strain of running AE and Premiere at the same time! And everyone wants everything NOW!
It worries me because sometimes when I can't produce something on scene NOW, I feel like it is assumed that it can't be done. AE is an incredibly powerful tool but it takes time to get good results - if I rush then the results are unimpressive and again people turn away and mutter about using Flash instead! Flash!? It may be a good programme for certain tasks but it is not a compositing tool! How can explain this more clearly!?
The Library animation project is being done in several different stages and styles. The main background are 3d and created in Maya. Our "hero" in animated in 2d using Flash over the top of these scenes. And then there are additional scenes that are created entirely in Flash or are flat Photoshop images which we pan across. This means we have a large team of people each working within their particular area. And it means that at some point it all has to come together in one single, coherant form... that's my job.
So far so good; the 3d scenes have been completed (although without lighting as yet) and these are passed to me as different shot which I am cutting together to make the scenes. I have based all my timings with the animatic. Initially this was a little tricky because I only joined the project after the pre-production work was finished and so was unfamiliar with the finer details of the film. Andy pointed out to me that this is how it will almost always work for the compositing team; it would be unusual for a compositor to also be involved in storyboarding. The difference with this project of course is that this is our first experience of working together as a large group and within our specific roles. As a result, I felt a little out of my depth at the beginning because I was putting scenes together looking only at the backgrounds and the storyboard, whereas everyone else involved at that time seems to know exactly what should happen and when.
I have now become much more familiar with the story and know what happens in which scene (at least those scenes which aren't being changed as it goes along!) I am not having any real problems with After Effects, everything I am doing so far is within my exsiting knowledge. Sometimes I feel there are difficulties with the fact that the others in my team don't know After Effects. There are moments when someone will say "can we look at scene 3" and then someone else will want a render from scene 7, whilst in the meantime I am trying to work on scene 9: it's not that I can't do any of the above, but I can't move swiftly from one to the other, it's not like moving between Word documents, or even Photoshop documents! Each scene is a separate project, I have to close whatever I'm working on - making sure it's saved - and load the next scene. Always assuming that my computer doesn't crash in the meantime due to the strain of running AE and Premiere at the same time! And everyone wants everything NOW!
It worries me because sometimes when I can't produce something on scene NOW, I feel like it is assumed that it can't be done. AE is an incredibly powerful tool but it takes time to get good results - if I rush then the results are unimpressive and again people turn away and mutter about using Flash instead! Flash!? It may be a good programme for certain tasks but it is not a compositing tool! How can explain this more clearly!?
Continued Work on Titles... now with sound!
There have been several discussions about the titles. Are they too different from the rest of the film? Is it an advantage that they are different? Do the colours work with the style or should they fit with pallet used in the opening sequence?
I am not precious about the titles I have created. I quite enjoyed making them but if they need to be changed for the film then so be it. That said, I struggled a little on Friday when Pete wanted to change them but wasn't entirely sure how he wanted them. We went through several variations of colour but I really didn't feel that the "earthy" colour scheme from the Library fitted with the compter-style of the action.
In the meantime, I recorded some sound effects with Richard. There was supposed to be a group of us learning about Foley, but for some reason this didn't happen. Instead, as Richard had already set up the studio and I was ready to record, I got a recording session to myself. For the opening of the titles we had talked about having some typing effects as the lettering appeared. I recorded several versions of typing; fast, slow, individual letters and heavy handed. I was really pleased with the results - the sound was so clear and sounded, well, exactly like typing! Once I had the file in Audition I could chop it up so that I had individual sound files for different key presses. I could then load the film and the effects into Premiere and line up the key strokes with the appearence of letters on screen. I then decided to add a couple of seconds to the beginning of my sequence where the screen was black (before the curser appears) where I used the sound clip of fast typing. And I was pleased with the result. I'm not sure what else I can say about it.
So, back to Friday afternoon. Whilst Pete weighed up the new colour choices, I asked if he'd like to hear it with the sound effects added. And once he'd heard it he decided that infact we should stick with the original sequence, keep the background black throughout and I should keep working on the sound effects for the end of the titles...
I am not precious about the titles I have created. I quite enjoyed making them but if they need to be changed for the film then so be it. That said, I struggled a little on Friday when Pete wanted to change them but wasn't entirely sure how he wanted them. We went through several variations of colour but I really didn't feel that the "earthy" colour scheme from the Library fitted with the compter-style of the action.
In the meantime, I recorded some sound effects with Richard. There was supposed to be a group of us learning about Foley, but for some reason this didn't happen. Instead, as Richard had already set up the studio and I was ready to record, I got a recording session to myself. For the opening of the titles we had talked about having some typing effects as the lettering appeared. I recorded several versions of typing; fast, slow, individual letters and heavy handed. I was really pleased with the results - the sound was so clear and sounded, well, exactly like typing! Once I had the file in Audition I could chop it up so that I had individual sound files for different key presses. I could then load the film and the effects into Premiere and line up the key strokes with the appearence of letters on screen. I then decided to add a couple of seconds to the beginning of my sequence where the screen was black (before the curser appears) where I used the sound clip of fast typing. And I was pleased with the result. I'm not sure what else I can say about it.
So, back to Friday afternoon. Whilst Pete weighed up the new colour choices, I asked if he'd like to hear it with the sound effects added. And once he'd heard it he decided that infact we should stick with the original sequence, keep the background black throughout and I should keep working on the sound effects for the end of the titles...
Monday, 26 May 2008
Title sequence renders
So far, Pete's preference is with a white background. I originally designed it to have a black background which I think works better with the blue glow.
I added a texture to give some depth. The second one works much better and even burns out to white at the end. So far, it's my favourite but we'll have to see how it fits with the rest of the film before a decision is made.
The end titles are worrying me a bit. Pete is very keen we get them organised but I can't do anything until the design has been oked and I have the data. Now that the comp'ing has started on the backgrounds I don't know when I'll have an opportunity to spend proper time on them, I might hand them over to Will, or at least try and get his help - he seems quite annoyed that I've taken the graphics away from him.
(I hate the layout of this page. I'm going to see if there's anything I've learn in my Dreamweaver classes that can help!)
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Title Sequences in After Effects
The final projects all seem to be well underway. As I had specified that I wanted to do post-production or more specifically I DIDN'T want to do pre-production, my life has been a little quiet for a week or so. (Just time to fit in a quick cold and some quality time feeling sorry for myself.)
Pete, who is the producer on "The Library" film, has asked me to create a title sequence. He has a clear picture of what he wants and I hope I have done ok at interpreting his idea. Essentially he described a sequence where a curser appears on a blank screen before a simulated computer search begins and the word LIBRARY flashes up on the screen in as many languages as possible. The animation he described seems designed to be created in After Effects; lucky for me as this is the only programme I am confident (should that be competent) in using.
First problems first: the flashing curser. I began using a single line to recreate the text curser you see in Photoshop or Word. This worked ok, but it tended to glide across the screen as the word "searching" appeared. After a quick chat with Pete Felstead (our After Effects technician), he suggested using a block instead. This worked much better. The letters appear on screen using one of AE's text presets and I just had set up the curser's position keyframes to line up with the letter's appearance on screen. I say just, it was of course far more fiddly than I might have first predicted but it was really a case of working out before hand what the movements should be.
Next problem: the text. I used Google Translate to find the correct spelling, then had to bully Richard into setting up the right fonts so I could use Greek/Chinese/Arabic/Cyrillic/Japanese charecters. I chose a blue colour to fit with the INFORMATION sign in the film and to avoid the Matrix cliche of green computer text. I also gave it a bit of a glow.
I have tried a couple of textured backgrounds in the hope of giving the sequence a little more depth. I have about 4 versions at the moment and I think I have a favourite. However, I am not really too concerned about which one Pete choses or if he wants more changes. I have already learnt more about AE through this small project and for me that is the point. The only reason I want to continue using AE is so I can learn more and get better. These titles are for someone else's film and at the end of the day it's their choice which they use. There is always the possibilty that the titles won't work with the rest of the film (too soon to tell, the film is still at the early stages of production) but it won't break my heart if my work is scrapped.
I will try to get some test renders up on the blog, but so far it is defeating me.
Pete, who is the producer on "The Library" film, has asked me to create a title sequence. He has a clear picture of what he wants and I hope I have done ok at interpreting his idea. Essentially he described a sequence where a curser appears on a blank screen before a simulated computer search begins and the word LIBRARY flashes up on the screen in as many languages as possible. The animation he described seems designed to be created in After Effects; lucky for me as this is the only programme I am confident (should that be competent) in using.
First problems first: the flashing curser. I began using a single line to recreate the text curser you see in Photoshop or Word. This worked ok, but it tended to glide across the screen as the word "searching" appeared. After a quick chat with Pete Felstead (our After Effects technician), he suggested using a block instead. This worked much better. The letters appear on screen using one of AE's text presets and I just had set up the curser's position keyframes to line up with the letter's appearance on screen. I say just, it was of course far more fiddly than I might have first predicted but it was really a case of working out before hand what the movements should be.
Next problem: the text. I used Google Translate to find the correct spelling, then had to bully Richard into setting up the right fonts so I could use Greek/Chinese/Arabic/Cyrillic/Japanese charecters. I chose a blue colour to fit with the INFORMATION sign in the film and to avoid the Matrix cliche of green computer text. I also gave it a bit of a glow.
I have tried a couple of textured backgrounds in the hope of giving the sequence a little more depth. I have about 4 versions at the moment and I think I have a favourite. However, I am not really too concerned about which one Pete choses or if he wants more changes. I have already learnt more about AE through this small project and for me that is the point. The only reason I want to continue using AE is so I can learn more and get better. These titles are for someone else's film and at the end of the day it's their choice which they use. There is always the possibilty that the titles won't work with the rest of the film (too soon to tell, the film is still at the early stages of production) but it won't break my heart if my work is scrapped.
I will try to get some test renders up on the blog, but so far it is defeating me.
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
The End of Maya
I finally reached the end of the Maya project. Although I feel I should be a little more accurate with that and say that Richard finished the Maya project. I don't quite know where I'd be without his help, probably rocking in a corner pulling out clumps of my hair.
Richard sat, very patiently, and explained how Maya worked. Then he demonstrated how Maya worked. Then he asked me what I wanted Maya to do and he pretty much did it for me. I really feel like I gave Maya a shot; I spent a lot of time staring at the screen, repeating sequences over and over until .... well, until they still didn't look right. I stayed into the evening. I went home and tried it my own computer in case that made a difference. I then tried very hard not to alienate all my friends and housemates by ranting permanently about how Maya was driving me slowing mad.
My finished sequence of a flour sack jumping off a platform is ok. It's not great. But it is finished. I wish I could be more specific about why I have struggled so much with Maya. It could just be my usual difficulty with 3D. I have felt many times that I understand theoretically how the programme works but for some reason I cannot put it into practice. I do however feel satisfied that I gave it a good try and I really wanted to get it. But I cannot hide my relief that Maya is over. Hurray!
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