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!?