Here it is folks!
Personally, I think it's the compositing which really makes it a success ;)
I have spent so long looking at these scenes that I can no longer judge whether it works or not. Please judge for yourself.
Friday, 6 June 2008
The end..?
I think this might be it... my last post? (obviously not, looking above!)
The project has rendered and is being written to DVD.
This last week seems to have lasted FOREVER. I have spent so many hours in the studio that it has felt strange to go home and not be comp'ing scenes anymore.
I hope my blogging has got better, if nothing else they have become more frequence. I have realised it's quite useful to keep a note of day to day progress and plans.
This is how I have been planning my work during this project. The timing for the scenes, the comp settings, missing shots, requests from animators, details for the titles etc etc, they are all posted up infront of me.
This system has worked really well for me. When people have asked questions about the comp, I can often just look at my wall rather than having to load files. It also serves as a prompt for what still needs to be done, as well as a reminder of what I have achieved. Listing things is one thing, but ticking them when they're complete is something very special indeed.
Goodbye wall. Goodbye Library.
The project has rendered and is being written to DVD.
This last week seems to have lasted FOREVER. I have spent so many hours in the studio that it has felt strange to go home and not be comp'ing scenes anymore.
I hope my blogging has got better, if nothing else they have become more frequence. I have realised it's quite useful to keep a note of day to day progress and plans.
This is how I have been planning my work during this project. The timing for the scenes, the comp settings, missing shots, requests from animators, details for the titles etc etc, they are all posted up infront of me.
This system has worked really well for me. When people have asked questions about the comp, I can often just look at my wall rather than having to load files. It also serves as a prompt for what still needs to be done, as well as a reminder of what I have achieved. Listing things is one thing, but ticking them when they're complete is something very special indeed.
Goodbye wall. Goodbye Library.
Mulit-tasking!
Yesterday I was working on 3 computers at once... I had one doing test renders, one on which I continued my compositing and another where work continued on the title sequence.
Will had taken the title sequence off my hands and was finishing the sound edit. However, I needed to oversee this process as he wasn't as familiar with either After Effects or Audition as me.
I am extremely grateful that Justin hasn't been in very much the last two days as moving between his computer and mine has made my work much easier to manage.
Today I have also been using 3 machines, this time including the Mac laptop for test renders (until finally this afternoon we fixed the problem with the pc renders).
As I type this, the final comp is rendering (music video version - identical except for a slight change in the titles). My brain is completely full and I can hardly think straight anymore.
I wish I had planned my portfolio better instead of rushing things at the last moment as usual. This comping has been a HUGE amount of work. I would not for a moment suggest that I have worked harder than the other people on this project; we have pulled together as a team and that is the only reason this has worked at all. I think all I would say is that it would help in the future if we had a clearer idea of what different team members are working on.
Have help from Will and Mike was invaluable. I think on future projects, if there are a team of use working on compositing then it would be useful to be working together from the beginning, rather than at the last moment. I am equally happy to be managing a team or be supervised by someone else, but I would like to be really clear on my role and responsibility, which has not always been the case in this project.
Will had taken the title sequence off my hands and was finishing the sound edit. However, I needed to oversee this process as he wasn't as familiar with either After Effects or Audition as me.
I am extremely grateful that Justin hasn't been in very much the last two days as moving between his computer and mine has made my work much easier to manage.
Today I have also been using 3 machines, this time including the Mac laptop for test renders (until finally this afternoon we fixed the problem with the pc renders).
As I type this, the final comp is rendering (music video version - identical except for a slight change in the titles). My brain is completely full and I can hardly think straight anymore.
I wish I had planned my portfolio better instead of rushing things at the last moment as usual. This comping has been a HUGE amount of work. I would not for a moment suggest that I have worked harder than the other people on this project; we have pulled together as a team and that is the only reason this has worked at all. I think all I would say is that it would help in the future if we had a clearer idea of what different team members are working on.
Have help from Will and Mike was invaluable. I think on future projects, if there are a team of use working on compositing then it would be useful to be working together from the beginning, rather than at the last moment. I am equally happy to be managing a team or be supervised by someone else, but I would like to be really clear on my role and responsibility, which has not always been the case in this project.
After Effects
I have spent quite a lot of time this year playing with After Effects. Not everything I found was useful in terms of result, but all were useful in that they taught be a little more about how the programme worked and what its potential might be...
This is an effect called Binary; useful for learning how to use "random" presets and make better use of the text facility.
I have used this flock of birds a couple of times for students who are filming in front of a still image using green screen. It can make a still background come to life.
These light trails were used in the Live at Five titles, but I would also like to make further use of them. The fact that you can import a path from Illustrator, which a light trail could follow, would seem to have great possibilties!
Smoke: haven't found a use for it yet, but Pete Felstead assures be it's the next big thing!!
So far, I haven't explored layers and depth in any details. I would really like to explore the 3d potentials in AE. There is so much that this programme can do, I am actually quite excited about continuing to use it next year... and I'm quite surprised at myself that I have found something to be excited about!
I have also learn a huge amount about AE as a compositing tool during the Library project. As with Live at Five, now that I am at the end of this I can see how I would do it differently. But isn't that always the way? How boring to know it all already ;)
Extra! Extra!
Since I worked on Live at Five, several of the Broadcast Journalism students have asked me to do some extra work for them. This has included showreel title graphics, title straps or astons, and additional graphics for their final projects.
At the moment, I am planning some graphics for a documentary about the recent elections in Georgia. These will include a title sequence, title straps and some images to illustrate the election results.
I have learnt a huge amount through doing these projects and have become much more aware of tv graphics and what makes them successful. It seems that the most successful graphics are hardly noticed, because they fit seemlessly into the film footage, whereas any shot where the viewer pays more attention the the graphic than the information - whether because they are so slick or a complete disaster - is essentially a failiure.
The pressure of working on Live at Five makes strange things happen to my work. The urgency means you have to deliver to the deadline, even if it means compromising on the "artistic vision" for the graphic. I feel very encouraged by the comments I have had from the BJ students. I wish there had been further opportunites for feedback from both them and their course leader.
At the moment, I am planning some graphics for a documentary about the recent elections in Georgia. These will include a title sequence, title straps and some images to illustrate the election results.
I have learnt a huge amount through doing these projects and have become much more aware of tv graphics and what makes them successful. It seems that the most successful graphics are hardly noticed, because they fit seemlessly into the film footage, whereas any shot where the viewer pays more attention the the graphic than the information - whether because they are so slick or a complete disaster - is essentially a failiure.
The pressure of working on Live at Five makes strange things happen to my work. The urgency means you have to deliver to the deadline, even if it means compromising on the "artistic vision" for the graphic. I feel very encouraged by the comments I have had from the BJ students. I wish there had been further opportunites for feedback from both them and their course leader.
Continued blogging...
Last night I tried to update my blog. Sadly, my internet connection failed and I was unable to publish, so today I will try and catch up on the project so far...
Yesterday morning, I optomistically changed my view from the rest of the week and thought that we might actually complete the film on time. By the end of the afternoon I wasn't so sure any more.
The animated sequences which are coming in from Flash - and supposedly slotting straight into the background compositing - don't fit at all. They are all much to fast and as a result I am having to cut each scene apart and time-stretch in AE to make them fit. Given that I have already cut together the background shots twice, once with the original render and onces with the newly lit render, I feel like this process is a little too labour intencive, especially for one person. my worry is that quality control will suffer...
Yesterday morning, I optomistically changed my view from the rest of the week and thought that we might actually complete the film on time. By the end of the afternoon I wasn't so sure any more.
The animated sequences which are coming in from Flash - and supposedly slotting straight into the background compositing - don't fit at all. They are all much to fast and as a result I am having to cut each scene apart and time-stretch in AE to make them fit. Given that I have already cut together the background shots twice, once with the original render and onces with the newly lit render, I feel like this process is a little too labour intencive, especially for one person. my worry is that quality control will suffer...
Thursday, 5 June 2008
More reflections on Live at Five
Since I have been putting together my portfolio, I have been looking at the work I did on Live At Five. There is more there that I remembered.
When we begin creating the title sequence we were supposed to be working in a group of 4. Unfortunately, 2 members of our team decided not to join us and so Cherie and I were left to work on the project by ourselves. I have to day, looking back at it now, that I think we really did ok given that we were a team of 2 while others in the class were working in a team of 5!
I missed the very beginning of the brainstorming session and so Cherie came up with the initial idea: a 3d globe with light trails moving around it. Luckily, Cherie is a genius at Maya and so creating the 3d globe was no problem for her. I set to working on the light trails.
There were several After Effects tutorials which suggested ways to approach this. One (from Video Co-Pilot) turned out to be completely impossible and I wasted several days trying to use it. Finally, Pete Felstead recommended one - and gave me the 3d stroke plug-in that i needed to make it work.
I used motion paths to get the light trains to move around the globe. Motion paths also made it possible to get the light train to draw a number 5, which really added something to the sequence. I love the way the 3d, 2d and FX work together.
When we begin creating the title sequence we were supposed to be working in a group of 4. Unfortunately, 2 members of our team decided not to join us and so Cherie and I were left to work on the project by ourselves. I have to day, looking back at it now, that I think we really did ok given that we were a team of 2 while others in the class were working in a team of 5!
I missed the very beginning of the brainstorming session and so Cherie came up with the initial idea: a 3d globe with light trails moving around it. Luckily, Cherie is a genius at Maya and so creating the 3d globe was no problem for her. I set to working on the light trails.
There were several After Effects tutorials which suggested ways to approach this. One (from Video Co-Pilot) turned out to be completely impossible and I wasted several days trying to use it. Finally, Pete Felstead recommended one - and gave me the 3d stroke plug-in that i needed to make it work.
I used motion paths to get the light trains to move around the globe. Motion paths also made it possible to get the light train to draw a number 5, which really added something to the sequence. I love the way the 3d, 2d and FX work together.
Computers
I have been in the studio a little under an hour and my computer has already suffered a major crash. In fact, it was worse than usual; I got the full Blue Screen of Death.
This is now proving to be a major problem and frustration. I can't imagine that I am asking more of my computer than can have been expected when it was built, so why is it struggling so much? OK, if I am running Premiere, After Effects and Audition at the same time I would understand it slowing down and complaining. But all I did this morning was open AE and try to load up the portable hard drive (where I have been backing up the project). Am I asking too much?
Richard! Where are you!?
This is now proving to be a major problem and frustration. I can't imagine that I am asking more of my computer than can have been expected when it was built, so why is it struggling so much? OK, if I am running Premiere, After Effects and Audition at the same time I would understand it slowing down and complaining. But all I did this morning was open AE and try to load up the portable hard drive (where I have been backing up the project). Am I asking too much?
Richard! Where are you!?
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Putting in the hours...
Today I was the first person in the studio (at 8.55am) and the last to leave (at 8.35pm).
Hard work, this animation business.... who'd have thought it'd be so labour intensive ;-)
Hard work, this animation business.... who'd have thought it'd be so labour intensive ;-)
Premiere, Animatic and Backgrounds
I thought I should explain how I have been planning my compositing...
When I joined the Library Project, Pete showed me the project's animatic to get the timing a scenes. My first job was to cut together the background shots and line them up with the animatic.
For some scenes this was very straight forward, for example scene one. Cherie had exported the 3d backgrounds to be the right length and I just had to position them and bring in the still images for the right length.
Other scenes were more complicated. Scene 4, which I have mentioned previously, was entirely animated in Flash. Unfortunately, Justin did not have the timing when he animated the shots. This meant they needed a lot of editing to get the scene to work. Today I had to ask Justin to re-animate a few of the shots as the scene was not working. There were definate continuity problems and however I cut together the scene it looked wrong.
I spoke with Andy about the scene both today and yesterday. He pointed out that the principals we started to learn in storyboarding are also relevant in editing. This is quite interesting to me; as can be detected from previous posts, I didn't really enjoy storyboarding (or pre-porduction in general). But I am interested in shots, angles and setting up shots. I have now found my viewing of The Simpsons slightly spoilt by my automatic tendency to analyse the shots they use.
I am aware that what I am doing at the moment is not really editing, due to time contraints and the "tightness" of the animatic, but it has given me an idea of editing and it's definately something I would like to look at again. I am torn by my dislike of storyboarding, because I would now like to look at the shots Justin animated for Scene 4 and discussed how the whole sequence could be planned to flow better. At the moment it is better than it was, but it still jumps around much more than I would like and there are definately still continuity problems. But, time being what it is, the scene must be locked and we must move on!
I wish I had kept the previous version so I could demonstrate how improved it is! But I cannot find it :(
When I joined the Library Project, Pete showed me the project's animatic to get the timing a scenes. My first job was to cut together the background shots and line them up with the animatic.
For some scenes this was very straight forward, for example scene one. Cherie had exported the 3d backgrounds to be the right length and I just had to position them and bring in the still images for the right length.
Other scenes were more complicated. Scene 4, which I have mentioned previously, was entirely animated in Flash. Unfortunately, Justin did not have the timing when he animated the shots. This meant they needed a lot of editing to get the scene to work. Today I had to ask Justin to re-animate a few of the shots as the scene was not working. There were definate continuity problems and however I cut together the scene it looked wrong.
I spoke with Andy about the scene both today and yesterday. He pointed out that the principals we started to learn in storyboarding are also relevant in editing. This is quite interesting to me; as can be detected from previous posts, I didn't really enjoy storyboarding (or pre-porduction in general). But I am interested in shots, angles and setting up shots. I have now found my viewing of The Simpsons slightly spoilt by my automatic tendency to analyse the shots they use.
I am aware that what I am doing at the moment is not really editing, due to time contraints and the "tightness" of the animatic, but it has given me an idea of editing and it's definately something I would like to look at again. I am torn by my dislike of storyboarding, because I would now like to look at the shots Justin animated for Scene 4 and discussed how the whole sequence could be planned to flow better. At the moment it is better than it was, but it still jumps around much more than I would like and there are definately still continuity problems. But, time being what it is, the scene must be locked and we must move on!
I wish I had kept the previous version so I could demonstrate how improved it is! But I cannot find it :(
Update on Compositing
Today Mike joined the Library project and took some of the compositing off my hands.
This was a great help, although there were one or two things which would have made it more helpful... for example, I came into the studio to discover that files were being moved from my computer for Mike to access. However, as I was not involved in this, we have ended up with duplicate files which could easily make a mess of the work I have already done.
Once I had gone through my filing system with Mike, he really was a huge help. Another boon was Will taking the opening titles off my hands. The animation was done, but the sound needed more work which I just didn't have the time to do. I'm sorry not to be able to see the titles all the way through, but it is much better that they are completed by someone else than they are incomplete.
So, my thanks to Mike and Will. Maybe it is possible to get this project finished...
This was a great help, although there were one or two things which would have made it more helpful... for example, I came into the studio to discover that files were being moved from my computer for Mike to access. However, as I was not involved in this, we have ended up with duplicate files which could easily make a mess of the work I have already done.
Once I had gone through my filing system with Mike, he really was a huge help. Another boon was Will taking the opening titles off my hands. The animation was done, but the sound needed more work which I just didn't have the time to do. I'm sorry not to be able to see the titles all the way through, but it is much better that they are completed by someone else than they are incomplete.
So, my thanks to Mike and Will. Maybe it is possible to get this project finished...
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
The Blog
I don't really like blogs. The cartoon below sums up my feelings far more eloquently than I could...
Design for Animation Portfolio
To put it simply, I just don't have this work.
My interest for quite a long time now has veered away from pre-production and towards post-production. This means I have next to no drawn work, concept art, mood boards etc.
What am I going to do about this? I just don't know. I have no time available as the Library project is eating up the remaining days. I fear there is a real chance I could fail this module. At my last tutorial with Kathy, she expressed a general sense of surprise at my lack of work. I have to admit I am little surprised myself that I have so little to show. But I am also confused as to why it has only been noticed now, by both myself and my tutor. It seems utterly pointless to "recreate" (or fake) design work. And even if I were to do this, I am genuinely at a loss as to how I create concept art for news graphics (what kind of mood board to you create for a sports table or a weather map?), especially when the journalists tended to come to us on the day with their requirements.
Rosie <---- confused and a little lost... is this even the right place to voice these concerns?
Work in progress
Today there were major problems with Scene 4, which is based on a sequence from North by Northwest. The shots just did not fit together and had terrible continuity. I asked Andy to have a look at the scene with me and he concluded that we should leave it until tomorrow when Justin (who has animated this scene) is in and can go through it with us; I think certain bits may have to be re-edited. I have a strange feeling of guilt about this. It seems that my role of compositor has merged with that of editor and continuity! I am being asked to re-edit scenes on a frighteningly regular basis and I have a terrible sense of dread when I hear the words "we just need to make a slight change..." because it sometimes seems that no one else realises the impact that even the smallest timing change can have on the rest of the film. Maybe I'm being too sensitive about my role; I really feel I can only do my best with the clips and the time I am given. But I'm getting more worried everyday that someone will want to blame me when it doesn't all fit together.
When I spot the errors that mean the shots, scenes and therefore film, don't work, I am half reluctant to point them out because it means more work for someone else. But if I don't then I don't think I'm fulfilling my role.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
