Monday, 23 March 2015
The Blog
Here is a blog of the Research, Implementation and eventual production of all the VFX work in the short film Instinct. It is a collection of short posts that show a brief overview of the work that went into the role of VFX Artist.
Research - Contact Lenses to Buy and also the Documents About Professional Practice
Here is what I wanted to buy for the actors to It would be easier to change the eyes and add luminance to them for post.
http://www.foureyez.com/glowing-contact-lenses/funky-eyes-green-uv-contact-lenses.html
And here are the documents saying that I am not allowed to use them.
https://www.optical.org/en/about_us/legislation/rules_and_regulations.cfm
http://www.foureyez.com/glowing-contact-lenses/funky-eyes-green-uv-contact-lenses.html
And here are the documents saying that I am not allowed to use them.
https://www.optical.org/en/about_us/legislation/rules_and_regulations.cfm
First VFX Test
Here is the first test. It was both an experiment in using mocha to surface track the faces and also in changes the zombies over time. I used a texture of the surface of the moon to create the texture of the face, masks to change the hue and liquefy to make the face slightly melt.
I didn't like this because 1 it would take way too long to rotoscope every zombie to make this happen and also because it looked too fake, I said to Chris though that I thought this would be a nice effect to do in makeup. I also didn't like the face melt as it would have been impossible without a 3d model of the face to make look realistic.
I didn't like this because 1 it would take way too long to rotoscope every zombie to make this happen and also because it looked too fake, I said to Chris though that I thought this would be a nice effect to do in makeup. I also didn't like the face melt as it would have been impossible without a 3d model of the face to make look realistic.
Zombie Photoshop
Here is a picture of a zombie that I made as a reference for Chris. It was only originally meant to be an interpretation to see if I was along the right lines but ended up being the main reference for the zombies, a fact that I did not realize or was aware of until shooting began and I saw the makeup artist working from the picture.
VFX 2nd Test
This test was the next try after the one I tried on myself and thus is more progressed than the first. However I feel that it is by nowhere means finished as the veins don't track properly and the eye looks to obvious.
Because of this I have redesigned my method for attaching the veins to the face and have created a method for attaching a 2d mesh using puppet tools and tracking point to the face.
Because of this I have redesigned my method for attaching the veins to the face and have created a method for attaching a 2d mesh using puppet tools and tracking point to the face.
I also after shooting this met with malika to talk about the shot list. I convinced them to shoot this shot with extra light on his face and static on a tripod in contrast to the rest of the film in aid of making post easier and more effective (I would then readjust the exposure in after effects to make it match). We also went through the shot list to change anything that needed to because of visual effects and found that most of it was not in need of any change.
Other Small Bits
There are more other small bits here and there that I added into the film like more eyes and such but these 5 shots tell the story of what I have done in 5 days I ended up having, because of difficulties with exporting from avid and compression, quite well so I will only upload them.
Screen Shots of After Effects Process - 1
To describe my process I'm going to take this shot as it is the most difficult and includes all the general effects that I used. I'm going to briefly describe what I did and how I did it.
Screen Shots of After Effects Process - 2
First I individually tracked all the positions of all the tracking points Individually and applied them to a null, giving me the ability to use the data later on.
Screen Shots of After Effects Process - 3
I then used the clone brush tool to paint over all the points and applied the paint strokes to the position of the nulls so they would move with them. To get the stamp data to move as well I had to code the stamps to move with the position of the nulls but shifted by Ten pixels so they would grab an unaffected area of the face.
Screen Shots of After Effects Process - 4
I then designed the veins layer and precomposed it so I could edit it without effecting the Main composition.
Screen Shots of After Effects Process - 5
After importing the veins into the Main comp and settin the layer to multiply to get rid of the white, I adjusted them so that they fit the face on a still frame and then animated a mask so that they would gradually appear.
Screen Shots of After Effects Process - 6
Screen Shots of After Effects Process - 7
I then started on the eye by creating a black solid, rotoscopeing a mask so that it fit the position and shape of the eye and then made the layer overlay so I had an alpha matte to then apply the bloodshot layer to.
Graduation Film Self-Assessment.
Graduation Film Self-Assessment.
I feel that I have been overall successful in my role as VFX
artist. There have been a few moments through out the year which have wavered
my patience but I feel that despite all the hiccups and the lack of
communication on both parties I have presented a solid product that I feel
proud off (apart from the apocalyptic shot at the end of the film but I shall
go into more detail about that later). I have only been teaching myself after
effects and all the sundry programs associated with it for a year and a half
now and I feel that, although the work presented is not of expert quality, it
is certainly good for someone of my skill level.
To start of chronologically with pre production, my input,
although lacking on edmodo, has been in my opinion satisfactory, comparative to
my role. I feel that everyone was always informed of what I could realistically
achieve with my skills and every time something came up in a discussion I would
always be able to answer the question in an effort to pull back to earth the
expectations of the team. I do However
admit that I was never really opinionated or vocal enough on my thoughts on the
story, design or management of the film when it came to things that did not
directly effect my role as I felt that in a professional environment it would
not have been my place to question any of these things but I now realise that I
probably should have had more of a presence on the production.
Despite this though I did take it upon myself to quickly mock
up a design of a Grey Man from the production design drawings as I felt that
they did not convey clearly enough the design of the film. It was originally
intended to be a quick illustration of how I interpreted the designs and was
initially only intended to be sent to Chris so he could check to see if that
was along the right lines however, the photo became the main design of the
zombies and ended up being what they showed to the makeup design as a reference
(a fact that only became clear on set and if had been made clearer before hand
would have been redone a lot more professionally). Another part of my input to
the production design was that I remember early on I mentioned we should get
contact lenses for the Grey Men so that it would be easier in post to change
the eyes as they would be easier to track. But it transpired that to use
contact lenses you have to have someone that is professionally trained to use
them on set.
I also did two Visual Effects tests, the first was to see if
I could change the skin texture of the faces while they were moving. Although I
feel that this was mostly successful, it was never introduced into the film as
I decided that it would be far to time consuming to rotoscope the mask of every
Gray Man in the film and change the skin texture so it was dropped but the
technique of tracking the face carried through to the next test.
The Next test was the first to be based of off my design of
the zombie and featured both the veins running up the side of the face and the change
of the eyes. I used black gaffer tape as tracking points so I could see the
absolute minimum definition I would need for them and I then used these to track
the veins onto the face. I feel this did not look right as the veins moved as
if they were stuck to one point and not as if they were under the skin so I
went back to the drawing board and invented a new way on mapping compositions
to a face so individual points moved and stretched with different parts of the
skull.
When it came to the actual production I feel that this was my
downfall. Although it was only necessary for me to be there for two shots, the
green screen and the veins, and I attended both of the days that those shots
were meant to be shot on, because of difficulties on shoot I was not present
for either of those shots although I did make sure I taught the make up artist
how to make the tracking points and there would have been nothing much more I
could have done for the green screen other than got rid of the wrinkles and
have made sure that it was evenly lit (which would have been impossible as they
had to shoot it outside). For most of my time on set I tried to be as useful as
I could but there was little more to do than that of a runner so I decided that
it was a waste of money for me to be there.
When it came to post however it was a different story. I had
requested a paper edit in both pre and production meetings but after that was
never put together I had to wait until the first rough cut had been assembled
(which took a lot longer than it should have) before I knew which shots they
were using. After the rough edit had
been assembled I went in to get the shots that I was going to edit and then
asked Dinesh to export them from avid. I then spent the next week editing them
only to realise that they were compressed versions of the files when I blew
them up onto the big screen and thus useless so with 5 days left to the
deadline I had to start again and asked Dinesh to re-export them as
uncompressed files.
I managed to complete the effects I was asked to do but the
cost of the lost week had been the quality of the visuals in my opinion, In all
honesty I feel that I could have created, with a bit more time, something that
looked far superior to the end product. For example I do not like the final
shot of the green screen for many reasons such as the fact that is was done in
one day and that, even though I followed the direction from Chris after trying
to convince him otherwise, I feel that it does not suit the story. I feel that
the film should have ended with a fade to white as she opens the tunnel door as
this is a logical end but after I mentioned this to Chris and the entire crew
(admitting that I don’t like the shot myself) he still decided that he wanted
it in.
All in all I feel that I could have done more towards this
project other than my allotted role. I could have been more vocal on my
opinions of the story such as I always thought, and only mentioned once, that
making the mother the bitten party and the father the one that has to look
after the baby would have added both more character development on his part and
more jeopardy to the story. I could have also been more involved in the
production side and offered to do more in terms of general contacts and such.
Despite this though I do think that if I had been professionally involved on
the project in the capacity that I was graded for, it certainly wouldn’t have
been my place to comment on such things. I feel that I fulfilled my role to a
high quality degree considered the setbacks and obstacles endured and although
I wasn’t as involved as I could have been I do believe I went beyond the call
of duty when it came to my role.
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