Evaluation of work in Assignment 5

When working on the 5th assignment, we were tasked with making two separate film segments that adhered strictly to a segment of script for the movie ‘The Godfather’. We would not be allowed to change the script at all except for characters and actions, and we were to make two films in the style of two genres, excluding the genre of the source material. In the development of the work we came up with several ideas for genres we could adapt the script to. Most seemed to cycle around a rehash of normal crime however, so we decided to try and use recent examples of film and TV to try and broaden our scope.

TV Series’ like Suits, Breaking Bad and House of Cards helped us come up with our two final genre ideas, Drama and Crime Thriller. Our justification for Crime Thriller comes from the new perspective we’re using on it, trying to emulate the more tense feel of Breaking Bad and House of Cards, with an anti-hero protagonist that makes a viewer question who they’re vouching for. Our Drama idea was inspired by Suits and focused more on posing the characters as investment bankers trying to fix a deal that’s broken down due to interference from a third party. The ideas we came up with were pretty good in reflection but I would like to have tried to experiment more with finding a second genre that didn’t stray so close to the source material’s. While Crime Thriller has it’s own elements, it could still be considered part of the same main genre as ‘The Godfather’.

Once the group was agreed on the genres we started working on the specific scripts for each genre and the storyboard. I enlisted the help of some classmates from the film degree to help us film the scenes. They provided some acting talent and camera equipment and helped round out our weaknesses in film, coming from a games development background. If I had to do a film project again, working with film students and learning from them would be a top priority. A few things I learned while working with them have helped me develop a proper skillset for filming and preparing for filming. I’m more aware of how important it is to have a set/location picked out beforehand, as well as providing equipment and resources to make the shoot possible.

After filming was done, Reece worked on the editing of the footage we got in Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects, adding effects that helped embellish each genre using the research provided by Aaron. This included utilizing colour correction tools to give each film a different mood, as well as a cinematic vignette. In the future we would try to get some of this done quicker as we took longer than expected, but overall the work was all collated together in good time.

If I had to work on a film project again, I would try to assist in editing or take the role of editor to assist in the process. I have 3 years of experience with video editing in multiple programs and it would be optimal to apply those skills where possible to streamline the work and utilize everyone’s skill-sets. At the same time I would make sure to engage in different areas of the field I am not so used to such as camera work, to pick up extra knowledge which could be used in later projects, as well as benefit my input on other segments of the project. Knowledge of camera techniques and limitations would make it easier to put informative pointers in the script to aid in camera work and shorten workload.

Storyboards for Assignment 5

Annotation is provided in the image viewer.

Jusification Assessment of Project Downscale

In light of the presentation I gave I have decided it would be best to downscale my project that I proposed to make it easier to achieve the goals I set. The previous proposal was to create a 1 minute 3D Animation including 4 different characters and 2 different ships. It would include voice acting and sound effects. This idea proved to be too ambitious and outside of my range of skills. Doing half of these things in the given time might have still proved too difficult. I decided to focus on the most prominent aspect of the project, which was the ship. The ship also happened to be the main component featured in the presentation, in a low poly state. My new task is to create a high quality model of the ship, the ‘Goldfish’ utilizing sculpting and texture painting to create the best possible 3D Rendition of the ship thus far. I felt focusing one this aspect was the right call as it would not require the advanced skills necessary to produce working human models and it would also allow me to focus on a singular piece of work and make it at a professional standard. This task still aims to challenge me, using new techniques and old, while providing an outlet to refine my skills and develop on my ideas. It allows me to develop on the concept of the ship I provided in the presentation, using skills I previously used on the ship to a greater capacity. It also allows me to learn me complex tools such as sculpting and texture painting to make the design even better and work to the best of my ability.

The final proposal for the new project is as follows.

I will produce one high poly 3D Model of a Ship following the design proposed in the initial presentation, creating it to the best of my ability while learning new key skills and following a professional standard of work to create a model of similar quality to other professional works.

Programs:

Photoshop CS5

Autodesk Maya

ZBrush

Adobe Premiere.

The final model will be presented with the Maya File, Obj. File, A full 360 Panaromic Video that also shows all of the individual details on the model and all of the raw assets that make the model.

Colour Correction Annotated Screenshot Evidence

When Colour Correcting the footage, I first open up Adobe Premiere, setting my file to the same format as the camera used. Once I was in the Dashboard I then dragged the files into Premiere’s Media Bin so they are easy to access.

After this I drag the footage into the timeline in the order it was shot. We took multiple takes from different angles so we could change the shot accordingly without losing the flow of the scene. When we want the shot to change to one of the other angles we filmed, we take out the part in question and replace it with the corresponding section from the other take.

The first thing we do to colour correct the film is use the Colour Balance effect in the Effects Tab. We drag it onto the clip in the timeline to apply it and then manipulate the properties of the effect in ‘Effect Controls’. We can then move the sliders to change various strengths on the RBG colour scale, which in turn affect the clip in different ways.

After getting the desired Color, we can also change the Contrast and Brightness to also adjust the Color Correction Effect. While doing so we make sure to check the YC Waveform display. This Display shows us the strength of the colours as a frequency in the clip. If the frequency goes above 100 at any point, it means that the parts above that line will only display as white. We make sure not to go over 100 or below 0 to maintain the integrity of the image.

Now that we’ve added our colour correction, we export the clip without using any compression methods, so we can move it into Adobe After Effects.

We’ve now moved the clip into Adobe After Effects to make our Vignette. First we add a layer on top of our finished clip which will be used to create a vignette.

When we make the Layer we make a Solid Layer. We make sure it is the same size as the clip and fill the Solid Layer with Black, which will be the colour of our surrounding vignette.

When we use a tool on the layer, It will fill it with a Solid Black. We use an oval tool and draw it in the layer as a mask to create a black oval mask that is centred in the film.

Then we go into our mask setting and change it from Add to Subtract, which inverts the effects of the Mask, surrounding the film with a solid black vignette.

Finally, we change the opacity of the mask and feather it, to smooth the vignette out and push it further into the corners of the film.

Short Marked Scripts for the Godfather Genre Swap Films

Raw Word Document Files for both of the Shot Marked Scripts

Investment Banker Script

Corrupt Cop Script

Godfather Genre Swap Videos

The Video for our Modern Crime Thriller starring a corrupt cop.

 

The Video for our Drama starring Investment Bankers

Skyline Video for Assignment 3

This is the skyline video I made using Photoshop and Adobe Premiere.

When we made the video, we first had to find a suitable location and shoot it. We ran across some problems in the area we chose because we did not have a tripod and needed to have a still video clip, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to mask the footage. We improvised with a lighting pole and the camera cap to keep the camera still and tilted slightly to get the base angle possible of the shot we wanted. We had to shoot the video twice because the video was badly focused the first time.

Once I had the finished raw video I used masking techniques in both Photoshop and Premiere to cut the Cityscape out so I could layer it on top of the new skyline. In Photoshop I used the quick select and polygonal lasso tool to cut the Cityscape out of the skyline. Once I had the Cityscape cut out, I filled it with black, as I only needed the shape for the mask, not the image.

Once I had the mask, I imported it into premiere and used the Matte Key Tool to Mask the Cityscape according to the shape of the mask. This enabled me to put it on top of the new skyline without bringing over the original one, while still retaining the high quality of the video.

I ran across some issues during the creation of this product, I didn’t have the editing software I needed and we had some problems with the scene we shot. One problem I had was that there were some swaying trees in shot that made masking impossible. I had to crop the trees  out to solve the problem. While this was an easy solution it did come with the risk of losing video fidelity, so if I was to shoot this video again, I would take these elements into account to save me problems in the future.

As I did not have the editing software needed, I had to use another piece of software I did have, Adobe Premiere. While I did manage to complete the product up to the requested standards in Premiere, I failed to stick to a request of the brief to use Final Cut Pro. I should have made arrangements to use Final Cut Pro during the assignment period and will try to amend this in the future.

Overall while the end product met the requirements, I had some issues creating it that could have been amended with better planning and access to the resources stated in the brief.

Raw PSD Files