YESH my superhero visual effects video is finally done done DONE!
You might notice that there is one major change between my video and my storyboard - I had removed the bullet time freeze sequence! I had tried to implement that, but to do so, I need a clear tracking point. I tried tracking using both After Effects and Mocha but the tracking marks were just too poor (probably because the iPhone is thin and so when the camera rotates, the tracking mark is lost inevitably).
A solution I had thought of would be to paste a colored sticker (probably green so that it doesn't clash with the colors on my actor's shirt) on the tip of the iPhone with a black dot in the middle. But due to time constraints and the fact that I think I wouldn't be able to connect the gun shot sequences well.. I decided to just scrap it.
There is also some unsmooth jumps of the video......which I have absolutely NO IDEA why. I have checked my Premiere project files and my output settings are exactly the same as my source's.. both HD and 29.97 fps...... so I really have no idea why it still appears choppy.. it does makes me feel giddy. =( that would be the main disappointment in the video. I think it's because I used a Canon 500D to film it.. I'm not sure... T-T
But I think my biggest achievement in this video was that I managed to do the lightsaber sequence FRAME BY FRAME! O.O I took about one and a half days just to do that.. also because I had to keep tweaking the positions as I had no reference to follow! In the tutorials that I had watched, they filmed with a lightsaber toy with the lightsaber rod attached (just that it's not turned on), so frame by frame becomes easier to do as they just have to move along with this rod as a reference. However, SINCE WHEN DOES AN IPHONE HAVE A LIGHTSABER ROD! I suppose I could have 'cheated' and used a real toy saber, but it would have been obvious. So it was just TONS OF GUESSING AND TWEAKING. But I think the final result turned out pretty ok.
And I think my actor (also my boyfriend) is also an awesome actor. I just love the last scene.. TOTALLY NATURAL!
So this is where my lectures from CS4340 Digital Special Effects is going to come in handy. :)
What are "Special Effects"? What are "Visual Effects"? What are the differences?
Special Effects
Special effects and visual effects may create an illusion/effect to make the scene more convincing to audiences, but the workings behind both are different.
Special effects are effects that are created within the set, in the context of the actual live-action shot. According to Wikipedia, special effects have traditionally been categorized into two separate effects: on-set mechanical effects and in-camera optical effect.
On-set mechanical effects Mechanical effects are created using mechanized props/scenery/scale models/pyrotechnic and atmospheric effects (creation of rain for example.. this reminds me of a time when I was touring South Korea with my family and saw a group people shooting a video with fake rain. They kinda like a big shower thingy and simulated rain!).
Examples (of the infinitely possible) include having doors that were 'engineered' to break during a fight scene, controlling a robot (off camera) so that the robot appears to be moving on its own etc.
Of the many breakthroughs in visual effects, the most noteworthy ones to me are Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings. For Star Wars, it was simply just out of the world (literally) at that specific era. And for Lord Of The Rings, the breakthrough came about most prominently in their use of perspectives to create the difference in sizes of the wizards and hobbits (will show an elaborate further).
Here are some videos to illustrate mechanical effects:
In this video, ILM (Lucasfilm's Industral Light & Magic) talks about how they created the character Jabba in the 1980s using a life-sized modela and people were controlling its expression. Obviously, such techniques will not be used in modern days anymore as we can easily generate CG models using computer software like Maya. (P.S. A great resource to find out more about the special effects in Star Wars is: "From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga". This video posted here is extracted from this resource)
This is about how the brilliant minds in LOTR achieved forced perspective.. and not just any simple forced perspective of how tourists do it by having their subjects stand and pose at a distance so that they like they're 'punching' the Eiffel Tower.. BUT FORCED PERSPECTIVE WHILE THE CAMERA IS MOVING! This is just incredible. Basically, how they achieve it is by having the characters at different positions and sliding them along while the camera moves so as to keep the forced perspective consistent!
Ok, this is just bizarre. We watched this video during a CS4340 class and we figured that they did this by having a large set that could actually rotate and have a camera fixed in the room (so it rotates together with the room). Pretty cool. We guessed that it's highly probable we're right because the actors always hesitate a while at the corners of the room which kind of suggests that they were waiting for the room to rotate till it's more stable for them to move on to the wall or ceiling. And at about 3.02, it's quite obvious that the table is shaken manually (either by hand or by machines).
This is a very informative video of how to make a person look old. It's really cool!
In-camera optical effects
In Wikipedia, optical effects (also called photographic effects), are techniques in which images or film frames are created photographically, either "in-camera" using multiple exposure, mattes, or the Schüfftan process, or in post-production processes using an optical printer. An optical effect might be used to place actors or sets against a different background.
Here is an episode in Movie Magic (embedding is disabled): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsSz5MZRNt0 One of the scene in this episode, it explains how compositing is achieved in a scene in Star Wars - whereby the characters are filmed with a blue/green screen and change the environment using an optical printer. This episode is mainly about the optical printer.
The famous bullet time technique pioneered in Matrix is achieved by using a row of cameras taking still shots and then fitting them together into the video so that they appear smooth. This shot, obviously, also has visual effects in them, which I will talk about next.
Back to Star Wars, here is a link that summarizes how the lightsaber shots are achieved: http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fun/ Basically, the lightsabers are rotoscoped in (i.e. painting over the film frame-by-frame, which can be done digitally now).
Visual Effects
Visual effects, or digital special effects (here's where it can get confusing), are effects that are generated by a computer, e.g. the robots in Transformers.
Visual effects (commonly shortened to Visual F/X or VFX) are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to capture on film. Visual effects using computer generated imagery (CGI) have become increasingly common in big-budget films, and have also recently become accessible to the amateur filmmaker with the introduction of affordable animation and compositing software. - Wikipedia
Digital compositing, a term widely used in VFX, means digitally manipulating and integrating at least 2 images to produce a new image.
Ok, enough talk, more show! There is an abundant pool of examples which we can draw from, but here are just some.
How can we not mention the technology used in Avatar when we talk about VFX? It's the new frontier! James Cameron uses the technology of performance capturing with motion capture (mo-cap for short).
This is a breakdown of the VFX in Pirates of the Caribbean. There are also elements of using blue/green screen and then chroma-keying the screen out (i.e. remove the screen).
This is a pretty cool breakdown of a HP commercial. Basically, the effect is achieved by using a green screen to capture the person's head. Almost everything else, i.e. his clothes and the office environment are generated by CGI.
This is a breakdown shot of what somebody did (not in the movies).
This is a cool video of the more modern Star Wars.
What are the benefits and disadvantages?
The most obvious benefit is that it helps producers/directors achieve something in the film that they will not be able to shoot live in normal circumstances. However, the difficulty in this is the time and effort (plus careful observation) on making the effect look realistic and thus believable. Believability is the most important component in VFX these days, coz nobody's ever going to pay to watch a movie with lousy effects..they're just not going to be satisfied.
These special and visual effects help filmmakers cut costs in some sense because for example, they cannot possibly build an entire planet! If they are going to need tens of thousands of people to shoot a war scene, digital special effects can greatly cut costs too.
The disadvantage is that, as mentioned before, it takes a lot of skill for VFX to look good and these talent is quite expensive. If any thing in the effects breaks realism, it will not look good at all and will ruin the entire effect.
So basically, the song is a reflection of the original singer, Tracy Chapman's struggles with poverty. She describes how she was leaving her hometown with her boyfriend in a 'fast car' and how she thinks she can 'make it' and 'be someone'.
Hence, the typeface which I chose to accompany this song starts out clean - to reflect a hope. Thereafter, the typeface slowly degrades to a more distorted font (e.g. I used the font "Rock It" for the chorus), to reflect desperation.
This is my first attempt in kinetic typography and it was as enjoyable as much as it was a killer (I know, it's a paradox which I myself don't understand). I actually spent close to 3 days to figure out the mechanisms in After Effects, planning out the animation, executing them....... and then found out that I made a mistake in not "continuously rasterizing" them so everything became extremely pixelated.
But I generally am quite happy with the results. =D=D I will overcome NM3208! Roar!
I think Assignment 2 is my most chaotic assignment so far, because I simply just couldn't think of an interesting enough idea without being too cliche (you can see from my first video). And my ideas were just all over the place.
I was kind of disappointed with myself that even though I had spent a lot of time on this video, it wasn't something that I was proud of.
I HAD TO REDO IT! (to make my final semester in NUS worthwhile haha)
But after encouragement from Julian to just be sincere and honest about my time in NUS, and after getting inspiration from some the great photostories on Youtube, I decided to make my own photostory.
Ok, I didn't have the time to do a script for this. I just dived right in with the concepts already in my head.
My NUS Photostory
In this photostory, I talk about my grieves in programming. It was tough business here in School of Computing, with quite a steep learning curve. I could barely catch up in the beginning and my grades suffered as a result. I thought of giving up many times and even tried once to apply out of SoC and into FASS..maybe it's God's doing that my application was denied. In any case, I have learnt to appreciate NUS and SoC for giving me great opportunities to grow and learn, plus making friends along the way.
You got a fast car I want a ticket to anywhere Maybe we make a deal Maybe together we can get somewhere
Anyplace is better Starting from zero got nothing to lose Maybe we'll make something But me myself I got nothing to prove
You got a fast car And I got a plan to get us out of here I been working at the convenience store Managed to save just a little bit of money We won't have to drive too far Just 'cross the border and into the city You and I can both get jobs And finally see what it means to be living
You see my old man's got a problem He live with the bottle that's the way it is He says his body's too old for working I say his body's too young to look like his My mama went off and left him She wanted more from life than he could give I said somebody's got to take care of him So I quit school and that's what I did
You got a fast car But is it fast enough so we can fly away We gotta make a decision We leave tonight or live and die this way
I remember we were driving driving in your car The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk City lights lay out before us And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder And I had a feeling that I belonged And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
You got a fast car And we go cruising to entertain ourselves You still ain't got a job And I work in a market as a checkout girl I know things will get better You'll find work and I'll get promoted We'll move out of the shelter Buy a big house and live in the suburbs You got a fast car And I got a job that pays all our bills You stay out drinking late at the bar See more of your friends than you do of your kids I'd always hoped for better Thought maybe together you and me would find it I got no plans I ain't going nowhere So take your fast car and keep on driving
You got a fast car But is it fast enough so you can fly away You gotta make a decision You leave tonight or live and die this way
I thought it'll be a rather cool song to use for this kinetic typography because I think I can use quite a lot of visuals to complement the lyrics. Besides, it's a pretty fast song (not in terms of the overall tempo, but the lyrics are sung in quarter/semiquarter notes).
I did a rough sketch for the first few verses of the song. For this assignment, I'll have to cut down the song to just the first two verses and the chorus.
