Location Scout

Myself, Jeppe Nielsen and Michal Zagorski set out to have a look at some locations we had in mind for the film.

We need:

A living room -  my family home, with CG alterations

A hospital - the Clinical Skills Centre at Ninewells, with CG alterations

A church/cathedral - we have had a look at The Steeple, but are set to contact St Pauls

Two alleyways - We have found two in the Nethergate, with some created in CG

A factory - this will be CG with live action smoke, for example.

We have all but one location locked, and I feel the progress is very encouraging and the way everything has been conducted has been very professional by the experienced team.

'The Escapist' | Outcome

'THE ESCAPIST' | Music Video Animation Sequence from Fraser Murdoch on Vimeo.

'The Escapist' Project

Last semester I had a discussion with cinematographer and TBA student Michal Zagorski. We discussed the fact that I needed a cinematographer for my masters project and that he needed an animator for his third year TBA music video 'The Escapist' which he was working with classmate Jeppe Nielsen on.

The deal was made, and I had a long discussion with him about what he and Jeppe had imagined for this piece in one particular scene. I started to put down what he said and then made progress trying to get support in some technical areas to produce the work - as I could not manage it by myself.

In the masters studio as I discussed the project, Thomas Hogben showed a keen interest in doing particles for the film - something in which he is passionate about. That got the project rolling, and as the new year came there were more frequent meetings about both projects. Mainly director Jeppe bagan chairing meetings and we got 3D modeller, rigger and animator Sang (Sean) Hun Yu involved to make the bats.

Thomas had used one of the plates for a test for his masters project based on light particles travelling in ultra slow motion. I showed his work of light travelling from the headlights of the car in one of the plate and Michal and Jeppe loved it, so we encorporated it into the film. Tom then found time to develop the look of the particles.

Another thought came to mind during one meeting - animation of ants underground was needed. So, I got my friend Brian Lindsay involved. Later to find out that Jeppe and Michal wanted the ants so small you would hardly see them. In the same meeting, I realised that we may need to reconstruct the background when the headlights brighten up the darkness. So, I asked Brian to help painting up a tree for us. Communication and meetings really are important. The input in them and me Thomas and Sean working in the studio have been really important, even for such a small project. This point does need to be stressed to some people.

Primarily I was compositing everything and doing a lot of basic animation and key framing shifting in After Effects. However, by the end of the project, recently, the 'proper' compositing and 'VFX' were involved - rendering and lighting the bats and compositing them, the headlights and trees.

It has been a good team. And these are the type of people I like to work with. And, I am satisfied with the quality of the small project on a short timescale. So, I look forward to the rest of the production of my masters film project with Michal and Jeppe, and others involved.

Now, let's win some awards!

'The Escapist' Updates | Tracking

The project I am working on in conjunction to my main piece with Jeppe Nielsen and Michal Zagorski is nearing an end. It should be summed up by Monday the 10th.

The main animation sequence in the extreme long shot has been updated (last week):

Some tweaks have been made to this. Particularly, the moon does not scale up and appears to light up the fog as it parts (not all of the fog) and the bats/stars in the sky stay there for the majority of the clip until they fly away with the moon. I am waiting on the final particles for the bats from Thomas using Sean's bat then will sync' it the best I can.

I have tracked and corrected this other shot in the sequence. I took the light from inside the boot out to make sure it was darker; put Sean's 3D bat in position, rendered them, tweaked them in Photoshop and then composited them and the corrections into the tracked shot.

Here is the latest on that shot:

Original plate:

 Comp' still:

The track could be a bit less shaky if it were done in another software I think, but it was done in After Effects for flexibility. I am happy with the composite though in regards to how the lights and shadows are reacting while still keeping to the surreal idea the director wants - the idea that we do not quite yet know what all of this stuff in the boot is (dark and abstract in a sense).

After this, the bats will all flood toward the screen and then passed the character and into the sky as you can see in the first clip.

There is another shot I've not mentioned where the headlights of the car seeps into the sky, and for this shot my friend Brian Lindsay is drawing trees which I will use in the background to make it appear as though the headlights are lighting the background up (which of course is very dark and lost in the plates).

__________

In my main project: The storyboard is underway, the script is getting good feedback, I am thinking about the practicalities and how long it will take to execute the effects in the shots, we're still developing the piece in regards to these things and our plans for shooting. By May we will be filming, so the planning and testing will all be done. Then I will be executing the final techniques. For August, the full piece may or may not be fully polished and finalised, but the effects and look will be thoroughly detailed in what is presented. After August, the final film touches in general will be finalised and it will be submitted to this and that.

Projected Film Techniques

The film script we have written states that there are interior environments, and one exterior, which are abandoned and derelict in look. This is projected to be created by a live action shoot and compositing photographed wall textures from derelict settings onto cards after tracking, etc, all within Nuke. The photography will be executed along with cinematographer Michal Zagorski. After the tutorial with lecturer Jin Zhi on Friday the 25th of January 2013, the techniques have become more clear - particularly when to apply lens distortion and how to use tracking and roto nodes.
This is for the shots within the living room especially, within the imagination sequence. When he returns to normality the living room will be the original live action plates, simply colour graded.

There is another shot or two where the environment will have to be created fully in CG. This is where I will collaborate with my classmate Lina Ivanova. The character will be shot on green screen to later be composited into the scene. I will be using my practiced techniques I used in Test 1 in semester 1, and I will take my experience from that to hopefully make a better result.
For example, the first things I think of are; moving the camera and setting up tracking markers on the screen to then track and take the camera into the CG environment; keying within Nuke; putting lens distortion onto the CG environment render probably from shooting a grid with the camera, or shooting a structure for lines, or I might be advised to use another technique.

The other main technique will be the shot in which both brothers are seen conjoined in one shot - from behind. This will be achieved likely with a double. The shots before, or even after, this shot will show both brothers in separate shots talking to one another whilst the audience still do not know they are conjoined. It may at this point seem like schizophrenia.

These are my thoughts at this point in time. I look forward to working on all of these techniques and I have a clear idea of the project's schedule, especially now that I have a very clear film script. More on this later.

Fleshed-out Script (Update)

So, the script writing process has had me sat down in lively and productive exchanges with collaborators Jeppe Nielsen, Michal Zagorski and Mark Grossi on a couple of occasions. We were basically letting the noggins re-enter the world of the story and tie up all of the lingering issues or thoughts and get a full narrative together using the fairly complex material we had already. It must be said that after two mornings doing just that, and touching up the document in Celtx afterwards both afternoons, we are pleased with the clarity we have at this stage in the script. It just needs tweaked and tweaked, little by little. Any impracticalities or deeper issues will be ironed out, and the piece needs visualised concretely in terms of cinematic shots, shooting locations, scene transitions, the compositing effects explored and the likes. It works as a story first and foremost. So, the next stage is simultaneous script tweaks and storyboarding. Then getting the cast and crew locked before we shoot in May. 

The script I feel is at a stage to share with peers and such for feedback:

Here is the link to view the script on Google Docs (how very lucky are you?) Go on. Have a 'sneak peak'.

Reflection on practice: The plot has a fair amount of twists and turns, but I still feel it is simple and short. In our meetings I always drum in the idea that I am one guy, and can only produce one guy's amount of compositing effects. I wanted to have say three 'main shots' and a limited number of techniques I will focus on in my masters, using this piece. I feel we have produced a script which supports this study plan.

Although, the storyboarding stage will formalise the techniques required and therefore the test shots which are next in the production line along with storyboarding.

We shoot the plates in May. I will then produce as many of the compositing effects required until the end of the programme. Some shots will require no post effects, other than grading. I will display what I have and update my showreel. The shots will work as complete images which hold story in it's composition. This stands as a piece of academic and visual effects work in itself. If there are still shots left or re-shoots to co-ordinate after that then we can continue on with the project succeeding the end date of my masters degree. That is how we work. 

Considering the collaborations involved, and somewhat additionally my prior experience in the field, the roles of this project are well shared and spread at the moment, for me personally. I believe myself to be simply a compositor with a hands-on attention (okay, a heavy one) to the shots he will be compositing.

After doing too much leg work in my previous student film 'My City' where I dug myself a deep hole and had to study and re-write my way out of it (to improve the film) I believe I have a good idea of the essence of what is important to make a film effective, simple and correct and where detail is needed to be spend developing and working on. This means I don't waste as much time, and ultimately feel I will make a better and more audience-orientated piece (moving on from kind of art animation films.) And, I feel I am collaborating in the correct areas and currently developing a bigger crew so the standard of professional practice in my process is progressing.

'The Escapist' Update

My collaboration with Michal Zagorski and Jeppe Niesen has me, as I have shown before, working on the music video 'The Escapist'.

Here is an update on how it is going. I have included the music and some context of the full music video for this clip:

I am compositing the piece. Thomas Hogben is working on the particle simulations of the bats and headlights (which were shown in the animatic in the December 2012 post), Sean has modelled the bat and Brian Lindsey is set to produce some trees for the headlight simulation.

Reflection on practice: This project is based on my programme of study mainly because it is a compositing job and based in visual storytelling. However, I feel that this is a little off-topic in the sense that I am working in After Effects, which is the best software for the piece. In the course I hope to utilise Nuke more predominantly. Nonetheless, this is definitely a good project, good practice, good for the showreel, good progress and beneficial as part of a 'deal maker' to get my film produced to higher standards with my team over both projects.