VFX project
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Brainstorming ideas
After creating a mind map of the different ideas for this project, for this project I want to place a 3D space ship over the top of a real life raw footage of the campus, it is undecided at this time of what the space ship will be doing but I do know that I would like to have sound effects and flashing lights as well as an explosion if possible. Although I only have a very limited amount of time so I will have to think about what the final piece will include.
Production schedule
I've created a to-do list that will help me and show; what's been completed, what is being worked on and what I need to start doing.
This to-do list will be updated through out this project.
Inspirational research (reference + my own)
I've also taken some inspiration from other peoples storyboards, to help create my own. With one of my own, it will help me when it comes to compositing the space ship, such as the different transitions, the camera movement, etc.
For this project I've gained some inspiration from this video and I now have some knowledge of how I will make my own explosion if I ever come to doing so.
I've also created two MoodBoards that will help when it comes to the modelling for the space ship and will help if I add any explosions as these images give me a bit of inspiration and help when it comes to finding the right shape, colour and size of it.
Storyboards
For the story board I had two ideas, Idea A has the ship flying into the camera whilst its shaking and will end with the ship crashing into it with the footage then going black.
Idea B has the ship flying in from the side whilst starting off by shaking the camera, then zooming in on the ship and then zooming back out with the camera shaking more aggressively than at the start, and ending with it exploding on impact.
I like Idea B as a better option as much more is happening, unlike A that has the ship simply zooming in on the camera.
If I would to choose B I would have to import a green-screen with the ship and explosion, or even separately. This being the case it means I will have to do more work but I'm looking to achieve the highest grade possible to my ability, so I'm challenging myself with this project.
I've given it some thought and I now have a better understanding of what process this project will follow. I think the explosion I will be adding, will be pre-made from Videezy as because of time restraints, although I would like to make my own but I've got little experience and I don't know how I would create it.
Production process
For this project I will be using a pre-made model of a space ship from Sketchfab as because of time restraints. Originally I was going to do the model myself although because I've decided to add an explosion, it's taken up a lot of my time on the project so I'm unable to make my own. As well there will only be a side view of the ship so it's unnecessary to spend the time modelling the whole thing.
https://sketchfab.com/3dmodels/freespaceshipunitron20a3bf99baf943f2887cb586b519524
First I uploaded the raw footage of a still shot of the campus onto After Effects, then I downloaded the pre-made model of the ship from Sketchfab. After that I exported the model onto Unreal Engine and placed a plane thats coloured green behind the ship to be a green-screen, so later it can be cut out on After Effects. With the screen and ship in place I created a cinematic camera shot and added a level sequence with me changing the ships orientation and position to make it look as if it was flying, as well removing the shadow. With all that finished I exported the end result onto After Effects and removed the green-screen.
Once on After Effects I duplicated the raw footage and placed the layer over the top of the others and added in some masks using the pen tool so the ship and explosion (and other effects later added) will be behind whats masked. After that I positioned the ship on another layer, first I placed the ship flying from left to right, eventually hitting the ground, then after some short feedback, I decided to duplicate the ship and make it so it flew from right to left first before turning around off screen. Then I added in the explosion just after the ship hits the ground and although the mask around the pole and cars work perfectly, but the smoke from the explosion doesn't appear through the car windows and it takes away from the illusion. So far I don't know how to fix this problem but in the future I think I will have to turn to YouTube for a guide but I think for now I will move on and come back to it later as there are more important things to add.
I then started to add other effects such as a smoke trail from the ship as well as a little flame on it to make it look as if a fire has started, I also got these from Videezy. After that I started to add sound effects over the top of the raw footage, this included jet flying sounds and an explosion sound from a different website called videvo.
Smoke: Fire with Alpha Channel - Free HD Video Clips & Stock Video Footage at Videezy!
Jet sound effect: Download Jet Fighter Pass Over Sound Effect Royalty Free FX PE831702 jet (videvo.net)
Explosion sound effect: Download mi explosion 03 Sound Effect Royalty Free FX hpx Explosions (videvo.net)
In the final stages of the production process, towards the end of this project, I don't think I'll be able to add the camera shaking as because of time restraints. As I'm writing this I do have one more extra week so I might be able to add it in but I'm also doing two other projects as well and I need to spend some time on them too.
During my final week I was able to fix the car window problem by going through the mask settings and changing them to subtract instead of add, so it cut a hole in the original mask so the smoke is visible through it. I'm glad I found how to fix this as the explosion and it's smoke actually look as if it belongs there. I also noticed by mistake that a reflection of the explosion is visible on the glass, I still don't know how this has happened but I'm glad its there.
Ultimately this project in some aspects did go well but there is also a lot I was planning to add but with the low time limit I was given, I was unable to do them. I do like what I've got in the end and I really like the smoke trail but again if I had more time I would've made it more higher quality.
Final piece
Evaluation
The green-screen I made was very effective, such as how the ship turns and leans to one side. I think what I need to improve on next time is spending less time on it and making the ship less blurry as you can't see the detail.
The effects I did was unexpectedly good, especially the smoke trails, such as the wind blowing them away. I think what I need to improve on next time is making the explosion look more realistic, but I think its because of the lack of lighting is what's the problem. And adding debris from the ship flying in the air when the explosion starts, and having it land in-front of the cars.
The sound effects I added was effective, especially the jet noises. I think what I need to improve on next time is having a better sound effect for the explosion, however I struggled to find one that was free.
I believe I successfully made most of what I wanted in the time I had, although because of time restraints and lack of knowledge on After Effects, I didn't add everything I was originally planning to have. But the main idea of a Spaceship crashing with an explosion is still there.
By the end of this project, I want to improve my lighting skills if I want to achieve a merit or a distinction. Honestly, I‘m going to need more feedback on my work and what I need to improve on as I’m struggling to know what I need to add next, other than the list on the right. My personal target is to improve my time management as I’m spending too much time on the green-screen stage and tinkering with effects on After Effects, and not enough time on adding the important things.
To achieve my target grade (merit), I need to work on adding... this is listed below.
Things I need to work on:
ACTION - Lighting,
ACTION - Masking,
ACTION - Green-screen,
ACTION - 3D tools,
etc... (list on right) >
Improved work so far:
Masking,
Green-screen,
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