Is that a plane?

The whole idea for this module is for a spaceship to come down and pick up the victim so that means that i need to create a ship. I went with the idea of a dreadnought and doing a matte painting instead which made it easier since i didn't have to model anything like how they do the cutscenes in halo 4 of the cruiser called infinity. i created multiple designs by taking reference of the ones on my list and some i went with an already existing design and changed it.

Above are some ideas that were abandoned but parts of the designs were incorparated into the final design. Look below

the final design ended up being very star wars based but suited the image of a dreadnought over all the others which made it the obvious choice.

Head on

Now the first bit of concept art i created was the head of the creature which i developed the most since that is what i wanted seen most in the shot since there was a close up scream scene in the storyboard here are the concepts below

the angle i was going for was robotic but also threatening which led to me not adding eyes on the character due the human mentality were we are scared of things that don't have features similar to us  in the end i decided on the very top two due to it being more of a ominous design and how unlike the others it's less thin and took influence from gorillas.

i only did one concept for the body which is like a gorilla but with small legs and walking on their arms altogether it made a very inhuman creature to terrify tim with in the final piece.

I'm Learning

Some of us like myself needed to learn how to use after effects from the ground up underneath is a pic from the lessons he taught us.

I really found the lessons helpful since it assisted with the teleport in to the ship scene later but the main thing this was supposed to help with was a title sequence which it assisted with but i choose to do a little different.

I think i would be watching alot more guide videos if it wasn't for those lessons so i still find the resource helpful

Lights camera action baby

so tim's personal shoot from what i heard we were the biggest group which made the time management a pain i tried to take charge during the session since i became the camera man for everyone so during the session i tried to limit how spaced out similar shots were such as shots for me a sarah were similar so they were filmed after each other.

The group stood as sarah, me, tim, dan, wiz, andy, jes, phil, joel. The sort of shots we did range from close up shots to crane and dolly shots though i admit we did joke about while working. I enjoyed working together and i improved my skills with the camera compared to last time i used it, i hope we do similar teamwork in future projects and also it goes better because i almost strangled joel twice....on purpose.

Yeah don't let joel near the camera when it is running

JACKIE RESEARCH

Now as everyone else we have a set storyboard except the last panel and the designs are all our own so i decided the first thing i would do is make a list for influence being influence for ships or the alien design here are the lists below:

       

The above and below pictures are the designs i used to reference my own design these designs range from games to films and even comics as you can see i am looking into a more cybernetic creature rather than just flesh and blood which i think will give me more experimentation in my modelling.

Mow here are the ship influences and if i didn't mention i am a sci fi fan which i think comes though with my research of the ship. I have decided that i will make a dreadnought and do it as a matte painting rather than model a huge ship even if it is a small model.

My main focus for this module is to improve my character modelling skills so that will have a precedent other the rest of the components for the composition. this should get interesting.

It's Alive....i think

I found a interesting video showing how a VFX group called Fido set out their scenes by using the example of Underworld: Awakening.



Another wake up call as someone in the industry, now as someone who has watched this movie i can say that the effects aren't as grand as other films but as you can see the bits they do are very well made such as the guys throat being ripped out i wouldn't think in a million years to try that but here it is right in front of me in guide form even down to the wires for effects being removed.

  Altogether a great find of a video and this will definitely influence my after effects in a good way

Deja Vu

Now A group it would be stupid to ignore is double negative since the are a very prominent VFX company for movies at the moment. i have a showreel of one of there employees to show just below.



Now i don't know about you but i am jealous of what is shown since they are very well done shots even though most of the shots he shows are all action scenes with the extra spice of over the top.
I love the sort of films he shows so i am happy with the crazy actions scenes but even if you are not a fan of the style you have to appreciate how well they are down since some you wouldn't believe are VFX.

EXTRA EXTRA

I had my acting debut today, oh joy but yeah i was only an extra as you can see in the shot but as the day progressed and we got in the mindset we all worked together well. We all had jobs though some weren't as glamourous as other but as a group i think it went well. The shots themselves we had i think that a few are duds due to the people in the background but that is to be expected since we are students not a multi-millions pound filming can that can close the street for a day.

Haven't seen a class in so much unity like below, also on a side note we couldn't use this audio due to iron lungs on the far left in the picture since the scream was so loud it becomes distorted when you use it. personal tip for next time try to do better city audio.

Once all this filming was done Annabeth showed us how to film properly using the green screen for our private shoots later on in groups which became invaluable during that day of filming.

World of pure imagination

I decided since it is a movie series that i love i would do a post on it especially since it is a behind the scenes that we all watched together as a class.

Watching the behind the scenes got me ready for what would need to be done when it got round to doing our own green screen work since it outlines the difficulty for the actor as well as the director and camera man so have a look

Now as i looked at this i didn't have delusions of grandeur since while the ones who create are professionals that have done this for many years i am a green horn that hasn't effectively used after effects at all until this module so this video got me hyped for trying after effects.

If our shots look half as good as above i will be happy with the outcome of the shoot and will enjoy experimenting in after effects. The thought that the possibility of doing something like this in the future looms over as I do the module lets hope it goes well since this may be a potential form of enjoyment in the future.

Walk before you run

Now before i did some research into companies or individuals that use after effects or VFX i decided to do some research into how to make a video and what steps will be needed for me to make a relatively good video/movie sequence.

       The youtube video i decided to do my research from was the 102nd episode of the angry video game nerd since he had a history of video editing, a series that is very popular and which he uses his knowledge on for every episode. So with out further a do the vid is just below.



Watching him demonstrate how he works makes me realise how inexperienced i am ranging from how he arranges all his work and just his workflow. This video doesn't show his after effect work even though he does use it.

  What i learn\t from AVGN is that as i progress i really need to use some of the techniques he uses such as time codes which really would make my work a lot easier than it was in other modules that we have done.

I thought i should mention that i was also going to put a shot on that shows a more action heavy sequence but ended finding that the video i was going to use has recently been deleted so i will explain what the video showed. The mainly explains how he composited the shot to make it appear like he was thrown on a chair and broke it, how he does it he shows taking a still shot of the empty chair, a shot of the chair being pulled down to show the effect of it breaking and finally james jumping into the futon which is being held up. I think this may be a basic form of after effect but is shows good compositing since it looks seamless.