P1 Research and Understanding Mattes and Matte Painting

Matte painting are very useful in the media industry especially film makers. Matte painting are a representation of landscape created by the film maker. This is done to create the illusion of an environment, that either doesn't exist or expensive to use, and impossible to visit or build.

Matte paintings go all the way back to 1905. A man called Norman Dawn developed a technique, that uses both photography and paintings to enhance the location being shot by camera. A photographer himself, he took his own photos and paintings and placed them on a large glass sheet. After positioning the camera in the right position the live footage would take place. This resulted a combination between a simple painting and and actual live scenery.

Back in the day when matte paintings first came out, they were either created by hand or mixed with photos. Roughly around 80 years after Dawn's creation, they started using computer and programmes came with its own digital paintings. This enhance to realism of the environment. In 1985, painter Chris Evans was the first to create a digital matte painting used in the film 'Young Sherlock Holmes'. Which leads to matte paintings we see today in films.

This clip shows the original background was and what it changed to in the filming, to show it fits in the rest of the film.

Sound effects - 'Drive'

For the Sound Unit we have to analyse THREE different types of sounds. We have already done DIALOGUE - Misfits. Now we're looking at SOUND EFFECTS and we've used the clip at before - the opening of Drive.

Purpose: to build tension in a clip directors give you little bit of information but not enough to keep you satisfied happy is not knowing what comes next, while you make up a scenario, over thinking it in your head and ask ourselves questions, e.g. whats going to happen?
It also establish genre and sets tone e.g.serious, overall its there to entertain the audience.


Information... but not all information:
The watch strapped to the steering wheel, adds tension as its always ticking showing that time is moving on. Also shows that time is against the robbers; the driver gives them 5 mins from when they enter the premises to when they get back in the car. The ticking doesn't stop until the car door is shut from the last robber who only had a couple of




Police radio gives the audience a sense of police movement and that they are aware of the robbery. This shows us they enemy in the case the police for the robbers are constantly watching and can corner them at any given moment. However this prop can be seen as a weapon for the robbers as they know exactly where the police are and can dodge them. This cause tension as we don't know if they could still get caught.
 



The driver is listening to a ball game playing on the radio while the robbers are in the building until the end, where they are in the car park at the end. There can be many purpose to this, like it's calming the driver while all this chaos is happening around him, linking the world of crime with everyday life. It could also be the drivers strategy of getting away, if you listen to it, it seems whatever is happening in the game is happening while they trying to get away its as if the ball game and the crime is in                sink since he put the radio on and the game starts from the last quarter


Environmental Sounds: There are a lot of background noise (environmental sounds) in this clip, to help set the pace of this scene. This is used in the clip to build tension as well, for example the noises used like the wind, crickets, sound of traffic alarms and police sirens. Also where this clip is set brings more tension to the scene. The area they robbing is very public, making the audience aware of danger to the public while they tying to escape, or will they be caught because they blend into their surrounding.

P1 Improved Shots + Analysis

 This photoanimatic that we retook, I would say is good because it a nice side shot of all the characters walking into the college. This shot was taken by a slight angle so you could say, it shows the viewpoint of characters giving them space to move. 

 Although this shot breaks the rule of having an object not in the centre of the frame. I think it works well, as Ke'nan is in focus where the background isn't. The photo frames in the background do create leading lines as well as the lights on the celling leading to the door outside. This image also creates a lot of tension as there's no space to move, however there's some ease to this image as there is an exist shown by the leading lines at the back.

 This is a good photo animatic, as you can see all the characters interacting with one another. There is also the use of diagonal lines - starting from the bottom left corner.

 This shot uses the rule of thirds - Ke,nan in the first third and Phoebe in the last third. Also the picture at the background is central in the image. This balances out the elements as it makes both characters seem equal, however if you look closer Ke'nan is looking down making him seem more dominant in the conversation between the two characters. 

This image is focused on the conversation between Ke'nan and Phoebe, making them seem more important as their the focus point. However Skye is cropped halfway into the picture to shows she's there but shows she's being left out. 

This is good long shot of all the characters interacting whilst they framed in by the walls, celling and floor showing depth in this picture creating space to move in both directions.Also what helps is the diagonal leading lines used again by the photo fames on the corridor walls.

P1 Casting Notes

Character: Phoebe. (Female)

(We are looking for someone with a energetic and strong, stubborn personality, with blonde long hair and a young face, with blue or green eyes).

The actress we have chosen is Jade - Lee Peachey - Gordon, we believe this actress suits the part because she has long blonde hair and a energetic personality, with a young looking face, and a young playful personality.

(The alternatives that we had was Shelby Lucier because she has medium length blonde hair, and pale blue eyes as well, as a stubborn personality).

Character: Skye. (Female)

(We are looking for someone who is calm, with blue eyes and a light (pastel) coloured hair).

The actress we have chosen is Shelby Lucier, we have chosen this actress because she has a has tendency of having a quite personality and pale blue eyes, with blonde hair.

(The alternatives that we had was Jade - Lee Peachey - Gordon because she has long blonde hair).

Character: Ke'nan. (Male)

(We are looking for someone who is clean cut, someone that can pull of being gay, and has dark coloured hair and tall).

The actor we have chosen is

(The alternatives that we had we went through three different castings for this role but we finally found someone and that was "forgot his name")

Character: Extra (girl in classroom).

(We are looking for someone who is quiet and can look busy).

The actress that we have chosen is Christen because she can be quiet and can be busy.

Charater: Extras (Mixed genders)
(Just people who can help to create the feel of a classroom)

P1 VFX Assest sheet

Shots/ Scenes: 1 - 23

Location: The locations of which we are filming are in F15, Outside the fire exit door of F15, and also the corridors around college (Long Road). We will use F15 for the last few shots that are taken in the classroom, for the desks to sit at, that way we have a classroom at the ready for us to use, we are also using this location for the scenes where need the green scree, because it is a quiet room, therefore we wont get interrupted much, we are also using this room for the green screening because it has a straight wall so that we can hang the green screen up. We are using the area outside the fire exit of F15 because it is close to F15 therefore we dont need to go far if we need to film quickly, we are also using this area because it looks pretty and mystical because of all the trees around, and also the stalls made out of bark etc. It also has a section where it's dark because of the trees, but it also has a section where it is open so that we can get the light in form the sun as-well. We are using all college corridors because they suit the film in as far as it has the colours on the walls down the corridor we need and also the windows, it also has the lockers we need to.

Description: Most of our shots are all going to be fairly magical and also mystical for it is a fantasy genre, it is also going to be fairly dramatic because of the sound effects that we will be using such as the ice effects and also the heart beat effect in the background of some of the shots and the black out that we will use before shots 'scene 5 shot 1' when the ice blows out of Phoebe's mouth. Our film will also be fairly high tech because of the space whale and the ice deer, and copper horse that we are going to use and also need to design. We are also planning on having a lot of different design ideas, such as acting, green screening, adobe effects, photoshop. We are also planning on using music in the film to.

Raw Footage: The main Raw footage that we will have will be the whole of scene 4, which is of Phoebe, ke'nan and Skye walking down the corridors, this is going to be Raw footage because there is no shot where we wil need an effect. We will also be able to take this straight away as it is in an easy accessible location and the location fits perfectly with the on screen location.

Chromakey: We are going to have a lot of Green Screening 'Chromakey' in our video, for the whole of scene 3 is using a green screen and also scene 2. We need to use Green Screen a lot for there are magical creatures in our video such as the copper horse and the straw deer and also the space whale, and these are the shots that base around scene 3, therefore we need the Green Screen to make it look realistic. We need the green screen for scene 2, because we are doing a drowning scene which needs to look realistic, and also a scene where the insides of Phoebe turn to ice rather than natural insides.

P1 Scene Breakdown Sheet

 

                       

      

P1 Props Table

Production Meeting 2 - After Effects Shoot (practise)

Script location:
The script location is in the college corridors when Phoebe, Skye and Keenan are all talking together about Phoebe belonging in the Ice Palace back home, and also the classroom again when Skye, Phoebe and Keenan are all talking to each other about the witch coming back. Another script location will be underwater when Phoebe is drowning during the flashback in shot 2. Another script location will be the field when there is a pan of the field where the characters are flying over. There will also be a location using the sky when Phoebe is flying on the deer, and also Skye on the space whale and Keenan on the polar bear.

Shoot location:
The shoot location of our script will be Long Road Sixth Form College, outside and inside. When filming outside we will be filming through the fire exit at the back door in F15, we will be filming in this location because it has a small track where trees hang over the path, which creates a pretty magical feel to the audience. We will also be here because there is also an open area right next to the path therefore we can also do the field scenes. When filming inside we will be filming in the corridors near the LRC, we will be filming here because it has lockers and also doors and openings plus the hall colours makes it clear that it is in a college, we will also use the classroom F15 for the classroom scene.

What went wrong?
During the practise filming that we took the main issue we had was the green screen and getting rid of the creases in the green screen, the other main issue we found that we had was keeping the prop and also the actor in similar position in each shot of movement ex. when trying to get me riding the deer.

What did you struggle with in terms of AE?
In terms of AE the main struggle we had was making it look realistic, this was hard because we had to move me on the deer from different photos, to make me look like I was riding the deer as the character Phoebe.

What do you need to learn?
- skills - techniques
We need to learn how to use the green screen correctly and make sure that there are no creases in the green screen because if there is then it makes it harder to edit in Photoshop. We also need to learn how to make all of the photos that we take then edit on Photoshop of us riding the creatures, look effective in premier pro and make it look like an actual film as if the animals are moving and also looking real at the same time.

What assets do you need?
- props - CGI - make up/costume
The assets that we need are CGI's when doing the deer, polar bear and also the space whale. We need costumes to make the characters look natural and plain which will only be jeans and a T-shirt etc. for we would like the characters to look ordinary. We are also going to have make - up so that it looks better on the camera and comes through a lot clearer. The main props that we are going to use are tables and chairs when the characters are sitting down at the table talking about the witch. We may also need props such as the creatures in models to get the photos and videos (shots) of.

P1. Analysing you cinematography

                                      

This shot is going to be for the space whale that Shelby is going to pretend to ride once we've made changes on Photoshop. However the framing is all wrong in this composition, as its not getting the whale straight on and the white borders affect this. Also the yellow card isn't covering the full background of the whale, leaving the nose of the whale grey.

This picture could use some cropping around the two verticals sides as the brown space of the table isn't. This  shot could off also been a straight on instead of a slight tilled angle.

This is not a good composition as it restricts the actors space to move. Also Shelby's eye-line is looking downwards when it should be looking at Jade.

Composition of Will and Shelby is put off by, Will looking directly at the camera. Also the background is cluttered with both walls full of posters, which draws the viewer away from what going on stage between the characters.

This picture is not in focused at all so you don't really know what you should be looking at first. However what is good about this composite is the lights are leading line almost in line with wills head, which would of been a good symmetry. 

Th e lighting and tones used in this composition shows contrast as the darker tree is more focus the the bright willow tree that is blurred. This composite was taken from an up stairs window, trying to get different levels to show the angle you looking at.

This composite of a skeleton use a good use of depth creating shadows, this angle that it was shot at also shows diagonal lines.

good use of cropping as this composition is of Jade drowning making this look claustrophobic. her eyes are warped and her mouth is the focal point where the bubbles are most at shooing she's running out of oxygen.

This is a good photos in the background create leading lines, this composite also breaks the rule of space to move making this shot tense as we don't know where he's looking. As well as he in the centre of the frame creating symmetry with the photo frames in the background. 

Good use of balancing elements, as you have the charters looking bigger then the background extras. This also uses depth as it shows how close the main at ors are then the extra, showing there is foreground and background that not making the composition flat.

P.1 Anamatic - Hail

P1. VFX Test Footage

Our storyline intals a lot of mystical creatures. For our visual effects research, we focused on Phoebe's character as she is riding on her 'Ice Deer' practising for when we have to do the actual filming later. This also helped us get use to how the green screen works and what complication when using it - we found that the green screen had to have no creases in it other wise when putting in a background there would be uneven. 

Phoebe played by Jade-Lee Peachy-Gordan was sitting on a wooden chair with the green screen behind her and the Ice Deer was resting on the wooden chair. All the visual effects we've done on this shot, was done using Adobe Photoshop.

PHOTOSHOP:

1. We took footage of Jade pretending to ride on the Ice Deer in front of the green screen

2. We took a footage of a sculpture, of a deer made by the art department and placed it in the same position that jade was sitting in.

3. Uploaded all the footage we took on to Photoshop.

4. We used the lasso tool on both 'Deer and Jade'.

5. We placed Jade behind the deer and cut her hands and made copies of the which we place in front of the deer.

6. Merge all the lyres together to make a composite. (Jade/Deer/Hands).

7. Made 2 new layers for the background placed composite on the first layer (Sky).

8. Second layer (Cloud) we used the lasso tool to cut out the bottom cloud.

9. Placed the cloud on Sky layer in front of the deer.

10. Merge all layers together. ((Jade/Deer/Sky)(Sky/Cloud)).

Final Composition 

I though it looked fairly realistic, however I would change the background colours to more bluer tones. Next time I would also be careful cutting around the deer's antlers.

P.2 Location Recce