Making the Compositions

One of the composition in Photoshop 

Rough sketch 

After doing the storyboard, we went out for a few photo days to take all the photos we need to do the compositions. Two of the days for locations stuff like buildings and street. One of the days for objects like teddy bear, dog bed, toy cars... We had on our hands a list of photos to take and planned our photo days through.

Four of us, one tripod and camera

We chose the buildings we like and planned on the angles to take the photos. The tutorial with Peter was comforting as he encouraged us to experiment with the photos but at the same time be mindful of the positioning of the camera. 

We were drenched in rain and shoes covered with mud

It felt like the last project in 1st year again. We were pretty much exploring everywhere to look for elements that we might include in each compositions. 

Someone wants to be in our project...

As for the objects, we were taking photos in Jay's house. The objects were laying on with papers for better results in cutting them out in photoshop. 

He just sat on one of the paper when we were didn't pay attention to it. He stayed for a long time as well. Just like he knew what we are doing and he's ready to be part of it. haha

The white sheets helped a lot. In photoshop, the very first thing we do is to cut out the elements one by one. The last thing to do in photoshop was to put all the elements together, mix and match, stop when I am happy with the composition. Cutting out the objects was way easier because of the sheets. We just need to use quick selection tool. For the buildings and other stuff in the environment, we had to cut them out manually, pixel by pixel. It took a long time in preparing the elements than putting them together. 

the process

When it's done in Photoshop, we brought it to AfterEffects. The full layout will be shown in AfterEffects with layers. From then on we can animate the movements. 

VFX Title Squence Development

Cornwall March, 2017. It is just so pretty, everywhere.

After the lesson, I decided to use the 3D space to navigate around the elements.

The order of the title sequence will be:

(Name of the Studio)
(Name of Production Company)
A Film by (Director's name)
Staring (Name)
Owl Man
Featuring (Names...)
Casting by (Name)
Music (name)
Production Designer (name)
VFX Maisie Mok
Edited by (name)
DOP (name)
Producer (name)
Base on the Owl Man mystery in Cornwall


The outline:

-moving forward on pavement in the woods
(Big name)-  Chio Studio
                  -  Legend Production

-sign post flips
   from A Film by
   to      Ruth Westwood

-still moving forward sees the church and graveyard
  zoom in on the graveyards and see
Staring 
Tony Haway 
  
-Owl Man fly over the screen revealing the film title Owl Man


However, there's not enough time for me to do all of that.

So the real outline is the following...

into the woods then reveal - (Name of the Studio) 
pan to reveal - (Name of Production Company)
Sign post - A Film by (Director's name)
Video - Staring (Names)
owl man sketch revealing - Owl Man

I would love to have the credits on sign posts

The project is mainly for me to explore in the world of VFX despite not knowing to well of it. The reason why I chose Owl Man as the theme and "imaginary movie" is because of my work experience in a similar project that is on going. I can't give out too much detail but I just want to have fun with the myth. I actually went to Cornwall as well for a UCAS event but I missed the bus to the church where the sightings based. I didn't get to go and see if the Owl Man is still there haha.

It was quite difficult to do the project due to my skill but I am happy I finished it at the end. Looking back, I don't think the colour purple was a good choice... I should've at least chosen a different shade of purple, a darker purple. It is too bright.

Drawings by the teens who claimed to saw the Owl Man, top one is used in the project

Art work found on google that I was planning to use

The video at the end was taken from Getty image by searching Cornwall. I cropped out the logo and added a cartoon effect on it. It's in black and white just like how we perceive the history. 

Last, owl man sketch revealing the Owl Man title haha! 

Filming Dance Film

It was a surprise to have received Sugini's invitation to film their dance film but I am very happy to help with that. I like their concept and their dancer Grace seems really cool when we met in the pre-light.

In the pre-light I told them how to set up the GH4 and told Sugini more details about using it according to my experience with it in my Maps & Networks.

In the filming days it was quite straight forward, doing what camera operators do and listen to Sugini. I really enjoyed the lighting and the dance. Everything looked nice in the camera. Ethan and I worked closely together. We agreed that I will be working on all the still shots and Ethan on the moving shots. I am not a fan of managing the heavy shoulder rigs.

I loved the jib. This is one of the test. 

The red outline of Grace showed us she's in focus. We asked Grace to stand in frame so that we can focus on her final position.

We spent quite some time in setting up the equipments, especially the jib. It was all worth it.