Peek at Shot

Thought it would be fun to see the composite I’m working on now, so I shot it on my phone in this video.

• The top is the original footage. It couldn’t be used as is; too gentrified looking to be a forgotten, mysterious wood.
• The little inset is the roto of Miranda I’m working on.
• The bottom shot is the rough composite. It uses a scratch roto I made of Miranda, so I could see how she’d interact in the wood.

You can see the roto is well on its way, and that the “wood” is built. After the elements are combined and the composite refined, the shot will be complete. Then just one major shot’s left, plus several small ones.

“Reveal” Shot Finished!

The huge visual effects shot I started working on on Aug. 14 2011 is finally finished. That was the main one–the climactic reveal of the meaning of the film; and it presented so many challenges. There are close to 100 versions of it that existed. Now, there really isn’t too much left to do on “Wood.”

Shot Finished

The first of several feather-particle shots is complete. Getting those feathers to look and behave convincingly and match the live shots was more difficult than I thought it would be. Hope the other feather shots are easier, now that one’s completed.

Feathers

 

Working in Apple Motion trying to generate CG feathers that mimic those in the live-action shots (real feathers). I’ll composite them into live action shots that need them (continuity). It’s the movement behavior that’s difficult to match; the direction of the wind in the live shots. Pictured is a screenshot of a shot element I’m working on now.

Just a quickie…

“In this Wood” production still | Photo by Jim Walters

Good progress on film, despite long silence. Have been working on a fundraising campaign and that “Emerge” shot, which just needs some touch up work in various places. Fair to say the most difficult work is done, VFX-wise. Stand by for more and better updates.

Early Look at “Emerge” Shot

Here’s a few seconds of the “Emerge” shot. Of course everything’s rough and the camera’s too high, but you’ll get the idea. The shot incorporates a match move and is a multiplaner.

Linking the Other Elements…

This evening, the background and separate tree elements were linked to the motion of the live footage. Miranda walking through them, with a slow camera push in and pan made the shot much more dynamic and interactive than the original footage. Still a few issues to work out, but this is exciting to me.