Alrighty! I moved on to the test for the first scene of the movie. It’s very different from the final scene in that I was trying for a flying over the city feel at the end of the first scene. Eventually, I had to use, you guessed it, a still shot as I couldn’t find a video that did what I wanted.
Like the final scene, Max is narrating in the first scene. I didn’t bother to do Max’s voice as I am pretty unhappy with what I did in the final scene. I can’t seem to get out what I hear in my head so I’m in the middle of auditioning Max’s voice.
So, I just let Billy Joel sing through the first scene, which will have Max’s voice dubbed over in the final cut.
Again, this is just a test. Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Test Scenes Trailer!
Well, I got visitors in town and that has really kept me busy so I haven’t really done any serious work on the movie this week.
Still, I don’t wanna go too many days without thinking about the movie so I took a few minutes to build a trailer out of the various test footage scenes I’ve been working on.
Again, all of the scenes are test footage so it’s not perfect but it was never meant to be. Still, with a little imagination, you can kinda see what the movie will look like.
Enjoy!
Still, I don’t wanna go too many days without thinking about the movie so I took a few minutes to build a trailer out of the various test footage scenes I’ve been working on.
Again, all of the scenes are test footage so it’s not perfect but it was never meant to be. Still, with a little imagination, you can kinda see what the movie will look like.
Enjoy!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Final Scene Test!
By far, some of the most complicated scenes for this movie will be the opening and closing scenes. They require the camera to fly over New York City and sweep in on certain points. In the opening scene the camera sweeps in over an alley and descends on Max, Gibson and Willow. In the final scene the camera flies over the city and sweeps around the Chrysler Building where our heroes are sitting on one of the famous gargoyles.
The opening scene has more obstacles so I decided to do a test for the closing scene. Doing that will help me figure out some of the more complicated parts of the opening scene.
That said, the closing scene has it’s own complications. I’ve searched to the very end of the internet trying to find any video footage taken over New York City. The only thing I can figure is that helicopters are no longer allowed to fly over the city as current footage was very rare and the ones I could find seemed to stay over the rivers and are shot toward the skyline.
In the end, I went back to what seems to have worked the best over all these tests, still images. This test footage is far from perfect but it may end up being the best I can do with the equipment I have and as I’ve said time and time again, I’m not ILM.
This test footage has it’s problems, but for the most part I’ve learned what I needed to learn. Most of this test uses still photos. The Chrysler Building is a Google 3D model that I was actually able to work with. Xam and Power Dog are still photos but like all the other tests, editing them as stills or actual video uses the same techniques so for testing purposes, a still photo is just fine.
So, here is the test footage. This is a test for the last scene of the movie but don’t worry, it won’t spoil the movie in any way. I even added some credits to give you an idea of what the final scene will look like.
Enjoy!
The opening scene has more obstacles so I decided to do a test for the closing scene. Doing that will help me figure out some of the more complicated parts of the opening scene.
That said, the closing scene has it’s own complications. I’ve searched to the very end of the internet trying to find any video footage taken over New York City. The only thing I can figure is that helicopters are no longer allowed to fly over the city as current footage was very rare and the ones I could find seemed to stay over the rivers and are shot toward the skyline.
In the end, I went back to what seems to have worked the best over all these tests, still images. This test footage is far from perfect but it may end up being the best I can do with the equipment I have and as I’ve said time and time again, I’m not ILM.
This test footage has it’s problems, but for the most part I’ve learned what I needed to learn. Most of this test uses still photos. The Chrysler Building is a Google 3D model that I was actually able to work with. Xam and Power Dog are still photos but like all the other tests, editing them as stills or actual video uses the same techniques so for testing purposes, a still photo is just fine.
So, here is the test footage. This is a test for the last scene of the movie but don’t worry, it won’t spoil the movie in any way. I even added some credits to give you an idea of what the final scene will look like.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Willow Telekinesis Test!
Alright. I got the new blue screen backdrop today and not yesterday as I was promised, but that’s alright. As long as it got here before the weekend that was fine.
So, in order to not feel like I was wasting any time, I worked on the test footage for Willow the cat’s telekinetic powers. In the movie, there is a scene where Willow uses her powers to straighten out a crushed dumpster. I thought that would be the perfect test footage.
This test was built using nothing but still shots. In the movie, the coloration will all match and Willow will actually be moving but the rest of the test is pretty much the same editing I will need to do with live footage so still photos worked just fine.
Enjoy!
So, in order to not feel like I was wasting any time, I worked on the test footage for Willow the cat’s telekinetic powers. In the movie, there is a scene where Willow uses her powers to straighten out a crushed dumpster. I thought that would be the perfect test footage.
This test was built using nothing but still shots. In the movie, the coloration will all match and Willow will actually be moving but the rest of the test is pretty much the same editing I will need to do with live footage so still photos worked just fine.
Enjoy!
It’s funny, but with this last test I feel I have a pretty good grasp on all the video effects I will need for the movie. I’m sure as I film I will need to come up with some new things I haven’t thought of, but for now I feel I can stop working on test footage and begin prepping for the rest of the movie. All in all, I think I will be completely done with pre-production by the end of the month.
Then it’s on to production! Don’t worry. I’ll keep making weekly updates as needed until then just to keep you in the loop.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Look, Up In The Sky!
Well, my new blue screen won’t be in until Monday. I decided to stop messing around with different fabrics and instead purchase an actual blue screen. So, since I didn't want to waste the weekend, I decided to work on some more video effects for the movie.
Below is a clip of the meteor approaching Earth. The meteor, of course, is what gives Max, Gibson, Willow and Thomas their powers. Surprisingly, this effect took a couple of hours. The problem was getting the background color in the pic to fade out without fading out the dark parts of the planet. I couldn’t use a green or blue background because, well, Earth is green and blue! In this case, I had to go to the other side of the color wheel, red, for it to work. Then I had to find the right shade of red and to my surprise, it was dark red.
Anyway, here’s the video.
Below is a clip of the meteor approaching Earth. The meteor, of course, is what gives Max, Gibson, Willow and Thomas their powers. Surprisingly, this effect took a couple of hours. The problem was getting the background color in the pic to fade out without fading out the dark parts of the planet. I couldn’t use a green or blue background because, well, Earth is green and blue! In this case, I had to go to the other side of the color wheel, red, for it to work. Then I had to find the right shade of red and to my surprise, it was dark red.
Anyway, here’s the video.
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