Nuke: More Effects

Nuke Workshop 2

26th January 2017

After reflecting on my first version of the teaser trailer, I had to improve a number of the effects, which I would learn within this workshop. I had taken notes throughout the workshop as seen below:

Throughout the workshop I could see how I could apply these affects to my own work. Throughout the workshop I found the process rather simple as it was being demonstrated; I tried to apply it myself at a later date I found it difficult to understand the nodes and their interactions with one another.

I found the workshop very useful on simple yet effective special effects to improve my work. 

Animation Development Workshop 2

Pitch Workshop

27th January 2017

Within this workshop we discussed the importance of media awareness including award nominations and reviews. A knowledge of what is popular can be crucial in timing and placement with a pitch, as this could be the difference between acceptance and rejection.

I had taken notes throughout the workshop as seen below.

 

At the end of the workshop I discussed with our tutor Steve about my pitch idea, I gave a short pitch and we discussed improvements and the direction I should go with my ideas. I will continue to work on my pitch bible with designs and drawings as well as improving my stage presence in giving the pitch. 

11 Second Club: January 2017

Debt to Society

January 2017

This month I have entered the 11 Second Club competition. I have mentioned this club in a previous post, this month’s audio is:

Listening to the audio, I planned the shot construction and what character(s) I would animate. I chose to animate the single character as a realistic goal; otherwise I may not have completed the challenge at all.

I chose to animate the male voice because I could see an opportunity for emotion change and responses between the two characters.

From my work I can see that I need to practice more, and refresh my memory on the principles; because I can see that the scene is lacking. It looks rather wooden and plainly see how the sections of the scene are split. To improve this animation I would have overlapping action on the arms, back and head.

Evaluating my work flow, I rushed this month’s challenge because I was eager to complete it unlike November’s challenge. However this lead to complications and I had to go back on myself several times. I know for next time to plan the whole scene first; even animate it on paper then to apply to 3D. I found that working with 3D makes you forget, or makes you lazy, because I did not apply all of the principles making the scene lacking. Planning the scene allows me to incorporate all of the principles and apply them to the model in Maya; with the benefit of tweaking where needed. 

Animation Development Introduction

Pitch Workshop 

18th January 2017

Pitching is a very important skill to learn as an animator, this is a presentation of your work to clients who can fund or get behind your project. In a fast world these pitches would only last under a minute; often referred to an ‘elevator pitch’. Every word counts in a situation such as this and it is a skill we need to learn.

Within the workshop we learnt about how ‘sell’ an idea to a client as effectively as possible, and the later processes which may follow if we were fortunate enough. I took notes throughout the lecture as seen below:

Part of the workshop included us getting into small groups to create a short pitch about an idea we had. The best pitches were voted for, and the two winners would form two large groups to pitch once again the further developed ideas.

I found this task very useful and eye opening on how quickly an idea can evolve; as well as how scary pitching can be. This is why it is crucial I practice and get over my stage fright. 

Teaser Trailer: Production

Compiling Assets 

24th January 2017

Once I had completed the affects in Nuke, I exported them as MP4s, this allowed me to import them into Adobe Premiere. This way I can compile all of the assets together to create the final teaser trailer. 
Screenshots of using Nuke:

I found using Nuke a challenge, i had to search several times for solutions to problems. but now that I have spent time with Nuke I have a better overall understanding. 

I organised my bins into videos, images and sound to keep the interface clear. I used effects within Premiere including the opacity and translate key frames to create fading affects. I intended to create a look of mystery and adventure, not revealing too much detail but enough to understand the concept. 

I chose drums for the soundtrack because it is a dramatic track causing the audience to pay attention to what is happening and to anticipate what will happen next. This escalation of drums towards the end of the trailer intends to excite the audience about the title. 

I will fully evaluate my progress and the final trailer in a future post: Evaluation. 

Teaser Trailer Animatic

Nuke Workshop Task: Animatic

22nd January 2017

To produce our teaser trailer, we must plan it out first. To do this we are required to produce an animatic; a rough visual representation of what it will look like before devoting full time and effort into production.

I started with rough sketches, thumbnails on what the shots may look like these were drawn on Photoshop; imported into premiere to create the video. However my initial animatic was lost as it did not save correctly, along with the collected video files and assets I would use for the final teaser.

In this time, this allowed me to reflect upon the lost edition, and plan the new version. Thinking about shot construction and how effects can be applied to the shots effectively. 

This lead to the second version of my animatic, this time using the assets collected previously as reference, and considering the affects which will be applied. Overall I believe this has led to create an effective teaser trailer.

In addition, I had created an initial style for the title “Journey to the centre of the Earth” and the other text which would appear in the trailer. Considering an appropriate style for the theme of the teaser. In addition to created assets I collected both video and audio assets to be a part of the teaser including music. I had to consider effective music which would be appropriate for this teaser trailer; I searched for an exciting piece with percussion to create an atmosphere of adventure.

From this I have now planned the teaser trailer, and I believe it is effective. I will now move onto the production phase to apply the necessary effects in Nuke.

Nuke Workshop 2

Tracking and Nodes

19th January 2017

Continuing our work from our last workshop, we learnt how to use trackers. These track high contrast(s) within a video and tack the point throughout. This offers opportunities to overlay and manipulate the video with several different tools. As we are still new to Nuke, we simply started with stabilising footage. This involved trackers to understand where the video is shaking to, and to reduce this. I found finding high contrast areas difficult because we had to consider the fact that not everything seen on frame 1, will be in very single frame due to the ‘shakiness’ of the camera.

After that, we learnt how to apply ‘Cornerpins’ which allowed us to import text and be overlaid in the video. Creating the effect that the text/image belongs in the environment. An example of this could be a video of a sign on a road, then it is manipulated to say something else, but appears to be seamless in the video. We practiced this by applying graffiti to a wall in a video, and floating text to another; an effect which can be seen in the ‘Sherlock Television Series’.

I found this workshop a challenge to understand this software and to follow the instructions of our tutor. I will have to read my notes, and learn how these effects can apply to my own teaser trailer.