Today I decided to experiment with actually swapping the faces of the people for my passive smoking advertisement. Although I like the use of just layering the faces with a blend (as in my last experiment post), I wanted to try this to see if it created a more appropriate effect to voice the message of the advertisement. I again chose to use Bradley’s face for this experiment as he is the smoker in the advertisement, due to being able to create the nicest and thickest looking smoke. I masked his face and then started to experiment with placing it over other peoples faces. When I experimented with replacing Adam’s face with Bradley’s, I realised this would not work very well or look very realistic as Adam is wearing glasses. You can see the problem in the screenshot below:

 

I still carried on with replacing the faces of other people, using the mask of Bradley’s face and then using Colour Correction to blend the skin tone to make it loook more realistic. After placing the mask nicely over the face and blending the skin tones I watched them through and found that movement of the original face underneath sometimes showed slightly, so I edited the mask slightly in some places using key frames. I also noticed that occasionally the original person was not completely still, making the placement of the face look unrealistic. To combat this I had a go at using the tracking skills I learnt earlier in the term. For the first experiment using Alice in the background, I made use of one tracking point on one nostril and ensured it stayed in place by feeding through. I targeted this to a Null Object and parented the mask of Bradley’s face to it. You can see the result below:

I think that this kind of works, but the movement still isn’t quite perfect, so I am going to experiment with using two tracker points on some other faces to try and create a more realistic outcome. For the next two experiments I have used the nostrils again as tracking points, again applying them to a null object and then parenting the mask of Bradley to it. You can see the results below:

I am quite happy with the result of these two experiments and feel that the tracking looks much more realistic, due to the more precise movement and the addition of rotation. Although I am pleased with the look of these I feel that they are not that appropriate for the type of advertisement I am making. I quickly experimented with layering the smoking video over these face swap experiments, using the same technique as before, but felt that it still didn’t work very well. I feel that passive smoking is quite a serious issue, and the use of face swapping would create more comedic feel to the advertisement. It would be memorable and impacting, but then it may just been seen as something quite lighthearted; due to this outcome I have decided I am going to continue with the use of the lighten blend layering with the smoke for my final advertisement.

Now I have my footage, before starting to experiment with and apply some of the main effects I decided to start by altering the colours in order to make the footage look nicer and as it should. I used the Curves effect on After Effects in order to correct the colour. I only ever so slightly altered the RGB curves, darkening the blacks ever so slightly and also ever so slightly brightening the whites (the highlights). I did this as I did not want to add to much contrast and wanted to keep the footage quite ‘flat’ as this is a look I like and works well in this type of advertisement (much like the John Lewis example). After deciding on a set level of colour correction, I saved the curves and applied them to each piece of footage. I have below attached an example of the footage before and after the colour correction. (Watch in 1080p to see the true colour difference)

Before

After

I feel this ever so slight increase in the contrast makes the background a nice colour which is slightly darker and will be very suitable for when I experiment with layering smoke.

Today whilst watching television I noticed that Evian had once again made an advertisement making a large amount of use of post production techniques and effects. It again sticks to the theme of babies, as in the last few advertisements, and this one I feel is even more innovative and clever.

I genuinely think that the advertisement is really great, and really entertaining for the audience. It is also very cleverly created, and relises heavily on post production which again suggests how effects are really creating more exciting and original advertisements. Whilst watching the advertisement I was trying to understand how the advertisement was made, thinking that it was possibly through use of green screen for the babies heads, and then possibly animation for the bodies. However, I then came across a video (below) explaining how it was created, which shocked me as the bodies are infact modified versions of the adults! It is a very ingeniously created advertisement that looks realistic and really promotes the use of post production techniques!

Aswell as wanting to create an advertisement, I am also interested in creating moving video portraits. I very much like the idea of having simple shots of people’s face that move, much like Andy Warhol’s moving portraits. The MoMA in New York City is currently showing an exhibition of Warhol’s work, which they have also made into an interactive website. The link to the site is here… http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/warhol/#thumbs. I think that moving portraits are really interesting and shock the eye (for example when you suddenly notice someone blink), they also aren’t that common and don’t tend to be seen all that much in advertisements. I found the example (below) of moving portraits on You Tube, however if I create my own I want them to be slightly more simple and still, each holding the same lighting, background and central composition.

I’m not entirely sure how I could combine this idea of using video portraits of face into my already standing idea to make an advertisement, but quite like the idea of possibly peeling faces away, revealing a different face underneath. I had an idea that I could possibly do people meeting, and then peel away to reveal part of one persons face on the other, suggesting the impact that people can have on others lives. This could perhaps work as some sort of government or charity based advertisement to highlight friendship etc and helping other people.

After deliberation and learning some of the techniques of post productions I have decided that I am going to produce some kind of advertisement video for my piece of Post Production video. I am generally interested in advertising and campaigns, particularly if they have a good meaning or concept. I have started to look more in depth at some of the advertisements I have recognised to include a large amount of special effects and post production.

This Evian advertisement uses post production to make it appear that the babies are roller skating, to put emphasis on the Evian ‘Live young’ slogan. I’m not entirely sure how the advertisement has been created, but I would expect that there are uses of masks and tracking in order to create the roller skating babies – possibly even including some 3D animation. I also think that the advertisement was most probably shot in a studio using a green screen, rather than actually on location (after watching a ‘making of’ video I realised that this was quite right). I think this advertisement is a prime example of how post production is helping to create some really interesting and clever yet realistic advertisements, that probably could not of been achievable 10 years ago… that is unless there were some incredible roller skating babies on the scene back then. I came across an article that supported this idea, stating “that having striking original video ads can actually boost product and company awareness”. This enforces that if a advertisement is original and exciting then it will also be memorable, which is always a good thing for the product/company/idea being advertised (therefore making the use of post production and effects more appealing in the modern age).

Some advertisements also make use of more subtle effects which help to voice a meaning or message in a more memorable and effective way. For example, this Vodafone advertisement uses clever cuts and fades and other minor effects to age the people in the advertisement and make them progress, supporting and highlighting the slogan ‘Good things should last forever’ in conjunction with their limitless talk plan.

The actual ageing in the advert is probably done through use of make up and prosthetics, rather than special effects in post, however post production has still had a large effect in order to make the cuts work. The subtlety of the effects make the advertisement work in a much more realistic and portraying way, showing them age in a way which flows and isn’t too sudden or drastic. I really like this advertisement and think it is very cleverly produced, it actually reminded me of the advertisements John Lewis have been creating in recent years. John Lewis advertisements similarly make use of subtle and less obvious effects in order to make their advertisements more interesting and exciting, whilst also making them work in a more realistic yet impacting manner. You can see this use of effects in two of their advertisements below…

As you can see they also both rely quite rely on the addition of music, which has been added in post. The music makes the advertisement work even more effectively and tell the story even more. This also makes the song memorable to the advertisement, creating a link to the advertisement every time you here the song. Most songs on John Lewis adverts in recent year have proceeded to become popular after being broadcast.

Today we had a quick go at sky replacement on After Effects, using a sample bit of clip that I believe Elliott shot. There was quite a complex process in order to do this which involved duplicate the clip 2 times to create 3 identical clips. It was quite interesting to see how the concept wasn’t quite as simple as i expected in terms of not having a green screen. However, the result looked quite good, and using the tracking skills from the previous lesson it was nice to be able to reuse the skill and make the clip look slightly more realistic.

We then also looked at the concept of masking, and how it can be used in order to make a scene look totally different and more like a larger studio than it actually is. We had a simple shot of a dog and a woman, for an advertisement, of which the sides of the studio could be seen either side of the background screen in the clip. We used masking on either side to remove the unwanted scenery and used colour correction to blend the white background and make it look consistent, clean and professional. I then had to have another go at using key frames as in some places the masks needed to be moved in order to allow the movement of the dog in the clip. Hopefully this use of masking, and possibly key frames, will come into good use when I come up with my own idea.

Today we looked at the technique of tracking using tracking points within After Effects, simply using a quick video of ourselves shot on the dodgy FaceTime cameras on the iMacs. We used two green dots on our fingers as tracking points guides and then used the ‘Tracker’ Track Motion feature to add the tracking point markers, then analyze forwards to ensure that they followed the green dots on our fingers. At some stages the tracking markers went slightly off track, meaning I had to adjust this manually frame by frame until it was corrected (this was fairly simple to achieve).

After ensuring both tracking points we’re working correctly, I applied to simple png. image files and parented them to the Null Objects I targeted the tracking points to. I then adding rotation around one of the tracking points just as a quick experiment. I feel I will quite easily be able to make use of a tracking if needed when I start to edit my own piece for this project.

Today I started to think about how I wanted to proceed in the Post Production Techniques project, thinking mainly that I would quite like to go down a route of advertising. I have noticed recently that advertisements have been making use of more in-depth special effects in post production, presumably in attempt to create more memorable advertisements – that therefore may encourage an audience to do/buy what is being asked. Quite a number of large brands have been using the post production effects including Evian, Skittles, Jack Daniels, Pepsi, Oral B and even government funded brands such as Drink Aware for the NHS. I think I would probably like to research more into advertisements that have used post production techniques, particularly as advertising/marketing/branding are all aspects of the media that interest me. After starting to learn some techniques and effects on After Effects I will look into the option of advertising and then start to think about where I can go with the concept and what I can then eventually create.