Today was the day I shot my footage for my Post Production Techniques project, shooting in a home made studio in Adam’s house (he kindly offered to let me use it). When I arrived I started by setting up the studio, using a large grey paper background that Adam had for his own project, this filled the background. I then used the two fluorescent lights (they were VERY bright) that I sourced from the store. I turned the intesity of these down slightly, and pulled them away from the background to avoid creating to much shadow and highlight on the background.

I borrowed a Canon 600d from the store to shot the project on, but soon decided with Adam that it would make more sense to make use of his 550d as it had technicolor fine tyke cinestyle on it, which when comparing the two cameras looked much nicer, and flatter – meaning I will be able to correct the colour nicely in post production. I shot at 50fps as I intend to slow the footage to half speed in post production in order to apply more impact and focus onto the smoke coming from the mouths of the models. I also used ISO200 in order to get the least grainy shot possible. Once the camera was all set up I got to filming each of the models, insuring focus was perfect before filming each different model. I decided to shoot 3 of my models smoking, in order to allow use of different smoke and creating the best look in post production, however now that I have looked back at the footage I have already made the decision to use only footage of Bradley smoking. I made this decision as the way he blew the smoke is much thicker and will look much more effective in the final advertisement. You can see how the smoking style varies in the videos below.

Bradley – Thick smoke

Alice – Not so thick smoke

The thicker smoke that Bradley produces will be much more suitable for layering and blending effects when I experiment in After Effects as it will show up more prominently over other faces.

Here are some of the other shots captured whilst on the shoot. (Credit to Adam Roberts for these!)

When trying to get a studio for use in my Post Production shoot today I encountered numerous problems. I first tried to book a photographic studio, but was soon told that I would not be allowed to film someone smoking in the studios as there were smoke sensors which would set of the university fire alarms. I was advised to try and get one of the film studios as these would be more feasible for use as one has heat sensors rather than smoke sensors and the other’s smoke sensor can be quite easily disabled or covered. When trying to get one of the film studios I was told there was no time available slots to book them (yet a fellow student managed to book one less than an hour later, bit annoying). The film technicians also weren’t all that keen on the idea of me having someone smoking in the film studios, as technically it isn’t all that legal.

At this point I was quite worried about where exactly I would be shooting the footage for my post production piece, particularly as I wanted it to look professional. I then spoke to Adam, a friend of mine and one of the people I will be using in my shoot, and he said I could make use of his all white and open living room as a studio… and that I could have people smoking inside. PROBLEM SOLVED. I have a studio space, I’ve booked a camera, lenses and some lighting equipment and I will be shooting tomorrow!

I have noticed that a large number of passive smoking campaigns, including the one above, include the use of children in order to increase the impact and encourage the audience even more of the negative attributes and effects of smoking. It would be great to be able to incorporate children into my own advertisement to also create a similar type of impact, particularly as I am creating such simple, clean and straight forward shots that will really emphasis that the person blowing the smoke is a child. However, unfortunately I do not have any access to any children to be able to include in my shoot so I will not be able to do this. It is quite annoying, as I feel it would have made the concept a lot better, but I think it will be quite difficult to get any access to children for the shoot due to the heavy restrictions and paperwork etc. Funnily Annie did mention that her housemates Claire and Catrin, who I am using in the shoot, look small enough to be children, however I am not going to make them look like they are; if the audience perceives them as children or young adults in the final advertisement then I guess that is a little bonus!

Today I had my first experience with modelling on the Maya software. We started by learning the different features, set up options, and the way that screen layouts and views work. Then we began by creating simple models and simply with playing with the different features of Maya and starting to understand how it works. I simply played with modelling flat surfaces and other simple polygon shapes, including oblongs, cylinders, cubes etc. I also experimented with the use of different materials and how they can really impact a setting, particularly when viewed in Render Preview. The hair tool was something i found very fun, being able to make a little fur ball and quickly animating it too move from one side of the screen to the other was very entertaining! I found the Maya programme quite interesting, but difficult, and at this stage think I would definitely like to experiment with using it more.

Today we were given the brief for Post Production Techniques and at this point i’m both optimistic and pessimistic. The brief states that we need to use footage we have shot ourselves and somewhat manipulate it using digital compositing effects to make a scene go from being ‘ordinary to extraordinary’. It suggests that we could use footage we shot during the trip to Exford in Devon, however I have decided I will not be incorporating this footage as I just don’t feel it is very suitable – and i’d also like to create something original. There is no time expectation for the footage in the brief, but it suggests that we experiment with different techniques that are involved with post production and After Effects (for example motion tracking, green screen, sky replacement, colour correction etc).

At this stage I am really not sure how I am going to proceed in this project, the brief talks about how post production effects story telling and I would quite like to possibly look at the use of post production in terms of advertising which is being seen more and more of late.

I today completed my production of my triptych relating to sustainability, evolving around my inital idea of the comparison of people who are sustainable and are unsustainable and the effects their modes of transportation have on the planet we inhabit. I made use of photoshop to remove the silhouettes of people will the particular modes of transport (Car for unsustainable and Bike and Walk for sustainable) to allow the videos I have produced of steam to represent gases that cars exude into the atmosphere and the sea to represent the natural aspects of sustainable modes of transports and exhibit the world we are trying to protect. I made use of Final Cut Pro to then layer the clips and the images in the correct manor. I increased the intensity of the colour and exposure ever so slightly to achieve the desired effect. I chose to add music to add slightly more interest and depth to my piece, I do not own the music and did not create it, it is a piece by Alt-J called Interlude III/3. The track is available to buy here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-awesome-wave/id558262493. I feel the music works well with the piece, fitting with the calming nature.  The final piece is attached below:

Unfortunately I rather dislike the final piece. I like the concept of the idea, using the ‘Slow Magic’ style image as an initial style for the piece and think that it does represent in a minor way how our different modes of transportation can effect our planet. However, I feel that the piece does not work visually and is not very aesthetically pleasing; particularly due to the foreground photograph layers.

I came across the image today by Adam Fuss which gave me inspiration for the negative/unsustainable section of my triptych concept. I felt the soke in this photograph looked very dramatic and resembled gases polluting the world, therefore giving me the idea film rising steam (much like smoke but easier to produce) to represent the gases/chemicals that pollute the world every time we drive our cars. I chose to experiment with filming the steam to possibly include within the unsustainable car aspect of my triptych. I used a black backdrop and a boiling pan of water to create the steam, choosing to film in monochrome to achieve the desired negative and polluting effect; I used a Canon 600D to shoot the piece.

I am really quite happy with the final video, feeling that it really creates the desired effect of gases etc. The use of monochrome helps to make the steam stand out against the dark black background, however I may alter the exposure slightly when editing in order to enhance this effect. The video is below, I think I am going to incorporate it into to my final piece (the video would be in portrait with the steam rising, rather than landscape as below).

I initially conceived the idea to use the sea to represent how walking and cycling are sustainable and natural forms of transportation that protect the nature of our world. After researching clips and photography of the sea I have confirmed this decision, due largely to a music video for Ben Howard – Esmerelda. I feel the crashing of waves etc are natural aspects of the planet that we live on and contribute to the wondrous beauty that being sustainable can help to preserve. I am going to film the shots of the sea later in the week, trying to use close ups to capture the crispness of the waves as they come to shore.