Oblivion: Sky Tower Practical Effects

Oblivion is one of those Love it/Hate it type of movies, meaning that there are things that you can really like/love about the movie, and then there are things that arent so great. To get it out of the way, the not so great thing was the story, as it came off as weak and confusing to me.

However the redeeming factor of this movie (in my opinion at least) is the visuals. Everything looked so practical and realistic, even the CG and visual effects were very photo real compared to other Hollywood movies out there.

When I watched this BTS featurette about how they accomplished the Sky Tower in the movie, I was amazed at how practical they made it. They really wanted the actors to feel like they were really in that moment, rather than trying to interact with it via Green Screen set. They accomplished this look by capturing footage of the sky and clouds that they filmed at the top of a really high volcano. And then they took that footage and front projected it onto High Res Screens on the set.

This truly was a cool and very practical thing to do. It looks more real, the light from the footage helps illuminate more light into the set, and best of all, it would save VFX artists the headache of having to deal with green screen spill in the set, because that green would bounce around everywhere I imagine, and would be a nightmare to have to key out and make as real and clean as possible.

To see the Oblivion Sky Tower Featurette, check the video out here:

  

Consider this, don't text and drive.

Inspiration is an important thing. As a kid, I believed that Rhett and Link were definitely good places to draw some energy and it's honestly true; if I hadn't listened to little Jules, I wouldn't have anything to write about right now. Either way, this pair made a video basically rapping about why texting while driving is bad. And it is. So good for them. Either way, I enjoy the aesthetic of the video and wanted to point out some more specific things. I really like that even though they could've easily used a green screen for the movement behind them, they decided to go with what appears to be just a screen and projector. They also just flash some crazy-ass lights every now and again and that's pretty cool, too. I also like how casual the little text animations are on the video itself because the whole video almost shouts 'look at me; none of me was done in post' when a lot of things were clearly done. Anyway, take a look.

"Box"

I want to share with you all this super interesting video on Vimeo made by Bot & Dolly. They created motion graphics to be projected and mapped onto moving surfaces. They then captured everything you see in the video in-camera, there is no motion graphic editing done to the footage. All the motion graphics you see on the surfaces have already been designed and projected onto the surfaces in real-time as they filmed. Check it out below:

Box from Bot & Dolly on Vimeo.

Projection Mapping

For this week I decided to post a sequence of projection mapping videos because of some of the things we discussed in class. I think projection mapping is a really interesting and impressive blend of new technologies. Also it can and has been applied to a variety of art forms. Projection is being used as entertainment at fairs and festivals, video, and even musicals/plays are starting to recognize the potential this new form of visual expression possesses. Disney has been using projection technologies for years in their shows and festivals. This is an art form that will become very common place in the US, like it has in Europe already.

This is the first part of a series of projection mapping projects made by a group that has been put up on the PlayStation video store. This is just really incredible and intricate. Augmented reality has interested me for a long time and this is definitely something that can and will be used to create newer and better augmented reality technology.

This is the second of those videos. The rest are on youtube if you're interested.