Video Copilot's New Saber Plugin

A few days ago, Video Copilot released a new After Effects plugin called Saber. Video Copilot founder Andrew Kramer recently finished working on the visual effects team for Star Wars VII, and although he didn’t do any work on the actual lightsabers, he was inspired to create an After Effects plugin to make the process easy. Saber is an effect that can be applied to a color solid in order to create a beam of light. The beam has a core and an outer glow, each with a whole host of controls that allow you to tweak each part however you like. It can also be set to match mask shapes, which makes it incredibly easy to work with. There are over 50 different presets that come with Saber, each with a unique look/feel. I’m currently messing around with Saber in my name project, hoping to learn more about it for future use. Some animations I’ve found on Reddit that use Saber include this portal that resembles the Portal video game series, this Diet Coke bottle, and this neon text. Saber is available for a free on Video Copilot’s website.

Bad CGI Effects

While CGI is certainly a cool technique to use in the movie industry, it is also easy to make it look terrible too. I believe we tend to overlook some of the cheesy effects used in motion graphics and just assume they are cool and innovative. This video takes a look at some of the worst CGI movie effects in a handful of different movies. Enjoy!!

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

Cosmos is definitely one of my favorite shows right now. It's not only educational, but also entertaining and just plain cool. The effects that are used in this show are captivating and extremely impressive.

Neil deGrasse Tyson floats through space as he explains many of our universe's phenomena. In the first episode, there's a really cool representation of how old our universe is in which major events in the past few billion years are squeezed into one calendar year. Neil walks around on the big calendar in the middle of space and shows how insignificant humankind really is in comparison to how long our universe has existed (this can be seen briefly at 2:41 in the trailer).

I also love the opening intro with the word COSMOS spread across a black hole/eyeball. The amount of time and work that went into creating this show certainly paid off.

Imagine your favorite movie without special effects...you'd see a lot of green screens, 3d models, plain backgrounds and etc. Your favorite movie would most likely not be profitable. I found a YouTube clip of movies with and without effects.
Though I already knew adding an effect to a clip makes it look much better it still baffles me how much detail goes in to special effects as well as, how much time goes into it.




So much detail also goes in to how clips are shot as well. Technical issues like a wire showing can cause massive amounts of problems in post production. Close attention must be paid to the placement of actors. If an actors arm reaches outside of the green background that can lead to hours of rotoscoping.
It's small details like that, that make me appreciate movies a lot more. (Even if it has a crappy story.)

Past, Present, and well... Future.

As we all know, there have been a number of movies that were made in the past and then were remade to keep up with the times and the changes in technology. One movie in particular that I thought fit well was Total Recall.

The original Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was made in 1990. Clearly there wasn't a lot of technology for CGI back then so a lot of the props and sets were created by hand. Adding more labor and obviously more time into making the movie. Just watching the trailer, you can tell that there are some cool effects, but compared to the new one... Well. It doesn't compare. Take a look at the two trailers and see what you think.

This is the 1990 Trailer:

Here is the 2012 Trailer:

So just watching the two of these you can clearly see that there are advancements in the CGI and animations and what not. In the newer movie, the car chasing scene, Pretty much all CGI and effects because we don't have flying cars or highways that are suspended in mid-air.

The point I'm trying to get at is that advancements have helped to improve movies to make them better and to make them more exciting. Especially when there is a 22 year difference between the original and the new.

Typography

I'm nearly done with my Rotoscope/Green Screen project and have been thinking about my name project lately. I found this McDonalds commercial on youtube that shows a good use of typography. Typography creation is a really creative way to advertise and entertain viewers. In this specific example the creator plays with the words and how it appears. For example the word BIG is bigger next to the surrounding words. Same is done with the word tiny, it appears smaller next to the surrounding words.
What is the purpose of typography? Well this technique draws in the attention of viewers and allows you to put an emphasis on what really matters in your advertisement. The purpose is to also give a clear understanding of what the product is. From this commercial I got right away that I could get a flavorful sandwich from McDonalds at a very low price.



This commercial is a bit different from the previous one. Pepsi uses it's logo in place of the letter "O" and "0"
Another great way to advertise is to put your logo in every possible location. This makes it extremely easy for viewers to remember your logo.

To see more cool examples click Here.

The necessity of layering

MPC Wrath of the Titans VFX breakdown from MPC on Vimeo.

Despite the fact that it's what I do in most of my posts, I'm not a huge fan of discussing topics in a vague, general sense. I'd much rather make a point using specific examples. Well, here's one of those times where I actually know what I would like to discuss, and I have a specific example to make my point. I figured it'd be a nice change of pace. So, assuming that you've watched the above video (if you haven't, please do), let's delve into the complex process of effects layering.

It's no secret that there's rarely one super, awesomely fantastical effect that makes an animation what you want it to be. That would simply be too easy, and if animation were as simple as applying a single effect to a sole layer, everyone would be making the big bucks. And they're not. So, yeah. Point proven.

As I was saying, it's not uncommon for there to be dozens of layers for a single animation. It's the only way for an animation to look and "feel" the way you want it to. I apologize for the painstakingly long amount of time this may add to your current projects, but I can promise you the audience will notice the lack of effort in your final product.

Watching the above video will serve to better understand just how many different layers go into just one animation. Even an erupting volcano requires about 5 or 6 different layers of dust, smoke, and debris, not even to mention the enormous rock-like creature climbing out of said volcano. When the creature is destroyed, there's approximately 3 layers of smoke. Oh yeah, there's about 15 or so other layers that go into the monster and exploding debris as well. It's no problem, though. I mean, I'm sure you could do that. Right?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: VFX Breakdown from MPC on Vimeo.

Boom. Second example. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I happen to believe it's an excellent example of layering. Think about this: when you were watching the final Harry Potter installment (because who hasn't seen it?), were you really paying attention to the visual effects? I seriously doubt it. You were probably just sitting in the theater on the verge of tears as your childhood came to an end right in front of your eyes.

Just in the first shot of the video (also the preview image of the video), there's a layer for the environment (the ground, mountain, etc.), a layer for the people, a layer for the stadium, a layer for the smoke, and a layer for the fire. I'm also just guesstimating. That would be the absolute bare minimum that would have to go into a shot like that. I bet you there are at least two layers for each of the objects you see on the screen. There's usually at least a few layers of smoke to give it more depth or density.

It's pretty interesting to see the orc-like creatures in the "stampede" shots are actually pretty much the only real-life things to be seen. The environment, the people, and the smoke are all added later. It's astounding to realize what may seem to be the most obviously animated aspects of a shot are actually the only things that were shot. Obviously, the specific shot I'm discussing would need at very least 4 or 5 separate layers in order to make it come to life. I'm sure many more layers than what we're shown, though, were actually used.

It'd definitely be an interesting game to try to guess just how many layers go into certain shots of a film.

Retro 8 bit video game title screens

Came across this video and I think it would be pretty simple to recreate some of these ideas.
From what I've learned thus far I can see that TheStrangermedia on YouTube uses 3D texts shadows/reflections. The moving sky with clouds at 0:22 seconds could've been done with loops. The final game title shown looks like it was a still image first and with some masking it was manipulated to move in a simple fashion.




This is another cool video with some finger tracking/tracing done in after effects. I have an idea of how this can be done but I'm not 100% confident that I can recreate this. All the different shapes, particles and beams would probably need their own layer, thus making this a huge file with a long list of layers. This commercial is very smooth and visually appealing. The cool thing is that with the raw footage of the finger movements, so many different effects can be thrown on to this.

Catch me if you can opening titles

Below I have attached a link to the opening titles of the movie catch me if you can. I really liked the opening credits to this movie as they were simplistic but still very appealing to the viewer. The titles themselves played a out a simple narrative of their own which helped introduce the story to viewer. Aside from the meaning of the titles, the titles themselves were exceptionally well done. The interesting ways to shape letters through shapes and different patterns was very interesting. I can see that the basics that were using in class through after effects can be applied to make titles similar to these. While watching, I was able to see the possibilities of how it was created through various effects that we have seen in class. I hope that people watch this and enjoy it, as it is very entertaining in itself. 

 

Stalley's "Go On"

   One of my favorite hip-hop artists is Kyle Myricks aka Stalley. His music videos often involve a story or some kind of animation. This music video is very creative and directed by Walu Mwalilino. I looked into Walu's past work and he directs videos for some of the biggest names in hip-hop. His videos are all very different from each other yet he has a unique style that captivates the audience and creates a story rather than highlight the typical girls, cars, money aspect. He highlights the rappers' lifestyles and brings out the substance in their lyrics. In the Stalley music video, I'm not sure how Walu created the effect of a past body behind Stalley. He may have tracked each movement and created layers so that it appears Stalley is still in one place when he is still moving. I understand how he did the effect when the camera was static but often times, the camera is panning or moving shakily and he still pulls off the effect. I want to look into Walu's work and see if there are any tutorials for the effects he uses because this is one of my favorite music videos.

Walu's Blog

Spiderman opening titles

I found this title sequence to be incredibly interesting, since it takes the simple task of introducing actors and turns it into part of the movie. Setting up a movie through a title sequence can really bring an audience into a film, and keep them engaged. The sequence itself is very interesting by how the webs make up the names of those involved with the movie. I personally enjoy these more involved sequences at the beginning of movies, as I stated before, they gain the attention of the audience. so below I have attached a video of the Spiderman opening title sequence, hope you enjoy. 

Retro NBC NBA Finals intro

With my last post I found some retro graphical intros for various production companies, and with my latest post, I'm continuing with that trend. This video is the 1998 NBA finals intro for NBC but what I really like is how such a short simple graphic can become so iconic. What might have taken ages to render in 1998 can easily be done on any Macbook Pro now with programs like after effects. The entire sequence was made of simple titles and shapes in order to make the logo, and graphics. There were even simple particle effects when the basketball enters the scene, I enjoy watching video's like this as they are much easier to break down when compared to modern graphics. Anyway I hope you watch this video and enjoy the simple sequence that draws so many memories for many people who were watching this iconic game.

Retro production intro's

I found this video the other day and I thought it would be perfect to post on this blog. This video is a mashup of many different introductions of various companies from the 80's. What I appreciated most is how I can see these intros being fairly simple to make with programs such as after effects. Watching video's such as this one with simple effects allow you to see the individual parts that can come together to make a short piece. Each segment has a beginning, middle and end, and each has separate elements that converge quickly to not only make an engaging animation but one that viewer could recognize. I was amazed at all the different variations of titles, fonts and sequences to make a short but unique piece. I also believe its watching short videos such as this one that can give someone a spark for ideas, using random shapes and and colors in animation to create a recognizable image. Watch for yourself and you can see where this could give someone the idea or spark that they need for a simple title sequence.

Music Video

This video features a bunch of green screening and modeling effects, I really enjoy how the effects are used to make an entire world for the band to be in. during the segments of him falling, clearly there was heavy green screening, but I still thought it was interesting how a simple shot can be turned into something amazing just by knocking out the background and adding some nice effects. Many music videos are actually simple shoots in front green screens, its only after that effects team takes the shots of a singer or guitar player and makes something cool out of it. While some of the effects do look dated, I still thought it was worthy to post on this blog.

walking dead season three

Here is a little bit more walking dead. This video is a look at some of the season three special effects which in my opinion are a bit more sophisticated that the pervious 2. one thing i like about the walking dead is that they try to use physical effects as much as possible so when you see some one beating the head in of a zombie over and over again its real and the actors can use it for motivation. Watching this video i was glad to see what was "real" and a little disappointed to see what was computers but i still think they do a great job

Real Life Speeder Bike

This video is fantastic!  Not only because if how well its made, but also because at the end they give you the behind the scenes video, how to, and project files!  Even though the bike they made isn’t all that impressive looking, the way that they pulled everything together in editing and after effects is very well done.  When I can find some time, I am going to try to replicate the effects that they did in this video as well.  I am very impressed with the level of professionalism from this college student.  

The Making of the Walking Dead

This is a really cool video into how they shoot the Walking Dead, do the zombie make up, and blood effects.

The part I found to be pretty funny was how everyone is so surprised in the comments that they fill condoms with blood for the blood splatters. I thought that was pretty common knowledge. And the fact that it took the make up people two hours to dress them as zombies is amazing. The zombie's always look really believable and disgusting. I also liked the directions he was giving the extras for how to be an effective zombie when they get shot so the special FX person had an easier time lining up the blood.

Adding Life to Objects

I thought this video was really cool. First off, I loved the music that went with this piece. It fit perfectly. Second, adding life to the clock made it look to cool. I love what they were able to do with that object. I also like the fact that they kept it classy by going with just black and white for this video. The title of "Stress" also seems like a great title for a piece like this. This has a lot of energy in it and that's what attracts me to it.

Stress from Babusjka on Vimeo.

Tracking

I didn't have a whole lot this week to talk about. However, I did realize from my experience in the LA Program that the suspects cars and cop cars from CSI: NY had tags on them that said demo car and such. I was always wondering how they can cover that up with a real license plate in the actual television show. I realized it's done through tracking just like in the project we did in class with replacing and advertising sign on a taxi in New York.