Visual Effects Compositing - Week 9


05/09/2019


I have talked to Oisin and neither us can push back our dates because of the time needed to do the VFX and projects for other papers like Screen Arts and Digital Filmmaking and may have problems clashing with crew and equipment needed. We are going to talk later about how to get around these issues.

 We later decided that the ways around these issues are to see what people I do end up getting on board to help me on those filming days and see where we go from there.



It was good technical demonstration and tutorial from Ash on what is the right way to light a green screen. Juliet stood in as the subject against the green screen, sitting on a green box. 



We had two cameras set up for the tutorial; a Blackmagic and a Sony F3. I picked up the F3 from Chris, but we only had it for the morning because some third year film students had it booked (which suited us anyway).





I helped Ash with setting up the lightboxes. One of them you see on the left part of the image above.


We had troubleshooting type of issues with the Blackmagic since we couldn't figure how to get it out of the S-log colour profile, even while switching from film to video. In the end of it was that or have it look almost monochrome. In any case, it was an abnormal issue to face with the Blackmagic.  The sad thing is when I shot green screen for a music video (with a Blackmagic) in my motion design course in Christchurch, I was told it was something that it was normal and couldn't change.


I learnt quite a bit from Ash about the right way to film and light green screen.
I learnt that...
  • Green screen is lit at mid height
  • Flag or softboxes may help with shadows (coming from the subject) being cast on the green screen
  • You use redheads, softboxes, and a gel kit to properly lit a green screen for filming
  • Backlight with a magenta gel will help green screen not reflecting onto the subject's clothing

I have started messaging people for my film crew. Most are unsure and will know for certain closer to the time. I had to scale back the shooting dates from three to two days because people in my film class weren't willing to help for that duration. After talking to them and have some time to think it over, it could potentially be doable to film my VFX short film over two days.

 Those who I know on Facebook, I have message them through that, but those who aren't on Facebook, I have contacted through the student email.
Tyler Baikie: He will be helping Oisin on his VFX shoot

 Oisin : He has his own VFX shoot to worry about at that same time.

 Kiarne: He reckons he will be available - DOP

 Luqman: He will be helping Oisin on his VFX shoot.

 Ash Bartlett - No response yet

 Bo - No response yet

 Zara Samuel - It's a big maybe. She will get back to me closer to the time - Boom Operator

 Vajka Thomsen - No response yet

 Kres - No response yet

 David Mosen - No response yet

 Konstantin Mayer - No response yet
I might end up getting desperate getting a crew together. I would had contacted more international students for help as film crew, but I didn't know their names. I would had liked to do compositing tests by shooting in the basement and seeing the result of rotoscoping out a light, in the place of the portal VFX, before the shoot, but with everyone's schedule full to the brim, it's doesn't seem like a feasible option.

06/09/2019


 I started the day by going ahead with ringing up actors from the contact information that Jacqui gave to me. It took a lot of courage to say the right words in contacting them, so I took my time practicing a script for the calls. I also kept in mind of the filming dates across all my projects, which are September 21 (BSA206), 28-29 (BSA227), & October 4, 6, 12 (BSA231).

Call script
Hi there, I'm Jerry Westaway, a film student at SIT. I understand you auditioned for a part in a student film earlier this year. I'm ringing you to see if you're interested in acting in a couple of short films on [filming dates]. To get back to me, my number is 0273146356.
The films include a drama on mental health and a sci-fi on a conspiracy theorist discovering a portal.

I rung up a few actors, but they were all unavailable for the shooting dates.
Chat with Kathryn
I told Kathryn about difficulties with my projects and she was quite helpful in suggesting that I could send her an email on cast and crew roles that I would need and she would send a message out to all the SIT students and staff. She was quite interested in my project subjects.

Bo
He is definitely available to help me out on the days of shooting for all my projects.

11/09/2019

I received a message from Kiarne confirming that he will help me out on the shooting dates for my VFX short film. He will fill the role as a DOP.


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