Mirrors!

Since the visit to the studio I've been working on how the mirror will interact with its users in the scene. At the moment, the adverts slide into view when a character approaches the mirror, which can then de rescaled and navigated with gesture controls.

To achieve this effect I've created a separate composition with all the content lined up, then masked it all into a circular shape that will fit the mirror. The adverts have a small animation upon entry, just to add some visual dynamics.

Here you can see before and after the mask 'add' effect was used. 

Once that was done, I took the composition into the apartment scene, tracked the camera movement to a null object, parented the adverts to the null, adjusted the position so that the adverts fitted the mirror and then rendered a short preview.

Later in the scene the character interacts with the mirror, and this is something that will take some fine tuning to ensure that the interaction matches the animation that I will be providing.

These shots show the animation entering the mirror.

Watch a short example of the mirror in action below:

The next step is to apply this effect, and the frames I currently have to all appropriate scenes. 

21/03 Update - Studio Visit and Collaboration

Yesterday I visited the studio whilst the production team were filming some scenes, to have a look around at their production styles and techniques, and to also talk through some of the work that we're completing together.

The images you can see below are from one of the scenes being shot for 2021. The green placeholder frames are where images will be placed into the environment, given the show the possibility of having animated and alive settings.

After touring the studio, we sat down to discuss some of the scenes I've been working on, as well as the rest of scenes to come. 

One suggestion I made was to add markers to the green placeholders in the sets, enabling me to track the motion of the camera with much more ease. This should reduce the time it will take to establish suitable and realistic tracks within the shots. 

For the apartment scene, the mirror in the room will have interactive adverts on the peripheral. I suggested perhaps fitting the adverts to the circular shape of the mirror, and giving them an intro animation, rather than being on the mirror for the duration of the scene. For example, when a character approaches the mirror the adverts will drop into the mirror, perhaps with a welcome message. This reduces the need to animate the mirror for the entire scene, but also gives an extra level of flourish and visual dynamics. 

There is also a reverse shot of the mirror, which I suggested could do with having a frame around the shot, to infer more clearly to the audience that we are looking back through the mirror. This combined with inverted and limited opacity adverts from the mirror will make it explicitly clear that we are looking through the mirror directly at the character.

The adverts for the mirror are currently being edited and shot, and should be ready to introduced to the scene in the next few days. 

Another area we discussed was the picture frames in the scene, which the writer desired to have a circulating slideshow where pictures moved from one frame to the next. I suggested making 4 compositions of equal length with the pictures changing at regular intervals, the only difference being that the pictures were in a different sequential order in each composition. This means that all 4 frames will have different images at all times, and the images will cycle around the room. This saves playing around with composition timings by simply having 4 separate compositions that achieve the same effect with much less fiddly work. 

In the mean time, some of the final material for the picture frames and eyes has started coming in, meaning the placeholder tracks can be replaced, and the graphic edits can start looking closer to the finished product.

Here's a sneak peek at the number of tracks that the scenes are starting to accrue. 

I anticipate that each scene will have a huge number of tracking nulls, each with their own challenge and problems to overcome, whether it's being obscured or out of focus. 

Back to After Effects...

Apartment Scenes - Motion Tracking

For the apartment scenes of 2021, the picture frames need to be animated and alive, containing adverts and other information within the environment.

Whilst the basis of those are being made by the production team, I have taken the time to create the tracking paths for where the footage will go.

The original shoot used green paper in the frames to mark where the footage will be placed in post-production. By tracking the points on the green paper I've been able to create some good initial placeholder tracking paths, and have used a placeholder video to demonstrate where the footage will go, as well as how masks will interact if and when the footage becomes obscured from view.

You can see in the image above where the placeholder green has been used, and this gives you an idea for how active the scene will be once the frames are animated. Some of the tracking is slightly inaccurate, however it makes sense to rectify this when the final images come through from the production team, given the possible difference in source material display ratios.

I've uploaded the test footage with my placeholder footage in the place of the adverts that will be coming very soon! For this placeholder I've simply used the 'Making Of' video from the establishing shot, as it was the nearest .mov I could find. 

Up next is the rest of the scene, as well as the additional visual effects that need to be added to characters and so on.

I've organised a meeting with the production team to look through the footage to ensure that both parties are happy with the creative direction. Once that meeting's taken place and more footage comes through the first edit stages, then more animating can take place.

Collaboration

This project is one that requires a lot of collaboration between myself and the production team, and as a consequence I've created a document for both parties to access and amend. The document is a place to post and discuss the expectations and outcomes of the collaborative work. 

By using Google Docs to host this open document, we can converse freely about the work and how things are going when compared to expectation.

The document also works as a to do list for the rest of the work I need to complete as part of the project. This works, subsequently, as an efficient one stop shop for all the information I need to complete the work.

With this up and running, the next stages of development should be completed with more speed and efficiency.

Sky Replacement - Finished

The establishing shot required the sky to be replaced, and this is now complete.

By masking the backdrop and replacing it with a more suitable image, re-colouring the building and applying and more suitably angled lighting scenario, the final piece is much more suited to the style of the show, foreshadowing a dark and ominous story ahead. 

The following video shows the layers of development as the piece moved from its original state, to the finished shot. 

In more detail, the image of the building was masked in photoshop, then re-animated at the end of the process, since there is no movement required within the image. This saved time on masking the movement of the building, and allowed me to recolour the building with more accuracy and consistency. 

By placing the new background and the building layers into a 3D state, I could then relight the shot adding more depth and grunge to the look. Without the lighting the image looks fake, and therefore needs the lighting to enhance the feel and authenticity of the overall outcome. 

Without light:

With light:

Here are the settings for the light used in After Effects:

Finally, the images were animated to add some movement and dynamics to the shot. Rather than having a short static shot, the movement just finishes off the appearance, creating a visually interesting final product.

Here you can see the finished shot:

Up next is the first of the scenes, which I have received from the production team.