Again this was a very interesting lecture, this year I am definitely more interested in what the lectures have to say about the weekly themes. I am always charged by the deeper thinking that actually has an outcome at the end of it, a concept or an idea like 'the gaze' has had a massive impact through out society today. I'm also enjoying the fact I am writing down little reminders for myself to go and research some of these the people/concepts mentioned.
Lecture Notes
'according to usage and conventions..' - Berger 1972
Not saying women are vain, women internalise the gaze of them selQf's. See them self's in the way they see images around them.
Hans Memling - 'Vanity' (1485)
Hold an impossible reflection of her face. Because she holds a mirror of her self nude its ok for us to look.
Statue also published 'Hammer of Witches' harsh on women anything not ideal of the time. Lose, lose tests.
Birth of Venus 1863
Same thing, partially covering her eyes meaning we are left as the viewer to gaze at her, almost invited.
Sophie Dahl for Opium advert was deemed for being too sexual. Image is turned portrait
Titans Venus of Urbino 1538
Eyes indicate a side glance, flirtatious. The curtain shows a secret place that we are aloud to view.
Olympia - Manet 1863
More of a challenge position, hand positions are stopping you from viewing purposely. Manet is celebrating a powerful female figure.
Gorilla girls advertisement, "Do women have to be naked to get into to the met. Museum."
Le Grand Odalisque - Ingres 1813
Bar at the Folies Bergeres - Manet
We see a false reflection again, can see her whole back. She is excluded from the Paris society, highlights Paris night life at the time.
Pictiure for Women - Jeff Wall 1979
Camera separates the two subjects (as Manet). He reminds us this isn't a window, its constructed.
The Look 1984
The camera in contemporary media has been put to use as an extension of the male gaze at women on the streets. Sunglasses means the gaze cannot be returned.
Eva Herzigova - Wonder Bra
Looking at the people below, once again no gaze returned.
Peeping Tom 1960
Women can be considered as objects because of this profusion. Theme is voyeurism. Objectification taking to an extreme.
Studies 1940s films in a Fraudian way, females in the film are never leading the narrative. Always passive/reactive to the male characters.
"In the darkness of the cinema one cannot be seen"
Old Mistresses - Griselds Pollocks
Judith Beheading Holofernes 1620
Your Gaze Hits The Side of My Face - Barbara Kruger 1981
Eating a Banana - Sarah Lucas 1990
Numerous work that has a serious message. Regards us with a challenging look "what are you looking at"
Why is important to challenge the gaze?
Caroline Lucas MP in June 2013 for "No more page three".
Criado Perez received around 50 threats a day via twitter involving rape and murder.
On Photography - Susan Sontag 1979
Reality Television
We as a viewer are the all seeing eye, and have the power to change it. Double layer of contestants being a aware. Big Brother.
'Looking is not indifferent. There can never be any question of 'just looking' - Victor Bergin 1982
Thursday, 31 October 2013
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
VFX Seminar - Green Screen
Unfortunately I missed this induction, however in another post I will explain green screen with my own demonstrations and research.
Friday, 25 October 2013
VFX Seminar - DSLR
Unfortunately I missed this induction, however since the beginning of my time filming and creating videos I have worked with a DSLR; specifically a Canon 550D. Though I still thought it useful to go an ask for a quick reiteration of what was taught in the seminar. This is what I learnt.
Pros of a shooting with DSLR
Firstly and most obviously, how easy it is to move one around. You can carry it in your hand or round your neck with a strap. If you have no transport it's no problem because it weighs and isn't taxing on your body. Most of the time they a ready set up for some kind of filming, of course if you want to get the best results you are going to change one or two things prior to filming. There is also the ease of lenses and the variety they come in, not to mention the amount of attachments that can go with these, the possibilities are endless.
Cons of a shooting with DSLR
So far the biggest amount of time possibly to record with is 30 minutes, now traditionally shooting a short film or even a movie this isn't a problem. Unless there is a specific 'one take' style movie you are going for then no scene will last this long. However there is the problem of events when you want to get a full montage of the whole thing, unless you are there to press it every 30 minutes it won't work. If you want it to be a very steady shot you usually have to have a tripod or something kind of mount that can be annoying to carry around.
A Simple Set Up
For a simple shoot and quick use setting. Each Bold is a header option on the Canon 5D MIII, except for the first which are options physically on the camera.
Manual Mode
Pros of a shooting with DSLR
Firstly and most obviously, how easy it is to move one around. You can carry it in your hand or round your neck with a strap. If you have no transport it's no problem because it weighs and isn't taxing on your body. Most of the time they a ready set up for some kind of filming, of course if you want to get the best results you are going to change one or two things prior to filming. There is also the ease of lenses and the variety they come in, not to mention the amount of attachments that can go with these, the possibilities are endless.
Cons of a shooting with DSLR
So far the biggest amount of time possibly to record with is 30 minutes, now traditionally shooting a short film or even a movie this isn't a problem. Unless there is a specific 'one take' style movie you are going for then no scene will last this long. However there is the problem of events when you want to get a full montage of the whole thing, unless you are there to press it every 30 minutes it won't work. If you want it to be a very steady shot you usually have to have a tripod or something kind of mount that can be annoying to carry around.
A Simple Set Up
For a simple shoot and quick use setting. Each Bold is a header option on the Canon 5D MIII, except for the first which are options physically on the camera.
Manual Mode
- Make Sure Lens Is On
- Make Sure Stabiliser Is On
Shoot 1
- Image Quality Set to 'Raw - JPEG Large'
Shoot 4
- 'AF (Auto Focus)' Set To Live Mode
- Turn on 'Grid for Frame Shooting' if you want it.
- 'Movie Record Size' Set To 1920 x 1080 / 25FPS
- Set 'Sound Recording' To Auto
- You also have the option to record at 50FPS at a loss of quality so you can then revert back to 25FPS and have a slow motion piece of footage.
Set Up 1
- 'Format Card' - ensure that all previous data is saved and then erased from the card.
Set Up 2
- 'Auto Power Off' - Normally will shut down after a few minutes of inactivity.
- 'Brightness' - You can change this to save battery, or go full power if you're shooting a bright area.
Set Up 3
- 'Video System' - Go PAL. NTSC is American if you ever need it for 30FPS filming.
C.Fn2 Display Operation
- 'Custom Controls' - This can be used to macro different buttons to others. The most common change is changing the zoom button the middle of the wheel when in active film mode, especially if you are right handed.
Options To Note
- Shutter Speed Starts at 50
- Aperture Starts at F4.0
- ISO Starts At 100
To Finish
It's very rare you have these all set to their lowest options at the same time. These are all going to change depending on your location, lighting and personal style. Usually you will crank the ISO up a little to give your self some breathing room with Shutter Speed and Aperture, it's normal light conditions I wouldn't recommend going over 800 as this is where you start to see noise. In other situation where this is not possible because it's just too dark try not to go over 2000 ISO or it will start to become very grainy and that's not what you want.
VFX Breakdown - Green Lantern
So since I'm going to be doing my own VFX break down, I thought I should take the time and research into a few to see how different companies do their own. This way I will have a great idea of how to do it my self. Not to mention the awesome amount of ways I'll get to see different effects done, no normal viewer really understands the amount that work that goes into a vfx shot; though it's spread between many it's still a big task.
So straight after the Star Wars break down documentary, instead of just searching "films with lots of vfx" for an example. I sat an thought what films have I watched and like that have plenty of vfx. The first one that popped into my mind was "Green Lantern". A super her with an energy suit and mask, with ring capable of creating anything the wearer can imagine, perfect. I was quickly able to find examples on the web of breakdowns of different scenes. The company that did them was 'Peanut FX' and I've seen these do a few others, Game of Thrones, Iron Man; after looking a little more into the company I found out they to do complex 3d tracking and meshing for other companies to work. For example the video below features alot of shots where Ryan Reynolds and others need to be tracked for an almost full CGI generate shot. Along with other simpler ones.
So straight after the Star Wars break down documentary, instead of just searching "films with lots of vfx" for an example. I sat an thought what films have I watched and like that have plenty of vfx. The first one that popped into my mind was "Green Lantern". A super her with an energy suit and mask, with ring capable of creating anything the wearer can imagine, perfect. I was quickly able to find examples on the web of breakdowns of different scenes. The company that did them was 'Peanut FX' and I've seen these do a few others, Game of Thrones, Iron Man; after looking a little more into the company I found out they to do complex 3d tracking and meshing for other companies to work. For example the video below features alot of shots where Ryan Reynolds and others need to be tracked for an almost full CGI generate shot. Along with other simpler ones.
So as you can see really this companies only task is (as stated) "image based capture from neck to hip". Where ever there are simpler shots that can be done they do aswell e.g. the thumbnail of this video shows a full length shot but he is perfectly still. It's incredible to see how much work a company can be doing but are only really bridging the gap from footage to software so other companies can take it further.
VFX Development - Chosen Idea & In Depth Plot Evaluation (Old)
So after going over my slightly more elaborate ideas, I have decided on the my 'sniper destroying a building with an air strike' idea. I think this idea has many options open to accomplish the task at hand. I have already completed my 'In Depth Plot Evaluation' on a Google Document here. But for purposes of the blog I will write the info below as well.
Command & Conquer Boris Inspired Sniper Scene
My story is going to be a real life enactment of the soviet soldier ‘Boris’ from the RTS game ‘Command & Conquer Red Alert 2’. He is what is known as an elite or special soldier in the infantry. What makes Boris so special is the fact that he has the ability to call in air strikes on a single building. Normally that would sound quite simple but the it’s the visuals that I am more interested in. When he targets a building for bombing, the points a laser at the building and it begins to glow red, jets then fly in the missile the building.
A minute of footage can easily be extracted from this idea. I’m going to start with a sniper in the grass or possibly (if there is any) snow, he will be peering through his scope which will then reveal the building targeted. Now you never actually see how Boris lasers the building from his gun nor is it possible to glow a whole building red, but that is part of the fantasy in recreating a game; Command & Conquer.
I’ll probably just mount a fake button onto the rifle with a laser pointer that when he switches on will create a very visible line of light (done in post). The shot which once again switch to the building (with a kind of distant binocular look), then it will begin to glow. I have a few ideas on how to light up the building but make it convincing at the same time. At this point it’s just a waiting game for Boris for a about 5 - 10 seconds for suspense I will hold shots between him and the building. I’m not sure whether to or not at one point have Boris basically caught in the distance, which will result in few enemy infantry starting to run to his position to stop him; this would add more to the suspense and stay true to the game.
The final part of the video involves an action shot of the camera facing upward, shaking and panning down to see the building. As that sequence happens I will composite a pair of fighter jets, the will fire a set of missiles towards the building and effectively destroy it. I have spent a lot of time researching on how to destroy a building, as I think these two effects are going to be the hardest; this is where most of my time will be spent in post production. The final shot will be Boris pulling a satisfying smile and saying one of his famous quotes from the game, “You’re no match for Boris”.
It’s a classic, people love to see Command & Conquer in real life; just like any other timeless game.
Needed/Wants
This production does not require a massive amount of props at all, if anything I think I’ll only need to get my hands of a model rifle and and possibly collaborate with a fashion student to maybe make a costume. Everything else is either vfx or on location, location is going to be the most important factor. I need to make sure that where I shoot my video is really impressive, with such a short video and possibly a lot of static footage the scenery needs to be inspiring. I'm hoping to be either high up on a building, or being a in a field somewhere that appears to overlook the city.
Equipment wise if I’m to include all the required VFX then I will need the green screen, lights, the canon 5d M3 and microphone (possibly boom). I will surely create an equipment plan sheet closer to my shoot dates to make sure I get everything. If possible whoever my actor is, I want to possibly get a make up or someone who hobbies in it in there spare time and have make Boris look ‘cold’ in a sense. Redness and slightly blue on the lips this should really emphasise how long he could have been out there.
Post Edit Ideas
The colour grade style on my short film will be cinematic cold, I want people to have the sense that Boris has been there a long time. Hopefully with using the 5D M3 I will have plenty of information to manipulate.
My story is going to be a real life enactment of the soviet soldier ‘Boris’ from the RTS game ‘Command & Conquer Red Alert 2’. He is what is known as an elite or special soldier in the infantry. What makes Boris so special is the fact that he has the ability to call in air strikes on a single building. Normally that would sound quite simple but the it’s the visuals that I am more interested in. When he targets a building for bombing, the points a laser at the building and it begins to glow red, jets then fly in the missile the building.
A minute of footage can easily be extracted from this idea. I’m going to start with a sniper in the grass or possibly (if there is any) snow, he will be peering through his scope which will then reveal the building targeted. Now you never actually see how Boris lasers the building from his gun nor is it possible to glow a whole building red, but that is part of the fantasy in recreating a game; Command & Conquer.
I’ll probably just mount a fake button onto the rifle with a laser pointer that when he switches on will create a very visible line of light (done in post). The shot which once again switch to the building (with a kind of distant binocular look), then it will begin to glow. I have a few ideas on how to light up the building but make it convincing at the same time. At this point it’s just a waiting game for Boris for a about 5 - 10 seconds for suspense I will hold shots between him and the building. I’m not sure whether to or not at one point have Boris basically caught in the distance, which will result in few enemy infantry starting to run to his position to stop him; this would add more to the suspense and stay true to the game.
The final part of the video involves an action shot of the camera facing upward, shaking and panning down to see the building. As that sequence happens I will composite a pair of fighter jets, the will fire a set of missiles towards the building and effectively destroy it. I have spent a lot of time researching on how to destroy a building, as I think these two effects are going to be the hardest; this is where most of my time will be spent in post production. The final shot will be Boris pulling a satisfying smile and saying one of his famous quotes from the game, “You’re no match for Boris”.
It’s a classic, people love to see Command & Conquer in real life; just like any other timeless game.
Needed/Wants
This production does not require a massive amount of props at all, if anything I think I’ll only need to get my hands of a model rifle and and possibly collaborate with a fashion student to maybe make a costume. Everything else is either vfx or on location, location is going to be the most important factor. I need to make sure that where I shoot my video is really impressive, with such a short video and possibly a lot of static footage the scenery needs to be inspiring. I'm hoping to be either high up on a building, or being a in a field somewhere that appears to overlook the city.
Equipment wise if I’m to include all the required VFX then I will need the green screen, lights, the canon 5d M3 and microphone (possibly boom). I will surely create an equipment plan sheet closer to my shoot dates to make sure I get everything. If possible whoever my actor is, I want to possibly get a make up or someone who hobbies in it in there spare time and have make Boris look ‘cold’ in a sense. Redness and slightly blue on the lips this should really emphasise how long he could have been out there.
Post Edit Ideas
The colour grade style on my short film will be cinematic cold, I want people to have the sense that Boris has been there a long time. Hopefully with using the 5D M3 I will have plenty of information to manipulate.
Thursday, 24 October 2013
Saturday, 19 October 2013
3D Animation - La Luna
After checking my Google Movies library I noticed that there was a free short movie to watch from Pixar. Entitled La Luna, all though it's years old just from looking at the thumbnail I could tell it was something I would enjoy. Like a moth to a flame I am drawn to light in the darkness and that is exactly something that this animation captures.
The story is what seems to be a father and grandfather taking their son to work and what a special job it is. In the middle of the ocean a great image of a spectacular moon with a shade of red rises up through the star light night. To which then they take a pair of ladders and do something crazy but I don't want to ruin it. The reason I like this animation so much is because it's isn't too detailed and is damn right simple, but it encompasses all the colours and visions I love.
These types of scenes are relaxing to me and setting what Pixar have done with such a simple concept makes me want to create something along those lines, so look for some sort of animation soon. Maybe I could tie it in to something to do with my Responsive brief.
Friday, 18 October 2013
VFX Seminar - Audio First Half
In this session we spoke about the important of audio. Firstly we were presented with two YouTube videos that took an in-depth look at sound fx and how they are used. Then we look at a much more specific sound fx documentary that looked at the a film we have previously encountered, Star Wars
Contact Intro - Earth Universe Space Zoom Out
Revolving around alien contact and life out of the known universe, Contact creates a captivating and impressive opening sequence. Following the typical zoom out effect, it starts with our home planet earth and continues to zoom until we reach outer depths of our galaxy and then further into deep space. Though we are not watching the video for the visuals but specifically the audio. To begin with camera panning past Earth we are welcomed with the familiar noise of radio waves and recent music that was around the release time of the film. As we continue and begin to leave our solar system we are greeted by more radio waves however following science, we hear radio waves that have travelled from far the earth many years ago. From present to the iconic sounds of our history, we eventually reach so far that we hear the very first radio waves. I love the fact that they have the paid this amount of attention to detail when representing a journey through space, demonstration just how small we really are in this void.
Lewton Bus - Cat People
A very famous sound sequence that is still used very frequently today, it has basically become a gag with in movies. As our actress walks her footsteps begin to echo, so much to the point that they do not match with her own. After becoming more agitated and speeding up they become louder and more frequent. When she stops, the noise stops, when she continues, the noise continues, indicating someone or something really is following her. When she finally stops to check we hear a short noise that resembles a growl, we instantly think the 'cat people' are going to appear only to be greeted by a breaking bus that merges with the sound. Now days sound design has progressed to that an almost real sound that you can't distinguish if you're hearing for real or not, this effect has much more impact now than it did then but people were not desensitized to it when it first arrived.
Star Wars Episode II: Sound Design
This documentary was basically the inner workings of sound fx for the Star Wars as a whole (as they continue in the same universe and time so naturally there are reoccurring sounds). A good portion of the sounds have to be re-captured in post, trying to record of these sounds at once in a take makes it almost impossible. Take wind machine for example, this is going to completely ruin the voice of the actors but they need these sounds for atmosphere, so this is where ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) comes in to make be able to mix all these sounds as needed (Around 6:00 in the documentary. There is also Foley, this basically means taking real sounds to supplement and compliment synthetic noises to create a finished realistic vision. They would record regularly English spoken words and cut them, to them slow them down and after speed them. This would create a strange collection of sounds that had an irregular clicking noise to them; this was then the chosen sound for the insect people in the movie.
Lastly there is 'Final Mix', the director will meet wit the head sound directors and watch the entire film (in sections) and analyse every piece of audio. Break it down and make sure everything sounds authentic and realistic. This of course is a very time consuming process, to the point where only minutes of film are checked because there is so many layers and elements in each shot. For legal reasons and that the sounds are re-used through out the Star Wars series, most of the sounds are not usable in other projects unless they changed to the point they are not easily recognisable. Iconic sounds like the Imperial droids and R2-D2 are part of this whole concept.
Contact Intro - Earth Universe Space Zoom Out
Revolving around alien contact and life out of the known universe, Contact creates a captivating and impressive opening sequence. Following the typical zoom out effect, it starts with our home planet earth and continues to zoom until we reach outer depths of our galaxy and then further into deep space. Though we are not watching the video for the visuals but specifically the audio. To begin with camera panning past Earth we are welcomed with the familiar noise of radio waves and recent music that was around the release time of the film. As we continue and begin to leave our solar system we are greeted by more radio waves however following science, we hear radio waves that have travelled from far the earth many years ago. From present to the iconic sounds of our history, we eventually reach so far that we hear the very first radio waves. I love the fact that they have the paid this amount of attention to detail when representing a journey through space, demonstration just how small we really are in this void.
Lewton Bus - Cat People
A very famous sound sequence that is still used very frequently today, it has basically become a gag with in movies. As our actress walks her footsteps begin to echo, so much to the point that they do not match with her own. After becoming more agitated and speeding up they become louder and more frequent. When she stops, the noise stops, when she continues, the noise continues, indicating someone or something really is following her. When she finally stops to check we hear a short noise that resembles a growl, we instantly think the 'cat people' are going to appear only to be greeted by a breaking bus that merges with the sound. Now days sound design has progressed to that an almost real sound that you can't distinguish if you're hearing for real or not, this effect has much more impact now than it did then but people were not desensitized to it when it first arrived.
Star Wars Episode II: Sound Design
This documentary was basically the inner workings of sound fx for the Star Wars as a whole (as they continue in the same universe and time so naturally there are reoccurring sounds). A good portion of the sounds have to be re-captured in post, trying to record of these sounds at once in a take makes it almost impossible. Take wind machine for example, this is going to completely ruin the voice of the actors but they need these sounds for atmosphere, so this is where ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) comes in to make be able to mix all these sounds as needed (Around 6:00 in the documentary. There is also Foley, this basically means taking real sounds to supplement and compliment synthetic noises to create a finished realistic vision. They would record regularly English spoken words and cut them, to them slow them down and after speed them. This would create a strange collection of sounds that had an irregular clicking noise to them; this was then the chosen sound for the insect people in the movie.
Lastly there is 'Final Mix', the director will meet wit the head sound directors and watch the entire film (in sections) and analyse every piece of audio. Break it down and make sure everything sounds authentic and realistic. This of course is a very time consuming process, to the point where only minutes of film are checked because there is so many layers and elements in each shot. For legal reasons and that the sounds are re-used through out the Star Wars series, most of the sounds are not usable in other projects unless they changed to the point they are not easily recognisable. Iconic sounds like the Imperial droids and R2-D2 are part of this whole concept.
VFX Development - Moodboard
From now on I will refer to my idea as 'The Air Strike', and before I continue on with a storyboard I thought it would be best if I created a quick mood board. This will ensure my plot stays on track and has a fixed theme to accompany it.
As you can see from above, I am definitely set on the idea of actor 'Boris' laid down somewhere whether it be grassland or urban terrain. I think one of the most important features to make it realistic will be his costume.
I have tried to work almost chronologically down the mood board as if to read like a storyboard almost. Some of the images are also references to tutorials I am going to looking at an demonstration through my post production e.g. the missile shots in the bottom right.
As you can see from above, I am definitely set on the idea of actor 'Boris' laid down somewhere whether it be grassland or urban terrain. I think one of the most important features to make it realistic will be his costume.
I have tried to work almost chronologically down the mood board as if to read like a storyboard almost. Some of the images are also references to tutorials I am going to looking at an demonstration through my post production e.g. the missile shots in the bottom right.
Thursday, 17 October 2013
VFX Seminar - Adobe Premiere
Unfortunately this was a missed induction, however over the passed few years I have spent all my cutting/editing time in Premiere. The previous year in the college they used Final Cut, which adds to one of the reasons I didn't like spending time using the machines there.
Premiere is massively powerful, especially when you learn to use it in conjunction with After Effects and switching footage in between each.
Asking the technician who performed the induction I was able to find out what they actually did, and I will demonstrate below.
Essentially we have downloaded footage from Crown and Owls titled the showdown. Chopped out and stitched together a few pieces of the image, added a quick title and finally overlaid some opacity for the intro.
Premiere is massively powerful, especially when you learn to use it in conjunction with After Effects and switching footage in between each.
Asking the technician who performed the induction I was able to find out what they actually did, and I will demonstrate below.
Essentially we have downloaded footage from Crown and Owls titled the showdown. Chopped out and stitched together a few pieces of the image, added a quick title and finally overlaid some opacity for the intro.
COP Lecture - Consumerism
The first lecture of second year context of practice was for me, very interesting. With this year focusing on theories and philosophy I feel much more engaged in the lecture, they're ideas that I usual ponder my self from time to time, it's great to hear a fresh experienced perspective. I look forward to our following lessons where we discuss what we thought about the lecture and it's theme.
Lecture Notes
Century of Self 2002
NO LOGO 1999
Sigmund Freud 1856 - 1939
New theory is human nature
Psychoanalysis
Hidden primitive sexual forces and animal instincts.
Hidden repressed sexual and violent desires.
"The interpretation of dreams" (1899)
Society stops us from acting how we desire.
FIND Freud's model of personality structure.
Civilisation and its discontents (1930)
Fundamental tension between civilisation and the individual.
Our desires don't blend with community and desire.
To a certain extent we will always be unhappy - though we need to release it somehow.
If we can satiate our primitive desire in a socially acceptable way - as soon as we satisfy them we are essentially pacified.
WWI is a testimony of Freud's theory, typical nature of human beings in a law driven society - releasing their mass instinctual morbid desire in a global way.
Edward Bernays (1891 - 1995)
Press agent, Birth of PR, Freud is uncle.
Postwar he set up "The Council on Public Relations" effectively birth of the term PR. Employed Freudian techniques to marketing.
Links to unsatiated and unsatisfied in products with give people a false desire for that product. Effectively employing phsycological techniques.
Paid debutons to walk in through a parade and an organised moment they were to start smoking. Used cigarettes as "tourches of freedom" and women started to smoke as a symbol of power and freedom.
Fordism
Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)
Transposes taylorism to car factory's of Detroit.
Technique means to have production line and rapidly increase work flow.
Required large investment however after a short while loss turns into profit. Was said if your product could satiate peoples desire it would be successful.
1909 - Olds Mobile (Owning a car is an act of power and act of male dominance.
Society starts to change from need to want "I want a [product] because I want to be liberated, sexually desire, like a celebrity"
Marketing Hidden Needs
"The Hidden Persuaders"
Market a product around emotionally security. A fridge actually promotes wastefulness [explain].
Esstibally selling - egos gratification, creative outlets, love objects, a sense of power, a sense of immortality.
Birth of a society that starts to believe they are free and happy when all it is, is an illusion. Actually points to a new way the governments can use these techniques to control people.
Russia Revolution begins and communism begins.
1940 - Worlds Fair effectively a huge piec of propaganda for giant business. Democrocity the idea of individual freedom - all fake, you can only be free if you spend.
- Consumerism is an ideological project, we believe that through consumption our desires can be met. The legacy of Bernays can be noticed in all aspects of society.
To what extent out are we free in the western world?
"You are not what you own"
Lecture Notes
Century of Self 2002
NO LOGO 1999
Sigmund Freud 1856 - 1939
New theory is human nature
Psychoanalysis
Hidden primitive sexual forces and animal instincts.
Hidden repressed sexual and violent desires.
"The interpretation of dreams" (1899)
Society stops us from acting how we desire.
FIND Freud's model of personality structure.
Civilisation and its discontents (1930)
Fundamental tension between civilisation and the individual.
Our desires don't blend with community and desire.
To a certain extent we will always be unhappy - though we need to release it somehow.
If we can satiate our primitive desire in a socially acceptable way - as soon as we satisfy them we are essentially pacified.
WWI is a testimony of Freud's theory, typical nature of human beings in a law driven society - releasing their mass instinctual morbid desire in a global way.
Edward Bernays (1891 - 1995)
Press agent, Birth of PR, Freud is uncle.
Postwar he set up "The Council on Public Relations" effectively birth of the term PR. Employed Freudian techniques to marketing.
Links to unsatiated and unsatisfied in products with give people a false desire for that product. Effectively employing phsycological techniques.
Paid debutons to walk in through a parade and an organised moment they were to start smoking. Used cigarettes as "tourches of freedom" and women started to smoke as a symbol of power and freedom.
Fordism
Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)
Transposes taylorism to car factory's of Detroit.
Technique means to have production line and rapidly increase work flow.
Required large investment however after a short while loss turns into profit. Was said if your product could satiate peoples desire it would be successful.
1909 - Olds Mobile (Owning a car is an act of power and act of male dominance.
Society starts to change from need to want "I want a [product] because I want to be liberated, sexually desire, like a celebrity"
Marketing Hidden Needs
"The Hidden Persuaders"
Market a product around emotionally security. A fridge actually promotes wastefulness [explain].
Esstibally selling - egos gratification, creative outlets, love objects, a sense of power, a sense of immortality.
Birth of a society that starts to believe they are free and happy when all it is, is an illusion. Actually points to a new way the governments can use these techniques to control people.
Russia Revolution begins and communism begins.
1940 - Worlds Fair effectively a huge piec of propaganda for giant business. Democrocity the idea of individual freedom - all fake, you can only be free if you spend.
- Consumerism is an ideological project, we believe that through consumption our desires can be met. The legacy of Bernays can be noticed in all aspects of society.
To what extent out are we free in the western world?
"You are not what you own"
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
VFX Seminar - Maya Render Passes / Refresher
Our first real seminar back was having a refresher in Maya while combining that with a quick introduction on composting from Maya to after effects; which involved the explanation of certain render passes. We discussed them last year but as stated, this was a refresher. This was all just to ensure we got our bearings again just in case it was something we neglected over the summer.
Firstly, we were given a pre-made scene on which to composite. After a full demonstration in front of us, a link was provided to follow an video tutorial which would explain the use and application of each pass. Consisting of 4, we would be given the ability to change reflection, colour, speciality and texture. To ensure that we were not just cheating and taking the already rendered 'final example', we had to apply our own texture to a 3D cube.
In order of the tutorial I will screen shot and demonstrate each pass, starting with colour. I am just showing the what was shown on that actually layer and the render settings used.
After colour came shadow, there is no need for explanation. The light that was pre-made would cast the shadows as the box jumps around the lamp. We don't want to cast shadows on the lamp it's self and the image also shows it's own light source so there is no need. So all that is visible is our box and the small step it jumps on to.
Next up was reflection, the only reason we are using reflections is because in the image the mat that the cube jumps onto appears to have a shiny surface; we want it to look as realistic as possible so why not. Reminding our self that making a separate render out for this is important because it's something we are going to want to make adjustments to in AE.
Finally we are including our occlusion pass. This is in simple terms 'self shadowing', where objects meet each other there is definitely going to be a loss of light and in turn a small area of darkness; this adds massively to realism of the image. We want occlusion in most places, the image does some of it for us however the cube, table and place mat would benefit from the extra occlusion.
After our image sequences were rendered out, imported into after effects where in theory they would sit perfectly on top of each other and work almost instantly. After a few adjustments we were ready to render our the final piece, I have uploaded it to YouTube where you can take a look below. A great refresher.
http://youtu.be/lZCA1aJDMfY
Firstly, we were given a pre-made scene on which to composite. After a full demonstration in front of us, a link was provided to follow an video tutorial which would explain the use and application of each pass. Consisting of 4, we would be given the ability to change reflection, colour, speciality and texture. To ensure that we were not just cheating and taking the already rendered 'final example', we had to apply our own texture to a 3D cube.
In order of the tutorial I will screen shot and demonstrate each pass, starting with colour. I am just showing the what was shown on that actually layer and the render settings used.
After colour came shadow, there is no need for explanation. The light that was pre-made would cast the shadows as the box jumps around the lamp. We don't want to cast shadows on the lamp it's self and the image also shows it's own light source so there is no need. So all that is visible is our box and the small step it jumps on to.
Next up was reflection, the only reason we are using reflections is because in the image the mat that the cube jumps onto appears to have a shiny surface; we want it to look as realistic as possible so why not. Reminding our self that making a separate render out for this is important because it's something we are going to want to make adjustments to in AE.
After our image sequences were rendered out, imported into after effects where in theory they would sit perfectly on top of each other and work almost instantly. After a few adjustments we were ready to render our the final piece, I have uploaded it to YouTube where you can take a look below. A great refresher.
http://youtu.be/lZCA1aJDMfY
VFX Research - Star Wars: Withing a Minute
Mustafar Duel / Scene 158 / 26 Shots / 1185 Frames / 910 Artists / 70441 Man Hours
For our first week, we collectively watched a documentary titles 'Within a Minute'. This one hour ten minute documentary doesn't just look at the vfx of a short sequence but literally everything from who gets paid to the post effects. As you can see from the title above, it was an immense task just for this 1 minute sequence to be completed; 70441 man hours. This could be attributed to the massive amount of special effects that actually went into bringing the idea to life, and how the problems are actually solved is unbelievable; but when you have hundreds of millions to budget on a movie anything is possible.
The number of departments that have to be involved electively is staggering, everyone time a new department was explained a 3d mind map was displayed to give an idea.
Firstly they would have artists to storyboard what George Lucas himself has envisioned. When he was happy with that concept artists with breath colour into them, create environments from different angles so they had a clear idea of the whole space. For further visualisation, a team would then quickly model these concepts into a 3D environment; with simply modelled and animated characters. This was so it was possible for them to decided where they would move through the scene. After all this was completed and accepted by George, the main CG department would be called upon to create every structure, building, rock, lava flow right down to the nuts and bolts.
That essentially is only the fx piece of the puzzle, while all of this is happening they are working in conjunction with numerous other departments. Fashion designers have been creating the costumes from concept ideas, not only that though they make a number a of versions that progress through out the sequence. The actors have to film the shots with each costume on, the filming aspect adds hundreds of people straight away.
After filming is complete, the CG team are still inputting massive amounts of man hours to make the scene look flawless; while all the time getting new footage to include. One part I was mostly impressed by was the how some of the actual lava streams were created, they were built literally...
After all this, final fx will be added in and colour graders will do their part to make sure it looks absolutely perfect. Once again George will then make any amendments he wants (hopefully none), a group of members will sit in a screening area and watch the footage for final analysis.
The amount of information in each frame upped the rendering process to many, many hours of waiting around; this could of been eased though by rendering on multiple machines. Just shy of 1000 members of staff were used for this whole process, and some departments I don't think I even mentioned.
A brilliant documentary, and a real eye opener to what you could be apart of if you take up the mammoth task in film.
The amount of information in each frame upped the rendering process to many, many hours of waiting around; this could of been eased though by rendering on multiple machines. Just shy of 1000 members of staff were used for this whole process, and some departments I don't think I even mentioned.
A brilliant documentary, and a real eye opener to what you could be apart of if you take up the mammoth task in film.
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Responsive - Collaboration Pitch
The practices I am mostly interested in working around are working behind the camera, post production, acting and directing if necessary. I like to know that essentially the start of a finished product is going to look great, making sure the camera angles fit and ensuring that they tell a story. This is also follows through with the post edit, having a keen eye to manipulate my work so it adapts to the theme imagined is crucial, I'm grateful for critical analysis in anyway my work can be improved, different opinions are incredibly beneficial.
I also don’t mind working in front of the camera either, I have small history of acting and I’m happy to keep at it till the performance looks authentic and believable.
I am happy to take some sort of leadership within a group, when I see a path that leads to an end I like to work quickly and efficiently and help others work in the same way. Creativity is where I start to slip up, I like to work with someones pre-determined idea and improve it; make it a reality. Anyone with creative skills, storyboarding, production skills and they’re looking for someone with a keen eye in the workings of film I would encourage them to contact me for collaboration.
I also don’t mind working in front of the camera either, I have small history of acting and I’m happy to keep at it till the performance looks authentic and believable.
I am happy to take some sort of leadership within a group, when I see a path that leads to an end I like to work quickly and efficiently and help others work in the same way. Creativity is where I start to slip up, I like to work with someones pre-determined idea and improve it; make it a reality. Anyone with creative skills, storyboarding, production skills and they’re looking for someone with a keen eye in the workings of film I would encourage them to contact me for collaboration.
Monday, 14 October 2013
VFX Development - Story Ideas
In this post I am essentially picking a few of my favourite ideas from my brainstorming exercise, and just briefly expanding them some more so I can have a better understanding of them. I have initially done this is a Google Drive word document here. It also includes some YouTube videos for me to take inspiration from.
Short Mortal Kombat
Scene Using techniques from Mike Divia could create a short fight scene, it will incorporate all the special moves characters and can be done against green screen. Set extension can be incorporated in a final shot or something that gives an overview of the landscape the fight is on.
Simple concept doesn't need much pre planning, only need choreography the effects will appear after that has been completed.
NEEDED
Would need theatre time booked out with large green screen, lights and camera.
Command & Conquer Boris Inspired Sniper Scene (See Full Idea)
In Command & Conquer a special soviet soldier named ‘Boris’ is able to use his sniper to call in an air strike on the building, when he lasers a target it glows red. Would be pretty simple to have a sniper shot and shoot a building and have it glow red, taking it to the next step would of course been having action footage of an airstrike also destroying the building. Set extension and green screen could be incorporated with the scenes of the snipers (doesn’t have to be laid down). Mix this in with achievements throughout the video.
NEEDED
Would need portable green screen, camera and maybe a light or reflector and sniper rifle.
Jumper Style Film
Could do a short ‘Jumper’ inspired scene, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube show you how. Could be some sort of a chase that involves gunshots and bullet holes to demonstrate VFX. Filming could be done anywhere as long as there are some open spaces in walls in which to display the effect. Could be a little tricky as being an actions scene you would expect the camera to be shaky and to be authentic I wouldn’t want to put shake in post. Expect I would need a lot of tracker points to make sure the effects look real and professionally done.
NEEDED
Portable green screen, a couple of fake guns, open area (could be done where I live there is plenty of space) and camera.
Short Mortal Kombat
Scene Using techniques from Mike Divia could create a short fight scene, it will incorporate all the special moves characters and can be done against green screen. Set extension can be incorporated in a final shot or something that gives an overview of the landscape the fight is on.
Simple concept doesn't need much pre planning, only need choreography the effects will appear after that has been completed.
NEEDED
Would need theatre time booked out with large green screen, lights and camera.
Command & Conquer Boris Inspired Sniper Scene (See Full Idea)
In Command & Conquer a special soviet soldier named ‘Boris’ is able to use his sniper to call in an air strike on the building, when he lasers a target it glows red. Would be pretty simple to have a sniper shot and shoot a building and have it glow red, taking it to the next step would of course been having action footage of an airstrike also destroying the building. Set extension and green screen could be incorporated with the scenes of the snipers (doesn’t have to be laid down). Mix this in with achievements throughout the video.
NEEDED
Would need portable green screen, camera and maybe a light or reflector and sniper rifle.
Jumper Style Film
Could do a short ‘Jumper’ inspired scene, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube show you how. Could be some sort of a chase that involves gunshots and bullet holes to demonstrate VFX. Filming could be done anywhere as long as there are some open spaces in walls in which to display the effect. Could be a little tricky as being an actions scene you would expect the camera to be shaky and to be authentic I wouldn’t want to put shake in post. Expect I would need a lot of tracker points to make sure the effects look real and professionally done.
NEEDED
Portable green screen, a couple of fake guns, open area (could be done where I live there is plenty of space) and camera.
VFX Development - Brainstorm
I am not afraid to say, that at the majority of times I'm terrible and being conceiving ideas. However as I wanted this to be an awesome piece work because film is where my passions lie, I decided to try get ideas out no matter how silly they sounded.
Below are spider diagrams based on the four themes we were set:
Man Vs Nature
This for me, felt like a hard brainstorm to attempt. It depends on how abstract you want to be with your piece, for me not so much. When I think nature I think plants, trees, animals, weather, earth grown objects and then I go on to the fantasy side of things where I can create usually my favourite ideas: wisps, fireflies or anything that glows softly.
Triumph Over Adversity
This brainstorm, was probably the second most difficult to create ideas for. Even though when you put the words into simple terms e.g. overcoming something, the possibilities become very broad. However each person has their own unique idea and visions that they are drawn too and for me I only had a few. The most likely scenario from this brainstorm would be the 'sniper destroying building with air strike' this ties into a game that I played when I was younger and is something that I (along with many others) would love to experience realistically.
Good Vs Evil
This one I felt relatively confident I could imagine a number of ideas for, naturally I like the idea of good and evil, ying and yang. Being the on the good side, doing the moral thing if you can. Initially you think of bad guy chasing good guy and as you can see from my ideas, most of them involve a man in conflict with another. I think I could probably dig a little deeper with this theme and come up with something a little more meaningful, or maybe not so obvious; let the viewer think for a second first instead of handing it to them on a plate. My favourite idea from this brainstorm is the 'jumper style' idea, simply because it would be able to easily encompass all the vfx requirements for the module.
Death as a Part of Life
The hardest brainstorm for me, naturally you instantly think of somebody dying; personally I do. I am fascinated by wisps, energy, glowing elements so I instantly loved the idea of somebodies soul leaving their body; and representing it in that kind of way. Also giving somebody a pair of wings or a halo could be connected to this theme. The only other type of idea I got from this was a life cycle visual, showing something from start to beginning but incorporating different vfx elements in conjunction.
Conclusion
After having a brainstorm and looking over all of my ideas, my most favoured is 'sniper destroying building with airs strike'. I think this has the potential for alot of vfx, great cinematography and awesome audio. As I mentioned before this is based from a fond memory of a game I played years ago, so this is a not an imagined idea but perfectly acceptable for this module.
Below are spider diagrams based on the four themes we were set:
Man Vs Nature
This for me, felt like a hard brainstorm to attempt. It depends on how abstract you want to be with your piece, for me not so much. When I think nature I think plants, trees, animals, weather, earth grown objects and then I go on to the fantasy side of things where I can create usually my favourite ideas: wisps, fireflies or anything that glows softly.
Triumph Over Adversity
This brainstorm, was probably the second most difficult to create ideas for. Even though when you put the words into simple terms e.g. overcoming something, the possibilities become very broad. However each person has their own unique idea and visions that they are drawn too and for me I only had a few. The most likely scenario from this brainstorm would be the 'sniper destroying building with air strike' this ties into a game that I played when I was younger and is something that I (along with many others) would love to experience realistically.
Good Vs Evil
This one I felt relatively confident I could imagine a number of ideas for, naturally I like the idea of good and evil, ying and yang. Being the on the good side, doing the moral thing if you can. Initially you think of bad guy chasing good guy and as you can see from my ideas, most of them involve a man in conflict with another. I think I could probably dig a little deeper with this theme and come up with something a little more meaningful, or maybe not so obvious; let the viewer think for a second first instead of handing it to them on a plate. My favourite idea from this brainstorm is the 'jumper style' idea, simply because it would be able to easily encompass all the vfx requirements for the module.
Death as a Part of Life
The hardest brainstorm for me, naturally you instantly think of somebody dying; personally I do. I am fascinated by wisps, energy, glowing elements so I instantly loved the idea of somebodies soul leaving their body; and representing it in that kind of way. Also giving somebody a pair of wings or a halo could be connected to this theme. The only other type of idea I got from this was a life cycle visual, showing something from start to beginning but incorporating different vfx elements in conjunction.
Conclusion
After having a brainstorm and looking over all of my ideas, my most favoured is 'sniper destroying building with airs strike'. I think this has the potential for alot of vfx, great cinematography and awesome audio. As I mentioned before this is based from a fond memory of a game I played years ago, so this is a not an imagined idea but perfectly acceptable for this module.
Sunday, 13 October 2013
VFX Research - 3D Tracking
While I was working toward completing my Summer Project I came across a VFX company (mainly 3d tracking) called peanutfx. At first I thought they would be just a small business made by a group of freelances but upon inspecting their 'projects' page I was pretty surprised.
Their portfolio ranges from big movies such as Iron Man 2, to huge shows like Game of Thrones, it also shows them working on moves that are not even released yet e.g.the updated 'RoboCop 2014'. I was hoping I would be able to check each client and see what work they had done but only a few were available. The ones that mostly caught my eye was their work on Green Lantern and Game of Thrones.
It's incredible to actually see how the professionals are accomplishing the challenges set by directors, it also surprises you to see how much of sets are fake and full of green/blue screen, you can see above the 3d tracking applied and the outcome of the manual work. It's a giant amount of manual work which is why most companies outsource the work.
Here is another example above, here we see a character being wire frame meshed so they can composite a modelled dragon in her lap transitioning to her standing up. The red arrows represent tracker points for perspective so when the camera dollies back they can keep everything looking authentic with relative ease.
After seeing these kind of effects and a few others I have really taken to start researching how much actually is VFX inside movies and TV Shows, to which I then learned about the 50/50 rule. Making sure that at least half of the shot is real and you can fill the rest with VFX, this ensures the scene is still real and pleasing to the viewer.
Friday, 11 October 2013
VFX Development - Schedule
As a part of our vfx module, we are required to have a full schedule that clearly demonstrates a broken down plan of pre-production, production, and post-production. This includes a schedule for brainstorms, mood boards, storyboard any vfx tests, filming and many post-productions tasks. Instead of listing them all out I have already devised a simple plan, that for me is easy to read and will even remind to make sure I get them done.
I am using an application called wunderlist. This is a very powerful task management tool, I am only showing a portion of the app but you also have the functionality to create projects, share them with other people, there is also a notepad for each task accompanied with sub-tasks. For me this format just feels perfect, I can order them by priority and star the most important.
I literally have a 'blog posts' task and in the sub-tasks when I have an idea for a blog post I just write it down, or if it's something to do with the development of my project. This app is available for my phone as well, so I can amend it literally anywhere I go.
On the image you can see that a few of my final tasks are not schedules out yet, that is because of this moment I am still figuring out when and where I can accomplish these. As for pre-production we are required to hand in and present all our work by the 29th of November, so this is already planned out and I believe there is ample time to complete each task I've set.
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