Opportunities that emergent technologies present to the Visual Effects Industry;
The first, and perhaps most notable influence of emergent technologies is augmented reality (AR). Seemingly under the radar, due to a similar interface and design to virtual reality (VR), AR is predicted to have a significant impact on the future of Visual Effects and Animation.
Augmented reality would help to propel the use of visual effects even more so into the everyday market, enhancing the way enterprises would educate, sell and market goods, as an example. 3D tracking is not new technology to the world of VFX, but with the investment into AR it would enable a quicker and more efficient workflow, but more notably would create an avenue for everyday life to interact with visual effects.
A disadvantage would be that a very substantial budget would be needed to actualise this.
This week we looked at ‘Genre‘, how it is implemented in film and shown using VFX. I will be comparing two films of the same genre, from two different decades and produced in different continents.
Specifically I will be comparing Labyrinth (1986) produced in England and Enchanted (2007) shot and created in America. Both films seem very different at first glance, yet they adhere to the same niche genre: Fantasy Musical.
Both productions follow a ‘hero’s journey’ in which the protagonist undertakes a journey or mission where they learn valuable lessons. This genre is considered a form of ‘speculative fiction’ alongside science fiction and horror films, although the genres do overlap.
To achieve a fantasy film, it must contain fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic ‘make-belief’ worlds. In Labyrinth the other world is that where the goblins reside, and in Enchanted it is the cartoon world where the protagonist comes from.
The idea of consistency is important when analysing genre, with a musical fantasy it must have recognisable supernatural elements throughout the film, in particular characters or creatures that are abnormal. The 1986 Labyrinth uses very obvious elements of fantasy, with goblin-creatures, otherworldly animals, and talking inanimate objects. Whereas in Enchanted, the fantasy characters are portrayed as 2D cartoons, and talking animals, a much more subtle approach where the fantasy elements are merged with the ‘real life’ footage. Yet, both films consistently keep to the fantasy theme throughout.
The visual effects help to dictate the genre, in Labyrinth the characters are puppets, that had been hand made for the set. The character Hoggle was played by Shari Weiser who had to physically climb inside the costume, allowing him to walk and move. To ensure a believable look, 4 more people were enlisted in helping this character by handling the mouth and speaking, using off-screen remote controls to move the animatronic face.
The Visual Effects used for this film were all physical, using props lighting to create the fantasy effect, yet still be realistic in look. It was elements like this that ensure the audience knew it was a fantasy film throughout.
Similarly, in Enchanted the visual effects help to dictate the genre. Fantasy relies on the use of believable visual aesthetics. Created in 2007, the ability to create digital effects was much more available, with animators and artists using new and impressive software for the time. The side-kick was a talking chipmunk, made using 3d CG animated models, composited into live-footage. The fur, texture and animation created a realistic look to this un-realistic concept.
This film also relied on 2D cartoon cinematography to portray the original world in which Giselle (the protagonist) came from. These visuals, alongside the portal from the fake world to real were implemented very successfully, with characters coming to-and-from throughout the whole film.
Imperative to a fantasy genre film is the believability of the fantastical elements, both films provide this successfully using advanced technology for their times. They are both creator and audience-led, with the producers intending to create fantastical films, and the audience being able to actively recognise them within the films. Despite being vastly different both films adhere to the generic fantasy-musical themes.
The Mise-en-scene of a clip refers to the visual information put into a scene or frame, communicating to the audience vital information about the scenario. It consists of 5 elements: Settings & Props, Costume, Hair & Makeup, Facial Expressions & Body Language, Lighting & Colour and Positioning of Objects in the Frame.
I will be analysing the Mise-en-scene of this short clip from the animated movie Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Setting & Props:
Firstly, the setting is clear in this scene; the characters are in a lab. The props drive this narrative, creating a busy and full shot allowing the audience to recognise that scientific experiments are taking place, without the need of any context of the plot.
A notable use of the props in the story-telling is the goggles, the main character wears his correctly over his eyes whilst his partner places them on her head. This is used to indicate that her thoughts are elsewhere, and not on the experiment, which is proven through the dialogue.
The use of props to enforce the narrative is very evident, it easily implies the characters thoughts and feelings through their interaction with them.
Costume, Hair & Makeup:
Hair & makeup would refer to the aesthetic and appearance of our characters, as it is an animated piece. The costumes help emphasise the setting, with the goggles and lab coats on certain characters. The clothing also emphasises the fact that they are school children, wearing appropriate attire for teenagers. Indicating what we already know; that they are in a chemistry class.
Facial Expressions & Body Language:
The body language used in this clip helps the audience to understand the relationships between the characters. The female fox is positioned away from her partner, indicating disinterest. Whilst he is subtly bent over his work, emphasising his dedication to it.
An example of facial expressions aiding the narrative is when two of the characters engage in a flirtatious conversation, her partner can be seen in the background rolling his eyes, adding to the feeling of impatience.
The positioning decisions of the animators show a great attention to detail, aiding the dialogue and allowing the audience to subconsciously pick up on the feelings and thoughts of the characters and their relationships.
Lighting & Colour:
This whole shot has a very warm colour grade to it, it allows the viewer to subconsciously understand that the characters are underground, and therefore without natural daylight. There is an additional spotlight glow on the characters in the centre of the shot, this light highlights the important parts of the composition to the audience. It also adds shadow and depth on their features, overall creating a more pleasing aesthetic as they talk.
Positioning of Objects/Characters in the Frame:
The shot would also be considered ‘medium’ as we can see from the torso up, it also has shallow depth, with the foreground and background not having too much distance between them. The use of blur in the background helps emphasise this, as well as the characters.
Additionally, throughout the entire clip the composition remains a ‘two-shot‘ with 2 characters on-screen at all times, this allows the audience to appreciate the relationship and interaction between them. An interesting note is that the scene portrays a group of characters, yet as every shot is in pairs, we never see them interact as a group. This perhaps is to emphasise the task they are doing and that it is supposedly a partnership, adding to the dialogue of the main fox, who wants her to stop becoming distracted by the group.
A pan-shot is also used to show the characters are in the same room.
WEEK 3, 4 & 5: Theory& introduction to the Nuke interface
We were initially introduced to the concept of Cinematography, and it’s relevance to Visual Effects artists and Animators. More specifically regarding cameras, we went through the basics, including exposure, aperture, camera shutter, ISO etc and what each of them mean.
We also discussed the ‘depth of field’ and the factors that affect it, and concluding with how these factors can help to achieve The Cinematic Look
We were introduced to the concept of mise-en-scene, and the importance of the film-maker to convey meaning and mood through composition. To make a successful composition, the Ruse of Thirds is often referred to. It acts as a guide to place essential elements in the shot.
We also looked at shot selection, a way in which filmmakers have categorised different shots depending on the size of the elements in frame, from close up to medium to full shot, and when they are appropriate to use.
The use of light was also discussed, in particular the intensity and quality of it. The two main categories being Hard and Soft light. We looked at examples of these.
After learning all the theory, we were introduced and became familiar with the Nuke interface.
WEEK 6:Rotoscoping
This week we learnt the basics of rotoscoping in Nuke. We were intorduced to the Roto node, and how to organise our workspace.
Rotoscoping is the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate, in order for it to be composited onto another background.
We create these ‘mattes’ as an alpha channel, to match the motion on the footage. We were working on a plate of a running man, I attempted to rotoscope the feet first, we were introduced to the different bezier tools we could use to draw around our objects. It ended up being a frame by frame job, and very time-consuming so I will continue the roto at a later date.
WEEK 7:Merging and Colour
We firstly learnt the basis of ‘Pre-multiplication’ in Nuke, and when we would need to apply this to our plate. Before any Merge takes place you must check if the image is pre-multiplied, and when applying a ColourCorrect you must un-premult.
We then covered the different Merging Operations, including mask, stencil, overlay etc.
Additionally we were introduced to the Grading Nodes, in particular we used the Grade and ColourCorrect options.
The method in which to colour correct a plate is to initially balance out the primary colour, then the secondary colours, and finally the shadows.
We were tasked with seamlessly blending a plane onto a dusk backdrop, using the colour correction nodes we had learnt. The image needed to be unpremultiplied first, then I used Grade to..
I then used the ColourCorrect to affect the shadows, highlights and mid-tones. Using the picker to try and correspond the colours in the backdrop to the plane. I assumed the highlights and mid-tones would be more vlue tinged, whereas the shadows would lean more towards orange.
I feel it is quite difficult to get an accurate colour on the image. It is too red tinged at the moment, It should be more subtly orange in my opinion.
WEEK 8:2D Tracking
This week we attempted 2D tracking. We were tasked with replacing the green screen on the phone with an image.
Firstly, I tracked the 4 corners of the phone with the tracker tool, then exported them to create a ‘CornerPin2D‘ node to apply to the new image. This allows the image to follow the same track.
Once completed, I used the transform tool to get an accurate overlay on the green screen. I am finding it difficult to get the exact fit, particularly around the top of the phone, where parts of the green can still be seen. I used EdgeBlur to create a seamless look to the screen.
I then copied the plate, and rotoscoped all three fingers that go over the screen, using the Bezier tool to ensure the shape is accurate. Then used a premultiply and merge to get the correct layering of the clip.
After roughly rotoscoping the fingers, I went back to ensure that each frame was done well, then used the EdgeBlur to create a softer and more realistic look.
WEEK 9-10: Planar Tracking
We started this class with discussing the importance of grouping in Nuke, with transforms and grades separated in order not to disrupt the plate, and to preserve the quality.
We also looked at the BBOX (Bounding Box), it is important in showing us the area that Nuke is calculating within, in order to consistently keep the right size plate we must pay attention to it. We were shown ways in which to control it, for example using ‘crop’ before merging elements and using a ‘roto’ changing the settings to A side etc. This ensures your script is kept light.
We then looked at the ‘shuffle’ node, and ways in which it gets used. For example changing the RGB colour output, and applying the depth of an image to the alpha. It allows you to work on separate channels.
In terms of planar tracking, we were shown how to replace the posters on a street view. It also had elements that needed to be cut out from in front of the footage, then rotoscoped back onto it.
This 7-minute short animation follows the story of an elderly Chinese lady who finds her dumpling has come to life, she decides to nurture it through childhood, getting a chance to become a mother once again. This cinematic product follows the ‘Three Part Story‘ very clearly, with an obvious beginning, middle and end.
The clip follows a five-act structure:
The Exposition; A mother is making dumplings and living a very mundane life. One of them comes to life and she treats it like her own, raising it through childhood to adulthood.
Rising Action; The wants of the child and mother no longer align. This causes rising tension in the clip, as it creates problems between the characters relationship.
The Climax; The climax slowly builds as the dumpling child chooses his friends and girlfriend over his family. The most tense part being when the mothers frustration grows too much and she eats him. Still peaking with the reveal that the dumpling was a metaphor for her actual child all along, who had similarly left home.
Falling Action; During the decline in tension, we see the son return home to his mother with food as a peace offering.
Denouncement or Resolution; In a dramatic ending, the story resolves with an emotional re-connection between the characters. The final scene being the whole family – including the fiancée) making dumplings together. This is a clever nod to the beginning scene in which the mother makes the first dumpling that becomes alive.
This conclusion follows Freytags Triangle, with a direct link between the opening scene and the ending one. The whole clip has a very well-resolved feeling to it.
This Pixar Short doesn’t necessarily depict a Heroic Journey or the Structure of the Monomyth. This is perhaps because both protagonists would not fit the classic role of ‘hero’. The son’s story-arc has the potential to follow this narrative, with him leaving the home, finding himself and perhaps going through his own trials, then returning. Though the narration is portrayed through the mothers POV.
Another analysis is the visual distinctive vocabulary able to be used. As it is an animated movie the un-realistic storyline of a dumpling coming to life and then eaten is possible. Yet it still adheres to the same structural principles as a live-action movie.
The writer and director of Bao, Domee Shi, worked previously as a storyboard artist. So had good reference and knowledge on narrative creation. She spent a year working on the concept and story-art herself and used references from her own childhood for the world-building.
The composition of the visuals is very good throughout, notably using the ‘Rule of Thirds’ often. In this shot particularly it is very apparent, this is the title scene shot and therefore an important one. The blur on the background helps to accentuate the character, as does the positioning.
Here is an example of not using the rule of thirds as a stylistic choice. The characters in this shot are at the centre of the frame, it adds to the feeling of closeness that is meant to be portrayed.
