Research - DIGIPACK SCOOPIT

The link here leads to a scoopit I created on the topic of research into digipack artwork.

Research - DIGIPACK ALBUM ARTWORK

A video and screenshot from my explorations of album artwork on Google Images and iTunes

A more analytical look into digipacks

An example of a digipack layout from Dark Wizards

Research - CONSIDERING DIGIPACK ARTWORK

Below are screenshots from the Music Video's timeline, of content which I believe will be fitting for the  digipack's album artwork. The images below are simply inspiration - I am considering using only the CGI world as the artwork, however I can use Blender to render out a custom made still image for the digipack artwork.

Production - PYROTECHNIC BACK-UP PLAN

As I blogged earlier, the intended pyrotechnic shoot was cancelled as Greg (who has the pyrotechnic resources and knowledge) was unable to film that day. However I have found a solution. 

Filter settings for the sparks video asset used

I used Video Copilot's Action Essentials, which is a purchasable collection of video assets including smoke, sparks, firecrackers and fire, to composite in the various elements to add the pyrotechnic effect to one of the shots.

A screenshot of a flying embers asset from Action essentials, used in the video as sparks

Originally I intended to have the entire set go up in flames, and dissolve into the CGI world (at the time the CGI world was simply a black void full of smoke), however upon settling on a swooping jib shot for the final shot, I decided the continuity of this would not work - instead I would add small sparks and explosions to various set pieces, without causing any noticeable damage, to several shots. Since then I have also changed the shots I would add the sparks to, so now only one shot remains - as seen below. 

Production - POTENTIAL CRISIS AVERTED

The brief panic caused by yesterday's Blender issues is past. The program on the school machines was no less stubborn, however during an exam revision session Greg (a tech-savy guy) came to media and re-encoded Blender's render process for the Cycles engine. 

In the mean time, screenshot. 

Above: The rendering particle elements for a Blender shot at the start of the second verse.

Production - THAT'S VEXING

In trying to re-render Blender shots to make them more suitable for some of the Greenscreen footage, I'm experiencing some rather vexing technical difficulties.

My short-term solution to this will be to take the project files from my Macbook at home to the Macs at the media department tomorrow - and hopefully Blender won't be feeling so stubborn on the iMacs there.

Production - GREENSCREENED

The screenshots above show my beginnings of greenscreen editing - some problems occurred, such as tight time limits resulting in often rushed shots, meaning that the greenscreen in some shots has proved harder to key out than in others - also some Blender files have to be re-rendered out as multiple files with various elements - for example, background and foreground elements much be rendered separately in order to place Louis in the midst of the waveforms.

Research - AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE DEMOGRAPHICS

Below is a screenshot from the demographic analytics for the BTS video of You Know My Name, which gives limited feedback on my target audience. 

To expand on type of target audience I am aiming at, I compiled a number of pie charts made from key information provided by the questionnaire mentioned in the previous post. Below is a screenshot of the questionnaire itself. 

Research - HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOND, SOUNDCLOUD AND SYNERGY

The video above is from the offical James Bond youtube channel, in which cast and crew from Skyfall discuss the 50th Anniversary of Bond.

The media synergy of the moment creates the perfect time for me to release my music video. With the entire target audience of 007 indulging themselves in the 23rd Bond film, Skyfall, whilst celerating the anniversary of the Franchise which began with Doctor No in 1962, a newly released music video of You Know My Name (which was the theme of Casino Royale, 2006) will be very much welcomed. Below is a sort sound clip, uploaded to SoundCloud and embedded onto this blog post.

To clarify the media synergy theory concerning Skyfall, Casino Royale and my music video, I prepared questionnare for potential viewers of the video. The details of this will be in the following blogpost.

Production - CALL SHEET FOR GREENSCREEN SHOOT

Above: the call sheet

Below: using the 'Reports' section of Celtx to create the call sheet from items in the Master Catalogue

Far Below: The Master Catalogue

Production - PREPARING FOR GREENSCREEN SHOOT

Now that the final CGI renders are complete, I can begin hunting for an afternoon in which to shoot the greenscreen material needed - the objective of which is to put Louis, my actor, into the CG world. Shots in which the audio waveforms overlap the area where Louis would stand are also being re-rendered, landscape and waveforms separately (this allows me to place Louis in the landscape, but behind the waveforms).

Production - PYRO SHOOT CANCELLED

The shoot was on until Saturday morning, when I received a text message from Greg explaining he was too ill to do the shoot. Ultimately it didn't happen, and bearing in mind Greg's busy schedule I may need to find an alternative way to composite in the sparks.

Production - FINAL CUT EXPRESS

Due to previously mentioned technical difficulties, I found attempting to edit on Premier - which was continually loosing render files - impossible. 

The Project after immigration to Final Cut Express

In response to this sticky situation, I brought my own Macbook Pro into school last Tuesday and spent a solid 5 hours moving clips from the Media iMac onto my Macbook, then using time-codes from the Premier file to A) Trim each and every clip as it was  and B) Position it in the exact same location in the timeline. 

Due to a slight change in the location of the soundtrack in the Final Cut project file, each clip was slightly out of time and needed tailored positioning. However this painfully slow process paid off - each and every clip is now in perfect sync, whereas the Premier file had some issues with syncing.

I will now continue to use After Effects for compositing on the Media iMac, however I will use Final Cut Express to edit the music video. In addition to this, I have stopped using Blender to render files for the music video on the iMac and have begun using Blender for this purpose on my Macbook at home - which has almost tripled render speeds, as it is a faster computer. 

Due to all these changes, I think it's almost a happy accident that the Premier file became faulty... the benefits from moving the clips onto the Macbook are near-overwhelming, as my personal preference favours Final Cut anyway.

Production - PARTICLES EXPERIMENTATION

To work on something special for the penultimate CG shot, I have been experimenting with particle simulations in Blender. The Experiments are above.

Production - PYROTECHNIC SHOOT COMING UP

After much scrambling for an afternoon in which to shoot the pyrotechnic assets for the video, Greg and I have agreed to do the shoot this coming Saturday. There are reportedly 11 bought pyrotechnics, and as many DIY pyrotechnics as Greg can make by Saturday night. We will shoot at night in his driveway to achieve the pitch black look needed as the backdrop. The basic plan is to shoot a minimum of three takes for each pyrotechnic. 

Production - TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

Coming back from half term, I am experiencing a few 'minor' technical difficulties.

 All programs had been locked by the administrator, unintentionally, and this somehow meant that when my Premier Pro file was finally unlocked, the render files had vanished. 

Each and every clip needs to be rendered in the timeline; live links to After Effects have been broken. However attempts to render are slow and sometimes cause Premier to crash - on top of this the After Effects files have to be rendered out as self contained files.

This may set me back a week or so in editing, however the shoots can still go ahead.

Production - TIMELINE PREVIEWS

A short preview of the music video

Two clips from the timeline of You Know My Name showing particles in action in the CGI world

Exporting the timeline as it is for previewing

Production - PYROTECHNICS

Pyrotechnic Shot List

I'm going to settle with parts of the equipment making sparks at random during the last chorus. The four screenshots are examples of camera angles in the timeline in which pyrotechnics will be detonated. 

The pyrotechnics themselves will be small explosions of sparks, with varying size, emitting from various pieces of equipment. 

To achieve this, I will consult Greg - one of the crew members in You Know My Name, who is experienced in the field - his EPQ project is a construction of various pyrotechnics. 

Above is a shot list for each pyrotechnic. I need to be very specific about the shot angle and timecode for each detonation, to make the compositing look realistic.

Greg will construct the pyrotechnics for me once I have given him the details of what I need, and then together we will shoot against either a black screen or a green screen to composite the sparks into the shots.

Production - FIRST DRAFT OF LIVE PERFORMANCE

Two weeks and two days since the first shoot - first draft of the music video's live performance element is complete. 

After having speedily moved through the majority of the band performance footage, which amounts to just under 6 hours of shot footage, the best clips have made the timeline to almost completely fill blank spaces. Some parts of the timeline are empty of footage: these areas are markers, to make room for something like this:

There is a clear difference in the look of the particle streams here and in the streams in the post below. This is because the scale of the You Know My Name CGI Environment. This is because the YKMY world is much, much larger than the world in which the first particles (below) were created. More turbulent force and more velocity were needed to increase the scale and effect of the streams - so in loosing the smooth ribbons and coils, I gained lighting-like streams which truly do take the appearance of audio waveforms. 

Production - PARTICLE SIMULATIONS FROM BLENDER

Yesterday I was experimenting on Blender - I was looking for something extra to add to the CGI world because it felt very simple, and not quite as grand-scale as expected. On VideoCopilot (A website for After Effects tutorials) I saw a tutorial for creating an audio waveform, glowing and shimmering in 3D space, in After Effects. However the effect required trapcode particular, an expensive plug-in I don't have access to. 

After watching the tutorial, I went into Blender - which has a complex built-in particle simulator - and after many hours of trying different things, I came across this effect and fell in love with it. Below is a 40 minute tutorial I recorded on how to create such a particle stream.

These glowing audio waveform type simulations will appear in You Know My Name and potentially another music video I have very recently begun work on outside of school, on Muse's Madness.

Production - EDITING IN PREMIER AND AFTER EFFECTS

Production - THE FIRST SHOOT HAS BEEN SHOT