As a group project we first developed two initial ideas.
The first idea is about a short film on the streets of London: two guys steal a powerful artifact and find themselves having to run away from something or someone. The project is based on the creation of portals (created through houdini, maya and rotoscope process) that allow the two protagonists to move freely around the city

We were already convinced of the first project but we still developed a second idea to have more options. Plan B is a completely different project from our first choice: it involves making a series of shots with the green screen, from different points of view and perspectives to show the many “layers” that an object, person or environment could have.

Once we decided that we would continue the road to the initial idea, we began to list all the aspects to be developed: writing the script, deciding how many shots, location scouting, division of tasks, post-production, editing, etc.

As a first step we chose the preferred locations, on the basis of aesthetics and functionality (such as the presence of arches or doors). Then we focused on the creation of the storyboard, to have a common and tangible idea in our minds. The storyboard was a vital aspect to continue with the project

Once the list of locations was written, we analyzed everything that could be needed, in the context of the actual shooting and post-production work. One of the aspects that I learned the most during this project is the organization and trying to see beyond, let me explain: When we shoot in location we always have to think about the fact that we then have to edit and work on the video in postproduction, so the scene must be organized and designed to then be worked smoothly on compositing and cg programs.

If something is missing from the shooting on location, the post-production workload increases or sometimes it is not achievable

LIST FOR LOCATION/SHOTS

Ext. (Maggie Blake’s Cause)

Ext. (Maggie Blake’s Cause)

Ext. (Grafitti Tunnel)

Ext. (Grafitti Tunnel)

Ext. (Grafitti Tunnel)

Ext. (Holborn Viaduct)

Ext. (Statue)

Ext. (Chancery Lane Arch)

Ext. (Chancery Lane Arch)

Shooting on location was not easy but with the help of the whole team we succeeded. The problems that arose were caused by the lack of light in the darkest environments, rain and too busy environments. If I could go back, there are a series of shots that we should have taken in the studio with a green screen to get better results … it will be for another time.

The photographs below were taken in the darkest locations we had, we helped each other using the only light resources and an external flashlight.

For this project we have divided the tasks on the basis of the skills and passions we have. I worked on the compositing of the project: doing cleanups, comping the scene and rotoscope.

In this last term I think I understand that compositing is “currently” the job that I enjoy the most.

The location for this shot is my favorite, I really like the perspective you get from this position along with the composition you create.

Obviously there are many elements that spoil the scene, the composition I am talking about is only achieved after a good cleanup job. In this location we are very close to tower bridge, so a very busy area, so we tried to wait until there was no person but this unfortunately never happened.

However I managed to remove severals elements we didn’t want in the scene by creating patches with rotopaint. I also removed the two people in the scene, obviously I’m not talking about the protagonist 😀 ! The woman in the orange jacket and the man who comes out of the darkness at the end of the sequence on the left have been removed by creating a patch of the scene and placing it under the runner, obviously having roto out.

last but not least i added some graffiti on the wall on the right, white balance and color grading helped to make everything more realistic

Shot 7 is the scene that scared me most initially. Basically in this scene I had to recreate a jump inside a hole and make the protagonist disappear from the scene. This shot was the most particular among the others, also because in order to do so we had to speak and ask permission from JP Morgan security, as this space is located exactly in front of the London headquarters.

That said, we did a shot without the protagonist and a second shot with the protagonist simulating a jump in the circle.
After that I started working on nuke: first I comp the circle of fire in the scene, adding shadows and white balance, then I roto out myself and make myself disappear once I entered the circle, below the ground.

The biggest problem is that there is a moment in the scene where the runner’s legs / feet are behind and hidden by the flames, after that the initial flames must be seen passing in front, but behind the flames in the front line.

All this was possible with nuke, roto out myself and merge it over the scene and the first flame circle, then create a patch from the portal flame and merge (matte) it with my roto.
In addition, the base of the floor is covered with a fake layer that helps the protagonist to disappear more naturally.

Motion blur was found to be a very useful tool, it makes jumping and movement much more realistic and dynamic.

If I could go back, for the realization of this scene I would have used a green screen and I would have simulated further movements for the jump

For shot 8 I had to roto out the protagonist, as she has to pass in front of a CG background. Honestly, it’s the job I’m least proud of. There have been complications due to the fact that in the real environment and therefore in the original video there are very strong lights and highlights that compromise the image of the protagonist. At a certain point in the video we see the face of the protagonist completely illuminated by the light of the original background. Although in the other videos I was able to handle it, in this circumstance it was to use the green screen at 100%.

I tried to limit the “problem” by using node as blur, filter erode, edgleblur but with no actual results

For shot 9, I had to take care of the camera movement to be exported to maya. It took several attempts because apparently the environment was too dark to get a nice 3d tracking. I 3dtracked the scene through camera tracker and then exported the whole sequence as a fbx file with write geometry. After that I imported the file in maya and reduced the size of the locators

This project was my second collaborative project after the second term one. it was all very challenging also because we didn’t initially know how we were going to develop everything. There were many aspects to take into consideration to get the final result but overall we were good as a team at developing a pipeline and respecting it every time. Working in a team is not easy, ideas and opinions often do not match but we have no alternative but to find an agreement and move on.

I am happy with the path we have made and above all because I have learned many new qualities and techniques.