Final (video)

Scope

For this project, we had to make a short film that had to somehow include a water bottle, a hat, an obvious source of light, and the phrase "lights out" verbally spoken.

Process

Pre-Production
First, we spent a couple days brainstorming. This took a bit of time because we bounced different ideas around but we couldn't decide on one we were happy with. Eventually, we agreed on the idea of a murder story being narrated by the dead victim. The script writer wrote most of the script outside of class, so that aspect of the project was not very collaborated on, but we were all very happy with the result. I was in charge of story boarding, which again, was mainly finished outside of class, but the first couple of shots were done by the whole group.
Production
When storyboarding was finished, it was time to film. This was definitely the most difficult and problematic part of this project. We had to deal with cars driving in our shots, getting rained on, struggling to get our whole group called out of school, our microphone not working for voiceovers, and some other little occurrences, but I think it all turned out well in the end.
Post-Production
Editing- for me at least- was quite inconvenient. First of all, we had two SD cards we filmed from, so we didn't have all of the footage we needed at first, but we eventually obtained all the shots we needed. I had to stay after school to finish editing for an hour, followed by another hour to wait for it to upload, but I am pretty happy with how my version of my film came out.

What I learned

Because of the similarity of this project from the last one, I didn't learn too much more than what I already knew. I did, however, improve my skills in terms of brainstorming, storyboarding, script writing (although I didn't take part in this particular task), filming, and especially editing. This video was probably the most difficult to edit. I think that I improved my skills of flowing clips together, and I learned how to speed up and reverse clips, which I applied to the car crash scene.

Reflection

This was personally one of my favorite projects. I loved the plot and the acting and most of the shots were well done. However, I think a few of the shots were kind of shaky and just could have been better. If I would change anything, I would probably have tried harder to get the microphone to work, or ask a teacher for help, because the voiceovers sound a little distant without it. Also, I would re-film  a couple of shots. Specifically the walking shots which were very long and drawn out, or I would have just edited them differently. Overall, I think this project was successful for our group.

Final

Scope

For this project, we were assigned to make a video that included the three main elements we have learned in animation this year: 2D animation, 3D modeling, and special effects.

Process (Storyboarding, Green Screen)

We came up with the idea of making a video based off of the 1970s series Land of the Lost. After brainstorming and story boarding, we went down to the green screen room to film. We had lots of difficulty with the green screen aspect of this project. Mainly because we couldn't figure out how to adjust the lighting to hide the shadows behind the actors and the raft that was being used for the scene. Eventually, we got help and had it correctly adjusted. Probably our only non-technical difficulty was that the raft could only hold one person, and we had three actors. Therefore, we had to film in different angles to hide that the two people sitting in the back of the raft were practically hanging off.



Reflection

I learned many things from this project. I learned more about collaboration and how things can be done much more efficiently yet quickly when working with a group. Though, the biggest thing I probably learned was how to film with a green screen. More specifically, how to hide shadows, how to make the scene brighter (by adjusting lights, using a reflector, and overall just tweaking with the scene), and to avoid- and if you can, get rid of "dark spots" on the green screen.

If I could have done something different, I would probably get a bigger raft that three people could fit on. Also, if I could have picked a different TV program to base a video off of, I would pick one that I, and more people in general, are more familiar with. That way, people would be able to relate to it and maybe enjoy it a little more. I'm happy with how everything else turned out, though. Therefore I would do everything else the same. Things I would draw from this project would be our successful use of the green screen, our use of 3D animation in the title sequence, and the overall creativity and aspect.

R.I.P - Short Film

Trapped (Short Film)

Interview

Maya tools

Polything: I used the difference tool to make holes in the sphere then made it yellow, phong, and shined three lights on it.

Hammer: I used extrude to extend the hammer face and the claw and to create the depression at the top of the hammer.

Ice cream: I used difference to make the bowl, scoop, and used scale to make the ice cream lumpy.

Bouncing balls: I made three spheres. I gave the smallest one a golf texture, the medium one a tennis ball texture, and I used difference to make 3 holes in the bowling ball and made it phong. I translated the balls up, set a keyframe and then translated them down and set another keyframe, then repeated the process to make them bounce.

Cup: For this project I made a curve shaped like half of a wine glass and used the revolve tool to make it a 3d glass. I used a glass texture and turned the transparency up to make it clear.

Saltshaker. First I made a circle curve then scaled the control vertices down. I duplicated this shape 4 times then made a circle curve and put it at the top. For the cap I made a sphere and squashed some of the faces down, and deleted some of the faces at the bottom. I used the difference tool to make the holes at the top of the cap. For the salt, I duplicated the salt shaker, scaled it smaller, and put it inside the salt shaker.

Interview