Video & Sound Production: Final Project

Video & Sound Production (VSP 60104)

NAME: Adeline Wong Chyn Nee (0344017) I.D: 0344017 COURSE: Bachelors of Design in Creative Media MODULE: Video & Sound Production

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LECTURE NOTES

WEEK 1 (1.4.2022)

During the first week, we were briefed about the week's exercises and assignments for the rest of the semester, we were told that the assignments will be a time-based project module. A time-based project consists of three stages, pre-production (preparation), production (principal shooting), and post-production (editing).

A. Pre-Production

1. Idea development
2. Story
3. Storyboard
4. Visual References
5. Location/ Props

Fig. 1.1 Storyboard image taken from slides, week 1 (1/4/2022)

B. Production

1. Lighting 2. Costume 3. Principal Shooting

C. Post-Production

1. Offline Editing 2. Online Editing 3. Audio Editing

For our tutorial session, we were tasked to edit an advertisement using the given clips from a mint video, we were to utilize Premiere Pro for this exercise. We have to download the footage from a google drive folder, next, create a new Premiere Pro project and import the footage, then finally compile the shots on the timeline together then export the video.

Fig. 1.2 Mints advertisement timeline, week 1 (1/4/2022)

Fig. 1.3 Mints advertisement, week 1 (1/4/2022)

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INSTRUCTIONS:

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VSP Week 1 task:

A. View Stop-Motion shorts and write a rationale explaining the style, art direction, and character design.

1)

Vid. 1.1 Waste Away (2020) - Stop Motion Animated Short

Style: The stop motion follows the dark concept, and it is shown through the overall gloomy color scheme, as well as the stained and sooty materials used.

I chose this stop motion animation by Elly Stern mainly because of the message it brings to the audience, it raises an impression on the viewers, causing them to reflect on real-life events such as the problem of pollution as shown. Not only that but the textures are shown in the character and the prop design fits perfectly with its concept, it conveys emotions to the viewers watching. Lastly, the story transitions contrast well with each previous scene, clear enough that it grabs the focus of viewers.

2)

Vid. 1.2 Bottlecap Apple Pie (2018) - Tiny Chef

Style: The stop motion follows the colorful and light-hearted concept, and it is shown through the overall bright and saturated color scheme, as well as the miniature props used.

I chose this stop motion animation by Tiny Chef simply because of how happy it made me feel, the idea of having a mini felt chef making a bottlecap apple pie is just so adorable and makes it very addictive to watch. Not only that but the simultaneous use of small props and big props has a fantasy and storybook-like concept to it which is attractive.

3)

Vid. 1.3 硬币(The Coin) - filmmaker Siqi Song

Style: The stop motion follows a toned-down style while having the color red as its concept, and it is shown through the symbolism, as well as the change of colors on the character and props used. 

Symbolism-wise, this stop-motion utilizes the coin as a symbol to tell a story, she’s moving away from her home.  The coins not only represented good luck for the future she wanted, but her family & the home life & routines she’s leaving behind.  she brought the coins with her as a reminder, but she left them on the train.  in dismay, she struggles to identify with the fast-food world when she was used to home-cooked meal traditions but eventually finds safety in knowing that the coins and her heritage will never leave her. Not only that but the color red is used repeatedly in this stop-motion as it symbolizes happiness, success, and good fortune. 

B. View Visual Effect shorts and write a rationale explaining the style, art direction, and character design. (very much incomplete)

1)

Vid. 2.1 Christmas edit by Sam Lewis (TikTok)

This visual effects Tik Tok video by Sam Lewis is a Christmas themed transformational effect, where seamless effects are used such as glow effect along with the use of a CGI old age filter on his face. The Tik Tok starts with the young him and after visual effects, his old self appears. Not only that, but other elements like snow in the background, Grogu's appearance, and his own miniature figure are added with the help of the green screen.

Vid. 2.2 "I Barely Survived Viking Academy" by Zach King (YouTube)

This visual effects YouTube video by Zach King shows Zach's journey at the Viking academy and how he continuously attempts to pass the tests in his own peculiar ways. Throughout the whole video, Zach seems to be doing normal Viking stuff when suddenly he would insert visual effects and surprise the audience, he does it in a witty manner that is fun to watch. CGI like a toothless dragon is also added to the video and made to look natural as it blends in with the people in the video.

Vid. 2.3 Heartburn part 2 by Tristan Tales (TikTok)

This Tik Tok video by Tristan Tales tells a story of a cold-hearted (literally) woman's mundane life when she suddenly saw a man in the park who is the exact opposite of her, instead of an icy heart, he has a fiery heart. In the beginning, we see visual effects such as the woman's icy heart naturally edited onto her chest as well as the correct color grading to go with her icy character. Not only that, but we also see another effect which is the fiery flare effect from the guy's chest and it is paired with warm color grading as well.

VSP Week 6 (6/5/2022): Final Project Video Development

For our final project, we are tasked to choose our topic between doing visual effects or stop-motion. I decided to choose a visual effects for this project to suit my chosen specialization, Graphic Design. Before starting, we are required to write down the synopsis of our story, some visual references, mood board, and its rationale it.

I have been obsessed with everything cyberpunk lately so I have decided to surround my topic around cyberpunk and create an interesting story with it.

1. SYNOPSIS:

The story takes place in a 2053 cyberpunk world where Aqel tries her best to get by as a lone wolf. While working on a time machine to connect with the past and future, she then goes for a toilet break not worried about what will happen will next, and that is when an alert popped up on her computer to inform her of an incoming female time traveler. Aqel proceeds to head back to her room after she’s done and goes to discover with a shock that her past self is standing in her room. After a while of bickering with herself, both Aqel and her past self knew they had to do something or one of them would disintegrate. So, with the time travel machine still under construction, they struggle to figure out a way to fix the error.

2. VISUAL REFERENCES/MOOD BOARDS (rational, screenshots & links):

A. Title 01: "Cyberpunk HUD - Visual Effects Breakdown" by Pixflow

Fig. 3.1  "Cyberpunk HUD - Visual Effects Breakdown" by Pixflow

Fig. 3.2  Screenshot from "Cyberpunk HUD - Visual Effects Breakdown" by Pixflow

Fig. 3.3  Screenshot from "Cyberpunk HUD - Visual Effects Breakdown" by Pixflow

Fig. 3.4  Screenshot from "Cyberpunk HUD - Visual Effects Breakdown" by Pixflow

This video shows the breakdown of different cyberpunk scenes from raw clips to maxed-out visual effects and color grading. The colors and styling of the visual effects can be taken note of when editing my videos. In this reference video, both visual effects and colors go hand-in-hand, where when one is added, the color of that specific area has to be graded as well in order for the visual effects to blend in well and look natural.

B. Title 02: "Disintegration of Dr. Manhattan in Watchman" [Starting from 3:34]

Fig. 3.5  "Disintegration of Dr. Manhattan in Watchman" from YouTube

Fig. 3.6  Screenshot from reference video #1

Fig. 3.7  Screenshot from reference video #2

Fig. 3.8  Screenshot from reference video #7

This video [from 3:34 onwards] shows how the protagonist gets disintegrated into ashes with the help of visual effects. It starts off as a normal clip with cooler colour tones to welcome the disintegration part, which includes the use of multiple visual effects at once. From this reference video, there would have to be at least 2 clips prepared for this effect, one capturing the background with no one in the shot and the other with the actor in shot. This visual effect would probably be used at the end of this final project’s video when both Aqel and her past self failed to fix the time machine and one of them had to disintegrate.

C. Title 03: "Clone Multiverse" by Jaden Williams

Fig. 3.9  "Clone Multiverse" by Jaden Williams

Fig. 3.10  Screenshot #1 from "Clone Multiverse" by Jaden Williams

Fig. 3.11  Screenshot #2 from "Clone Multiverse" by Jaden Williams

Fig. 3.12  Screenshot #3 from "Clone Multiverse" by Jaden Williams

This video shows how just one person can create a story that includes dialogue between 2 or more characters. Although widely known and used, this effect, when used effectively, can create natural and interesting works like the reference video. As for this final project, the conversation scene between Aqel and her past self will be adapting this specific visual effect to create a conversation scene where both of them are in a single shot.

VSP Week 12 (24/6/2022): Final Project Video Development

A. Storyboard process

Fig. 4.1  Storyboard page 1 of 4

Fig. 4.2  Storyboard page 2 of 4

Fig. 4.3  Storyboard page 3 of 4

Fig. 4.4  Storyboard page 4 of 4

B. Film and Import

The filming process was not linear as I did had to reshoot after noticing some mistakes when the first batch of clips I have filmed. I did a total of 3 filming sessions to get all the right clips.

Fig. 4.1 Screenshot of imported clips compilation

Fig. 4.2 Screenshot of final Premiere Pro timeline

C. Editing Process OF VFX

1. Hologram VFX

Fig. 4.3 Hologram VFX done in my video

I've used a total of 4 effects on my hologram layer to achieve the final look, the below screenshots are the 4 used.

Fig. 4.4 Cropping the layer (1st step)

Fig. 4.5 Changing the hue (2nd step)

Fig. 4.6 Creating hologram wave effect (3rd step)

Fig. 4.7 Changing the form (4th step)

2. Clone VFX

Fig. 4.8 Clone VFX done in my video

Fig. 4.9 Creating a mask and feathering it out

Fig. 4.10 Added keyframes to mask when the subject moves

3. Disintegrating VFX

Fig. 4.11 Disintegrating VFX done in my video

Fig. 4.12 Added VR Chroma Leaks and tweaking the settings

Compilation of used sound effects in my video:

Fig. 4.13 Screenshot of sound effects used

Fig. 4.13 Screenshot of sound effects used

Final Submission:

Fig. 4.13 Our Error final video

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Reflection:

Working on this final project taught me the most as I learned, studied, filmed, and edited it, creating the final outcome by myself. It was almost like a self-taught project because we had to chose between either doing stop motion or visual effects ourselves, and also choosing that kind stop motion/ visual effects we want to do as well. In this case, I chose 3 kind of visual effects, the clone visual effect, the hologram visual effect, and the disintegration visual effect. All 3 visual effects were learned by watching videos online and achieving the final outcome video took many trials and error, during filming and the editing process. This has taught me to have perseverance and patience when creating a work all by your own. I have honestly learned so much than expected in this final project, and am pretty proud of myself.