VFX1 DD1410: Forest Fight Sequence (Shots 6-15)

The final part of the brief (seen in the link below this paragraph) states that for the final ten shots of the forest fight sequence, a blog post needs to be created describing what visual effects should be put in place in the shots, and how they could be achieved. The shots consist of brief conversation and the beginning of a fight between two characters, with other characters in the background.

http://www.darthspockvfx.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/vfx1-dd1410-brief-02-fight-and-forest.html

Lets start with Shot 6:

The image below is the example that is going to be used for this shot:

First of all, the shot will need stabilised, this can be achieved by placing a tracker on the shot. The trackers could be placed in the positions shown below (represented by red markers):

The stone wall that the trackers are attached to doesn't move throughout the entire shot, so it is perfect to use as a tracking point.

What also can be done to this shot is give the children some powers. Without talking to the director it is impossible to know exactly what he or she wants done to the shots. What could be done is to make it look like the main girl is emitting energy from he hands, as if she is getting ready to fight (see picture below, represented in blue):

The best way to do this would be to roto the girls hands and then use a particle effect to represent the energy. Then a roto should be made around the rest of her incase the energy in her hands gives off any kind of glow on the rest of her. It is probably worth doing a roto around a small area around her hands to show rays of lights coming off them (see picture below, the body roto is represented in pink, and the area around the hands in green):

Shot 7:

The picture below is the frame that is going to be used as an example:

This shot consists of the character doing some sort of martial arts arm movements, possibly to intimidate his enemy. What would be good to do to this shot is to take some frames out between his arm movements, that way it will make his arm gestures look much faster, as if they are snapping into place. As you can see in the picture above, the main male character appears to have some sort of minions, it isn't very clear in this shot but they are wearing black masks with faces on them (this will become clearer in future shots), what would be really good to do is to put some sort of effect on their eyes. Possibly make their eyes red (see below).

This will make them look much more evil, and with the footage being for a children's television show, it is the type of visuals that children like in their cartoon villains. This red eye effect can be achieved by rotoing around their eyes and using a form of colour correction or bring in an image of a demonic eye. Then use the eyes as a tracking point and track through the rest of the shot.

Shot 8:

The still picture for this example is below:

The shot consists of frames like the one above, and other frames that are very similar to those shown in Shot 7. To begin with, like in the last shot where this girl was seen, she could emit energy from her hands, preparing for battle (see below).

 Just like before, this can be achieved by rotoing the hand, and using a particle effect, the her body can be roto'd and a glare can be added from the energy and a roto around the hands can be created to show rays of light. The shot is also fairly shaky, so it can be stabilised by reading in a tracker, using the trees as tracking points (shown in the picture below, represented by the red markers).

As for the other frames, where we see the main male character again, like before frames can be taken out to show more snappier movements and red eyes can be added to his minions/bodyguards.

Shot 9:

The still frame for this shot is below:

This shot shows the main male character setting his guards loose on his enemies. Just like with the other shots that involved his minions/guards, the continued theme of them having red eyes would be cool to continue. What would also be good would be to have his hands start to generate energy from his hands, as if he is about to attack (see picture below).

Just like with the energy emitting from the girls hands, this can be achieved by rotoing his hands, adding in some sort of particle effect, then roto his body in case any glare comes off his and hands and finally roto the area around his hands to show the odd ray of light. What would also be good for this shot would be make him look more evil, by added black electronic energy pulsing around his hands (around the red energy). This could be achieved by reading in the sequence of the electricity/lighting, transforming the lightning so that it is on top of his hands and finally using the reveal tool on the rotopaint node to fill in between the gaps of the lightning to show his hands behind it. Perhaps even a lightwrap could be used to make it look more real around his hands.

Shot 10:

The image below represents a still frame from the shot:

This is a very short shot that just moves from the main girl to the rest of the characters. In this shot to keep the continuity, the energy would be pulsing from her hand, so the usual rotos and particle effects would be used. The shot is also quite shaky, so it needs to be stabilised, there isn't anything that really stands out through the hole shot, so it would be best to select one or two of the characters as tracking points and then edit the track by hand.

Shot 11:

The picture below is still example from this shot:

As seen in the picture below, it is a forward facing shot of the main male character and his two guards, so for this one, to run with theme of the other shots with him in them, his guards will have red eyes and his hands will emit red energy with lightning going around them.

Shot 12:

The picture below is the still example from this shot:

In this shot the camera cuts to a side view of the main female character in purple, with two of the villains guards walking past her, for this shot the guards will have their usual red eyes and it would look good if they were slightly out of focus (so she is the center point of the shot). To do this it would take a simple roto around the female character and one for the background too and the addition of a blur node. The picture below the rotos around the character (represented with light blue for the character and green for the background) and the guards red eyes. The picture only shows a very rough idea of where the rotos would be. The actual rotos would have to be much closer, and would have to be animated to follow the character throughout the shot.

Shot 13:

The picture below is the still example for this shot:

In this shot the villain sets his minions/guards onto his enemy. For this shot, the guard will have his usual red eyes, and it would be cool if his staff started to emit its own energy, like it is a magically powered weapon. This could be easily achieved by rotoing the weapon, using a particle effect and animated the roto so that it follows the weapon through the shot. The energy could also be animated to start off near the center of the weapon, and expand towards each end as the shot goes on so that by the end of the shot, the whole weapon is covered. This again can be achieved by animating the roto. Also a lightwrap could be added to make it look like the energy is all the way around the weapon.

Shot 14:

The picture belo is a still example from this shot:

In this shot the main character looks as if she is turning to tell her companions to run. For this shot her hands will still have the blue energy signature just like in the previous shots. As usual this will be achieved by rotoing her hands, using a particle effect, rotoing her body to replicate a glare/glow and a roto around the area around her hands to create rays of lights using some sort of colour correction node. The shot could also be stabilised using the same tracker points as seen in Shot 6.

Shot 15:

This is a still example from the shot:

This shot shows one of the villains guards attacking the main female character. He swings his weapon (the staff) at her head and she ducks out of the way. For the main villain, he will still have his red energised hands with lightning around them, charging them, and by the end of the shot, after his guards attack has missed, he will unleash this energy at the female character. The pulsing/charging could be achieved by using a particle effect and the unleashing of the energy/lightning can done in the same way as the lightning around his hands is done, buy reading in the sequence, transforming it into position and rotopainting out the extras. As for the guard, he will have his usual red eyes and his weapon will be charged with energy. It would also look good if the energy was pulsing up and down and around the weapon, as if it is alive. This is be done by using a particle effect and animating to move throughout the shot. 

To make the shot feel a bit more fast paced, like with when the main character was doing his arm movements in Shot 7, frames could be taken out to make it look like the guardian is swinging his weapon faster, and in return, she ducks faster (this can be made to show the skill of both the hero character, and the villains).

That is the final shot of the forest fight sequence, these are just a few examples of how these shots could be composited to make them look visually good. It all depends on what the director wants, for example, he or she might right want something simple, no effects anywhere, just stabilising the shots possibly some minor grading and colour correction.