project[2]

lim jia sheng,
0344034.

BDCM
.Video & Sound Production
::project[2]

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project[2]: Shooting Practise & Editing

todo:

• Narrow down 3 cool Zach King videos.
• Create story & plot segmentation.
• Create a storyboard
• Create a video

research:

I first found the 3 Zach King videos. This first one very clearly showcases why I love his stuff. It's such a simple concept, but done so well, with no obvious seam to the illusion.

The one thing that reveals slightly how the effect was made is probably Zach's shadow, bending & extending down into the pit, signalling it's probably a CGI shadow on an animated mesh.

The next one I found was this:

It's an extremely simple trick but clever trick with tracking, & the clean execution just sells it that much more.

This one's a classic, from the vine days.

It doesn't rely too much on any fancy computer generated trickery, but it does take advantage of masking & clever timing. The concept itself is super fun too, one of the greatest.

process:

After finding the reference videos, story & plot segmentation is next. This is my first attempt at those 2, where M is the main character:

The police show up at M’s house & M has to get rid of “poison” in a bottle. He pours it into his hat, but the liquid teleports onto his plants.

1. M is casually on his phone in his living room.
2. M hears the police knocking on the door.
3. M grabs the bottle of “poison” nearby & panics on where to dispose of it.
4. M looks at the sink, it’s full of dishes.
5. M looks at the toilet, there’s someone inside.
6. Finally, M decides to take off his hat & pour the poison into it.
7. M feels relieved, as the poison is no more.
8. Suddenly M hears that there’s a sound in his garden.
9. M looks out the window & sees another hat on the floor spraying the poison he poured.
10. M panics once again but the plants end up withering anyways.

I then took this exact shopping list & crafted a storyboard out of it.

After the storyboard, we got some feedback & it was noted that a few things were confusing. Primarily there were parts where I had to rethink.

My amendments would be that instead of a bottle of "poison", it would be a baggie of white powder, & the ending instead of the liquid appearing out in the garden, it would be sneezed out, replacing 3., 8., 9., & 10.

With that changed, I proceeded to do a rough shoot.

I was once again given feedback on this pertaining to the clarity of the information communicated. I added a few more shots & did the effects, which netted me the draft. Besides that I also added a preliminary grade & some unmixed sound effects. The reason why the grade & sound effects were preliminary though was that I spent most of my time budget on the effect.

To get the disappearing look, I used After Effects' object fill feature. However, it wasn't the greatest at its job, often introducing artefacts & misshapen colours. This made it so that I had to use a lot of reference frames, & I mean a lot.

Figure 1.1.1, Tabs of reference frames, 5/10/2021

Figure 1.1.2, Reference frames inside After Effects, 5/10/2021

Figure 1.1.3,

Draft video, 6/10/2021

The feedback for this was as expected, the sound & grade was wonky, but hey the effect works so I was chuffed enough. I continued working on both those items & ended up with the final product.

feedback:

• 22/9/2021
  • It's not clear that what I'm referring to as drugs, are drugs. Maybe use some powder.
  • The effect shot had a nice angle.
  • The ending part is slightly confusing, it would be better if I rethought that.
• 29/9/2021
  • It's still not 100% clear that the drugs are drugs, maybe add a top-down shot.
• 6/10/2021
  • The sound needs some work.
  • The grade needs some work.

final:

Figure 1.2.1, Final video, 6/10/2021

reflection:

This project was an interesting one. Things felt foreign but familiar at the same time. On the one hand, this wasn't the first time I'd done storyboards before; this is the first time I've done a storyboard with real world test shots. This wasn't the first time I've shot a short video with tons of mini shots; this is the first time I've done it with special effects. This uncanny valley of a project kinda made it more fun, as it was just something fresh, so not complaining.

My main observations from it was that damn, there's so much that goes into camerawork. Shooting one scene required:

1. Conceptualizing the shot.
2. Shooting a reference image.
3. Recording down the settings/position/method used to create said shot.
4. Positioning & setting the camera up to take a test shot.
5. Reviewing the shot & deciding to keep or scrap.
6. Positioning & setting the camera up to take the real shot.
7. Creating sound for the shot.
8. Grading the shot.

Other than that though, the fact that the project brought me through all the steps was a staple to how it was effective in achieving its goal of education. This will be the procedure I will be following in my future shootings, definitely increasing its production value.