Edgar Rice Burroughs’ early 1900s tales of a fictional Mars (known as Barsoom) have been brought to the screen with modern day visual effects in John Carter. The film, directed by Pixar’s Andrew Stanton, sees the titular Civil War character, played by Taylor Kitsch, transported to the red planet where he meets the nine feet tall Tharks and all manner of civilizations. Visual effects artists from Double Negative, Cinesite, MPC, Nvisible, Legacy Effects and Halon Entertainment all collaborated on the alien world and its inhabitants. Read the fxguide interview with Dneg.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Rhythm & Hues takes flight for Chronicle
fxguide recently visited Rhythm & Hues in LA to talk to visual effects supervisor Raymond Chen about the flying scenes in Chronicle.
Journey 2: small is large & large is small
In Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, director Brad Peyton enlisted visual effects supervisor Boyd Shermis to oversee 430 shots for the native stereo production set on a mythical island where creatures and environments are not what they seem. Several vendors shared the workload, including Scanline, Pixomondo, Method Studios, MPC, Rising Sun Pictures, Trixter and ICOVFX. Previs duties were handled by The Third Floor and Pixomondo. fxguide chats to each of the lead studios about their major shots.
Also, check out this fxinsider interview with Rising Sun digital effects supervisor Mark Wendell on the tech tools behind the bee chase.
Electric aliens: Buf’s VFX for The Darkest Hour
In Chris Gorak’s The Darkest Hour, a group of friends band together against an alien invasion that threatens Moscow through the city’s power supply. Overall visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier tapped Buf to realize various aliens and parts of the destruction they wreak on the Russian capital. Pierre Buffin led the artistic direction of Buf’s work, with Stéphane Nazé as Buf’s VFX supe and Thomas Schoberand as VFX producer. Buffin tells fxguide about the design behind some of the specific sequences in the stereo film in this fxinsider interview.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Shooting a Fireworks Video
Fireworks is a challenging subject for the video shooter, especially if you are used to using automatic functions. The best thing you can do to create a better fireworks video is to use manual functions. Of course this applies to all video, but in the case of fireworks it's not just a recommendation — it's essential. Here are a few specific tips...
Focus
Auto-focus will "hunt" (go in and out of focus) constantly during fireworks. You will need to use manual focus instead (as you should anyway). Obviously you won't be able to keep adjusting the focus for each set of fireworks but you won't need to. In most cases you can just set the focus to infinity and leave it there.
Exposure
In some cases automatic iris can produce quite good results with fireworks but it's not generally a good idea. You are better off setting the iris to a level which captures the exploding fireworks well and leave it on that setting.
Over-exposure is common with fireworks, resulting in white, ill-defined pictures. Be conservative — it is better to slightly under-expose than over-expose.
White Balance
A standard outside white balance setting should be fine.
Position, Framing, Movement, etc.
- Find a good position where people won't get in the way.
- A tripod is a good idea if you are planning on shooting for more than 5 or 10 minutes. You will also be able to enjoy the display yourself more if you have a tripod.
- Wide-angle shots usually work best.
- If there is a lot of fireworks happening, don't try to chase them all. Concentrate on the main area of action.
- Don't worry too much about normal framing rules (such as the rule of thirds) unless you are framing the fireworks with something else, such as a stadium or staging area. Mostly the display will look fine if it just fills up the frame.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
8 Things Every Camera Owner Should Know About Their Camera
If you want to make the evolution from pointing and shooting to creating art, one of the things you must do is master your camera. I’m talking the kind of mastery where you can pick up your camera in most situations and begin firing quickly without too much fiddling around.
How do you do that? Practice when there’s nothing at stake. Assuming you have some down time over the holiday break, here are 8 things you should learn about your camera.
1. Where does unacceptable noise begin on your ISO range?
Your manufacturer says your camera can shoot a wide ISO range, but you won’t always want to do that. As you select a higher ISO setting, your images show more noise – bigger pixels. At what point in your camera does the noise become unacceptable? Take a series of pictures at progressively higher ISO settings and compare. Find out before it really matters.
2. Where’s the sweet spot on your lens?
This is a similar concept. Your zoom lens has a smaller range that is sharper than the outer edges. Just because the camera says 70 mm – 300 mm doesn’t mean it is sharp for that entire range. That inner limit where your lens performs best is generally referred to as your sweet spot. Do you know what that range is on your favorite lens? The only way to find out is to experiment.
3. What’s the fastest way to change your settings?
In many cameras, there is more than one way to change your metering, focus type, or white balance. If you are shooting and need to make quick adjustments, what’s the fastest way to do it? You never know when you might need to react without thinking.
4. Should you calibrate exposure?
Is your camera consistently shooting over or under exposed? Are you always having to dial in exposure compensation? This might be a good time to grab a grey card and practice getting your exposure correctly. Your default might be 1/3 stop under or over exposed.
5. How do you adjust your flash?
Yes, sometimes you will actually have to use your (gasp) flash. With most DSLRs, you can adjust how the flash fires – normal, red eye, or rear curtain – or with what intensity. Do you know where to make those adjustments? It’s possible when you need them, you could be in the dark. Always good to know where to begin fumbling.
6. Do you have a reset routine?
When you finish shooting for the day, do you return the camera to any default settings? Do you check those settings when you pick up your camera for the day? You might come up with your own “start” settings that will work if you ever need to grab and go.
For instance, at the end of a shoot, you might return your camera to ISO 400, Aperture Priority f/9, Evaluative Metering, Exposure Compensation set to 0, and Auto White Balance. If you pick up the camera and run out in a hurry, you’ll be set to get most basic shots. The last thing you want to do is start shooting and find that your camera is still in last night’s extreme set up. Establish your own routine. Is it before the shoot, after, or both? When will you reset and what?
7. What’s your accessories routine?
When do you recharge your batteries? How frequently? What’s the routine for the tripod plate? When do you empty your memory cards? Simple organization routines can help you from ending up on a shoot with a dead battery or full memory card…or worse yet, a tripod with no plate.
8. What’s your workflow system?
What’s your organization system for your pictures? It’s been a while since we used a Dewey Decimal library system, but you will need your own version for your photos. As you collect more and more pictures, a good tagging and filing system will save hours of searching later. That’s a good mindless exercise for a slow day.
Knowing your tools is often a skill that makes the difference in your photos. When I was in the Army, we had to practice taking apart and reassembling our weapons so much that we could do it in our sleep. The Army believed the point you needed your weapon most was not the time to start learning its nuances.
The same concept goes for your camera. Take the time to learn your camera when there is low pressure or expectations, like down time over the holiday break. When you’re shooting high impact events in 2012, everything should flow naturally.
Lynford Morton is founder and president of PhotoTour DC. He teaches photography during walking workshops around Washington, DC., and blogs at www.photocoachpro.com. Visit him at www.phototourdc.com.
'New' iPad Sets the Standard with 2048 x 1536 Resolution
Well, Apple always finds a way to be “different,” and they’ve certainly done that with the introduction of the new iPad. The new iPad is called…iPad. It remains to be seen if we’ll get an explanation into why they didn’t decide to continue with the numbering system – or a whole new naming system – but it’s clear Apple wants to start over again and has now created a slight confusion among consumers – as the iPad is far superior than the iPad 2. If you despise Apple, at least stick around for the conclusion.
Here’s the launch video:
Here are the specs:
- 2048 x 1536 IPS Retina Display – 261 PPI
- A5X processor with Dual-Core CPU and Quad-Core GPU
- 5mp camera and 1080p video recording
- 4G LTE
- $499, $599 and $699 for 16, 32, and 64GB
- $629, $729, and $829 for 4G LTE
- March 16 Availability
What does this mean for you? Well if you’re one of the millions of creatives out there who own Apple devices, it’s obviously exciting on a base level. But what Apple has done is truly push the envelope for resolution in a small screen. At 10 inches (same size as the previous iPad), the screen now has a high enough pixel density to be considered a Retina Display – that is, if held at least 15 inches away from your face. No other 10″ monitor in existence right now has a pixel density that high.
This means that we can finally watch not only 1080p videos, but actual 2K files from a RED Epic or Arri Alexa in full resolution on the iPad. This is going to be a blessing for most or a curse for some. I would expect that if you’ve got a rough cut of anything, and a client or boss with a new iPad, they’re going to want a full resolution file to be able to watch on their mobile device.
The positive end of this announcement for most of us, is that we now have the highest resolution resolution 10″ production monitor ever made. Is connectivity and durability a possible issue – probably – but with a device like the Teradek Cube, you can give directors, producers, and clients a full resolution image of whatever you’re shooting. This is scary in some ways, but if these higher-ups have a better sense of the final image because of the iPad – maybe they’ll leave you alone a little more (maybe). Regardless, this is a major development and there are an infinite number of reasons that this kind of resolution is helpful for filmmakers and creatives. Apple does one thing that even detractors can’t deny: they push other companies into innovating at a faster pace, and it’s likely over the next year or two every tablet screen will be at least 1080.
More to come soon on the other Apple announcements of the day – like 1080p movies in iTunes, new Apple TV, and an upgraded iMovie.
Link: Apple iPad
What Can Indie Filmmakers Learn from Pixar's Story Development Process?
With one of the best critical and commercial records in movie-making history, there are a lot of things Pixar does right. One of their greatest strengths is their ability to consistently craft great stories. So what’s the Pixar story development process like, and what can we as independent filmmakers learn from it? As part of a 5 part interview, Mary Coleman, a Pixar senior development executive, shares details about how it all comes together — revealing some surprising and enlightening things:
For example, the fact that the story is always seen as a work in progress:
“[W]e keep improving the story well into production, which is painful in animation. Making changes is expensive and laborious. But we’ll keep at it if the story’s not right yet. And we’ve never once gone into full production with it “locked.”
That comes after 3-4 years of active work developing the script, with a full year dedicated to outlining:
“In that first year you’re pitching twenty minute overviews of the story, getting feedback, and rethinking it. We often spend a whole year in outlining before going to a first draft. A lot of time laying that foundation.”
The feedback given for the first draft leads to a second draft, which begins a series of “visual rough drafts”:
“[A] team of story artists begin drawing out the movie, like [a] comic book. Then the comic book becomes like a flip book when the drawings are scanned in and edited together to make our “reels”. It’s a visual rough draft of the whole thing, so if your movie’s an hour and a half long your reels are too.”
The takeaway?Don’t skimp time on your outline — Try as many versions as you can before going for that first rough draft. This is where you figure out the heart of the story. You’re still going to have to write a lot of drafts, but if you figure out what you’re ultimately trying to communicate, it will make those subsequent drafts easier to problem-solve and improve.Now, you might think that once you start getting into visual rough drafts you are getting close to having a finished script. Instead, a full 2-3 years are spent going back and forth between the “reels” and new drafts of the written script, a process Coleman says may result in an average of 8 visual rough drafts and many more written drafts. This culminates with the movie going into production.
Keep the visual story in mind — Once you start working with drafts, start thinking about the story as images in real time, feeling out the beats and rhythms and letting what you learn inform your subsequent written drafts. Coleman says that at a certain point it’s all part of the same process, visual drafts meshing with written drafts and vice versa, and as visual storytellers we have to take that same attitude to heart.
Don’t be afraid to see the story as always being a work in progress — With today’s technology making it easier and easier to mix pre-production with production with post-production, use that to your advantage. For example, edit your footage as you’re shooting, seeing what can be improved while still in production. Don’t be afraid to let your actors’ performances suggest different possibilities within the story, it’s all just memory files, so keep the camera rolling and let them try different takes.
As Indie/DIY filmmakers we’re never going to be able to compete with the budget of a studio like Pixar, but with time on our side we can certainly learn from the care, work, and attention that is taken to develop these stories when crafting our own.
For the full interview covering the story development process click here, and for a more visual behind-the-scenes look check out Koo’s previous post about John Lasseter. What’s your takeaway?
[via Go Into The Story]
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