Watch this Space (patience is a virtue...)

I will posting a proper blog post in a few hours when I can upload photos, but right now I have to prepare something for Studylink and head off to tech to return gear. Long story. But yes, there will be a post here by 1pm!

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Ok so let's crack in to it.

We have just finished up our greenscreen scenes and are now wrapped on filming for this term. We were hoping to get back out to Sandy Point to do some pick-ups but unfortunately our cast aren't available for the weekend - also, the weather is beginning to turn sour quite rapidly.

Greenscreen shoots can be quite deceptive - you think they're going to be easy because you're in a controlled environment, but then there's the issues of having to light the greenscreen, turn the sets around to film from other angles, and move sets in and out.

At the start of last week I got in contact with an arts student (Gordon) who allowed us to use his trailer, then myself, Lee, Sarah, Dan, Don, Iris and Chris all went out to the beach to borrow sand to bring in as a ground plane (over the top of the cave set). Pretty typical of the film business - even when we're at the beach, we're working!
It was only once the trailer was full of sand that we noticed I had a flat tyre. Changing tyres on the beach, on a stormy day - yeah I wouldn't recommend it!

Actually, I think it might have been a cursed trailer...
We parked the trailer at the tin shed and I had planned to drive it back to Gordon in the afternoon but someone else parked in front of it so I couldn't get it out. So I had to wait until later that night to move it. It was dark when I returned it and I used the flashlight on my phone to see what I was doing to disconnect it, however I put it on top of the car while I wheeled the trailer back down the driveway. No prizes for guessing what happened next...

Heavy duty producing

And this is why I have no photos from last week! Anuka, (budding artist, and our BTS photographer) has now turned my phone into a stylish piece of modern art.

So, i'll just have to rely on screengrabs and the like.

Not only that, but I think we somehow bent the wheel bracket for the trailer so we'll have to get that fixed. In all honesty, I think that probably would have been my fault. I probably forgot to lift the wheel up before I drove off -  yeah it's been that kind of week!

I helped organise the test shoot downstairs in the SIT-Pro studio, basically making sure whoever needs to be there is there. Also booked the vans so we could get our sets out from the tin shed:

Sent emails out to everyone in the crew to get their availability - found it more effective to email each person individually rather than sending out a bulk email. Psychology.  

And the same for all of our volunteers as well. 

Organising gear pick up. Myself and Aman had booked out the gear in our names and were there to do inventories, checks and also there returning the gear on the Monday mornings as well.  

After the greenscreen shoot in the dance studio, Dan, Aman and myself took the greenscreen down - it will need to be cleaned (again) but that's a job for another day.

On the actual shoot we were down on crew - we didn't have Virat (DOP), Arjun (Camera Operator), Tyler (Gaffer), Matt (Best Boy),  Michael (VFX Supervisor) and Shaun (VFX Assistant) so we were at a bit of a disadvantage but we managed to make do with what we had. I was on as boom operator again, but I also helped out the other departments as well when I could.

"Boom OP: Activate stealth mode!"

86ing the greenscreen after the shoot

Keeping gear city tidy. 

I found the whiteboard was a handy place to write up our shot list so that everyone could see it at a glace. 

Not my speciality, but I got a bit more familiar with the lighting gear as the shoot progressed

A happy mixer - A good sign :)

Someone must have been spying on the producers

Dan (the man [Director]) and I

Off set, I was doing my best to push the PledgeMe campaign which had begun to tail off. Unfortunately we didn't end up hitting target, but we'll soldier on We're still under budget at the moment so it's not a massive concern that we didn't get it. Still, a bit of extra cash to play would have been nice.

On the editing front, Dan and I sat down to cut the cave scene. It wasn't the easiest edit in the world because of some continuity and pacing issues, but I think we've cut it as good as we can (although it's hard to tell at the moment - once the animators have done the greenscreen replacement we should have a better idea of how it's all coming together. I'll post some screengrabs of this later this afternoon when I can get into the Mac Lab.


I also sent an email to Brian at the powerboat club to touch base and arrange payment for the use of the club.

Now, on to the last few weeks before our hand in deadline. I'll be finishing off the edit before handing it off for VFX, sound and grading. Then just to get all the paperwork in order and we're good to go.



P.S: Here are the aforementioned snaps of the editing on the greenscreen footage:

I've just done a very quick key on a few shots, some are keying better than others, but in general think it's a good job. I have no knowledge or expertise on compositing at this stage, this is all just from playing around with Premiere, so I'm sure the VFX team can do a much better job than I can at the currently. Virat also has some experience from his greenscreen shoot last year. 

The main thing that could be a problem is the green-spill in Luke's hair - but again, the animators might know some tricks to getting around this (see above).

I think some of the other shots are keying pretty good though. With proper garbage mattes and more advanced keying software we could get some good results (See below). 

Raw unedited footage

Keying the greenscreen

Composited image (just as an test - not representative of the final product)