Week 12:

CINEMATICS!!

The final stage of this module was the creation of a cinematic and collection of beauty shots.

Approaching these I created a "Master Camera" that was duplicated around the scene. Using the cinematic viewport and 3rds grid I setup a collection of shots showing a variety of different aspects of the environment. (My favourite of which being the desk covered in all manner of beautiful clutter)

One technique that helped create even more details were the cobwebs. These used a very slight emissive and web shaped opacity mask, applied to a plane within unreal and then placed around in suitable places. Unfortunately these have a threshold distance on where the focal blur wont effect them which is particularly obvious on some of these shots that I couldn't seem to remove. (Could be done in another software like Photoshop afterwards)

For this I also refined a Niagara Dust Particle system to populate my scene with a nice level of atmospheric air floating around. For the actual sprite renderer I created a simple grunge patch that then replaced the basic white orbs that were previously residing around the house. Whilst these aren't the most noticeable with my current lighting setup at the occasional angle they really help sell the aged manor vibe I wanted.

In addition I added some final decals to the desk including scratches, coffee rings and slight dust... because I simply cannot help myself... Although these do a lot of surprising heavy lifting especially on closeups.

After my beauty shots I tackled the cinematic. I knew early on I wanted to edit this to a piece of music, leading me eventually to: "A Place Like This" from Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children.

HIGHAM, Mike and MARGESON Matthew. 2016. A Place Like This. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Universal Music Group.

Now I attempted a couple directions for this cinematic:

I originally wanted a sequence that replicated the feeling of being a small fantasy creature walking around the scene, running and jumping around furniture and eventually landing on the book. This whilst interesting and fun didn't do a great job at showing off my assets... Although did sell the idea of magical beings living in the house which is quintessential to the world of this setting.

A difficulty arose with the scene being basically a straight line with an awkward large staircase to nowhere. So limited any movements to forwards/backwards with an inevitable focus in a strange third direction involving the stairs, simple demonstrating my inexperience with video creation.

To mitigate this and assist with redirection I consulted both William in addition to (previously a model for my photoshoot) Film Student Joe Byfield. Concluding with me lengthening many of my shots, desperately wanting to beat match to give a cinematic feel was my initial goal however this faster cutting did a poor job at demonstrating my asset creation skills. Combined with a rearrangement of shots to provide less of a disorientating experience that would flow and sweep from one angle to the other creating, a balanced viewing experience; being both logical and pleasing to watch. Once completed within Unreal I exported the footage and using Davinci Resolve I collated my final video, complete with music.

I still don't think I quite found the balance of wanting to produce more of a "trailer" selling the idea of a larger project opposed to showcasing my work. Being especially evident with the depth of field and focal distance being still a bit extreme in places. Whilst I do like the soft atmosphere created by this further refinements may help push the showcase aspect combined with ever slightly slower shots that can rest on focal points opposed to pulling away. But for a first time foray into the vast world video editing and shot creation I feel mostly satisfied with my output.