It's been a while so I thought I'd just throw a few videos up that I've (somewhat) recently had the pleasure of working on. I use that in the loosest of terms. In each of the following videos I did some camera and object tracking. I don't take credit for all of it. I can't. I didn't do all the tracking.
I do plan on updating my demo reel sometime soon, but until that happens, I'm just going to post some of Shilo's incredible work.
Comcast XfinityTV "Kitchen: Economy" from Shilo on Vimeo.
Powerade from Shilo on Vimeo.
O2 "Runner" from Shilo on Vimeo.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
A New Project Idea
Below is a sample from a project idea I had a very long time ago. I'm not sure what inspired it, but since character animation isn't exactly my bag, I figured something involving a camera move and some basic dynamics would be interesting.
Fast forward a few years and I saw the movie The Conformist which features the following shot:
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and (more importantly, IMO) shot by Vittorio Storaro, this is a crazy beautiful movie to watch. This won't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement, but I don't remember a thing about the story, but the visuals are burned into my brain.
So what's my plan? Well I'm not going to have a huge pile of leaves (or garbage) blowing in the wind and travelling down a sidewalk. Should I try and emulate The Conformist shot? I don't think so. A single garbage bag? Perhaps that's too American Beauty.
My plan is simple and complex at the same time. I want to model our backyard using the blueprint of our landscaping completed a couple years ago and have a piece of trash or a leaf or two travelling along, being blown by the wind.
As I imagine it now, I'd start the piece of... something... starting at the top left of the image, travelling down the winding path and past the garden (featured in the square-ish area), and would make its way to the bottom right on the parking patio. As an extra feature, I'd like to shoot this and track it so that I'd not only have a reference plate to match footage, but also a more realistic camera move.
Difficult? Yes. But as I see it, the fun would be in the modeling of the hard surface objects amongst plants. Since I'd like to shoot the reference footage when it's spring or summer, it also allows me time to model and texture for the remains of the winter so that I'd be ready to render by the end of summer. It's a pretty tall order, but it could be fun.
Fast forward a few years and I saw the movie The Conformist which features the following shot:
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and (more importantly, IMO) shot by Vittorio Storaro, this is a crazy beautiful movie to watch. This won't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement, but I don't remember a thing about the story, but the visuals are burned into my brain.
So what's my plan? Well I'm not going to have a huge pile of leaves (or garbage) blowing in the wind and travelling down a sidewalk. Should I try and emulate The Conformist shot? I don't think so. A single garbage bag? Perhaps that's too American Beauty.
My plan is simple and complex at the same time. I want to model our backyard using the blueprint of our landscaping completed a couple years ago and have a piece of trash or a leaf or two travelling along, being blown by the wind.
Difficult? Yes. But as I see it, the fun would be in the modeling of the hard surface objects amongst plants. Since I'd like to shoot the reference footage when it's spring or summer, it also allows me time to model and texture for the remains of the winter so that I'd be ready to render by the end of summer. It's a pretty tall order, but it could be fun.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
A Look Back On 2011
2012 is here.
I was just browsing around and hit up ProLost and saw that Stu was recapping the year that was. While I can't say that my list is as long as his, I thought it would be good to reflect on how the year was, projects completed, what's new, etc. So to jump right into it...
Camera Tracking
I completed projects for Pixel Reborn and Shilo. Through those contacts, I also coordinated some freelance for others for Bent Horizon.
1 - NCAA for Pixel Reborn. While I finished my part, it never went to air as it was shot and in the end I believe it got a full re-edit sans VFX. So it goes. 6 shots tracked.
2 - Julio Jones UA for Shilo. This was probably one of the best looking of the projects I had the pleasure of working on this past year. As usual, working with Shilo is also a good time. 9 shots tracked.
3 - O2 Runner for Shilo. Quick project completed over a weekend. 6 shots tracked.
4 - Powerade for Shilo. Lots of dark imagery and very little ground information for tracking, so it was one of the trickier series of tracks, but after a couple attempts it worked out. 7 shots tracked.
5 - Verizon for Shilo. Doubt I'll be able to find a video of this because from what I could tell it was for a corporate video for some Motorola Droid / mobile / business phone deal. 8 shots tracked.
6 - Title Tracks for Pixel Reborn. Not sure of the final project but there were some highway driving and hand held camera tracks that were pretty challenging. Shot on 7D or 5D, the issue of rolling shutter really needs to not be an issue any more. As much as I love the digital age for image and video capture, CMOS sensors and their issues really need to be a thing of the past... like... now. 5 shots tracked.
Visual Effects Supervising
This summer I had a one day job of Acting Visual Effects Supervisor on the set of Todd and the Book of Pure Evil. It was a fun day, a long day. If I'm right, it was the second episode of the second season. The premise was the "Student Body" where one girl, desperate for friends ends up latching on to people and eventually creating a slimy, stringy, fleshy blob of people. Across the 10 hour day, there were 2 digital effects that required my attention. There was supposed to be a 3rd and 4th, however at about the 9.75 hour mark, it was discovered that they had cut those shots. My day could have been just 3 hours. So it goes. It was a great time and a good learning experience.
Website Launched
With the help of Bill Acheson, I finally got a website up and running and I edited together my demo reel. Have I been promoting myself? Not really, though I probably should. I've been very fortunate that the couple of contacts I have in regards to camera tracking have passed along my name and site. Just before Christmas, I got a call from a producer at Brand New School regarding potential camera tracking (it didn't happen). It turns out another producer I had worked with last year (like... 2010) passed my name and site along. I tell my students again and again that while this seems like a big industry, it is in fact, very small. If you're professional, do quality work, stay positive, and treat people with respect then you can do well. This was a good example of exactly that.
Best Project of the Year
Perhaps this should have been first, but I prefer to save the best for last.
I was just browsing around and hit up ProLost and saw that Stu was recapping the year that was. While I can't say that my list is as long as his, I thought it would be good to reflect on how the year was, projects completed, what's new, etc. So to jump right into it...
Camera Tracking
I completed projects for Pixel Reborn and Shilo. Through those contacts, I also coordinated some freelance for others for Bent Horizon.
1 - NCAA for Pixel Reborn. While I finished my part, it never went to air as it was shot and in the end I believe it got a full re-edit sans VFX. So it goes. 6 shots tracked.
2 - Julio Jones UA for Shilo. This was probably one of the best looking of the projects I had the pleasure of working on this past year. As usual, working with Shilo is also a good time. 9 shots tracked.
3 - O2 Runner for Shilo. Quick project completed over a weekend. 6 shots tracked.
4 - Powerade for Shilo. Lots of dark imagery and very little ground information for tracking, so it was one of the trickier series of tracks, but after a couple attempts it worked out. 7 shots tracked.
5 - Verizon for Shilo. Doubt I'll be able to find a video of this because from what I could tell it was for a corporate video for some Motorola Droid / mobile / business phone deal. 8 shots tracked.
6 - Title Tracks for Pixel Reborn. Not sure of the final project but there were some highway driving and hand held camera tracks that were pretty challenging. Shot on 7D or 5D, the issue of rolling shutter really needs to not be an issue any more. As much as I love the digital age for image and video capture, CMOS sensors and their issues really need to be a thing of the past... like... now. 5 shots tracked.
Visual Effects Supervising
This summer I had a one day job of Acting Visual Effects Supervisor on the set of Todd and the Book of Pure Evil. It was a fun day, a long day. If I'm right, it was the second episode of the second season. The premise was the "Student Body" where one girl, desperate for friends ends up latching on to people and eventually creating a slimy, stringy, fleshy blob of people. Across the 10 hour day, there were 2 digital effects that required my attention. There was supposed to be a 3rd and 4th, however at about the 9.75 hour mark, it was discovered that they had cut those shots. My day could have been just 3 hours. So it goes. It was a great time and a good learning experience.
Website Launched
With the help of Bill Acheson, I finally got a website up and running and I edited together my demo reel. Have I been promoting myself? Not really, though I probably should. I've been very fortunate that the couple of contacts I have in regards to camera tracking have passed along my name and site. Just before Christmas, I got a call from a producer at Brand New School regarding potential camera tracking (it didn't happen). It turns out another producer I had worked with last year (like... 2010) passed my name and site along. I tell my students again and again that while this seems like a big industry, it is in fact, very small. If you're professional, do quality work, stay positive, and treat people with respect then you can do well. This was a good example of exactly that.
Best Project of the Year
Perhaps this should have been first, but I prefer to save the best for last.
Nora Autumn, born October 11, 2011.
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