Zhazira Altayeva
1. Art direction
I have made a research on the artgrid. My main idea was to focus on shots that are looking cinematic and good for commercials or film. It took some time to make sure that I can work with shots without any problems. I drew my attention on video with open composition, without lens-flares,stabilization and blurred background.
Therefore I have chosen these shots:
https://artgrid.io/clip/69964/wheat-field-by-the-mountains-aerial
https://artgrid.io/clip/317792/workout-girl-livingroom-laptop
https://artgrid.io/clip/53960/elderly-man-with-gray-hair-looking-straight-up-at-camera
https://artgrid.io/clip/46498/train-riding-on-cliff-side-over-viewing-forest
Once I picked a good shot I initiated searching for references from vimeo, google, youtube and etc. My idea was to create a commercial video for housekeeper robot or robo-pet. So, I was keen for something futuristic while also giving it a home-like look, integrating urban and modern elements into everyday life to demonstrate the suitability of our robots for any household.
This is result of my art-concept. I was using Photoshop to combine all elements i found on the Internet. It also can be changing throughout work process. Mainly, I focused on showing composition and color grading on this stage.
Looking at this shot I clearly realised that my idea will be based on Harry Potter films. An old train and nature reminded me specific scene from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets where Harry and Ron missed the train and decided to catch it by "flying car".
Here you can see the result. By the analogy of first concept I used Photoshop as well. Mostly using polygonal lasso tool and grading tools (such as Hue/Saturation, Exposure, Levels, Curves)
I also had stock videos with green screen. The task was to put them together in one sequence and do basic color grading. I used DaVinci Resolve software. I found one phase videos and combined them into one.
2.Tracking
This is the most important stage of visual effects in general. Because the quality of the final work will depend on this stage. I have to show objects in 3D space in my video.
I put points in space so that the software identifies and calculates the environment and depth correctly. Using 3D equalizer I created around 30 to 50 points in 100-150 frames with deviation no grater than 1.500 which is a great result especially for the shots with shaking camera or moving objects.
Then I moved my project to Nuke to create basic shapes. I made it with a help of node model builder. It is required to make sure that the tracking was going well and all figurines fixed in their spots.
For face tracking in the shot with the girl in living room I used Nuke with plug in Keen Tools and FaceTracker node to create a face mesh.
At the end I moved ready project to Cinema4D for the final corrections. Using tool MoGraph I created the text object and stick it to another object, this is also give us a great opportunity to see sufficiency of tracking. And finally I combined all objects in one null, and created green material to colour my objects in null, so that on final render we could see them clearly.
In case with green screen I created two separate sequences (close-up and long shot) for tracking convenience and then I created cards in Nuke to show the geometry of the room and combined them in one node 3DScene. The next step was to create Wireframe node to make all cards see through.
The software used: 3d Equalizer and Nuke, Cinema4D.
3.Inserting 3d and clean up.
Firstly, I used Photoshop to create two clean-plates for future work. The first - to clean-up unwanted objects (in this case a pot-plant on background) and the second one for mate painting of window.
So then, I created a node framehold using Nuke and added my clean-plates projected on cards. Using the node merge and plug-in Mocha Pro I rotoscoped the girl. It is required not to cover her with clean-plates.
At the end, using node merge, I added 3D model of VR glasses. In future robots will be added in the same manner.
At this stage I used Nuke, Photoshop and Cinema4D.
On green screen video I have to change the background.
I already have geometry of the room after tracking stage. I moved the project to Cinema4D and added the material for future walls and moved project to Unreal Engine 5. Then I created two-sided material and put it on walls, so that it will be easier to see them during the work. Before I started to build future location I returned to my initial project in Nuke and with a help of basic keying and node Keylight I separated my characters from background.
I had an idea of location I was willing to create and a reference from the film ''Let's Be Cops"
So, I started to create future walls.
The work is in progress and I believe it will be completed by this September.