Visual Effect Practise

 Title Sequence VFX Practise

For this task, I was asked to follow an After Effects tutorial that created a 3D text title animation, the video guided me step by step through the varied layers and effects I had to create in order to form the visual. I found this task easy as the tutorial was clear and easy to follow, I also enjoyed learning new skills on After Effects as it is my favourite software to edit on. 

        Title animation tutorial linked below:                      My re creation of the animation title:

       

Evaluation

What were you asked to make?

For this task I was asked to make a 3D cinematic title animation on After Effects using a tutorial that guided me step by step through the effects and layers needed in order to create the visual. 

How might this be useful to making your own title sequence?

Making the title animation was useful to me as I have now expanded upon my After Effects knowledge, and know the new skills I have developed can be incorporate into my title sequence. Some skills I learnt were changing my value graph into a speed graph which allowed me to have more control over my timings and motions of my transform effects, this skill will definitely be useful when making my title sequence as I now know I am able to play around with the varied graph types and improve the timing of my visuals. I also learnt how to align my text and position it using the 3D tool, this will be a useful skill to utilise when creating my title sequence, as I will be able to advance my typography style and have more control over the layout of my visuals. The new skills I have listed so far already prove how useful creating the title animation was and how beneficial it will be to beginning my own title sequence.

Which font did you use and why?

The font I chose is called Iowan Old Style, I chose this font because I felt it was clear and visually pleasing as the sharp edges and thinness worked aesthetically with the background which the tutorial provided. I also thought it fitted with the shiny silver reflective effect added to the text border too. 

How might a different font/look suit a different audience film/genre?

Reflecting upon a different font, the one the tutorial provided was a 3D bold font which I believe would fit the Sci-Fi genre and I could imagine the target audience of the title animation would be targeted at adolescents and young adults because of its the dramatic and glistening effects which create a sophisticated visual that could go alongside a Sci-Fi film for youthful audience. The audience of the title animation I believe would be mixed and not aimed at one specific gender, class or race, its main target would be to catch the eye of those who admire epic science fiction/space visuals. 

Did you need any help? If so, who did you turn too? // What did you learn?

Yes, I did need help when understanding how to adjust the nodules which shape the graph so that I can position the timing of my text. To fix this issue, I asked my teacher for help. My teacher taught me how to change my graph type from 'value graph' to 'speed graph', in order for me to access the nodules and readjust the shape of the graph. This advice helped educate me more on how After Effects works, because now I am aware of how to change the graph types which will be very useful in my future projects as I now know that if the issue occurs again, I can solve it by switching the type of graph I am using, depending upon the effect.

Detail 2-3 After Effect skills that you learned and how you can transfer them into your future projects

The first skill I learnt from watching and re creating the tutorial on After Effects was how to pre-compose layers. To pre compose, I learnt that you have to select the layers you want to combine into a separate composition, then right click and select 'pre-compose' and the tick 'move all attributes into new composition'. Understanding the skill of how to pre-compose will be very useful for my future projects as it allows me to be more organised because I can group my layers into one, another very useful part about pre-composing is that I can still access the multiple layers if I double click on the composition they are grouped in.

The second skill I learnt from watching and re creating the tutorial on After Effects was how to position layers using the 3D tool on the toggle bar. To create this, the tutorial showed me that I needed to click the small 3D outlined icon on the toggle bar on the layer I want to edit, then I click the letter 'p' on my keyboard and the position settings will appear and lastly I add my keyframes along the timeline and speed graph the motion of the position. Understanding this skill of how to use the 3D tool will be very useful for my future projects, particularly my title sequence, as I will be able to transform my layers and text into bold 3D visuals. 

The third skill I learnt from watching and re creating the tutorial on After Effects was how to use the keyboard shortcut for making the opacity setting appear on a layer. The tutorial stated that by clicking 'u' the opacity settings appear for the layer I have highlighted. Although this is a very minor skill, it will be very useful for me to know when editing future projects as it will speed up my editing process.

Alien Spaceship VFX 

For my first task on this VFX unit I had to create a spaceship visual effect using the software After Effects. To create this visual effect I followed a tutorial (shown below) step by step which showed me clearly how to make the visual. Overall I enjoy making this effect as I found the tutorial easy to follow and thought the final result looked quite realistic.

Tutorial:                                                                 My re creation:

    

Fire VFX

For this task I had to create a fire visual effect, in order to do this I was given a tutorial (shown below) which explained step-by-step how to re create the visual effect. One of the challenges I faced with this task was rendering it, after many attempts I realised that my export settings were wrong and instead of having the 'full' resolution it needed to be 'half' in order for it to export properly. 

Overall I quite liked creating this effect, I found the tutorial was simple to follow, however I thought the effect looked more like a video game 'fire' than that of a real fire. The reason I believe the fire looked unrealistic was because of the free fire footage used in the video, I thought the quality of the fire footage was quite poor, this is most likely due to the fact it is stock footage and was CGI. I also thought the added exposure to the fire effect, in post production made it look even more fake as it blended into the background too much. To make the fire look more realistic, next time I would use less exposure and change the fire stock footage to one of better quality that most likely isn't CGI. 

Tutorial:                                                                My re creation

    

To understand how I can improve upon creating a fire visual effect in future projects, I researched some other effects that were fire based and came across a video (video one shown below) which explained how they created a burning house visual for their film. I chose to use their video as an example of a fire visual effect because I thought it looked very realistic. The visual effect they created depicted fire that looked real because they shot actual footage of fire and smoke, then edited them in a composition program. This video proves that using real footage of fire for a visual effect of this style, then editing the footage in post production, and not using CGI (liked the one in the tutorial) helps create a more realistic effect. Also because this video used footage of actual smoke, I thought that adding a smoke overlay to my fire visual effect would have improved its outcome and made it look more realistic.

However, using actual footage costs more money and time, the video also stated that After Effects would not have been compatible with the way in which they crafted the visual effect, therefore it would not be feasible for me to re create, but it did educate me on the ways in which using shot footage can be more effective than CGI.

Another video I watched briefly was a tutorial on how to create a basic fire visual effect (video two shown below). I also thought this visual effect looked realistic, this is because it too used real footage of fire (which they downloaded for free online) and not CGI fire. The tutorial was similar to that of the one I re created as it too used tracking and blending. After reflecting upon both videos I researched, I have come to the conclusion that using real footage would improve the standard and quality of the fire visual effect I re created, giving a more life like look and I now know for the future that I can download actual shot stock footage of fire online. 

Video One                                                                    Video Two

    

True Detective VFX

For this task, I was asked to re create the visual effect used in the title sequence of the series True Detective. In order to do this, I followed a YouTube tutorial which I have linked below and also used the software After Effects. 

When creating this effect I learnt how to use blending edges by masking my layers, I learnt how to use an effect called displacement map which helped give the green screen footage a more 3D look. I also learnt how to use the key light effect which was very useful as it taught me how to separate the green part of the green screen and add my own background layers. The rest of the tutorial was easy to follow as some of the effects they made I had previously created on other projects, such as using the 'Alpha Luma' mode, adding tints and colour correction to my footage. 

Overall I found the tutorial straightforward and simple to follow, I thought the finished result of my visual effect turned out well considering I used stock footage and not the footage that the tutorial gave. 

Tutorial:                                                                        My re creation: