Category: Design For Animation

This was the last class for the term. The class was about guidelines for the audio-visual, so we all had to share our knowledge with an audience through an audio-visual presentation, based on our research. We have 3-5 minutes to inform the audience about our topic research. 

After all the research and finding the right resources to complete my critical report, this is how my research has come out.

For my video presentation, I took videos from youtube and edited them in DaVinci resolve.  

I liked the topic I picked because I learned a lot more about green screen and chroma key, and the origin. It started by painting a piece of black glass to create an optical illusion and now there is no movie which doesn’t use chroma key. It’s unbelievable how so easily by a click of a button we can remove a whole background or a person and more, but to get here there were so much trial and error and so much time spent on it, and we don’t even appreciate it.

This week was about how to write our research and how to refer to Harvard referencing. 

There are a few things to keep in mind while writing, so we cant use sources which don’t have credibility or it is opinions, like personal blogs, YouTube videos or films review. 

Sir also showed us the structure of the research. The word count starts from the contents page and ends at the conclusion. 

1. Title: subtitle
2. Acknowledgements (optional)
3. Abstract 
4. Keywords
5. Contents page
6. Introduction 
7. Literature review 
8. Main body of text
9. Conclusion 
10. Appendix (optional)
11. Bibliography
12. Image list (optional)

In Harvard referencing, you have to have all your reference like any quotations or paraphrases at the end of your report and if you refer to more than 40 words you should add it separately from the main body, and live 1cm of space around on each side.

Title: The origin of green screen technology.

Abstract: With just a push of a button or a click of the mouse, we can remove a background or add all new scenes to a movie with the help of the computers and camera in our modern world, it’s easy to forget that the very first motion pictures were, themselves essentially special effects. It has generally been forgotten how these special effects were created.  

Keywords: Chroma Key, Green Screens, Matte, Blue Screen, Williams Process, Norman Dawn.

Contents page: working on it

Introduction: The use of green screens in weather forecasts is well-known. In post-production, the weather map is added to the green background against which the forecaster is positioned. Movie productions that rely on separately filmed or animated background shootings are another common application for green screens. Chroma keying is a technique for changing a monochromatic background to a different one.

Literature review: working on it

Main body of text:

The background of contemporary greenscreen was the history of optical illusions. At the end of the 19th century, Georges Méliès was one of the first prolific filmmakers in history. According to Ezra, a man who devoted his life to learning the craft of illusion (2019, Georges Melies). Méliès used a visual technique that is the primitive forerunner of what we now think of as greenscreen compositing in his 1898 film Four Heads are better than one, in which he as used mattes for multiple exposures. Parrill said This was the very first matte which was used in moving pictures. (2011, European Silent Films on Video)

Méliès would use a piece of glass with black paint on it to “black out” certain scenes in his movie. This is referred to as a “matte,” and it was created to exclude all light from the film so that it would not be exposed to light. Then Méliès would stop the film, rewind it, and this time expose only the area of the frame that had been covered by the matte previously (Mullen, C.J. and Rahn, J. 2010). The double exposure was created entirely within the camera and may combine two or more distinct photos into a single frame. 

The issue with mattes is that the camera had to remain motionless at all times, and nothing could cross the matte line, the boundary between the real-time action and the matte painting. Black matting, a technique that Frank Williams first invented in 1918, “was used to shoot the couple against a blank background and then create a travelling matte to composite them against a transforming background” (Editing and Special/Visual Effects, 2016)  in the movie Sunrise, 1927. The film would then be duplicated to highly contrasted negatives until a silhouette in black and white was visible. 

The Williams Process, often known as the black back matte effect, was utilised in 1933 for the movie The Invisible Man. In order to capture the scenes in which the invisible man was stripping off his clothes, the actor had to be photographed while wearing a full black suit and posing in front of a black surface this is also known as “self-matte”. (Editing and Special/Visual Effects, 2016)  Even after more efficient procedures were introduced, this effect continued to be used because it was so memorable. There were problems with the Williams Process as well any shadows on the subject would disappear in the matte. 

Around 1925, C. Dodge Dunning created a novel alternative that employed two colours, lighting a backdrop screen with blue and the foreground subject with yellow. The Dunning Pomeroy process would support the blue and yellow light to produce a travelling matte by applying coloured filters and dyes. Dunning process was first used in King Kong (1933) on the scenes where King Kong comes through the big village gates. (Mitchell, Mitch 2004)

Many effects artists adopted the concept of utilising a blue screen to isolate an element photographically to produce colour composites as the years went by and colour film became available. “One of the early examples of the process was that developed by Lawrence Butler for Alexander Korda’s The Thief of Baghdad in 1940. The colour blue was first used for the simple reason that there is very little blue in skin tones. The blue wavelength can be isolated while still getting a fairly acceptable colour rendition for faces”. (Mark 2011)

In the past, only video systems were covered by the phrase “chroma key.” That is no longer the case. A keyer was a mathematical procedure used in early video mixers to make a variety of colours in a video signal transparent. Of course, weather map special effects are used frequently in television newsrooms all around the world.

When movies began digital post-production in the late 1990s, green began to overtake blue as the dominant screen hue. Why Green? In general, green was less expensive and easier to light than blue, registered as brighter on electronic displays, and worked well outdoors (where the blue screen might match the sky). Additionally, since digital cameras have begun to replace film cameras, many digital sensors now employ a Bayer Pattern to collect brightness, which has twice as many green photosites as blue photosites. Because of this, current digital cameras are significantly more sensitive to the green portion of the spectrum, making it slightly simpler to pull a matte from the greenscreen.

Conclusion: Special effects have been used by filmmakers to advance the medium since the beginning. The only thing that matters in filmmaking, without a doubt, is what is on the screen. It ultimately comes down to opening a window into another world, from Edwin S. Porter’s matting railway station window to the contemporary action spectacular. All of these effects we have are the only means to get there.

Bibliography:

Ezra, E. (2019). Georges Melies. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YXICEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. [Accessed 22 Nov. 2022].

Parrill, William B. (2011). European Silent Films on Video. Available at: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=2066564. [Accessed 3 Dec. 2022].

Mullen, C.J. and Rahn, J. (2010). View finding: Perspectives on New Media Curriculum in the Arts. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_F3FyK-rRTMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA31&dq=M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s+would+use+a+piece+of+glass+with+black+paint+on+it+to+%22black+out%22+certain+scenes+in+his+movie.&ots=YWsfK0Y8vU&sig=mnXABVIKT4fUduKlXYzU245-l1Q&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s&f=false. [Accessed 4 Dec. 2022].

Sawicki, Mark. (2011) Filming the Fantastic: A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/reader.action?docID=739038&query=green+screen [Accessed 3 Dec. 2022].

Editing and Special/Visual Effects, (2016) http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=4647677  [Accessed 3 Dec. 2022].

Mitchell, Mitch. (2004) Visual Effects for Film and Television, Taylor & Francis Group Available at: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=226841. [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022].

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So I needed to work on completing my main body I have to write about the technology used now to remove the green from the other colours in our software. I exactly don’t know what is a literature review I think if I read about it I will understand it. I found out that we have access to ProQuest ebook central which was really helpful to find ebooks more easily.

This week was about literature reviews and how to get your topic to develop your research topic. So before we lock down on a subject, we should ask ourselves a few questions: What motivated you to do the research? What will the reader learn? and How might the inquiry connect with previously established research? Then we saw the structure of the Critical Report which we all had a lot of questions about. Nigel also gave us academic resourceslike Google Scholar, Jstor and Animationstudies 2.0, he also spoke about how writing introductions and conclusions which were helpful.

So I have been writing my research for a long time, but I didn’t know that I had to update it in my blog. So now I will try to update what I have done.

The topic I chose is the history of visual effects, but it was too much to cover in the research, so now I have planned to stick to only writing about green screen. I found a lot of papers about the green screen but very few about the origin of the green screen. Then I came across [digital] Visual Effects and Compositing By Jon Gress which briefly spoke about matting and I felt that was where it all began, but a lot of people say that I began with the film The Thief of Baghdad by Lawrence Butler in 1940. Now I need to find more academic resources to help to complete the paper which is hard to find.

The class started with segregating the students into small groups. We had a discussion about our research topic. My topic is How did the early films impact the editing techniques now?

I was planning to write about masking, chroma key, digital compositing and matte painting. Writing about chroma key alone was a 1,000 word venture. My group mate suggested that I should concentrate on one topic for the research and leave the others for my thesis and this was a sensible suggestion.

This weeks class was conducted online because of the underground strike. The class was about our research and the thesis. We discussed the different ways of writing it writing, like how to build your argument and add your own voice to it, how to quote people and their work, and how to paraphrase the right way.

We had to read the following paragraph and paraphrase the author’s point in our own words.

Original quote: The authenticity of a documentary is ‘deeply linked to notions of realism and the idea that documentary images are linked to notions of realism and the idea that documentary images bear evidence of events that actually happened, by virtue of the indexical relationship between image and reality’

Horness Roe. A. (2013) Animated Documentary. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

My quote: Horness Roe (2013, Animated Documentary)  believes in the relationship between image and reality, a documentary’s authenticity to realism and the pictures convey proof of events that truly transpired.

This week’s class started off with learning more about how we, as creators can influence or persuade audiences using tools like social media, broadcast news, events, film, animation and television. This was followed by a discussion about Animated Documentary and what it means. We saw a few animation documentaries as well.

For our blog entry, we had to talk about whether an animation documentary could actually be classified as a documentary, applying Honess Roes’ ‘Taxonomy for the documentary. We also had a discussion about what arguments presented by Nichols or Formenti might question that definition.

I felt the best way to understand if an animation documentary is classified as a documentary is to look at 25 April by Leanne Pooley.

This is a documentary that aims to tell the story of New Zealand’s experience in Gallipoli (Turkey) for a modern audience through a reimagined world. April 25 uses novel-like animation to transform the experience of World War I from the usual black-and-white, archive pictures into vibrant, dynamic colours. The film intertwines together animated “interviews” based on the diaries, letters and memoirs of six real-life people, who were actually there and told fascinating stories of war, friendship, loss and redemption using the words of those who experienced it.

Coming to the question of whether an animation documentary is classified as a documentary, I would strongly agree that yes, it is a documentary. When Honess Roe questioned “if animation is an acceptable mode of representation for the documentary”, this got me thinking about what the word ‘documentary’ exactly means, so I Googled “documentary,” and came across the following definition: “using pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject.”. A documentary should be a factual report, just adding animation to a factual report that could be an interview, diary, letters, memoir, and video or audio recording doesn’t make it less of a factual report. When you animate a documentary you add elements about what going on in the head of the character: for example when John Persson was marching townies “Chunuk Baia” the flash of the 450 soldiers and how they died before he came there, also how they depicted lice having a party.

Bill Nichols said that a “documentary is dependent on the specificity of its images for authenticity”, the movie April 25 is based on diaries, letters and memoirs from Gallipoli (Turkey) during World War I. If the director had planned to use only the images from Gallipoli it would be more of a slide show than a documentary. For a good narrative, there should be good audio-visuals for the audience to be a part of the story to understand exactly what happened.

The Solid State (2015), 25 APRIL [2015] - Official Trailer. YouTube[Online Video]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKtgYXHdMZw&ab_channel=TheSolidState[9th November 2022].

This weeks class was about abstraction and experimental films. We covered two mean categories of abstraction: Formal abstraction and Conceptual abstraction. The former was more focused on form, space, light and texture, alongside the dynamics of movement, time, rhythm and sound of the film and less on the narrative side of it. Following this, we saw a few examples of Formal abstraction. Conceptual has a narrative but it doesn’t follow the film language and challenges perception. It exploits semiotics metaphor and symbolism. We also saw a few examples of Conceptual.

In this week’s blog entry, we had to choose a short film which we would consider to fit the definition of experimental.

I chose CIRCUIT by Delia Hess made in 2018.

This film is a conceptual abstraction that talks about a small planet where people are caught up in their own little private universe. The inhabitants perform their poetically surreal actions, which looped endlessly. They are unaware that they are all a part of a complex little ecosystem which can only function if each of them plays their role. The story tells about the complexity of dependences in our world. It’s a traditional hand-drawn animation. The film is entirely on paper and coloured with watercolour. It is a thought-provoking, existential piece, but the colours, tone and movement are what make it a real treat to watch. The soundtrack picks up the pace with this sense of time passing, the clever use of circles and objects rotating and turning helps to get this notion across to the audience.

Delia Hess(2018), CIRCUIT. Vimeo [Online Video]. Available from https://vimeo.com/245739367?login=true [1st November 2022].

For this week, we had a class about character archetypes, the 8 stages of the story and the rules of narrative. Our homework was to pick a film we have watched, then break down the 8 stages story arc and break down the characters into their archetypes and also create a timeline for the main character.

I picked the movie Uncharted, not because I liked it, but because I had watched it recently.

The 8 stages of the story arc:

1. You: Nate works as a bartender in New York City and a pickpocketer.
2. Need: Tracking treasure hidden by the Magellan crew.
3. Go: agrees to help Sully find hidden treasure.
4. Search: Nate and Sully travel to Barcelona, where the treasure is hidden.
5. Find: Nate reveals that Sam was killed by Braddock three years prior and that he left him for dead.
6. Take: Chloe betrays Nate and leaves to take the map to Moncada.
7. Return: Nate discovers the treasure’s true location.
8. Change: Nate and Sully get away with a few pieces of pickpocketed treasure.

Character archetypes:

1. Hero: Nathan “Nate” Drake, protagonist.
2. Mentor: Victor “Sully” Sullivan, A seasoned fortune hunter who previously worked with Nathan’s brother, Sam.
3. Allies: Sam, Nate’s long lost brother.
4. Threshold Guardians: Steven, Bosygurd of Santiago.
5. Herald: Magellan’s fortune, lost gold.
6. Shapeshifter: Chloe Frazer, A fellow fortune hunter, and Sully’s associate.
7. Shadow: Santiago Moncada, A ruthless treasure hunter and the descendant of the Moncada family.
8. Trickster: There was no trickster in the movie, but Nate (protagonist) was the one who was act like Trickster.

Timeline of the main character:

The movie stars Sam and Nate are caught trying to steal a map made after the Magellan expedition from a Boston museum. Before the orphanage can expel Sam, he sneaks out but promises Nate that he will return. Fifteen years later, Nate works as a bartender in New York City and pickpockets wealthy patrons. Nate joins Sully to find the lost treasure hidden by the Magellan crew. Nate, Sully, and Chloe, they find a map indicating the treasure is in the Philippines. Then Nate realizes the map does not pinpoint the treasure. Nate discovers the treasure’s true location. Braddock follows them, forcing Nate and Sully to hide, they escaped from Braddock and her crew. Nate and Sully get away with a few pieces of pickpocketed treasure.

Sony Pictures Entertainment (2021), UNCHARTED - Official Trailer (HD). YouTub [Online Video]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHp3MbsCbMg&ab_channel=SonyPicturesEntertainment [26th October 2022].

We were told about our research assignment for this term- it should have a word count of 1500. We also have to describe the process in the blog and we will have to present the research paper. The topic should be selected from the field of animation or visual effects and it can be anything of our interest. We were shown a few websites from where we can take references for our research and we were advised to follow the Harvard referencing system.

We were then separated into groups to brianstorm topics for our research and these were the topics that my group came up with:-

• How did the early films impact the editing techniques now?
• How actors have to play a role in animation to track a real-life animation movement for VFX
• Setbacks in visual effects (technical, skills, etc)
• The visual effect in space opera genres and how it reinforces animation
• Live action comparison in post-production and visual effects
• The interrogation of flame action VFX

This week, was about mise en scène and the elments

1. Settings and props.
2. Costume, hair, and make-up show the character’s personality.
3. Facial expressions and body language show feelings, moods, and emotions.
4. Lighting and colour show the scene’s mood and style.
5. Positioning of characters/objects in the frame to give importance or to draw attention to a subject.

We watched a scene from High Noon (Fred Zinnemann, 1952) to do a practical analysis. 

The homework was to explain our research topic and give a title, 5 keywords and 50-100 words to explain what the research going to be using 2 sources to write up the research. This was to be posted in Padlet.

How did the early films impact the editing techniques now?

With cameras and computers everywhere in our modern world, it’s easy to forget that the very first motion pictures were, themselves, essentially special effects. So my research is going to describe the early ways of editing and how it has impacted current editing styles and movies. This paper also shines a light on editing techniques like masking, chroma key, digital compositing and matte painting and their origins. 

Keywords:
Masking
Chroma Key
Digital Compositing
Matte Painting
Origins

The following sources have been used as references. 

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. (2020), What Every Journalist Should Know About The Chroma Key. IRSTI 19.71.  Available at: file:///Volumes/X/College/Week%201/1169-1-2360-1-10-20200529.pdf

University of Newcastle, Australia. (2012), The Evolution of VFX-Intensive Filmmaking in 20th-Century Hollywood Cinema. 6(2): 17-31. A Historical Overview.  Available at: file:///Volumes/X/College/Week%201/Publisher%20version%20(open%20access).pdf

JuanRa Rivas (2018), High Noon - Sólo Ante el Peligro, 1952 - "Waiting for the Noon Train" - Gary Cooper - HD 1080p. YouTub [Online Video]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5m8Embrfho&ab_channel=JuanRaRivas [21st October 2022].