Vitus's VFX Journey.

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].