Vitus's VFX Journey.

In week 2 of Nuke, we still didn’t use the software but we spoke about the meaning of cinematography, and the derivation of the word. We also discussed the camera, and the different elements involved in clicking or shooting a video or a picture.

We start with a triangle of exposure which consists of ISO shutter speed and aperture which helps us to get the right exposure image and Gonzalo explains all these elements. We also got to learn about depth of field, FPS and how your Shutterspeed should be double your FPS to avoid motion blur, and different angles and spoke about different lenses and also saw a few frames from the movie to analyse which lens it was shot from. We were also taught about file formats.

The homework was to take 3-5 video shots and edit them. I have attached mine below.

This video is from my hometown, located on the coast of Karnataka in India.

(I tried embedding the URL but it doesn’t work)

The first week of Nuke was more about learning the fundamentals of cinema before delving into the software. 

Due to some technical issues with the PDF we had to do “part II” first and “part I” is due next week. Gonzalo said that every year, something has to go wrong on the first day of class and it has always been a ritual and I am privileged to be a part of that ritual. 

The class started off by talking about Mise-en-scène also known as placement on stage. This consists of elements like lighting, composition, acting, camera placement, set design, location, make-up and hair, colour, and costumes. Then we were shown frames from different movies and asked to analyse their Mise-en-scène and explain more about the elements of Mise-en-scène.

Gonzalo gave us a homework assignment. The goal was to capture time. I have attached my idea of time below, in the form of these photographs.

Time is a very hard thing to capture, especially when you have to communicate time through still images as time is something that portrays a movement. So how should I visualize this movement in time as a still picture?

For a few pictures I used the long exposure technique, so you can see how time moves in the pictures taken. Time will take you to different places.