Test Flight VFX Short
Final Video
Pre-Production
Like most projects, I started this one off with a storyboarding process to help create a shot-list for the video.
The next step was to figure out the visual style and final design of the palette ship, which ended up in a very casual, fun place. Being made of palettes and cereal boxes affixed with duct tape, the final design of the ship evokes a childlike wonder and feels truly home-made.
Belnder vs. Filmed plates
The nature of the project required a good number of filmed plates, as well as tracking shots- but at a certain point, I realized that I needed to go full CG. Most of the full CG shots were of the ship flying, though some shots were tracked in Blender. with the use of the Cycles engine and HDRI images taken on location, as well as clever compositing tricks, I was able to marry the CG imagery and filmed plates to feel cohesive.
Proof of Concept
My first goal when it came to tackling the project was to create a proof of concept to test the compositing and tracking capabilities of After Effects and Blender to make sure that the project would be able to reach the standards level that I set for it. Upon tracking, rendering, and compositing the first test shot of the ship, I was pleased with where the visual style was landing, and decided to move forward.
we can’t have an empty ship…
The ship was looking good, though it lacked a very important detail- it was entirely empty. Due to the ship being made of palettes, it was clear to see that the passengers that were supposed to be inside were not. This problem was fixed differently depending which shot I was working one, but for the most part, a ship model was made with two humans inside, to act as digital doubles for the scenes were my face was not being seen. This janky approach was aided by motion blur and other post effects blending the scene together, hiding the lack of realism in the characters.
Post Effects
due to the amount of CG elements and lack of rendering power that I was dealing with in this project, a large amount of the project was carried by the post effects. This included color grading (through Lumetri color) to unify the elements, heat waves, created with turbulent displace, and particle systems for smoke and grass/leaves flying toward the camera upon takeoff. These post effects helped tie the whole frame together.
Greenscreen Plates
Because of the dappled light needed for the greenscreen elements, I decided to film them under a real palette to recreate the lighting and shadows that would realistically be cast on the actors inside the ship.
Lighting for CG elements
The lighting of the scenes in blender was a vital part of marrying the elements. HDRI images were hit and miss for me through the course of the project, and often I ended up omitting the HDRI image in favor of a simple sky texture, and adding planes in to direct the light how I needed it to be cast in the final shot.