FMP Production Experiments

1. Experiments
Jack Henderson

2. Process
I began my experiments by capturing some
basic footage of a person walking and staring
out into a landscape. This is due to my focus
being on visual effects so I decided to try create
a set extension or possibly a sky replacement
as these a basic techniques that are used
frequently in the industry. I took a still from the
captured footage so that I could touch up the
landscape by removing the trees and
attempting a basic sky replacement before I
tried to attempt a set extension. I removed the
trees which extruded into the skyline by using
the clone tool in Photoshop as there was
enough sky to manipulate and reuse in
different places.

3. Process
I then removed the sky and replaced it with a
basic spacey scene that I found on Google to
just test out a basic sky replacement. I did not
like this method at all and decided to find a
more productive way to do this which would
create a more realistic look and would be
easier to mask and edit through motion on
After Effects or Premiere Pro. This experiment
was still useful as it allowed me to fine tune
what was good and bad about certain ways of
editing however I do not believe this was the
best way to conduct a set extension. If I had
messed around with the levels and colour
grading I could have potentially made the
overall scene look slightly better however I did
not take the experiment any further after this
stage as it did not look good.

4. Process
I took the same still from the
footage and decided to do a classic
set extension by adding a building
into the background which I found
on Google and used the lasso tool
to transpose it into the new
environment. I then had to work
with the levels to find the perfect
grading for the building to match
the environment. As this was my
first attempt at doing this was my
first time working and
experimenting with levels to
transpose buildings. I thought this
was successful however I believe
with more practice I would be able
to complete it to a better standard.

5. Process
To create this effect in Premiere
Pro I used the mask tool to mask
out the original sky and show the
newly edited background with the
building. I found this tricky as it
was my first time using Premiere
Pro to edit visual effects however I
got used to the way that the layers
worked and the parameters of the
mask tool by experimenting with
it. The one issue I had with using
the mask tool was having to
change the mask parameters for
each frame that the character
moved into the skyline. This
became was only difficult due to
the amount of time it took to do.

6. Process
For my final experiment, I decided
to change the building to a more
futuristic style as then I was able to
motion track a spaceship I found
online to fly through the sky to
create a more dynamic scene. I cut
the ship out using the lasso tool
and then keyframed the motion of
it into Premiere Pro to have it fly
through the scene. This did not
look entirely realistic however it
gave me good knowledge of how
to create this kind of effect for

7. Reflection
What elements of your experiments will you include in your final
product?
This experiment has taught me the processes that it takes to create
visual effects that I would need to create my ideal product. Prior to this
experiment I did not realise that rendering a technique such as this
would require using multiple programs in conjunction to achieve a
decent product. The techniques that I used in each program are also
important as I did not realise how extensive I would have to be with
the mask tool and keyframing in Premiere Pro to create the final
product. This experiment has been very valuable by showing me
different techniques that can be used to create different effects. It has
also shown me the difficulty of this technique and the time that it will
take to complete. This has given me perspective into how I will manage
my time when I am producing my final product and how I will balance
my scheduling as I believe that editing will be a crucial part of my
production due to my plan for using lot of visual effects.

8. Process
My second experiment involved
working with animation in After
Effects. I downloaded a plugin
named Duik which allowed me to
create controllers and IK joints
which I could manipulate body
parts in a natural way. I decided to
do this as I want to create an
animated segment in my film to
portray the drug fuelled trip. I
began by creating a basic character
on Photoshop that I could
manipulate easily. I created the
character and added dots to each
of the joint positions so that they
would be easy to add controllers
to. Each body part was an
individual layer, with the limbs
consisting of Upper and Lower
layers to add joints.

9. Process
I opened the PSD file of my
character into After Effects (after
installing the Duik plugin) and
began by parenting all of the layers
together so that After Effects
knows they are connected. The
Body was connected to the Upper
limbs and they were connected to
the Lower limbs to create a basic
body rig. This was the easiest part
of the process and helped a lot
that I had labelled the layers as left
and right. I then had to centralise
all of the nodes of rotation for the
limbs as they had set to the body.
This process meant that if I moved
the body then the entire rig moved
which is what I wanted

10. Process
I then began using the Duik plugin
and creating controllers which
would be used as the joints of the
limbs. To do this made a controller
on the top bottom of all the limbs
so that Duik knows where it is. As
all the limbs were parented with
the body, this allowed the joints to
be created as the arm was made in
2 parts which created a natural
elbow or knee joint. The Duik
plugin was perfect for this as using
natural After Effects only allowed
me to create pins for joints instead
of controllers. Once all the
controllers were in place, I used
the IK tool on Duik to create a 2
point Bezier joint which made the
controller a more natural joint.

11. Process To animate this, I key framed the
positions of the controllers from the
start point to the finish which made a
smooth motion of the limbs. The joints
of the elbows were not connected
properly as I realised that both parts
should be more rounded to create a
more natural bend. This I was able to
control the speed of the bend by
placing the end keyframing in different
positions on the time line. The plugin
allowed me to keyframe by dragging
the controllers instead
of using a motion slider. This was
extremely helpful as it aid me in
finetuning the different positions of the
controllers to exact locations
I will try to incorporate this technique
into my production however I feel it
will be difficult as I plan to do this on a
real subject rather than an animated
one. I will continue to attempt to use
this however I am not entirely sure
whether it will be too time consuming

12. Reflection
I plan to include my first experiment as I feel this will be a more
reliable effect that I can produce quickly and effectively. For some
themes that I have planned, the sky replacement and the use of
compositing will work extremely well with building atmosphere and
creating environments for my final product. This process works well
with the software I will be using (After Effects) as I have access to
variables such as colour keying and green screens. Due to the nature of
my second experiment, I do not believe I will be able to effectively
create this effect to a good standard. In future, I would still like to use
this effect however I don’t feel it will be suitable to use due to the time
constraints and the constraints on my ability by only conducting the
experiment once or twice.
If I were to repeat these experiments again, I would ensure that I have
more time to explore alternative ways of achieving both results as this
would have allowed me to analyse different levels of effectiveness
between the different methods.