#vfx compositing

It's been a long road but it's finally coming to an end as part 1 of #WednesdaySeason2 starts tomorrow! Be sure to look for my name in the VFX credits!

4. Cacoethes [the urge to do something inadvisable] for accordion, two violins, two violas, violoncello, and double bass What starts as a sweet-tempered thought, mutates gradually into something much darker, with little room for light or breath. This ‘urge’, displayed by accented demisemiquaver motifs and tremolos, relentlessly repeats, until the protagonist, the accordion, is almost suffocated by the perpetrators, the strings. Moments of pause and reflection only increase the rampage, culminating with stark, piercing dissonance, which does resolves, but to no comfort. This piece was performed by RCS MusicLAB at the PLUG 2017 festival at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Thank you for the attention! I hope you enjoyed this special week! Have a beautiful weekened! 

‪Fleischer Studios patents for rotoscoping (“tracing live action”) and the Stereoptical Process (3D model backgrounds).

Menuet de Famille Allegro in A Major

The first 2/3 of this piece were originally written for piano, cello, contrabass, celesta, and harpsicord. The last third of the piece was completed years later, and nearly 7 years passed from its initial musings to the final piece. It is meant to have a deeply layered, dreamy, lullaby feel with unexpected interruptions using arpeggios to achieve a more complex dynamic tone. For me, what I have accomplished with the experimentation I undertook with arpeggiated chords really gives this piece character and a sense of completeness. Structurally, the piece is made up of 3 distinct sections characterized by tranquility, conflict, and resolution all within the context of familial relationships. Of the few pieces I have released thus far, this one is by far my favourite and I am most satisfied with it's development of my composing abilities.  

Thank you for the attention!

The Faceless Pianist

My final project for this semester.It’s supposed to be a little busking robot playing for tips. So far it’s earned 27 cents.

Not....SUPER thrilled with it, but it’s something. Hopefully enough to pass. I don’t see any point in doing a side by side comparison of this one considering the plate was just a steady, non-moving camera shot with nothing in it. 

Made in Maya and Nuke. 

All assets except for the plate made by me, plate provided by The Dave School.

Have you ever watched a fantasy or sci-fi movie and thought, 'How did they manage to get these non-existing creatures to life?' Or the luscious greenery and waterfalls in Baahubali left you wondering, 'Where is this paradise-like place?' We hate to burst the balloon, but the truth is they are artistically planned VFX.

Amazing, isn’t it? In this blog we will talk about the complete VFX workflow step by step that makes stories come to life on the big screen.

Step 1: Keying – The Green Screen Magic Remember Harry Potter playing quidditch? We are not talking about the game but the way it was put to life on screen.  That’s keying in action. The director captures actors performing in front of a green screen with the props. After the shoot, the green background is replaced with stunning worlds as per the script. So next time when you watch a movie, try spotting the scenes that could have been shot in front of the green screen. 

Step 2: Masking in VFX – The Detailing Shooting in front of the green screen, then replacing it with the desired environment, is not enough. The shot needs masking; that is, the character needs to blend into the picture, making it look real. It’s like cleaning up things that would make the picture look made up, like hair strands, reflections and so on.  Masking keeps the scenes sharp and believable. Jumping this step will make your work look artificial, breaking the viewer's illusion.  Step 3: CG Integration – Adding the Unreal Artists use CG integration to add computer-generated environments, creatures, or objects into real footage. Think of the fire-breathing dragons in Games Of Thrones. None of them were there on set, but through CG integration it was possible to make them come to life.  But it only works if the lighting, shadows and camera angles are perfect. That is why the dragons look real. Step 4: VFX Compositing – The Final Polish Everything comes together in this last step. Keying, masking and CG elements are blended seamlessly. Motion blur, depth, and colour correction make the final scene look natural and cinematic. Without VFX compositing, our favourite Baahubali’s epic battles would have looked completely fake. From now on, every time you are struck by a visual scene, it is not just the action or the story. It is the invisible craft of keying, masking, CG integration and VFX compositing also that makes it unforgettable. And if you wish to learn and create, then enrolling at institutions like Arena Animation will teach you the complete VFX flow, from green screen tricks to Hollywood-style compositing.  Turn your love for movies into a career in VFX with Arena Animation. The Complete VFX Workflow: Keying, Masking, and Integrating CG in Compositing.