What are we creating?

Week 2 means is time to pitch in our ideas: what are we creating? Understanding the difference in fps for tv series and movies helps you set a clear vision on what you create. Through this week, our team was a little indecisive on whether we should create a film commercial or a regular film for our project, and here’s why…

With the presentation day nearing, we knew we were lacking in project management and group dynamics from the start. Our story was approved later in the week and our concepts weren’t consistent. Nothing until the day of presentation was ready and it was stressful.

However, we went through iterations of the same concept for the story this week. Since our story had no clear narrative, I came up with the idea to turn it into a commercial so that at the end it makes sense as to what these products are and why the characters are so into it. So, as a team we were considering turning this film into a commercial which was inspired by this NERF advertisement Funny or Die: 'Boss Left Out' - NERF on the Job.

It starts off as a regular short film but later reveals that it is a commercial for NERF products and that is something we could do with our story for the spinners and robots. We also gained this inspiration from this VFS short film wherein the end dsiplays a product reveal for the handicapped.

(Vancouver Film School, 2017)

However, on hearing our lecturer’s feedback, he stated that it will be extra work due to branding standards that we may not have experience in.

So we decided to go back to making it a film and this is what we settled with.

However, after the presentation and team member had to go solo due to circumstances and now we needed to restructure and rework on most of our pre-production. So by today, we came up with a whole new production plan on Monday.com and set our goals to finish all pending pre-production by the end of the coming week. I wouldn’t be the team leader this trimester as I already have a lot on my plate but I will ensure I give everything I do my 100 percent.

Here are the mood-boards I have worked on. We have come to terms with how we want the characters (humans) and the robots (CGI characters) to look and feel. We brainstormed thoroughly and decided to have one sleek and elegant robot for the grunge/edgy girl, and a rusty, robust robot for the shy nerdy guy. It’s in order to contrast with the real-life character but also with one another. We decided on making the whole film a sequence from a comic book where the intro would be pages flipping from a comic book and lands on one comic strip that plays as the film sequence (which is the middle of a battle).

WHAT WE LEARNT THIS WEEK:

Apart from this, we learnt a little about ROTOSCOPE. We learnt the three methods of doing it in after effects and which methods work best for what scenarios.

1) Manual

Pros: You get to control every frame

Cons: Time consuming

Ideal situation: Any situation

2) Semi (Rotobrush)

Pros: Faster than manual technique

Cons: Could be annoying

Ideal situation: Works best in situations where colors are vibrant

3) Fully Automated

Pros: Super-fast

Cons: A lot of manual work for fixing issues

Ideal Situation: Only when the shape of the object doesn’t change

Therefore, this week has been a rollercoaster of a ride already but we are expecting our progress to pace up after all group issues have been resolved.

References:

Hasbro (2009, Nov 30). Funny or Die: 'Boos Left Out' NERF on the Job [video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLFCHTHucDY&feature=youtu.be

Vancouver Film School (2017, Aug 21). What makes you complete - Vancouver Film School (VFS) [video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5zQGjisYE&t=47s