Previsualisation is a great way to plan out how a VFX shot is going to look and progress. It can be done either with 2D images or with 3D software, which is more costly. Since part of the VFX Practical project is to create a scene with a portal tracked onto a certain part of an environment, I planned out how the shot would look.
The first thing I did was find a good clip to use. I used Pexels, which is a website that offers free video footage. This video was the one I decided on, as I liked the rock formation in the centre of the scene. I originally went looking for footage of a cliff, as I wanted to place a portal on the cliff face. However, most of those shots were far off, and filmed from a great distance, so I decided on this one instead.
It's a pan of a rock face, done from an aerial drone. It has a slightly circular movement path, which can be seen nearer the end of the clip, where some of the rock faces turn away a bit.
Here is the link to the original video:
Title – Nature Park Video
Creator – Pixabay
Size – 3840 x 2160
I also needed something to use as a portal in my previs, so I quickly went onto Google to find an image I could use. I made sure to search through images using the creative commons options, which means all the images I could choose from were free to use.
I ended up finding this image of a door, which I liked. I had the idea of blending the archway into the rock face, which I could do by masking out and changing the colour of the image in photoshop. I also knew I'd have to up the contrast and sharpness of the image to match to footage better.
Here's the link to the Image:
I started by opening the clip in Premiere Pro and taking three screenshots of it. I did this because there are three main phases of the footage. When the right tree is covering the rock, when the rock is clear, and then when the left tree is covering the rock. I decided to account for both of these obstructions in my previs images.
I started with the plain images of the footage and marking down the kind of movement in the scene.
I thought it was important for me to become familiar with the footage before I started planning out what I wanted to do with it, so I made sure I was clear on how it progressed and played out.
Next, I added in the door by distorting and resizing it to fit on the cliff face. I then used simple mask layers to paint the pine branches and needles back in, which took a lot of work.
Up close, it 's easy to see there there are some gaps in where I drew out the door. However, since this is a quick mock-up of what the finished product will look like, I didn't want to spend too much time on it.
I then marked out the areas that would need roto on each image in the sequence.
The pine trees are the main cause of concern in this area, as rotoing them out would be time consuming, and the results may not be good because of how complex the trees are. There is also the grass at the base of the rock, which would be far easier to roto out.
However, all of this is a plan for if the full footage was used. I've instead opted to use a small portion of the footage, which contains a small amount of overlap on the cliff face from the right tree, but the during the rest of the footage it remains bare. This will mean I can better divide my attention between the multiple projects I have going on right now, but also gives me the option to do a small amount of roto if I have the time.
This shot is communicating the magical happenings of a fictional world, wherein a portal is embedded in the side of the rock. If this were in a film (going back to the Professional Practice Unit), the target audience would be the fans of The Dark Tower novels, who would likely be interested to see it. The feeling this shot is meant to invoke is one of mystery and curiosity, much like how one would feel finding the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts.
Speaking of Harry Potter, another potential target audience could be the fans of that film series. The Harry Potter film series ended ten years ago and people are still craving more of the magical world. The similarities between a mysterious door appearing on a cliff face and the magical happenings of the wizarding world could attract people who watched the Harry Potter films.
Here's a GANTT chart of the project. I've already created the previs and gathered the assets (the footage and the door I want to use in the shot). The next course of action is for me to start creating the actual scene, which I will doing in Nuke X with tutorials.
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