DVC23 - Road to Success (The Writer)

Adam Snow · October 5th, 2013, 06:12 PM

That was more or less how I would have approached getting the text on the paper. Though I haven't spent to much time messing around with actually doing that sort of thing within AE. The 3D camera tracker though is pretty darn sweet.

I would have never guessed that a good deal of the blood at the end was all done it post. Props to you for being able to pull that off convincingly.

In mine, I ended up having to mask out some of the blood/ink on my script in the over the shoulder shot (actually shot those in reverse order so I had the blood in the white shot). Of course during editing I decided to reverse the order and thus had to remove the splatter from the page. Thank goodness for special effects. Luckily the shot that I had to contend with was pretty static so I didn't have to drive to much into the tracking side of things.

Anyway, thanks for the quick rundown of what you did. I found it quite detailed. And that tutorial looks pretty neat, I think I shall check it out. So many possibilities! Any once again, wonderful film!

Randy Smith · October 6th, 2013, 03:12 PM

Really beautifully done. Loved the way this one looks, and the feeling it holds onto throughout!

The only thing that took me out of it was the black-eye make-up. It was too obviously make-up in a shot or two, but a small detail in a really great short!

As for interpretations, I felt the black-eyed character was a devil/demon type, that the writer had likely sold his soul to for success in writing an earlier book. The writer wasn't having success on his own, and the demon had come back for something else from him.

Andrew Bove · October 6th, 2013, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andres Mata

About the text appearing on the white sheets, I recorded the sheets with some dots painted on to track them:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-v...-writer_01.jpg

Right before adding the text I had to "paint" the dots out of there! I did it by tracking every dot and creating a layer with a mask offsetting the layer a bit to overlap the dot. The layer was linked to the track of the dot. For 8 dots, I had to track each, create a null to each track and a layer with a mask linked for each one. A lot of work but not difficult, just takes time!!
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G...-writer_02.jpg

With AE CS6 you can track and resolve a 3D camera, not only the dots. That would allow to place some nulls in 3D space and then put the text layers on those nulls, oriented to fit the paper. Masks were added to fit the overlapping sheets. Then I added a fade in preset to the text.

I have a quick question if you don't mind: How does having tracking dots on the paper differ from having dots (or using the tiles and grout of the floor) as your tracking reference? Don't you just have to set up a 3D moving "floor" to properly render the text, or was each paper individually tracked for some reason? (I'm not very experienced with this, so I may be completely confused. I have not watched the tutorial yet.) I'm wondering why you need dots on the actual paper, with all the areas of contrast on the floor to use. Does it just make the tracking data better?

In any case, great effect!

Andres Mata · October 7th, 2013, 02:13 AM

Andrew,

Maybe just resolving a 3D camera with all the data of the image would have worked just fine, I didn't thought of doing that! In a shot like this, which is just a simple straight move of the camera, positioning a 3D floor as you say may have worked. I took the long path but made sure the tracking would be accurate. If I had had more time I could have tried first! But since the sheets are plain white I just got scared the tracking wouldn't come out being ok. And the dots on the paper gave me extra work making them dissapear in AE...
So I guess you're right! :)

Andrew Bove · October 7th, 2013, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andres Mata

So I guess you're right! :)

I have no idea if it would work, I'm just speculating! It was just a thought that came to mind.
(I once shot a whole day with a piece of dust on my sensor, and really hated masking out/replacing the black spot in all the footage- so I would do anything to try and avoid creating that work for myself intentionally.) The bottom line is that your effect worked perfectly!

Toni Dolce · October 7th, 2013, 01:56 PM

Andres,

There are so many great things about the film that have already been said. I echo them.

The actress who leaves the message does great! I really enjoyed the music.

For me, the ending was obscure, but I guess that is part of the mystery.

The behind the scenes was fun to watch. The gear setup was impressive and I enjoyed watching the actors play!

Toni

Andres Mata · October 8th, 2013, 08:53 AM

Thanks Toni for your kind words! I'm glad you liked the film and the little "extras" :)

Andres Mata · December 18th, 2013, 04:27 AM

Hello guys,

I just wanted to share the correct youtube adress for the video.

See you!

October 5th, 2013, 06:12 PM	#16
Adam Snow Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Colorado Posts: 53	Re: DVC23 - Road to Success (The Writer) That was more or less how I would have approached getting the text on the paper. Though I haven't spent to much time messing around with actually doing that sort of thing within AE. The 3D camera tracker though is pretty darn sweet. I would have never guessed that a good deal of the blood at the end was all done it post. Props to you for being able to pull that off convincingly. In mine, I ended up having to mask out some of the blood/ink on my script in the over the shoulder shot (actually shot those in reverse order so I had the blood in the white shot). Of course during editing I decided to reverse the order and thus had to remove the splatter from the page. Thank goodness for special effects. Luckily the shot that I had to contend with was pretty static so I didn't have to drive to much into the tracking side of things. Anyway, thanks for the quick rundown of what you did. I found it quite detailed. And that tutorial looks pretty neat, I think I shall check it out. So many possibilities! Any once again, wonderful film!

October 6th, 2013, 03:12 PM	#17
Randy Smith New Boot Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 23	Re: DVC23 - Road to Success (The Writer) Really beautifully done. Loved the way this one looks, and the feeling it holds onto throughout! The only thing that took me out of it was the black-eye make-up. It was too obviously make-up in a shot or two, but a small detail in a really great short! As for interpretations, I felt the black-eyed character was a devil/demon type, that the writer had likely sold his soul to for success in writing an earlier book. The writer wasn't having success on his own, and the demon had come back for something else from him.

October 7th, 2013, 02:13 AM	#19
Andres Mata New Boot Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Marbella - Spain Posts: 18	Re: DVC23 - Road to Success (The Writer) Andrew, Maybe just resolving a 3D camera with all the data of the image would have worked just fine, I didn't thought of doing that! In a shot like this, which is just a simple straight move of the camera, positioning a 3D floor as you say may have worked. I took the long path but made sure the tracking would be accurate. If I had had more time I could have tried first! But since the sheets are plain white I just got scared the tracking wouldn't come out being ok. And the dots on the paper gave me extra work making them dissapear in AE... So I guess you're right! :)

October 7th, 2013, 01:56 PM	#21
Toni Dolce Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: New York Posts: 72	Re: DVC23 - Road to Success (The Writer) Andres, There are so many great things about the film that have already been said. I echo them. The actress who leaves the message does great! I really enjoyed the music. For me, the ending was obscure, but I guess that is part of the mystery. The behind the scenes was fun to watch. The gear setup was impressive and I enjoyed watching the actors play! Toni

October 8th, 2013, 08:53 AM	#22
Andres Mata New Boot Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Marbella - Spain Posts: 18	Re: DVC23 - Road to Success (The Writer) Thanks Toni for your kind words! I'm glad you liked the film and the little "extras" :)

December 18th, 2013, 04:27 AM	#23
Andres Mata New Boot Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Marbella - Spain Posts: 18	Re: DVC23 - Road to Success (The Writer) Road to success (The Writer) - A short film by Andres Mata Hello guys, I just wanted to share the correct youtube adress for the video. See you!