Finished video link

https://vimeo.com/114354805

Production Report

The finalised piece we created was that of a man being transformed into a bird-like creature through the use of green screen and shadows. The plot symbolised that of nature taking over humanity as if it was fighting back from the destruction that humans cause to natural landscapes. To show this idea we used a set that was similar to that of a house but instead of a normal décor it was covered in leaves, dirt and fake birds. From these small changes it caused the set to have a look of what a house if left abandoned would turn into if nature were left to ravage it.

A main influence for the piece was that of the film The Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky, which follows the story of a girl with a split personality disorder playing the parts of the white and black swan in the ballet Swan Lake. Although this was the main point of reference for the idea of a transformation we wanted to steer away from the use of the transformation being about the development of the character but more about the demise of a character as a larger being takes over it. An antagonist rather than a protagonist. Nature in the sense of this film would be the protagonist as they were defeating the evil human damaging the environment.

For the idea of the ‘uncanny’ we followed the idea of Ernst Jentsch of ‘whether an apparently animate being is really alive or whether a lifeless object might be animate’. In this case it was to do with whether nature can be seen as being alive as dirt and plants are sometimes not seen as being alive. This is due to the fact they are not within the human sense of the word of breathing and living a life but are when viewed as being alive in other definitions of the word. By taking this into account we began to hint on the idea that nature could be alive in this way by taking over the set and the character, as he seemingly has no control over what is happening to him.

The ‘nature being alive’ scenario came from watching the 1951 animated Disney version of Alice in Wonderland where the flowers come alive and sing and dance. Throughout the scene each species of flower was giving different features and personalities to make them seem a live in the way humans are viewed to be. This began my thought process on what can be considered to be alive.

The finished piece covered many of the points that we first researched at the beginning of the project. The transformation turned out well through the use of shadows, as we did not have the knowledge on how to create wings through CGI. However this technique has been used in other films, such as Harry Potter when Professor McGonagall changes from being a cat into a human, the use of this was effective and helped to boost our narrative and bring our point through the story.  

With the idea of nature taking over our main way of showing this was through the use of set design and covering the walls and floor with mud and leaves. I felt that although this helped to show the place had been abandoned and nature had begun to claim it did not highlight the idea enough. A change I would make to this would be to have the character slowly covered in mud and leaves to show how nature has slowly begun to claim him before the big transformation.

The set however was the way I had imagined it with the use of nature and the wooden furniture to compliment this as if showing what humans have done to nature and how it is fighting back. On the other hand however a problem occurred with the set when we moved into the postproduction side of the project because we had painted the set green to coincide with a woodland type theme but when applying the green screen effect to remove the background to a painting the whole set would follow with it. We combated this through duplicating and using the mask tool.

During the group work we all shared out the load equally and didn’t have any specific roles e.g. camera operator, director. By sharing the work out equally this meant everyone had a chance to have a creative outlook on the project and have their ideas considered rather than just one person taking control.

The only problem that occurred through doing this was the difference in each person’s timetables so it was hard to organise times when everyone was available to edit when it came to postproduction. We got round this by splitting editing down the middle where Conor and I went in and made a rough cut then sent Lauren and Ellie it so that they could edit the next portion of it.

During the beginning of term I missed a couple of classes due to being on tour but I kept up to date on work through regular emails and talking to my group on the phone. This meant I was never behind on any of the group work and could still contribute while being on the road.

 

In the workshops the practical classes helped with much of the production of our piece. We ended up having to drill many of the slats as the stands did not fit exactly; this meant the workshop where we learnt drill techniques came in extremely handy.

Another workshop that was helpful was the postproduction explanations on how to use After Effects. As we had a mishap with the green screen due to our set also being green when we were shown how to duplicate and mask the section we wanted to use the effect on; the class became a lifesaver for the project.

Overall the finished film was successful in the sense that it carried the narrative that we wanted to carry of a man being transformed by nature. However the piece did not carry the idea of nature taking over and being alive that I wanted to really push through the narrative. If we were to reshoot the piece I would incorporate the idea of vines and leaves moving up the characters leg as if nature has taking over them to the extent of wrapping itself round his body.

Also viewing the plants as the human sense of being alive was not done in the way I imagined it to be but we showed this in a different way. Instead of the plants being alive as being human themselves we had them take over the character as if they were controlling the human making them in essence human.

The overall strengths of the piece come from the use of special effects to create the narrative we wanted to portray. The green screen behind the picture frame helped to show that the character was escaping from a woodland area into a house to show that humans were leaving the natural habitat that we originally would have lived in to how we’ve adapted to having homes. The effect of the transformation through the use of the shadow also really helped with how to produce a strong scene rather than trying to recreate the scene using CGI that we didn’t have the knowledge to achieve.

Editing

To start off we created a simple structure that we wanted the piece to follow based on our storyboards. The structure consisted of the character climbing our of the picture frame, walking across the set and then the transformation began on the clear wall with no picture frames.

After the structure was complete we began to work on the green screen and visual effects elements of the piece. We began with changing the green screen behind the character's picture into an outdoor landscape. As our set was green we had a few problems doing this as when we would add an image to replace the green screen the whole of the set would change too. We worked round this by duplicating the layer and then masking the area we wanted to change so that we would only be able to see the green screen change on that area.

We did this for the two shots that we saw the character in the picture frame however we edited the green screen slightly so that when it was a different angle we would change the angle of the image too. This meant that the image didn't seem flat and was like a painting.

The next effect we wanted to create was that of feathers being ripped out as he transformed. This effect was created through the use of feathers in a wind machine on a green screen. We removed the green screen and placed the footage over the main transformation when the wings appeared out of the character's back. This all added to the finalised feel of the piece.

The final visual effect we used was that of motion tracking to add a beak to the character's face. This was done using After Effects where we had to select the points we had drawn on Conor's face as reference marks and then connected them together.

After photoshopping a beak from an eagle that fitted with the correct angle of his face we added it to the piece. The motion tracking worked well and followed his face during the rest of the clip but we felt that compared to the rest of the piece did not look aesthetically correct.

Storyboarding and Shooting

Below are the storyboards that we created to follow during our shoot:

We wanted to create a piece that showed the transformation through the use of shadows so created foam wings that we could use to make it look like the character had sprouted wings. We felt the use of using shadows that were already presented on the set rather than ones we created in post production would be a lot more effective.

Making the wings

For the footage we decided to keep most of the images quite simple due to wanting to use visual effects and green screen in post production. We created a simple layout that told the narrative we wanted to create. 

We placed a green screen behind the window cut out as we wanted it to look like there was a world beyond the picture frame that the character was living in. 

Green screen behind window

Set Dress

After the construction we began to dress our set ready for the shoot.

We wanted to keep a nature theme throughout the whole piece so decided to cover the set floor with compost, leaves and flowers. 

For the rest of the dressing we wanted to have the idea of nature still running throughout. We picked out furniture that was made from wood to add a rustic feel and made birds out of wire and feathers to hang from the walls.

The set is supposed to be the inside of a house that nature has swept through so we added pictures to the walls that were old fashioned such as old renaissance paints but also added some that were humans crossed with animals to add hints to what our piece was going to be about.

Construction

We began the construction of our set on the 29th of October.

To start with we needed to drill holes into the supports to hold up the flats. This meant measuring, drilling and then adding screws to make sure they were secure.

Drilling the supports

Drilling the flats

Attaching the screws

The first flats standing up

After all the supports and flats were up we began on the decorating. We decided to paint using our hands rather than brushes to have a more naturalistic look as if it was decrepit and old. To add to this we also rubbed mud into the walls to keep the idea of nature taking over even more there. For the main wall we used wallpaper which was leaf embossed which gave the whole set another texture.

First wall complete

Main wall covered in wallpaper then added paint and mud

Texture of the walls

Shopping and Set Design

As a group we met up and began to design our set together. Below is a sketch of the design we came up with:

Overall we wanted to create a set that showed a world where nature is fighting back and taking over. We decide that we were going to do this through the use of wallpaper that reflected nature such as leaves and flowers and combine this with brown and green paint. To add to this even more we thought that instead of using carpet we would cover the floor in soil.

However we wanted to still have a very stereotypical house set up as if nature had just come in and taken over it so we are going to use a brown fireplace, a table and picture frames to get this idea across. We decided to add special effects to the picture frames above the fire place by using green screen that would show birds flying through them into the next like in the Harry Potter films where portraits move from one painting to another.

Pictures moving in the Harry Potter world

Picture frames to use

On the far right wall we're going to use green screen to have a human climb through the picture frame from a woodland or countryside scene into the set. Once inside we will have them be overcome by nature where they will transform into a part human/part bird creature.

Set with the hole in the wall

We will show this transformation through the use of shadows on the far left wall where we will see them transform the use of cuts and make up.

Animal to human transformation in Harry Potter using shadows

Once we had designed the set and decided what colours and materials we wanted to use Ellie, Lauren and I went to B and Q to pick everything up.

We decided on plain white textured wallpaper embossed with leaves that we could paint over to create a nature effect. Along with it we picked out dark green and beige paint to also add to the outdoor effect.

In our meeting we also agreed that we wanted to add soil to the walls to add to put across our theme even more which then led to us agreeing on covering the floor with soil too. Due to this we also purchased a large bag of compost.

Shopping in B and Q

Selecting our soil