Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Project 1 workflow

First pass animation for project 1 due next class!

Decide on story, create beat list
Sketch out thumbnail storyboards
Import rig into empty scene with namespace
Repeat for additional characters, change colors in hypershade to differentiate characters
Build simple sets using primitives and basic shaders
Block out character poses using character set
Retime blocked animation
Add cameras to scene
Animate moving cameras
Create edit in camera sequencer
Playblast individual clips and edit in premier, or playblast sequence from camera sequencer.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Syllabus

The Art Institute of California – San Francisco

Course Syllabus

Course Number: MA2212

Course Title: 3D Camera Techniques

Class Meetings: Tuesdays, 6pm - 10pm

Session/Year: Spring 2013

Instructor Name: Greg Lemon

Email Address: glemon@edmc.edu

Phone: email me!

Instructor Availability Outside of Class: email me!

3D Camera Techniques

Course Description:

In this course students learn techniques used in pre-production and /production including cameras, lenses, mounting equipment, framing and composition, and natural and studio lighting.

Course Length: 11 Weeks

Contact Hours: 44 Hours

Lecture: 22 Hours

Lab: 22 Hours

Credit Values: 3 Credits

Course Competencies:

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:

Apply industry-standard storyboard and scripting techniques to animation

Demonstrate the ability to create shots from storyboards
and other source material.
Understand production schedules

Discuss camera techniques in computer animation

Manipulate camera and lights in virtual atmosphere.
Understand the application of lights in a traditional studio setting vs. digital studio setting.

Apply camera and lighting principles in a practical situation

Manipulate Camera and lights
Adapt physical camera and lighting techniques to CGI
Understand the relationship between camera and subject, background, light and movement.
Control different light properties, including ambient, spotlight, tracking, etc.

Apply the language of cinematography

Understand the principles of editing, art direction and production design as they relate to cinematography.

Course Prerequisite(s): MA2204 3D Animation

Text(s): Required: Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen, by Steve Katz; Michael Wiese Productions (July 31, 1991) ISBN: 0941188108

Materials and Supplies: DV Tape, Storage Media

Estimated Homework Hours: 3 to 4 hours per week

Technology Needed: DV Camera, Lighting Kit, Video Studio, PC or Mac with associated 3D and 2D animation software

Grading Scale:

All assignments must have clear criteria and objectives to meet. All students shall be treated equitably. It will be that student’s right to know his/her grade at any reasonable point that information is requested by that student. The criteria for determining a student’s grade shall be as follows (on a percentage of total points basis):

A 100-93

A- 92-90

B+ 89-87

B 86-83

B- 82-80

C+ 79-77

C 76-73

C- 72-70

D+ 69-67

D 66-65

F 64 or below

Process for Evaluation:

Attendance and Participation 10%

Project 1 -15%

Project 2 - 25%

Project 3 - 50%

Project 1 - Primitive Drama / 0:10 - 0:15 / 10+ shots / Due Week 3

Pick one of the following scenarios and visualize it in a 10-15 second playblasted 3D animatic:

Two characters find both find a coin/treasure. Who gets it?
One character is chasing another. Up ahead, there is a gap in the ground. What happens?
One character is waiting for another. Draw out the suspense, and then have the other character arrive. What happens?

use simple primitives to build sets
use the simple rig to animate your scene.
block basic poses to tell the story; don't worry about detail animation (walks, etc)
Playblast the scene and edit it into a 1280 x 720 .H264 movie clip.

Project 2 - Movie Remake / 0:30 - 0:45 / 15+ shots / Due Week 6

Pick a 30 - 45 second sequence from a film that has at least 15 different camera shots/cuts.
Recreate the entire scene using built or found models and available character rigs.
Character animation should include poses needed to tell the story.
Use basic shaders and lights to color and tone the scene.
Playblast the scene and edit it into a 1280 x 720 .H264 movie clip.

Project 3 - Final Project 3D Animatic / 0:45 - 1:00 / 25+ shots / Due Week 11

Create a SIMPLE story and visualize it in a RENDERED 3D animatic.
Recreate the entire scene using built or found models and available character rigs.
Use basic shaders and lights to color and tone the scene.
RENDER the scene(s) and edit it into a 1280 x 720 .H264 movie clip.

Student Evaluation/Grading Policies:

Class time will be spent in a productive manner.
Grading will be done on a point system.
Points for individual activities will be announced.
All work must be received by the set deadlines.
ABSOLUTELY NO WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE FINAL CLASS MEETS WEEK 11.

Classroom Policy:

No food allowed in class or lab at any time. Drinks in sealable bottles allowed in classroom.
Edible items brought to class or lab must be thrown out.
If student elects to eat/drink outside class or lab door, missed time is recorded as absent.
Attendance is taken hourly. Tardiness or absence is recorded in 15-minute increments.
Break times are scheduled by the instructor at appropriate intervals.
No private software is to be brought to lab or loaded onto school computers.
No software games are allowed in lab (unless in course curriculum).
Headphones are required if listening to music during lab. No headphones are allowed in lecture.
Any student who has special needs that may affect his or her performance in this class is asked to identify his/her needs to the instructor in private by the end of the first day of class. Any resulting class performance problems that may arise for those who do not identify their needs will not receive any special grading considerations.

Disability Policy Statement:

It is our policy not to discriminate against qualified students with documented disabilities in its educational programs, activities, or services. If you have a disability-related need for adjustments or other accommodations in this class, contact the Disabilities Services Coordinator at 415-276-1060.

Academic Honesty Policy:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty while pursuing their studies at AiCA-SF. Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to: plagiarism and cheating; misuse of academic resources or facilities; and misuse of computer software, data, equipment or networks.

Student work that appears to violate AiCA-SF’s standards of academic honesty will be reviewed by the Committee on Academic Honesty. If the work is judged to have violated standards of academic honesty, appropriate sanctions will be given. Sanctions include but are not limited to course failure and academic termination.

Suggested Course Outline

Week 1:

Lecture: Intros. Film Language, Aesthetics, Frame Composition.

Lab: Creating Cameras in Maya. Simple camera; camera and aim; camera and aim with up

vector. Simple character rigging.

Homework: Finish Lab work, work on Proj. 1.

Week 2:

Lecture: Storyboarding, Pre-visualization & Production Planning. Spatial
Connections: Line of action; cutaways; bridges and establishing shots.

Lab: Introduction to the graph editor. Animating cameras, ease in and out.

Homework/lab: Complete project 1

Week 3:
Due: Project 1

Lecture: Project 1 critique, Framing and Aspect ratio. Depth: The third dimension. Editing
Basics. Story Progression, and tension building.

Lab: Setup shots, with different aspect ratios, Frame size and image plane. First pass review

of storyboard with Instructor.

Homework: Review Storyboards, paying special attention to story progression.

Week 4:

Midterm: Present storyboards to the class. Scan storyboards in, so that the digital format can

be projected. Pitch Story to class, Go through storyboards once, reiterate with more detail

during the second pass.

Week5:

Lecture: Adding Camera Movement to the mix. Crane, Dolly, Track and Pan. Should the

character dance or the camera dance? Movement and it’s relationship to story intensity.

Camera lens change versa Camera movement change.

Lab: Setup a telephoto, normal, wide angle, Dolly, Zoom, Zolly Cameras in given scene. Work

on environments for final project.

Homework: Finish Project 2.

Week 6:
Due: Project 2

Lecture: Script breakdown, Story Progression, Arcs and Beats. The relationship between the

story structure and the visual structure. Depth of Field, motion blur.

Lab: Setup depth of field variations, and a rack focus camera. Work on environments for final

project.

Homework: Finish working on environments. Start thinking about characters for final

project.

Week 7:

Lecture: Editing. Shot duration, cutting, patterns, montages. Overlapping action. Cutting on

action. Transitions.

Lab: Cutting shots together, playblasting and rendering shots in Maya. Creating a sequence.

Adding sound to the scene.

Homework: Find or build and bind characters for project.

Week 8:

Lecture: Staging Dialogue. Two subjects; Three subjects; four or more subjects. Point of View,

Subjective and Object Cameras.

Lab: Position cameras in a dialogue scene in Maya. Work on Final Project. Start laying out

your camera shots in your scene. Instructor will give help on Character rigging and setup

issues.

Homework: Develop shotlist. First pass of camera layout for scene,

Week 9:

Lecture: Using Color and lighting as visual components in Film and Games. Rendering versus

playblasting issues. Adding camera shake to an explosion. Creating a handheld camera effect.

Lab: Handheld and shake cameras. Lighting Setup.

Homework: Finish lab and work on Final project.

Week 10: Lecture: No lecture.

Lab: First pass of Final. Instructor will give feedback on each project. Bonus marks for having

first pass done.

Homework: Work on final project.

Week 11: Lecture: Final Project

Lab: Screening: Present finished personal projects to class.

Homework:

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Contrast and Affinity:

1st shot - deep
2nd shot - deep
3rd shot - flat

Plenty of creative 180 switches/cuts here
Everything here is ying/yang -

Morpheous wears black, neo white.
Morpheous' gestures are subdued, neon's elaborate
Neo's camera into shot pushes in (to suggest he is the learner, the absorber)
M's shot pulls out (to suggest he is the teacher, and has info to give)

http://movieclips.com/RQv5A-the-island-movie-good-job/

Shaky cam everywhere!!!
Note the many ways the directors frame the train wheels flying off the flatbed. Variety and contrast = visual intensity!
Note how the quick pacing in the beginning is contrasted by the slow pacing at the end, where the bad guy's vehicle is destroyed.

http://movieclips.com/dSF4-bolt-movie-scooter-chase/

Breakdown first 1:30 - note camera moves, framing, pacing.
Note how the camera moves, follows, starts, stops, etc
Note the surprises the camerawork allows the audience to experience
Note how the camera stops moving after certain portions of the chase, allowing the actors to keep moving in the frame and the audience to rest and absorb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lOaV06ruMqg

The camera leads Loiotta's character to Deniro
The zolly (zoom + dolly) changes the perspective and suggests that the relationship between the two characters has just changed
The zolly also puts the audience in a strange space, specially...similar to what Loiotta's character is going through.

http://movieclips.com/Yk4A-zodiac-movie-the-diner/

Gyllenhal's character uses the salt and pepper shakers to illustrate the abstract geometry of the crime scene they are talking about.
The waitress delivers the check at the moment Ruffalo's character realizes who the killer is.
This helps emphasize the beat - check please = realization that the case is solved!

http://movieclips.com/xdVp-the-social-network-movie-i-deserve-some-recognition/

the cuts in the first sequence are matched to the rhythm of the accusations
Zuckerberg is centered in all of the shots, and everything in the room is used as a means of zeroing in on him

http://movieclips.com/WSZRr-midnight-in-paris-movie-pseudo-intellectual/

woody allen intentionally separates the two actors in this shot to show the divide between them
Owen Wilson's character is a blurred reflection in the shot featuring the girlfriend
Are these characters being brought together or pushed apart?

http://movieclips.com/CqfDv-amelie-movie-love-at-first-sight/

This sequence features some really really really lovely camera moves
The moves of both the camera and actors tends to be upwards, complementing the uplifting feeling of being in love

http://movieclips.com/cHS6-amelie-movie-helping-a-blind-man/

The pacing in the beginning of the sequence is slow - this is the setup.
The pacing during the blind man walk sequence is quick - suggesting the fleeting glimpses the blind man is getting from Amelie

Group boarding exercise - start to 1:25

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Notes on space in film

SPACE

Deep
- offers illusion of 3d depth on a 2d screen
- no real depth in screen space, illusion is conveyed through depth cues
  - perspective - 1, 2, and 3 point (draw buildings)
    - perspective creates VANISHING POINTS and LONGITUDINAL PLANES
    - Audience's eye will be usually drawn to and on-screen vanishing point (
      - draw railroad tracks)
      - draw two vanishing planes, with actor on outside, then actor on inside, at VP. Compare the two.
  - size difference
    - separating objects/actors into FG, MG and BG helps create depth
  - movement
    - moving parallel to the picture plane:
      - objects further away will appear to move slower across screen
      - objects closer will appear to move faster
      - draw track runners to demonstrate
    - moving perpendicular to picture plane
      - objects appear to move faster the closer they are to the camera
  - camera movement
    - dolly in/out = moving camera closer or farther from the subject
    - draw scene with FG actor and two BG actors, then dolly in
    - FG actor will get larger faster
    - tracking shot - camera dollies left/right
    - with one FG and three BG actors, FG actor appears to move faster horizontally in screen space.
    - crane shot - camera is moved vertically up or down.
    - same FG/BG actor combo - FG actor will drop out of frame faster than BG guys
  - Textural diffusion
    - objects that are closer to the camera will have more visible texture
  - Arial diffusion
    - fog
    - must have objects affected and unaffected in both the same shot in order to be an effective depth cue
  - Tonal separation
    - light objects generally appear closer, dark objects generally recede
    - can also be reverse, depending on lighting and arial diffusion
  - Color seperation
    - warm colors generally appear to be closer
    - cool colors generally appear to be further away
  - Up/Down position
    - objects lower in the frame appear to be closer than objects higher in the frame (maybe because they appear more accessible?)
  - Overlap
    - overlapping objects in the frame create depth
  - Focus
    - blur vs sharp
Flat
- emphasizes the 2d aspects of the screen space
- flat cues:
  - frontal planes and NO LONGITUDINAL PLANES
  - size consistency
  - movement
    - movement parallel to picture plane = good
  - camera movement - pans, tilts and zooms
    - help emphasize flat space because the relative distance between/size of objects does not change in the shot.
  - textural affinity
    - same amount of textural detail
  - reduced tonal seperation
  - reduced color separation (affinity of color)
  - reduced overlapping shapes
  - inverted depth cues
    - inverting or reversing depth cues can help flatten deep space
      - tone: placing brighter obis in the BG and darker ones in the FG
      - color: warm BG, cool FG
      - textural diffusion: make BG obis have more texture and FG ones have less
      - size difference: place larger objs farther away, and small ones closer.
Limited
- combo of deep and flat space cues
Ambiguous
- occurs when viewer is unable to understand the actual size/spatial relationships between objects in the frame
  - lack of movement -
  - objects of unknown size or shape
  - tonal and textural camouflage
  - mirrors and reflections
  - disorienting camera angles

DEEP SPACE
- dramatic
- exciting
- edgy
- can be used to release tension
FLAT SPACE
- calming
- comedic
- disarming
- can be used to build tension/claustrophobia and awkwardness
- wes anderson!
LIMITED
- combo of both
AMBIGOUS
- mysterious
- disorienting
- chaotic

Movie Clips!

Tons and tons and tons of viewable clips from amazing films....all on youtube!!!

http://www.youtube.com/movieclips

Sneakers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coDtzN6bXAM&feature=share&list=PL1E9342504260D7F2

This scene involves two characters having a conversation about changing the world. As the sequence begins, we realize that they are under surveillance. They move to a smaller room to continue the dialog.
First two shots are closeups of the actors, then we go to wide shots as the actors lead us into the "safe" area. The camera pulls back to a very wide shot, before cutting inside the room to a series of closeups and OTS shots.
The color scheme changes as the characters enter the "safe" area. Blue is used for the area where they can't talk out loud, red and neutral are used in the safe area.
The tone changes as well. Unsafe area = dark tones, safe area = bright tones.
The "safe" area is where Ben Kingsley's character explains his seemingly benevolent plan to Redford's character.

Cider House Rules

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JES2fQLPoGU&feature=share&list=PL1E9342504260D7F2

This is a time-lapse sequence involving Toby M's character reading through a series of letters he has received/sent.
Fades are used to signify the passage of time between shots.
In addition, at the end of each shot, the focal element in the shot is framed in a way that it spacially overlaps the focal element in the NEXT shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzfQ2Bwhkcc&list=PL1E9342504260D7F2&index=116

This is a moment of discovery for the main character. He is about to discover a nautilus shell, which will inspire him to mathematically decode the stock market.
The first shots are super-high contrast in tone.
The shots are also ambiguous in their framing. We are in a disorienting, yet inspiring space with the character.
As the sequence continues, we are put into a more recognizable space, when the main character sees the treasure hunter inspecting the nautilus shell.
Note how the director chooses to SHOW the main character LOOKING at the hunter/nautilus shell, and then cross cuts to shots of what he is looking at.

Jurassic Park 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7tNqjsclhs&list=PLF4CD53B8ECA3BB87&index=1

Tons of deep space in this shot.
The camera work during the dino fight is made to feel as though a documentary filmmaker is there. Just enough camera movement to sell the presence of the camera, not so much to distract from the animation.
There are several shots where one element is in the shot (human running away), and they react to something off-screen (falling dino), which then enters the frame. Very cool!

The Shining

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMbI7DmLCNI

The flatness of the shot = super awkward.
Going from framing Danny far away to super closeup = awkward/jarring
Letting Danny lead the camera around the corner to reveal the girls heightens the audience's suspense.
Danny's sweater is one of the most color saturated elements in the scene - blood red
The close up non-moving camera on Danny's reaction to the girls heightens the horror - he is literally paralyzed with fear.

Frame Still sites

http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/1000_Frames_of_Hitchcock

http://mikegrost.com/zmath.htm

http://image-par-image.blogspirit.com/

http://evanerichards.com/

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Three objectives of good cinematography

1. TELL THE STORY IN A WAY THAT DOES NOT CONFUSE THE VIEWER!!!

2. Enhance the essential experience of the film with complementary camera shots, cuts and editing/pacing.

3. Do fancy stuff that wows the viewer.

Your TOP PRIORITY is #1. If you don't achieve this in your film, #2 and 3 do not matter, as you have likely lost the viewer.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Free model resources

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/

http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/3D-Models/free

more...

Friday, January 11, 2013

Storyboard and composition tips!

Composition tips:

http://photoinf.com/Golden_Mean/Petteri_Sulonen/Geometry_in_Composition.htm (awesome)

http://www.atdesignonline.com/education/Common/Composti.pdf

http://www.thewildclassroom.com/wildfilmschool/gettingstarted/camerashots.html

Shot selection:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41694215/ns/today-today_tech/t/choose-right-video-shots/#.UAYpX2Ge4lQ

STORYBOARDING TIPS!!!

http://purgetheory.blogspot.com/2012/03/storydesign-notes.html

http://storyboardsecrets.com/blog/tutorial-silhouettes-and-drawing-clarity/

http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/

http://tobyshelton.blogspot.com/ (Sick, sick storyboards!!)

http://www.videomaker.com/article/14584/

THE ART OF STORYBOARDING WITH RIDLEY SCOTT!!!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Free Rigs

http://www.11secondclub.com/resources