[blueworks]

Thank you Gentle Fury, yes, my planes are still naked. I had a deadline for next week to submit them with the textures. I really want to get out of Maya and start doing comp just so I can get more reviews from you guys. Like you said " Fix it in post".

[daddywags214]

This is such a cool project; I actually did an independent study with a professor in college designing effects for a chase sequence. The purpose was to learn about how to 'effectively' choose different types of effects for the varied shots of a sequence. It reminds me a lot of this!

I'm all for using high-quality cameras and camera moves when that's your style. Fortunately you can add camera shake in post, and that will definitely help sell your shots. Here are some clips for reference of low-flying fighter jets:

F-15 - note how long the sound lasts after the pass.

F-18 - Check out the spray it kicks up. I was actually at this air show!

[blueworks]

Wow! Thank you Tom , this awesome reference. I was searching for F22 only. The other thing is that they always follow the plane with the camera so I have no sense of speed. But this one you just send me is pretty good. Thanks for showing me that. And nice spray on the F-18

[daddywags214]

You're welcome! I'm a bit of a fighter jet nut. In terms of cinematic sound, all fighter jets sound more or less the same. Some are slightly brawnier than others, and it definitely makes a difference if the fighter is using afterburners, but really, it's the same noise. :-) Can't wait to see more of this sequence!

[blueworks]

Ok, version 4.0 is out. Please destroy it with comments, I would like to know everything. Show no mercy!! If you think is crap, don't be afraid to tell me. Please also read my goals.



The green screen tho is only 1 day of work and it shows. I will re doit this week. My next steps are the following:

Planes: Exhaust smoke, condensation, heat distortion.
Plate: Remove people from the streets.
Re-do the greenscreen
Add Reflections of the plane on buildings were needed.
Add Shadows of the plane on the street if needed
Color correction
Record the final voices
Final Sound Design
Title design
Final Render
DVD design

Gilberto Sanchez
3D78gilberto@vfs.com
Vancouver Film School
3D Animation and Visual Effects

[Aruna]

I haven't had a chance to read the rest of the comments, but here's my quick assessment. I'm pretty slammed at the moment, so I hope I don't come off too curt.

-you have some rolling shutter problems throughout. Probably a result of acquisition. It would be good, but not critical, to fix this.

Shot 5
-making the background more out of focus will be good. What lens did you shoot on? How tight was this shot? You can use that to make adjustments on DOF. Also, add some scratches and scuffs to the glass. Too pristine.

Shot 6
-Planes moving quickly will necessitate having some sort of trailing exhaust, heat distortion to sell.
-This shot has really bad rolling shutter problems.
-Planes seem flatly lit.
-Match blacks and highlights.

Shot 7
-same notes as 6.

Shot 15.
-camera shake seems to soon. maybe offset a couple frames. Resulting heat wash should disturb camera

Overall, you're going to definitely have to sell these shots with heat distortion and exhaust trails, since they're moving so fast. I'd also try and get some detail out of the motionblurred shots as they fly by camera.

Good luck.

[daddywags214]

I'm with Aruna that the cockpit shots could use some imperfections on the glass as well as shallower DOF. You might also desat the blue a little bit; I found myself looking at the blue sky instead of the pilot.

VFX04 has scale problems; the F22 (like most other fighter jets) is a pretty big plane. If it were that low, it'd be bigger in frame. See some of the above YouTube videos for scale reference. Same deal with VFX05. If it were that low, it'd be bigger. If you choose to keep it small, you might lift the blacks and lower the overall contrast to make it seem like it's higher.

The speed of the jets moving through the frame suggest it being low to the ground. You might consider just making them bigger. If you keep the scale but lower the contrast, etc, then I'd also recommend having them move more slowly to help sell the height.

VFX07 also needs to have the camera shake offset a few frames so it's after the jet actually goes by. Keep in mind that in real life, a jet going that fast would outrun the sound a little bit; the sound would seem to follow the jet slightly. The sound (and the heat) are what would cause the camera to shake, so it makes sense to have them after the flyby by a frame or two.

It's definitely showing progress though!

[blueworks]

Thank you very much to both... I'm gonna work on it and add the heat distortion and exhaust trails for the end of the week. Let you know. Also I'm going to redo the greenscreen cockpit. Thank you again...

[blueworks]

OH, BTW Aruna, The project was film with a Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Prime Lens.

The cockpit shot is just a previz that I did very fast to show on the last presentation, otherwise they would rejected from my reel.

I'm going to re do it next week and if I don´t reach certain level of quality I will take it out of my project. I'm not going to risk the overall quality of my reel with a bad shot.

Here is the greenscreen of that shot. I put it a blue light in front to simulate the light emitting from the control panel and a key light on the right to simulate the sun. Finally a softbox to fill the rest. I'm not sure if it was the right choice. But I can't film again, the rent of that helmet is expensive.



But, next week Im going to use this one instead... what you guys think?



I also have him like this

[Gentle Fury]

do they actually teach GS photography at VFS? This is about as good as you will ever get in your career

[daddywags214]

Originally Posted by Gentle Fury

do they actually teach GS photography at VFS? This is about as good as you will ever get in your career

Ha, seriously. Instead of grainy, multicolored, poorly-lit greenscreen that covers about 10% of the area you need it to! hahaha.

More important than quality of the screen though is having lighting that actually matches your scene, of course.

[Aruna]

I would focus more on the greenscreen shots. I think the integration of those in the cockpit will sell better than a streaky blurry F22 comped "A over B". Go rent Stealth on BluRay for some good cockpit reference. All those were shot on greenscreen.

[blueworks]

Thank you GentleFury, We have GS training at VFS with Brent Greening. He teach us the basics of GS. I then applied what I know of Lighting and photography and work with my camera (Canon 5D Mark II) to record the video. Those are not simple pictures, are screen captures of the video.

I also help a few friends with GS for their proyect. For example this one: It is exactly the same greenscreen but I color corrected in post using LightRoom.

Aruna you are right, I'm gonna spend at least 1 week on that GS instead of the 2hrs I spend last time. I working on your suggestion number 1 actually, is taking a lot of time (rolling shutter) Im using a trial version of the foundry solution and re rendering stuff. So I will show my progress on that on version 5.0 of my reel. Thanks for the support so far.



For this shot I also use the Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens to get a strong DOF. I put a Keylight, softbox to fill and a RIM light. ISO 500, 70mm, f/2.8, 1/40sec and it is a HANDHELD shot no tripod involved .

[blueworks]

The final version of my demo reel is out! Comments are welcome. Thank for everyone who help to accomplish my effort.

http://www.vfxtalk.com/forum/chase-vfx-reel-t23051.html

[blueworks]

Oh! almost forgot, I will add the greenscreen shot later... I had to choose between the GS or the Explosion because I only had 1 weeks to deliver the final output.