modular projects

The master project is a compilation of modules, building on the paradigm of the relief boxes, which are imported into the master (or currently the middle changing sequence) and then only one comp for each box is replaced and older versions can then be deleted.

as we assemble, list what’s left to do

0005RM Christina walking into frame, shells at ground level, she kicks one, cafes and various signage, what do the stone buildings suggest? cut out the white building and buildings on the horizon, add broken skyscrapers. is this greenpoint? manhattan drowned?

• 31-35 import richa’s masks

39 hair. there’s extra strands needed to bridge the gap between hair on the neck and left shoulder. Strands don’t line up. There’s an odd artifact cutting parallel to the line of her left shoulder, prolly should do a clean backplate. How to get the fabricated hair looking good? It’s close but needs more strand texture within

40 still like test treatment for uncle joe with rays of light. Some slight depth of field, even cheating by having the room slightly out of focus and joe in, or a pull focus from her to him. red door needs mask. c needs shoulder mirror reflection

41 hair. same issues. use texture from hair here on 39. left upper incisor can we trim?

42 compare related shots, eg when joe enter’s christina’s cabin, how much of the door is bathed in red light? There’s the mixture between the different lights. the transition from one world to the next. what’s happening in that transition? problem with christina’s masks – won’t render with 42_c_roto visible

43 seems good.

44 seems good, same as 40, 42.

45 seems good

46 seems good

47 odd shadow behind left shoulder dress

48 added flicker for fun, consider this a test, add to tests

49 christina in mirror, decide on treatment of transition of red hallway to cabin. Note on masks. An attempt to simplify the comp so that there’s only one layer that uses color correction won’t work. What’s maybe more important is to not replicate masks. Each layer should be it’s own thing, and subsequent layers get pasted over to obscure messy edges. If I use additional masks within joe’s roto solid so that the wall deletes his overlap, I’m not gaining anything if I have to recreate the wall silhouette for some other effect later, it means adjusting the wall twice. Easier to paste several color correctors into layers than fiddle with duplicate masks. Also, it’s not obvious how to set mode and sequence of masks for the chain holes that doesn’t cut a hole in joe too. We need to both red hall and joe through the holes. So for simplicity, I’m going back to having separate layers for the hall foreground and joe.

For Joe, three comp layers. The deepest background layer (3) is the red highlights around his jacket and head, the exposure blowouts from the strong side light which need a strong change to make the red white. The mask solid has a matte ops effect applied to expand the mask slightly and feather strongly. The second middle layer is a more conservative color correction to red and slightly contracted to fit over the highlight layer. The third layer is Joe after transition, normal color with a mask applied to the comp that animates to illustrate the play of red light clinging to him as he enters. Is this light alive? The dusky red of a passionate womb, of low birth which somehow surrounds (protects) the little cabin bubbles. perhaps sterilizing the entry to the ship through nano or mystic tech.

I tried isolating the outline by duplicating masks, offsetting them slightly and using a combination of add, subtract and intersect but the results were unpredictable, my understanding of these modes is less than stellar.The multi-layer could be both sufficient and expedient, with luck and a bit more tweaking. Specifically, how to blend the layers into each other and the background to make them softer more integrated.

I remembered that I am not creating a virtual reality here, but rather a sequential illusion. In other words, the characters only have to work in the moment, the geometry of the scene only has to work in one temporal direction – forward. I can pop layers on and off as characters move in front or behind each other and objects. A fundamental shift of awareness, from algorithmic to 2D temporal. In some sense, this is a less flexible conceptual practice, like knowing the tricks of frame by frame animation, but we’re trying to FINISH a movie here, not develop a game/interactive environment.

scratch on window, paint out.

door hook and hardware on all doorway needred highlights

_____ general ______

As I move through this first act, I have forestalled my plan to rebuild the entire project from Final Cut XML exports paired with movies, and finish cleaning/reviewing the first act comp. What that means is a pass to sort the layers and get a handle on the tasks ahead, so I know what I don’t know. Cataloging my vast innocence is crucial to planning a completion campaign. Having all these questions available enables the knowledge needed to be organized for audacious and efficient acquisition, while I remember that finishing with finesse is the point.

50 bring all non sync sound on to main timeline, like sound effects. need to learn about motion blur. Could use a color correction on the reflection coming in the window. and depth of field too

51 dead birds and hallway mediatronics, red highlights on door hardware, boxes mediatronics

52 lav mic is showing!