Project Focus: Matte/Set Extension

I decided to focus my project on the 'Set Extension' visual effect, often refered to as matte painting.

Mattes are used in special effects filmmaking to combine two or more image elements into a single, final image. Usually, mattes are used to combine a foreground image (such as actors on a set) with a background image (e.g. a scenic vista). In this case, the matte is the background painting.

The name matte comes from the original matte paintings that had to be created to be filmed in camera, of course these days computers have replaced the paintings (although not always).

A good example of a heavy matte production would be the Alien film series. 

Modern film productions use computers to comp the matte background with the foreground shot (these different shot elements are often referred to as 'plates') This process is modernly called Green Screening.  A studio set might be setup with a complete green screen background, the actors perform the scene in front of camera, later in the composition process the computer can overlay the desired background on the green areas.  

• All these are interesting ideas, however it is often possible to extend a set without the use of a green screen,  I wanted to explore this aspect further, using programs such as After Effects to incorporate a matte background with a pre shot piece of footage.  I had the idea of using one of Cornwalls large beaches that stretches out for miles, the shot would be short, but show an actor reaching the summit of a dune to look out towards the sea.  The beach would be extended to show a sparce environment with a wreaked ship on the sands.  The ship could be produced in 3D and added for a further compositing process.

 

Compositing

As I mentioned below, my interests are in compositing and match moving, I wanted to repeat some of my personal research here to explain these processes.

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Compositing in the modern digital age has two main areas of use; one is removing selected parts of an image to be replaced by another.  Modern digital software can select a colour range on the image to be replaced or removed with ease, this is commonly referred to as blue screening – the pure blue being selected purposely to be removed  (such colours do not generally appear in nature making the software’s job easier and more precise).   This has many practical uses in television and film, a very common application would be a news weather report.  The weather reporter stands in front of a blue screen and the weather map is composited on. 

The second areas of compositing effects are adding an element, for example a cgi character, to an image so it appears seamlessly integrated.  This requires more complex lighting and colour matching, as well as a believably created CGI scene/character.  A good motion picture example would be ‘Terminator 2’ the T-1000 character can turn to liquid metal.  Such a character which reflects the scene on all sides requires a long process of correct colour, lighting matching – but the results speak for themselves.

Today modern digital compositors are a vital part of the film making process; however like many key cogs in a machine, they usually go unseen.  Many recent Hollywood blockbusters rely on heavy CGI use, this is great news for all compositors, as their skills are in demand, with many to choose from my tutor suggested I look at the Transformers series.

In these films giant robots battle each other, fight humans and interact with the environment all seamlessly, this is a perfect example of the importance and quality of modern digital compositing.   

Match Moving (sometimes called Motion Tracking) is an effects technique that is required in order to match CGI elements to live-action footage.  Aspects of the live shot which must be matched are; position, scale, motion relative to live-action objects etc.  and most importantly camera movement.  In fact this is match moving primary focus, so the film camera can be reproduced in the 3D computer program, reproduced to the identical detail of the live-action camera.   There are a few match moving software packages that will track a shot using algorithms.  These programs can track motion very effectively, however match makers are still required ‘on set’ to place markers.  The reason for this, is before the computer software can calculate a 3d camera, x,y,z axis must be specified, with correct markers on the film set the software can pick these up then the compositor can manually select them as axis representations.

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Personal Project

The personal project is designed to allow me as a student to pick my area of interest.  As the brief itself states 'There are many specialist fields with the multimedia and animation industry.'

After my personal research project earlier in the year, I've developed a keen interest in compositing and match moving.  Compositing is a key part of the film industry and responsible for compositing all visual effects shots.
Often working with specific software such as Nuke, a compositor has a lot of responsibility.
I really found an interest in setting up visual effects, camera matching and working with assets, I really wanted to develop these skills further.


The personal project also focuses on preparing students for working in the industry, preparing proposals, personal work plan, prototypes etc.  I will be responsible for setting deadlines, documenting the project through all stages of production.