VFX Testing

Good morning! Since the short film is shaping up to be graphically intense, I decided that today I would test out these visual effects in order to A) confirm they work, and B) design these elements prior to filming. Let's get started.

Screenplay Text

While the Narrator is reading out the different scenes and the Protagonist is performing, we want to show the screenplay on screen. This communicates to the audience that the events on screen are part of these fictional scripts and shows how the lines translate into the scene. It also allows the disconnect to be clearer when the Protagonist breaks out of character, as the text disappearing illustrates that the script was interrupted. At first we were thinking of splitting up part of the screen with the script and the other half with the shots, but we realized this would not be a great choice. For one, splitting the screen means that we would have to compose shots with the positioning of the text in mind, which would be difficult and time consuming during filming. Secondly, it looked amateurish. I made a mockup in Photoshop using a still from one of my previous productions:

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In order for these graphics to work well, the text has to unify with the cinematography to create a flowing image as opposed to cutting into it. I went back into Photoshop to find a perfect marriage between both elements and came up with a solution. My new mockup overlays the text on top of the visuals, except this time, the text fades away as it goes lower into the frame. This way the text is clear yet out of the way, but also gives a lot of space for the shots. My group and I agreed it was the way to go:

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Narrator Waveform

A couple posts ago on the blog, I told you all how at first we wanted to have the Narrator make a physical appearance at the final scene but decided against it to preserve their omnipresence. Since the end of the short film is supposed to be confrontational between the two characters, I still wanted some form of presence from the Narrator. This led me to the concept of having the Narrator's audio waveform appear above the Protagonist. 

A quick sketch I drew on my smartphone when originally coming up with the design.

The fact that the Narrator appears as literal audio-waves would be comically fitting since they are literally using their voice to narrate, but on the other hand, the addition of a floating being would add more surrealism to the scene. With this image for the Narrator's presence in my head, I went to After Effects to figure it out. I found a tutorial on how to create waveforms that had various options to choose from. I decided to go with a spherical design as it felt more visually appealing rather than having a straight line. It also looked like a spirit orb, almost as if it was someone communicating from another existence (very deep, I know). 

A screenshot from my After Effects Project.

From here I decided to make the spherical waveform more god-like by adding a bright glow and rays of light beaming down from above. To test this in a shot, I mirrored the sketch I drew by adding a new rough illustration of the Protagonist and rotating the Narrator to seem like they are looking down. Check it out:

Conclusion

The team and I are very happy with how these VFX elements turned out and are more than confident in using them when it comes time to put the film together. Next week I will continue to work on preproduction and plan on finishing this stage of the short film by then. Wish us luck!