Research

Research - Visual and Special Effects

Special Effects

 Special Effects (SFX) are practical effects created to depict an illusion to an audience in both film, television and theatre. The illusion is created using physical practical props, such as a mechanised props, prosthetic makeup, pyrotechnics etc. Special effects are usually in the production process and have a realistic visual to them, as they are physical, not animated. Special effects tend to be one of the cheaper options when creating visuals because they require less expense than visual effects. 

These are some of the main special effects used in film:

Pyrotechnics 

Prosthetic Makeup 

Atmospheric effects 

Mechanical effects 

Here are some examples of special effect makeup used in film:

The Grinch - Film 

   
Hereditary - Film 



American Horror Story season 4 - TV Series 

Special Effect examples

Film - Elephant Man, 1980

Recreation vs Original

PROSTHETIC MAKEUP - special effect

          

The left image above is an example of special effects created for the film Elephant Man. The special effects were created using prosthetic makeup. The special effects intention for this film was to re create a real man called Joseph Merrick, who is photographed on the right. The makeup artists for the film didn't want to replicate every detail of the original Elephant Man, and instead wanted to use the photographs of him as a foundation to work off. The prosthetic makeup for the film was key to the narrative, as the film follows the life story and treatment of Joseph Merrick.

The tumours created using the special effects makeup was a way for the film to create a similar realistic depiction of Joseph Merrick's physical appearance. To replicate the tumours, the makeup artist (Christopher Tucker) moulded the actor's face (John Hurt) and head, once he created the mould he created prosthetic skin which is made of silicone rubber, then the silicone is layered upon each other, this was to be a certain size as he wanted to have the measurements of the tumours to be a similar size as the tumours Jospeh Merrick had. In order to have a more realistic visual of the character's appearance. The makeup artist would place the artificial around the actor's face in stages, then added details to the skin to create a realistic scarring surrounding the tumours.

Prosthetic makeup is the process of sculpting, moulding and casting in order to create a cosmetic effect upon the actor's face. Prosthetic makeup was used in the Elephant Man to recreate the look of tumours upon John Hurt(the actor's) face.

The first time the audience are exposed to the Elephant Man, his tumours (the special effects) are  revealed and truly enhance the scene by capturing a realistic depiction of the character's physical features. By also introducing his physical appearance and capturing the way he is abused because of this, allows the audience to empathise with the character more and puts the audience in the position of feeling helpless, which enhances the emotional connection to the character in the scene too.

I believe the special effects used for this film are very successful as they are incredibly realistic and represent one of the key themes in the film, realism. Most events that the protagonist goes through are factual the special effects makeup enhances this theme by adding particular features to the protagonist that are relevant to original life story of the real Joseph Merrick.

The video below was useful for my research as it explained the process of how the special effects  artist created the Elephant Man prosthetics and the stages/process the makeup artist and actor went through.

The link below leads you to a video I watched, in order to gather more research about the Elephant Man special effect prosthetic process and it's relevancy to the character and narrative. It helped me with my research when understanding the physical process of creating the prosthetic makeup, and how the makeup in the introduction scene was created. It will also help me when creating my own characters because it has taught me that anatomy of the physical special effects is useful when using prosthetic makeup, in order to create a realistic look.

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/video/video-christopher-tucker-creating-elephant-man

Film - Midsommar, 2019

PROSTHETIC MAKEUP - special effect

The images above is an example of special effects created for the film Midsommar. The special effects in this scene were created using prosthetic makeup of fake blood and fake broken bones, alongside silicone rubber. The special effects in the scene are created intentionally to capture the physical trauma the character has experienced after being brutally damaged physically after jumping off a cliff. To successfully make the scene realistic, the actor has his legs dug into the ground then a silicone dummy is placed above his real legs. The fake blood and bones are placed inside and around the silicone dummy legs, then details are added by the makeup artists to give a more gory visual. Such as the veins, flesh etc. The purpose of having these special effects is to enhance and foreshadow the film's disturbing narrative to the audience.

The special effects are successful in enhancing the scene, because the contrast between the effects and the setting enhances the red coloring of the makeup and detail of the prosthetic makeup.The white imagery in the shot, helps overall capture a dark and gory visual as it creates a horrific scene in a calming setting, effectively distributing the audience's eyes.

The link below leads you to a in-depth article describing the process of the how the special effects were created and used in Midsommar, this article allowed me to having an understanding of how the special effects were created, using prosthetic makeup in the this scene. Which will help me when I come to create my short film as I can use the new knowledge I have gained about prosthetic makeup, like silicone and fake blood into my own characters.

https://www.vulture.com/2019/07/midsommar-special-effects-how-they-smashed-those-bodies.html

To find out more research on how to create silicone body parts, like they used in Midsommar. The first video below helped me have more of understanding of special effects and the physical process of creating them. The video covers the physical casting of the actor's leg as well as the silicone prosthetic special effect.

 The second video below, helped me have an understanding of making fake blood as I wanted to know the different stages that the prosthetic makeup team would have gone through in Midsommar. The video also went through the measurements of the products used. This video also helped me know how to create my own fake blood using homemade products.

Film - Suspria, 2018

ANALYSIS IN DETAIL

PROSTHETIC MAKEUP - special effect

The images above is an example of special effects makeup created for the film, Suspiria. The scene consists of the character being slowly and brutally physically beaten using witchcraft. The intention of the effect is to capture the dark and disturbing physical suffering the character is going through, which I believe it captures perfectly because it creatures a realistic torturous visual.

The special effects for the image above were using a dislocated jaw prosthetic. To create this, the makeup artist, Mark Coulier moulded the actresses mouth and created a false mouth using a mould with teeth and placed the prosthetic jaw into her gum. To give the effect that her jaw is being dislocated realistically. The dislocated jaw special effect enhances the scene by creating an overwhelming feeling of discomfort for the audience.  The audience are also reminded of the fragility of human body, as the realistic visuals of the characters fractured jaw are captured through the use of these special effects.

To describe how the small details of the special effects are successful in creating a realistic visual of the characters dislocated jaw. You can break them down into two parts. The first part of the special effect is the prosthetic mould of the actresses mouth. This is a small detail to the overall effect but helps the prosthetic artist create the false jaw, that will eventually be fitted to her mouth so that the jaw can give the illusion it is dislocated. The second part of the special effect are the false teeth. The false teeth placed into the prosthetic jaw, enhanced the illusion of her dislocated jaw, as they were shifting out of place with the jaw.  The main effect these two parts of the prosthetic makeup create is the uncomfortable and disturbing atmosphere, this is formed from the special effects realistic depiction of the characters mutilated jaw.

 To conclude, both the special effects used give an eery feel to the scene as well as enhancing the horror genre of the scene, because the physical visuals are disturbing and form uncertainty and anxiety for the audience.

The clip below leads you to a video of the makeup team and artists discussing the process of creating the special effects and the different prosthetics they used. This helped me a lot with my research as it gave me useful information on how these scenes were created and planned. It will also help me when creating my own special effects, as I now know that silicone rubber can act as a good replication of body parts, which will be useful when creating my special effects for my characters.

If I wanted to create a similar special effect, I would need to purchase a dental mouth mould, to do this I would also need to purchase alginate to create a frame of the actors mouth, the alginate costs around £3-£10 pounds depending on the quality. Once the alginate mould is dry, I would need to transform the mould into a frame of the mouth. In order to do this, I need to apply Ultracal to the mould to keep the air bubbles out of the surface. After the Ultrcal is applied I would need to set the mould for around 45 minutes and then cast is done. All that is left for me to do is add colouring and detailto the framed teeth and gums of the mould. This mould could be used to create a character's set of teeth, or be misplaced (like in the scene from Suspiria above) into the mouth of the actor to give the effect a part of their jaw is dislocated, or fractured etc. To educate myself on how to create this special effect, I read the article below, which was written by a professional sfx artist who went through the step by step guide of how to create the false mouth mould.

Film - Darkest Hour, 2018

Recreation vs Original

PROSTHETIC MAKEUP - special effect

The left image above is an example of special effects makeup created for the film, The Darkest hour. The images represents the  the use of special effects both before and after. The right image is a photograph of a man called Winston Churchill, the special effects team on this film had to transform Gary Oldman (the actor featured in the left image) into Churchill, using prosthetic makeup.

The intention of the special effects prosthetic makeup in the scene is to create the illusion that the actor (Gary Oldman) is Churchill (his character). The importance of having the special effects in this scene is to not only create the realistic depiction of Churchill but to have the audience recognise the protagonist as Churchill (as the film's plot is based around him).

The special effects enhance the scene by giving realism to the character, as he was a real person. The detailed and precise prosthetic makeup in the first scene immediately encapsulate and hypnotise the audience, by adding recognisable physical features to the character, from the real life Churchill.

The makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji, who created the special effect started by taking a live cast off Gary Oldman (actor) and applied around five different types of rubber skin toned casts to the mould in order to achieve and experiment with the best facial constructions. To see which one the most realistic facial features of Churchill, using the actor's face as a foundation to build on. The other makeup artists add details to the mould to give a more realistic skin layer e.g veins, freckles etc. The makeup artists also glue the parts of mould onto the actor's face, to complete the full process of prosthetic makeup.

The video below was very helpful when researching the special effects process of creating Churchill in the film, The Darkest Hour. It was helpful because the prosthetic artist for the film describes in detail about the stages in which it takes to apply the special effect makeup and his reasoning behind it.

The video below leads you the actor and prosthetic makeup artist describing the prosthetic process and transformation of Gary Oldman into his character Churchill. This video helped me a lot with my research as I could understand and breakdown the steps that the makeup artists took when creating the special effects for the first scene, and the film as a whole.

The videos above will also help me when creating my own special effects because it has taught me that silicone moulds and prosthetic makeup should be in stages and multiple moulds should be taken in order to achieve the best outcome. It has also educated me on the different types of silicones I could use, as well as seeing both the perspective of the actor and makeup artist's process when creating this character, physically using special effects.

Film - Pan's Labyrinth, 2006

PROSTHETIC MAKEUP - special effect

The images above are an example of special effects makeup created for the film, Pan's Labyrinth. The creature featured in the images is called the 'Pale Man'. The director of the film wanted the special effects team to capture a man who's skin had been stretched from being overweight, and now all that is left is bone and saggy skin. In order to make this idea of the character come alive, using special effects, the makeup artists David Marti and Montse Ribe used prosthetic makeup. To create the skin like texture, the prosthetic makeup artist used silicone and latex, as it has a flexible fleshy appearance. The director, Guillermo del Torro, also wanted the 'pale man' to have his eyes in the palm of his hands. To do this, the special effects team used artificial eyeballs and placed them into the silicone latex palms of the actor.

The intention of these special effects is to capture a disgusting and haunting creature. For example, the texture of skin is unnatural and is dramatically stretched in order to forms a disturbing visual. The unnatural placement of the eyeballs in the creatures palms, also enhances this too.

The special effects play a huge part in enhances the scene by creating an uncomfortable and disturbing visual through the characters physical appearance. This is because the special effects created for the character are realistic as the silicone textured skin and detailed veins of the creatures body give the physical appearance of an unnatural mutilated body.

The video above helped me gather my research for this character's scene, and helped me understand the character's special effects progression. From being an and idea and sketch to becoming the creature seen in the film.

The link below leads you to an article about the process of creating the 'Pale Man'  character for this film, it also describes the stages of production of the special effect. This article helped me with my research as it gave me useful facts and details about the special effects process used in the scene, and film as a whole. It will also help me when creating my own special effects because it showed me that you need to work off sketches and plan before starting the character, in order to save time, resources and cost. 

https://www.artofvfx.com/hereditary-opening-vfx-shot-by-brainstorm-digital/

Visual Effects

Visual Effects (VFX) are digital effects used in film, television and theatre too, to give an optical illusion to an audience. Visual effects are created in post production. To create visual effects, it consists of simulations, animation, motion, bullet time (all depending on the project).

Visual effect intertwines with special effects, to create artificial animals, environments, object etc. Although, visual effects are highly expensive and can be impractical for certain projects.

These are the main types of Visual Effects used in film:

 Simulation FX

 Animation

 Modelling

 Matte painting

 Composting

Colour correction

Chroma Key

CGI

Here are some examples of visual effects:

       

Visual Effects in Film

Film - Shape of Water , 2018

ANIMATION - visual effect

Special Effect

Visual Effect

Animation is the art form of drawings, puppets or models in order to give the illusion they are in motion. 

The two images are an example of visual effects used in a film called The Shape of Water. The visual effects used for the scene above combine both special effects and visual. The first image represents the special effects of the costume and prosthetic makeup the actor (Doug Jones) wore. The second image shows the special effects being animated digitally, (you can see the motion tracking dots guiding the points of animation) the intention of this visual effect is to give an expression and realistic features to the characters face, in order to give the creature a human like appearance.

The intention of both visual and special effects is to create the illusion to the audience that the creature character has human features and physicality's. This is shown through the small detailed movements of the character face. For example, the lowered eyelids capture the characters angered expression by having a tense movement on his face. This dilutes the animal features of the create character and instead creates a human like expression.

The visual effects created enhance the dramatic tension and character's reaction in the scene by giving more detail to the character's expression. Without the effect, the creature character would have a more costume look and distract the audience from believing the character is a real creature, not just an actor in a costume.

To conclude, I believe the subtle visual effects communicate to the audience the character's emotions, because the animated expression in the film is the only way the character communicates (as he is mute).

The link below helped me understand the process the visual effects artists went through, when developing the scene and breaking down the reasoning for the digital animation. This has helped me when researching visual effects because it gives me an idea of how I can intertwine visual effects into my special effects, if I want to create digital expression.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/17/16898382/the-shape-of-water-special-effects-vfx-cgi

Film - Life of Pi, 2012

CGI - visual effect

CGI is computer generated imagery, using a computing software. 

The images above show the before and after use of visual effects from the film Life of Pi. The intention of the visual effects used for the scene are to capture the tigers physical appearance and do so realistically. The visual effect artists who created the digital animation for the scene studied the anatomy and muscular movements of real tigers, in order to give the illusion of a real tiger for the scene. They used digital CGI to create the tiger, the scene had been previously shot using live action with the protagonist, some props and a green screen. The production team when shooting for live action have a replacement prop for where the 'tiger' will eventually be digitally edited into the scene, using CGI.

 The visual effects enhance the scene as they not only create the character as a whole (tiger) but also give expression and realism to the scene through the character's detailed physical appearance. The CGI visual effects used for the ocean landscape enhance the scene too as they give an environment to the scene and reinforce the location by having it be subtly in the background, reminding the audience of the circumstances the characters are in.

To conclude, I believe the visual effects enhance the scene because they allow the audience to empathise with the characters, through the realistic CGI captured. The detailed layers of the tiger's physical body create the illusion that the audience are witnessing a real tiger on screen, suffer and struggle. The visual effects for background location of the scene enhance the anxiety in the scene too as it is reflects the vulnerability of the characters, as they are only surrounded by water.

The images below reveal in more detail of the physical aspects of the visual effects in The Life of Pi. These helped me understand more of how they created the visual effects by showing the animated tracking dots for the green screen, while also intertwining live action motion too.

The link below will lead you to a article describing the CGI special effects the scene used. It also discusses the process and layers of how the tiger was created. This was very useful for my research as it gave me an understanding of the scene and how the visual effects come into play when depicting a real life animal.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/oscar-nominated-visual-effects-company-behind-life-of-pi-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-8495685.html

 This will help me slightly with my research as I want to create some physical creature and intertwine small amounts of visual effects, the green screen aspects help when forming an artificial digital background as I might want to create a false background or mask out certain visuals in my short film. However, I am mainly focused on the special effects side of visuals as the visual effects to create animals physically and realistically is highly expensive.

Film - Hereditary, 2018 

ANALYSIS IN DETAIL

CGI AND CG RECREATION - visual effect

The images above give a side by side of before and after visual effects used in the film Hereditary. The visual effects in this opening scene are to introduce the setting of the film through an establishing shot of the location (house). The visual effect used for the scene were through a digital program called CGI. However, the scene does involve live action movement but the foundations of the location are created using the CGI, e.g the dollhouse, the walls of the room etc. The CGI was created then the visual editors added the live action sections of the scene. The visual effects company that created the CGI for Hereditary are called Brainstorm Digital.

The intention of the visual effects in the scene is to give a dollhouse perspective of the setting and characters. The visual effects enhance the scene as it gives the scene an intimate style, the visual effects enhance this intimate style by creating the details in the scene. For example, the rooms of the house are depicted through the perspective of a dollhouse. This tells the audience visually that the film will be stylized so that it feels as though you are watching over the characters and the settings around them, rather than giving the audience a typical protagonist perspective of the film.

The visual details in the scene contribute to the overall visual effects as they give a sense of realism and reality to the scene. The small details of objects and props in the bedroom give familiarity to the audience, by setting up a natural environment of a 'typical' bedroom. For example, this live motion combined visual shows the hanging jumper on the wall and leftover clothes that are scattered on the floor as it looks and feels as though the bedroom has been 'lived in, to the audience.

The contrast between these live action details is having this location be captured through the perspective of the dollhouse. This is the first stage of the visual effect (CG recreation). This detail intensifies the 'watching over' effect, that the audience feel. This is because the audience becomes immersed with the scene, feeling as though they have some manipulation towards the characters, as though they are the one's positioning the actors and set in place (like a dollhouse). By colliding both the visual effects and live action, in the same scene, it creates the overall effect of realism but with a twist of manipulation of the audiences perception. This perfectly encapsulates the disturbing horror genre, as the audience are faced with the uncomfortable effect of controlled perception, through the use of the CGI and live action.

To conclude, I believe the visuals effects used give the scene a unique and creative look, as it is a clever and subtle ways of the film revealing to the audience that they will observe this setting and characters as if they are fragile, observed and controlled (e.g the way dollhouses are). This can be unsettling as an audience member to watch because you feel as though your perception of the scene is changing, with both the realism of live action characters in a unnatural fantasy location (dollhouse) being morphed into one scene.

The link below leads you to an article discussing the CGI of the visual effects used in the opening scene, it also has a video showing the different stages the visual effects artists had go through including the live action sections of the visual effects process. This article will help me with my short film in some ways as it can showed me how I can add subtle visual effects in my scene, while still including live action.

https://blog.frame.io/2018/06/25/made-in-frame-hereditary/

In order for me to create a similar visual effect, I would need to shoot a live action scene. Then I would have to use an animation software known as Maya. Maya, would allow me to animate the setting evolving around the live action scene (alike in Hereditary). Once the setting is animated you can collide both he live action with the animation. However, this is incredibly difficult, you need to measure the framings and dynamics of the animated and live action scene in order to give a realistic visual.

I was incredibly inspired by Hereditary's illusions in visual and playing with the audience's perception. For my own project, I want to use similar effects using special effects and visual effects. One of my ideas that came from this inspiration was to have a plain picture frame, then import the shot freeze frame of my live action scene onto the picture frame, using the software After Effects. After Effects will allow me to track mask my scene to the size of my picture frame and then I can create a 'panned' zoom in visual of the scene. I would also need to storyboard the scene I wanted to capture and add the shot types so I can proportion my framing.

Film - Get Out, 2018

CG RECREATION - visual effect 

The images above are framed stills of visual effects used in a film called Get Out. The visual effect for this scene were reflecting the protagonist as he is being hypnotised. The visual effects are created using digital CG, as the visual effect artists had to slow motion the movement of the protagonist and create small particles in the atmosphere of the scene.

I believe the intention of these visual effects is to immerse the audience into the isolated and hypnotic environment the protagonist is in. As the visuals create a dark and empty space drawing more focus onto the protagonists slow motioned state.

The visual effects enhance the scene too as they also intertwine fluidly with the dialogue spoken in the scene 'sink into the floor'. This line is significant to the effects created because they visually encapsulate the words spoken, and give meaning behind the visual effects too.

To conclude, I believe the visual effects enhance the scenes horror genre, by putting the audience in a hopeless perspective, as they have to witness the protagonist be hypnotised into a vulnerable and isolated place. I felt the effects were incredibly executed and truly captured the emotions of the protagonist both physically and mentally.

The link below will lead you to an article discussing the visual effects used in the scene, as well as the challenges the visual effect artists had to go through in order to give it a realistic look. I found this link useful as I can use it towards my short film, this is because it gave me ideas on what types of effects I may be able to create using visual effects. However, I don't have access to CG and will have to create my visual effects using a more affordable approach (e.g after effects).

https://blog.frame.io/2018/02/26/made-in-frame-get-out/

When researching the film (Get Out) I found a tutorial (shown above) on how to re create the VFX used. I found his video helpful as it will give me more knowledge on using the software After Effects, as I will later be using the same software when creating my own visual effects. The video also gave me more insight as to how they created the floating in the scene, from the film. 

Film - Lord of the Rings, 2001

CGI - visual effect

The image above are a side by side comparison of before and after example of visual effects used in the film trilogy Lord of the Rings. The visual effects were created using CGI, a well known visual effects company helped create a new progression of CGI for the film. Previously the visual effects artists would use skinning which is a visual effect where you take the geometry of your character and attach it to the bones of the underneath the skin.

However, for the character of Gollum (in the left image), in this scene, they used CGI and developed the skinning technique by adding muscle control. The live action of the character was captured then the muscle visual effects were added after production. The new muscle effects were created used coding, different roles were required to do this. For example, one of the roles was to write coding for the volume-preserving parts of the muscle.

The intention of the visual effect in this scene is not only to form the character's appearance. But also to create a more realistic depiction of the character as it is a creature, (who previously was a human). The new developed muscle effect allows for a more realistic motion and movement of the character.

The new digital muscle technology developed is important too because it successfully enhances the scene by forming a disturbing physical appearance of the Gollum and makes the audience's perception become uncomfortable as he (Gollum the creature) has human like physicality's, making him be persevered more life like.


The video below helped give a me a clear understanding of how the visual effects team created Gollum, as they explain the different stages they went through, in order to create the character. This was very useful information for my research as it showed me the progression of CGI, as this character was a stepping stone in advancing visual effects, when devising the physical visuals in film.

To conclude, I believe the visual effects in this scene enhance the fantasy genre of the scene, with aspects of horror too. This is because the fantasy visuals are represented through the digital effects of Gollum's physicality and his movement. Gollum's physical state has fantasy features, because he is depicted as a creature, formed from human's greed. The scene evidently shows his animalistic movement that intertwines the horror genre representation too. This idea is also shown through the detailed texture of Gollum's skin, created by the digital CGI, the skin is emaciated with dried dirt across his body. Which creates a disturbing visual for the audience.

https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/gollum-lord-of-the-rings-cgi-history.html

CHECK LIST 

NARRATIVE 

SCRIPT

STORYBOARD

LOCATION RECCE 

LEGAL AND ETHICAL 

SHOT LIST 

TESTING//PREPING 

RISKS AND HAZARD

PROPS//SFX//VFX//COSTUME 

UPDATE  REFLECTIVE BLOG

SFX FINAL LOOK 

SHOOT AND EDIT FILM

Context Questions - Proposal

Backstory / What is the context of the task, what has happened before?

For this mini final major project I will create a 30 second film that intertwines both special effects and visual effects. The backstory of my short film's narrative revolves around the Protagonist (Lilith) who has been previously tormented by a demonic voice in her mind. Unknowingly she is becomes possessed by a demonic presence. My film will focus and reveal the second and third stage of the plot showing her mental state as she becomes possessed.

The short film I will create was inspired partly by a professional music video by Billie Eilish called 'When the Party's Over, the visual effects for this included black ink and an isolated white setting. These visuals created an ominous atmosphere which influenced my decision for a horror stylised approach. My film will be shot in a black bath to mimic the music video's use of black ink as a liquidised form of an emotion. For my film I want the black water to represent the feeling of possession as it suffocates the scene's surroundings. The colouring of my film will be black and white as I felt this added to the horror genre of my film and enhances the harsh shadows in the shots. I also wanted a horror genre film because it allows me to be more creative, as I can add unnatural imagery to the scenes, such as the demonic claw of a demon in my film.  Another inspiration behind the visuals of my film was the film Hereditary. Relating back to my research, Hereditary experimented with capturing the audience's perspective of a film through scenes in a dollhouse setting. I liked this artistic choice and wanted to create my own visual illusion using a picture frame setting. I have planned for my opening scene to be freeze framed in a picture frame, then for the framing to expand in scale and play in motion. The audio for my film will include a narrated poem, with ominous music playing throughout. The poetry for my film was inspired by the narrative (the protagonist being possessed).The poem I chose is called 'Trust Me' by Garo K. The poem has particular lines reverting to possession and demonic presences. I felt this was ideal as an audio narrative because it is a way for the audience to connect the visuals to the audio and allow for the narrative to be clear and haunting. The ominous music I will use royalty and copyright free music, I will am specifically focused on using a horror/intense audio for my film as the scenes consist of high tension and haunting imagery and I wanted the music for my film compliment are reflect the atmosphere in the film.

The music video of 'When the Party's Over' by Billie Eilish and the poem 'Trust Me' by Garo K are featured below.

 I chose to use special effects as part of my project because I have had previous experience with creating prosthetic makeup, and I am passionate in creating practical visuals used for film, especially the realism it brings to the screen. The special effects I wanted to create for my film was a prosthetic silicone hand/claw. This particular effect would advance my skills in prosthetics as I have never used silicone before and wanted to challenge myself. I have previously used waxes, spirit gum, and colour wheels, which gives me more confidence when using the silicone because I have used some prosthetic makeup experience prior to this project. The visual effects for my film will challenge me, but also help advance my editing skills. I have also had previous experience with some editing on After Effects, such as colour grading, transitions and font, which gives me comfortability with the software and editing scenes. However, for this project I want to use overlays as my main visual effects. This will be challenging as I have never used overlays in After Effects and will have to research tutorials and videos on how to add them into a scene. The overlays I will be using are a smoke overlay and fire overlay. The smoke overlay I will make reflected upon the black water I will create this by adding a tracking mask around the water using After Effects. My reasoning for this visual effect is for it to act as a visual of shadows moving around the protagonist, which I felt would fit with the horror genre by foreshadowing a supernatural presence. the other overlay I am using is a fire overlay, the fire overlay will be masked on After Effects in the shape of a pentagram. The pentagram symbol will be reflected onto the protagonist's eyes giving the illusion that she is possessed. I wanted to use a pentagram symbol as it has connotations with witchcraft and magic, which fits perfectly with the horror genre of my film.

Opportunity / What’s the core problem you’re aiming to solve? What opportunity does it suggest?

The core challenge I aim to solve is to create a realistic visual of a demonic hand and visuals of shadows and fire. The special effects side of my project will be very subtle, but challenging. This is because I am going to create a prosthetic hand from scratch. The prosthetic hand will be used as a representation of the demon's hand, that touches upon the protagonist's face, in the film. To solve this challenge, I will research how to create a prosthetic hand, then purchase the products I need to create it. I also have to make the prosthetic hand move in motion for the scene. To do this I will use After Effects and use the pin point tool to animate the fingers of the hand/claw. This challenge gives me the opportunity to develop my prosthetic makeup skills and allows me to expand my knowledge on body casting. These opportunities are useful as I can use the new skills and knowledge I have learned into future projects. The visual effects will be challenging too as I have to project overlays of fire and shadows throughout the scene. I have little experience when using overlays in editing and to solve this issue, l will have to research tutorials and videos on how to edit them on After Effects and practise using overlays myself on footage. This challenge will give me the opportunity to develop my editing skills to a high standard, as overlays are very useful for visual effects in film which will help me with future projects.

Scope / What’s in? What’s out?

The scope of my project will be based around the visual and special effects I use in my film. Within my project the special effects are a large dependency when telling the narrative, as they physically represent the antagonist (the demon). I will be keeping the prosthetic hand/claw  in my project because of its relevance to the plot, and it also reflects the new skills I have learned using prosthetic makeup. The visual effect that I may leave out is the picture frame visual. This is because of my issues with scale and proportion, I also feel it lacks purpose when telling the narrative too. The sizing of the picture frame may not fit the scale of my footage as it depends on the measurements. I believe when I edit on After Effects, my main issue will be the framing of my footage with the picture and the proportions will be uneven. The lack of storytelling this visual effect gives makes me lean more towards excluding this idea from my project. A visual effect I will keep in my film will be the use of overlays, this is because they not only reveal more of the plot to the audience, but also enhance the disturbing horror visual of the film. The red flamed pentagram I will create using a fire overlay will reveal to the audience that the protagonist is being possessed by a demon. The shadow overlay will give the water used in the scene a darker visual because it will reflect creatures like movements in the water, this gives the effects that the water is a representation of a demonic hell and foreshadows to the audience that the protagonist is not physically alone.

For this project, one of the issues that increases the amount of outs in the scope of my film is due to the deadline of the project. For this project I was only given four weeks to complete the research, planning, production and post  production. If I were given two months to create a film for this project I would add more scope by including a deeper narrative reveal, through imagery and dialogue. I would also develop the protagonist's storyline and reveal to the audience more of the meaning behind her possession and what happens to her next. The extra month would allow me to use more time planning my film and improving on my special effect and visual effect skills as I would more of them into my film.

Target Audience / Who are they? Where are they? Describe them

The target audience for my film will be aimed at individuals who enjoy the genre horror, I believe there is no particular gender or race that this film is targeted at as it is for those who are entertained by film and poetry, and who enjoy both art forms collaborating together. 

 

 The age demographic for this film will range from young adults to adults. I want my target audience to empathise with the protagonist and find their own representation of pain from the antagonist, therefore they can become more connected to the film, and  find a sense of themselves in the story as the relatability of the protagonists suffering, breaches a mature wider audience. This maturer target audience would have more life experience and therefore have more access when finding a relation to the narrative.

 

 The particular age range I want this film's audience to be targeted at is 18 year olds. This is because the graphic visuals that I create for the film may be upsetting for viewers below this age and I felt those who are 18 and above will be more desensitised to the content. This target audience will also appreciate and decipher the poem's narrated meaning as they will have an understanding of its language and its purpose to the plot. 

 

Constraints / What are the brand, technology, resource, people constraints? 

One of the large constraints I have to face with this project is the production and filming process. This is challenging as the location I have set my film is mainly shot in a bath. The water is a safety hazard when it comes to the technical equipment, as I cannot afford to replace it, if water damage is caused. To try and avoid this issue, I need to make sure I have protected the camera using a case. Another constraint I face is the post production of creating visual effects in my film.  I wanted the water to have subtle shadows moving, this I felt would be a small detail to the scene that enhances the horror genre of my film. In order for me to create this, I would use After Effects and have shadow overlays across the surface. This will be challenge as I have not used overlays in After Effects before. To improve with my lack of experience, I will research the how to successfully use overlays in After Effects, by watching videos and researching tutorials.

 

 The constraint I have with people is time. My sister will be the actress in my film, however I have to manage my production time around her schedule.  To face this issue, I have to plan a storyboard to help direct her in the scene, I also need to devise a schedule stating the time and dates that I will be filming with her too. Creating the schedule will allow me to be organised in my work. My main constraint I will face when creating this film is having to fit all my shots and scene ideas into a 30 second duration slot. I will create a time slot for each shot and put the duration of the scene with my storyboards so that I can narrow down the length of the scenes, and be able to capture them in my film.  The final constraint on my project is the copyright. This copyright constraint is because I am using lines from a poem (written by Garo K) to use in my film. I will need to research whether the poetry is copyrighted and whether I am allowed to use it in my film.

 

Copyright - the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material.

 

Assumptions / What are all our current assumptions? Both in terms of the target market and our abilities

My assumption is that my target market will find a form of connection and empathy to my film. I assume that my audience will see a part of themselves in the protagonist. Although the main source material of my film is possession and features a demonic presence in the form of this and I am aware many people have little experience with this type of scenario. I feel that this idea is only on the surface of my film's true meaning. I assume that my audience will find resignation to the emotions of being held and suffocated by someone or something in life and it will allow them to empathise with the protagonists experience. I also assume that I will be able to shoot my film with someone portraying the protagonist, if I am organised and plan out a schedule so that my actor is able to block and film when needed. I assume that I will be able to receive feedback on my progression with this project if I ask and also be given advice on how to improve, by both my peers and mentors.

Resources / Who is in the core and extended team? What is needed to achieve success? 

My main/core team is very minimal and consists of two people. Myself and my actor. I have no extended team in this project, as I wanted to challenge myself by taking on multiple roles. This was also to help me experiment with different roles in filming and understand what part of this project I enjoy most. I am taking on the role of director, cinematographer, editor, sound mixer and producer for this project. My film also doesn't need a large crew as it only consists of one actor, in  one location.

 

I plan to achieve success by being organised as I have laid the majority of my responsibilities on myself. In order to be organised I need to plan all of my post production and production ideas using storyboards, lists, images, research etc. I will create storyboards of each visual shot I want to create, using my sketchpad. Once I have a foundation of my ideas, I will schedule with my actor a day for blocking and breaking down/testing ideas and different shot types for my film. Once I have blocked I will then practise my visual effects using After Effects. I have made sure that I have access to After Effects as it is a necessary software type I need in order successfully create the visual effects for my film. I have also made sure my special effects prosthetic hand is feasible to create. In order to create this successfully I am using some saved money to buy the products needed. I will be watching  practical tutorials to learn the stages of making the prosthetic hand as it is part of my research and is key to my safety.

Success / How will you measure success? Describe the hard metrics of success 

I will measure success by my timing (hitting my deadline) as organisation is key to succeeding. I will also measure success by the amount of views I receive from uploading it to Youtube and Instagram. This will allow me to view the public’s opinion and be given their feedback on what they believe could be improved or what they liked. This will not only help me improve this current project but it will help me learn for future projects as I can  find out how I can change and develop my films in the future. I would like to create a questionnaire on my film too and ask my peers and mentors on what they believe are the strong points weak points in my film. The questionnaire will allow me to measure success through the varied feedback I will receive and give me useful data for my next project to see how I can improve. The main way I will measure my success is through my progression by working hard and for me to document the stages of my work to see how far I've improved and developed my ideas, from paper to the screen.

Envision / What does success look like? Feel like? What will you be famous for? Where will this project lead?

My envision of my film will hopefully be a piece of myself that I give to my audience. They will be given a window view into my creative process. I ideally want my audience to find some connection or appreciation in my film, whether that's the effects used, cinematography, acting, lighting etc. The success of my film will also be measured by the audience's feedback and how they interpreted my film, including the parts they liked and disliked. This is useful as I will use the feedback as a way to improve my future work and learn from my mistakes and successes. I hope that my audience will also appreciate my decision of poetry verbally with my visuals. This is because I wanted to collaborate both art forms, because they intertwine within each other fluidly, when used well. The success of this project would be partly dependent on the attention drawn to it and whether my film would lead to other filmmakers or writers interested in collaborating with me for future projects, if they liked my film. I hope to envision my film as a project that I am proud of and feel as though I have pushed myself and to take pride in my film. To me personally, success doesn't just revolve around other people either, part of success is finding gratification and enjoyment in your own work, and feeling as though you’ve worked hard and accomplished something new in life in life from the project.

Feedback on Proposal

The feedback I was given on my proposal was to give more of an explanation on the scope question and discuss how I might have approached my film's narrative and ideas if the project was extended on time. I found this feedback useful as it made me think of how I could have developed my ideas if time was extended to do so. I took this feedback and added into my scope question how I would approach this project if I was to be given more time and what changes I would make.

Film Review - Harvard System

Film Review Article - https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/empire-essay-nightmare-elm-street-review/

Name - Simon Braund

Year Published - 2000

Title - EMPIRE ESSAY:A Nightmare On Elm Street Review

Publisher - EMPRIE

Pages used - One page

Quote - "Freddy Krueger, played by the diminutive, moon-faced Englund, Craven created an enduring horror icon."

I agree with this quote as I personally believe, like many others that the character (Freddie Krueger has become a horror icon). I feel this is due to the character's prosthetic makeup as it stands out and truly captures a distributing image that is now symbolic in horror genre. Not only do the special effects add to the character, but also his backstory to enhances the dark and twisted narrative. As both Freddie Kruger's physical appearance and personality form the true monster that he is. To conclude, I feel that this quote is very true as the character is still recognisable and popular to horror fans of all ages and will be a character that keeps this attention in the horror genre.

Lesson Schedule

Planning and Brainstorming 

Essentials I need:

- Actor - Adrienne Dempsey, will perform as the Protagonist. 

- Location with bath - My bathroom at my house. 

- Location of plain/empty room - Find room in my house (empty) 

- Special effect prosthetic products (prosthetic hand, colour wheel, latex) 

- Visual effects (after effects, overlays of fire and smoke) 

Planning Ideas 

Effects - Visual and Special 

Genre - Horror

Inspiration - images//films//location

My main inspiration for the visuals of my film are black water imagery and fictional imagery of magic, demonic presences. I wanted to play around with the horror genre and felt symbolism would be a good way of reflecting this, e.g darkness, fire, symbolism etc. 

The black water imagery I found was an interesting visual and I thought it contrasted well, as it is the opposing colour to the 'natural state of water' (clear). This I felt would be an uncomfortable visual to recreate, but is successful because of this. As playing with the deception of a natural state forms fear and I believe would work well when trying to depict a disturbing visual for my horror genre film. Also relating back to my proposal questions, the music video I was inspired by used black ink as a substance to drink which I was very influenced by as it created the same haunting unnatural effect of using black water as a way to reflect a certain emotion. 

The claw demonic hand inspiration I visually imagined by intertwine it into my black water idea. One of my inspirations for this visual was from a scene in a film called 'Nightmare on Elm Street' (1994). In the scene I have linked below, it consists of a character in a bath be traumatised by a claw knife like hand. I liked the visual of a claw appearing from the water and want to use the same a similar physical appearance of the claw in my film. However, I envision my claw to be more demonic, instead of mechanical. I have shown some images below of how I envision my claw to look like. I also liked how the film was shot in the location of a bath as it would be an accessible way for me to collide both my black water inspiration with my demonic claw inspiration. 

Another inspiration for this demonic claw was American Horror Story's teaser trailer. In their trailer a hand with claw nails and pitch black skin. I loved the visual look of their demon hand as I felt it looked disturbing and captured a sinister creature well. After I thought about my own prosthetic demon hand, I wanted to have my own prosthetic look similar to this. The image of the American Horror Story demon hand is featured below, alongside similar images of demon hands I want to re create. 

  

I was also inspired by the imagery of demonic symbolism and its connotations to religion. One of the ways I envisioned relating religion into my film, was through the positioning of the demonic claw. I feel positioning the demonic claw into a mimicking motion of the religion painting of 'the Creation of Adam' would be an effective way of subtlety representing the theme of religion in my film. As well as adding the horror genre, through the disturbing contrast of a demon juxtaposing the meaning of the imagery, I could create a claw using both visual and special effects from this inspiration. The image below is of the painting of 'Creation of Adam' as it reflects the positioning of the claw I would like to create.

For the symbolism in my film, I also was inspired by magical symbols, one of them being the pentagram. The pentagram symbol has connotation to both demonology and witchcraft, I felt representing this symbol in my film would be a good way to relate the horror demonic imagery, using a recognisable magic symbol that would translate to the audience the film's dark visuals. After researching into the pentagram's mythological meaning, I found that witches use the pentagram as a force of protection. this ties in well with my narrative idea as the pentagram symbol will fade into darkness, symbolising to the audience the that this form of protection has not worked and the protagonist has been fully possessed by darkness.

To educate myself on the meaning behind the pentagram meaning I researched it's connotations and symbolism in religion and witchcraft. The image below is from an article describing the meaning behind the pentagram and it's importance in religious mythology.

The link for the article is below. 

https://witcheslore.com/bookofshadows/witches-workshop/pentagram-and-witchcraft/4614/

The image below is the symbol of the pentagram. 

Narrative and Location - Brainstorm ideas

For my 30 second short film, I wanted the opening shot to be of a picture framed image of my 'protagonist in a pool of black thick liquid capturing her floating. The picture frame would be shot separately and
the freeze frame will replace the original photograph in the scene.  This is a way for me to challenge 
myself by creating a visual effect for my scene, as I have to edit the scene onto the picture frame, using
the software After Effects.

The framing of the image, I envision to be a close up mid shot. I want the picture frame to be in a plain room, then I wanted the image to slowing pan in, once it has covered the full frame.  Then I want the image to play the  motion in the scene (unlocking it from the freeze frame). My reasoning for the picture frame is to symbolise the protagonist's caged mind (as she is possessed). The picture frame foreshadows to the audience that she is sealed in a moment (as if it captures her last glimpse of control she has before she I possessed).

Once the freeze framed image has started playing, the location switches from the plain room into the floating pool/bath of the protagonist.  I wanted to have intertwine special effects into the scene by having a prosthetic claw like hand appear from the water. This would represent and capture the horror genre, as I wanted the special effects to have a disturbing, unnatural physical visual. 

Once the claw appears, I want the protagonist to become scared and frantically elevate herself in fear. To capture this, I envisioned a close up of the protagonist's eyes. For this shot, I want to add visual effect to the protagonist's eyes.
 I was interested in experimenting with colour. For example, I wanted to film the scene's colouring to be all in black and white (to enhance the horror ambience/genre), and intertwine colour using visual effects. I wanted the protagonist's eyes to be reflecting a symbolism of the witchcraft and fighting the demon's force, to reflect this I want to create a pentagram symbol in the protagonist's eyes. To add this visual I wanted the colouring of the pentagram to be red flames as it relates to the pentagram's meaning (fire, water, earth etc.).This subtle use of colour and visual effect would again reinforce the supernatural side of my horror genre, but also give a hint towards the narrative (the protagonist being possessed). 

To conclude my 30 second scene, I would like to have a zoom in transition into the protagonists eyes. I wanted to use visual effects to create this and have red flames mixed with black smoke to fade in as the the shot goes deeper into the protagonist's eyes, then I wanted full darkness to take over the screen, and for the scene to end. My reasoning for this transition is to signify to the audience that 'darkness' has taken over the protagonist, and they therefore feel helpless, leaving the scene on a cliffhanger. 

Storyboard - First Draft

This is my first drafted storyboard of my film. I have listed the shot types, duration, mise en scene and details of where I will include my visual and special effects, within the shots. This storyboard acted as a foundation and guide for me to work off. Next I will be taking photo shot frames, replicating my storyboard ideas, in order to practise and plan for the real production. 

Shot one - VFX 

 The VFX I will create will consist of having two separately shot live scenes in one scene. For the first scene I will have to edit using the freeze frame effect. Once I have freeze framed the first scene, I will layer it onto the second scene (which is a picture frame shot panning slowly inwards). Once I have my scenes prepared, I have to mask, using the pen tool of the software After Effects, the first scene onto the second.  Then I have to track the mask. Next I have to position the mask to my second scene's scale and then the VFX is complete.

Shot two - SFX and VFX 

The SFX in the second shot will consist of a demonic claw. I will create this by making a prosthetic silicone hand mould. Once I have made the mould I will need to colour and paint it, adding little gory detailed to it. I am also creating black bath water for this shot. I will create the black water by purchasing a black bath bomb online. The VFX for this scene are shadow overlays moving in black bath water. The overlays will be imported from Youtube and flow with the water. The visual effect will be created using After Effects, I will mask the shadows in the bath water in the shot too, so that the shadows are only present in the water. 

Shot Three - no FX 

Shot Four - VFX

The VFX in this shot consist of a fire overlay masked into the shape of a pentagram symbol. The fire overlay will be layered onto the footage. Then I will create the pentagram symbols using the pen tool as I will mask the outline of the symbol. 

Shot Five - VFX

The VFX for this shot will be zoom in transition through the iris of the character in the scene. Glimpses of fire will circle the shot until it fades too black. I will create this by enhancing the scale and position of the shot. Then I will use the fire overlay from shot four and have it fade out slowly until the opacity is zero (black screen), creating the illusion that the flames have burned out in the character's iris.

Shot List

The shot list below helped me breakdown the different shot types I will use in my short film. As well as describing what the shots reveal about the narrative. This shot list also will also help me when in the production process of my film as it gives me direction on what I will capture in my film and reminds me of the different angles, shot types I want to capture. 

Location Recce

This location recce lists the safety hazards that may occur due to this location. I have also described these hazards can be avoided and have listed emergency contacts incase. This sheet was very useful in terms of me understanding the location type and whether it would be a fitting location, for my film. 

Risks and Hazard

To avoid any risks of hazards that my film may bring, both in production and post production. I have created a risk and hazard sheet to describe the issues that my equipment and copyright may bring. I also have described how I will resolve these issues too. The sheet is very useful for me when preparing for the physical process of making my film, so that I can be organised and make the project enjoyable and structured without stress or risk. 

Legal and Ethical

The legal and ethical sheet I have created describes the issue I may face with my project and how I can resolve them. This was very useful to create as it helped me understand the legal and ethical issues my film may raise and it has made me reflect upon my ideas as I have to adjust and improve on some. One of the ways I can improve and adjust my film is by making sure there are no stereotyped gender of the female protagonist and that I should have her as a character be more fluid and be representative of any gender, not one. 

Colour Wheel

I also created a colour palette. The colour palette reflects the colours I want to use and capture in my film. This was an effective way for me to break down the shades and colouring that will feature in my film. The colours also reflect my visual and special effect colouring which helped me  plan the visual look of my effects.

First Drafted Script

This is my first script, of my film. It contains only the action in the scene as the only dialogue heard is narrated poem. I have section the narrated separately from my script to break down the stages of my post production, and make it easier to follow. The scrip I created using a software called Celt X. 

The script also titles the name of my film (Possessionem). The title is the Latin translation of 'possession' in English. My reasoning for this is to link my title to religion as originally the bible was spoken and read in latin. My reasoning for the word 'possession' is because a demonic presence is the antagonist in the film and is the overriding part of my narrative. It was also a way to challenge myself as I had to create this demonic presence using both vfx of smokey moving shadows but also create it using a prosthetic sfx claw. 

Costume

I only have one costume that features in my film, this is due to the location of my film. The location of my film is in a bath, I wanted the costume to not be distracting but still have a connection to the narrative at the same time. 

Audio for my film

Poem - narration

The audio for my film will include a narrated poem and music. The narrated poem is called ' Trust me' by the poet Garo K. I found this poem online after researching poem's about possession, as the narrative of my film revolves around this theme. For the narration of the poem, I will be quoting particular lines as the film is only 30 seconds long. The poem is from an online anonymous poem page (hence why the last name of the poet is not revealed). I couldn't find the email address of the poet as his full name is anonymous, to resolve this issue I will give full credit to the poet instead. The lines I will quote forms he poem are photographed below. 

The narrated poem that I am using will need a distorted effect to the voice. My reasoning for distorting the audio is to make the narrated voice sound more whispered and have a low tone. I want the poem to sound low and whispered because I felt it audibly foreshadows the demonic presence in the narrative before it is visually revealed. These particular audio effects I felt would create a demonic voice as they form an unnatural sound and would enhance the ominous atmosphere in the film too. To understand how to create these two audible effects I researched Youtube tutorials (shown below) that educated me on distorting audio using After Effects. This research also allowed me to expand on my Adobe editing skills as I have little knowledge of editing audio using Premiere and After effects software. 

For this video below, it was very useful for helping me create a demonic sounding voice as it went through the different settings and audio effects you can create, using Adobe Audition. It also taught me how to align separate audios so that they are in time which will help me create an echoed and whispered effect as I can now layer separate audios. I will being using this tutorial as a main guide for when I devise my own distorted demon voice for the poem narration.

Another tutorial that helped me understand how to create a demonic sounding audio was the video below. This video was helpful in describing the different effects you can use, such as the stretch and pitch which allows you to deepen the audio, this effect was very useful as it taught me how to lower my audio which is exactly the effect I wanted to create. 

Poem Narration - Demon Audio Effect

The video below is of me speaking the poem. With the help of the tutorials I followed, I was able to distort the recording of me speaking the poem. Creating this before production out allowed me to see how long I should have the duration of the narration, as I want it to be only spoken in the opening shot. This will allow me to known how long I should have the opening shot be. I created this distorted demon sound using Adobe Audition by adding the stretch and pitch effect, echoes and reverb.

I also trimmed the quotes from the poem so that it does not drag on the opening scene. The screenshot below is of the quotes I will narrate in the final post production of my film. 

Music - soundtrack

The music for my film must be copyright free and royalty free. After I searched and listened to horror music that was copyright free, I eventually came across two I liked (shown below). I liked both sounds as I felt they would fit my film because it captures and intense and horror atmospheric environment that I wanted for my film. The gradual build up created I the first audio also fits perfectly with the last scene in my film as the music would enhance and compliment the cliffhanger visuals of my scene well. The second audio I believe would work perfectly as a atmos track to play throughout the film. I want to layer both the audio onto one another and edit them in post production to see how they will fit with my footage and what sounds reflect the intensity and horror genre of my film well. 

For my film, I also want to compose and create my own music. One of my biggest inspirations is a Japanese composer called Teiji Ito. I liked his song Tenno ii (shown below) and wanted to create a similar sounding audio as his. This is because I believe it fits very well with my film's genre horror as it is intense as he uses drums in the song and has them gradually build up which creates tension and enhances the atmosphere. I will compose my own music using GarageBand as I have previous experience when working with the app and feel it would allow me to be more creative with my film's audio. 

Special effects - ideas/prosthetics/cost/research

Special effect - Black bath water

 For this special effect, I want to create a black bath using a bath bomb. I chose to use a bath bomb for safety reasons as I didn't want to risk causing damage to my actresses skin or hair. I felt purchasing a bath bomb was a useful and risk free way of creating this effect. As I wanted a black bath bomb, I researched the different types of black bath bomb and found the best one by a company called 'Hex bomb'. After watching a video on the companies bath bombs (video below) I purchased two. One was for the photography storyboard and the other was for the final production shoot.

Special Effect - Black Water Bath

The photograph below show the two black bath bombs I purchased. They were incredibly successful and created the perfect black bath water that I envisioned. I bought two, one as a practise test and the second for the final production shoot. The results of my test (first bath bomb) are shown below.

Black bath Bomb Test

The images and videos below are ones I photographed and shot myself with my actress. We blocked through the scenes using my storyboard and tested the first bath bomb to see the concentration (of how dark it become when in the water). This was very useful as I was able to prepare and organise myself for when the real production is shot. My actress also found it helpful because she can now understand the movement of her character and the different shot types that will ate place.

Blocking and Testing Shot types 

The still images below are framed to the style of my storyboard. This was useful as I could measure the particular framing I want to create when filming. It also helped me encounter the lighting and what angles are successful and not. For example, with the dutch tilt shot I now know I need to capture it from a low angle in order to include the actor's expression and surroundings. By testing out the framing and lighting it also allowed me to question what time of day I want to shoot my film in, now that I have tested the daylight and night. I have decided to film my film during the evening as the reflection sunlight from the window is not present or distracting against the water.

The two videos below are of me testing the camera angles and shot types, from my storyboard. This was very useful as it helped me expand on my camera work skills and directing skills as I had to direct my actor through the physical and emotional experience her character will experience.

Raw Footage

Special effect - Prosthetic hand/claw Research

 For this special effect, I wanted to create a prosthetic claw like hand. I also want my claw to act as a puppet tool, this is so that it can appear from the black pool/bath in a realistic motion. Giving the illusion that something is beneath the protagonist.  In order to successfully create this, I will research how to create a prosthetic hand, the amount of product I need and its cost. I also need to research how to make paint waterproof, so that the paint I use on my prosthetic hand doesn't wash off. I fortunately own a Mehron colour wheel which will help me paint a bloody, gory hand/claw but I need to make it waterproof. For this hand, I will be animating it in the post production editing as I can use the pen tool on After Effects as it will allow me to give  the hand more movement. 

The storyboard (shown below) is a visual of how I want to use this prosthetic hand, regarding the filming and production process. I am going to have this silicone prosthetic hand rise from black water and touch upon the protagonist's face. I felt this would create more tension and terror in the scene as it is unexpected and makes the audience scared as the hand creeps onto the character's face. I also wanted the hand to be a physical representation of the demon that possesses the protagonist. My reasoning for giving the hand claws and lumpy black skin is to create a more disturbing visual and have the hand be submerged into the water it appears from, as well as this I felt the claws add an animalistic touch to the hand which enhances the demonic representation too. 

Inspiration Images - The images below depict similar visuals of the prosthetic hand I want to create and were huge inspirations of the colouring and clawed nails shape of my prosthetic hand.

The video below describes a step by step of how to create a silicone body part. I found this video very useful as it gave clear steps on what ingredients to purchase and the duration of setting and ordering the products to be able to create the silicone hand successful. I will definitely be using this video as my main source of information for creating my own silicone prosthetic hand, both because it is clear with instructions but it also shows visually what steps to take which I find very useful as I can follow and replicate the tutorial through its visuals. 

Another source that helped me understand how to create the silicone hand was the article below. The article describes the ingredients needed to make silicone body parts and has a step by step guide of using the products. This article used the same products as the tutorial above which gave me reassurance that the ingredients listed were bets for creating a realistic prosthetic body part.

https://www.ehow.com/how_8559247_make-silicone-masks.html

Here are some screenshots of the article that helped me understand the physical process of making silicone prosthetics. 

Steps in order to create the Prosthetic hand:

Ingredients

• Plastic tube - 5x12 cm 
• Alginate 
• Vaseline 
• Plastil Gel 
• Key pigment 
• Mehron Colour Wheel 

The table I created below reflects the research I had to do in order to understand the cost, delivery and products types needed to make this silicone prosthetic hand. 

Step One

First step I have to do is to create a 5x12 plastic tube using a plastic sheet. I will cut the plastic sheet and measure it to size. The sheet is important as it will be the container that I will use to create my silicone prosthetic hand in.

Step Two

 Next I have to lubricate my hand, in order for it to fit into the mould smoothly. To lubricate my hand I will purchase petroleum jelly (Vaseline) which will cost me around £3, and I will purchase this from a local store.

Step Three

The third step I have to purchase Alginate. This product will create the mould of my hand, I have to coat my hand in the product and keep it set in place for around 30 minutes.

Step Four

In order to create the silicone for the prosthetic hand, I need to purchase Plastol Gel. The Platsil Gel creates the silicone texture once it has set. The silicone turns to a milky white once it has set, and creates a realistic cast for a body part (the hand/claw).

Step Five

For the Platsil Gel (silicone) to have a realistic skin tone, I will have to purchase Neil's Key Pigment. I have to mix the Key Pigment into the silicone substance.

Step Six

For the final step of the silicone mould, I need to pour the silicone Platsil Gel and Key Pigment mixture into the plastic moulded frame. Once I have poured the mixture and set it for 30 minutes, I will pull the silicone set rubber and the final mould of the prosthetic hand is finished. I also want to carve out  small detailed holes into the silicone hand to create a rotting effect. To do this I will purchase a carving sfx tool for silicone sculpting.

Step Seven 

For the next part of creating the prosthetic hand, I will need to use my mehron colour wheel. I ideally want to paint the hand black and add flesh like blood around it, to create a more horror/gory visual. 

Creating my own prosthetic hand/claw

Due to finical issues of creating this prosthetic hand, I could only make this prosthetic once, which meant could not test this. I had to prepare myself and the products I was using to make this hand, so that I could create it successfully the first time. 

The information of how I researched and learned how to create this silicone hand is on my research page. The video below also goes through the step by step process I went through of making this special effect prosthetic hand.

I have created a video of me making my own prosthetic hand. The video is made up of images and videos of myself and two other people making the hand. It took overall an hour and a half to complete. I needed the help of two other people as technical issues did occur due to the first mould setting too fast. However, I was fortunate enough to be able to make a second mould using excess products. I believe my prosthetic hand went overall quite well, although one of the fingertips is not fully moulded. The next stage of finishing my prosthetic claw/hand is colouring/painting the skin of it and adding fake black nails, to give a claw demonic effect. The fake nails will also cover the missing moulded fingertips too. 

Audio credit - Visions of Gideon (instrumental) by Sufjan Stevens. Featured in my video below.

Here are the steps I went through when creating this prosthetic hand. The images are descriptions from the video above. I felt having still images of the process I went through would also give more insight into the stages and time it took to successfully make this silicone hand and the issues that occurred.

Details to the Prosthetic Hand/claw Research

Colouring and Claws - Black

I chose the colouring of my hand to be black because of many reasons.  One of the reasons for this is because the colour black is associated with symbolism of evil and aggression, this fitted perfectly for the hand's colouring as it is a physical representation of a demon's claw and therefore links to the symbolism. Another reason I chose black for the colouring was because it will immerse into the water location that the film is shot in. I want the hand to appear from black water and felt having a black hand will amplify the atmosphere as the hand will look as if it is moulded from the water. To paint the hand/claw I will purchase acrylic paint. After researching what paint works best on silicone moulds, I found that acrylic paint is best as it is easiest to apply and is waterproof which is ideal as the hand will be in water when in the production process. The definition of PAX paint is below. To make the PAX paint, I purchased black acrylic paint for £2 and the Pros-aide for £10, the total cost for the ingredients needed is £12. Pros-aide is a special effects glue that is a water-base adhesive for the silicone and is necessary when making the PAX paint, as it allows the paint to skin to the skin of the prosthetic. These two products will take one day to deliver as I purchased them on Amazon Prime.

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The video below helped me understand how to make pax paint and how to use acrylic paint on my prosthetic hand. It also taught me how to apply it using the pros-aide and acrylic paint together. This

 video shown below was incredibly useful for my research as it showed me what products to buy and how to apply PAX paint onto silicone professionally. 

    

Youtube comment - I wrote on the tutorial above. 

The article below helped me too as it described how to sue PAX paint for beginners like myself. The article also reassured me and educated me on PAX paint as a chemical substance and stated whether it was non toxic and also stated how to remove the paint if necessary. This information is useful as I would need to know the issues that the paint may cause incase my paint looks streaky or clumped. 

Here is the link to the article - http://www.newtomakeupeffects.com/pax-paint/

The images below are screenshots from the article, I found the steps very clear and helpful and wanted to show the information that has helped with my research on the blog. 

How to use Pros-Aide (source from Google) :

Painting the prosthetic hand

Here is a video I created of me painting my prosthetic silicone hand. I wanted to create a video to give proof of me using the products I had purchased and show the stages I went through to make my black pax paint work on my prosthetic. Painting the hand required time as you have to set the layer the paint again, repeating this cycle until the hand is pitch black and not streaky. Overall, I am happy with how the hand turned out and felt the black paint was effective in terms of visuals as I believe it captured the sinister and haunting scale skin I envisioned. 

Blocking using the Prosthetic Hand 

To test the painted hand in warm water, I tested shot types and did some more blocking with my actor. I needed extra help as I am the cinematographer/director and need someone to hold the hand (by the grip) so that it can rise into the scene. One of my friends kindly offered to help and be the hand grip holder in my film. Once I tested the hand in the water, it quickly started to peel off. To fix this issue I had to peel the paint off with water and re coat it using more Pros-aide glue as last time I used very little. This is by far the biggest challenge I have faced with my project as it delayed my production work as I have to re paint the hand, then re test it in warm water and hope that the extra glue made it more waterproof. 

The video below captures myself, my actor and friend in the blocking process and practising the hand in the water using the grip. 

The images below are still shots of my actor and I practising using the prosthetic hand. As you can see the paint is peeling in the shots, this is before I have re painted the hand using more pros-aide to strengthen the paint. The water is clear as i am saving my last bath bomb for the final filming production. This test was useful as I now know that the hand needs a stronger layer of glue on the paint and I have now tested the position of where  want the hand to move in frame.

For this image, I liked how the hand was positioned and will re create this framing for when I am in production. I wanted the hand at this angle as it slowly rises into shot, adding more tension and surprise to the scene which enhance the horror aspects of my film and give a more sinister and frightful movement in the scene. 

(MY ACTOR WILL NOT BE SMILING  IN THE SCENE).

Due to the physical issues of my acrylic paint, having not enough pros-aide layered onto the silicone. I had to peel off the layers that I had painted onto the prosthetic and restart the painting process by mixing lots of pros-aide with my black acrylic paint. The pros-aide is key to making the acrylic paint waterproof as it acts as a protective seal around the paint. This issue taught me to be patient with my film and that I should next time be a little more organised and thoughtful with when creating a physical prop. The image below is after I removed the acrylic paint from my hand. This image is before I added the new added pros-aide pax paint, onto the hand. 

Second Attempt at Painting the hand

The images below are of my re painted hand using more pros-aide to strengthen the paint. I coated the hand in one layer of acrylic paint as I was running out of product, however it covered the hand very well and I was pleased with the finishing results. Luckily, I had left over silicone form when I created the hand. I put this extra silicone to use and painted it with my improved pax paint. My reasoning for this was to test my new layered pax paint in the water to see whether it was more waterproof. 

Repainting the hand & Waterproof test 

The first image below is of my newly re painted hand. To make sure this pax paint layer would be more waterproof I applied more pros-aide to the acrylic paint which created a stronger seal around the paint. To test whether the added pros-aide pax paint was waterproof I set my painted hand and then ran hot water over it. I used hot water as the temperature of the water the hand will be in when in production is hot and I wanted to see whether the temperature effected this. Thankfully to my success this new layer of paint worked well and did not peel. The extra pros-aide was very useful and resolved my peeling paint issue. Once I finished testing the hand in hot water I applied the false nail claws to my hand using preside as the glue base (because it is waterproof) with a little bit of nail glue too. Overall, I am very happy with how my hand as turned out, although it isn't exactly how I envisioned it to be, the overall look of my hand I believe captured the demonic visual I wanted to create. 

 Repainted:

Water Test: 

Drying the water off the hand (using a fan):

Creating the claws

 For the nails of my hand, I wanted to create black claws. To do this, I have purchased black false nails and will stick them onto the nail placements of my prosthetic hand. To create the claw shape of my nails, I used a nail file and shaped them into a sharp position. My reasoning for this is to give the hand a more demonic and animalistic look as it is a representation of a demonic presence. I also chose for the nails to be black so that they give the illusion of claws imbedded into the skin (as the skin of the hand will be black too). I also felt black claws would create a more disturbing visual that enhances the horror genre of the film too, by giving the effect of a dirty and unnatural appearance, that reflects the demon character. The nails cost me £1 and come with glue that I will use for sticking them onto my nail placements in my prosthetic hand, once it is painted. I purchased these nails from a store called Primark, to save on money for delivery.The images below are a before and after of the nails and show how I filed their shape using a  nail file.

Before I filed the nails:

After:

To conclude, I believe my false claws went quite well. Although they are not as long as I hoped for them to be, I believe the nail tips filed well and achieved the animalistic look I wanted. The nails themselves are actually a deep blue as I could not find pure black in the shop I purchased them from. However, this issue is fixed as the deep blue looks black when filtered in black and white, this is ideal as my film is coloured in black and white and therefore means the nails worked successfully colour wise. 

Added nail claws: 

Creating the grip 

For my prosthetic hand, I needed to create a grip that would allow me to control the movement of the hand. In order to do this, I searched my house for wire and was unsuccessful in finding a piece that was thick enough and strong enough to hold the silicone hand. After searching for a better  tool to use as a grip. I Finally I found a steel pole with a plastic grip that was ideal. To be able to move the prosthetic hand with the grip I needed to bend it at an angle so that it would be able to rise from underneath the water onto the protagonist's face. Once I bent the grip I carved a hole underneath the silicone hand using my six carving tool (shown below), this was so that the steel pole could slide into the base of the hand and act as a puppet tool for the hand to follow. Creating this was very challenging as I had to not only find a long enough grip but also one that would be flexible to bend. The grip I have shown in the image below was the one I am using when in the production process and was the most successful grip out of the ones I tried. 

The Grip:

The carving tool with the paintbrush:

The synthetic brush I already had from home and it was very useful as it's size and weight were perfect when painting the hand. The only issue was that the acrylic paint would dry into the creases of the brush follicles and would make the brush quite stiff and hard to wash. The carving tool came in handy when making and hole in the bottom of the silicone hand. This hole was necessary as it carved a pathway for the grip to slide into. Overall, these two tools were very helpful for when I was in pre production of making my special effect. 

Visual Effects Ideas and Testing Effects - Research

To improve two of my shots that are in motion, I had to research how to stabilise them so that they did not look shaky. To do this, I read the article below that went through a step by step guide of how to stabilise a shot. The effect that stabilises the shots is called 'Warp Stabiliser'. I found this article on the Adobe website and found it very useful because it helped improve the cinematic and stillness of my shot. 

Visual Effect - Fire overlay

For my visual effects, I will be using the software After Effects. Using After Effects I want to create four visual effects. The four effects are the following, fire overlay, shadow overlay, colouring and zoom in transition.

To learn how to use overlays on After Effects, I watched a tutorial (shown below) which allowed me to practise and edit the two overlays I want to use in my film. The video below goes through the process of importing overlays and how to layer them onto your footage. This tutorial was very useful for my research as it taught me how to create the visual effects I want, using overlays.

Youtube comment - I wrote on the tutorial above. 

The overlays I will be creating are going to be motioned. I want also want the overlays to be masked in a particular shape. For example, with the fire overlay I want to have it be shaped to a pentagram symbol. In order to successfully create this I am going to mask the shape of a pentagram (using the pen tool on After Effects). To learn more about masking and to educate myself on the different techniques and ways I can mask the pentagram symbol using layers,I watched the video below. This video described three different ways you can mask with layers. For example, one of the ways was to create a 'New Mask' then to select the point of your mask and move them to your position of desire. The masking technique that I felt would be most useful for what I want to create is the shape tool technique. To create my visual effect using this technique I would select the triangle shape and form a star using by making a five pointed triangle, then I would create a circle shape and layer the two masks upon each other, creating the pentagram symbol using the overlay. 

Youtube comment - I wrote on the tutorial above. 

Practise - Fire Visual Effect

 The video below is of my test using the fire overlay, to do the visual effects I used the software After Effects. I wanted to practise and become more familiar with masking and overlays using After Effects as it will help me become more prepared for when I edit overlays in the post production of my film. By testing this visual effect, I learned that when I create it using my own footage in post production, I will have to feather the mask of the overlay as I felt it looked too harsh around the edges and feathering it would fade the harshness out. I also learned that I need to track my masked overlay as it will create a smoother transition for when I am editing in post production. 

Another source that helped me understand how to use overlays on after effect was the video below, the video was useful as described a simple and easy tutorial on how to use overlays in After Effects. It also taught me how to layer the footage and the overlay, now I know that when I am using an overlay it must be layered above the footage. The video also taught me how to use modes so that I can access the overlay setting and understand what the different types of overlay settings mean.

Youtube comment - I wrote on the tutorial above. 

The first visual effect I practised creating was the fire pentagram symbols. To do this I used a motioned fire overlay, then I masked out the shape of the pentagram symbol. My reasoning for this is because I wanted to reveal to the audience the protagonist's possession through the use of magical symbolism. The fire also has connotations to hell and compliments the demonic imagery in my film very well, adding more depth to the scene by enhancing the dark and religious imagery. To give a clear understanding of how I want to create this visual effect I drew a storyboard (shown below), of how I want to use this fire overlay using the stages of creating the visual effect.

I have also create a collage of my step by step process, creating this video. This collage is to show the stages I took in order to create this effect. The step by step guide will also help me when I am in post production of editing as I can follow the stages and re create it using my own footage for my film. 

Second Practise - Fire VFX

For this second fire visual effect practise, I wanted to try and use a black mask around the pupils of the protagonist's eyes, including the pentagram fire symbol but having it layered above the black pupils. I felt the black pupil may add a more demonic visual to the protagonist as she will be possessed by the demon, in the film. To create this I used a still image at first and used the masking tool I already knew how to use from the previous tutorials.

 However, I wanted to know how I can track mask the protagonist's pupils so that the mask follows her eyes in motion, to give a more realistic visual. To learn how to do this, I watched the tutorial below that described the process and stages of how to track mask, using a black overlay. This tutorial was very useful as it described in detail how to use a null object and transform it into a track mask for the object (pupils) to follow. The tutorial also showed me how to curve my vector points on a mask (using the Rotobeizer tool, which was very useful in creating a smooth mask. I found this tutorial challenging because when I was feathering the mask of my dark layer, it covered the eyelashes of my video, which made my visual effect look sloppy and unrealistic. to improve on this next time, when in production I will have my actor have her eyes raised towards the camera so that when I feather the mask around her eyes, it created a more realistic visual. I will also be adding a pentagram symbol onto this black liquid eye effect to give a more demonic and religious imagery to the scene. 

Youtube comment - I wrote on the tutorial above. 

I created a step by step tutorial on how to create this visual effect so that when I am in post production I can look back on my research and know how  to create the effect without rewatching the tutorial. I also created this step by step tutorial so that I can clearly see the step and tick them off as I go along as I find this an easier way of editing than following a video. 

After practising this new demon eye effect, I realised that I preferred the look of flames covering the pupils instead of a pentagram symbol. I now have decided that I will have the flames covering the pupils of the protagonist's eye instead of the pentagram as I feel it looks more haunting and is less subtle, forcing the audience to face the hellish visual that the protagonist reflects. 

The fire overlay I will use for my visual effect is shown below, it is imported from Youtube. 

Colouring Grading Research

The third visual effect I want to create is the colouring of my film. I want my film to be coloured in Black and White and for the fire pentagram vfx to be the only effect in colour. To create the colouring for my film, I researched Youtube tutorials on how to add colourings to footage, which is the first video linked below. After watching the tutorial I wanted to practise creating my own Black and White colouring, in order to prepare me for when I colour my film. The second video linked below is of my practise test of me creating my own black and white colouring to footage.

Youtube comment - I wrote on the tutorial above. 

This tutorial was very useful for educating me on colour grading as it taught me how to add subtle lighting effects to my footage so that it has a more professional look. For example, it showed me how to use the brightness and contrast tool which allowed me to adjust the depth and harshness of the shadows in a black and white image. This will be useful for me when I am editing my footage in post production as I can add small details to my shots and enhance the shadows to give a more ominous effect.

Youtube comment - I wrote on the tutorial above. 

Colour Grading Practise 

The video below is a practise test of me adding black and white colouring to footage I imported from Youtube. I found this colouring test very  helpful as it will prepare me for my editing process of my film and will allow me to be more confident with colouring my footage. 

This step by step guide I created will help me in the future when reflecting upon how to add colouring's to my footage. As it covers briefly the stage I need to take and effects I need to add, in order to successfully create a black and white colouring for my film. 

Second Practise at Colour Grading 

The images below are a before and after of my colour grading practise. I wanted to practise colour grading the second time round so that I could use the new skills I have learned from the second tutorial and put them into practise. The image I used below captures my actor blocking through a scene on set. I wanted to use this image as it has similar lighting that I will have for when I am in production and also has water in the shot. This is important as I can test the new colour grading skills I have learned on this image with water to see how the shadows will be enhanced and what visual dark and light imagery it will create. This gives me an idea as to what intensity of black and white I should use when editing my film.

First I had to select Colour Correction on the effects panel. Then I had to select 'Black and White' to change the image into a black and white colouring. 

Once I changed the image to black and white, I selected brightness and contrast from the effects and controls panel. This allowed me to enhance and decrease certain depths, shadows and colours in the image. 

 Once I finished adding the brightness and contrast effect I adjusted the colours and shadows to my image. The contrast enhanced the dark shadows of my image and the brightness lightened the surroundings fo the image. This effect was very useful as I now know how to edit my footage for when I am in post production, using different effects of black and white colouring.

Here is the final comparison between the before and after of colour grading the image, using the brightness and contrast effect. 

Visual effect - Smoke/Shadow overlay

The other visual effect I want to create are shadows moving in water. My reasoning for this effect is to add an ominous atmosphere to my film. I also want the shadows in the scene to reflect the demon’s possession moving closer to the protagonist. To be able to create this effect I will use a shadow overlay from Youtube, then reflect it onto my live action water shot. The visual effect also foreshadows to the audience that something bad will happen to the protagonist as the shadows will swarm around her as if they are closing in around her like a cage.

Youtube comment - I wrote on the tutorial above. 

Creating this visual effect will require the same skills as the fire visual effect. Both visual effects rely on the use of After Effects track masking and the use of overlays. Track masking is the best way to create this visual effect as it allows for me to have the overlays in motion and for them to be in the correct position, in the case of the smoke overlay it needs to be reflecting against the water, not the protagonist. To do more research into track masking I have listed below a link from the Adobe website that helped educate me on track masking and how to use it correctly.

Adobe Website - Using the After Effects Mask Tracker

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/after-effects/using/rigid-mask-tracking.html

Practise - Smoke Shadow VFX

To practise using this overlay I tested this effect using footage of water that I imported from Youtube. I chose to use water as a foundation layer, because I wanted to replicate my visual use of the effect. After learning how to colour my footage, I added a black and white colouring to the water shots as it depicts my idea visuals for the film. 

By testing and practising this visual effect it allowed me to focus on how I will edit the overlay and how I will intertwine it into the live motion scene. For example, one of the realisations I had from creating this effect was that I need to mask the overlay onto the water and track the scale and position, using a tracking mask. This is important as it will allow me to have the smoke shadows overlay just on the water and capture the effect in the right position and framing of the scene.

I created a step by step guide of how to make the smoke overlay visual effect. This guide will be very useful as I can reflect upon it when I am in the post production of editing and will help me re create the effect using my own footage for the film.

Second Practise

For this visual effect, I wanted to practise it against the black water special effect used in my film. This is so that I can see how concentrated the shadows are reflected onto the black water. Practising this visual effect also helped me understand how I will approach the masking of the shadow effect around the framing of the actor. I would have practised editing this effect using a video, however my photograph still was better quality than the practice footage I have. the quality of the video is very low as the image is slightly out of focus and if scaled to size enhances the pix-elation. This issue taught me that I need to take multiple shots just in case some aren't in focus. I have also learned that I do no need to use a track mask for this effect as masking out and feathering the mask works successfully.

The video below is the smoke overlay I will be using in my film.

To visually represent how I envision this visual effect to look like and where it will be positioned in the scene, I created a storyboard. The storyboard shown below not only helped me with representing my vision but also allowed me to plan out the framing of where the effect will be.

Visual Effect - Picture Frame

The first visual effect that is the opening shot of my film it consists of two separate shots merged together. I wanted the first shot (exterior) to be of a picture frame, then for the second shot to be masked into the picture frame, giving the illusion that the shot itself is framed. The first shot slowly pans in until the second shot (image in the frame) covers the screen. I wanted the picture frame to symbolise the entrapment of the protagonist and how she has no control, as if she is sealed in the frame.

To learn how to create this visual effect of track masking I watched a Youtube video (below) on how to mask images in motion. This video was very helpful as it allowed me to understand how to use tracking masks as I have very little experience. The video also showed me that you can pick a particular type of tracking mask, depending on the what object/person you are tracking. This was useful as I tested the different types of tracking masks on After Effects and found that the 'position, scale and rotation' track mask was the one I needed as it tracked the scale, as my shots expand in size.

Youtube comment - I wrote on the tutorial above. 

To research more about track masks was the article below. The article below was very helpful as it had clear and simple information on tracking masks, tips of pen tool masking and mask expansion. This information was very useful as it helped me when re creating my own effect as I learnt more about the mask transform settings and how I can use them when tracking masks. I have screen-shotted images below of what information I found most useful when relating to track masking, from the article.

The article link - https://www.universalclass.com/articles/computers/adobe-after-effects-working-with-masks-and-animated-layers.htm

Visual Effect - Picture frame Practise

Once I watched the tutorial I re created my own version of this visual effect. I filmed the exterior shot myself and then used a scene from a film called Coraline, as the second shot. By practising how to mask in motion, it will allow me to improve and develop my editing and visual effect skills for when I am in the post production of my film. When I am using my own footage, I will only freeze frame the second shot while the first shot pans in. The second shot will play in motion once it has covered the screen.

I also created a step by step tutorial (below) on how to create this visual effect, so that when I am editing in post production I can reflect on how I created the effect and remake it using my own footage. I found creating the tutorial also allows me to clearly breakdown the step I need to take when making the visual effects. This also allowed me to expand on my After Effect skills and taught me more about masking images and videos.

I found creating this effect was challenging but overall quite simple. The challenging part of this effect was being precise on where to mark the mask anchor points, because if they are out of place then the image that is framed becomes wonky. However, the effect was simple as it has very little steps and require basic knowledge of masking which was helpful as I am new to masking on After Effects.

To visually reflect how I want this scene to be framed and look like using the footage I will shoot for my film. I created a storyboard, this storyboard was very useful as it helped me visually show the layers of creating this effect and what types of shots I want to use as well as the motion and movements in them.