'When' - Bees Sound Design Tweak 001

Another part of my feedback for When was a suggestion to return to my bees entity and make the soundscape more overwhelming. I wanted to increase the audio levels of the music as well, so I decided to play around with the bees as well. I added in another layer of insect sounds that were at a higher pitch as well as increase the volume of the whispers. Hopefully this is an improvement!

Major Project: Soundscape Progress Update 005 (With Music)

I've now added the music and soundscape Bruce Reid created for my film. I spent a long time tweaking effects and volumes of different sounds to try and ensure that the main voiceover could be heard, important whispers and sound effects were audible where important, and that the music shined through when I wanted it to.

For the line about 'rejection' I initially began to play around with the music cutting out mostly, but I found it odd and immersion breaking. I think leaving the music there keeps the film uniform and flowing since prior to the 'rejection' cut-out the music is quite subtle...so when it's all that is left remaining I hope it keeps the film moving without the cut-out being too distracting. I did, however, do a similar effect for my gem. This is because I have whispers, the screen doesn't go black, and again I want the gem to be aggressive rather than just eerie.

I'm still adjusting all of the volumes, I tend to work on sound design using high quality sound-blocking headphones so I realise it sounds different on computer speakers. I'm trying to alternate how I work so I get it working alright both ways. I am really happy with how this is turning out so far.

I've also been considering adding some sort of 'warning' on my film and Art Of. I don't want to seem dramatic, but since my film discusses some serious topics I feel it may be irresponsible for me to not give any sort of context to the film's subject matter especially since the title is quite ambiguous.

I worry that some things I say in the film (some of which are things people say to me that I myself find triggering) may be destructive for others to hear if they are in a bad place. I have a similar situation with my Art Of, where I discuss my reasoning behind what each entity represents. While I specifically avoid using numbers, sizes, measurements, and so on...I am aware that things I say could possibly be seen as triggering and I want to be sure I'm not doing anything harmful. Due to this, I plan on adding a 'please be aware' sort of message to my film and Art Of just to be safe.

Major Project: Soundscape Progress Update 004

Here is the fourth update on my soundscape. I've already begun playing around with the volume of different clips to soften certain sounds out if they cause the audio to spike, such as the glitch transitions. I was going to add more positive sounding whispers during the 'hope' portion of the poem, but to me it wasn't working right and still sounded a bit sinister. I also feel I want to keep with the idea that the absence of stimuli is soothing to me.

Due to this, I left this part of the film quite free as I suspect the music will take over during this part of the film. I will now be adding the music and soundscape Bruce Reid created so I can see how different parts of the film work with the music and if I need to adjust the volumes more and/or move clips around. From here I will be able to better determine if I need to record more whispers and what sort of 'flavour' those whispers would have.

I also decided to tweak the line being Anorexic is having a precious gem in terms of timing because I wasn't completely happy with it.

Major Project: Soundscape Progress Update 003

Today I made more progress with my sound effects and soundscape. I added a few more voices to the bees scene, although I may go back and add more later on. My initial goal is to put a first layer over the whole film, then add my music, and then move things around again as I suspect some whispers will have to be moved and adjusted. I'll then go over everything again and begin playing around with the volume levels of all the elements as I decide when I want the music, sound effects, or whispers to shine through more. I also plan on doing another recording session next week to collect a few more phrases for the whispers.

The sound effects for the needles is still in progress, I'm not 100% happy with it just yet. I also wasn't sure what I wanted 'wires' to sound like so I just began experimenting with some more abstract sounds which I think work nicely in conjunction with whispers. I also have the soundscape quite subdued during the 'happiness' portion as this is another part of the film I expect the music will take over.

Today I also got my final music from my music composer, Bruce Reid. I'm very excited to have my music, although I'll probably continue working on the rest of my sound effects without it so I keep the initial pass consistent. Afterwards, I'll add in the music and adjust as needed, especially knowing that some soundscape aspects were also created with the music. I'm aiming to have my initial sound effects pass completed by Monday so I can spend the next week tweaking everything.

Major Project: Soundscape Progress Update 001

Over the last few days I've been spending some time working on the soundscape for my film. I'm unsure how much of it I'll use in the end as that depends on the final product from my music composer as well. For now I'm creating the sound effects as if there will be no music, so I have no gaps and can play around with the volume later on.

First I had to spend more time going over the other 3/4's of my recording session from the other week to extract clips I thought would be useful and discard the weaker ones. Now I have nearly 200 clips extracted in total including many negative thoughts, some comments other people say to me, and a small handful of positive thoughts. I am aware I may need to return to the sound-booth to record some more positive ones depending on how things go.

Here is my first update of the soundscape. I may move around the whispers later down the line if I feel certain ones fit better elsewhere. I've also begun to play around with hospital sound effects from the BBC Sound FX Library CD. I still need to adjust the reverb, the volume, and other elements to these. I've also used a ventilator sound and some foetal heartbeats to characterise my sponge and meat entities. For meat I plan on reusing the heartbeat, but possibly making it deeper/louder each time we encounter it since each shot we get closer. I also began adding some glitch sounds where appropriate.

Major Project: Edit 002

Here is my second edit for my film. I'm trying to create a final edit as fast as I can so my music composer can re-adjust the music he's created for the film so the timing is right. I want to give him enough time to re-write parts if needed and to give me time to really focus on VFX and sound design especially in regards to the whispers. Some changes I made to this edit include:

•  The removal of the line when I see hospitals I see ghouls.
• New footage for the lines when I think of my family I see scars and being Anorexic is rotting.
• Disordered whispers added to the opening sequence (may move later on as it's a test).
• The gem scene has been extended and voiceover moved to make room for disordered whispers.
• Voiceover for certain shots moved so they begin before the shot begins.
• Shots overall have been adjusted - for example an shot was moved to add more space between when I see jello I see vomit and when I see pancakes I see my grandfather.
• For the line when I see other people's bodies I see rejection a black screen cuts into the film. A louder ringing noise will be added later on as it will cut out audio too.
• Some transitions have changed, but this can still be adjusted later on.
• Room shot 006 (third shot of the edit - the one right before pufferfish) has been adjusted/re-rendered.
• The brick shot in the beginning of the film has been removed so the first few shots of the film focus on the room rather than the bricks.
• Some shots have been shortened slightly to keep the duration as close to 7 minutes as possible.
• This version contains re-composited footage so colour correction is more consistent and the vignette, film grain, and edge blurring can be added overtop the whole film so it's cohesive (added on very roughly at the moment). 

I'm happy with how this is turning out, although I am obviously ready to make more adjustments if needed. Once the shots and voiceover are at a point where positions/durations are locked down, I'll be able to hand an edit off to my composer for final music which I'm very excited about. The glitch effects, transitions and other VFX can continue to be adjusted for the most part and the voiceover will still have some wiggle room with timing. 

Major Project: Disordered Whispers / Soundscape Test 001

Yesterday and today I spent some time going over the recordings I made for my whispers. So far I only went over one out of my four chunks of recording, which already gave me a decent amount of content. From this one session I was able to extract 72 clips that I thought were the most useful and I suspect I could have a similar number from my other three sessions.

I wanted to test out how this would work with my soundscape, so I took the opening of my film for Edit 001 (which requires some editing changes but this is just a test) and played around with different effects in Audition. I found I usually used a process of some noise reduction, then a custom 'Echo' effect, followed by some reverb effects. I then played around with the volume, overlapping them, and experimenting with different volumes in each ear to give a disorienting and 'invading' effect. 

I also used some of the sound clips from the BBC Sound Effects Library (Disc #28 - Hospitals) and applied a few different effects to add some more depth to the soundscape. I wanted these to just be subtle for now as I want to spend more time on them. Again, this is just a test so the effects, volume, timing and so on are all subject to change. 

While I am happy with how this is turning out so far and I've been enjoying working on it, it is honestly challenging to work on it as well. It felt weird to record these as well as listen to them spoken out loud. Despite the strangeness I feel towards it, I hope it helps create more impact and raises awareness in some way.

Major Project: Rotting / Scars Composites & Room 006 Composite Tweak

Despite having a few minor setbacks over the last couple of days, I have my two new shots for rotting and scars completed. I also finished rendering the room 006 shot so the camera slows down near the end instead of speeding up. Hopefully this change is an improvement, if it still needs some tweaks I can work on it but I think it's better than it was before.

I'm happy with how rotting and scars came out, I'm glad I spent some extra time making the meat entity look extra slimy in this shot since it's meant to induce feelings of disgust and illness. I think the new 'scars' shot is stronger than the room shot I originally had.

Rotting Composite (Pt. 1)

Rotting Composite (Pt. 2)

Scars Composite

Room 006 Composite (V. 2)

Today I also spent some time in the sound booth recording whispers of a range of my negative thoughts, or disordered thoughts as I tend to call them. I also recorded a number of things people tend to say to me that frustrate me. This varies from things people say when they think they are being supportive, general comments that showcase how uneducated most people are in regards to mental illness, or the lack of empathy people have in regards to mental health at times.

In the next few days I should have some Audition tests using these recordings to see how I can create 'whisper soundscapes' to use in conjunction with certain entities. I also hope to have an overall new edit of my film with new shots and other changes in accordance to the feedback I recieved at some point this weekend or early next week.

Major Project: Brick 003 Composite, Additional Gem Footage & VFX Removal

As I was creating the first edit of my film, I decided I wanted to create another shot that focused specifically on the bricks so I had some more variation. I thought it would be interesting to film the bricks that bend upward to form the bed. I really like how this shot looks, especially when you see beyond the top of the bed.

Brick 003

Brick 003

I also decided to render another 4 seconds worth of my gem shot after it's spiked outward. I'm unsure if this footage will be useful, but I wanted some extra frames just in case since I feel this scene is one of the more powerful ones. Unfortunately, despite my efforts to get them to transition perfectly there's a little bit of a jump. There was also a slight variation in the lighting even though I used the same scene file. Due to this, I also uploaded a version of the shot with glitch effects to show how I could hide this using VFX. Even though it's not perfect, I'm glad I rendered these extra frames out if I decide I want them...luckily this shot has glitch effects to it anyway.

Gem Composite w/ Glitch Effect

Gem Composite w/ Glitch Effect

I've also begun re-compositing my scenes since I want to ensure it is as consistent as possible with the colour and lighting. I also wanted to remove the vignette effect, blurred edges, and film grain so I can add that overtop the whole edit to further glue the film together and make it cohesive. I re-composited my Opening/Closing shot first, and I've been using that as reference for the other shots. I know they won't be perfect and I can continue to change and correct things, but I think the shots are already feeling more uniform.

Major Project: Edit 001

The last two days I've been working the first 'edit' of my film. I didn't feel like I could keep calling it a pre-vis since it has all of my final footage in it. In this initial edit, I experimented using glitch effects as transitions, although at the moment they do not have sound effects to accompany them so they may not feel as integrated as they will further down the line. I also tried to keep in some other transitions (ex. dip to white on the rare occasion or a straight cut where there is a light flicker) so it wasn't all the same and I alternated what type of glitch effect I used to transition so it wasn't repetitive. Here are some things I've noticed immediately that I want to change or things I'm wondering/want to be cautious of:

• Overusing the 'glitch' effect - I try to use the effect only when transitioning between CGI and live action as well as occasionally during a very negative entity. I want to be careful I'm not overusing the effect therefore weakening its impact. Or, I also don't want to use it too little where it doesn't feel like it 'fits' in the film.
• Re-compositing of shots is needed. I want to go back and strip out certain effects such as the vignetting and film grain so I can overlay that on top of the entire edit rather than individual shots. I noticed that during some transitions the dark vignette ring appears and it looks odd. I also hope doing this will help glue the shots together and will also allow me to animate the vignetting during the VFX stage if I want to bring attention to something (ex. focus on the bubbles and not the background) while keeping it all unified. I think this also will help merge the live-action into the rest of the film. I also want to make the overall colour correction more uniform throughout. 
• Some room/flicker shots I want to move around. For example, I think I may move a shot where the light is flaring to where my grandfather's footage comes in so it feels less aggressive and to add more variation too that part of the film. 
• I tried to keep a 'dip to white' effect as transitions for certain shots such as when I see hospitals I feel dead. Would effects such as RGB splitting be effective here?
• I'm rendering out an additional shot that focuses on the bricks to give some more variation as well as a few extra frames of the gem shot so I have a few more seconds of the gem once it has spiked out if I decide it would be useful.
• I may remove the VR digital glitch effect from the footage I use during when I think of my family I feel longing and I may have that glitch effect disappear from the first shot I use around when I think of happiness I see autumn leaves to show that those are positive feelings.
• Some live-action shots still need some more re-filming work to make them feel more 3D. 

I'm sure there are other things I want to change but I cannot remember off the top of my head what I wrote down in my notebook yesterday during editing. While I'd love to add some more shots to space certain parts of my film out more, I'm trying to not increase the duration of my film too much until I know what the music will be like and where/if I can extend the music.

This still requires a lot of work and changes, but I feel more comfortable with where this is going seeing how I can integrate the live-action into the CGI space. Also after this test I'm excited to see how the sound effects will further embed the glitch transitioning effects and bring the entities to life, although I do think I may reserve the removal of other audio/music effect for just the gem to indicate it's importance and sinister character.

Major Project: Glitch VFX & SFX Tests #2

The Video Copilot 'Twitch' plug-in also comes with a handful of glitch sound effects. I've also been shuffling through some of the BBC Sound FX Library CD's from the university's library. Out of all the CD's I've looked through I suspect the 'Hospitals' one will be the most useful to me although I suspect I'll be using bits and pieces from several discs. However, I need to double check what the copyright is on these CD's as I don't want to get in trouble for using them in my final film if I'm not allowed to. 

Glitch Test 007 - Custom Settings

The above animations feature both VFX and SFX - I used several glitch sounds from the Twitch plug-in as well as a a pulse monitor sound clip from the BBC Sound FX Library. I took the pulse monitor sound effect into Audition and increased the pitch as I felt it was too low originally.

For the first test I have only the heart monitor audio after the gem spikes outward, while in the second one I have extra glitch sounds where appropriate. I want to be sure that I utilise silence and minimal sound in my animation where it would be most effective. I do plan on testing out some crystal-like sounds for this scene as well in the future, this is just a basic early test. I'm looking forward to playing more with sound especially when I begin getting bits of music. 

Major Project: Video Copilot 'Twitch' Plug-in VFX Tests #1

Today I spent some time working with the Video Copilot plug-in 'Twitch'. This plugin helps streamline the process of creating glitch effects and while it contains some presets, you do not get good results for free. Even when testing out some of the presets I often had to re-work them with some custom settings. I found if I did not spend time going in and tweaking the settings, the results were far too extreme or bizarre...but it gave me a good starting point.

Also to note - the footage I used for these tests may not be the final clips (for example - my grandfather's clip), I'm just using my pre-vis to experiment with. Some of the tests below showcase the presets with some tweaks I've made to tone them down and apply them to the shots better.

Glitch Test 001 - Custom Settings

Glitch Test 002 - Color Tearing Preset

Glitch 003 Test - Crazy Man Preset

Video Copilot Twitch Plug-in

This plug-in is a large time saver as it takes all of the settings I would have needed to create good glitch effects and organises them in a more intuitive manner rather than me creating them by creating several pre-compositions and layers. I can choose what aspects of the glitch I want - including blurring, colour/tint, light/brightness, movement of the footage (slide or scale), and time (so the footage jumps forward or backward making it appear jittery). There are also more effects are under different categories, such as RGB splitting under 'slide' - an effect that I think works well for certain shots in my film to bring some colour into the sterile white space.

Glitch Test 004 - Side Swiped Preset

Glitch Test 005 - Bloom Preset

Glitch Test 006 - 360 Spin Preset

I've really enjoyed playing with this so far and I think it will give me really creative and dynamic methods for transitioning between shots in addition to my light flickers. I think it will also be effective for adding greater distortion to more 'disordered' entities in combination with other effects. I look forward to testing this out some more to see what I can do with it.

Major Project: Pre-vis 003

I decided to put together another pre-vis now that most of my footage has been rendered out. I've included some of the shots I've been testing in regards to re-filming live action as well. I tried to take some previous feedback into account and rearranged some shots so the ones that have flickering lights are paired up next to the live action shots to help with transitioning. These transitions very rough at the minute, I will probably edit my film in After Effects later on so I can make some proper glitch effects to help with transitioning.

I also decided to include the music that I used for my Minor submission just to get a better idea of how things meld together. I struggled to edit it when it was pure silence and my voice because everything felt just slapped together, so the addition of temporary music helped me work on it. I feel better about how this is turning out and I think the music will really help the shots sit together. There is quite a lot I still need to work on, but I feel a bit more confident with how things are looking together and I'm very excited to hear what my music composer is going to come up with. I've already begun setting up a few more shots with animated lights so I suspect the duration may change still.

Major Project: Room 004 (w/ buildup) & Brick 001 Composites

Here are two more shots that are now done rendering. I fixed the problems I had with room shot 004 in regards to the watermarks so I'm glad that is now done. I'm still waiting for some final fixes for the opening/closing shot but hopefully that one will be done soon too. For the first brick shot I added a light flicker which I think looks really nice with motion blur added.

I also wanted to include a buildup GIF showing how I go from the raw render to the final composite. I'll re-composite everything again once everything is done rendering so I can be sure everything is more consistent, but I wanted to show the buildup of the effects I add to create a basic composite.

YPGTTO: Composited Shots #1

I've been working on compositing some of the different districts in YPGTTO. I've found it very enjoyable to be putting all of the pieces together - I love being able to see how everyone's hard work merges together. I've so far completed the Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, Bassoon, Violin, Double Bass, and Harp districts. The Horn District is nearly complete then I'm onto the Trumpet, Tuba/Trombone districts, and the Finale. Here is a selection of some of the shots I've put together so far.

 

Each district and shot required different components and techniques in AE - some shots such as The Flute District required lots of clouds for Red to fall through while the Clarinet District needed smoke puffs to come out of the buildings. The Bassoon District had crowds and the transition between the Bassoon and Violin District was a challenge to get seamless as it was made in two different digital sets. In the Double Bass District I had to animate lights on Red as the power cables flickered and the Horn District called for an animated light in the sky. Overall I'm very happy with how these shots are looking and I cannot wait to see the final film.

Dysmorphia: Adjustments #2

I tried messing around with the Motion Blur in After Effects some more again. I think these results are better than my previous two, but I'm still somewhat unsure if it's making any difference and if it does - is it better than my original film without the blurring. I feel I can still see some jerkiness to it but I can't tell if that's just from me looking at it for too long. Either way, if I update my film with some blurring or not I'm happy with the results but I figured I'd post the adjustments I've been experimenting with.

Dysmorphia - Adjustments #1

After the feedback I got in the crit, I returned to my animation to see what I could do to smooth the footage out a little more. Before the crit, I thought I saw a bit of a jitter but I was unsure. I've tried two methods so far, the first one I tried is one that I haven't used before which is selecting the 'frame blending' option in Media Encoder instead of 'frame sampling' in the Time Interpolation setting. I wanted to see what it would do and I actually think it gives reasonable results without drastically increasing the render time.

I also applied the default Pixel Motion Blur effect in After Effects to my scenes, which I actually don't think does as much as the version I created using the setting in Media Encoder. I'm currently rendering out a version of the animation where I adjusted some of the settings in the motion blur, it's just taking a while to render out due to the changes. In the meantime, I figured I'd post these just in case anyone would like to give feedback. Once I find a version I think is smoother and looks better, I'll update the file on my Vimeo page and repost my animation.

Adaptation B: Opening Scene w/ Light Rays Update

This scene has taken me quite a while to sort out and add light rays because it has all of the models being illuminated. I did not add a light ray for each model because when the rays overlap, it looks very odd so I hope that the ones that are added in now look relatively natural/good. Each ray has several layers and masks for the shadows of the model and to prevent the ray from going beyond the areas that it should on the floor. I think it's coming out alright other than a few spots that needs some timing adjustments, but I'd figure I'd post an update just in case something looks off. I'm next going to work on the closing scene as this also will take me a while since all of the models are in that shot and the lights change intensity as well. I'm hoping most of the other scenes won't take as long because there is no animation on how bright the lights are and some of them may not need any light rays if they are close up.

Adaptation B: Testing out VFX - Light Rays & Depth of Field

After correcting some errors I found in my renders, I continued forward to test out some of the VFX that I experimented with previously including film grain, light rays, and depth of field. While I always add a tiny bit of film grain to my animations, I was unsure if I wanted to add light rays and depth of field to my final renders. I'm trying to not dress up my animation too much because I don't think it needs extra flash, it may actually take away from my animation, and if it's too much then it goes against the ideology that I've been trying to follow for the rest of my project.

I'm trying to have it be a pure representation so I'm unsure if these effects would actually retract from the point of it or not. So far I'm pretty sure I don't want the light rays (excluding possibly in some still images for myself when its just a single model) because it feels too flashy and doesn't match the mood of the soundscape. I'm 50/50 about the depth of field, part of me doesn't want it because I spent so much time working with these models then rendering them so I don't want to blur them out but that may make me biased. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Adaptation B: Correcting Light Errors & End Information Font Adjustments

As I was sorting out all of my footage, I noticed a few minor errors in a couple of my scenes. One of my scenes has to be rendered over again, which is my mistake. A few other problems I was able to fix in After Effects. In my opening scene, one of my models was linked up to the lights of a different model as well, causing it to illuminate too early. I corrected this by adding a black solid, creating a mask, and animating the shape and opacity so it didn't illuminate until the correct moment. I've also been trying to decide what font I want at the end, personally I find it easier to read longer pieces of text when they're not in all capitals but that could just be my poor eyesight. I have stills of the different options - the font I used in my playblast, the font that I used for all the other titles/credits in my animation, and that same font slanted.