michael rhodes | the blogging years

i have a .com

2009-02-13T13:36:00.002+10:00

And by .com I mean .org.
http://mmkkrr.org/
No content yet, but I thought I'd do a post.

head replacement - breakdown

2008-09-17T13:22:00.001+10:00

As a follow-up from my last post, here is a breakdown of my head replacement video.

head replacement

2008-09-12T22:49:00.002+10:00

Finally, I've completed my head replacement. I originally tried to do this with a different public domain film, but after investing hours into it, I realised that it wouldn't work.

The original film is called Narcotic. Found at archive.org

digital squib

2008-06-06T00:46:00.002+10:00

This is a shot I have been meaning to complete for almost a year. Unfortunately my past attempts didn't work out at all. I think I'm quite happy with this now, I might just be tired and foolish though.

FY Izzle, I created the blood elements in After Effects and then composited the shot in Shake. The music snippet is from the Batman Begins score and I assume it's fair use.

i have returned... with breakdowns

2008-06-02T21:07:00.010+10:00

So, at the insistence of a certain sole blog-viewer, Bella, I have re-encoded and uploaded my reel-thing videos to Photobucket for further image degradation. There are five:

one: eye replacement
music: tera melos - (is good for what ails you)

two: smoke on screen
music: lone wolf & cub - shinguard explosion

three: appear behind
music: falooza - one minute screaming

four: another eye replacement
music: joanna newsom - bridges and balloons

five: filming reel
music: falooza - no more soup

I hope the bands/artists whose music I've borrowed won't be furious. I had to replace/re-edit the 'smoke on screen' breakdown because Photobucket caught Explosions in the Sky in their evil copyright filter! Who knew EitS were THAT popular. MySpace apparently, 1,000,000+ pageview, zomygodfather.

It would be nice to update this blog more, but I really shouldn't make promises.

the only shot in my puppet project that i like

2007-12-03T02:35:00.000+10:00

Well, I realised a month or so ago that I wasn't going to have time to do my puppet project as I'd planned; it was ultimately too ambitious. So, I pretty much got frustrated and totally lost interest in it. Thankfully one of the shots in my totally ridiculous final sequence actually looks good.

That is a 3d background and a real puppet.

mark's nightcrawler task

2007-11-24T21:15:00.000+10:00

Today, I helped Mark with his Nightcrawler task for class and it was fun times! He's kindly allowed me to post it here. Gooood man. Aroo.

Music: Steve Jablonsky - Sector 6 (from the musical score of 'The Island')

vfx 2.3 - the nightcrawler effect - complete

2007-11-20T23:57:00.000+10:00

Well, I am pleased. I have finished my 'Nightcrawler' assignment. I realise the editing could be a bit tighter, but I'm alright with how it is now.

The music is from John Carpenter's score for Halloween III. I believe it's fair dealing because I'm only using it for educational purposes... though maybe I should have credited it in the video itself... oh well I highly doubt I would get a ceast & desist letter.

So yes,

vfx 1.3 - puppet progress

2007-10-28T16:17:00.000+10:00

Well, it turns out that making puppets takes an incredibly long amount of time. Not only this, but the amount of progress you make in this time is less than impressive. Behold!

...there is actually another cardboard body to the left of that puppet, but still, come on, that is so many hours worth of labour it isn't funny.

Coming up next, progress on my Nightcrawler project... perhaps even the completed clip.

behind the laughter

2007-10-23T13:47:00.000+10:00

is video!

2007-10-21T19:52:00.000+10:00

Hey, I know this is a blog not a portfolio, but I feel bad for having two posts with updated versions of the same picture. So this post kind of makes matters worse, but it is a short video clip that I rendered out to see if the composite was convincing in motion as well as in still form. I feel like the character in the background is moving slightly independent to the camera, so I will work on improving that aspect. I am, however, quite happy with the book that I added in to get rid of the blank space that can be seen in my previous post. I have to retrack it's movement though.

I'll try to shake things up a bit and have my next post be about my VFX 1.3 project... no promises though, this project is more satisfying at the moment.

Edit: Egads! The extra compression generously provided by Photobucket makes it look like the background character is a still image. Not the case, it looks better at higher quality, I swear. See, fuck!

compositing update

2007-10-20T23:16:00.000+10:00

I have been busy working on my puppet (see earlier post) project today, so I haven't had any time to work on my composite... until an hour or so ago:

Anyhoo, the other day I decided I would remove the books that were in the foreground on the shot of myself instead of trying to fix the perspective on them. So last night I used Photoshop to add more shirt to the picture and tonight I quickly added it into the comp. You'll notice there is still a blank space underneath the shirt... fear not, that shall be taken care of in due time. I feel like I've gotten the composite looking almost convincing now, but I still think it needs some tweaking. Hopefully I'll get some time to work on it tomorrow.

compositing task w.i.p

2007-10-17T17:09:00.000+10:00

Well after more than a month of inactivity, I have something to post. I should be able to update more now that I'm working on actual assignments rather than just messing around.

Now, today I have been working on a compositing task inwhich we have to create the effect of a person teleporting, specifically, X-men's Nightcrawler. Anyway, I was trying to do it a little (read: a lot) differently than the example, as a result of which I shot the footage wrong and so today have been preparing the composition for the actual effect. It's far from perfect, but I thought I would upload a frame that I quickly colour graded (I was aiming for "Supernatural" with the grade, but I couldn't be bothered checking to see if it was accurate)

colourise test i - update

2007-09-14T00:56:00.000+10:00

Yes, so I wasn't sure whether to post this or not because it's not that different to my original test. Well the main noticeable difference is the skin tones present in the people now... but if you look closely you'll see that I did the rest of the car. Oh, and I changed the colour of the car slightly because the old one was bugging me slightly. I didn't do any of the background because I realised that would be insanely hard and I frankly can't be bothered doing that for something I don't intend on using for anything.

So yes, here we are:

Good times, good times. Subscribe to my RSS feed and check back tomorrow night or Saturday (that would be the safer bet) because I plan on doing a much cooler test when I'm next free.

scientist puppet design w.i.p.

2007-09-12T00:16:00.001+10:00

The project for which I have been colourising footage is going to feature puppets as the actors... this is for a few reasons:

1) No having to recruit classmates.
2) Smaller scale lighting and more possibilities when it comes to sets.
3) Puppets are awesome.

So yes, I've been busy thinking about exactly what I'm going to do, but a few weeks ago I started designing the main scientist puppet and this is what I came up with:

Yes, it probably will be that boxy. Haven't thought about the arms yet, but the legs will just hang and I might not bother with feet (I'll just frame the camera appropriately to avoid them).

colourise test i

2007-09-11T14:00:00.000+10:00

I've recently been working on a technique to colourise black & white public domain footage in After Effects. The reason for this is because I am considering incorperating some public domain footage into a project I'm working on for TAFE. The thing is, the project has to be in colour, hence the need for colourisation. So yes, I'm pleased to have worked out (what I think is) the best way to go about it, and here is my first test:

I'm quite pleased with the results, and I'll finish off the rest of this shot and post the results ASAP. Perhaps finishing it is a waste of time because I don't think I'll be using this shot (it just seemed like a good one to test with), but oh well.

Oh, the footage is from Teenagers from Outer Space. Despite its 2.9/10 rating on IMDb, I think it's a good enough movie. Sure, it's cheesy, but it also has a lot of heart.