Miscellaneous - Quintuplets

FX Compositing

As I have mentioned it is extremely difficult to get permissions to acquire various permissions from production companies to allow me to demonstrate different techniques. So the easiest (?) thing was to create my own images and correct them to demonstrate what can be achieved with a little thought and a little bit of extra work. It is easy to see where a good grade is achieved, it is not always so easy to see how something is created. As a bit of fun, myself and my quintuplets got together to watch a film at the local flea pit, or have we? What a handsome group we are!

Many images are a composite of many different facets and elements to create a two dimensional flat image that hopefully works, as we know dodgy effects shots can certainly ruin a sequence and I'm sure we can all name loads. Something to bare in mind is that when creating images from film or another medium they may have come from many different sources and therefore will all be graded differently and have their own specific lighting/colour characteristics. This makes compositing extremely challenging and a true art form.

When a final project is transferred to DVD or another medium, sometimes composites that worked so well for a film production invariably look wrong on your TV at home. Conversion process' and low bit rates can cause problems, as can grading across the composite because it will change the black levels ever so slightly. When you adjust the blacks through out the scene, an edge around the composite may become darker than the rest, it is something that simply cannot be fixed in a grading session.

I hate to admit it but sometimes a harsh grading correction will separate a good compositor from the bad. However I should not entirely blame the creative, the tools they may be using sometimes use a lower than beneficial bit depth across a key or matte, introducing banding and it will look great on an 8 bit monitor the creative may be working on. A lot of these problems do not effect most projects anymore because the equipment is now powerful enough, where nothing less than 10 bit log or 16 bit linear images will be used, so these anomalies do not occur as often.

'Quintuplets' - Final Composition, basic compositing with final grading technique.

The composite was created using my basic home digital camera - a Nikon 8400, which photographed all of the images to be compiled for the composite. As a matter of interest and for my own interest I did not white balance the image at source. Therefore the final images for compositing had a tungsten imbalance which gave the orange hue. I knew that it was going to be graded to look like a film was playing, therefore a subtle day to night.

Secondly there were two passes of imagery recorded. This was to check all of the detail between the two passes and to give me the most flexibility during the compositing stage. The BG image chosen had the projector illuminated in the background, which also made the seating and foreground a lot lighter than the background. You will notice there is a vast difference in contrast between the illuminated pass (projector running) and the second pass across the seating.

For the final composite the background was composited along the radiator edge to give a slight lighting edge across the top of the shelf over the radiator blending down into the darkness off the radiator. Also the other version created a shadow from the stop cock of the radiator that would not have been there. The foreground seats were taken because I felt they would be better during the grade because in the gloom of the theatre there may be more detail. When a compositor undertakes a project they have no idea what is going to happen to the final composite after they have finished. One thing I have witnessed which in my mind is completely the wrong way of working, the compositor sometimes slightly corrects the BG plate. Therefore when it is cut back into the sequence it no longer matches the original shots - of course the composite looks lovely in isolation but the shot now looks out of place within the edited sequence, especially if another compositor works on another scene and does not give the same correction to the BG plate - it happens and can be very noticeable.

Final composite without grading, specular bloom and grain added.

Many shots within a scene are built of many different layers. It is amazing how much detail goes into a scene to make something work. For period dramas, many modern day conveniences need to be removed, signs hidden, even small things such as a light switch being covered. Elaborate films need set extensions, computer generated imagery, blue/green screening and many other tricks which make an FX shot work. Layer upon layer give the shot reality, depth and feeling.

Long before the image ever hits the grading quite, where a multitude of layered colour changes and tweaks effect the sequence and change the whole dynamic - hopefully this piece of fun will give you some idea of what makes a feature film work?