Two key issues that we discussed:
- Relating to artificial lighting in VFX
- Crossing the line and getting away with it.
For the green-screen VFX shot, which took many attempts with masks, key light and rotoscoping, I added an artificial light to try and make it more realistic. This cast a few streaks onto the shot, which I wasn't sure how to get rid of. Kieran said it had to do with the colour bit depth, so I now know how to approach this if faced with a similar issue. In addition to this, Kieran encouraged adding a kind of lighting bloom effect around the mask of Eleanor to increase the realism, something I am going to try. Also, the focus of the shot that the door goes into must be considered, while this wasn't done so in the shot as we were unclear and still testing things out, it could have been achieved artificially in post-production too.
Another one of my concerns was how we would go about crossing the line in the edit. This was planned, but a difficult feat with the amount of coverage we got. If I take on the role of script supervisor for the actual shoots, I know what to look out for now. A suggestion Kieran made to ease the blow of crossing the line was to avoid cutting on action. This wasn't possible due to coverage, but it's something I can again keep in mind for the actual shoots.
Other than this, Kieran made suggestions about how VFX can be made easier during production. For example, on the sink shot, I tracked a mask that I placed along the cellophane in the sink, something that wasn't too difficult to do but I had to make adjustments per frame to ensure its accuracy. During production, if track points (i.e. an orange cross as it contrasts enough with the blue to be visible) are incorporated into the set design, After Effects can find it easier to detect and track.
Finally, a good practice to have is when in Avid, always have an extra video layer for VFX clips. Especially if its an effect that you have applied in Avid, and want to consolidate later on so that it does not need to be recreated in colour grading programs such as Davinci.
Comments