Zoidoid's Adfest Entry

[Zoidoid]

=7.31.07=
Done! Hooray! Good luck to everyone participating, and congratulations to everyone who pulled together an entry!

=7.24.07=
Rotoscoping by hand isn't much fun, as it turns out.

=7.18.07=
Small teaser effect for the short. This is not finalized, of course, and is subject to change. In fact, the graphics have been altered from the version that will appear in the commercial due to spoilers. This is my first time compositing an effect. This was accomplished primarily using After Effects. Unfortunately, the video looks highly compressed and not nearly as sharp as this screenshot which I grabbed from After Effects (using Print Screen). Any tips on how to create a really nice and sharp small render?

Click the image to see the footage...
http://www.bonesrattle.com/tageslicht818/motrack_dvxuser.png (http://www.bonesrattle.com/tageslicht818/motrack_dvxuser.mov)
http://www.bonesrattle.com/tageslicht818/motrack_dvxuser.mov

=7.17.07=
We did end up shooting this past weekend. I havent had a lot of time to sit down with the footage and do any serious work with it yet, but my overall impression is that it went pretty well! Still, I won't rest easy until it's finished. There are quite a few tricky bits that still need to be tackled. Here's a screengrab from the work-in-progress. I'll slowly post more non-spoiler stuff as the deadline approaches.

http://www.bonesrattle.com/tageslicht818/Shot2.png

=6.27.07=
I've been spending most of my time working on the storyboards and shot list. There's a lot of information that needs to be fit into a thirty-second spot, so every shot has to count. There are at least three major effects shots. I say "major," but I imagine they're only major to someone who is as utterly new to this as I am.

Last night, I worked up a test of the most important effect and decided that it looked good enough to confidently say that the concept for the short is viable. I would post a screen shot, but it would give absolutely everything away, of course.

Some music has been written and recorded for the short. At this point in time, it's just a piano piece -- something to keep in mind while planning out the rest of the short to make sure that the two coincide well. Eventually, the piano piece will be given a proper recording in a friend's home studio.


=6.21.07=
I wanted to create a thread here to declare my intention on participating in AdFest. The more I tell other people about it, the more I'll be motivated to do it. If I don't produce anything, then this will be the perfect spot for everyone to properly deride me.

Updates forthcoming, of course, but who knows when!

Oh! I forgot to mention that the short will feature big bright red balloons, which I think is exciting.

[Larry Rutledge]

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/501/1182449378.jpg

[Brandon Rice]

99 Red balloons?

[Zoidoid]

99 Red balloons?

Well, that was the idea. I just spoke to the producer and he said that ninety-nine red balloons is outside our budget. We're cutting back to .99 balloons and hoping that, with the help of computers, it won't diminish the impact.

[Barry_S]

Welcome to AdFest, Z. With a team of animators and $10,000 in matchmoving software you should be able to knock that $50 of balloons down to $2 (lead balloon + understudy). You might also want to consider balloon rental.

[gabrielflorit]

are you going to feature a singer-songwriter from sweden/argentina doing a kylie minogue cover? is kinetica a tv??? :)

[Zoidoid]

First post updated with progress! Reading over it, I sound like I'm making an awfully big deal out of what is objectively a pretty small project. Still, when you're as inexperienced as I am everything looks like a big project.

[cinealma]

First post updated with progress! Reading over it, I sound like I'm making an awfully big deal out of what is objectively a pretty small project. Still, when you're as inexperienced as I am everything looks like a big project.

Believe me, you're not. I'm stsoryboarding the shit out of mine and trying to figure out how I'm going to make ONLY 30 seconds. Hang in there.

[TowerFan]

Good luck Zoidoid! I'm glad there are a few noobs to the fest like myself. This is a great one to cut my teeth on and I can't wait to see all the entries. Keep on shootin'!!!

[Zoidoid]

Filming tomorrow! I would be completely excited, only I'm quite unprepared. So I'm half excited and half nervous. I'm going to be running around like mad after work today trying to get things prepared. There are still two or three effects shots that are only theoretically possible at this point. I'm hoping to run some quick tests this evening to make sure they're feasible. Wish me luck.

[Zoidoid]

Updated first post with a new tidbit of information.

[Jutberg]

nice still! looks great

[Zoidoid]

Updated first post with an effects clip!

Thanks Jutberg!

[rawlikesushi]

zoidoid - nice effect!!!!! this will be my first entry coming up too!!! can't wait to see everyone's ads!!!

[Gulroc]

The visuals look great Zoidoid. Good luck.

[Zoidoid]

Thanks for the compliments, guys. Still a lot of work to do in the next five short days...

[Zoidoid]

It's finished. It's been uploaded!

I'm so pleased to have finished this short. At a few points during its creation, I was afraid that I had bitten off more than I could chew. Definitely looking forward to everyone's feedback!

[cinealma]

It's finished. It's been uploaded!

I'm so pleased to have finished this short. At a few points during its creation, I was afraid that I had bitten off more than I could chew. Definitely looking forward to everyone's feedback!

Good job! Hey, I feel that way MORE than a few times during projects.

[TowerFan]

Congrats on finishing Zoidoid! Looking forward to it!:beer:

[Jaime V]

Hey Zoidoid...nice effect and congrats on finishing!

[Jutberg]

Charming spot, I chuckled at the exact same time as the guy in the suit. I enjoyed how that worked

[Jason Ramsey]

This one gave me flashbacks to a messed up time in my life when I had watched Vanilla Sky (I know). Let's just say, I wasn't in 'normal' frame of mind. I watched that movie, didn't think much of it at the time. I slept that night, and it was just all over my brain, and I woke up thinking about it.

Well, for whatever reason, your spot took me back to that time in my life and for that reason, I say kudos. I also had a similar reaction. It felt well done when I watched it the first time, and that was about all I felt. But, then I kinda felt the need to go back to it, and have watched it several times since then.

This one was complete. It was creative, unique, audio narration was nicely done. Calm and subtle, yet descriptive and meaningful. And, the music fit nicely as well.

Kind of a complex premise, yet told simply and professionally.

In my list of 5 possibilities.

Thanks,
Jason

[John LaBonney]

I thought this was an outstanding commercial. I really enjoyed the concept, and especially liked the ending sequence where he catches the balloon and smiles. Very cute. Good music and narration.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Easily one of my favorites so far. Excellent work!

I loved everything about this one.

Mike

[Brandon Rice]

Really cool ad... VFX were well done, and it had a lot of style... the VO wasn't good for me however, I just didn't like the voice... but otherwise, fabulous! Definitely in my top 5.

[LynchMob]

The effects were really solid and the ending was great.

[Zoidoid]

Thanks very much for the comments and critiques! I'm very pleased that some of you liked it. That's quite encouraging. :)

[macgregor]

I just watched this ad. Very nice. I´d like to know a little bit more how you achieved the kinetica teleportation device FX.

[Dmitry Kichenko]

Me too.

[deedive]

one of my favorites

[cinealma]

One of my favorites in the fest. Inventive. I liked the thing you did with the balloon. Very clever. VFX were good. A nice ad. The only thing that "bothered" me a little bit was that he made the "doorway" open up on/in front of a wall. My first reaction was that you were showing off a device that helped people walk through walls. I was confused for a bit until I realized he was up on a roof. I would have opened up the teleporter in open space.

Great job!

[CarlSpackler]

This is definitely one of my favorites. Congratulations on being one of the few people to make a commercial. I hope folks take into consideration the objective of the contest when voting. Call me old fashion, but I thought the point of a commercial was to inform a potential buyer the benefits of a product. I count a total four that do this and yours is one of them.

[JOE BLO]

This was great. In my top 3 for sure. Congrats.

[Zoidoid]

I just watched this ad. Very nice. I´d like to know a little bit more how you achieved the kinetica teleportation device FX.

Thanks macgregor! This effect is really not much different than, say, replacing the image on a television. The only real difference here is that we need to make sure that we preserve the screen's glare and that the thumb ends up on top of the composited footage. So this took three steps:

- Motion-track the footage of the remote being used. The only problem here is that the device was all black and so had no points of high-contrast for motion tracking. So I added four small white stickers to the surface. I motion-tracked those points as indicators of perspective and position and used it as corner-pinning data.

- I quickly rotoscoped the thumb and used the data to create black-and-white matte.

- I drew up the replacement screen graphics in After Effects as well. Imported it into the footage, and corner-pinned it to the plane defined by the four white points (which were edited out). Then, I applied the black-and-white thumb-matte as a Luma Key that told the overlay where NOT to draw. This made it seem as though the thumb were on top. Finally, to preserve the glare of the screen, I just chose "screen" as the blending option for the layer. This basically preserved the brightness of the glare.

I was looking around for a quicker way to do this and apparently there is one. Imagineer Monet looks remarkable:

http://www.imagineersystems.com/products/monet/

They have videos that demonstrate how this effect is achieved.

[krestofre]

The use of the balloon was brilliant!

Great ad.

[Zoidoid]

Thanks again, everyone, for the feedback and comments!


One of my favorites in the fest. Inventive. I liked the thing you did with the balloon. Very clever. VFX were good. A nice ad. The only thing that "bothered" me a little bit was that he made the "doorway" open up on/in front of a wall. My first reaction was that you were showing off a device that helped people walk through walls. I was confused for a bit until I realized he was up on a roof. I would have opened up the teleporter in open space.

Great job!

That's interesting! A friend of mine suggested the same thing. You have a good point, here. In my mind, the portals that the system generated had to be projected onto a surface. But, of course, none of that is ever explained or described. So I got used to thinking of it in this way and, stupidly, didn't consider the confusion that might cause. Thanks very much for the comments! So glad you liked it.


This is definitely one of my favorites. Congratulations on being one of the few people to make a commercial. I hope folks take into consideration the objective of the contest when voting. Call me old fashion, but I thought the point of a commercial was to inform a potential buyer the benefits of a product. I count a total four that do this and yours is one of them.

Thanks! This was actually tricky for me, because I'm much more likely to think up interesting situations and circumstances and THEN adapt it to the task at hand. So I tried to make up for it by making sure that the voice-over clearly states the advantage of the product. Hopefully, people watch this and think "That gives me an idea of another cool thing you could do with this device..."

[DannyDarko]

Great entry. I think it's one of the best I've seen of the bunch. Maybe it was answered elsewhere in the thread, but for the last shot of the balloon being caught, did you just pull it down out of frame and then play that footage backwards?

Also, just because I'm a curious sort, how were you allowed to post BTS footage and stills of your product before the entry came out? Everybody else tended to post rather cryptic images of what their product might be, but you clearly show the device on the main update thread.

[Blaine]

I thought you did a good job on this. Definitely one of the better ones. And I agree that the use of the balloon sold it.

[TowerFan]

Hey Zoidoid. This was a really great spot. I've always been facinated with the teleportation concept. Pro caliber shots with VFX that really sold the concept. The balloon gag really tied the shots together too. Made total sense to me.

Can't say I have any serious crits other than the roto of the thumb over the pad. I did some roto on ours as well and it's not easy. Very minor, but I just think the seperation is a bit sharp.

Excellent work Zoidoid. You got one of my votes. Thanks for sharing.

[Tom Marshall]

Great job on this. In the beginning, I was thinking... OK, what the hell's with the balloon?? Which is a GOOD thing because the viewer will pay attention to the rest of the ad to figure out what's going on. And the shot of the guy grinning at the end was a great touch. :)

[Zoidoid]

Also, just because I'm a curious sort, how were you allowed to post BTS footage and stills of your product before the entry came out? Everybody else tended to post rather cryptic images of what their product might be, but you clearly show the device on the main update thread.

Thank you for the compliments! As far as the BTS shots go, I don't think that they even gave the slightest hint about what the product actually was. I was careful to change all the text on the footage so that it revealed nothing. From the shots I showed, Kinetica could be any generic electronic device. I doubt anyone would have guessed "portal-opening remote control." Plus, I think the real product here was the portal itself. If there were complaints, I would gladly have taken the stills/footage down.


I thought you did a good job on this. Definitely one of the better ones. And I agree that the use of the balloon sold it.

Thank you, Blaine! I tried to make sure that there was some sort of a payoff for watching. Seeing as though this was my second attempt at filming something, I knew that a lot of people (*coughs* Dougspice! *coughs*) would beat the crap out of me in production value and quality of images. So I wanted to make something conceptually engaging.


Can't say I have any serious crits other than the roto of the thumb over the pad. I did some roto on ours as well and it's not easy. Very minor, but I just think the seperation is a bit sharp.

Excellent work Zoidoid. You got one of my votes. Thanks for sharing.

Yours was one of my favorites too! I tend to lean towards cool ideas above all else. But then again, I would, wouldn't I? Also, you're not the first to comment on the sharpness of the roto -- definitely a mistake I won't make again.


Great job on this. In the beginning, I was thinking... OK, what the hell's with the balloon?? Which is a GOOD thing because the viewer will pay attention to the rest of the ad to figure out what's going on. And the shot of the guy grinning at the end was a great touch. :)

Danke! Glad to hear that was your reaction, because I really wanted the whole thing to be set up in a sort of question/answer fashion. Even in little ways like "Ah. A shot of shoes -- Who do they belong to? Now he's removing something from his coat -- What is it?" Etc.

Loved your bit in Cinealma's short, by the way! I thought it was definitely some of the funnier stuff in Adfest :)

[Gord.T]

I was looking for more serious commericils. Teleporting loses me.
Looked nice, liked the bridge in the background. Decent VFX.
Not something I can visualize as being a commercial.

[Michael_Petro]

how much are one of those things? i could use one.... nice job

[DannyDarko]

As far as the BTS shots go, I don't think that they even gave the slightest hint about what the product actually was. I was careful to change all the text on the footage so that it revealed nothing. From the shots I showed, Kinetica could be any generic electronic device. I doubt anyone would have guessed "portal-opening remote control." Plus, I think the real product here was the portal itself. If there were complaints, I would gladly have taken the stills/footage down.


I looked back and read the rules:
Films may only be promoted on DVXuser.com before screening and no actual footage from films may be screened prior to the DVXuser screening...

It seems like an unfair advantage to have been the only one who got to show footage from their commercial. Maybe I'm the only person who thinks so though, in which case, I guess it worked out just fine.

[Zoidoid]

I apologize for crowding this thread up with more discussion about the rules (especially so late in the fest), but I don't want to cause any unwarranted concern. I was operating under the following statment:

"Filmmakers may not reveal what the logo/brand represents in their commercial before the spots are screened. This applies to frame grabs, BTS stills or footage, and posted messages. Filmmakers may post any of the above as long as it doesn't violate this rule."

So I did. I posted behind-the-scenes footage that didn't violate the specified rule. The sequence I posted was a work-in-progress showcasing an intended effect. Before the film was finished, that entire sequence was re-done from scratch. It turned out to be similar, but if you'll look closely, the job is different. Not to mention that I specifically changed the graphics to make sure nothing was given away. I assume this is fair under the stated rules for promotion. If you'd like to further discuss this, perhaps you'd be willing to do so in private or with Larry and Barry? I'd rather this thread not become a technical dispute -- but instead keep it to feedback about the film. Cheers!

[Barry_S]

Two points here from AdFest Central :). First off--I think Zoidoid followed the rules as they were intended. Second, the main point of not revealing the product was to give us all the pleasure of seeing the angles and products for the first time when all the films screened. So the intent of the rule was more for the overall enjoyment of the reveals rather to prevent any competitive advantage. I also don't see anything that Zoidoid posted as giving him any unfair advantage. I realize that everyone may not interpret the rules exactly the same, but I think the fest is pretty fair.

[Aaron Marshall]

This was a magnificent commerical. I really liked this one. The balloon really pushed me over the edge. I thought the voice over was great too.

Very cool!

[Christopher Barry]

You have one of my votes. I would like to see the Kinetica logo a little longer.

[Norm Sanders]

I think the VO was PERFECT as it had that future sounding effect (if that makes any sense at all). Very calming & refined.

As for the balloon, someone asked, but I didn't see the answer ... was that a referse shot (i.e. the ballon is pulled out of frame? I didn't think so, as it didn't look like the string was tight, but I wasn't really looking for that. What I did notice (only when frame advancing) was that the actor slightly shifts his eyes to his left (our right) for a brief moment, like he's seeing someone's command/signal to close his fingers on the string. If that's the case, I'd imagine that shot had to be taken several times, lol, for potential misses, etc.

I think everything in this was simply amazing. I love it. I also think there's a really killer story line that could be pulled from this for a feature film! Would LOVE to be able to write a feature script from this, or have one written & then make it!

Lastly, what camera/set-up did you use to film it? I noticed the final was delivered in 29.97 interlaced, so I'm guessing not a 24P camera?

[Zoidoid]

You guys have been very generous in your compliments. Greatly appreciated -- it's very encouraging!



This was a magnificent commerical. I really liked this one. The balloon really pushed me over the edge. I thought the voice over was great too.

Very cool!

Thanks, it's fun to hear compliments about the voice-over because it was the last thing that went into the commercial (close to the deadline) and I distinctly remember thinking that it was disasterously bad!


You have one of my votes. I would like to see the Kinetica logo a little longer.

I agree with you! I wanted it to last longer myself. Unfortunately, the dolly shot through the portal ended up lasting much longer than I originally thought it would. After I tightened things up a bit, I was still about a second over and decided to take it out of the logo.



As for the balloon, someone asked, but I didn't see the answer ... was that a referse shot (i.e. the ballon is pulled out of frame? I didn't think so, as it didn't look like the string was tight, but I wasn't really looking for that. What I did notice (only when frame advancing) was that the actor slightly shifts his eyes to his left (our right) for a brief moment, like he's seeing someone's command/signal to close his fingers on the string. If that's the case, I'd imagine that shot had to be taken several times, lol, for potential misses, etc.

Actually yeah! It was shot in reverse. The problem here is that the day was EXTREMELY windy. In the first shot with the balloon, you can see that it's being blown all over the place. So this shot ended up being a little bit of a nightmare that required a lot of tweaking in post to make it acceptable. Basically, we just straightened a clothes hanger, wrapped the ribbon around it, and dropped it off the side of the building. The problems where (1) it dropped WAY too fast (2) it hit his hand on the way down and (3) it looked too "stiff" and rigid after being caught. But I was able to massage some of these problems in After Effects.



I think everything in this was simply amazing. I love it. I also think there's a really killer story line that could be pulled from this for a feature film! Would LOVE to be able to write a feature script from this, or have one written & then make it!
It's lovely to hear that! Thanks very much. Actually, the whole "portal" idea had been kicking around my head for a while as a short film -- well before I had ever picked up a camera. However, being massively inexperienced (this is my second attempt at putting together a piece of film), I didn't want to try something too ambitious from the start.



Lastly, what camera/set-up did you use to film it? I noticed the final was delivered in 29.97 interlaced, so I'm guessing not a 24P camera?Yeah, this is another lack-of-experience thing again. I wasn't really sure the best way of creating a 24p film when working between Premier and After Effects. So rather than screw with the frame rates at the last minute (having done no research) and mucking things up, I just went with the default. It was shot on a Sony HDR-HC1. The whole "interlaced" issue is a bit elusive. I mean, each individual frame looks de-interlaced to me (I'm thinking this was somehow done by accident when I processed each shot in AE). But when I finally exported it and then compressed it with MeGui, it got encoded as interlaced. I really need to look into this whole workflow issue before working on anything else.

[Norm Sanders]

Without understanding the NLE you cut on (I cut with Sony's Vegas), that portal issue could easily have been shortened (the dolly shot), by simply adding a velocity envelope and/or speeding up the footage some. I'm guessing you could have sped it up as much as 15-20% without too much noticeable difference, and or REALLY cranked it up for a second or so, then SLAMMING to slower motion. That way, you're exageratting the effect, but stylizing it so it still looks cool & saves some time as well (i.e. a second).

[Zoidoid]

Norm -- Yeah, you know, you might be right about that! I had briefly considered speeding it up, but then I quickly thought "I can't really do that because the guy on the other side of the portal would be walking too quickly and it would look silly." But then you mentioned doing it in a sort of stylized fashion and that may have worked if handled properly. One of the disadvantages of working alone is the lack of input and discussion. I need to learn to experiment more and not just stick to the "original idea."

[Norm Sanders]

Hindsight; it's always 20/20. You'll forever learn what you could have done differently, wished you had, and then apply it to the next project.

That's one of the coolest things about all of this ... continually improving.