Cooking with Scanner Darkly

It's interesting with the highlights... maybe a bit distracting though, I'm not sure. That's really the only thing that looks a bit strange to me. Possibly smooth them out somehow?

How was the lighting set up on the shot? Is it a really hard light? (The key light)
 
tommyinla said:
It's interesting with the highlights... maybe a bit distracting though, I'm not sure. That's really the only thing that looks a bit strange to me. Possibly smooth them out somehow?

How was the lighting set up on the shot? Is it a really hard light? (The key light)
Click to expand...

Key light was a series of spotlights about 20 feet above him (it was a conferance room, with lighting for), back lit with fluorescents. Yes, I just wrote that, and yes, it was a nightmare beyond what any of us should go through.

I actually liked the highlights on his forehead, they came out remarkably defined, seperated, and crisp. Finally.

I also have been thinking that a garbage matte would help tremendously. The background is static, and being able to adjust its properties (and lose the noise) would really help.

Plus, this was put into 20fps. That may make things too stroby for ya, and mayhaps that is bringing some visual issues.. I'm still trying to find a medium point for that.




Larry, thanks for the link, though if you wait the five seconds, you get an error message. It works fine just with right clicking (take that Mac bitches!) so you may want to look into that.

Or not.
 
I love the look... I'm very impressed with this. I think you're getting very close to something amazing.
 
Looking great, Matt. Of course many different looks can be developed to taste. :thumbsup:

I would like to see the 24p dropped to 12p then played out back to 24p, by repeating each frame. Just curious to see how it affects the cartoon feel. Thanks for sharing.
 
Christopher Barry said:
Looking great, Matt. Of course many different looks can be developed to taste. :thumbsup:

I would like to see the 24p dropped to 12p then played out back to 24p, by repeating each frame. Just curious to see how it affects the cartoon feel. Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

As asked for:

http://www.paramm.com/1_12.avi

DivX 4 megs

http://www.paramm.com/1_12.mov

38 megs

Doubled frames.




And at 24P not put into a 20 fps comp.

http://www.paramm.com/1_24.avi

DivX 4 megs

http://www.paramm.com/1_24.mov

38 Megs



I put a couple of new adjustments to the Action, and all the clips have been tweaked in AE, Levels and curves. Both lightly used.


Watch, enjoy, give feedback.


I am this close to getting it. The problem is still the wide shots. If someone would donate some HD footage, I would love to put that to the test. Some nice wide angle stuff to test.

M.
 
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ppl on couch look great. What if you put a layer underneath, turn the opacity down on top layer and delay it a frame or two to give it a floaty look? May help in cartoony look?

Would love to hear details on the PS work....

Great stuff!
 
I would like to take the time to say thanks to all of you who have commented, given advice, and weighed in with all of the great suggestions.

It has helped my refining process quite a bit.

I have now petty much locked the Action, for better or worse. I feel there is nothing much more I can do to it.

All of you have made this small project of mine into something much larger.

Any suggestions or donations of other video clips to be used are welcome. I'm pretty much tapped with what I have. I've done 60i, 30p, and 24p. The content has not always been the greatest, but that is what I had to work with.


I may give the Action straight out, or I may give you all a link to the base Action I started with and let you have your own way with it. It would help if you looked at each step, understood what is going on and why. That way, you can make changes and new actions to suit each shot, and at whatever rez you shoot in.


Peace out.


M.
 
That's awesome Matt.
Looking forward to it.

I've been playing around with FCP & AE- trying to see how far I can get without going into Photoshop and doing frame by frame processing (well, I guess FCP and AE do it frame by frame as well, but you know what I mean). I've got NOTHING that looks anywhere near as good as your stuff, but if I get a chance I'll post a clip later today just to show what might be possible using only FCP & AE standard filters.
 
greeches said:
ppl on couch look great. What if you put a layer underneath, turn the opacity down on top layer and delay it a frame or two to give it a floaty look? May help in cartoony look?

Would love to hear details on the PS work....

Great stuff!
Click to expand...

Did that, and had better luck just slamming it into a 20 fps posterized comp.

The thing is, it's all about the fps playback. The best results so far are shooting at 24p and playing back at 20p.

otheriwse it is too "smooth", and look video-ish.

I would really like the flexibility of having that be a top layer, but with that route, nothing seems to look right.


Thanks though.
 
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