Diabolus Domi - A Freekstorm Entertainment Production

Nice work on the CG effects!... I know it takes alot of time, good job man. The only thing I know that helps sell the shots is to add a little bit of movement to the scenes with the CG element.. The little bit of motion blur really makes it come alive... but then you have to use a matchmove program which will add even more time spent.
 
Character animation is a ***** and I applaud you for taking it on. I'd suggest next time going ahead and running the scene with someone (or even yourself) playing the part so you can use it as a timing reference (key framing without timing references often generates "slo-mo" movements. Just put the footage in the background of your viewport as a reference after you set up the character. You don't have to try to match the reference character.... just use it to get the major timing of limbs etc. down.

Anyway, I enjoyed this and can't say enough for putting in the work to create it. I hope your little actress had a ball making this!
 
Dauntless said:
Nice work on the CG effects!... I know it takes alot of time, good job man. The only thing I know that helps sell the shots is to add a little bit of movement to the scenes with the CG element.. The little bit of motion blur really makes it come alive... but then you have to use a matchmove program which will add even more time spent.
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Thanks for watching and the suggestions. I was behind in the rendering so I had to disable motion blur or it would still be rendering now?

I'll remember that for the next time.
 
Mark Johnson said:
Character animation is a ***** and I applaud you for taking it on. I'd suggest next time going ahead and running the scene with someone (or even yourself) playing the part so you can use it as a timing reference (key framing without timing references often generates "slo-mo" movements. Just put the footage in the background of your viewport as a reference after you set up the character. You don't have to try to match the reference character.... just use it to get the major timing of limbs etc. down.

Anyway, I enjoyed this and can't say enough for putting in the work to create it. I hope your little actress had a ball making this!
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I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I did a lot of reanimation to prevent either slow-mo, or super fast animation problems. The suggestion about having an actor do the parts is a good one. They did something similar in District9 so I'll be trying their technique in the future.

Thanks for watching.
 
I couldn't even imagine trying to do the kind of cg work you did for this. Obviously, it's not perfect, but since I have no idea how to give you pointers on it, I'll just say congrats and keep on working at it.

As for the other elements, one thing that bothered me was some slight camera shake in the opening scene outdoors, especially in the close-ups on the object. There's also a black frame at 1:21.

The first shot of the sink sits too long for me with nothing happening. If we were panning or dollying slightly I wouldn't care, but as is it gets a little boring.

This was an ambitious project, and you completed it, and that's awesome. I'm definitely excited to see you grow as you get more experience.
 
Like everyone else said, mad props for doing the CG. Its tough to make something look good when everyone is used to seeing Lord of the Rings graphics! I'm sure you have a much greater appreciation for hollywood effects that most people do!

My suggestion for making the monster more realistic would be to make twitchier movements. Some parts he is moving at a constant speed so it kinda looks like he is hovering in space or something.

But yea good job on doing the CG, I tried to learn maya once, but gave up!
 
Well done! I know nothing about working with CG and I usually don't like to see it in horror films, although I felt that you used it in a way that works. I think that the look of the monster works well since the two lead characters are both children. It added a lighter tone and made the film more fun. Good job! What did you use to create the CG monster?
 
Hey Richard, fun film! YOu did a great job on the 3d monster. That must have been an undertaking I have visited you blog/site in the past so look like your making great improvements with every new film. The initial shot of the monster appearing got a good shock from all the womine watching with me in the living room. Excellent CG work, I thought at times the monster was a bit too clear, and that took away some of the mystery from him, also as far as scale is concerned he seemed smaller then human size, not sure if that's what you were going for. YOur little actress was excellent, what a cutie. When I first started watching I thought, "how in the heck did that kid pull off that accent", then it dawned on me that that's her natural voice LOL!

I bet that was quite an undertaking doing the motion tracking, matchmoves and integrating the special effects, so you get extra credit from me just for attempting that. I look forward to your future productions: Good Work!
 
jasonthewho said:
As for the other elements, one thing that bothered me was some slight camera shake in the opening scene outdoors, especially in the close-ups on the object. There's also a black frame at 1:21.

The first shot of the sink sits too long for me with nothing happening. If we were panning or dollying slightly I wouldn't care, but as is it gets a little boring.
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Thanks Jason. The shaking was due to the gale that was blowing. The tripod was weighted down and it still wobbled :)

I didnt notice the blank frame. Thanks for pointing it out.

Glad you enjoyed it.
 
mrcheapyasui said:
My suggestion for making the monster more realistic would be to make twitchier movements. Some parts he is moving at a constant speed so it kinda looks like he is hovering in space or something.
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Thanks for the comments. He does kind of glide, getting good movements was much harder than I anticipated, but I learnt a lot, so next time I should do a better job.
 
kennethhurd said:
Well done! I know nothing about working with CG and I usually don't like to see it in horror films, although I felt that you used it in a way that works. I think that the look of the monster works well since the two lead characters are both children. It added a lighter tone and made the film more fun. Good job! What did you use to create the CG monster?
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Thanks Kenneth.
The monster was created in Mudbox from a basemesh. It was then moved to Softimage for rigging, animating and rendering.

I cheated a bit and used locked off cameras. That meant I didnt have to matchmove. I did create a virtual set which was measured to the real set and used that to get accurate virtual camera placements so that all the movements would correspond to the real world and actor positions.

I hadnt done any of this before so it was quite a thrill when it actually worked!
 
TMerry said:
Hey Richard, fun film! YOu did a great job on the 3d monster. That must have been an undertaking I have visited you blog/site in the past so look like your making great improvements with every new film. The initial shot of the monster appearing got a good shock from all the womine watching with me in the living room. Excellent CG work, I thought at times the monster was a bit too clear, and that took away some of the mystery from him, also as far as scale is concerned he seemed smaller then human size, not sure if that's what you were going for. YOur little actress was excellent, what a cutie. When I first started watching I thought, "how in the heck did that kid pull off that accent", then it dawned on me that that's her natural voice LOL!

I bet that was quite an undertaking doing the motion tracking, matchmoves and integrating the special effects, so you get extra credit from me just for attempting that. I look forward to your future productions: Good Work!
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I'm really glad you enjoyed the film. The monster was scaled so that it would fit with having kids in the film, and who says that a monster has to be big to be scary and dangerous :)

Thanks for watching.
 
Very ambitious film! Although the character was obviously CG, i bet you had a blast making this film with your children. it's something I'm looking to do one day.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing your next film.

cheers!
/j
 
Perfect film for a monster fest. You had some nice shots. Really like the opening sequence in the yard with the wind and leaves.

I can appreciate the work involved in the CG monster. Looked really cool. However, for the film as a whole, I think it would have been better served with a real actor in makeup playing the part. The monster looked cool, though.

Always love to watch entries from across the pond. There's always a certain something about them that's different then the stuff here in the states.

Good job. Thanks for sharing!
 
You're CG creature was cool but it didn't fit in with the real world as in it's looks, but still really cool! And when showing it from shoulder to head it floated instead of walking. Where are the parents by the way? At the beginning of the film when the girl was skipping around it almost looked like it was sped up a bit? You're lightning fx weren't too bad. You're editing was pretty decent as well as camera work, but good job for doing a one man crew. So when the girl sees a big scary monster she doesn't run, but crawls and hides in a corner? Man If I were her I'd be screaming and running for my life. But this one was pretty cool, again, definitely a monster film for your CG creature.
 
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Once again, a really good entry from you and your family! The opening scenes are great - lovely colours and framing, the tyre swinging in the wind, the little girl's feet running across the screen. Great acting by her too. Not sure if the sparks added much. Compliments for the CG although as others have said it doesn't work throughout. The first scene of your monster in front of the mirror does work very well though. Big brother doesn't really look scared enough when he turns to face the monster. I really like the framing of the bottom of the stairs with the arched doorway against black (at about 3.12) but I think we really needed to see the little girl move into it more - the way you have cut it now she sort of appears like a ghost. Just a few more frames at the start would have done it since we just catch the silhouette of her shoulder at the beginning. The little girls scream doesn't quite convince either. The score was good throughout. Great job overall on a very ambitious project.
 
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