RF Animation LLC » -Film Work

“The Guardian” VFX Supervision

admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:05:25 +0000

This was a fantastically fun project- the opening six and a half minutes of an upcoming John Lyde feature film, completed as a technical proof-of-concept. I had the opportunity to serve as the lead artist and VFX supervisor for BluFire Studios on the project, which was a great challenge, especially since it incorporated over a hundred shots- and the entire project was finished in 160 working hours. That meant getting multiple shots done every available day, all while still maintaining the style and quality we were seeking to demonstrate!

The point of the demo was to showcase speed, style, and quality. Besides completing VFX work in 160 total creative work hours, the entire short was shot in a single day (with a few wire shots done the next morning) on a small greenscreen stage. There are absolutely no sets, locations, or stock footage in the entire short: everything is faked.

The skydiving sequence was by far the most time consuming, since every shot is a unique setup. I created the environment in Maya using camera projections from still photos onto basic geometry, then added fluid clouds. The footage was matchmoved in SynthEyes, which served as the basis for larger camera moves inside of Maya.

Preparing to jump- Environment from photographs taken at an air museum- Click to play

Skydiving- Fully CG environment- Click to play

Skydiving- Maya fluid clouds- Click to play

Skydiving- Fully CG Environment- Click to play

Gliding past CG mountains- Click to play

The fight scene and dialogue portion of the film moved much more quickly. Once a few shots were done, I was able to use them as a template for the subsequent shots. I just needed to do a unique key for each shot, usually in Primatte, position the matte paintings properly, and adjust blurs, levels, etc. as needed. These shots were done at a rate of about twelve a day, on average.

In the final stage of the project I applied a stylized color correction to each of the shots. The skydiving shots were designed to be very warm and saturated, while the challenge in the nighttime sequence was to keep some skin tones in the footage.

Matte Painting Graveyard- Click to play

Stitched ground from stills- Click to play

More ground interaction- Click to play

Slow motion- Click to play

Fight scene sample- Click to play

Final blow- Click to play

Overall, I’m very pleased with the finished result. I think when people see the short they’ll enjoy the look and quality level- even if they don’t know that it was done so quickly and with such a small team! It was a fun opportunity, and I look forward to working on the complete film.

The shots here are displayed with permission and thanks to the kindness of director John Lyde. ‘The Guardian’ is property of Guardian Films LLC.

“Dragon Hunter” VFX Supervision

admin — Sat, 30 May 2009 07:04:59 +0000

Recently I had the opportunity to work as the VFX supervisor for a small, independent fantasy film called “Dragon Hunter”. The project was ambitious, but operating within a very tight deadline. It was a fantastic opportunity to test our pipeline on a large project, which even included numerous shots with a a full CG character (what good dragon film doesn’t?) In the end, we completed a significant number of shots with a team of only three artists. Below I’ve included some samples of the work that we were able to provide to the client. I’ve also created a breakdown of one of the shots in the film.

Dragon charge- See below for video links

Roar

Dragon Hunter – Roar
VFX Supervision, 3D exports, render, composite.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Dragon Charge

Dragon Hunter – Dragon charge
VFX Supervision, 3D exports, render, composite.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Castle digital matte

Dragon Hunter
- Castle digital matte
Work in progress- shot not yet finalled
Created and composited all elements
Digital matte created in Photoshop, elements composited in AfterEffects.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Human Torch

Dragon Hunter – Human torch
Work in progress- shot not yet finalled
Tracking, compositing, and time remapping of flames.
Cast light on actor and environment created in AfterEffects.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Clouded Eyes

Dragon Hunter
- Clouded eyes
Work in progress- shot not yet finalled
Planar tracking of eyes and pupils in Mocha.
Effect and compositing in AfterEffects.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Valley Day-for-Night

Dragon Hunter – Valley day-for-night
Work in progress- shot not yet finalled
Color correction and compositing in AfterEffects.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Dragon Stomp

Dragon Hunter – Stomp
VFX Supervision, 3D exports, render, composite.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Flaming Breath

Dragon Hunter – Fire breath
VFX Supervision, 3D exports, render, composite.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Victory

Dragon Hunter – Victory
VFX Supervision, 3D exports,matchmoving.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Sunset

Dragon Hunter – Sunset
VFX Supervision, 3D exports, render, composite.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Air Attack

Dragon Hunter – Air attack
VFX Supervision, 3D exports, render, composite.
Work for Dragonhunter LLC by RF Animation LLC. Displayed here by permission of director Steve Shimek and Dragonhunter LLC.

Film Work Overview

admin — Wed, 20 May 2009 05:44:16 +0000

I’ve currently worked on over twenty films. My feature film work includes “Forever Strong”, “The Game Plan” (a Disney film starring the Rock), “Age of the Dragons” (starring Danny Glover), and “Lovewrecked” (an ABC Family Original Movie starring Amanda Bynes).

Other films include “Red Riding Hood” from “Grease” and “Blue Lagoon” director Randall Kleiser (a technical demo film that was some of the first film work with the Viper digital camera), “Passage to Zarahemla” from author Chris Heimerdinger, and the LDS Church film “Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration”. I also worked on a Michael Landon Jr. film, “The Redemption of Sarah Cain”.

Due to copyright concerns, some of my work from these films may not be currently visible on my demo reel. Also, it ought to be noted that a few of the earlier films listed here were through my previous employer, Sandman Studios.

Current Filmography

Paladin (2011)

Joseph Smith and the Golden Plates (2011)

Age of the Dragons (2010)

Orcs! (2010)

Snow Beast (2010)

A Root Beer Christmas (2010)

The Maze (2010)

You’re So Cupid! (2010)

Christmas Angel (2010)

Father in Israel (2009)

Dragon Hunter (2009)