Week Three

Daily logs arranged newest to oldest.

9/27/24 - 9/30/24

Due to Hurricane Helene, the power in most of Savannah is out. My apartment is out and has been out for 4 days so far. Because of this weather, my group has done its best to make progress but is definitely behind schedule. Over the past couple days here is what we could accomplish.

I continued to work on the shaders I had been working on and animated them into a turn table to better see them. I continued to tweak them a bit. In addition, I was able to hand off early versions of the shaders to the FX team so they could be tested on the actual sims. I also created a quick new salt flake shader to be used for the salt flakes added to the simulations.

Below is a current turntable animation.

In addition, I was able to set up a pipeline file for shot five that Aaron and I will be passing back and forth. I set up a camera and also added a light to begin testing out shot five. We decided we want to add frost to this shot in order to make the freezer really seem like a freezer. We have been debating adding other frozen items to the freezer but I am worried it will be distracting and clutter up the shot. It is a question I need to ask the mentos going forward.

Asset wise, I had to remodel the pint model I had previously found because once testing with the plastic shader, I found that the model's mesh was not cooperating. It has half a million polys when testing it which would have also slowed down render time. I also had to remodel a bit of the lid model due to the same reasons.

I also went into photoshop and created the Talenti logo texture that will be added to the pint model. Right now I am having issues layering the plastic shader with the logo png so that is a problem I need to tackle beginning next week.

Lasty, Alice and Drew have been able to throw together some quick comps for our updated sequence. This includes some quick comps of the CG background that Alice has been working on.

Below is the most up to date shot sequence.

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9/26/24

Today we went on set again to do reshoots. The biggest thing we needed to focus on for reshoots was the mentor advice about our opening sequence. We used the storyboards I created in the previous day's log to go off of.

Reshoot Day Shot List:

• Shot 1: For shot 1, we reshot three different versions of the shot in order to have room to move things around and to see what works the most seamlessly. This shot can now act as either an establishing shot or can be put after shot 2 as an insert shot. We shot these versions:

  • Close up shot of just the actresses hand and the screen

  • Medium shot of the actress's hand and screen

  • Wide shot of the actress's hand and screen

• Shot 2: The establishing shot, shot 2 was reshot for the sake of consistency since shot 3 had to be reshot.

• Shot 3: In this shot we changed the pacing of the actress. We had her react at the ingredients coming out of the computer screen a little longer but then had the time she reacted to them flying over her head be shorter. We then filmed the actress staring off at the ingredients fly away for a longer period of time so that the FX ingredients can swirl from her head right towards the camera and go past the camera in slow motion.

• Shot 4: This shot was also redone. There is now only a slight pan and not a full kitchen pan. The closing of the freezer door was also done more exaggerated to clarify that the ingredients shut the door behind them to avoid any confusion based on professor feedback.

• Hero Shot: On this reshoot day, we also shot photographs of the gelato to act as an added shot at the end of the ad to really make the gelato shine. We plan on adding animated text to this shot and getting a motion media major involved. We photographed two variations:

  • A single gelato

  • Three gelatos

Hero shot variations.

During reshoots we also took new HDRI's as well as took new lighting diagrams for me to use when lighting the shots.

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9/24/24

Today we had our second meeting with the mentors from the Mill in which they gave us feedback on our progress so far for our Talenti commercial.

Summarized feedback:

• Story and process is starting to work.

• Rework how do you get those different ingredient elements into the real world. How do you go from real life to fantastic. How does it progress? Just a little more hint to the motivation and effect.

• Mentor was lost in the cut between shots 3 and 4. Focus on the effects and allow them to lead into the transition? Re work the shot placement or meld a shot better together.

• Make sure to emphasize the ingredients in the sequence.

• Shaders look great.

Our group plans for reshoots this Thursday at 4:30 in the same location with the same actress. After these critiques, I reworked the introduction sequence as seen below.

In this revision, I've reconsidered shot 3. Our critique was the work on a better transition from the real world to the fantastical aspects. We already included a puff of wind to add that. We are also going to be added a flash of light from the screen as the ingredients fly out of it. In addition, we will be adding a glow to the FX as they first appear on the screen to better integrate the light.

In addition, shot 3 and 4 have been melded together. Now, instead of a close up shot happening with a wide kitchen shot in the background, the ingredients will fly from her head and shoot towards the camera, getting really close. The background will be blurred as the ingredients get closer to the camera. After that will be the shot of them slithering into the fridge.

For this new version of shot 3 and 4, I am specifically referencing the Mill's Lindt commercial in which the chocolate ball flows through the air, getting really close to the camera and then flying farther away.

I also drew up another variation of this shot rework. This sequence is almost the same besides the face that shot 1 and 2 are switched. Shot 1 would now have swirls of chocolate begin to form on her computer screen. The actress would have a small reaction to this, then the ingredients would start to come out of the screen. This is an added layer of how we could make the transition from real life to fantasy even more fluid. The only issues I currently have with it is the flipping back and forth between angles. It may look too jumpy in a cut.