Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Chinese Takeout-Behind the Scenes

OK, back to business. No more posts about sub-par beer dispensing devices. In today's installment we will look at the hotness that is After Effect's Keylight 1.2.

Now of course, I don't want to give too much away of the new Boardlord's video, "Chinese Takeout", but here's a taste with a few production stills. Believe me, the best is under lock and key until the video is done.



Exhibit A kinda has a "Blade Runner" feel, doesn't it? But I assure you, it's the skyline of Shanghai, not Los Angeles circa 2019. Maybe I need to add more random explosions and spinner cars in the background.

Exhibit B shows you how nicely Keylight works.



Look how wrinkly my green screen was. (Not to mention the Pug) I gotta steam that thing or something. But with just a few tweaks in After Effects, I managed to produce a nice key. And I'm sure someone more competent could rock this way better.

Hi, I'm a Mac.
I'm a PC.
I'm a dog in a Chinese takeout container.

Yup, you gotta love the white infinity screen.




So the biggest stumbling block I've run into lately is the transition to High Def. (If you consider HDV High Def) I mean, it looks great, but it brings post production to a crashing halt. Trying to render sixty seconds worth of motion graphics on my old G5. (I've got one of the last PowerPCs before they made the Intel transition) Forget it, I had to tweak the settings big time, and even then, it takes a looongggg time. It's worth it though. I want to get as far away from SD as allowable. Well, like I said, thank God the song is only sixty seconds long. That's it: From here on out, no music videos longer than a minute.

Alright, break is over. Time to keep working on this project. When the video is done you'll hear about it (and see it!) here first.

3 comments:

Stamford Talk said...

My attention span was too short to follow that technological stuff, but that pug is outta control cute!

Anonymous said...

Back to 1979-80 and visit a scene from Boogie Nights...zoink...

FLOYD
That's right, Jack and by that
same token, you're the one with the
power here. The video revolution
is upon us -- and our role is critical.

We have an obligation to use our resources and talent to help make it fly --

JACK
You come in here, at my party, tell me about this and that -- tell me about the future, tell me about -- video and amateurs and
all that -- well lemme tell you something now:
I will not shoot films on video and no I will not loan out my actors who are under contract to me. Period.

FLOYD
Wait a minute, Jack. I'm not a complicated man. I like cinema. In particular, I like to see fucking on film. I don't want to win
an Oscar and I don't want to re-invent the wheel -- I enjoy simple pleasures like butter in my ass and lollipops in my mouth.
That's me -- call me crazy, call me a pervert, but this is something I enjoy. One other
small thing I want to do in this life is make a dollar and a cent in this business -- I'm not
trying to hurt you. I'm trying to help you stay one step ahead of the game --

JACK
True film fans won't watch that shit. It doesn't look good and more importantly it doesn't make sex look sexy.

COLONEL
It doesn't have to look good, Jack.
Film is just too damn expensive. The theaters are already planning
converting to video projectors.

JACK
I haven't heard that.
FLOYD
It's true.

Scott Forbes said...

RE: Boogie Nights:

"There are shadows in life, baby."