What I will do for my own work

I don't really know how I'm going to do for my own work as my live action is already filmed because l want to use a video l filmed in Florida 2009 of a marching band in Magic Kingdom, Disney World. However my second choice (my backup plan) will be l film out side my house, a actor walks out side my house and walks past the camera and the little teddy bear is under the car, next to the wheel and walks after and dances along the street. The camera will be behind the bear then will do a 360 turn and swing round to be in front and watch the bear dance while walking along the road. 

History of Visual Effects - Then and Now

The history of visual effects all starts off with:

- The very first film ever made using real life action was 'Leaving the Factory' by Lumiere Brothers ~  ln the time it was made (1895) there was no words just action, there was no story to the movie, just a camera that kept filming as people (mostly ladies) was exiting a factory building.

- The level of film making raised when George Melies started; he was "father of special effects". He experimented with all his films to see what he could create: he would film something, rewind the film and film something else on top of what he already filmed. He realised he could use 'magic' in a film when he was filming a car and the camera cuts out. 

- One of his famous films: which was the first science fiction movie ~ A trip to the moon: 

- Early techniques was filmed against a black background

From around 1902 to the 21st century film makers would use the techniques like: 
- Glass shot
- Negative matte painting
- Black background
- Matte painting
- Zoptics
- Blue or Green screen
- Rear Projection
To create their films, they would use mixtures of different types of techniques for example: King Kong (1933) had a mixture of use from Matte Paintings to Rear Projections to the simple case of using models in the distance and close up shots as live action. where as glass shot technique was used in Star Wars however the disadvantages with this technique was that the camera had to be kept still with the glass shot painting lined up exactly the same with the rest of the set, if not then then when filming it and them coming to the time of watching it, the set and the glass shot would be placed wrong and would be able to notice it really badly in the film, Star Wars also used Blue screen in episode Vll. 

Till this day they still use some of these techniques like:


- Blue or Green screen
- Rear projection
We notice these techniques in any movie/TV show - 

Even King Kong (1933) used a Rear Projection Technique. 

Blue And Green Screen examples: 

The rules with Blue screen and Green Screen: 

Green Screen:

• Can shoots outside (with green background) will affect the filming
• Best to film during the day.
• You get a cleaner colour, however there will be problems when removing the green with chroma key specially around the the close edges

Blue Screen:

• Better to film at night.
• Can remove the blue within the close edges unlike Green screen. 
• Don't use Blue screen if the actor is wearing blue, wear the opposite colour to the background screen.

Not only is there a background there is a technique called Green actor replacement - (green suit man). Basically this technique is a actor in a green suit to help the real actor know where they are looking and where they should be talking to e.g. If they need to be looking down the green suit actor would be on the floor. 

They have to film the scene twice because if they shoot the scene then chroma key removal the green suit actor out they are left with a black hole, so they need to fill that gap by composting the two shots they have filmed and placing them on top of each other. 

Andy Serkis is a great example of being a green actor replacement because he takes the job seriously and really gets into character: he specialised in films like Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, King Kong...

He really is amazing!

Some work he has done:

Now a days its all CGI controlled, there is no hand paintings anymore only computer generated. They still use actors to capture the essence of facial expressions, emotions and acting. 

Comparing Mary Poppins (1964) to Avatar (2009) the techniques of creating a movie has changed massively, with Avatar during them filming they watched it back and could view it in the 3D world which there was nothing like that with Mary Poppins it was more the case film and watch it al back. 

                                          

                                         

Above are some great video clips of how the creators of Avatar made the film, still using the actors for acting and how they captured every emotion and feeling within the actor to the character. This shows how films will be created in the future, theres no more old school Matte paintings or any techniques like that which involves artist's having to hand draw. 

Things I found in Paris!

I went to paris for a week but I still looked out for some research. This may be some pointless things and irrelevant but I still find them interesting because its part of the animation industry. 

I saw this room which was unfortunately looked. But its a set up of green screen with a camera, computer.

The art of Disney Animation:

I fell in love with this show/ride/shop/look around.

they had so many things about Disney's first few short films including: The Skeleton Dance. One of the main things that caught my eye in that room was the Multiplane camera!! I was so happy to see this! I would involve this in contextual studies because this is how Disney started off he used the Multiplane camera to create Snow White & The Seven Drafts!

Some other animation pictures:

Matte Painting Shots

Mary Poppins used the old technique of Matte Paintings to add additional buildings/extras to the scene in the movie. 

Here are some great websites l have found on Google which examples Matte Painting:

- http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/mary-poppins-supercalifragulous-visual.html

Some things from the website above (^) that caught my eye and really interested me: 

The writing under the matte images of the scene images says "The beauty of the sodium vapour travelling matte system is the ability to matte such fine object's as diaphanous material such as the veil on Mary's hat with perfect results and almost no annoying fringing. Disney borrowed this technique from Rank Laboratories in England and it was to be a mainstay on almost all Disney features involving travelling mattes up until the late 70's often to exasperating levels where in some shows like "Herbie Rides Again" and "Island at the Top of the World" it is used in virtually hundreds of shots - often when it wasn't even really needed".

^That is crazy knowledge to know. This took a while to understand but after realising what it meant, its a real shock to know and I find it fascinating because they had to be so creative and clever with these techniques, they had no CGI computers to use. - They had to do it the hard way which is why I find it so fascinating.

- http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4qF5AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT767&lpg=PT767&dq=mary+poppins+matte+shot&source=bl&ots=QFaLZ1i4qE&sig=3JTrSvTq8cDQLWCD_VKXQitaZVA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=j7MRVLH3KJDsaPzCgfgO&ved=0CE0Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=212&f=false

^ Again I am using "Techniques of Special Effects of Cinematography" the book really has some good useful information.

Videos on YouTube explaining how special effects was made for Mary Poppins l personally find them so intriguing because you see clips in the video of the original drawings/planning's. 

This video is a clip of the movie getting a oscar for the visual effects in Mary Poppins:

^ I thought this was interesting because it does seem like the original footage and shows that they film got a oscar for the visual effects. - thought that was pretty amazing. 

Making of Mary Poppins going to through the sets with Richard Sherman. 

- This video shows you clips of how they filmed scene's using just the actors and props but blocking the background out with black. (1 minute 45) < this explanation scene.

Also with this clip you get the original images of how they worked together creating the film, and images of music sheets: 

Bit of Chroma key compositing:

My Bed Sheet Green Screen

The most exciting aspect of making videos, at least for me, is incorporating visual special effects. Ever since I started making videos for classes, I’ve yearned to do compositing, or chroma key. Even if you haven’t heard of chroma key, you’ve probably seen what it can do, either in the latest big-budget blockbuster or while watching the weatherman point out a front rolling across the Midwest. Basically, chroma key involves filming an image, usually a person or people, before a screen of a uniform color, e.g., blue, green, or, in the case of the movie Mary Poppins and some other Disney movies, yellow. A matte is used to screen out the blue, green, or yellow color so that the original image is superimposed upon another below it, whether it be space-dwelling aliens or a map of the Midwest. The two images are seen as one. 
^ - The website I found this piece of information from: http://www.aallnet.org/mm/Publications/spectrum/Spectrum-Online/making-movies.html


Chroma key in the movies actually dates back to before the second world war, with the 1940 release The Thief of Baghdad earning praise for its use of the technique. Vlahos refined the technique, using it for Ben Hur and Mary Poppins. He received a special award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science in 1964 for his work on the system.
^ - The website: http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2013/02/19/chroma-key-pioneer-petro-vlahos-dies/

useful youtube videos

This video is a explanation of how Disney used techniques to create Mary Poppins.

This video is from the dvd of Mary Poppins itself - bonus footage: 'The movie magic of Mary Poppins'

they explained: 

- stop motion

- film a piece then re-winded the video (table and chairs)

- wire action (for the actors)

                                      

Sodium vapor process

I have Googled 'why did Disney use yellow screen' which then lead to: How does Mary fly in Mary poppins?" The answer was pretty clear to read down below - 

I then Google imaged "sodium vapor process" which I got a few great images involving Mary Poppins too. These diagrams tells itself it is pretty easy to notice what this technique does.

 Image above shows a fantastic example of how it is explained by images. 

I found this from a book on Google - "Techniques of special effects of cinematography": 

This explains from sketches to filming with the sodium vapor process technique to the final screening:

The website:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4qF5AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT384&lpg=PT384&dq=why+does+disney+use+yellow+screen&source=bl&ots=QFaLZ1gapG&sig=B-qCN4qDlbHyBna2IceAxoKYwnM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=D64RVJD8CNHaaoXrgPAO&ved=0CFwQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Seeing what I can find on Google about Mary Poppins

I Googled 'What techniques was used to make Mary Poppins?' and a list of results popped up however I clicked on the first one which was 'Cartoons in Live Action' and I got a download of a presentation, which unfortunately could not get the link so I screen shot the page instead.

Below is what is in the presentation about Mary Poppins: 

The basic knowledge of Mary Poppins

The basic story of Mary Poppins:

• Film was based on the authors childhood. P.L.Travers. She was a total daddies girl, her father meant a lot to her; not only was he a banker, he was also a bad alcoholic. 
• When her father died she took his name. She was originally called Helen Lyndon Goff but changed it to Pamela Lyndon Travers.
• Mary Poppins is inspired by P.L.Travers great aunt: "aunt sass" which her real name was Helen Morehead. 
• During the world war two, she finished writing Mary Poppins and gave copies of the book to her family and friends as christmas presents. 
• It then took walt Disney 20 years to persuade P.L.Travers to sell the film rights for $2million, as he made a promise to his girls that he will turn the story into a film. 
• P.L.Travers was very defensive and protective over her Mary poppins.

I got information from these websites, picked out the important bits from each website and wrote it together as bullet points: 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2666835/The-real-Mary-Poppins-PL-Travers-story-Aunt-Sass-unconsciously-inspired-famous-nanny-published.html

http://mentalfloss.com/article/51926/story-behind-saving-mr-banks-starring-tom-hanks-walt-disney

http://www.themainstreetmouse.com/2013/12/16/who-was-helen-lyndon-goff/