VSFX406 Winter 2023
Concept Development for VFX Winter 2023
Week 1: Something Interesting
How could this simple keychain made of a carabiner, paracord charm, and scrap of fabric be the macguffin of a story?
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The paracord is wrapped around an ancient magical gemstone that's being sought after by forces both good and evil
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The cord forces people to tell the truth, like Wonder Woman's whip
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The scrap of fabric is from the victim of a murder, and is the only thing that can tie the killer to the crime
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Week 1: Storyboard
I went with the first idea for my paracord charm. We had to make some sort of storyboard to go with our story idea, so I did a quick 2D storyboard using Clip Studio Paint. It's definitely not my favorite work because it'd been a while since I did anything like this, but overall I had fun with it!
Week 2: Clips
We had to pick a clip from one of the movies that we liked on the list. The instant I saw Parasite on the list, I knew that I had to pick the ghost scene. I love the lighting, the camera work, and the tonal shift as opposed to what led up to it.
Week 3: Changes
We had to change something about the clip that we chose, so I decided to look into making it similar to older black and white films. In particular, Kenji Mizoguchi. He used a lot of continuous shots, as well as dark lighting and nature or scenery shots. Notably, the scenery shots were usually silent. He also focused on human suffering as a story telling element, so he definitely fit the bill for a movie like Parasite. I went ahead and edited some frames of the clip, deciding to axe the high up shot, and add an outdoor shot with some foreground foliage silhouettes.
Week 4: More Adjustments
I changed up the setting to put the two characters in a bamboo forest, conversing while they are unaware about the ghost/man in the shadows behind them. I did this because it is very in line with Mizoguchi's style.
I then assembled the video and synced it with the audio and subtitles.
Weeks 5 and 6: Ideation
I've decided that I'll be hopping on the Kafkaesque project with a few others from class. This project will follow a bug going to work, inspired by Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I was in charge of doing some previs for the bathroom, which is one of the scenes that we'll be using.
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