VFX for the big screen

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Invest in a calibrated monitor and a good output solution – 4k for both would be ideal.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Tero Ahlfors]

[Tudor "Ted" Jelescu] “4k for both would be ideal”

But it may be a bit overkill. I have made effects on movie that were shot on 4K but they were never mastered as 4K and they were usually made in 2K or full HD. Also if one does not have a powerful computer doing things in 4K is painful. You need A LOT of RAM if you want to preview large frames and if you’re dealing with uncompressed stuff you’ll need pretty fast disks/SSDs in a RAID.

I’d say that one of the most important thing is to consult with the colorist and how he/she is using the footage because there are a zillion different options in the RED source settings. I try to keep the same settings when I’m doing the effects so I can blend them in better.

[Chris Brett]

— also best do FX before footage is graded —chris—

[Scott O’hara]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the advice so far.

Yeah, I think the 4K monitors would be out of the question, just due to cost, though I know that’s a good idea.

Ultimately the master is going to be 1080p or 2K at most.

So to make sure I understand, the most important part is blending the VFX with color? So would the artifacting and similar issues arise from a bad grade, and not necessarily with the VFX themselves?

I have a separate question about removing objects with AE. If I use clone stamp, etc., I feel like that would become really obvious if you blew that up on a big screen? Any experience with that? Any better tools for object removal?

I’m currently looking for a colourist, and plan on working off the RAW files for that and VFX.

Thanks for the tip on doing VFX before color. What I was planning to do was do a quick pass for white balance, etc. then doing the VFX on the clips, then brining back for final color (the majority of it). All on the RAW files.

Thanks again for the help.

[Tero Ahlfors]

[Scott O'Hara] “What I was planning to do was do a quick pass for white balance, etc. then doing the VFX on the clips”

Don’t touch the colour info at all unless you’re doing an effect that needs that. If you’re dealing with washed out logarithmic stuff you can use an adjustment layer with a cineon converter effect to use it as a preview.

[Scott O’hara]

I was meaning white balance because a lot of wasn’t done while shooting. So I have the RAW data, but some of it may be difficult to see/work with unless some grading is done. (i.e., certain shots were underexposed).

So I was figuring to just do a pass in REDCine or if someone else does it, in Resolve, to give the VFX person something to work off of. Also, if I don’t correct the white balance, etc. at a minimal level before VFX, won’t that screw up their work afterward if I start doing that once the fx are finished?

If I’m wrong let me know and I’ll make sure to do ALL CC after the VFX work including correcting white balance, etc.

Thanks guys.

[Darby Edelen]

Feel free to do some limited color correction on the footage before VFX so that the footage looks consistent but avoid doing any stylized or secondary color correction until afterward. Also you’ll want to color correct any assets that are being added to the footage to match the source’s color.

Beyond that I’d recommend that you use very small blurs on anything you’re compositing in (no real world lens will give you a perfectly sharp image) and add some grain to the composited elements as well.

Honestly AE’s toolset at this point is not the best suited for this sort of work (Nuke’s is better). It can all be done in AE but it’ll be more of a pain. Of course purchasing/learning an entirely new program is likely out of the question but I think it’s worth mentioning that better tools do exist.

Darby Edelen

[Scott O’hara]

Thanks for the advice Darby.

When you refer to CCing the assets that are added to the clips, can you give me an example of what you’re referring to? I’m assume you talking about VFX? Again just making sure I’m not missing anything.

Good call on the blurs. Thanks.

I’ve thought about using something other than AE. I couldn’t, but I’ve spoken with a couple VFX artists who do use Nuke, etc. The biggest issue is cost, being that those people seem to charge more. Maybe I’m wrong there but I’ll keep looking around. I guess it matters more on the experience and ability of the VFX artist than the program, but I know Nuke has a lot more to offer.

Thanks again.

[Tero Ahlfors]

[Scott O'Hara] “When you refer to CCing the assets that are added to the clips, can you give me an example of what you’re referring to? “

Well for example if you’re adding a stock explosion to a clip you’ll need to colour/grain match the element so it doesn’t pop out as an added element.

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Tero had some good advice – match the grain, color and softness of the original footage. Work at 32bit, do not color correct (my advice). If you need any sort of color correction slap a Adjustment layer on top, apply color correction to it, do your work and then turn that off for final rendering.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist