VIEWER PROFILE

TEST OF FINAL POLLY

The beginning of the CGI title sequence starts with the camera tracking forward into the screen of a Macbook, which disintegrates with the previously-experimented-with-Pixel-Polly-effect to unleash a stream, a tunnel of numbers which the camera flies through, and upon emerging at the other end the GCI 3D world made of computer data inside the mac. 

The effect was achieved by making a picture with a solid Chroma green background with two blue crosses on (to use as track points), and then opening up this picture in full screen on the mac. The camera would track forward on an improvised jib-like movement made by pivoting the camera forwards on a tripod with only one leg, right up to the screen. In AE, I took a screenshot from the previous Pixel Polly effect (humorously relevant to this test) and motion tracked the screen using the track points. I then placed the screenshot above the footage as a still layer, added tiny bulge effect (as my camera shoots everything with a tiny fish eye effect) 

I applied the motion tracked data to the still, to attach it as the 'screen' of the computer, and then added the pixel polly effect and a glow. 

In this test, I didn't place the CGI number tunnel or 'the grid' (what I've named the CGI world full of data because the structure is built by long chains of flickering numbers, giving the impression that the camera is flying through a 3D grid, like digital scafolding) behind the shattering screen because it was not relevant to this test - also this way I could reveal the picture used to motion track the footage, as a little BTS bonus.

CALL SHEET ON CELTX

Celtx script writing software doesn't just do scripts, it does 'reports' - another name for calls sheets. As one writes scripts in celtx, any refernce to character, set, location, crew, camera, sound equipment or wardrobe (the list goes on) will be tagged by the writer. While this may seem an unnessicary amount of effort at the time, it pays off later when the call sheet is required. 

By selecting the reports, Celtx automaticly gathers every piece of information needed about the scene into one PDF, summarising the Characters in the scenes, the actors needed to play them, wardrobe, props, sets, and even allows for screenshots or other media to be attached to any of the listings, however in this paticular case only the IMAX tunnels have a Google Earth screenshot as the second location is indoors and thus cannot be seen by satelite.

There is a PDF file with all the data attached, however I do not know how to upload it to this blog - so below is an exact copy of scene one's call sheet written onto the blog post, while scene two's call sheet is screenshotted.

A screenshot of the PDF

PLANNING VIEWER PROFILE

Based on the genre and events of Gaia's Army, and research into what types of people watch similar films it can be gathered that;

Most of the audience will be male

Age will be teenagers or young adults, maybe even adults but not elderly

Genre of the film is action, crime fiction and a little detective. 

The style of the edit so far and the general look of the picture suggests this will fare best as a TV movie, which when combined with the listed genres has the potential to attract a wide age group in the target audience, young adults or teens favouring)

Films potentially watched by the audience; Mission Impossible, James bond series, both Sherlock Holmes films.

Books, the Famous Five series, possibly (for girls) the Nancy Drew series

Other TV; Sherlock, Lie to me, Alias

 

GAIA'S ARMY B.T.S

A screenshot from the Gaia's Army BTS at the IMAX video uploaded to my youtube

'From days 2 and 3 shooting Gaia's Army in the tunnels near the IMAX cinema, Louis and I invite a friend Matt to help crew for us. See the "vlog" shot during the shoot, clips from the twenty minute blooper, a description of the technology we used to record sound and a few regular bloopers - the description for the longer version of the B.T.S. The short version, which the link connects to, explains only the sound technology and reveals a smaller amount of bloopers shot during the vlogging on the set.'

SHERLOCK INSPIRATION

 

After watching last night's episode of Sherlock I was intrigued by the way whenever Sherlock recieves a text the words appear to pop out of his phone. I suggested using this technique in Gaia's Army, first when a computer is syncing with data it should come streaming from the screen to transition into a CGI opening, and secondly whenever the viewers see the all important iPhone the same data should be streaming from it but in lesser quantity.

Unfortunately this idea didn't actually make it through to the final cut - we dropped it last minute.

CELTX SCRIPTING and PRELIMINARY

The screenshot above is from Celtx, free scripting software avaliable for download with a premium version avalible for purchase... I kept with the free one. It formats all types of scripts; theatrical, audio/visual, cinematic,  even novel. I used the cinematic templates to create the script for Gaia's Army which when finished was three pages long (translates to about three mintues). The screenshot above is from the writing of the script for the preliminary exercise we need to complete; this is a simple short clip to demonstrate uses of camera angles, and basic film techniques as a practice before shooting the dialouge in Gaia's Army.