All posts by Shuang Lyu

Mise-en-Scene analysis

Film Language

Fantastic Mr. Fox-Chemistry

In this scene, there are lots of chemical supplies, such as, test tubes with colorful liquids inside, test tube holder, breakers, alcohol burners, fire extinguisher, and different glasswares. Some notebooks and pencils are on the foreground table. In the background, there is a molecular model on the table. Chemical posters are all over the wall.

All characters are wearing goggles. One of the foxes is wearing dress so the audience know that is a female character. She also has a little bit of makeup on her face. She has eyeliner and longer eyelashes. The other two foxes and another animal characters are wearing male clothes. That’s how they are anthropomorphic in this animation.

There are two groups in the laboratory. In the first group, the male fox has a serious look on his face with a breaker filled with boiled liquid in front of him, he is writing something on the notebook and left hand reaching out to the female fox next to him. The female fox’s hands are overlapping on each other. Obviously, the female fox is the male fox’s partner in this laboratory. The male fox is doing a chemical experiment and the female fox is supposed to pass anything the male fox needs to him. The female fox keeps looking to her left side. And in the next shot, the male fox in the second group looks to his right side. Although they are not in the same frame, they definitely pay attention to each other. After a small explosion in the second group, they have eye contacts and talks to each other. Behind the female fox, the male fox which is her partner is rolling his eyeballs. He is very unhappy about his lab partner appreciating with the other male fox, instead of doing a proper assisting job for him.

This animation is more high key and has warm tone across the frames. Mosts shots are eye-level shots. Four shots are closeup, which is when the female fox and the male fox in the second group having a conversation.

Nuke – Week 05

Nuke Term 01

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I did some color correction in Nuke for this video I shot on snow mountain. I tried to make it look like an old camera filter. Unfortunately, I was unable to upload videos or GIFs up here, so I just got some screenshots from the work.

Progress Breakdown

First of all, I exported the MOV to EXR files and imported them. Then, I used Keyer node to extract the highlights from alpha as a mask to the ColorCorrection node, so I could add warm tone to the highlights. I also used the same way to add some green to the shadows to make strong contrast of warm and cold.

I enhanced the contrast overall, and created a vignette around the corners. I used the Ellipse Tool in Roto node and created a Grade node to mask from the roto shape, therefore, I could only apply changes to the area I masked out. Lastly, I added some grain to the video to make it look vintage.

Maya – Week 05

Maya Term 01

We learned how to paint a customised bump map from a texture image in Photoshop.

Firstly, I created a black and white adjustment layer. And then I put up the contrast and blurred it. Next, I cleaned some grey noise with Dodge Tool. It basically just make the area you painted overexposed.

In Mudbox, I created a plane and imported the bump map I just painted in Photoshop from Add Stencil button. When I double click on the stencil I imported, I could start to sculpt it from the bump stencil.

Next, I imported the diffuse map to paint the colour with Paint Brush Tool.

We also used the bump map which was painted in Photoshop to make the brick wall in Maya.

Maya – Week 04

Maya Term 01

We learnt a new way to create models, which is using curves and evolve from the curve shape to a polygon.

First, we drew half of the outline of the object we want by using the CV Curve Tool in the front view. And then revolved from the curve to create the polygon.

So I got a bottle like this, I was able to adjust the shape of the model by moving the curve point.

I created a plate in the same way.

We also created a curtain shape using the CV Curve Tool. First of all, I drew the outline and duplicate it, and moved it to the top. Next, I used the the Loft tool under Surface tab. I was still able to adjust the shape by moving the curve point.

Final Render

I realised that it’s very important to have lights from different direction, otherwise it would be too dark in this scene from inside.

We also learned how to paint texture in Mudbox. Before that, I modelled the fireplace in Maya, and exported as Obj file. And the brought it into Mudbox.

In Mudbox, We need to import the displacement and the diffuse of the texture photo from the add stencil button. The texture photo will be overlapped under the model. And then I started to paint over it.

Analysis of the Music Video

Film Language

In the music video of ‘Speechless’ by German DJ Robin Schulz, it tells a story about a guy who falls in love with a girl at first sight. But no matter how hard he tries to do everything he can, the girl will not belong to him eventually.

The opening is a medium wide shot which shows the audience that it happens in a small restaurant in India. The music drops until one of the servers turns up the radio. I was impressed by how the music starts with the interaction of the radio. As the camera moves up, the protagonist yawns with a tired and bored look. However, everyone else is so busy with preparing the food. In the next shot, the protagonist serves the food with the same tired face, and the customer is unsatisfied with his attitude. I can tell that he is tired of his everyday life.

As the chorus of the song comes, the girl shows up in front of the protagonist as a customer. He stops his work and stares at her for a few seconds, and he just keeps looking at her. It tells the audience that he is attracted to this beautiful girl at this moment. He gets up to stand on a table and is ready to do something to draw her attention. At the same time, the drop part comes. He tries to impress her in different ways, but it doesn’t work. And then a bunch of people come out to dance with him in front of the girl as the best part of this song arrives. The good news is that he finally gets the girl’s attention. She is surprised and a little bit awkward, and then she laughs. 

Unfortunately, the girl is about to leave in a very unique way. A rope ladder drops from the top, she climbs on and flies away with the helicopter. This is the outro of this song. In the end, the protagonist is speechless to see that. It’s an exact interpretation of the lyric “You left me speechless.”

I’m comfortable with the composition of the shots, some of them follow the rule of third, some shots just put the object in the middle, but it’s well balanced. However, I think some shots are not in a good composition. For example, there are some closeups of the girl in the middle of the music video, there is too much space on the left part of the screen.

From the costumes and props, we can tell that it is a cheap and fast local restaurant in india. It looks simple and rough, nothing fancy in this environment. It fits the protagonist’s current mood and situation. When the girl shows up, I can feel that they are so different from each other. She has makeup on and is well dressed, but the protagonist looks more poor than the girl and he is just a server in this small restaurant. Their worlds are completely different.

The narrative makes me both happy and sad. It shows how two people who live in two different worlds will not be together eventually. Sometimes no matter how hard you try to get someone or something, they will not be yours. I love how every action in this music video interacts with the music. It not only tells a story but also explains the emotion of every part of the song.

Maya – Week 03

Maya Term 01

We learned how to make a realistic CG bread in Maya, including Modeling and texturing.

Firstly, we created a high-poly sphere , and then use the lattice tool under the Deform tab. It’s important to mention that the sphere needs to be created from Platonic Solid with cube primitive selected. I spent some time on figuring this out in the beginning.

With the lattice, we were able to drag the lattice points around to modify whatever shapes we want this sphere to be. This is how the bread’s shape were made.

Secondly, we need to apply texture to the model. So we cut and sew the UVs in UV Editor.

After I corrected the UV, we moved on to apply the bread textures. I learned hoe to use Sculpt Tool to sculpt on the model to modify the shape and make it look not flat.

Next, we need to create a loaf from the copy of the first bread we made. I created a high-poly cube and place it where I want the loaf to be cut. And then I used the Difference Tool from Boolean under the Mesh tab.

After I cut the UV, I applied another texture to the front mesh of the loaf.

Sometimes we will need to modify the photo of the texture in Photoshop to match with the UV, that makes it easier to align the UV in Maya.

I used the same way how I cut the loaf with the Difference Tool to create this slice of the loaf.

Lastly, I created a plane and applied wood texture on it. I put everything together and rendered out in Arnold renderer.