Evaluation

After producing both an in-camera effect and a digital effect I found that I appreciated the traditional process but enjoyed producing the digital effect much more due to it being less time consuming and less limiting. Although the in-camera effect was fun to make and required a lot of research and thought, it just doesn't stand up and look convincing on screen. I found it quite challenging to come up with a good idea/ technique to produce as to produce a storm in-camera it would normally be better to go film an actual storm on location.

When filming the in-camera effect I found it challenging to get both the water vortex and the background in focus at the same time due to the water and the bottles distorting the background. When I uploaded the footage I did a small colour correction on ‘Adobe After Effects’ as the bottles we used were green and this did not make the tornado look convincing so I colour corrected it to a grey/ blue hue to make it more atmospheric. When thinking up the idea for the in-camera effect  I found it challenging to find a successful idea that would work on film and it was a good lesson in time management as I should have spent more time on the in-camera effect and given it priority over the digital effect. If I had more time to perfect this I would have spent more time experimenting with different techniques of making the water vortex and also figure out a way of having the background and foreground in focus. It would have been interesting to also add ink to the water and see what effect it gave when the water was moving through the vortex.

When producing the digital effect I found that using the existing footage we filmed then adding simple effects like rain and lightning along with sound really made the footage more atmospheric. I found that using the sky replacement was a tricky technique to master and also cutting the different footage together to make an interesting composition with the right feeling and also adding sound was an interesting process to go through. If I had more time to perfect this I would have made the digital rain more convincing by making it less white so it would blend more with the overall image.

As this was a group project it helped develop communication skills and helped me understand how to work on a practical project like this with other people.  The project helped me to experiment a lot more with traditional media and techniques and also helped me develop my cinematography skills further such as learning more camera angles, soundtrack, foley and lighting. Altogether I found this module very challenging and very different from anything I had previously done. I believe all these skills will come in useful in future as thinking up a digital solution is not always the best solution to the problem as many traditional techniques look much better.