Intro & Tutorial Overview

[00:00:00] Hey, this is Aaron from Cantina

[00:00:00] Creative. Today in this tutorial, we'll

[00:00:00] be going over how to use Adobe After

[00:00:00] Effects for feature film compositing.

[00:00:00] Let's go. Here is a before and after of

[00:00:00] what we'll be making in this tutorial.

[00:00:00] Let's go back in time to set up our

[00:00:00] example scenario. We've been approved to

[00:00:00] start work on a VFX shot for a feature

[00:00:00] film. We've had a call with the VFX

[00:00:00] supervisor who has relayed important

[00:00:00] information about the shot and the

[00:00:00] collaborative vision of the director and

[00:00:00] the production team. Here's an example

[00:00:00] of what we could have been looking at on

[00:00:00] that call. It is an editorial reference

[00:00:00] clip, which is our first look at how the

[00:00:00] shot plays out with temp graphics and

[00:00:00] rough set extension work already done

[00:00:00] quickly by the editorial team. This

[00:00:00] reference will be used for lots of

[00:00:00] things. It will be used first to help

[00:00:00] with bidding so that we know the total

[00:00:00] length of the shot and the amount of

[00:00:00] work needed to complete it. It will be

[00:00:00] used for testing our color pipeline. It

[00:00:00] will also be used for timing of any

[00:00:00] animated elements or even to double

[00:00:00] check the sync of multiple VFX plates.

[00:00:00] In our case, the newscaster element that

[00:00:00] we'll be adding. Here's what was

[00:00:00] discussed on that call. The shot needs

[00:00:00] extension work. Unfortunately, it was

[00:00:00] filmed without a green screen, and the

[00:00:00] director would like to have a window to

[00:00:00] the outside world behind the actor to

[00:00:00] really open up the scene. We need to

[00:00:00] replace the graphics. The onset playback

[00:00:00] graphics are no longer being used, and

[00:00:00] we need to add several 3D objects. some

[00:00:00] CG astronaut figures and a few CG books

[00:00:00] to fix some continuity errors with other

[00:00:00] shots in the scene.

[00:00:00] The director would also like to see

[00:00:00] something in the foreground like a plant

[00:00:00] in the lower screen right to help hide

[00:00:00] the busy area of the frame and add more

[00:00:00] depth to the scene. They've also

[00:00:00] requested that the shot feel a bit more

[00:00:00] atmospheric and moody without any

[00:00:00] specifics on how they want to do it.

[00:00:00] With all that info, let's take it away.

[00:00:00] To conquer this shot, we'll need to 3D

[00:00:00] track the plate, selectively roto

[00:00:00] certain regions, then start layering in

[00:00:00] the set extension elements, screen

[00:00:00] graphics, newscaster footage, and 3D

[00:00:00] renders of the astronauts and books

[00:00:00] before we can add some finishing touches

[00:00:00] to bring the shot to life. We'll be

[00:00:00] speeding right through some of the

[00:00:00] topics like roto, knowing that there's

[00:00:00] already a plethora of tutorials out

[00:00:00] there. I've intentionally made this

[00:00:00] tutorial using almost all effects that

[00:00:00] come pre-installed with Adobe After

[00:00:00] Effects. However, I do use Video

[00:00:00] Copilot's FX console, which is a free

[00:00:00] plugin to speed up the application of

[00:00:00] effects. The only other thirdparty

[00:00:00] plugin used is for degraining the plate,

[00:00:00] and that's called Neat Video Reduce

[00:00:00] Noise. Let's begin.