Showreel 2009

Here is my showreel, showing my capability in compositing and rotoscoping. I hope you like it.

Showreel 09 from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

Crisis - Turning Back video

Here is the final version of the Crisis video "Turning Back", I hope you enjoy the video and please send any feed back if possible to my e-mail address (Top right of your screen). Thank you for following this blog. Daniel Chirwa


Finished Crisis - Turning Back from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

Motion graphics created

Motion graphics:

The clock

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qXV8B988OjI&feature=related

After looking at this website i found it to be interesting as it connected with crisis lyrics. From there i decided to create my clock that speed through time using expression.


Clock from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

These website that helped me think of other motion graphics that i could include:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WqmB2y02n3I&feature=related

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=K8yUJLAzKY4&feature=related

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IaJfTo4pN04&feature=related


The Newspaper






Newspaper from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

The Map Shot


Map shot from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

Intro Sequence


Intro shot from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

The edited 'Turing Back'

The edited 'Turning Back' from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

I apologise for the bad quality, as the better one is around 2 GB and counldn't be converted

Shot break down (Rough vs)

Here is a video of my shot break down of the seamless scene that I have created to be inserted within the crisis music video. I apologise for the speed of the break down, but will hopefully change this video for a better version.


Shot break down(still not finished) from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

Adding Textures

Advancing from the tests I decided that the link was achievable and I started to add texture to the floor and the surroundings scene object.


Texture Adding from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

Link 2D with 3D

This test was to show the perspective of the Boujou camera towards the castle house camera. To show this i textured the ground floor in a check board texture to show if the distance is correct between the castle house and the reporters. Also it was to see if the linking will flow by blending the two scene cameras together.


Moon shot from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

All 3 Shot Test

Ok I’m back with some tests, combining all 3 scene cameras movement to be linked together to create a seamless shot. As this was a test for the camera movement I have not inserted the scene objects to fill the environment around.


All 3 shots linked together test from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

Linking test

This is the first test of all three scene linked together. I have still have a lot of work to do with the castle, which i intend to finish in a few days. The reporters at the end are 2d animated and composited to make the scene feel linked, however in the final shot the reporters will be tracked onto the castle floor.

Here is my Link test:


Linking test 1 from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

Tracking test

I have finally got my tracking to look right. I had a lot of problems with making boujou understand the geometry of where the floor and wall were. The calculation of the track was not in the correct place and instead produced a point cloud (the tracking points) to spread everywhere and unclear in 3D space.



Here is a side shot of my boujou track:



I did tried to set specific geometries where I knew a flat surface will be, but unfortunately I still couldn't get a good enough data of the scenes’ floor. I then decided to take the tracking into XSI to see what result I can achieve from that information. After a lot of trial and error I finally found a place where objects seemed to stick and feel as though they are in the scene.

Here is a test of some objects that have been placed around in the green screen room with some reporters:


Tracking test from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

From doing this test, I understood that the reason why boujou did not understand where the geometry was set. This was mainly due to lack of information within the green screen room. What I mean by this is that the scene needs more objects to identify the edge and also the prospective when the camera moves its position. So overall, if I had to re-shoot this scene I would recommend placing square boxes around in the green screen, to not make the tracking program get confused. Hopefully now I will be able to link this tracking with my castle scene to make the shot feel seamless.

Keying test

Ok, so again I have been realy busy with linking the movement of the camera, which moves through a window to connect to an 3d enviroment. I will later post some videos of what i have acomplised already.

This video here was a test to see how easy it will be to key out the green, from the footage and also to creat a realistic shadows for the characters. As this was a test i quickly keyed out the green and duplicated the footage, orientated it to create the shadow. I understand that the background is not sized correctly. The reason for this is that i will not be using a flat 2D image. Instead I will be using 3D texturing, such as a bump map, to hopefully create the illusion of the people actually standing on a loose ground floor. Also I colour corrected the compostion just to see if the video works well if to be linked with crisis looking out of the window.

Here is the keying test:


Keying test from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

My next step is to track the the green screen footage to an 3d enviroment, as this will be linked to the court yard house and crisis look out of the window shots.

Rotoscoping & Relection research

Ok here's a photo of crisis looking outside of the window. I have put a city background just to show the roto has worked and make it feel as though as it is real. For my final shot for this scene i will not be using the background picture as seen here.



The reflection research









This is an close up shot of the reflection that is underneath my arm.

Window Shot & City view research

Test 2D flying through the window from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

City view reseach

House development & lighting research

I have actually been working hard and had no time in putting up the process in creating a camera projected house.

Here is the original picture, which I took from the start of the music video.



From this picture the next step was to manually place a 3D camera into the exact same position for when the photo was taken. By doing this process you receive the right dimensions for each of the building. Obviously there are some buildings that may not have a straight edge. In my case I slightly moved some of the points to match the model to the picture.

Here is a screenshot of the building a 3D scene from a photograph.



As you can see from the picture above the house roof is slanted slightly. This is what I had to change, as this house seems to be old and deformed.

Here is screen shot of the photograph being projected onto the 3D model as a texture.





As you can see I have added some bump map (displacement map) on to the texture to really make the building come to life and look realistic. I have had some problems with the displacement map as there is not enough information for the rock walls to stand out. In this case I will have to matt paint of where I would want the rocks in the wall to stand out. Hopefully should be done soon and make the scene look more realistic.

Lighting research

I conduct some research into how a moonlight scene would be lit. Here some artists and movies where they show the contrast between light and dark.



Artist view of a dark moonlight scene



Schaeffer Wyeth moonlight painting



Taken from the film Noir



Taken from the film Noir

Previs

I have decided to create a previs for my main effect shot, as this will allow me to plan each shot easily, think about the camera movement within the sequence and also think about timing of each shot. This effect shot is going to be constructed, by implementing different types of media and techniques. This particular shot will contain live action footage and 3D surroundings.

Here is a video of my effects previs:


Previs from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

So the idea of this shot is that the camera travel’s out of the window tilting upwards to capture a moonlight shot. Then the camera pans and tilts downwards past a court yard house to see some reporters taking photograph.

To get the feeling of the how this shot will consist within the video and the music. I have created another previs but containing some of the videos footage and the music of Crisis.


previs with sound from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

Next I will be showing the development if the building the 3D surrounding that are going to be shown in this sequence.

Paris Map

Sorry I have been away for so long. I have been working on my major shot of a camera flying through a window and tilting downward to see some reporters taking photographs. But having problems with getting the reporters footage so.... i have reverted into make a motion graphics 'Map' scene, so I do not waste time in waiting for the footage.

Away here it is:


Map Shot from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.


This will be placed where crisis says:

"You and I on a honey moon off to Paris, a perfect life that never really happened"
I still believe that there needs to be more of an impact within this scene, but i really need to see this combined with my draft video to distinguish if it works.

Storyboard (Rough)

Storyboard 1


Storyboard 2


Storyboard 3

Intro for Turning Back

Here i decided that the begging of the video needed something unsual and create an impact to catch the audiences eyes. So i've created this video, which is still under prodution, but hopefully finish soon.



Intro to Turning Back from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

Ok so the prosses in creating the music symbols was a bit of pain. As i had to listen to the song stop it and create a note to where i thought the beat of the song had struck. So basically it was a trail and error process as After Effects is not that usful with music.

Rough video

Ok, so I have been away developing a rough blocked out video for the song 'Turning back'. I have purposely tried to use only the footage that C.R.I.$.I.$ had given me to see how much more I would need to finish the video. Also when editing the video I had some ideas of what visual effects I could create to make the scenes more dramatic. When you will see 'work in progress' that will be the position where the visual effects will commence.

Turning back 'Rough Vs':


Turning back 'Rough Vs' from Daniel Chirwa on Vimeo.

De-interlacing

After looking at the raw footage that crisis had passed on to me. I realised that the whole of scenes were in fact filmed at '' DV PAL (720 x 576)'' format which mean it is interlaced. This unfortunate means that it will be difficult to add any sort of visual effect on top of the footage. I have however researched into De-interlacing filmed footages. On this website, it explains what interlacing is and how to get rid of it:

http://www.hqv.com/technology/index1/deinterlacing.cfm?CFID=18356125&CFTOKEN=88790154

Here are some pictures comparing interlaced and De-interlaced footage using a different program called Denoiser.

Interlaced shot:



De-interlaced shot:




Unfortunately this program is too expensive for this project and have reverted to using After Effects, to De-interlace all the footage. With using this program the process will be in fact different, but should give me the same results. Will post some images soon of my de-interlacing footage and I hope everything will go well :)

Lyrics - Turning Back

CHORUS 2 X

Walking a road that’s lonely, walking a road that’s lonely, now I think I’m turning back.... (Chorus)

Yo, Listen...
I’m sitting home alone and I’m watching the clock go,
Seconds turning to minutes and minutes turning to hours and hours turning to days and days turning to months and its now been a year been long since you been gone.
I used to act like I really didn’t need you, pride got the best of me, I never let you see the truth,
I’m thinking back how we use to just chill, any problems with the law, you’ll never let the beans spill.
Always on my side like the shoulders to the neck , even when I treated you bad with total disrespect, now I’m all alone memories of my dome ever since you left the house has never been a home, listen...

CHORUS X 2

Yo, we started off like perfect couple and Nostradamus wouldn’t know what lay ahead was trouble. Fly chick with the perfect guy you and I was like Dodi-el-Fayed and Princess Di.
Paparazzi used to follow us they wrote about us like a soap opera, so every week they had a story to tell, well all I wanted was a good life, looked you in your eye and I knew you make a good wife.
I started thinking marriage, baby carriage, you and I on a honey moon off to Paris, a perfect life that never really happened, with jealousy around us some people started yapping like,
He’ll never treat you right, he’s a celebrity, always in the bright lights always living fast life, and then you thought about it once or more and that’s the time that I saw our relationship fall and now...

CHORUS X 2

C.R.I.$.I.$ - My road is lonely. Repeat (Background)
Singer X 2 – I can’t live without you. Can’t live without you.
When I listen to the radio now, it’s like every song played just seems to talk about our situation, the pain gets deeper, memories are still here,
I can’t sleep at night, so sick of love songs, whatever happened to my girl who told me she would give me the world, baby boy and a girl, now sitting in this empty house and my world feel lonely I’m hoping you can let me out.
And I don’t want be alone, I staring at the phone, when it rings, I’m hoping its but it’s my land lady....DAM..I think I’m losing my mind now, I feel like pulling plug out and turning the lights out kkk baahhh (blackout)

2 X
I think I’m dying to see you but instead I choose life so I live to see you.

CHORUS X 2

END

Intro

The Brief

This projects that I will be attempting to create a music video that will help me to understand and develop skills that will be useful within the industry today. In developing this video I will be using unique and original ideas that will help the music video to stand out within the industry. This project is classed as a ‘live project’ for a real artist (C.R.I.$.I.$) who intends to promote his album.

Most of the video has already been filmed, but not edited together. This video cannot be re-filmed as C.R.I.$.I.$ has gone back home and will not be returning till summer. Instead he wants the scenes that have been filmed to be included in the video. He also asked if it is possible to make the scenes more dramatic and not relate to other hip hop videos e.g. the bling, the cars ect.

Using the time of the song, which is near to the 5 minutes, this will be approximately the length of the video that will be produced. To create a dramatic scene at least 1-2 effect shot will be implemented within the footage that has been taken. And not forgetting to include a numerous amount of motion graphics, which will be used again with the footage for the uniqueness. The video will be edited and some extra footage if needed will be shot to help the video come together.


This is the artist below that i will be creating a music video for:-



This album is to be shortly released in Africa-Zambia and the UK. He insisted of making a music video to promote his album, which will include some visual effects to enhance the overall look of the end product. Luckily Crisis has had a team together to film most of the music video footage which will be editing in the end by myself. One major problem is that crisis did not have a storyboard or some sort of action sheet when filming, which would of helped with the visual effects and the editing. In this circumstance i will have to edit a rough version using the footage that has been given to me. Firstly to understand the timing of each sequence and also if the footage works well with the lyrics.