This week, we started off by watching everyone’s short films for assignment 1. It was interesting to see how others in class experimented with different styles, as well as adapting their filmmaking skills during this almost surreal time. That was my reasoning for giving animation a go, but I completely overestimated my drawing skills, and underestimated the animation learning curve, hence my work seems to look like something blammed from 2001-era Newgrounds. Hopefully my Canberra-based friend can act through Zoom or Discord for assignment 2.

On Thursday, we looked at the technical side again, this time working with visual effects. One of the main things was chroma keying. While I have some experience working with it, it was good to go over it again, especially in Premiere. It’s much easier to create good results than in After Effects, the software I had used before.

We also examined some elements used in making the TV series The Mandalorian, especially their use of a Virtual Production workflow. From what I can understand, scenery is sculpted and rendered using a game engine, and is displayed on LED panels installed on set; in the case of The Mandalorian, in a 360º circle. It is rendered on the fly, so adjustments and modifications can be done up to the point of shooting; and uses motion capture to move around with the action on the set. It would be interesting to experiment with virtual production, especially when combined with practical effects.