So during the weekend after the project pitch – Sem and I journeyed to the lands of Yarraville in search of an abandoned factory.

Upon arriving, we scouted the area to see what we could find. The walls were lined with graffiti, the skeleton of the building walls stood exposed, and spray cans and other pieces of junk lay scattered across the ground. The fact that it was a huge ex-factory meant that there were different pockets of spaces – meaning this location had plenty of potential for a film or photography shoot.

So, my goal was to film a couple of shots of a person walking from on side of the screen off to the other. I would later edit these in post to create my first experiment wall/floor transition. These shots would have no motivation to transition from one to the other – they were simply for an experiment. Here’s the result:

Okay, let me make this clear – I know it’s bad. But there’s a lot I learnt about the limitations of using 3D layers to create this transition – and also my own limitations.

First limitation of using 3D layers to create the effect – it’s difficult to transition from or to a shot with a person in it. The transition uses 3D layers – which conform to the angle at which the virtual camera is positioned at. To explain – you’ll notice that the left side of the room bends up as the camera tracks down. So if there was a person standing in that specific spot during the track, the person would also bend.

Also, the fact that the transition bends ‘space’, means I’m forced to only use shots where there are walls, a ceiling and a floor – otherwise I’d get the same bending effect every time. One way I can fix this is by superimposing the subject into the setting using a green screen. That way – the person would not bend and it’d look more realistic. Or, I could simply just get the subject to stand in the centre of the screen, rather than moving between the 3D layers.

Now in terms of my own limitations – I need to improve my AE skills to master this effect. As you can see, there are white lines that go across the horizontal length of the screen during the camera’s tracking movement. This is a result of the 3D layer of the floor, being longer than the concrete texture below it.

The concrete is also too large, and does not match the colour of the other two shots. Thus, a colour correction is needed to make it look more realistic.

And finally, the track is too quick, so that definitely needs to be slowed down.

I’m aiming to recreate this effect again this weekend – so I’ll definitely apply the things I learnt from the first shoot to the next one!