Advanced Production Update 17/03/23

 Advanced Production Update                                                                                                                     17/03/23

Figure 1: Video exporting from Photoshop

The latest attempt at visual effects for my final project has hit a bit of a hurdle.  I've tried experimenting with filters in photoshop to create the disorientation effect necessary for the connecting shots in my film, which will indicate the disconnection the protagonist is feeling from the world around him.  However, I've discovered a notable flaw in this process: the incredibly long export times.  Because of the information the videos contain and their file size, the rendering time on After Effects and Photoshop has ballooned considerably.  A 45 second shots with the effects added would result in a rendering process that could take upwards of 3 hours.  This could also increase the time necessary to encode the video in Premiere Pro.  The solutions around this issue mainly include doing some of the necessary cuts in Photoshop or After Effects to reduce the pressure on the software, as well as to make the final assembly cuts more efficient.  

Figure 2: Disorientation test

This is the latest test I've tried making in Photoshop.  The video itself took about 45 minutes to render and I suspect it will take even longer once it's put into After Effects for compositing with the original shot.  The flickering expression on the opacity keyframes is what seems to be slowly doing the rendering, but I'm sure that with enough experimentation this issue can be resolved.  If this can't be fully resolved, I will have to reserve long afternoons to have the videos be rendered without being disturbed.  

Figure 3: Flickering footage test

This is the latest compositing test I've tried in After Effects where the altered footage is combined with the original footage with colour correction to create a flickering, disconnection-like effect.  The footage took over an hour to process, even on a powerful computer used in the renderfarm, and so I will potentially have to leave the footage to render overnight.  The original intention with the modified footage and compositions was to process them as a full clip and then trim the footage down in Premiere Pro, but this may be unfeasible.  This process will definitely require a great deal of patience and accurate timing to make the application work with the timeframe we have left.

Shots to modify with sketch/painting filter: 

• 01070028 (Tay Bridge stairwell)
• 01070037 + 01120015 (Tay Riverside)
• 0108001 (Under bridge shot)
• 0109006 (West Ward Works)
• 01090023 (Verdant Works)
• 0107009 (Glasses shot, painting filter)

Figure 4: Longer flickering test