Final Render:
Individual Breakdown:
This blog post is about the progress, development, and results of a Collaboration Project between SCAD students and The Mill's mentors. Students were divided up into groups, and given a prompt of Food and Beverage. My group decided to create an ad for Talenti Gelato's Salted Caramel Truffle. Our roles are as below:
Effects Crew:
Aaron Linde (Liquid simulations)
Min Song (Hard surface particle simulations)
Development Crew:
Gracie Szymanski (Lighting/Look Development)
Alice Yeh (Compositing/Editing)
Drew Daly (Compositing)
This blog post will be updated with sections below. It will follow chronologically, with the most recent updates being at the top, and each update being divided by a line with dates.
11/13/24: Final Update
Since this is the last week of the collaboration, this will be my final update. We have our finalized render/sequence (now posted at the top of the blog), as well as an individual breakdown for the shots I worked on. Here are the updates on the last small tweaks: -Shot 1: Fixed keying (there was a little bit of a gray edge) -Shot 2: Made the screen comp less green
-Shot 4: Fixed shadow roto and comped in Min's new renders
-Shot 8: Slightly adjusted end title graphics
-Sound: Remixed to be smoother with the new cut.
-Made individual breakdown video (at the top of blog)
We also have our new title card and end credits included.
Though the final render is at the top, here it is again:
My breakdown at the top shows what I have done overall for the last 10 weeks - it definitely is an overwhelming experience watching it, seeing all the work being simple layers compiled into a 1-minute video. This collaboration with The Mill has been an amazing one, as it was an insightful learning experience. My team made the whole experience wonderful; they were great to work with, and if I had the opportunity to work with them again - I would! Thank you for reading my blog post and following along all quarter, and thank you especially to my team, the professors, and the mentors from The Mill :).
11/4/24: 95% (Week 9)
As we hit our second to last week of edits, our group is working hard to get a final polished piece. At this point, it is about fine tuning our previous work. I want to include this week's presentation that has our footage sequence, both of which I put together. There is sound! I have to keep adjusting the sound for this week and next week as the length of our sequence is still ever changing (only by a few seconds or so). I also fixed some clipping issues and tried to blend the tracks better in the sound design:
For this week, I worked on Shot 2, 4, and 8, and I am going to break them down a bit further in terms of my process.
Shot 2: I made the comp more believable following one of the mentor's feedback (Mazyar from The Mill). I lowered the gain/gamma of the screen, applied reflections, and tried to fix the stretched image issue. I also applied Aaron's graphics to the screen, which finally completes the storyline and fixes the continuity issue from Shot 2 to Shot 3. I will show the clip of the new comp, a wipe, and breakdown of my script.
Shot 2 Comp
Shot 2 Wipe (Comp and Original)
Shot 2 Comp Breakdown (Part 1)
Briefly explaing the breakdown, here I was working with having the screen recording and Aaron's graphics comped in. There was some issues with sizing. stretching of the screen, since I recorded the fake website that I made on my own computer (which is not a Mac), and it is a different screen resolution the Mac computer that is on the footage. I also had to mess with the timing to match the scrolling movements of the actress' fingers. I also messed with the brightness of the screen in the grade node. The thing that tied everything together was the CornerPin Node that made both the recording and graphics look like they were flat on the computer screen. The second grade node towards the bottom has a ramp so the left side of the screen looks brighter since it is closer to the camera.
With Grade Node and Ramp
Without Grade Node and Ramp
It's super subtle, but it helps make the comp look more realistic. The recording is also slightly transparent so that the original reflections on the computer screen are still seen. Here are closeups to see the detail:
Original Screen
Screen Comp
The reflection is more noticeable at the top. The last step was to mask in the clean plate over top everything to get rid of the sink.
Shot 2 Comp Breakdown (Part 2)
Future tweaks for next week for Shot 2:
-Adjusting the screen color to be less green
-Possibly make the reflection more noticeable
-Clean up the edge of the mug that is in front of the computer.
Shot 4: For this one, I mostly cleaned up the roto and comped in Min's new particles. However, Gracie did adjust the lighting for the trails in this shot, so personally, I feel like the new blue light that shows up on the trails is not very noticeable on the fluids. I felt like last week it looked better, but she is hoping to refine the lighting this week. I also did have to color correct the fluids to have them match the fluids in Shot 3. Here is the new comp:
Shot 4 Comp
Here is also the color issue I was talking about with the trails:
Fluid Trail from Shot 3 (Untouched)
Fluid Trail in Shot 4 (Untouched)
As you can see, the trail in Shot 3 is a lot lighter than in Shot 4, so I color corrected and graded the fluid trail in Shot 4 to look like the trail in Shot 3.
Shot 4 Fluid Trail after Color Correction and Grading (Iteration 1)
I originally color corrected and graded the trail to make it look like the trail in shot 3, but Gracie explained because of the different lighting situations between the two shots, she asked me to adjust the color to match the trails to each other, but also keep the difference in lighting.
Shot 4 Fluid Trail after Color Correction and Grading (Iteration 2)
With this second iteration, it is a closer color match to Shot 3's trail, but I kept a bit of the darkness to show the different lighting situation, It is essentially an in between of the fluid trail's first iteration and the original exr.
Besides working on the fluid trail coloring and grading, I'm also hoping to make the cookies' reflection more visible on the fridge door, as right now you can really only see the fluid trail. There is a wipe with the original footage in Week 8's update if you would like to see what it looked like without the comp. The Nuke script hasn't changed from last week.
Shot 8: Though I didn't get any feedback to fix this shot, the wiggly edges on the jars were bothering me, so I went back in to fix them. I feel as if now the edges look a lot more clean. Here is a wipe:
Perspective, edges, and horizon line are a lot better.
Keep an eye out for next week's update as it will be the final one... Hooray!
10/28/24: Almost there (Week 8)
This week we had some issues with the Renderfarm not working, so our team was not able to get preferred renders for our progress. With about two weeks left to work on this project, we are getting closer and closer to finishing touches. Personally, this week I focused more on compositing for Shot 4, cleaning up Shot 8, tweaking the overall color grading, and creating a soundtrack (as we could not get a sound person in time). Once again, I will go shot by shot to breakdown what I have done this week with a visual wipe! First, I do want to show the new sequence I put together as it now has SOUND! We could not find a sound designer in time, but I do have a background in sound design so I whipped something up - I'm pretty excited about it:
Here you can see Min's new renders for Shots 3 and 4, and Aaron's redone Shot 5. Gracie touched up on the CG room scaling, as well as the lighting for Shot 4's simulations. Drew has a new comp for Shot 3 (as we got rid of the blur), and he removed the sink from the background in Shot 7.
Here is the redone continuity quilt I did with changes to color grading, I focused more on matching the whites in each shot to each other. I'm focusing on making the actress brighter in Shot 1 next week.
Without further ado, here are my Shot Wipes of the week:
Shot 1: This shot did not have a lot of changes, but Gracie changed a little bit of the CG room (mostly fixing scaling) so here is the new render with the new color grade that I did. I had to go "backwards" in term of color grading, so the actress isn't as lit as last week, but I plan on fixing this next week. I decided to color grade in Nuke instead of Davinci this week, so I essentially redid all the color grading.
Shot 2: Unfortunately since the Renderfarm was down this weekend, Aaron could not get me the particle renders that come out of the image frame within the website. So though we are still missing a crucial aspect of this shot, I redid the website so the logo banner is no longer there, and I fixed the timing of the scrolling to match with the actress' finger swiping movements.
Shot 4: Here I did get new simulation renders so I redid the shadows, reflections, and timing, as the trail is now "endless" and fit's more with the story (the trails are now in front of her to follow the continuity of Shot 3). Gracie did add a blue light to the front of the trail so it would look more accurate as the trail goes into the fridge. I also want to show my Nuke script and explain how I incorporated the blue light:
Min rendered out the cookies and truffles seperate from the fluid trails so it was it trickier than last weeks one simulation render comp. I had to merge the two together each time. The top darker gray bin contains the faked shadows, and the tan-ish grah bin to the left contains the trail. The green bin to the right has the reflections that is seen on the fridge, and the blue container has the "blue light". Besides rendering out the cookies and truffles separate from the fluids, Min also rendered out a version of the trail with the blue light on it, and one with out. This made it a lot easier so that I could just put the blue lit trail on top of the unlit trail, and roto a drop off so it made it look more believable. Anyways, here is the final render of shot 4:
Shot 6: No new changes for this besides color grading, but here is the wipe just for fun:
Shot 8: I fixed the perspective of the two jars in the background, and touched up the horizon as well, following the feedback of Natasha (one of The Mill mentors).
As week 9 approaches, the group is going to focus more on refining. For me, it will be tweaking the color grading and sound, comping in Shot 2 simulations (hopefully), and getting a final render for Shot 4. I'm so happy with the progress my group has made together! Tune in next week.
10/21/24: 80% (Week 7)
As we hit week 7, our group is continuously refining our project. We are hitting that point in the quarter where we should be at approximately 80% done with the ad. That being said, I have been refining my work as well on the compositing side, and I will go through what I have done this week shot by shot. I have created wipes so you can see the before and after. I also have began color grading all the shots this week.
Shot 1: I mostly fixed the color grading for this shot, but Gracie refined the CG room I created, by fixing the lighting and shaders of the set extension so it looks a lot better than last week. The goal for the color grade was to have the actress be more lit and noticeable.
Shot 2: Besides color grading, I created a fake website and comped it onto the computer screen to give an idea of what we are aiming for. I am still waiting on the simulation exrs from Aaron, but the goal is to have the fluids and particles come out of the image frame within the website. The timing of the website scrolling is also off, but I plan to fix that next week, as well as get rid of the Wix banner on the site.
Shot 4: For this shot, I composited in fake shadows as well as the reflection of the particles onto the fridge. We are hoping to refine the particles to make it an endless stream to fix the storyline continuity issue (in shot 3, the particles are ahead of the actress, but in this shot we see that she is at the fridge before them). I would like to keep working on the color grading for this shot as the fridge feels a little red to me.
Shot 6: Here I fixed the tracking issue with the new logo - I used a new tool from KeenTools that allows me to 3D track an object, as Nuke's 2D tracking was not cutting it.
So KeenTools' 3D Tracker is new to me, as well as just working in Nuke's 3D space, so I did need a little help from Drew to finish the track. KeenTools lets you import models or use one of their basic geometry. They have a click point system to move the geometry around. For example, the first click/point inputted lets you move the geometry (like on the x and y axis). The second point/click inputted lets you scale the size, and the third point/click lets you rotate the geometry in a 3D aspect. Here is an image of using the basic cylinder geometry and putting it where the Talenti jar is in her hand:
After the geometry is lined up, you let the tracker run through the entire sequence to track the object. You do need to analyze your exrs or footage before all this (it will analyze your footage and create it's own analyzed exrs), and KeenTools has a good beginner tutorial video on how to get started. After you have your exrs analyzed and your geometry is tracked correctly, this is where you begin to plug in your mask onto the geometry. I will include an image of my Nuke script to briefly explain what I had to do.
I had a roto'd clean plate image as my mask (it is just an image of the last frame of the footage with the correct label photoshopped on). Since the object didn't rotate TOO much in the 3D space, I could get away with this. If it rotated more than what was seen in the footage, this probably would not work as the logo's perspective would be off. So in this Nuke script, I am essentially flattening my Clean Plate, and projecting onto the cylinder geometry. There actually is an option to wrap it and reflect on the back of the object, but I turned it off since the object is not transparent and I didn't need it to be reflected, so we see in the comp that my mask is projected onto the cylinder, and moves/rotates correctly in the 3D space. As you saw last week, the 2D tracking had the mask sliding around incorrectly on the jar, so this is a huge improvement, and it was super fun to learn/play with.
Shot 8: This was mostly just color grading, but I wanted to create a wipe video for it so it was better to visualize the before and after than what I had posted last week. I also did create the text graphics for this, but I 'm not sure how to continue improving it.
Color Grading: Since I didn't get to show off all the color grading I did, I want to post our continuity quilt before and after color grading to show off the difference.
Before Quilt, Compiled by Drew
After Quilt, Compiled and Color Graded by Me
Though I am still making small adjustments to the color grading, I'm happy with how the WIP looks. It makes all the shots more connected and visually appealing. I also haven't touched Davinci Resolve (which is what I am using for color correcting and grading) in 6 years, so I am relearning the program as I go.
I do also want to share this week's footage sequence that I compiled together, since I didn't show off all the shots in the sequence. I mostly wanted to showcase the work I did, but in the sequence you can see updated simulations from Min and Aaron, new lighting and shaders from Gracie, and Drew's composites for Shot 3 and 7. You can see who did what at the bottom right of the video with everyone's initials during the sequence.
Tune in next week for more! We have about 3 weeks left to go before we need to have a finished and polished ad.
10/13/24: Pushing Forward (Week 6)
As we are one week closer to the end of the project, our group is making big strides in progress. I personally did a lot more compositing work and I am excited to share! Firstly, I want to show the new sequence I put together. I included our presentation so you can finally see who we all are, our current status, the sequence (with initials of who did what in the shot), and an overview of our current schedule:
This week I worked on shots 1, 4, 6, and 8; I will show what I have done in order of shot list.
Shot 1:
I adjusted the CG room and lighting (adding a shadow for the cabinets) to make it more realistic to the eye:
This shot includes the clean plate that I did, and the green screen keying around the actress. (this was done in previous weeks).
Shot 4:
For Shot 4, I decided to use a different clip so we could have more time for the particles to fly into the fridge. The previous footage that I was using was getting choppy as I had tried to slow it down, this footage had more "wiggle room" for particles and I, pun intended. This week's shot 4 also has the updated simulation from Min:
Shot 6:
Shot 6 is a WIP for me. In this shot, I am masking over the old logo with the new logo that Gracie created ("Talentee" instead of "Talenti", with a bee icon). I am currently having issues with the tracking, but I'm planning to fine tune it more next week:
Shot 8:
Shot 8 I am particularly proud of, however it is not a moving image. Regardless, I'm happy with how it turned out. This shot is an end card, where I had to clean up the image and put in the logo on all the jars. I also desaturated the caramel a little as it was unnaturally bright. I will include the before and after so you can see the difference:
Before (above)
After (above)
So as you can see with the updated sequence/shots, our group is pushing on. I plan to work on Shot 2's graphics next week, and fixing the tracking for Shot 4. You can see everyone else's updates in the video, but I will provide a quick summary:
Shot 1: I adjusted CG room and Lighting
Shot 2: Untouched
Shot 3: Drew composited Min's new particles (Now with a slow motion effect!) and added a defocus and refocus during the shot
Shot 4: I composited Min's new particles
Shot 5: Aaron is updating his hero shot with better fluid simulations, Gracie has created camerawork for this shot, and has updated lighting and shaders
Shot 6: I masked over old logo
Shot 7: Untouched
Shot 8: I cleaned up plate and masked in new logo
Tune in next week for more progress!
10/6/24: Midpoint (Week 5)
As we approach week 5, we reach the midpoint of this collaboration. I've made some major progress in terms of compositing, as well as overall story development. We have decided to change the logo; I came up with "Talentee" and a bee icon instead of the spoon in honor of being SCAD bees. We also decided to move some shots around, which ended up shortening our ad from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Below is our updated shot list, created by Gracie:
It was decided to get rid of the fridge panning shot, and use the shot of the character opening the fridge to be where the particles fly in, I put together the sequence for this week once again so you can visualize these shots:
Drew had the CG cameras redone for shots 1 and 3, and I decided to change the color of the CG room to match the neutral palette. I also cleaned up the plates for shots 1 and 2, which I will show the before and after below:
CG room with corrected Camera
Shot 1 Before (above)
Shot 1 Cleaned (above)
The fruit bowl was difficult, as I realized the original bowl was placed at an awkward angle since it was sitting on something that was sagging, not solid and flat. The Photoshop AI tool actually replaced the bowl perfectly. I had to create fake shadows/fix the lighting for the bowl, laptop, and cabinets. Shot 2 was an easier job; it was also cleaned up in Photoshop:
Shot 2 Before (above) - different colorspace*
Shot 2 Cleaned (above) - correct colorspace*
For Shot 1, I comped in the CG room with the correct camera done by Drew, and for Shot 2, I comped in the graphics done by Min. For Shot 1, I also learned a new keying method called IBK Stacking:
The container with Color (green) deals with the actual color image, whilst the Alpha container (grey) deals with the actual image's Alpha. The KillSpill node helps despill, while the IBK stacking method is essentially creating your own clean plate green screen to key from. This was used in Shot 1. Cool method shown to me by Drew!
For Shot 4, I did a quick slap comp since the footage timing was too quick, and the particles were just a quick render out:
The particles were done by Min here as well. Min and Drew's progress can also be seen in Shot 3 within the sequence I included earlier. Aaron also had a new render for the hero shot in the fridge, and Gracie did the lighting and shaders for it, which is also included in the sequence. The only other update that is not included in the sequence is from Gracie, who made 2 turntables for the jar shader and the cookie, as well as a new logo for us to use.
Jar Shader Turntable
Cookie Shader Turntable
New Logo!
Lots of progress this weekend, and more to come!
9/30/24: Post Hurricane Update
We recently just had a tropical storm/hurricane blow through Savannah, where SCAD is located, so things have been delayed. We did reshoot some footage the night the storm hit; I have been acting as DP on set, deciding on lights and camera framing/movement. Putting the new sequence together had to wait as a majority of the city lost power. However, since some buildings are back with power, we now have an update! Here is the new sequence I edited together, we reshot Shots 1-4 and retook the stills for the ending shot:
Since we changed the order of the shots and our vision, here is the new shot list done by Gracie:
Here are the shot list notes taken by me during the reshoot and light diagrams by Min:
Reshoot Shot List Notes by me (Expandable Tab)
Light Diagrams drawn by Min (Expandable Tab)
Besides editing the sequence, I also created a CG room using Arnold in Maya to use for the green screen shots. All objects and textures are pulled from PolyHaven.
I am still working on the shaders within this scene, but this was done for a slap comp. Drew created the CG camera that made the perspective correct to match with the live plate. Here is my comp of the CG background and live plate in Nuke:
Here is a screenshot of my workflow in Nuke for this, it's pretty bare bones right now since it was a slap comp. I also did this for shot 3. I will fine tune it once we get closer to the final result:
Shot 3 is done with a similar method, but Drew comped Min's NEW simulations on top of my comp. Here is the result of that:
He forgot to add in the light edit that he did for this shot as well, but here is an example of what we want to add into the shot above. It will eventually all be in one shot:
Besides the compositing updates, Gracie has an update with shaders. She made a turntable and quilt to display them:
Aaron applied these shaders to a simulation he created for the hero shot:
Here are also the HDRs done by Drew on set:
Despite the hurricane's setbacks, our team pushes forward!
9/22/24: Day After the Shoot
After some revision to the shot list, I put together the raw footage to make a sequence of the shots in order. Drew put the animatics from Aaron and Min onto the sequence. Here is what the new sequence looks like:
I also burned in the timecode and labeled the shots. We essentially decided to change the story. Here is now what each shot is:
Shot 1-2 (Live Action): The character is seen looking at gelato on her computer
Shot 3 (CG on Live Action): Ingredients begin to fly out of the computer and swirl around her, then shoot off towards the fridge.
Shot 4 (CG on Live Action): Slow Motion shot of the ingredients flying past the camera with a blurry live action plate.
Shot 5 (All CG): The ingredients begin to layer up in a Talenti Jar in the freezer.
Shot 6 (All CG, Hero Shot): Frontal view of jar filling up, essentially our hero shot.
Shot 7 (Live Action): Character is seen taking the jar out of the fridge/freezer.
Shot 8 (Live Action): Character is enjoying the gelato
(Possible) Shot 9: End card with still image of the gelato with ingredients around it on the counter.
Here are some behind the scenes:
Lighting Diagram I drew up for Shots 1 and 2 with light details (light type, height, color temperature, power percentage, distances)
Lighting Diagram I drew up for Shots 4 with light details (light type, height, color temperature, power percentage, distances)
Shot List/Notes that I took the day of the shoot (expandable tab)
Behind the Scenes Images (expandable tab)
Above are all taken by Drew
Above are all taken by me
Gracie has also begun making shaders for the CG shots. Here are some work in progress images of the shaders made with Redshift in Houdini:
Chocolate Shader
Cookie Shader
Caramel Shader
Plastic Lid Shader (For Talenti Jar Lid)
Plastic Shader (For Talenti Jar)
_______________
There is also one FX update from Min below since we changed trajectories:
9/20/24: Day Before the Shoot
As we are gearing up for the shoot, we prepped a list of a variety of shots we were going for, in case we needed to change out the background, or wanted to change up the story line.
Equipment Checklist | Prop Checklist |
3 extension cords
| Gold spoon
|
Actress for shoot: Laney Voyles. Junior performing arts major.
Scene Outfit: cream colored sweater, black or brown pants, light blue sweater
Scene Jewelry: all gold jewelry
Scene Hair: hair down
Scene Makeup: normal every day makeup, gold highlighter, paint her nails!
(Thank you to Gracie for putting the lists together)
We did add in the idea of throwing a close up shot of ingredients flying past the camera. Here are some Previs/Animatic shots of that done by Min and Aaron.
Above are all done by Min^
Below are the ones done by Aaron:
More to come as we shoot tomorrow...
9/9/24 - 9/15/24: Previsualization
For our first week, we met with our team members and mentors from The Mill. The prompt for this quarter's collaboration projects was Food and Beverage. We established we wanted to go on the route of ice cream, ultimately settling on gelato. Specifically, Talenti Gelato's Salted Caramel Truffle flavor. We then established team roles.
Effects Crew:
Aaron Linde (Liquid simulations)
Min Song (Hard surface particle simulations)
Development Crew:
Gracie Szymanski (Lighting/Look Development)
Alice Yeh (Compositing/Editing)
Drew Daly (Compositing)
I then came up with a storyline for our gelato.
Story: A girl is sitting working on a laptop and is visibly bored and frustrated. She starts daydreaming of salted caramels, chocolates, and gelato and becomes instantly happier. Her daydream comes to life and literally swirls around her head before shooting off towards the fridge. The girl finally gets the gelato she has been dreaming of from the fridge and enjoys a bite. Cut to the gelato layers filling a pint one by one to emphasize the quality of each layer coming together for a perfect pint.
For our previsualization stage, we looked at Talenti's background and previous commercials to see how we could create something on brand for the gelato.
Talenti’s core values include:
Authenticity: Staying true to traditional gelato-making techniques and flavors.
Quality: Using premium ingredients, often sourced locally, to ensure the freshest and most delicious products.
Innovation: Experimenting with new flavors and combinations while maintaining the integrity of classic gelato.
Craftsmanship: Emphasizing the artisanal aspect of gelato-making, often involving hands-on, meticulous processes.
We plan to implement these elements by highlighting each of the ingredients that go into the gelato. Emphasizing the separate layers will accentuate how each layer is boldly different, but also how they compliment each other into one unique flavor. The layers building upon each show the processes and ideas of craftsmanship as well. The character will emulate positive emotions from eating the gelato.
Previous Talenti's Salted Caramel Truffle Commercials:
2020 Commercial
2024 Commercial
References:
With my film background, I think visually through a shot list when creating a project like this. So personally my next step was to draw up a shot list! They both have the similar idea of the character daydreaming of gelato and ingredients then swirling around their head. The second shot list has the ingredients flying into the fridge before the character opens it. The ingredients then fill the jar up layer by layer, essentially being the hero shot. In the second shot list, we thought the character should take the jar out, eat a spoonful of gelato, then show the hero ending shot.
First Shot List Previs:
After some revisions, I did a second option of not ending the scene in the fridge.
Second Shot List Previs:
Ultimately, we decided:
Shot One
Character is bored doing laptop work. Visibly bummed. Medium wide shot.
Shot One Cont.
Character begins to daydream of gelato as the ingredients start to form and swirl around her head.
Shot Two
Medium close shot of character daydreaming. Ingredients begin to fly out of frame towards out of frame fridge.
Shot Three
Medium shot of fridge. Ingredients that were swirling around head rush and wiggle their way into the fridge.
Shot Four
Hero shot of Talenti jar(s). Frost on jar(s), layers of ingredients fill the jar one by one. Close up shot with solid background.
Shot Five
Over the shoulder shot of character grabbing gelato from the fridge.
Shot Six
Medium shot of character enjoying a bite of the ice cream. Talenti Logo appearing above character.
Shot List Digitization by Gracie
I did create a small sequence of some previsualization live shots and 3D CG shots to emulate what we are trying to create.
Previsualization Sequence:
Here are images of the 3D Previsualization that Min and Aaron made as seen in the sequence:
Min worked on the above three^
Aaron worked on the above image^
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