The majority of this short film is about a character trying to achieve telekinesis and when he does its such a underwhelming experience. For example, the film gives the impression that the TV will be lifted when instead a book is lifted as he hits himself in the face with it.
The effects used for the telekinesis effect seem to of been achieved through rotoscoping green screen footage and then animating the book through a motion blur and rotation.
One thing that stood out to me more than the actual telekinesis effect was the sound used in this short film. The use of trumpets really support the build of of anticipation when the character is concentrating on moving the TV and when this falls flat, it is mirrored in the sound of the trumpets which too fall flat.
I need to start thinking about the types of sound that I will use within my own short film to, like this one support my narrative.
This is the one of the first books to show a comprehensive collection of 3D CGI images from well respected studios and independent digital artists.
There are many examples that showcase the power of CGI and how it has been pushed to its boundaries to make breath taking visuals for example fully rendered Digital worlds. However I am more interested in how CGI can be composited into the real world.
For example, The water horse in The Lord of The Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Here a wave of water morphs into stampede of CG water horses which is then composited into the background plate.
Elements of my own short film will consist of having a CGI mug and collection rocks composited into my footage. It is useful for me to see when done correctly how well these digital elements can look in real live action footage.
WEISHAR, P. (2004) CGI: The Art of the 3D Computer-Generated image. New York: H.N. Abrams.
Chronicle is a film surrounding teenage students who wake up with telekinesis like superpowers after exploring a private piece of land where an unexplained power source is found. At first they use these powers to produce elaborate pranks and for self gain however, as their powers grow so does their ability to control it.
These harmless pranks can be scene in the ‘Psychic Pranks’ scene in the film where the students test out their abilities in a supermarket. Each character tries to one up the other leading to the pranks escalating. For example, the first prank they deliberately control a trolly and make it seem that it has a mind of it’s own causing the customer to try and chase it to regain control. This is nothing compared to the final prank in the scene where one of the students moves a parked car to another spot to confuse the customer as to where they parked.
During these pranks I made notes on the type of objects they used for their telekinetic powers and how they appeared to move and blend in with their scene. The telekinetic effect is only believable if the objects are suited to their environments and you don’t notice the editing. Once the audience is aware of the editing it will completely take them out of the world you are creating. To make sure my objects blend in I will need to focus on lighting, colour correction and shadows.
It appears all of the objects used were either green screened or digitally 3D modeled. As I will be editing largely over the holidays I will not have access to a green screen and so I will produce my telekinetic props on Cinema 4D.
By using online tutorials from both Youtube and Lynda I am confident in creating life like Digital 3D objects. For example this tutorial by ‘TheMinecraftGuy105’ explains how correct lighting on its own can make an object really belong in any scene. This accompanied by creating the correct textures and movements for my objects will allow me to create life like digital 3D objects.
Before virtual lights.After virtual lights.
MOVIECLIPS. (2015) Chronicle (1/5) Movie CLIP – Psychic Pranks (2012) HD. YouTube. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBSibz9xdic [Accessed 3rd December 2017.]
‘The Two Ronnies’ was a comedy sketch show on BBC One during the 70s and 80s which featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.
In this sketch the ‘sweet shop’ the shop keeper gets himself into trouble by priding himself that “nothing is too much trouble” and that customers can be as picky as they like.
The sketch starts out with an reasonable scenario of a women wanting a specific weight of sweets to buy. The sketch really gets going when another customer comes in and starts pushing the boundaries of what is too much to ask of the shopkeeper.
The customer first requests that he would like a quarter of a pound of liquorice all sorts, which he then later adds he only likes the orange ones, leading to the shopkeeper having to separate the orange from the other coloured sweets.
This scenario grows and grows to be more ridiculous as the customer demands a gob stopper that finishes in the colour pink, a mint with a specific hole size, chocolates that melt in your mouth but not your hand, only soft centred milk chocolates, the length of a liquorice roll and to count out exactly 1100 of Hundreds and Thousands.
This all leads up to the breaking point for the shopkeeper who then pours the tub of Hundreds and Thousands onto the customer’s head. He becomes so wound up, when the next customer comes in with a reasonable request like at the start of the sketch the shopkeeper overacts. In this case instead of cutting up toffee into small pieces he smashes it all with a hammer.
This build up of a mundane scenario growing out of control is a common feature I have noticed in sketches, for example the same system can be seen in The Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch where at first the customer simply complains that the parrot he just bought is dead to then smashing the parrot on the table and screaming in its ear to prove it.
This is something I would like to incorporate in my own sketch however, only having one minute to show the journey from the mundane to the ridiculous will be a challenge without making the sketch seem rushed.
