Behind The Project: "Baggage"

Baggage was a culmination of a number of variables that affected me both professionally and personally. Almost a year after graduating college, I was/am still living at home attempting to find full-time employment either as a motion graphics artist, or compositor. I had to create a visual entity that built upon and showcased the skills I have in both fields. I did not strictly want a technical showcase. I wanted to tell a story. Personally, I feel as if the past year and a half has been a difficult time. I adjusted to no longer being in college, looking for full-time work has created doubt of whether I am qualified to be in this industry, and I am still not completely over the romantic relationship that ended a little over a year ago. 

Baggage. That is what this past year and a half has spawned. Baggage was a method for me to release my own baggage, and I hope the same can be said for the audience.

Introduction Sequence

The inspiration behind the intro sequence are neon lights, and the earth's sun. I am captivated by the colors of the sun and sky in the early morning, and late evening. The camera movements of the animation are relatively simple. I know my personal weakness in motion graphics are my camera manipulations. My goal was to build upon the skills I currently have, and work on my weaknesses in a later project. I did play with the focus distance and aperture within the camera settings during the animation. There is a sense of chaoticness because of the inability for the camera to focus for a long duration. 

The background is a mixture of a prior animation I was creating, and a series of metal textures. I have a tendency to clutter my motion graphic pieces. The background had to balance the work by appearing simple: while also having a strong presence via a textured color-filled surface.

I included the environment video to help ease the audience into the video transition. Jumping to the main video sequence would be too jarring, and this was a way to add cushion to the impact. 

Video Breakdown

The live-action video sequence is broken up into two parts: the shots inside of the car, and shots outside of the vehicle. Inside the vehicle, the camera was positioned into the backseat and had a slight foreground blur. All these shots were composited in an almost identical way. The footage was color-corrected and stabalized. 2D tracking was done for the dust particles, time on the clock, and window reflections were added to these shots. The last cut before driving into the woods had a stoplight and additional signs in the background roto'd out of the scene. A subtle additional lens flare was implanted into the shots, and other additional lighting elements for enhanced mood were composited into the scenes as well.

While driving into the wooded area, the sky was replaced, and the windshield had dirt particles that affected the aesthetics of the shot. I roto'd those dirt particles, and continued the previously mentioned composited sequence. The compositing was meant to compliment the shots, not overtake and distract from the story. Subtly was the motto.

The shots outside the vehicle had similar elements composited within each shot. The first shot outside the car had 3D objects composited, and a slight alter to the sky in the background. Throughout the following shots are green firefly like particles that give a fairy tale atmosphere to the seemingly realistic environment. Shots that involve a kinetic camera were 3D tracked and produced a great result for the particles. I was able to achieve a sense of depth of the particles. The finishing touches to the shots were composited yellow/orange lights, and when appropriate, lens flares. At first, these alterations may go unnoticed, but these edits inflate the ambience of the environment.

The shot with the most compositing, and a clear representation of a balance between pure natural elements with a conservative, yet effective compositing is the shot of the actor walking toward the vehicle. The framing of the shot follows the "rule of thirds" and incorporates beautiful wild flowers. I began by color-correcting and stabilizing the footage. I made a slight adjustment to the trees around the car by roto-brushing the spacial gaps of the branches. I tracked and composited a wind turbine in the background to fill in the empty space, and the vehicle although well lit, and in a superb position, lacked a visual punch. I included a reflection to the windshield and a slight color-correction to the car body. 

I wanted this shot to be the visual climax of the video. I doubled and even tripled the amount of particles I used for some of the prior shots. I increased the velocity and movement of the particles to correlate with the idea that the character is in a "spiritual wind tunnel". He just threw away his baggage and is ready to move on with his life, and is therefore being cleansed.

"Baggage" VFX Breakdown

The camera transitions to another shot into the inside of the vehicle, where the audience was not too long ago to conceptualize that even if we make a drastic life decision, we still find ourselves where we were not long before. I did the same procedure for the shots inside the vehicle, but I roto'd a few objects out of the shots. The first two quick cuts I roto'd an old house out on the left side of the road, and the last shot I removed the telephone pole and power lines along with some trees in the background near the telephone pole.

A Reflect Back

As I watched and reviewed this past video project, I would have made a few adjustments. Some shots lasted too long, and at points because of this, the flow of the video became slow. Working on the VFX breakdown video, I should have made more prominent compositing alterations to the footage. I did not want to force compositing just to composite, but there were opportunities to showcase what I can do as a compositor.