Adobe After Effects & Compositing

Here are some shots I managed to finish today in After Effects.

I really like the way this static shot came out. Although it is static, the dust layer really brings this shot to life

This was a tough scene to do as I had to parent and animate the background layer and dust layer to the 3D desert terrain. It looks like a relatively simple shot however there are a lot of layers here. I took a photograph of my Dad's car's dashboard which can be seen at the bottom left of the screen, I believe this provides something familiar to the scene which the viewer can relate to, it also makes the interior less empty and more interesting and realistic. I also took film of a swinging card pass which hangs from the roof of the cockpit of the vehicle. This adds movement and additional animation to make the scene more interesting and to inject a little life to an otherwise dull scene. I also filmed a movie of my Dad to create the driver's reflection. This too helps to bring life to the film. The cockpit windscreen is a basic layer made in photoshop which was animated in adobe after effects to depict the illusion of uneven terrain and to give a sense of the motion of the vehicle. I also added soot near the corners of the panes of glass as extra detail to make the vehicle used and weathered. I was very pleased how the smoke/ dust layer turned out too. It was used throughout the short film, and helps to convey weather and enhance the atmosphere of the environment.

I was concerned that the sky was a little too pink so Tom and I graded it so that the background was more orange thus creating the illusion that the vehicle had orange tinted glass. This was as they say, a happy accident and seems to fit rather nicely. This scene looks quite decent and adds a new dimension to the film, it also seems to humanise the environment too.