Layout / Character Improvement Suggestions - Research and Tests

Over the weekend I have been researching the suggestions that were made in my formative review on improving the layout / character aesthetic in my film. Below is the research I did and the tests I have done for them.

CAMERA DEPTH OF FIELD

Frame from DinerEastPanorama layout pan with Depth of Field applied

LIGHTS

IN ILLUSTRATOR 

InteriorLights.ai file V1

Frame from DinerEastPanorama layout pan with Depth of Field and ceiling light assets applied

SHADOWS 

Shot16Ver3 with Gaussian blur applied to LeftThumbShadow layer

 Gaussian Blur - Blurriness 10 and Opacity 50%

VIGNETTE EFFECT

The vignette effect is the application of dark edges around the frame of a shot. This is commonly seen in footage captured where the subject of interest is in the centre of the frame and it needs to stand out more against a busy background.

To create a vignette effect in After Effects, I inserted a new black Solid layer and whilst this was selected, I double clicked on the Ellipse Tool (to get a perfect sized fit within the composition dimensions) which acts as a Mask and changed the default mode from Add to Subtract. I then played around with the Mask Opacity and Mask Feather properties of the Solid layer. 

Change Mask Appearance to Subtract so the ellipse shape cuts out the centre of the black solid and leaves the rest of the layer at the corners of the frame.

Increase Mask Feather up to 250% in X direction and 250% in Y direction to get equal amount of feather around the whole of the frame. Kept Mask Opacity at 100% pre-set.

Change Mask Opacity to 50%. Keep Mask Feather at 250% in both X and Y direction.

Kept Mask Opacity at 50% and changed the Mask Feather to 170% by 170% so the effect is less obvious whilst keeping interest in the subjects positioned in the centre of the frame. 

EXPERIMENTING WITH VIGNETTE COLOURS 

(use the vignette effect to add to the lighting of the layout as well as depth of field effect)

Orange Solid with ellipse shape applied and mask feather and mask opacity edited

BLUE

ORANGE AND BLUE

I like how these are turning out and I think the combination of camera depth of field and vignetting is improving the 3D appearance of the layout. 

Adding lights back in

Black vignette

Orange vignette

Blue vignette 

Orange and Blue vignettes

MULTIPLANE EFFECT

Use After Effects' Keyframe Assistant to ease in and ease out the layers that are moving to create the multiplane effect

70 Years Multiplane Camera in Disney Movies - Compilation

PUSHING 3D IN AFTER EFFECTS

I thought about using plug ins for After Effects cameras to push the 3D look of some of the shots, however after researching possible plug ins and tutorials on this, I think that increasing the 3D look through cameras will make the layouts appear warped and will lose the simple quality and design style I have gone for.

3D Layer Warp Tutorial

3D Warp Plug In