In The Beginning… script

I think I got the tone right; they’re meant to be charming with a subtle moral and suitable to be read on radio. They were fun to write anyway, and there are some hidden inside jokes in there!

Josie's bedtime story

I wanted to make a short film that was more intricate and artistic than anything I’ve done previously, so what better than imitating the style of film noir? I studied several films to get a good feeling for the characters and story lines then set out writing.

As I was both writing and producing the film I was able to envisage my perfect locations and shoot it just as I had imagined. I created storyboards and included extensive direction notes in the script to this end.

A Gamble On Life scene 1

We’ve got to get stuck into the post production yet but the rushes are looking great (apart from my ‘acting’). I want to do quite a lot of grading on this piece so don’t expect it to be finished for a while! The first cut of the first scene is above.

A Gamble On Life script

I chose to research into the area of automatic photograph orientation, with the aim of implementing an application to correctly orientate images of incorrect orientations. I achieved a mark of 78% and was awarded the first prize for a multimedia project from the year.

Automatic photograph orientation is the method of detecting the correct orientation of an image, through several possible feature extraction techniques, and rotating that image to be correctly orientated. I researched into this area, implementing several methods of feature extraction, to produce an application to correctly orientate images.

I produced a full report of my research and findings as well as details of the implementation of the application.

Automatic photograph orientation

The application I produced was developed using C++ and Cocoa with an Objective-C bridge between the back and front end. It implemented several feature extraction techniques and achieved a fairly high success rate with outdoor images; mainly due to a sophisticated colour feature detection algorithm.

The application interface

I learnt how to keep focus and work on a long-term, large scale project. I also had to work independently across various disciplines. It has definitely been the biggest challenge I have faced at uni.

The virtual environment

The scene was modelled with 3D Studio Max and called for many of the techniques I learnt in my computer generated graphics course. You can watch the movie fly-through of the scene below.

Virtual environments

The Crime Seen logo

We chose to create a spoof Crimewatch style show, much like Brasseye. We scripted several VT packages and live segments for the show, many of which I wrote. I took a leading role in the production and post-production of the show to drive the timeline and I got roped in to presenting a couple of segments!

The full show schedule runs as follows:

• Title sequence – a mix of recorded footage with 3D graphics and stills with a custom written theme tune;
• Introduction – a live section introducing with the 2 main presenters;
• VT package 1 – a fake story about the murder of the Vice Chancellor’s pet panda, presented by myself filmed at various locations;
• Crime weather – a live segment of the ‘crime weather forecast’ for the coming week, this used a retro-reflective LED green screen;
• Ad break – a 3 minute fake ad break consisting of 4 adverts, book-ended with a ‘tea-time teaser’ question;
• Crime news – a live segment covering recent crime stories from over the world;
• A phone-in – a live, unscripted, phone-in segment using fake callers;
• VT package 2 – a story about a counterfeiting ring based in Wales, shot like a MacIntire Investigates episode;
• Interview – an (improvised) interview follow up to the panda story in VT package 1, I was the interviewer for this segment;
• E-mails – this section was much like the phone-in segment, and was used to easily fill/cut down the show’s runtime;
• Live musical performance – a live performance, directed using a 3 camera set up, this was used to maintain the shows length.

Crime Seen

We got the opportunity to use various pieces of studio equipment and really concentrated on the efficient running of the show. Fortunately everything came together brilliantly. The edited highlights, out-takes and a spoof advert are below.

Crime Seen (10min version)

Crime Seen out-takes

WeCan advert

The 5 of us chose to create a single episode from a science documentary series (Science Friction). The episode is on the subject of ‘human matter transportation’ and follows a group of scientists in their experiments leading up to, and first test of, a method of human teleportation.

The transportation pad (plus spoon…and thumb)

We spent a long time scripting and story-boarding the piece before sourcing our actors and props. We filmed over 4 days on location (a working lab) and used green screen for talking heads. The bulk of time was spent in post-production with one person almost completely dedicated to effects compositing. We also authored the full VT (with added extras) as a DVD.

Science Friction

I’ve been involved in all areas; camera work, live studio production, acting (sigh), compositing and editing. We also got some great experience with different bits of kit; a SteadiCam rig, a studio chroma key setup, portable lighting, rail-guided cameras and a live studio equipment.

I present to you Science Friction – Human Matter Transportation.

Science Friction

Science Friction out-takes

Computer graphics modelling and rendering

I examined the original scenes, noting down measurements and taking photographs, before translating these into a 3D model of the environment within 3D Studio Max. Producing a realistic image employs 4 core disciplines; accurate modelling, realistic texturing, appropriate lighting and precise rendering. The perfect simulated image is a result of getting all four of these things right. The scene with the red door is my favourite, the lighting and modelling are particularly good.

Computer Graphics Modelling and Rendering report