Week 9: Backgrounds and final finnish

The inspiration for the background came to me only a few days ago when I was on the train and I noticed some clouds that reminded me of my set. So I decided that clouds might be a good background solution as I can find many high resolution photos on the internet and they will integrate well with the cotton wool set.

To make the background I organised some of the frames into a layers pan the same way I did to map out the animation for the girl. Like this I can give myself a sense of scale and organise the layers in accordance with the foreground before the layers reach after effects.

Stage 1: 2D 'Camera Track'

Stage 2: Putting the clouds in place 

In this stage I edited the photos so that they have alphas and rearranged then to create a pleasing composition around the foreground. I also blurred the some of the background layers to help achieve a sense of depth even before the layers are converted into 2.5D layers. 

Stage 3: Colour correct

Here I changed the images from colour to black and white, added a deep yellow photo filter and colour corrected the images so that they matched in colour and tone with the cotton wool. 

Stage 4: Camera tracker and 2.5 D

To place the background in position so that it moves along with the footage I used the camera created by the 3D camera tracker and a 2.5D technique. I placed the clouds in position but also changing their size and varying their distance form the camera creating a greater sense of layering and distance. I also played around with the camera aperture to make the background more out of focus. 

To create some distinction between the foreground and background I Pre-Composed all of the background layers together and alter the Hue to make it a little pinker. This sublet change will hopefully make the whole picture easy to take in put not give it a feeling of disjointedness.

 Finishing touches:

I added a radial blur to the final comp which I animated to follow the object of the audience's focus. This I think will help emphasis the closeness of the camera which was already created by the macro lens.

I also added a light overlay of the cotton rag texture and a vignette to give the pice a final finishing touch and warmth.