VFX Process

Once I had decided what to do for my piece, I immediately began choosing which of J R R Tolkien's illustrations to use, making sure to find the highest quality versions I could locate. I then sorted them into chronological order from the book 'The Hobbit.' 

I began to cut out the layers from the images on photoshop. This involved using the quick selection tool on the area I had decided to cut out, then inverting the selected area and making sure I unlock the layer before deleting the section I didn't want. I then saved it as a PSD and made files named after each illustration and placed the layers for each one in them.

I then imported all the layers from one illustration into a composition on After Effects. I made all the layers 3D and arranged them so they were in order, and spacing them so the fact that they were in a 3D space would stand out.

Then, I added a camera and a null object which I made 3D. I parented the camera to the null object so that any movements I did with the camera I could do with the null object which made things easier for me. I began to add in key frames, making the camera move forwards, through the image as if the viewer was going into it. 

I played around with orientation and position, testing out what would look the best. Once I had arranged one scene, and it was ready to be played and zoomed in through the middle of the illustration. Then it was just the matter of completely all of the images I needed to make the intro sequence. 

Something else I knew I was going to have to deal with was the transitions from scene to scene. I decided to use a motion blur that would quickly pan left or right or wherever and blur the movement so that if flowed a lot smoother. 

I then added all my individual compositions into one final composition and edited them into the right order and size, before adding my sound file.

For sound I used premiere pro to cut up a segment of a song from 'The Hobbit' movie series. I thought it was suitable for the intro sequence as it was made for those films.