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Home ? Competitions, Events & News ? Muvizu Halloween Contest 2016 Entries

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18/10/2016 14:18:52

ziggy72Muvizu mogulExperimental user
ziggy72
Posts: 1988 		Now that's scary lighting!
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18/10/2016 15:27:33

MrDrWho13Muvizu mogulExperimental user
MrDrWho13
Posts: 2220 		I'm going to wait until the deadline before watching any of the entries.

Remember, there's still over a week to get your entry submitted!
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21/10/2016 20:35:07

Rocque
Rocque
Posts: 359 		Very Scary Unlimitedmagic!! I liked it.
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22/10/2016 01:04:40

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		Well, here's my entry...

(reference to old video deleted)

the house and car in the video should be in the store on Monday, I'll post a separate demo video for it


===============update===========
yay! House is in the store!

latest and final version:


Cut out a lot of walking. Sliding the wolf in while the background scrolled wasn't working, so I used a fade instead. Added a light to the front yard to justify the shadow directions, removed most of the disco-esque fire flickers, added more supporting sound, re-recorded all the dialog so it doesn't sound like actors are in a barrel. Frankie was walking right through the pine tree, so I moved it out of his path. Added an extra set of door knocks to add urgency to the moment... also retained the monsters shadows on the house to add a threatening element to the scene. Consolidated two scenes into one because it looked like there should have been a commercial inserted when the two similar scenes transitioned.

Thanks to friends on the forum who shared their insights on changes that were needed. I didn't have time to fix them all, but I got the ones that I knew how to fix.
edited by PatMarrNC on 25/10/2016
edited by PatMarrNC on 25/10/2016
edited by PatMarrNC on 25/10/2016
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22/10/2016 04:31:25

AllClass
AllClass
Posts: 68 		Wow Pat that is truly wonderful!
Your design, sound effects, use of fog and lighting is absolutely amazing - especially impressed by the shadow work.
Great ending too
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22/10/2016 06:37:03

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		You are very kind, AllClass! I know there's lots wrong with it, but it's the best I can do right now. At this point in my learning curve I figure it's more helpful to get a lot of projects under my belt... hopefully learning something from each one... rather than obsessing over a few.

For years I obsessed and didn't do anything because nothing was ever good enough. I'm learning to let go of that, knowing that at my age the main thing I get out of it is fun anyway... and if I make it too complicated, then it won't even be fun anymore.

Anything that's good about it was probably one of Ziggy's ideas. And I'm OK with admitting that. He's a smart guy at this and he shares his knowledge. Gotta respect that.

Speaking of contest entries, I really enjoyed your scarecrow video! Man, that poor crow is gonna need therapy for the rest of his life! ;-)
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22/10/2016 07:08:05

AllClass
AllClass
Posts: 68 		I agree and know completely what you mean about needing to 'let go' of a project.

You are right that it's better to keep making content and try to learn from each one. I also am a perfectionist and stress about little things but what you wrote is true - the main aim should be fun.

I saw no flaws in your video. You must have a beast of a computer to produce such high quality imagery. I think you should be a Muvizu mogul as you are always giving good feedback and tips to newbies like myself.

Also, speaking of which, I used your birds character pack for my traumatized crow - so thanks
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22/10/2016 15:04:08

ziggy72Muvizu mogulExperimental user
ziggy72
Posts: 1988 		PatMarrNC wrote:
Anything that's good about it was probably one of Ziggy's ideas.


Not fair (on yourself) - you already had a good video before you asked for feedback.
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22/10/2016 15:44:08

unlimitedmagic
unlimitedmagic
Posts: 53 		COOL! I love the opening tracking shot with the moon in the background. Great use of lighting. How'd you get so many fog effects? Muvizu crashes if I put more than two - must be my crappy PC. Jealous. Beautiful job PatMarrNC
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22/10/2016 17:08:00

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		ziggy72 wrote:
PatMarrNC wrote:
Anything that's good about it was probably one of Ziggy's ideas.


Not fair (on yourself) - you already had a good video before you asked for feedback.


Much of the first draft and concept was based on cumulative advice and observations you've made on the forum.

Speaking of which... I want to thank you for sharing your knowledge so freely. You are one of the last remaining gurus from Muvizu's glory period, and without your willingness to share the things you've learned the hard way, all us newbies would be in the position of having to figure it all out from scratch. Don't underestimate your influence ...
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22/10/2016 17:18:44

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		unlimitedmagic wrote:
COOL! I love the opening tracking shot with the moon in the background. Great use of lighting. How'd you get so many fog effects? Muvizu crashes if I put more than two - must be my crappy PC. Jealous. Beautiful job PatMarrNC


Thanks for the kind words! Interesting to hear about the resource hog-ness of the particle effects. I recently added a GTX-1060 video card and 16 more gigs of ram, and I wasn't sure if any of it made a difference because my sets still take forever to load.

Apparently loading the sets is a CPU task but processing particle effects is a GPU task, so the new graphics card may well have enabled the fog. Interesting

I think YOUR sets are spectacular and total eye candy... so your machine must be pretty beefy! I can't even imagine creating sets with the amount of detail you put into yours!
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22/10/2016 17:39:11

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		AllClass wrote:
I agree and know completely what you mean about needing to 'let go' of a project.

You are right that it's better to keep making content and try to learn from each one. I also am a perfectionist and stress about little things but what you wrote is true - the main aim should be fun.


I should qualify my statements to be only for myself... younger people may have reasons and opportunities that make it advantageous to take all this seriously. But at my age, having fun is pretty much the whole goal.

I saw no flaws in your video.

lots of consistency errors... things I did differently in one scene than in the followup scene... color mismatches... terrible sound quality.. the voices sound like the actors are in a barrel. I recently added a flat screen TV as computer monitor, and it added new sound drivers to my system which screwed up the good settings I had previously. There is something weird happening around the windows when the monsters sneak up on the house, and nothing I tried fixed it. Ziggy suggested adding a flower box, which is a great idea... the mummy's accent changes from scene to scene etc etc etc


You must have a beast of a computer to produce such high quality imagery.

well... it's better than it was 2 months ago, but I think Santa needs to bring me something better


I think you should be a Muvizu mogul as you are always giving good feedback and tips to newbies like myself.

mogul or not, I see value in encouraging others. Especially on forums, you tend to get more participation when people know they are liked and appreciated. Participation leads to fun, so we all have an incentive to encourage one another. Which leads me to say "thanks for your encouragement!"


Also, speaking of which, I used your birds character pack for my traumatized crow - so thanks

yeah, I noticed that right away! It always tickles me to see my stuff showing up in other peoples' videos! I'd like to thank you on behalf of the crow! You did a great job of making him look upset by what he was witnessing. ;-)
edited by PatMarrNC on 22/10/2016
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22/10/2016 18:09:31

Rocque
Rocque
Posts: 359 		ziggy72 wrote:
PatMarrNC wrote:
Anything that's good about it was probably one of Ziggy's ideas.


Not fair (on yourself) - you already had a good video before you asked for feedback.


I agree with Ziggy! When you say there are lots of mistakes in it, maybe for you there are, but for those of us who saw it as highly entertaining, it was great from the beginning to the very end. The moon was awesome only lighting up the circle. The sound effects were spot on, and the characters were scary enough as they approached the house. Your use of shadows helped set the overall spookiness of the scenes.

There is a lot of growth in techniques in all of your videos. Maybe you are too much of a perfectionist, or too critical of your own works. I saw it as very well executed, and just the right amount of suspense for those of us who do not like to be over scared. I am happy that you were having fun making it, and it shows because it was all very smooth to watch, and I am inspired how you got the scene to pan across effortlessly.

I am not sure what you used to make 99% of your video.
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22/10/2016 18:29:31

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738
I am not sure what you used to make 99% of your video.


can you elaborate on this? Do you mean you aren't sure where the assets came from? Or how the scenes were constructed? or something else?
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22/10/2016 20:15:33

unlimitedmagic
unlimitedmagic
Posts: 53 		I've got an intel (laptop) motherboard. 2.5ghz, 8 gigs of ram, terrible integrated graphics card. It's been a good unit for most things and I've been surprised at how it keeps chugging along - I burden it repeatedly. Part of my fun is seeing how much I can get away with. It forces me to optimize my sets which is kind of cool.

I did one shot in my entry where the walls seem to stretch down from overhead. I had seen this type of shot used in horror films before. They call it a "Dolly Zoom". It's where you zoom out while moving the camera forward. I didn't think it would work in Muvizu but it worked nicely.

Here's a great compilation of it used in movies -

https://vimeo.com/84548119.
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22/10/2016 20:30:34

unlimitedmagic
unlimitedmagic
Posts: 53 		If anyone would like to see how I did the "Last Message" here's the file. It was done as a single take. I did re-edit some of the timing on the camera cuts and added audio in Sony Vegas Pro.
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22/10/2016 23:54:10

Rocque
Rocque
Posts: 359 		PatMarrNC wrote:
I am not sure what you used to make 99% of your video.


can you elaborate on this? Do you mean you aren't sure where the assets came from? Or how the scenes were constructed? or something else?



Yes! to everything you did! How did you do the panning? It looked so smooth to follow the moon across the view like the camera was on a conveyor belt or wheels. I did not know you could travel so far across a set so smoothly. My scenes are short and choppy, and I would love to be able to have something like you did there.

The wolf howling was also amazing. The timing was perfect, and I was expecting a wolf and got the wolf man, but the wolf head was very realistic.

The lighting throughout the video was very well done. I enjoyed the scene with the witch around the fire. I will have to watch the video again to ask more questions. I totally missed the car the first time through because of the house and person inside.

That is all for now.
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23/10/2016 00:05:50

Rocque
Rocque
Posts: 359 		Thanks for all you shared Unlimited Magic. Hitchcock was a genius! He had ideas that are still being used today in film making and special effects.
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23/10/2016 01:29:43

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		Rocque wrote:
How did you do the panning? It looked so smooth to follow the moon across the view like the camera was on a conveyor belt or wheels. I did not know you could travel so far across a set so smoothly. My scenes are short and choppy, and I would love to be able to have something like you did there.


Did you buy the keyframe pack? That's how I do all camera moves... it's very easy. You position the camera where you want it, then click to add a keyframe.... then move the time marker ahead to where you want the camera to end up, position it to frame the shot and click to keyframe that position... then hit PLAY and Muvizu smoothly moves the camera between those 2 keyframed positions! It's one of my favorite features of Muvizu, because it works so well and is easy too!

The wolf howling was also amazing. The timing was perfect, and I was expecting a wolf and got the wolf man, but the wolf head was very realistic.

This is where different tools in the toolbox comes in. The actual wolf howling was animated in another animation software, then saved as a green-screen clip. Then HitFilm removed the green so it just looked like a wolf howling over my Muvizu setting. The same wolf was exported from the first software as an OBJ file, and I just used his head to make a head attachment for Beefy. In order to transition from the howling wolf clip to the wolf man, I lined the two heads up and faded the one clip out as I faded the other clip in.

The lighting throughout the video was very well done.

like everybody else, I just followed Ziggy's environment settings

I enjoyed the scene with the witch around the fire. I will have to watch the video again to ask more questions.

please do!

I totally missed the car the first time through because of the house and person inside.


that's one of the interesting aspects of making videos... you have to put in a lot of details that probably won't get consciously noticed in order to make the scenes resemble real life. Real life tends to be cluttered with the stuff that defines us. The extra stuff in scenes is an easy way to tell the audience about the characters without taking time to specifically dole out the information through dialog. We may not consciously acknowledge the presence of items in a scene, but subconsciously, everything in the scene gets factored into our perception of what's happening. Ziggy is particularly good at this. Watch his videos with an eye for all the miscellaneous stuff... it's all there for a reason.
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23/10/2016 17:44:17

MrDrWho13Muvizu mogulExperimental user
MrDrWho13
Posts: 2220 		Just under a week left, so any last minute entries will need to be wrapped up soon!
I look forward to watching all these films. It's great to see all your tips and tricks being shared!
Good luck everyone!

(Voting will start at 9AM BST on October 30th and end at 6PM)
edited by MrDrWho13 on 23/10/2016
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