TAKE 1
April 2024
Welcome to the first issue of Craft Service, a monthly newsletter from the Producers at SPCSHP.
Every month we will compile a collection of items from the world of Production. Hopefully, there is something here for everyone, across all disciplines and (much like a great Producer) it can help inspire new ways of approaching the work.
AI: Cuebric
Cuebric, a play on the name of the greatest film director of all time, is a generative AI platform that can save hours when creating backdrops for virtual productions.
Moving a camera around in front of a static LED screen backdrop instantly dissolves the illusion that it is real. Just like objects in real life, the foreground and background need to shift against each other to create the illusion of depth. This is parallax and requires the meticulous process of separating the elements of a flat image into layers or the creation of 3D models in a game engine like Unreal.
Cuebric alleviates much of this work by providing a text to image generator that give the VFX artist a fully prepared image that is ready to shoot against in a fraction of the time normally allotted with the traditional process.
Tools like this are going to make virtual production a much more affordable approach for faster moving or smaller budget (or both) productions.
In the PUBLIC DOMAIN
On the first of every year, thousands of copyrighted works enter the US public domain, opening a rich pool of source material for our creative work. Upon entering the public domain, works are free for personal and commercial use to copy and build upon. This year we welcome works from 1928 and sound recordings from 1923.
A highly anticipated character, Mickey Mouse, entered the public domain in 2024 through the first film to feature the mouse, Steamboat Willie. What exactly can you do with Mickey under public domain? Use is limited to the original version of Mickey from 1928, without copyrightable details of later iterations. In the case of Mickey, no red pants or yellow boots as the color branding came later. Any use that confuses Disney endorsement is also off limits.
Each month, we'll be sharing new works in the public domain to make sifting through this treasure trove of content a bit easier. In the wild west of public domain, the possibilities to make your own Winnie-the-Screwed, or Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, are endless.
To dive deeper into the ins and outs of public domain, visit the Duke Center for the Study of Public Domain is an excellent educational resource. Visit Creative Commons (CC) for tools to source visual assets in the public domain.
DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHT
Directing duo Terri Timely (Ian Kibbey and Corey Creasey)were at the helm of our recent Early Warning System Paze video shoot. Ian and Corey are film school friends who have been making commercials, short films and music videos together 20+ years. We loved how Kibbey and Creasey work together seamlessly, balancing client check-ins and clock-managing discipline with humorous riffing and a decisive, united point of view. Being a duo means they can literally be in two places at once, helping jam-packed film schedules move steadily and keeping everyone on set, on the same page.
Terri Timely are supported by Park Pictures and represented by Dan and Dickey at Uncle Lefty.
TECHNIQUE:
Japan based director Arata Fukoe is doing some really interesting things with GoPros and interpolation software to get a new take on the Bullet Time effect.
In this Instagram post he shows how he sets up an array of 34 cameras and uses a technique called 3D Gaussian Splatting to interpolate seamlessly between the camera views.
The technique (outlined in detail here) allows for fast and accurate creation of photorealistic 3D scenes that a virtual camera can move around in and, according to Arata, will “significantly change the film industry”.
Arata is one of many small screen Creators who are experimenting with new techniques that are predicted to make their way onto big screens in the future.
BEHIND THE SCENES
We LOVE practical effects!
SPCSHP Producer Anna-Maria Egisto contributes this savory spot for Sir Kensington’s and it’s associated behind the scenes video highlighting a veritable feast of practically achieved movie magic.
Hosted on director Jesse James McElroy’s site, the behind the scenes video showcases the design and fabrication of a giant mouth prop that the camera shoots through to give a tongue’s-eye view of the sets.
It goes on to show multiple builds of practical sets and lighting setups that give the spot a more visceral feel than if they had employed CGI to achieve these effects.
