After the Presintation

After the presintation it was mentioned that the piece did not include the visit essex website and it was hard to tell where each scene actually was. Using Premiere Pro I added titles to each scene and added the website at the end.

Exporting the Video

The format is FLV/F4V and the preset was HD 720p

Sound File References

seagullreal and swallows - www.ilovewavs.com
lake3 - www.freefx.co.uk/soundeffects/nature/
canal boat - www.audiosparx.com/sa/display/sounds.cfm/sound_group_iid.3380
splash - www.mediacollege.com/downloads/sound-effects/water/
wind breeze 1 - www.soundjay.com
voicereal - www.sounddogs.com

Editing the Scenes Together

We had a rather clever way of transitioning between scenes but I found it difficult to achieve this when editing the scenes together. It worked in several places like the seal moving from the walton on the naze scene to the harlow mill scene and also when the camera goes through the bushes to the hot air balloons and then the camera moving into the sky to the house.

I used a cross dissolve for the transition between the light inside the house to the dinning room scene and created several title screens. I also reverse the time and slowed down the Dedham scene because I felt it went well with the other scenes that way.

I also sourced the sound effects and added them in (references to follow). I used the constant gain transition effect to fade in and out the sounds. Sally sourced the music.

Colchester Castle

When getting all the scenes together we realised that we needed a scene we had missed out. So I quickly created Colchester Castle. I created the basic shape and used jpegs to finish the materials.

Not Quite Ready to Render

I did little bits in the scene that needed fixing. I changed the colour of the water and the strength of the lights because the scene was too bright. I also changed the sky because talking over with the team, we decided our scenes would transition better if the sky in all the scenes were the same. We decided to use Sally's sky in her scene for this. I also made the waves slower by adding noise to the water plane. I sorted out some camera movement problems and then started the render.

All Ready to Render

Camera has been added and the animation has been completed using the set key and the move tools. Extra trees have been added along with a sky and lighting to make it look like a summers day.

Water Added

This was done with a material. First the render setup and assign renderer the production was changed to mental ray renderer. Then in materials I pressed the button next to default and changed it to "Arch and Design (mi)". Then in "Special Purpose Maps" under Bump, Ocean Lume was selected. Then I changed the colour and the waves until I was happy.

Now all that needs doing is the animation.

Just need to add water

Just needs the water (and a sky) but I need to co-ordinate with Tracy for that because the sea is going to go into this scene so the water needs to be the same.

Finishing Touches

Added a fence around the house along with wooden blocks and the "Harlow Mill Lock" signs.

Photoshop Grass Map

Grass all done with the gravel path added to it. The picture continues off the left hand edge and goes onto the right hand edge. This was because the material didn't fit exactly onto the plane and it was easier to do it this way than moving 400 segments + acuratly in the Edit UVW map.

The Grass

When adding grass I found it difficult to create realistic looking grass. I decided to create the grass in photoshop and add it to the plane. It needs tidying up but the darker area is were the tress and fields are.

The Ground

Using the Displace tool in the modifier list I added the picture to the Image - Bitmap section and increased the strength until I had the effect that I wanted.

Creating a Height Map

I used these pictures to create my own height map making the higher parts of the terrain lighter and the lower parts darker. I used the blur and smudge tool to merge the colours to make the hill decends gradually.

Height Map

I used this picture as a reference to create the height map:

I also used google maps to get an accurate layout of the terrain were my lock was located:

Using the Displace Tool to make the Ground.

Found a useful tutorial online that showed me how to use the displace tool to make realistic looking ground.

http:youtube.com/watch?v=P2XAVI_dv-Q

First I created a plane with 400 segments in it both in height and width. The I created a height map.

House by the Lock

Materials done

Lock done - kind of

needs materials and land and water surrounding it but other than that. The lock is done!!

Refenece Photos

Won't put them all on because there are loads but I got reference photo's of the lock, of the Beefeater next to it and also of all the materials I need.

Cannal Boat

Almost done. Just need to sort out materials and I'm going to make the top more interesting.

Storyboard for Idea One

Research into Idea One

Camulodumon - Celtic Settlement - trading settlement with impressive defences. Invaded by the Romans in 43AD. Settlement was about 12 square miles.

Camulodumum - Roman Town - Claudius invaded with elephants!! (Poor Celtic people must have been scared). Built Temple of Claudius (44-53 AD?) Destroyed by the Boudican invasion (60 - 61 AD) Colchester Castle was built on it's remains. Butts Road Roman Church was also built (320 - 340 AD) and St Helen's Chapel that is still standing (I think). Population of about 10 - 12000.

Saxon and Viking town - lots of wooden hut buildings, by 527 AD became a major settlement.

William the Conqueror invaded in 1066 - built Colchester Castle between 1069 and 1076. Once had four storeys but due to lack of stone it now had two/three. Lots of churches were built including St Johns Abbey (1096) St Giles, St John's Green (1150) St Mary of the Walls (1206) and others.

In the Domesday book (1086) Colchester had 419 houses and a population between 2000 and 2500.

In 1635 the population was around 8000.

1648 - Colchester was attacked during the Second English Civil War (I thought there was only one?!) Lot's of destruction, St Mary's Church and the Gate of St John's Abbey were partically destroyed. (The inhabitant were left eating candles and boots. Nice!)

http://www.localhistories.org/colchestertime.html