A shot early on in the film has this woman in the foreground of an operating room that is flooding with water. Other nurses and doctors are in the background up to their chins in water. a mother screams as she clutches her child. The shot is less than a second ling, but I have reworked the scene multiple times. Now that the woman’s head appears three dimensional, I am having a debate about how much I should turn her head as the camera moves.
Another creepy aspect of the VoluMax Pro Portrait program is that I can have the woman look directly at the camera as her head turns. Not many will ever notice this subtle detail. With this scene I separated this woman on her own layer and comped in the animation later using a green screen. It is the first and so far the only time I have used a green screen. The nose and lips though visible in the digital mesh do not render. They might exist three dimensional but my painted mask camouflages them, so I didn’t bother touching up any more.
I executed this portrait effect in another shot that is from the waste up and I found it wasn’t worth the effort. The painting already had enough information so the digital element was just overkill.I am learning I can let many things go and keep tweaking things that will stand out visually.
The film has been accepted to be shown at the Orlando International Fringe Festival, so I need to finish the edit and animation by May 11, 2023. I am about 1/8th of the way done as of today. Thankfully the shot counts are rising as I get used to the process.