Sasa Jokic, New York City-based editor and VFX artist is a long-time Imagineer Systems customer and fan of mocha. Sasa recently launched a new post production collaborative called MASSIVE Workshop, Inc, and shared with us his background, his experience in post production, and what inspires him. Sasa also shared some feedback with us on mocha and the new v3 release of mocha Pro.
On Sasa Jokic
My name is Sasa Jokic and I am creative video editor and VFX artist based in New York City. Even though I am a classically trained editor (I hold Master of Arts in Film and Video Editing from University of Art in Belgrade), I have always been interested in learning and using new editing and VFX tools. As a freelancer in New York, it is essential to keep current with all post-production software developments. Because you never know where are you going to get your next job and what tools the new company is using, I have learned to work on all editorial systems, including AVID, Final Cut Pro, Premiere, Media 100, to name a few, as well as most VFX tools on the market.
One of my favorite tools is Imagineer Systems’ mocha. It saved me so much time on so many projects and literally saved my job on some. I came to New York 1996 and did my fair share of work on low budget independent feature and documentary films. About 9 years ago, I decided to focus more on advertising, so I start working with many ad agencies as their on site editor and VFX artist. At the same time I started developing my relationships with the feature film world and working on visual effects for films.
A few months ago I created my new company called MASSIVE Workshop, Inc. We are a collaborative collective of best-in-the-business post production talent - producers, editors, motion designers, VFX and 3D artists. The idea is to provide an ad agency with a full range of post-production services directly and on many operational levels. I am confident that our approach will change the way ad agencies conduct post-production business. That will be MASSIVE’s main orientation, but we will continue to provide superb VFX work to our feature films clients.
On Recent Work
Just last week I finished two commercials for Purina Cat Chow and Tidy Cats. I used mocha on a few shots for Cat Chow, and on all shots for Tidy Cats; shots that needed to be stabilized and tracked because cats were shot separately from actors. Here’s a clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxe5xLi2crc
mocha on Feature Films
Six months ago I finished VFX work for the feature film “Silent House,” directed by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, shot by Igor Martinovic and starring Elisabeth Olsen. It premiered in more than 2000 theaters last March in United States, and it is just about to start screening throughout Europe. It was a very interesting project from technical stand point because the whole movie is one continuos shot. As a result, there were many small imperfections which we needed to fix. Sometimes the light would be seen on the celling, or cameraman’s hand would slide into the shot; some shots had unwanted lens flares, or surrounding houses would be seen through the forest, which did not sit well because it is a horror film our hero house needed to be isolated!
So I had to do a lot of object removals and clean ups. Some shots had to stabilized, because everything was shot with a handheld. mocha Pro was an essential tool in my workflow and we used it in every single part of the shot I was working on. There were more than 150 instances where mocha Pro came into play. Footage was dark, shaky and in some cases, had lots of motion blur and noise (it was shot on Canon 5D), but mocha Pro did not have a problem with any of that. Planar Tracking was flawless, and new stabilization module in mocha Pro v3 helped to smooth some parts of the shot and still keep that handheld camera feeling.
On the Workflow and Integration with Other Tools
I used After Effects CS5 for compositing, and with Mathias Mohl’s After Effects script mochaImport. It was a great workflow because After Effects was able to import not just mocha tracking data, but mocha shapes as well, which are essential for rotoscoping. mochaImport with option to create stabilized precomp helped me tremendously, especially when I needed to remove many stuck/hot pixels which is a known issue with DSLR cameras.
mocha Pro: Solving Problems, Saving Time
I do not think that I would have accepted the offer to work on this project if I did not have mocha Pro at my disposal -- it is hard for me to imagine any other way. Tracking handheld footage, shot in low light conditions where most of the objects we had to work on are coming in and out of the frame, would be impossible without mocha and its Planar Tracker. With so much material to work with and on such tight deadlines, you need to focus on compositing and solving shot problems. So just knowing that you do not need to worry about tracking is absolutely irreplaceable.
mocha Pro v3: Workflow Improvements and Integration with CS6
My only challenge with older versions of mocha really came when I was in a big rush, and I did not have much time to export files from After Effects and than import them into mocha. At the time, I thought that was the biggest problem in my mocha - AE workflow. But now with CS6, where you can open a clip directly from After Effects in mocha without first exporting it - well this improvement made mocha 100% perfect. In addition to this, the new mochaImport script also has an option to send clips, including masks, in- and out points from After Effects to mocha – with just one click, so even without CS6, your mocha AE workflow is significantly improved.
I am just about to start work on the movie “Red Knot” directed by Scott Cohen and starring Vincent Kartheiser and Olivia Thirlby. All these improvements in mocha v3, and additions like 3D camera solving, will streamline my workflow even more and make mocha absolutely one of the most valuable tools in my workflow.
Imagineer Systems' product specialist, Mary Poplin, posted some very interesting perspectives on the Imagineer blog yesterday. She's well traveled, meets a lot of customers and prospective customers, and what she learns on the road is just as valuable as what she's teaching on the road.
Here's an excerpt:
Every time I meet artists in person, I get these ‘epiphany moments’ from our users - some of whom have been using mocha for years - about how our software works. And what I realized is that many people don’t fully understand how mocha’s Planar Tracker actually thinks. Some don’t quite jive with the spline-to-track relationship, and none of these artists realize that all of these issues can be fixed with a simple visit.
I thought to myself, “how do I get this message out to as many people as possible?” So I decided to make an in-depth tutorial on it with lots of visual aids and clear explanations. And so I am in that process. The tutorial is in the works and being polished as we speak, but I couldn’t hold back anymore and wanted to tide you over with a much needed blog update that covers off some of the common questions I run into and attempts to breakdown some of the answers. So here goes!
Read the entire post here.
Since 1998, TRIXTER has been creating outstanding visual effects and digital character animation for feature films, television and commercials. From the early days, TRIXTER established itself as a major player in the field of emotive character animation, both for fully computer generated animated features as well as live-action productions. Over the past few years, TRIXTER has expanded its expertise by branching out into visual effects and has recently accomplished some outstanding work for German and international projects such as Percy Jackson, Lilly The Witch, Iron Man 2, Narnia 3, X-Men: First Class, Journey 2, Captain America and many more.
Today, TRIXTER is unique in its ability to provide quality digital production for live action and animated features, in mono or 3D stereo. Whether it be key framed computer generated creatures or motion capture driven performances, matte paintings or FX work, TRIXTER has the experience and talent to deliver work of the highest standards. Its community of innovative digital artists and computer technologists collaborate creatively with filmmakers, helping them to bring their vision from the storyboard to the theater and delight audiences around the globe. TRIXTER has offices in Munich, Berlin, Los Angeles and Toronto.
Imagineer Systems’ Ross Shain recently spoke with Michael Habenicht, Compositing TD for TRIXTER, and talked extensively about their innovative and highly acclaimed stereo 3D and visual effects projects from this past year. They also talked about mocha and the role it played in their pipeline.
Imagineer: Can you tell us about recent projects TRIXTER has worked on, the challenges you faced and how you overcame them? We understand that you used mocha fairly extensively on many tough projects; what can you tell us about your experiences?
Michael: mocha has been used extensively on all projects at TRIXTER this year, ranging from stereo conversion for "Green Lantern" to VFX for "X-Men: First Class," "Captain America: The First Avenger," and "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island." mocha’s Planar Tracker and roto capabilities were heavily relied on for these films!
Imagineer: Tell me a little about your pipeline and the other software you use. How does mocha integrate into your workflow?
Michael: We use Nuke for all the compositing here at TRIXTER. mocha integrates really well as it is only a matter of exporting to the clipboard and then pasting directly in Nuke. Also the new features since Nuke 6.2 was released that allows us to export only the keyframes for shapes, instead of having to “bake” every frame, really improves the workflow and speeds things up. So much can be done in mocha that, once we export to Nuke, there’s little back and forth for final adjustments - and that’s another huge time saver!
Imagineer: How many shots were tracked with mocha, and how did mocha assist the process?
Michael: Well, I would say nearly every shot gets tracked with mocha at some point in the process - mocha touches everything, especially if a shot requires some cleanup, replacement or roto. It provides excellent results in no time. Simply load your clip, draw the shape, track it, paste it into Nuke. Our artists, some of whom have never used it before, learned it very fast and were instantly impressed by what can be achieved. The ability to add a grid to the tracking gives us very good, fast feedback and perspective about the quality. Also the magnifier that shows the keyframe before and after is an essential aid to good consistent roto.
Imagineer: Can you talk about any particular challenges or shots on which mocha was a significant help? Would these shots have been more difficult to achieve in another set of tools?
Michael: On X-Men our task was to replace Mystique's eyes. Without mocha, it wouldn't have been possible in the given time while allowing us to keep to our quality standards. The shots provided several challenges. First we had to track the eyes or the face to get the general movement. mocha's robust algorithm significantly helped with this. It doesn't get distracted easily by small movements and variations in the pattern that differ from the overall movement. So blinks of the eyes were rarely a problem like they used to be when you tried to track a single feature in another software. The first round of tracking helped to roto the eyes and place the new ones. The second round tackled the movement of the pupil. Reproducing all subtle movements of the original performance was key to a successful shot. This way we could preserve all the character's emotions even with her new set of eyes!
On Journey 2 (a project in stereo 3D) we had to do a lot of cleanup. An animal that was used on set for filming had to be removed here and there so that a new CG creature could be inserted. mocha was a big help by providing reliable tracks for patches and roto.
mocha is an amazing tool that keeps getting better. We’re looking forward to new developments with mocha - features we know will benefit us even more, like a python api. This new feature will help us integrate pipelines and workflows even more effectively.
mocha has truly changed the way we work here at TRIXTER and enables us to tackle the most complex VFX and stereo 3D conversion projects with the confidence that we can deliver flawless results, every time!
They say good comedy is all about timing.
That’s all well and good for live comedy, but what happens when you’re shooting a Hollywood blockbuster comedy? Take after take resulting in hundreds of shots and scenes in no particular order. Just footage. What’s missing? Timing.
And the reality in the industry today is that good comedy films are created in post production, with extremely sophisticated VFX playing a bigger role than ever in helping create that critical timing that drives the site gag, the perfect entrance on the scene, the line delivery, and the actors’ reactions. And the most amazing part is, the audience never knows!
Scott Davids runs Level 256, a rapidly growing Los Angeles based VFX shop that has earned a reputation for taking on any VFX challenge, no matter how big, no matter how vexing, and turn it around quickly and with amazing results. Imagineer Systems recently spoke with Scott to talk about not only the incredible growth at Level 256, but also about the caliber of work that’s been keeping them so busy the past year. To say Level 256 is busy is putting mildly; in the past year alone, this powerhouse shop has cranked out the VFX on some of Hollywood’s funniest blockbuster comedy hits with such marquee titles as Little Fockers, Cedar Rapids, I Love You Man, Hot Tub Time Machine, and Bridemaids, which opens nationwide this weekend.
And some common threads through all of these hit movies? Complex visual effects that includes tracking, removal/replacement and roto. And to do it all in a way that helps Level 256 live up to their reputation of fast, quality results: they rely on mocha from Imagineer Systems.
Scott continued:
“We’re a small company and we do a lot of invisible work, specifically, they kind of VFX that people never realize are there, but it’s the kind of work that can bog artists down for weeks. mocha has helped us tremendously, enabling us to do lightning fast work, which is critical when you realize how important post production is to the comedic timing of these films.
Comedies have become a scientific process. Often we’re working with long cuts, running them over and over, testing the timing of the jokes and site gags. We’re constantly swapping out gags, adjusting the timing, the content, the actors, until we figure out the right jokes for the scene. And when you’re relying on VFX software to help you keep up, you quickly realize the value of a tool like mocha.
Most comedies aren’t traditional VFX-laden movies. But they each have literally hundreds of shots that need VFX touches. In Bridesmaids, we had over 260 shots where we had to test the comedic timing. We were pulling people out of different takes to make the jokes work better. It was amazing, and tedious at the same time. In Hot Tub Time Machine, we had shots where we had to cut out each actor individually and put them back into the scene one at a time. Normally, a shot like that would take days, if not more than a week. With mocha, we did it in a few hours.
Little Fockers presented us with a number of challenges. Not only were we faced with the huge task of testing timing, replacing actors and fine tuning the jokes, we had a few ‘production error’ crises we needed to solve. As you know, this installment of the Fockers series included their young children. One of the kids, half-way through the shoot, lost his front baby tooth! Since that wasn’t part of the script, we had to digitally re-create his front tooth, insert it and track it through every shot he appeared in for the rest of the movie. As you could imagine, that type of shot presents hundreds of issues that would send any VFX artist off the deep end; there’s tracking, camera angles, blur, rotation, fully exposed teeth (when his mouth is open) or partially exposed. But with mocha and the planar tracker, it was a snap! We simply placed the new tooth, set the planar track and hit ‘go.’
In one instance, the director wasn’t happy with one of the actor’s appearance in a shot, but it was too late to re-shoot. Using mocha, we literally pulled off what we called the Frankenstein shot; We took the head from one take, the chest from another, and the hands from yet another take and reassembled and tracked each part - all using mocha.
But I think my favorite ‘development’ we had to deal with was in Little Fockers. Owen Wilson decided to shave halfway through production! The whole first half of the film shows Owen with a shadow - not quite a full beard, but enough of a shadow that was not only clearly visible, but also part of his character’s look. Using a combination of tools, we created digital stubble, and using mocha, literally placed and tracked Own Wilson’s facial stubble through the remainder of the film!
These are the kinds of shots that most VFX artists would say ‘no way,’ but with mocha, they’re a snap, we don’t even blink.
mocha has become such an integral part of everything we do here at Level 256. Like I said earlier, we’re a small shop, but mocha has a direct impact on our ability to work as quickly as we do and therefore compete with the larger shops. And since we’re small, nimble and innovative, Level 256 is able to act more like a department within the studios - part of their team - rather than as an outside vendor. We work closely with the client from the start, right from the planning process, because, with mocha in our tool kit, we know what can and can’t be done. We also know that, since mocha talks to all the key platforms, that we can quickly deliver content from mocha into their editing apps, and back again if we need to make more changes. We don’t impede the process, we enhance it. And mocha helps us bring that level of value to our clients.
We couldn’t do what we do without mocha!
Level 256’s latest comedic VFX artistry will debut this weekend, with the nationwide premiere of Bridesmaids. For more information on Level 256, and to see more examples of their work, please visit www.level256vfx.com.
