Introducing, Superhero in a Box II, manufactured for your ease of living. This set includes Teleportation, Elasticity, and Objetct Duplication.

Stop straining yourself going from one room to another. With just a snap of your fingers, you can instantly teleport to any desired location.
Don't strain yourself getting up, teleport into positions until you're comfortable.

Having trouble reaching that yummy snack? Don't bother getting up, use your Elasticity ability to get to those tough to reach things.
You can stretch all areas of your body.

Running short on cash? No problem! Duplicate your money then spend again and again. Dont get down in the dumps because you're out of your favorite snack. Just duplicate the item and eat great all day.

Order now to have Superhero in a Box II rushed to your front door.

Just 5 easy payments of $99.95
call toll-free at 1855- BE-SUPER or order online at superheroinabox.com

This product and all statements affiliated with SUPERHERO IN A BOX have not been approved by the food and drug administration for use on humans in Canada, Mexico, China, Italy, United States or Brazil.
To be used by professional superheros only. Untrained use could result in disfigurment or long-term comas. Duplicate items at your own risk, items may duplicate uncontrollably.

Superhero in a Box II
It's a happier you...

My Resume

Amanda Willoughby

8201 Everwood Cove, Germantown, TN 38138   (901) 334-8787       abwilloughby90@gmail.com

I am interested in securing a full-time media driven position, in a challenging environment, that focuses on the execution of quality digital video production.

Education

Memphis College of Art - August 2008 - present

Candidate for Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Digital Media Concentration, December 2012

3.1 GPA

Artistic/ Technical Skills

Software Knowledge

 Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Logic Pro, FL Studio, After Effects, Compressor, DVD Studio Pro, Adobe Encore, Isadora

Artistic Skills

Screenwriting, 3 act story structure, 3 Point Lighting, Cinematography, Character Development, Character Design, Storyboarding

Other Skills

Organizational Skills, Soundboard Operation, Presentations and Public Speaking, Professional Email and Phone Etiquette

Experience

Neighborhood Christian Centers Inc. - Paid Internship

September 2010 – present

Assist Multi-Media Director in all pre and post production of children’s program Junior TRUTH Seekers

Duties: Write scripts, research, storyboarding, filming, lighting, manage production equipment, editing, applying special effects, DVD authoring

*featured on local television station WTWV every Saturday 10:30am

New Life Holiness COGIC

August 2011 – November 2011

Film sessions of Build-a-Wall Program and edit footage for Saturday morning broadcasts.

Concord Academy – Work Study

August 2008 – December 2008

Design creative and stimulating art lessons and projects for a biweekly special-needs class

Instruct and assist class with art projects

Featured Work

2012 – Interactive Installation featured at The Annual Music Video Showcase: Powerhouse. Memphis, TN

Out sick today

Unfortunately I've been very sick this weekend and didn't get much done. Be back soon...

Work Schedule

Friday April 14 -Sunday April 15
Shoot All necessary footage
Complete Paper Edit for Demo Reel

Monday April 16
Edit effects into all shots

Tuesday April 17
Critique - make corrections
Design DVD Portfolio

Wednesday April 18
Record Voice over
Complete Text screens
Continue to work on shot footage

Thursday April 19
Critique- work on footage
Plan for reshoot

Friday April 20 - 22
Reshoot all necessary footage

Tuesday April 24
Have Completed Project Ready for review

5/1
Turn in Final for Critique

Test Files for Final

After Critique
These shots aren't the best, but I'm getting the hang of these effects. The class gave me some useful tips for some shots I'm going to have to work the hardest on the elastic body parts, but I think i can manage to make a believable piece in 3 weeks time. The object duplication will be pretty easy. I think I may take out the testimonials (not sure yet).

Superhero in a Box II - Futher Developement

Teleportation
Are you tiring yourself getting out of bed just to go all the way up and down those stairs? Now, save the energy! Teleport from from bed to couch in seconds! Never have to walk again!

How I will approach shooting Teleportation shots
Camera remains still
From bed to couch:
Wide shot of actor in bed.
Shot of scene without actor for base plate.
Hold up covers and drop them to composite shot of the teleportation's effect on covers.
Apply camera shake (wiggler)
smoke effect

Across street
With Camera remaining in place.
Shoot scene without actor for base plate
Actor approaches curb (tired with hand on back and out of breath). Cut on actor starting to jump
Cut to actor across the street. Cut on action of feet touching ground after jump
Apply camera shake (wiggler)
smoke effect

Elasticity
Are those items you need way out of reach? Are you straining your neck and back with reaching and bending? With your new elastic limbs, you'll never have to get up for those simple tasks.

Shoot base plate
Shoot actor in attempts to reach objects
From same angle shoot actor's hands, feet, lips touching object. (these shots will be masked out for compositing a realistic look of objects being reached)
Rotobrush out limbs and use puppet tool to manipulate movement.
Add shadows

Object Duplication
With your new object duplication ability, never run out of what you need. Even duplicate your money so you'll never have to work again!

to keep this effect from looking like im just turing on and off layers, I will animate the object's scale, puppet object during its materialization. Add shadows.


Testimonial Examples




Testimonial ideas
Thanks to object duplication I was able to double my money and keep my house.
I use my powers every day and now jobs around the home require so much less energy
I don't have to lift a finger when i want to go anywhere. I love it!

Aesthetics of the Commercial
Negative effects of not having product - High contrast/low saturation. X-out over screen. quirky music
Positive Effects -Bright, colorful, elevator-like music

Final Conept - Commercial

SuperHero in a Box: Second Edition

Life just got a lot easier with Superhero in a Box: Second Edition. Manufactured for your easy living, this set includes teleportation, super stretch, and time freeze!

Theme: An advertised product that aids in its user's laziness
One thing that I noticed about the commercials selling ridiculous products is that they offer nothing more than an aid for laziness. So to push the whole idea that this product is appealing to the lazy I'll use all examples of what these powers can be used for to aid in the user's laziness. This is meant to be comical but should seem to look like a real commercial.

Includes:
Teleportation
Super Stretch
Time Freeze

Teleportation
Sleeping in and getting to work or class at the last minute.
Teleport to the store and back to your couch in seconds.

Effect Example:

*This is basically what the effect will look like except between two different locations
*apply camera shake effect and added dust

Super stretch
Turn off your alarm clock without getting out of bed.
Stay on the couch and grab the soda that you left across the room.



*Rotobrush: mask out the actor's arm and use the puppet tool to stretch it.

Time Freeze
Take a nap in the middle of the day.
(character at work and starts sleeping on their desk)
Finish homework just before you turn it in

Effect Example

This is effect is simple: masking and time remapping.

Examples of Products and commercials that pretty much support laziness

Spiderhands

This is some fooling around with the rotobrush and puppet tool. just to get a refreshed handle on them both.

Taking Effects Further

Here are some effects that I want to try in my next project. I'm still kinda stuck on what i want to do next as far as content goes, but there are a lot of smaller tests that I really want to try.
This is the first test that I want to try. I don't like biting off other people's ideas so i think I want to try this with hair or legs as well..

Midterm

So i made some major changes to my project after tuesday's critique. I turned it into a commercial mirrored after the as-seen-on-tv ads. Its much shorter (about 1:20) and a little more funny. I added voice and music to make it more commercial-like. I found the music track on freestockmucsic.com. and I aslo found the background video online at stock video site. I'm much more happy with this piece; however, I do feel that it could be a lot stronger given the time to shoot more footage. I would have had my actor (or different actors) doing more with the superpowers (more so ridiculous things that are just funny. I noticed that most of the ads on tv offer nothing but aids to laziness. I think I've taken this in a much better direction.

Working, Working, Working...

At this point, I'm not as far along as I'd planned but I'm confident that I can get this project done by tuesday. Due to some scheduling issues with my actor, I wasn't able to get too much shot. So far, I have filmed just a few test shots to work out just how I am going to put together the effects. I'm actually happy about not getting it shot yet because I now know what types of shots not to use for my cloning scene. I worked out the bugs so I'm pretty excited. They're pretty quick to get done, so After I'm done shooting its all fun from there. I've changed my shooting location to something more camera-friendly.
So this is just some tests (that wont' be used in my project). These were really quick to get done, so I'm pretty pumped about working this weekend!

Here are some tutorials to show how my effects are done!

SuperSpeed


Car levitation
this tutorial shows how to pick up a car in AE, but the basic same principles will be used to levitate the car.


Cloning

Superhero in a box Schedule/Props/Storyboard

Schedule:
Friday Feb 24- Print smaller box and secure video equipment
Saturday - Filming all shots
Sunday - Reshoot any necessary shots.
Monday - Edit all non-effects shots into sequence
Tuesday - Complete effects for final clone scene and super speed scene
Wednesday - Matte painting and completion of car levitation
Thursday - Rework effects

Props needed:
Car (got it)
Box - 1 small, 1 large (got it)
I'll be making the smaller box by printing the labels onto thick paper with a template for the box on it. I'll be working on this today.
insulin vial (got it)
syringe (got it)

So these are the main shots that I want to have in my piece. My next step is to make the box and it's contents. I want them to look cheap and a little unsafe. For the bottle, I'm using an insulin vial. At this point I'm just about ready to start filming. I've made the decision to do this project without sound to focus more on the visuals. By next Tuesday I want to have this filmed so that I can get jumping on the effects.

Superhero in a Box

The Look



4x4 inch box. Looks cheap



Warning Label:
To be used by professionals only!
untrained use of this product could result in injuries or death.
Do not attempt to levitate large objects.
Consult with your doctor before use of super speed.
Clones may manifest zombie-like or violent
Side effects include: explosive diarrhea, sucidal actions, spastic fits of madness, body hair growth , headaches, vomiting, or death.





After ordering an injection guaranteed to give its user super powers, one guy finds that those powers aren't really that cool.
Superpowers: Telekinesis, Super Speed, Ability to clone oneself.

Superhero in a Box

After ordering a new system in the mail that guarantees to give its user super powers, one guy finds that those powers are not as cool as he imagined.

In After Effects, I will be using these techniques:
Motion Tracking
Matte painting
Cloning

Tone: Comical
Theme: be careful of what you buy

We open with a guy getting a package in the mail. He's excited and opens it quickly. It's Superhero in a Box; an injection that gives the user temporary superpowers. He takes the shot and gets up to test out the effects. First he looks down at the box at the list of superpowers. The first is super strength: So he goes outside and picks up a car, but lets it go mid-air and it drops and the windows shatter (matte painting the broken glass + 3D effects for the shattering glass). The next power is SuperSpeed, so he takes off in different directions superfast, but has a cramp after and goes back inside. The third power is making objects move with one's mind. so he focuses for a minute and causes an object on his coffee table to hover. The Fourth power is duplicating oneself. So, he breathes for a moment, then a clone pops up next to him, but the clone is mindless and drooling. Finally, he picks up the box that the medicine came in and turns it over to the warning label. It reads that the powers obtained using this product are to be used strictly by professionals. Clones may manifest in multiples or zombie-like. Use with extreme caution. Then it lists a variety of other bad bodily side effects.

Similar to these







This one is a possible alternate to the superspeed. I'll try both to see which works out better.

Cloning

This technique is probably the easiest I've tried thus far. Which is why im liking it. However, this effect can look really cheap if not done well. Being mindful of where the actor is and backgrounds is the most important part. I did a few tests in class today. They look pretty crappy, but here's just to show that i get the overall point. There's a lot i can do with cloning so im pretty excited to get started on some big projects with this technique involved.

Idea for a short
For this technique I want to make a short about a guy who is accidentally cloning himself over and over again. It will start with the main character getting home, checking the mail, and getting a letter about a cloning program. There would be a phrase at the bottom that the letter recipient must recite if they choose to join the program. Then clones of himself start popping up all over the room. After too many have popped up he quickly exits his apartment and shuts the door. After thinking for a moment, he opens the door back up and the room is empty. So he rips up the letter.

Matte Painting- Sky Replacement

Im using Andrew Kramer's Tutorial for this task. This process is a lot more involved than i originally imagined; however its something i feel is important for me to know. This is my first crack at imitating andrew kramer's tutorial. There's still the issue with the lines at the edge of my mask, and the motion tracking on the second 2 shots isn't right. it looks really weird (shaking too much) I know it looks bad lol



this one is just some fooling around with still pictures and a moving sky.

For the semester, I've decided to take a different approach than where I was going in the first half of this class. I'm exploring the capabilities of After Effects with effects on footage. I've always been interested in how certain special effects are done. The effects on footage can look pretty cheap if one doesn't take their time. One of the main elements one would use in After Effects would be motion tracking. I think that's probably one of the most important things when it comes to footage. At this point, I'm not sure where I will be going with my larger projects, but I'm very excited to get started on more effects.

3D Motion Tracking

Today im watching tutorials that i found last week for motion tracking in 3D.
So this process took a lot longer than i thought, and there are limitations to after effects with this technique. I wasn't able to motion track and rotate the text at the same time (which is what i was most interested in). There is a way to rotate and motion track the 3D text in After Effects, but it gets ridiculously complicated because the 3D text isn't one object - it's about 40 layers of the same text layed on top of one another and all synced together. So today was a learning experience. I probably wont use the second half of this process (the motion tracking), but learning how to make my text 3D in after effects was useful so im going to try some more things with that. I just couldn't figure out how to cast the shadow.

For homework:
Record shots for a small motion tracked project.
Import, edit, track, and prepare a presentation to show the class.

Motion Tracking Practice

Today I had a little practice with motion tracking. I have the hang of it pretty well now. The most important part is making sure that the item being tracked is trackable. This was a lot of fun. I will be shooting some footage tomorrow for practicing 3D motion tracking on thursday.





My next step is coming up with a cool idea for using these techniques.

What I will be working on

January 24
1. Motion Tracking
Practice this technique in class. viewing tutorials. complete two or three test files.
I did some practice with motion tracking last semester. I don't think I completely had it working correctly so, I thought this was a good place to start since most video effects in after effects require some kind of motion tracking.



Jan 25-26
2. 3D Motion Tracking
film test shots and complete two test files




Week 2
3. Matte Painting


Week 3-4
Create short project combining the Motion tracking and Matte painting

Week 5
4. Cinematic Color Correction
I downloaded about 8 color correction settings for after effects. Not sure how to install and use them yet but this tool will come in handy.



5. Advanced Depth of Field

Let's get started!

Starting with a review

Since I just went through the first half of this class last semester, most of Adobe After Effects CS5 is still fresh in my mind. So basically, I want to pick up where I left off and learn a bit more about 3D layers. There's a lot more in the area of effects that I have not explored. I did some research and here are a few things that I would like to try my hand at mastering. I would also like to use after effects to try some effects with video. I did one small asignment with video last semester ( it dealt with motiion tracking and what-not). This is something i really want to revisit because im more fascinated with the cinema aspect of AE right now. So I want to take everything that I learned last semester and crank it up a few notches to include video rather than just animation. However, I do have a nice animation idean in mind for my final project.

My favorite site at the moment is videocopilot with Andrew Kramer. He has the most detailed tutorials (however LONG).

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/magic_tracking/

3D Light Casting
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/3d_light_casting/

MATTE PAINTING

im especially interested in this video because i've always wanted to know how to do this






honestly there are so many things i want to try, I don't even know where to start. I dont have any particular large projects in mind for these effects; I simply want to know as much as possible about these effects. But i think i may start with some simple 3D work as a review.