The third day of filming was taken down the alleyway later on in the evening again to keep the lighting similar. A 5D camera, pop up greenscreen, tripod, and fish eye lense (for taking HDRI which would be useful for 3D objects) were used:

The final process was to rotoscope the top and bottom of the door alongside the greenscreen which   was tested and usable results. The measuring of the tripod also meant matching the shots up was easier.

The next shot is of the character walking down the hallway, the green screen was placed at the end of the corridor.

 A shot was taken from low down, and created on the day of filming to help cut up the long shot of following the character down the hallway. Rotoscoping of the doorway and character were needed before implementation of the proxy 3D models.

The next shot was of the character walking forward, hearing a noise and turning around:

 A close up was then taken to show the characters fear, which has been always kept at a distance. The character looks up at the vent above, the shot then switches to a point of view from the character looking up at the cealing. The 3D grate would then fall off.

The next shot, another point of view, was to show the 3D grate hitting the floor, and the character backing off, switching to the close up again to keep continuity:

Finally the camera would pan up to show the vent, and the creatures legs coming into view as it prepares to jump:

This shot was of the ceiling with the camera backing away, as a point of view from the character, the 3D vent and headcrab would be implemented at a later date.

With the days filming finished, a last establishing shot was taken, in which the Citadel would be implemented in the back, and the shot dirtied and decayed using Photoshop:

Once the filming was complete, a rough edit was put together of all the current footage at the time, which would then be reviewed and re-edited at a later date:

The second day of filming took place later on in the evening so that the dark could be used to reduce the amount of ambient light in the shots. Due to the busyness of the enclosed stairwell, the mossy set was chosen instead.

The four shots chosen were shot using both hand-held and camera rigs. The first being made to be as static as possible without using a tripod.

The initial idea for the second shot was to use the shoulder rig, follow the character around and track in 3D walls later on.

The problems this shot faced is that being on a shoulder rig it would need to either be tracked (and given the hope it would work) or stabilized then tracked. Ultimately the track did not work, so alternative methods around solving the problem were be needed.

The final shot of the day was taken when the enclosed stairwell was less busy. This shot was chosen to be implemented onto the end of the hallway shot to merge both locations.

The camera was fixed upon a tripod for this shot, and was measured from the ground so that when the conjoining shot is made in the alleyway location, it will be the correct height and both shots will work better in post.

Before finishing the days shoot, another establishing shot was chosen, and later on a 3D citadel image will be tracked into the scene as the camera pans up.

The problem with the shots were that they did not track correctly, which meant resorting to re-shooting and rotoscoping the character entirely, which meant more work, but ultimately more control.

The first day of filming at the warehouse, was to get the initial warehouse shot completed. A problem faced was making sure the Dolly track fit well enough for the shot, fortunately new track was available.

The dolly itself was set up outside the warehouse and instead of the original storyboard had to be adapted where the character comes into shot from the right and moves to the left of the scene.

The potential problem faced was keeping up with the actor as he walks across.

The shot that was finally chosen worked in keeping the character in the centre of the frame until the dolly reached the shutter door.

 

 As the character inspects the door, he moves to the shuttered window and attempts to open it. The shot itself was deemed too long, and was cut up with different shots.

After the cut, the shot would come back to the dolly, and the character would activate a 3D hand scanner that would open the shutter:

After the shoot, a key was attempted on the green screen, but a mistake on the day was not to light it correctly, so the shot did not work.


To remedy this, a different shoot would be set up to make sure the inside of the door is not seen, and instead of a 3D hand-scanner, wires placed inside the post box would be used instead, and sparks implemented when the ends touch.

 On the day of the filming, the problems that arose were incorrect lighting of the green screen, and the dolly tilting slightly due to the slightly unstable pavement.

For the corridor shots, an alleyway was found which had both great lighting, length and potential.

The only problem that presented itself is the light at the end of the corridor, but a rotoscope could be used to darken the light that comes into the corridor. The pop up greenscreen will be used at either ends of the corridor, then a back plate will be put in.

The storyboards set in place, the next important piece was to look locally at potential locations to film. The first place found was in a warehouse:

This was a potential place for the hallway shot.

After finding this location, the storyboards were reflected upon, and a transition from the outside shot with the door, to the inside corridor had to be revisited and revised.

The building had been changed to a bunker, so stairs were found so there would be transitional shots between the outside and inside of the corridor.

This shot will be composited into the back of the corridor, to join the two.

The stairwell will be highly in use during shoot, and close to the in-use stairwell was a derelict set, which was di-used. This seemed ideal to use for the main stairwell shots, where 3D walls could be composited.

 

On the way back, an establishing shot was taken on a bridge, where the Citadel would be composited into:

The warehouse where the corridor scene is to take place was looked at again as a potential location for the outdoor shot where the character moves towards the door:

This was the better place to film the first shot, the only problem would be getting the dolly track set up, and asking whos car was in the way to move them until the shooting was finished.

Following up from the initial ideas, storyboards were created to give an idea into what the shots would look ideally look like.

The first shot was changed from the scientist backing away from a potential monster, to walking into the scene from the side. He stares at the fallen citadel in the distance past the fence, and makes his way toward the door. He places his hand on the scanner and the door opens

He walks past old propaganda posters and warning signs, to give the impression the place was used, but has been derelict

The character starts to slow down as he hears a noise and turns to see its location.

 The grate bursts open and a headcrab appears. The shot cuts to black, and we see the title "City 17 - Remnant"

Synopsis of Idea and Dates - 12th - 16th January 2015 - City 17 - Remnant

To start the VFX project,  the narrative asked for in the brief specified a 'Viral Outbreak' post apocalypse genre styled show.

The original concept was based off of the video game Half-Life and its expansive series.

  Originally, the character in the project was to be a scientist, a canon character of the series.

This idea is set in the timeline of the second game Half-Life 2 , which evolves around a dystopian city known as City 17, at this time, the central building of the city, known as "The Citadel", has collapsed, leaving the city in turmoil among the aliens that still inhabit it.

Propaganda posters are seen throughout the video game, which may be useful material for recognisation within the vfx piece.

The establishing shot is of the Scientist backing into a door, being persued, he presses his hand against a scanner, and goes through swiftly.

 Inside, he takes a breather, and looks down the corridor. As he walks down, he passes propaganda and posters, eventually moving underneath a grate, which startles him when it rattles.

The last shot shows the two legs of an Alien (In this narrative, a Headcrab, the most well known alien of the series) as it prepares to bolt from a ventilation shaft at the scientist, the screen cuts black with the creatures screech, and the titles "City 17 - Remnant", show up before disappearing.