Live Brief (ExPro): Live Brief #1: Matte Painting/Final Shot

For the final shot of our Live Brief #1, we wanted the girl to step out of the cinema and reveal the logo. I began matte painting this, creating an area that looked as if it were part of a sign for the cinema. We then decided to change the background too to give it a more asymmetrical and appealing look.

Unfortunately I'd not used the RAW dng image when creating the matte painting in Photoshop (a silly mistake on my part and shown above).

Thankfully though, this allowed me to re-create the image to a better quality in Photoshop and After Effects. Below is a quick breakdown of the process (not including the logo etc.) We decided making it sun-down/night time would work well for the short narrative (she's spent the day in the cinema/it's ending the day etc.) as well as match the lighting of the streets (as the sun really was beginning to set when this was shot). 

Cinema Matte Painting Breakdown from Lija J on Vimeo.

I found using the elements of the footage already in the scene helped keep the authenticity of the matte painting. For example altering the sign height, but still keeping it's rims. I still feel the sign is a little flat, and had I more time I would have looked into this, and worked the light a little more on each panel. Overall though I think it achieves the desired effect.