Effects Contest

There's a new contest over at VFXTalk.com, they give you the scenario and the prekeyed footage, and you gotta build the shot. Really sweet, and I found out about it in time, so I got a little less than 2 months to put it together, and it will be a good test of every single one of my skills. Plus it's an effect shot based on the new Star Trek.

The scene will be simple, but here's what I think I will need to accomplish:
1. Tack real-world camera, model that camera into After Effects and 3DS Max.
2. In 3DS Max, build terrain and model a futuristic snow scooter and small fighter craft.
3. Using the real-world camera model, animate all models into a single sequence.
3. In 3DS Max, build blizzard volumetrics and particles.
4. Render out all four animation assets: Terrain, both Models, and volumetrics
5. In After Effects, composite all four animation assets plus provided footage, add in background elements like mountains/clouds/etc and additional volumetrics.
6. Add in fighter craft elements like lasers/missiles.
7. Add in explosion elements and lighting.
8. Add in motion blur, camera shake.
9. Render out final sequence.
10. In Premiere, add in sounds/music.
11. Final Render and Review!

In the real world, almost each step would be a separate person/group within a studio. So there's a lot of work involved. The hardest step will be the futuristic snow vehicle and small fighter, since I've never considered myself to be good at modelling and the contest rules call for all original models. But if I can get the models and the terrain done, it should be all downhill from there!

The camera will be the most important part because it will set the base realism. Basically what I do is build a small set with trackers which I will film with a real camera simulating the movements that I want in the scene. Then I motion track the footage and apply the data to a camera, and viola, a virtual camera with real-world movement. I've done it before where I took footage shot on a tripod and used a separate camera to build a small but steady camera shake to give the impression it was hand-held.

Finally some real world practice, this is going to be fun!