Aetuts+ Weekend Workshop #9 - "Chronicle - Baseball Test"

We've recently started a new weekly community project where we'll be posting a video created by one of our wonderful readers, then ask you all to offer constructive feedback on the work. It’s a great way to learn more about video, express your viewpoint, and have your own content critiqued! Submit your own videos at the bottom.

Quick Ground Rules

1. Play nice! We’ve deliberately chosen videos that aren’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
2. Feel free to offer any type of advice – movement, lighting, color, pacing, etc.
3. You can also link to videos that you feel offer a great example of this type of content done exceptionally well.

Without further ado, here is this week’s candidate for critique!

"Chronicle - Baseball Test"

Story Behind the Project

....so I decided to put my fan-boy action to work and replicate some scenes from the movie.

A few weeks before the movie 'Chronicle' came out earlier this year, I was super-hyped. I couldn't stop thinking about it. When the movie was coming out later in the week, I came across a period where I had nothing to do for a day so I decided to put my fan-boy action to work and replicate some scenes from the movie.

I do agree with everyone that the first shot featured in this does not look terribly real, mainly because I rushed that shot to the next one, which involved a full 3D-track and replica 3d-ball to be made.

• Shot 1: I created a .png sequence of the ball spinning in Blender 3D and exported it to After Effects, where I animated it flying across the screen with a slight shadow.
• Shot 2: This shot I am more proud of. I did a full 3D track in Syntheyes, which I then brought into Blender 3D where I animated a 3D ball I created in the software and exported it out in a sequence of png images. I then composited this all together in After Effects CS5. I'm really fond of this shot and I know there are a few things I could work on to make it better.

This is my first *real* CG composite (that I actually like the result of) so any comments/critiques from you readers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!

Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached this project or done things differently?