Adding the Final Touches to Dream of Dolls Dancing

All of the animation for Dream of Dolls Dancing, my short film project made out of the dreams from Seed in the Sand, is complete. I am now adding the subtle touches that give depth to the composited shots by incorporating stock footage from Pond5 into my After Effects compositions. Here are a couple of examples.

In the shot of The One sinking as the mermaid watches I have added upscaled underwater footage with a camera lens blur effect as a base layer that is obscured with two layers of low opacity blue haze. The first layer is between the mermaid and The One and the other is the topmost layer. The underwater rays of light shift slowly.

Here is a still of the composition without the stock footage:

And here it is with the stock footage:

Here is a still image of the original stock footage with a link to Pond5.com:

My second example is showing the addition of a a sunrise glow and a fog layer that gradually obscures the composition of The One as he rushes toward the dancing dolls in his paper boat:

Here is a still of the composition without the stock footage:

And here it is with the stock footage:

Here is a still image of the original stock footage of the fog layer with a link to Pond5.com:

Soon I will start building the soundscape!