Modelling Continued... - 05/02/2016

Having followed on from modelling the chamber extension, I blocked in the shape of the chamber pods and worked in each particular part individually. I realised this would come in handy when I came to UV mapping the chamber. It would allow me more flexibility and control and ultimately better UVs so that the textures wouldn't stretch and become distorted as I knew I would have a few close up shots.

I didn't particularly work from many references directly at this point. I let my artistic flare take control for which shape looked like it suited the scene. I did have a look at bank vaults when going into more detail as it began to resemble some of the same characteristics. The images I looked at are shown below:

As a result, I came up with the following model. Progression pictures are shown with the last image being the latest.

For the hinges I looked at one reference for inspiration. What really captivated me about this image was the detail that has gone into every single bit of geometry and texture. I too wanted to make sure my models and the whole outlook captivate my audience, so I thought carefully about how I wanted my  chamber door to maneuver.

I decided to place designs on the chamber door which light up adding a more cultish/magical edge to the model, allowing it to be more than just a sci-fi type model. I initially thought that these engravings could light up as the wheel spins so the audience is aware which chamber has been 'chosen'. The colour of the engravings is purple, in order to keep towards the theme of black/gold/purple. My inspiration for these engravings came from the door of Durin from Lords of the Rings:

Below is the image I used for inspiration of the chamber hinges:

Having completed the chamber door, I felt something was missing from the top of the chamber and thought I should perhaps place something there which really accentuated the theme and what this vault lead to and hid inside. i first tried to place the logo I had created at the top but felt it was too repetitive, as i have placed it in a few places around the film.

I though that perhaps some kind of plaques could be placed above the chamber marking significant dates. As I had research a little into the formation of freemasonry, I decided to cross reference that against the plaques I modeled. The first plaque date is the formation of the Freemasons, the second plaque being the establishment of the grand lodge in England and the last plaque is the current time in the film, which relates to the grand reveal of the car inside the chamber.

As the door was going to open slightly in the shot, I decided to model the inside of the chamber too, created a space and a timing lock of some sort. I did not render it out as, in the film, I would like to create fog which would escape the chamber as soon as it opens anyway.

Continued Modelling with research/references - 29/01/2016

As I continued to collect images and references I began to develop the chamber hall where all the birthing pods would be placed. I used my initial pillars as charging generators in the hallway and created a chamber extension. As I was modelling, I was looking at a variety of references at once and sometimes just designing within the programme. I felt more at ease this way and more freedom as I didn't have a concept set in stone to follow. I wanted my ideas to flow as I modelled and for me it was a bit of a seamless process. At times I would sketch out little parts if I really didn't have an idea as to how to start modelling that particular thing but for the most part, my ideas flowed straight within Maya.

Some references I looked at whilst I was modelling the chamber extension are shown below along with the outcome of my model:

At the time, I wanted to model three more pipes inserting into the generator etc but it proved quite difficult as I was using the EP curve tool and then extruding a cylinder mesh, to the curve. I did not know then, that I could manipulate using the control vertex option and rebuild the curve if I needed. Hence why the spaces are there as the first pipe took a while. The pipes on the actual extension were a lot more manageable.

Modelling Beginning and Research - 27/01/2016

I had decided that I need to sit down and start modelling as I knew my ideas would evolve one after the next once sat infant of my screen, along with my previous materials to guide me. Before I did though, I made sure to collect enough and as many references of anything I liked the look of and that I felt was relevant to my topic. I looked at lots of technological things and gathered references from there along with many religious institutions, to see if I could gather any inspiration from there. I had began with modelling a pillar for my entrance gate to the compound of 'birthing pods'. I won't show all the references, but the one I used are shown below:

The first image and the third image are what really shaped the look of my entrance doors. The first image is actually a picture of a Lodge based in Italy. But I had a look at all of these, including 3 more, to constantly shape my ideas. The pillars is what I decided to build first as part of the doors as I thought of them to be iconic to not only lodges, but churches and other religious institutions. To me, they screamed orthodox, so I made traditional like pillars encapsulated in a tank like shell, acting as some sort of generator. I used the last picture as inspiration for this. Below is shown how I first started off, to my production stages and finally to how I finished the model. I wanted to texture at the end after I had mapped out an environment which is why only a plain lambert material is assigned to the mesh.

To get this model right was absolutely vital as it was going to be the first object anyone watching the film would see. So it was important for me to get the right shape and feel, showcasing a religious cult like mechanical kind of sci fi door. 

I also proceeded to make a floor using the following reference: 

I wanted a sci fi looking floor to match the chamber pods I was going to build later. I looked at small sections of the image and adapted how it looked to the floor I recreated. This is shown below. I added a glass sheet on the floor which covered a section where pipes ran through the floor. 

Animatic and pre-production continued - 21/01/2016

After my storyboarding and with ideas running through my head, I decided to get my shots down in an animatic with some provisional sound made by my compositor at the time. This just gave me a better understanding of how the shots connected together and the timing and types of animation that would be required for each shot. I added a few shots from the storyboarding stage as i saw appropriate, in order to link shots together and for the story to flow. Below is a link to my first animatic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4NjvqG-3Mk

As I was thinking about my, what now became a short film rather than an environment walk through, is how I would make it evident, that the car has just been born and is in a recuperating chamber. So, I had the idea of having the car ascend from a movable bench from a cloth like layer of water. Something like a water based shell, like as if it was being water born. I tried and tested the Vray water material (as I decided to render my short film out in Vray), but the best i got was a bubble like look. Below are the tests I had done:

Although the glossy/glass type look was desirable, it was not what I wanted to achieve. I did not want to spend too long on attempting to get the water correct and so decided if I did not get the look right within a week, I would not include it in my film. 

Having mapped out my animatic more or less, I decided to do a few look frames to try and stage how my animation would actually look. I used default Vray Materials and different lighting techniques to achieve looks. I build some rough models and a layout that I thought might initially work. Referring back to my storyboard, I imagined the chamber to be in a cave like area to begin with, so I wanted to carry this through. In the look frame the environment is made of rocks and boulders. I mainly used purple and a goldish yellow. Looking into Freemasonry, Purple Gold and Blue are really prominent colours that occur again and again. I tried to incorporate this into my scene with the lighting. The look frame was lit with single rect lights at different intensities and directional previews to achieve the looks below:

This is how I imagined my film would look approximately. When applying the Vray materials, I wasn't entirely sure that I would get the realistic look I wanted to achieve at the time. The materials looked a little flat but I had put it down to the models and that perhaps the materials were not reflecting due to the edges or that the specularity wasn't high enough. I did not want to continue testing in the test file as I felt I would be more at ease testing on the actual models I build.

Storyboard - 19/01/2016

After discussing my idea with my tutor and realising there was some lost potential, I rearranged my thoughts as to what direction I wanted to take with the sci-fi chamber. My thought process and what I did next is described below.

Having gathered some moodboards together, I decided to put pen to paper and get some rough thumbnail storyboards going. One of my first rough storyboards is shown below, which is what I had come up with in my beginning phases of my story. To begin with, I had an environment walk through in mind, but as I sketched out my first storyboard, it became apparent to myself that I was swaying towards a "coming of age" theme. Below is a photo of the storyboard.



After having laid out my initial story ideas on paper, I was set on the story which discovered a car being brought to life in a sci-fi chamber, where the car has already been given birth to and kept, to then be eased into the world. Although I knew how I wanted my film to look, once modelled and animated, I felt there was something lacking in my story.

Upon having a conversation on my film, it was suggested to me that I include religion. The fact that when someone is born, some kind of ritual is carried out, whether they're athiest, christian, jewish, muslim etc. Having recently looked at Kanye West's music video "POWER", occultism really interested me. I found and began reading some of "The Rough Guide to Cult Movies by Paul Simpson" to gain some inspiration and looked into the freemasonry cult as well as reading into the KKK. Being that supercars are often referred to as Beasts and demonic, I looked into how these cults carried out their rituals and went back to storyboarding.

  



 

After having looked into a bit of freemansonry and other cults, I decided to incoporate this theme into my short film. The story now consists of these masonic inspired "midwives" who witness the coming to life of this car. The storyboard for my new idea is shown below.





Above is shown my first draft of my main idea, give and take a few shots. From here, I went straight onto the animatic stage where it was easier for me to identifiy shots that needed to be taken and ones that needed to be removed.