Update on Shot 1:


The texture on the bed post is not of a good quality here. It needs to be more subtle and scratchy. I will revert back to the original texture used. The nCloth has not yet been imported into this scene, hence the black shape at the bottom. I am still not pleased with how this shot is looking, but I will have to leave it soon and move on to my next task.

Improvements to be made:

• Improve the quality of the textures on the bed post, wall and tiles.
• More contrast to give the impression of moonlight. Yet this must be subtle. No harsh shadowing.
• Correct reflection on oxygen mask.

Update on Shot 1:

I have used HDRI for the reflection on the glass, hopefully this looks a bit more interesting than the previous render.


As for Ed, I have but need to sort the spec on his mask, and the fact there are no shadows cast from the oxygen tube. The shot may also need brightening up overall. I have attempted to use Depth of Field on the bed rail behind him, to make him stand out a little more.

More lighting for shot 1. My main concern here was making sure the texturing and colours were consistent and looked realistic in this type of lighting. This is very complicated shot in terms of getting the details in textures crisp on the machine. As the camera is so close, you can't afford to make short cuts, especially since this is a 30 second shot - so quite a large chunk of the film!

Shot 1:

The pump is the first object to be seen in Polished Off, so it has been important to get the lighting and texturing correct for this:

Update

Update

During the process from the first rendered image to the most recent, I have changed the colour scheme dramatically in order to achieve a more realistic type of night lighting. Some attributes of the textures have also been adjusted. The reflection on the glass is not as impressive as it should be, so I will attempt to improve this.

Simpilicity has always been the key for achieving the correct look of the visuals in SPLAY, so no detail can be overlooked, especially when so many shots of the film will only consist of a character, a spotlight and an illuminated floor.

I have been responsible for creating most of the textures (however few there are) and also the lighting. When I look back its incredible to think that we were going to use a colour palette of bronze and golden browns - the complete opposite to what it is now. It was fortunate for us that when Fraser McLean came to present a lecture in colour and layout theory that he commented on the striking monochromes. Dan Dalli had also mentioned in the second year that no student film from Ravensbourne had been made in black and white, so this provided even more of an incentive to create something different.

I was inspired by Phil's original concept that he presented at the pitch in September, and I thought the film should have always looked like that, but it is only now that the story is grittier in tone that we can go can back to the black and white. I have been creating a few tests within Maya and then compositing these with Adobe After Effects, as shown below:



However much I tried to meet Phil's vision, I still felt there was something not right. For instance, the textures of the ground did not suit the environment, and there was not enough contrast overall. I referred back to the original concept again and argued that there should only be black and white, with very little grey as possible. Phil agreed, and also suggested that the textures of the environment should be the same as the characters, i.e very soft and chalky.

You could say that all this work has been wasted, because we have worked ourselves back to the very beginning, well I don't think so. Without that process we could have made any other wrong decisions and at the end of the day its all part of the fun.

I have now attempted to recreate the concept in Maya:


And now importing Squ into the scene:

Influences: Vertigo

An Alfred Hitchcock film - need I say more?

Vertigo (1958) is a classic, with its film noir essence and beautiful cinematography. Here are but a few stills from the film which inspire me:





(Cinematography by Robert Burks)

Phil has worked tirelessly to complete as many of the storyboards for SPLAY and due to the monster which was the dissertation, it has unfortunately hindered that process. We admit the story should have been completed by the end of the first term, but we knew we had to push the story as far as we could until we were content with it.

Time has been dramatically reduced on the production, but now is the time to show what were really made of.

Our main responsibility after the dissertation was to complete an updated animatic of the film, so that this could be passed on to Kai Giritli and Paul Avon who are working on the sound effects and music respectively. In addition, this would provide us with a better sense of pace and timing within the story, as you cannot gauge this as effectively with only a storyboarded sequence. The story has been roughly 85 to 90% storyboarded, and so we will work with what we have.

Phil, Alec and I worked on the animatic for two days, importing images into Adobe Premiere and cutting everything together. There is no scratch sound effects or music with this version. We intend to use the more professional editing software Final Cut Pro for the final product but for the meantime Premiere sufficed.

It was refreshing to see a moving sequence, but it also confirmed our worst nightmares that the length of the film would be reaching the 6 minute mark. This is not even finalised as the end sequence has not yet been storyboarded, so will most likely be increased to 8 minutes.

We have made a decision to select a sequence from within the film, and work on this up and until the deadline. It would be foolish to continue and attempt to complete the entire film as this would compromise the quality, but we vow to continue with the film after our degree has finished. It is at the utmost importance that we do so.

The dissertation is now done and dusted and it is time to set the wheels back in motion.