The 3D students in our group have updated their scene modelling and it looks fantastic. They have worked hard on their homework based on the moodboard.
Brain Monitor Comp ：
As most of the work I do in this group is 2D related, I was responsible for the creation of this brain monitor element. The main purpose of this element was to enrich the scene and add to the atmosphere of the lab scene. To provide some ‘cyberpunk’ elements to the scene. Based on these requirements I did some research on this element. Firstly, it needed to be blue and red glowing. The brain, data monitoring, bio-command, medical surveillance and other related elements were added and then combined together.
Based on my research, I found a lot of footage and composited it in AE.
During the pre-concept discussion, the group agreed that in order to fit the overall style of the painting and to match the attributes of the story, the characters should not be very figurative, they could be in various patterns, but just have a general outline of a person. I did some research on this.
reference
Based on my research, I gave the figures a floral design to paint. The inspiration was “emotions” and “shadows”. The shadow of each person is in fact the silhouette of each person, which changes with the light and shadow. The shadows are grey, but each person has a different ‘mood’. Emotions have a colour, perhaps red for happy and blue for sad. So with these ideas in mind I drew some BP.
”Human Shadow“ BP Design
After completing the design, I composited the people in nuke. This was a little different from my previous compositing green screen. Whereas previous work required clearing the green screen, this time I needed to turn both the green screen and the people into a transparent channel, turning the green screen into a 3D scene and the people into different colours.
After completing the basic preparations for the pre-production. After our discussions and in order to finish the project on time, the characters we decided to produce them by filming. The shots were taken in Green Screen Studios and then combined with the scenes in nuke.
first shooting
We did two green screen shoots, the first one was a test shoot, and after we had finished we went back and checked the footage and found a lot of problems and missing shots. So for the second shoot we learnt a lot of lessons, planned ahead and followed the list.
vfx supervisor The vfx supervisor is responsible for the entire visual effects project. They manage the VFX pipeline, including all VFX artists working in the process. They are ultimately responsible for all VFX elements produced by their company or studio for a project. vfx supervisors handle projects from the early stages of pre-production. They are the main point of contact between the VFX studio and the director or producer of the film or TV show. Together they decide what visual effects are needed for each shot of the film, and the VFX Supervisor then works with the VFX artist to create mock-ups for presentation. These can include concept art and 3D computer-generated images. The mock-ups help to inform the style of VFX in production. As the film comes together in post-production, the VFX Supervisor continues to lead their team. They oversee the quality of all work produced and ensure it meets the director’s or producer’s vision. vfx supervisors need to have excellent design, colour and composition skills understand the camera, cinematography and how films are made and be able to influence shots to make them suitable for visual effects. Proficiency in the use of Maya, Nuke, Photoshop and other related programs. And the ability to communicate well with the director or producer for pre-production as well as the leadership to share the director’s or producer’s vision for the film with the VFX artists in all departments assigning staff work. If I had been working in the vfx industry I wish I had applied for this position earlier. I wish I had applied for this position sooner because it would have given me more room to work on a production.
Fx artist This is a career that I started to be interested in during my MA years. I had already done some particle effects in Maya. It was very interesting for me. FX artists create visual effects in films, TV shows and games. They are responsible for creating smoke, fire, destruction, water and some smaller effects such as object collisions or liquid simulations in glass. The requirements for this career in most companies and film studios require a mastery of Houdini, Maya and programming, motion graphics, and art. Good aesthetic skills and the ability to use software to match. After researching this career, I found that if I wanted to apply for this career I had to learn as much as I could about particles and some of the programming required. This is very important.
compositor I am interested in this career because the first software I learned since I was introduced to vfx was nuke and my undergraduate vfx course was basically based around nuke with some 3d studies thrown in. During the course of my studies I learned about the compositor profession. In the current film industry NUKE is a mainstream compositing software, in addition to some PS AE MAYA. The compositor’s main role is to bring together all the 2D and 3D elements that make up a shot to ensure that they look like they naturally belong in the same space. For example, they may be given a foreground element shot in front of a green screen, which they need to combine with a matte background, CG characters and FX elements. According to most companies looking for compositors, art, NUKE is a must, and a certain level of 3D ability is required, i.e. an understanding of the 3D workflow and 2D work to get the job done. But it was also through this research that I realised I really needed to do an internship. I really need to understand the workflow of the post-production department. The second point is that I need to learn more about 3D and AE, I am working hard on 3D. But AE is relatively new to me. And I might need to learn some programming too. I’ve seen some companies that require compositors to be able to do some simple programming.
Based on our ongoing research and tutor’s suggestions, we made changes to the story, adding details and cutting out a lot of redundancy. Because we wanted to make an experimental animation, we would have wanted our content to be a bit more stream of consciousness in the initial content meeting, so we set up the storyline a bit incoherently and without very much of a narrative. But although this is a stream-of-consciousness experimental short film, there still needs to be a narrative presence. So we made changes to the story based on this issue.
New version of the story script
People walking around in front of a large screen Inside the glass window is where the brains of senior people are kept
People pushing in to watch the monitor, close-up of monitor
Entering the lab with the brain inside the container surrounded by pulsating neurons
Suddenly a white spirit appears in the lab, perhaps the conscious body of a brain or perhaps a “person”
The glass floor of the laboratory shakes and the “person” falls out of the laboratory. The glass floor of the laboratory looks like another world Clouds drifting in and out
The white spirit walked aimlessly in the streets of the other world, and after colliding with a person, his body suddenly took on colour.
He walks towards a wall and his whole body suddenly enters the wall. In a flash, he enters the home of a couple.
The couple is watching a movie together. The protagonist is curious and walks into the space and looks around, it is different from the cold laboratory he lived in before, warm lights, soft sofas, everything is warm.
He walks up to the TV and a mysterious force sucks him in
His vision was blurred.
When he opened his eyes again he was standing in front of a container of bright red blood coming from his brain.
The brain glows.
The end
Scene Design
Scene Moodboard – Scene001 Dystopia
Scene Moodboard – Scene002 Utopia
Storyboard – Jiaruo Zhang
Reference Films to refer to. The Hunger Games The Moving Maze
In this seminar we discussed the interface and transition between the two worlds. At one of the exhibitions this month, I saw a form of painting that I had not known before: the triptych. It is a type of triptych, divided into three sections. The one in the centre is usually the largest, and there are also three paintings with the same size work. Triptychs have been around since the early days of Christian art and were a common form of medieval altarpiece. One of my favourite paintings is The Garden of Earthly Delights, a triptych of oil paintings on oak panels by the early Dutch painter Jeronimis Bose between the ages of forty and sixty. The intent of this work can be read in many forms: a cautionary tale of worldly carnal indulgence; a dire warning of the risks that life’s temptations will endure, to an evocation of ultimate sexual pleasure. The complexity of what it symbolises. I think this painting is relevant to our theme both in terms of meaning and pictorial form. I think that Utopia and Anti-Utopia could be done in a triptych form as well. A triptych showing three different worlds. Using the triptych as a transitional medium.
For the overall style of the graphics we decided to do cel shading, a production method that allows us to do as much as possible in a short time, giving us more time to enrich what the graphics have to say. And we decided to incorporate some cyberpunk elements into the graphics to make the visuals look even better.
Concept：
Utopia is the dream of mankind when he takes a nap in the midst of his miserable life.
Outline：
Dystopia: laboratory, brains, vessels, vessels = house, brains = people
Depressing numbing work, a bunch of people working, transporting mirror to brain, brain in a vessel (depressing tones) Transition to utopian world through reflective objects.
Utopia (with real shot): (object transitions) watching a film on computer with a cup of coffee on the roadside, couple (family) at home in the film (human body makes the effect of poor TV contact, looks unreal), cat going out to play with cat friend, liquid mapping next to anti-utopian world.
Ending: stepping in a puddle both worlds are presented, then the box (painting) closes (Schrödinger’s cat)
Script：
A group of humans each standing in their own position doing their work. The camera goes in towards the end (the large screen on the wall is a track of neurons, flashing like a map with dots of light) The camera looks to the sides of the scene, where the table is lined with brains surrounded by neurons. The camera looks to the left (right) side of the brain, with a close-up of the pulsating blood vessels on it The camera pulls away slightly and you can see the brains reflected on the smooth table. (You can make a blurred sense of the reflection from the brain into the couple) The reflection is of the couple watching a film at home (close-up of the couple’s (family’s) faces, taking the shape of the brains) The camera pulls away from the full scene of the couple (family) watching the film with the kitten sleeping or running on the floor. Owner gets up to feed cat Cat eating Cat goes out to walk down the street (three or two pedestrians on the street) Cat finds his friends Cat chasing and playing with his friends (making a mess) The puddle on the side of the road shows them together in the shape of an anti-utopian world of brains (veins pulsing in the brain) Both worlds are visible (medium shot, puddle and world are 50/50) Both worlds are shown The world closes
Group division
Our group is a combination of 3D animation computer and Visual effect.
Based on the theme of utopia and dystopia we first thought of making two very contrasting worlds. Because these two words are the opposite of each other. We wanted to be able to make the audience feel the polarities of these two worlds through the contrast between them.
In order to be able to realise our idea, two concepts have been examined. For dystopia: dystopia is a caricature of a utopian world. Anti-utopia is not a concept that exists on its own; it is closely linked to utopia. Anti-utopian literature is broadly divided into two categories: anti-utopian dys-topians and anti-utopia. anti-utopian fiction focuses on a bad society and aims to criticise the faults of the existing system, with its focus on the present. Anti-utopia, on the other hand, aims to expose and satirise the shortcomings of utopia itself and its ideas, and it focuses on the idea of utopia. Utopia, on the other hand: “the impossible ideal society and things”, meaning both the non-existent and the perfect society, is derived from Thomas More’s book Utopia, in which the religious or worldly vision of heaven, Eden, the paradise, etc. can be included. The above concept is a summary of the interpretation of these two terms in books, websites etc. We have researched the project based on these concepts.
So the members of our group came up with the idea of a Brain-Computer Interface based on the concept. Brain-Computer Interface (BCI): It is a new communication and control technology between the human or animal brain (or a culture of brain cells) and a computer or other electronic device that does not rely on conventional brain information output pathways (peripheral nerve and muscle tissue). In this definition, “brain” refers to the brain or nervous system of an organic life form, not just “mind” (abstract mind). The definition of ‘brain’ refers to the organic form of life, the brain or nervous system, and not just the ‘mind’ (abstract mind). It is better to return to the real world and feel the real feeling of human interaction and nature.
The above paragraph is about the concept of dystopia, about utopia we think of a better world as representing the warmth of everyday life, a life without worries, many people will think that everyday life cannot represent utopia, but in real life, many people’s lives start from waking up to work and go home at night to sleep, not really spending much time with lovers, family, pets There is not much time to spend with lovers, family and pets. Sometimes the most “utopian” life is the one that is ordinary and warm.
