Category: Collab Unit

This morning my collab group had our first video call discussion to begin planning out our project. The roles in my group are as follows:

3D Animators– Kamil Fauzi, Emma Copeland

Sound Design– Ben Harrison, Callum Spence

VFX– Gherardo Varani, Antoni Floritt

Antoni was unable to make this meeting today as he was traveling back to London, but Gherardo and he will be meeting later to catch up on everything, and we plan to video call again on Monday all together to check in once more. Today we began discussing our work for this week as well as everyone’s initial ideas going into the project. Our sound designers had already begun planning with each other some ideas for soundtrack and effects, and we’d been sharing some files with each other over the past few days suggesting some different textures, simulations, and objects.

For example, on Monday I had found this cave that could be used:

Antoni shared with us a solar system simulation that I’m very excited to see in action:

-and Kamil shared with us some very useful sets and objects that he’d used in the past in different programs and was converting to be used in Maya for our project.

I’m feeling extremely confident in my project, as all of my teammates are very talented, motivated, and bring a lot to our group. We also are having a very easy time communicating so far, which I believe is going to be essential to our project getting off the ground.

During the call we decided that the first thing to do would be create a storyboard. This way we can plan for the timing of the film and give the sound designers a more solid idea of what they’re working with. I will begin working on the storyboard for Act I, and Kamil will begin working on Act II.

We will be continuously uploading our work to the Discord server to check in with the group, and once the storyboard is done the plan is to start building our Maya scenes, with a different scene for each shot. Ideally, we’ll be able to get moving on that starting Monday after our next call.

Below you’ll find the text from the PDF I put together detailing my previs idea for anyone who wants to join my project. I created this story with a couple different things in mind- one, that it utilizes assets we already have for free and can easily work into the story, and two, that it allows each group to showcase their work well. I plan to be one of the 3D animators working on previs blocking, and I want that work to show on my showreel when I get into the industry. Personally, I’m also interested in lighting, and as we learn more about that this term perhaps I can apply the knowledge to this project, as well as learning from my VFX peers. I think the storyline is doable but I obviously am open to any changes or suggestions, as the main thing is getting 10 weeks worth of work done and setting reasonable goals.

Sci Fi Thriller/Horror Short Film Previs Project

Duration: approx. 1-3 minutes

The Researcher

(working title- The Colonist?)

Story

ACT I 

Establishing shot of spaceship flying over planet. Lands on surface. We see an astronaut (A) emerge. The astronaut begins walking around on the surface, kneeling among the rock and analyzing samples. A second astronaut (B) walks over to A quietly, surprising her when she looks up. A and B shake hands. B points towards a large glass dome in the distance. A and B take the Space Buggy (or walk) to the dome. A enters and takes off her helmet. Looks back at B as she walks in, who is standing outside staring in. A walks towards a tent and enters. Pan out- long shot of the dome, showing us overhead of the colony.

ACT II

It is night. A awakens suddenly on a cot, inside the tent. She steps outside and looks towards the horizon. A sees an odd silhouette moving in the distance. Close up on A squinting. We see A leaving the dome in her spacesuit and helmet. Approaching the object, she sees that it is B, crawling erratically on the ground. She follows at a distance. B crawls into a cave. A looks back, then follows B in.

ACT III

Hours pass- it is now morning (perhaps we show a sped up sunrise- can do this easily with HDRI globe). A emerges slowly from the cave, looking straight ahead. Walks directly to spaceship and flies off. We see Earth in the spaceship’s viewport, then reflected in A’s helmet. Last shot is some indication that A is not the human we originally met- perhaps slime oozing from gloves or helmet, or maybe A crawls away from the cockpit.

Scene Assembly

I wrote this to make the most of the assets we have for free at UAL. We already have almost everything we need for this story. These are some of the HDRI globes we have that could work: 

We already have a martian colony:

And we’ve got a spaceship with an extensive interior:

Plus the Space Buggy that I mentioned,

As for the astronauts, we have this sci fi armor character and textures for it in almost every color. I think it actually works with the plot that B is indistinguishable from A except for the color of her armor. Plus this rig allows us helmet on-helmet off shots. And, we have a rig of this same character in different outfits, which would allow for the shot where she is sleeping.

Production/Output:

I think we should be ok with a few animators doing blocking work and a couple VFX artists doing cameras, lighting, etc. If a sound design student needs a project and wants to hop on to this, they’d be more than welcome, there’s no dialogue and a good backing soundtrack could really help. As for the final output I think we should be good with just a blocked out product, and even if we have just half of the scenes blocked we’ll probably be fine.

In any project I work on with peers, I believe that professional behavior includes getting tasks done on time, seeking out compromise, discussing and solving problems, prioritizing work that needs to be done, and being negotiable and agreeable. Obviously a team can be friends, but during a work session work must come first. That said, it helps to take some time to get to know each other and open up a friendly environment for discussion.