Indoor scene

So after the team decided to concentrate on the indoor scene before Christmas I decided to have a look at creating the Fire and the light of the fire in the room.

The environment (by kirsteen) was already really homely and has a warm feel to it and I really wanted to emphasise and exaggerate that element. I used a series of layers and masks to create the light and particles for the fire shape. I then set key frames for the opacity of certain layers to create the feel of the light flickering and moving.

It was felt that the fire needed to be more than a simple suggestion of fire, but an actual fire...I tried to create a simple fire in after effects using a few fire shapes and changing the opacity and blending the layers onto the above test. However it just didn't come together, so we decided that the best way to achieve the result we required was to animate it by hand.

So after the last test I decided the water layer had to go through a series of alterations to blend it more with the environment.

With a combination of Ps and After effects filters I have the ocean a more flattened appearance...
I duplicated the ocean frame layer and applied the Palette knife effect on in PS on the top layer and turned the opacity down. In AE I added some grain and and darkened the scene to create a more night-time/dark setting for the storm.

The light layers were a little too bright and distracting, however, this will be easily altered once the layers of the ocean are rendered out separately so that I can control their brightness in post production.





In this test I removed the light reflections in PS and placed them back on top of the layers post filter, but I feel the first test had a more stylized appearance.

Water and Background Tests

Erin rendered out a section of the water she made and I tried to comp it into the test background that Charlie  designed :

I colour-corrected the ocean layer to fit the purple colour of the background.
The water still looked too 3D so it was suggested we play the render in twos instead.




Once the ocean was in twos we felt it was too jumpy and slow....Back to the drawing board.

A little compositing and effects inspiration

It's the little things that make a big difference :)

One of the main things to consider with the fire here is the light it gives off and how that falls on the hand and fades out in a natural way. The fire being so close means the light on the hand is quite bright and how the light almost penetrates the fingertips of the hand is a final touch which emphasises the feeling of realism.

One thing that appeals to me greatly here is light. Lighting will play a major role in our film for setting the mood. Of course with water, reflections will have to be considered also.

This as a still image would still be lovely. However, the movement creates a whole new depth.
The spectrum of light here with the light snow flowing through is an ideal scene. The way the light reflects the colours, and the flakes glimmer as they glide by, with of course, the blackground out of focus and also the blurring particles, we kind of get a gentle and subtle effect that makes a gigantic impression.

A simple combination of light and camera focus too gives this image so much more depth and feeling.

MORE WATER REFERENCES?!

                                              Giant waves and splashes - when storm's at its worst.
                                                   Kelpies attacking.

the combination of the mist and splashes is a huge inspiration

                                  The rain and lightning in this scene definitely helps to highlight the chaos. The rain drops are long and tilted at a strong angle helping to show the force of  the winds and the over-all power of the storm                                                       

animation research

I was just doing a little more research and came across some Tangled gifs.





The fluid and natural movement of expression portrays so much information about the character. Her body movement, the way she uses her hands to communicate and emphasise her emotions. I just figured it was something to take note of.

This here, although very short, puts an image of Murdo setting off in his boat and beginning his journey. The display of curiosity and joy from Rapunzel are definitely emotions I can picture Murdo feeling as he begins his journey, unaware of the dangers to come.  

Water and Fire

Time's running away from us a little bit, and we have to begin looking more closely into and studying the movement of water and fire.

So here's a few inspirational images to get us started:




Calcifer from Howls Moving Castle

We'll need to start studing the wave shapes and splashes to firstly understand the movement of the water and secondly to understand how to animate the splashes to give the 3D water a more 2D textured feel.