BREAKDOWN BELOW
THE STORY
Awakening is a 3D film set in a sci-fi fantasy world
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A grotesque, masked fugitive with phalanges for a stomach appears with a blue orb revealed within his fleshy stomach. With it, he intends to open large gates and enter a dark ruin to awaken a terrible monster. An armored bounty hunter approaches behind him in hopes of apprehending the fugitive. Will she succeed in stopping the masked fugitive from his objective or will hell soon reign upon the planet?
MEET THE TEAM
JONAH LEE
Director
Character TD
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Previsualization/Concept Artist/Mocap Actor/Prop Modeler/Look-Dev/Renderer
CLAYTON SONG
Co-Producer
Environment TD
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Previsualization/Set-Dresser/Prop Concept Artist/Renderer/Motion Graphics
ALEX YUN
Co-Producer
Lighting TD
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Lead Compositor/Previsualization/Look-Dev/Mocap Actor/Renderer
CHARACTER REFERENCES
-When analyzing the reference images above, the selected images above lean towards tropes and apparent characteristics.
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-Sci-fi fugitive, we wanted his appearance to have a worn-out appearance due to scars, scabs, and other various mechanical wear. We wanted the audience to feel that he held a stern and wicked presence.
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-Sci-fi bounty hunter, we wanted her to have a strong bold appearance that was reinforced by the body armor and gear she was wearing. This is to give the audience the impression that the bounty hunter revolved most of her identity and passion into her line of work.
CHARACTER CONCEPT
FIRST DRAFT
- Originally wanted the appearance of a royal guard
- Held two weapons with armor that fell along the side of her legs
- Cons: Difficult to rig, multiple props that held no significant purpose to the delivery of the character's personality
SECOND DRAFT
- Armor now has a slicker design that conforms more to the body making rigging easier
- The armor also still retains a royal guard aesthetic with more flexibility given to the joints
- Cons: Spikes and diamond design lacks the function in the fluid design
-Armor also holds no weight and integrity
FINAL DRAFT
- Design now leans more toward a sci-fi aesthetic, with a bit of a bulkier design
- All joints have been assigned with black color and are noticeable, showcasing all the regions that require flexibility
- Spikes and diamond design are now lost and a more octagonal design is utilized
FINAL DRAFT
- The inclusion of a mask provides a sci-fi aesthetic, with a sinister look
- Removal of the pants for robot legs further reinforce the sci-fi genre
- The phalanges for the stomach also is brought in to bring interest and purpose to the character's design
FIRST DRAFT
- Originally wanted the appearance of a old man
- Wore a prisoners out fit to make his fugitive status apparent
- Cons: Failed to appear threatening, lacked substance to make the character hold any interest
SECOND DRAFT
- Character is now younger with an interesting design for a left arm
- The design of his prisoner pants has been given length and prominence
- Cons: Pants will be difficult to rig/animate
- The arm has no use or purpose other than to look cool
CHARACTER TURNTABLES
ENVIRONMENT REFERENCES & CONCEPT
-Cambodian ruins were our main influence on the exterior
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-We like how the ruins intertwined with the vegetation around it was imperative that the high trees and mountains provided varying shadows upon the environment.
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-3D Platformed game environments like Destiny, Doom, and Halo were the main references points
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-We like how the game interior environment often lets natural lighting exposed through either the roof or the ground below
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-The reason for this emphasis was to have control over the placement of the lights for both the interior and exterior setups
-Additional references were found for the lights and orb props that were within the interior of the environment since they quickly became prominent sources of light
-Our objective for the exterior environment concept art was to keep the setup simplistic.
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-We focused on making the central focus be on the gate of the ruin as that is what our characters will mainly interact with.
-The objective was also to keep the setup simple
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-The focus of how the fugitive was going to interact with the environment was to simply place the keystone at the center of the platform.
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-Our decision to make the platform a pillar was planned so that the scene of the interior collapsing and the gigantic monster being revealed would be a smooth transition.
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-We also made sure to have the pillars and chains appear spikey and threatening to fit the overall feel
1st Draft Blockout (EXTERIOR)
1st Draft Blockout (INTERIOR)
ANIMATIC/PREVIS/MOCAP TESTS
-From our first pass on the storyboard, it became imperative that our shots aligned with the flow of our vision for the final product.
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-We quickly recognized that the film's opening held many unnecessary shots that extended the flow of the opening sequence to a crawl.
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-We tackled the animatic as a test to see how the visuals narrated our story, yet we also noticed the effort and complications that some shots revealed.
-After the storyboard, the true test of whether our film would correctly flow at a manageable rate was through our mocap tests
-We quickly recognized that some animation sequences lasted too long and that narrative issues were hard to understand since some shots did not align. Also, major script and previs changes need to be made to compensate for the limitation of the Mocap data
In the end, all changes were successfully made. Some significant parts and symbolic moments may have been lost, yet the overall narrative of the story remained intact.
MUSIC PRODUCTION/SOUND DESIGN
-We worked closely with our Sound designer, Nicholas Flores. The video to the left showcases the sounds without the music
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-It was difficult trying to find proper sounds that queued significant points of the narrative without being too distracting such as the gates opening, yet it all worked out smoothly
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-One of the greatest strengths and desire as to my we needed a proficient sound designer was the actions that were never in the scene, such as the bomb explosion or the giant monster revelation in the end
-For our music production, ZAPSON was our main man whom we found on Fivver. The soundtracks to the right showcase the different drafts/stages the music production went through from top to bottom.
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- He was able to clearly elevate our thesis and accentuate every major narrative change. From the dynamic change of the environment falling to the fugitive being killed and the grand reveal of the monster, ZAPSON did not hold back
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- Overall every significant point was already emphasized by the sound design, yet accompanied by the music it undeniably sold each moment of the thesis ten-folds