the city in the sea - making of

8/7/2019 The City in the Sea - Making of...

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The Making of

The City in the Sea


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Contents

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Introduction:

- Foreword

Pre-Production:

- Branding Development- The Poem- Research- Sketches- Concept Art

- Storyboards

Production:

- Modelling

- Texturing- Lighting

Post-Production:

- Render Layers


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This task required transcribing a piece of text, imagery or sound forthe purpose of creating a 3D environment, character or animationbased on the content. My immediate reaction was to aim for an

animation in a bid to develop and learn as many new skills aspossible throughout my pipeline; from pre-production to post-production. These new skills I learned could then be applied to myfuture projects. However, I had a reality check realising that itwouldnt be possible for me to complete a full animation withcharacters and environments in a 10 week time period, insteadopting to create an animation based on an environment as this

would be my stronger area of choice, in oppose to a character basedanimation. Thus the research commenced, eventually reaching apoint where I had many paths to go down, but ultimately choosing towork on Edgar Allan Poes, The City in the Sea for the creativefreedom and gothic style I could approach the project with. Thus thepipeline began and the pages here-on-in document the whole

process from beginning to end

- Ethan ClementsCG Artist

Foreword


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Morethan.Art needed a rebranding to achieverecognition and present my work in a professional andorganised manner. The methods I used included anew logo, blog design and business cards to make

people aware of my work and to brand everything Iproduce. I think this new clean cut, bold andprofessional look will give a good impression and thecolour can be adapted to suit each piece of work Iproduce if needed. Future developments could meanfurther improvements to the brand

Branding Development


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The waves have now a redder glow-The hours are breathing faint and low-And when, amid no earthly moans,Down, down that town shall settle hence,

Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,Shall do it reverence.

Resignedly beneath the skyThe melancholy waters lie.So blend the turrets and shadows thereThat all seem pendulous in air,

While from a proud tower in the townDeath looks gigantically down.

There open fanes and gaping gravesYawn level with the luminous waves;But not the riches there that lieIn each idol's diamond eye-Not the gaily-jeweled dead

Tempt the waters from their bed;For no ripples curl, alas!Along that wilderness of glass-No swellings tell that winds may beUpon some far-off happier sea-No heavings hint that winds have beenOn seas less hideously serene.

But lo, a stir is in the air!The wave- there is a movement there!As if the towers had thrust aside,In slightly sinking, the dull tide-As if their tops had feebly givenA void within the filmy Heaven.

Lo! Death has reared himself a throneIn a strange city lying aloneFar down within the dim West,Where the good and the bad and the worst

and the bestHave gone to their eternal rest.There shrines and palaces and towers(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)Resemble nothing that is ours.Around, by lifting winds forgot,Resignedly beneath the skyThe melancholy waters lie.

No rays from the holy heaven come downOn the long night-time of that town;But light from out the lurid seaStreams up the turrets silently-Gleams up the pinnacles far and free-Up domes- up spires- up kingly halls-Up fanes- up Babylon-like walls-Up shadowy long-forgotten bowersOf sculptured ivy and stone flowers-Up many and many a marvelous shrineWhose wreathed friezes intertwineThe viol, the violet, and the vine.

The City in the Sea by Edgar Allan Poe


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The research stage for The City in the Seainvolved gathering reference images firstlyreferring to the gothic revival architecturethat Id need to replicate in my scenes andthen underwater reference imagesconcerning underwater lighting, seacreatures and growths among other

elements. I also looked at interestingcamera angles, compositions and shots tohelp create a filmic response to the text byEdgar Allan Poe. I was then able to begindevising some sketches of different cameraangles and scene elements that I would beinterested in using in my scene anddeveloping into concepts.

Research


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Sketches


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My approach to concept art didnt involve yourtypical use of digital painting/matte painting yourconcepts from scratch. Instead, I layered differentimages together to create the mood and tone of thetype of animation I was aiming to achieve. Thistechnique also allowed me to have a clear idea ofthe kind of detail I would need in the architecture of

the buildings and structures. From an early stage itbecame obvious to me that I would use a green/bluecolour palette in order to further imply the idea thatthe city was in the depths of the sea. The finalimages I chose worked well in presenting thedifferent kinds of creepy and eerie compositions Iwas looking at this stage in my reference images.

Concept Art


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Storyboarding was used to establish the cuts and shotstructure for production and editing. The storyboardingprocess was an opportunity to pen the filmic cameramovements, compositions and shot types I would aimto achieve in terms of cinematography. After looking atso many various reference images, I had a fairly clear

idea of the camera movements I wanted to achieve,mainly opting for slow pans or zooms to create an epicfeel to the piece. I was then able to identify the kind oftransitions I would be using, in this case there wouldbe no cross dissolves, just cutting a constant pace.

Storyboarding


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Storyboarding


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Modelling


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The texturing for this project was more of anexperimental process for me, finding a style Iliked and trying to push that throughout theanimation. I found this etching shader on theinternet for Autodesk Maya and quickly found that

despite its ability to produce some impressivelystylised renders, the shader was limited with itscapabilities and after much thought, I wentagainst the idea of keeping this shader. In theend, I decided to use layered images inPhotoshop to produce textures based on myUVs.

Texturing


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Texturing


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Lighting


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Lighting

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Final Render

Z Depth

Ambient Occlusion

Render Layers

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Render Layers

Ambient Occlusion

Z Depth

Final Render

the city in the sea - making of

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