Rationale

My chosen environment for this project was Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset, England. I originally wanted the focus of my story to be about Henry VIII's influence over this building during his ruling of England. Because the script always ran over 30 seconds I had to cut it down quite a bit. However the final script still got the main points across I wanted. I chose my father as the narrator because he is English and his voice suited the role well. 

I focused a lot of my time on the modeling aspect of my animation because I enjoy and excel at this the most. Because my building was more complex I chose not to have it textured and give it a clean aesthetic. This also suits the original meaning behind the building. Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery and was hugely religious and formal. The formality is portrayed through this clean look. The matte paintings and style of the video over all are textured like parchment and has an older feel to it. This is to tie in the age of the Abbey.

English monks sung traditional, religious chants together for spiritual development because of this I chose English monk music for the subtle background music. 

Camera Changes and Other Updates

I wasn't confident in my matte paintings so far so I decided to alter my camera shots to more close ups. I went for a more simple approach also because the detail is in the model. I wanted the clean, professional look because it was such  a formal, religious building back when it was built. 
Towards the end when the narrative talks about the hanging of the monks and the abbot, the colour palate will become darker.

Lighting Tests

I'm going to add in all the lights in the world to make this not look like a horror movie.

Lighting is not my strong point...

Getting there :/

I had to remove the roof and ceiling to let the light in. God, I hate lighting with a burning passion. 
Ergh, when you can't figure out why your project isn't rendering out properly and you've been fluffing about with it for ages and then realize that all you had to do was click one check box. Dammit Maya.

Test of something

Figuring out Camera

Experimenting with camera shots. I'm focusing on close ups rather than establishing shots.
Outside Shots:

 That angle.

Inside Shots:

This shot is perfect for the hanging silhouettes I wanted at the end of the animation. It's subtle and the dark corridor feel really suits the situation. 

Modeling Inside Building

Damn, those arches and soon to be windows...

Trippy 

No floor right now so that's why the building is floating on the poles...

Top Floor Inside: 
I need to move the window material so it's not seen inside... But it looks so cool here. Ah well.

Fixed :)

Behind the scenes...

Matte Painting Test 3

I'M STRUGGLING WITH STLYE. HELP.

I give up.

Matte Painting Test 2

I'm not sure about this style... I'm considering looking into flat 2D, block, and gradient style (that probably doesn't make sense at all) -Same colour palate 

Lighting Tests

I want my animation to have a blue tone to it all. I chose a blue because reflects the story's theme. Its sad and depressing, what the colour blue means.

Matte Painting Style Influence

Finn Campbell-Notman

Matte Painting Test

Final Matte Painting!

Just kidding.
This is just planning where everything is going before I draw the real thing.

I have never digitally painted before so sorry if you're looking at this and wondering why I'm doing everything wrong...

Trying to make it for gloomy like England's weather (no offence). I'm not sure if my 3D elements will fit in well with this... :/

The flag will be a separate layer in AfterEffects. I thought because the colours in it were so strong, I would lower the opacity. I like the effect it has. It is a nice way to tie in the 3D building also. The flag will get bigger and go off screen on the left for its exit when the camera zooms in.
Maybe I should animate the trees slightly so they move in the wind...

So this ended up looking awful but the idea is there. I'll start a new one tomorrow that looks a lot more polished. 


Its a bit embarrassing but hey, its development.
Things to change:

• All of it (Jesus Christ, its just horrendous) 
• The flag wind speed
• Redraw the trees to be more realistic
• The animation of trees
• Ground shadow around building
• Maybe animate the ground building shadow a little 
• Show more definite difference between the ground and sky

Flag Test

I will redo the texture for the final
I will change the wind speed for the final also- its a bit too crazy at the moment...

Experimenting

I rendered this out old school TV style but whatever.

Test Texturing

I was playing around with window materials and I think this result is the most successful.

This has an awesome reflective look which I love. This is where the camera enters the building and will look great in the final.

Modelling Cont.

Modelling process cont. with some test lighting to make it cool.

Final Model: Outside

Stone Texture Examples