Week 1: Ideation + Story Development

This summer the team met multiple times to discuss different ideas created by Director Hannah and Producer Gracie and we also made sure to consider different methods of execution for the shots. The main idea surrounds a fairy character who is in the woods, and the theme/mood will be dark fantasy. Hannah and Gracie worked on the anamtic for the story over the summer and it can be found on Gracie’s website listed here:

https://www.gracieszymanski.com/metamorphosis

Here is a quick vision board I created based on the story, for the lighting / look development I think would look best for this project.

I’ve also started collecting references for some of the scenes. This particular moment from the film Princess Mononoke by Studio Ghibli would definitely be a challenge to recreate. Still, I think it would be so successful for the moment the fairy steps into the snow, since she will be turning winter to spring. This could be achieved through a growth simulation triggered by her feet colliding with the ground.

I have started research on the environment since I will be working as an environment artist on this project. I gathered references for the dark, snowy forest environment, and these could also be great inspirations for lighting. Our goal for the lighting in the snow environment is for it to be moon-lighting, and for it to feel dark but not be too physically dark for color-grading and clarity.

Environment References

I have also begun researching other details of the environment like winter tree species, greenery, and different snow textures.

Snow Texture References

Greenery References

Tree References

For the trees, I am researching procedural methods for creating trees in Houdini, as well as looking online for any quality 3D models that we could source. Linked below is the video I will be following for the method, but my goal is to turn out with a photo-real result.