Examining the Second Assignment Brief

Now that I've finished my first Data Capture assignment and created some scene ready assets, I can commence work on the second assignment.

I'd like to begin as I have done in the past by examining the brief I've been set. This way I can establish the tasks I'm required to complete and create a clear plan of how to achieve the best result possible.

I've included a download file of the brief below for your reference:

Data Capture Cswk2 22-23.pdf

Download PDF • 203KB

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General Overview

The assignment deliverable is described as a short Unreal Engine 5 based cinematic of a temple scene, created with a mix of my assignment 1 meshes and pre-existing assets from the Unreal marketplace.

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Tasks

I'll now begin going through the required tasks detailed on the brief, listing them in bullet points below, along with my interpretation of the criteria and a plan on how I will achieve them. The tasks are split into two sections; the blog criteria and the shot development itself. I've decided to start with the blog criteria, as these will need to be in place before any shot development can commence:

1. Evidence of reference material and research - This is fairly self explanatory; before I can begin building a temple scene, I need to compile research and reference material of existing structures to use as influence for the creation of my scene.

2. Cinematic composition - This amounts to applying cinematic flair to enhance my final deliverable. Adding elements such as depth of field to draw the viewers eyes to key parts of the scene for example. This also encompasses selecting the optimal shot types and aspect ratio for my final cinematic, ensuring they deliver my creative vision and enhance the final animation.

3. Scene development - This is basically a written account of the creation of my scene. In this blog I intend to detail the steps taken to create my final scene as well as the deliverable itself in as much detail as possible.

4. Lighting setup - This is essentially what it sounds like; creating an ideal lighting setup for my scene to enhance the visuals and cinematic composition as much as possible. This will be done in two parts ideally; actual lighting placement and direction within the 3D space, as well as enhancements in post production.

Now that I've established the blog criteria which I'll create in subsequent posts, I also need to be aware of the tasks necessary for the shot development:

1. Storyboard - Exactly what it says. I'll need to create a brief storyboard and plan for my final shot(s) to use as a guideline when creating my final cinematic. It's at this stage I can begin to nail down asset placement, as well as cinematic composition and lighting.

2. 3D scene layout - This will come as part of the scene development task ideally. I'll need to stage and block out the environment beforehand, using my storyboard as base, to see if the shots will work in a pre-visualization layout before adding in the final assets. Here I can establish what works and what doesn't in the most basic form of the scene, allowing me to make any necessary changes before proceeding to production.

3. Camera placement, movement and composition - This obviously will be covered as part of the cinematic composition task, and will hopefully be nailed down to it's final form as part of the pre-visualization above. I'll need to ensure that the camera placement highlights the most important assets (my photogrammetry scans), the movement is natural, and that the composition enhances my deliverable in the best way possible.

4. Lighting - Again this will be established early on to ensure my scene is as dynamic as possible, with the viewer's attention being drawn to the key areas of interest.

5. Camera sequencing - This essentially amounts to editing the final image sequences together into a compelling cinematic. It is here where I'll also complete the post-production side of things such as colour correction and lighting adjustments.

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Now that I've clarified what's expected of me in this assignment; I can move onto the pre-production phase.

In the next post I intend to complete my research task. Gathering a multitude of reference images, as well as exploring the various pre-existing assets available to me on the Unreal Marketplace that I can use to build my final environment. I'll also begin working on the storyboard once this research material in place so that I can get to work on production as soon as possible!