Typical Two-Shots

The most dramatically interesting medium shot is the two-shot, in which two players con front each other and exchange dialogue. The two-shot originated in Hollywood, and is known in France, Italy and Spain as the "American-shot." A famous director has stated: "Regardless of the size of the picture, whether it boasts a cast of thousands or a modest number, the action always winds up in a two-shot featuring boy and girl, hero and villain, or hero and his buddy."

There are numerous variations of the two-shot. The most widely used, but not always the most pictorially interesting, is that in which both players sit or stand facing each other with their profiles to the lens. Young people with clean-cut profiles and good necklines will generally photograph well. Older persons with jowls, puffy faces or double chins should seldom be filmed in profile. The main problem with the profile two-shot is that neither player can dominate the composition if each is equally well lighted. Dominance is achieved through dialogue, action or favorable lighting, which captrues audience attention at the expense of the less favored player.

Two-shots may be angled and played in depth, so that nearest player is turned slightly away from the camera and the farther player positioned so that he is filmed in a three-quarter angle. Or, one player may appear in profile and the other in a three-quarter angle or facing the camera.

There is an unusual variation of the two-shot in which both players face the camera: the nearer player looks off screen while the farther player looks at the nearer player's back. This allows both players to be filmed facing the camera, in a single shot. Although it saves additional camera set-up, it is dramatically inadequate because the players do not truly relate with each other. One is dreamily looking away, while the other seems to be trying to get his attention, such as:

The picture is from "lifed" made by Pixar in 2006.

The picture is from The Five C's of  Cinematography.

For instance, like the picture above, typical profile boy-girl seated two-shots. Neither player dominates the scene from composition or lighting standpoint. Each player dominates in turn, as he or she speaks or performs an action that captures audience attention. Eye appeal is lessened in a profile shot.

Reference:

Mascelli, J. V. (1965). The Five C's of  Cinematography. The United States: radstone publications.

Three Factors of Camera Angle- Subject Size

The image size, the size of the subject in relation to the over-all frame, determines the type of shot photographed. The size of the image on the film is determined by the distance of the camera from the subject, and the focal length of lens used to make the shot. The closer the camera; the larger the image. The longer the lens; the larger the image. The converse is also true.

Image size may vary during the shot by moving the camera, moving players, or employing a zoom lens. The camera may pan or dolly so that the subject is brought closer to or further away from the lens. The players may move toward or away from the camera. The zoom lens may be varied in focal length as the scene progresses. Thus, a long shot may graduate into a close-up; a close-up become a long shot, in a single shot.

Extreme long shot

An extreme long shot depicts a vast area from a great distance. It may be used whenever the audience should be impressed with the huge scope of the setting or event. An extremely wide angle static shot is usually more adaptable for extreme long shots than is a panning camera movement. The pan should be employed only when it increase in interest, or reveals more of the setting or action, as it progresses. The static shot should be used whenever a map type shot, which establishes the geography of the locale, is desirable. Extreme long shots are best filmed from a high vantage point, such as a high camera platform, the top of a building, a hilltop or a mountain peak; or from an airplane or helicopter. A large ranch, a farm, a city skyline, an industrial complex, a mountain range; or a mass movement such as a cattle drive, a ship convoy or a moving army, may be very impressive as opening shots to introduce a sequence or to begin a picture. Such massive shots set the scene for what follows by putting the audience in the proper mood, and providing them with the over-all picture before introducing characters and establishing story line. Whenever possible, extreme long shots should be filmed to open up the picture on a grand scale, and capture audience interest from the start.

Long shot

A long shot takes in the entire area of action. The place, the people, and the objects in the scene are shown in a long shot to acquaint the audience with their over-all appearance. A long shot may include a street, a house, or a room, or any setting where the event takes place. The long shot should be employed to establish all elements in the scene, so that viewers will know who is involved, where they are located as they move about, and when seen in closer shots as the sequence progresses.

Medium shot

A medium shot may be better defined as an intermediate shot because it falls between a long shot and a close-up. Players are filmed from above the knees, or from just below the waist. While several players may be close enough to record with clarity their gestures, facial expressions and movements.

Reference:

Mascelli, J. V. (1965). The Five C's of  Cinematography. The United States: radstone publications.

All of pictures are from "lifted" made by Pixar in 2006.

learning agreement final

Aim:

By researching lighting design, I hope to get a comprehensive understanding about how to apply it to 3D animation to improve storytelling in terms of shaping the space, molding characters emotions within their role and rendering the appropriate atmosphere for a scene. My aim is to develop the expressive power with a 3D animation’s narrative.

I will also research cinematography related to lighting design. Through this I wish to heighten the audience’s understanding of the narrative and their enjoyment of the piece.

Using this understanding I will make an animated narrative piece of work which will be approximately three minutes in length.

Brief description of your project:

Central concern of the project:

My project is to understand and research Lighting Design and Cinematography in Three-Dimensional Animation and then apply them into my animation which will be approximately three minutes. From my research, I hope I can comprehensively understand these theories and correctly put them into use, which could improve 3D animation’s storytelling in terms of lighting distribution, intensity, lighting color, lighting angle, shadow, camera angle as well as composition. It is necessary to use them appropriately to heighten the audience’s understanding of the narrative and their enjoyment of the piece.

Scope:

My project will be researched in terms of lighting distribution, lighting intensity, lighting color, lighting angle, shadow, camera angle as well as composition.

Relevance:

{It is the balance between dramatic lighting and accurate lighting that is the focus of my study} how to apply lighting that is accurate enough to convince the audience of it reality with sufficient drama to enhance the narrative. Lighting helps the audience understand the predicament of character within a narrative and therefore heightens their emotional involvement with the story.

Learning outcomes:

LO1:

Demonstrate an understanding of Lighting Design within 3D Animation and apply it in the development of a shot animated project.

LO2:

Demonstrate an understanding of cinematography within 3D Animation and it placed in relation to story telling.

LO3:

Demonstrate an understanding of audience and their relationship to the narrative within 3D Animation and how lighting design and cinematography could enhance their experience.

Types of Camera Angles_ Point-Of-View Camera Angles

I have introduced objective camera angle and subjective camera angle before, and now I will talk about the last type of camera angle--point-of-view.

Point-of-view, or simply p.o.v., camera angles record the scene from a particular player's view-point. The point-of-view is an objective angle, but since it falls between the objective and subjective angle, it should be placed in a separate category and given special consideration.

A point-of-view shot is as close as an objective shot can approach a subjective shot-- and still remain objective. The camera is positioned at the side of a subjective player- whose viewpoint is being depicted- so that the audience is given the impression they are standing cheek-to-cheek with the off-screen player. The viewer does not see the event through the player's eyes, as in a subjective shot in which the camera trades places with the screen player. He sees the event from the player's viewpoint, as if standing alongside him. Thus, the camera angle remains objective, since it is an unseen observer not involved in the action. An on-screen player looking at the player whose view-point is depicted, looks slightly to the side of the camera- not into the lens, like picture 02.

"Presto.BDRE." made by Pixar in 2008. 01

"Presto.BDRE." made by Pixar in 2008. 02

Point-of-view shots may be used whenever it is desirable to involve the viewer more closely with the event. The audience steps into the picture, so to speak, and sees the players and the setting from the viewpoint of a particular player- by standing beside him. This creates a stronger identity with the screen player in the action, and provides the viewer with a more intimate glimpse of the event.

The shots often follow over-the-shoulder shots, when a pair of players face each other and exchange dialogue. Each player may be seen from the opposing player's point-of-view.

Reference:

Mascelli, J. V. (1965). The Five C's of  Cinematography. The United States: radstone publications.

All of pictures are from "Presto.BDRE." made by Pixar in 2008.

Some Notes in Objective and Subjective Camera Angles

When the camera replaces a player who must relate with other players in the scene. Whenever other players in the scene look into the eyes of the subjective player they must look directly into the lens as eye connection.

The unexpected appearance of a player looking directly into the lens will startle the audience, because they suddenly become aware of the camera. It is as if the people being filmed detected the eavesdropping camera. Such treatment can prove very distracting, and may disrupt the story-telling.

A sudden switch from an objective to a subjective look-into-the-lens shot is startling in a dramatic film becasue the audience is unprepared for such treatment. Viewers can not immediately adjust to active participation in the event.

The subjective player may be intrduced in an objective shot; but when the camera replaces him, the audience must view everything subjectviely, as he sees it.

Objective Shot

Subjective Shot

There are two pictures from "One Man Band" which is made by Pixar. One is objective shot and the other is subjective shot. The scene following that of a little girl looking off-screen will be interpreted by audience as what that girl sees. The little girl above is looking up- at two taller clowns filmed from her point-of-view. The upward or downward points of view in the subjective shot should be stimulated by similar camera angling in that objective shot which are coherent and make audience more easily understand.

Reference:

Mascelli, J. V. (1965). The Five C's of  Cinematography. The United States: radstone publications.

Those two pictures are from "One Man Band" made by Pixar in 2005.

Types of Camera Angles

Objective Camera Angles

The objective camera films from a sideline viewpoint. The audience views the event through the eyes of an unseen observer, as if eavesdropping. Directors sometimes refer to this candid camera treatment as the audience point of view. Since they do not present the event from the viewpoint of anyone within the scene, objective camera angles are impersonal. Roles photographed appear unaware of the camera and never look directly into hte lens. Should a player look inadvertently into the lens, even with a sideways glance. the scene must be retaken. Of course it will be easily avoided in 3D animation. Generally speaking, most motion picture scenes are filmed from objective camera angles.

This picture is from "One Man Band" made by Pixar. It belongs to objective camera angle which introuduces the main characters and environment of the play for audience.

Subjective Camera Angles

The subjective camera films from a personal viewpoint. The audience participates in the screen action as a personal experience. The viewer is placed in the picture, either on his own as an active participant, or by trading places with a person in the picture and seeing the event throught his eyes. Most importantly the viewer is involved in the picture when anyone in the scene looks directly into the camera lens- thus establishing a performer viewer eye-to-eye relationship.

The camera acts as the eyes of the audience to place the viewer in the scene. For instance, camera may act as eye of audience to place viewer aboard airplane. If shot is preceded by close-up of person looking out window- viewer will comprehend that he is seeing what screen player sees. Similarly, a camera may be dropped from a height- on a shock cord- to simulate what a falling role sees.

This is another picture from "One Man Band", which belongs to subjective camera angle. What the audience could see from the picture is what that little girl sees. So it is easy for audience to understand what the little girl wants to get and they will be curious what will happen next.

In these instances the camera acts as the viewer's eyes. Each member of the audience receives the impression that he is in the scene- not merely viewing events as an unseen observer. The camera places him in the midest of the setting, as if he were flying the airplane. Subjective shots add dramatic impact to the story-telling. 

Reference:

Mascelli, J. V. (1965). The Five C's of  Cinematography. The United States: radstone publications.

Those two pictures are from "One Man Band" made by Pixar in 2005.

Different Camera Angles, Different Functions

3D Animation is a type of screen story made up of a series of continuously changing images which portray events from a variety of viewpoints. Choice of camera angle can position the audience closer to the action to view a significant portion in a large close-up; farther away to appreciate the magnificent grandeur of a vast landscape; highter to look down upon a vast construction project; lower to look up at the face of a judge. Camera angle can shift viewpoint from one player to another, as dramatic emphasis changes during a scene; travel alongside a galloping horseman as he escapes pursuers; move into a dramatic scene, as story interest heightens; move away from gruesome setting depicting death and destruction; see otherwise unseen microscopic world; observe the earth from a satellite in orbit.

 http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=wall+e&in=7280&cl=2&lm=-1&pn=1&rn=1&di=2393680638&ln=1&fr=&fmq=&ic=0&s=0&se=&sme=0&tab=&width=&height=&face=0&fb=0#pn15

The audience may be positioned anywhere- instantly to view anything from any angle- at the discretion of the cameraman and director. Such is the power of the motion picture and importance of choosing the right camera angle!

Reference:

Mascelli, J. V. (1965). The Five C's of  Cinematography. The United States: radstone publications.

 http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=wall+e&in=7280&cl=2&lm=-1&pn=1&rn=1&di=2393680638&ln=1&fr=&fmq=&ic=0&s=0&se=&sme=0&tab=&width=&height=&face=0&fb=0#pn15

The picture is from "Wall-E" made by Pixar in 2008.

Some new understanding about Camera Angles

Today Andrew suggested me that I can put "Cinematography" into my project and I collected some of its information. Then I found I had some misunderstanding on Camera Angles in the past which is an important element in Cinematography.


Previously I thought audience viewpoint is controlled by cameral angle and the area covered in the shot is determined by cameral distance which are two different things. However, according to Mascelli, J. V. (1965), the camera angle determines both audience viewpoint and area covered in the shot. 3D animation as a type of motion picture is made up of many shots. Each shot the camera will be moved to a new set-up and required to be placed in the best position at that particular moment in the narrative. So the next step I will learn and research on what are the best viewpoints for filming those different portions of the event and how much area should be included in each shot.

Reference:

Mascelli, J. V. (1965). The Five C's of Cinematography. The United States: Radstone Publications.

Qualities of Light in 3D Animation

Distribution and Intensity

This is one of the prime factors in determining the location of the lighting instruments for a production. Modelling of actors and settings is principally a function of the direction and intensity of the light that strikes them. For these reasons it is essential that you be able to determine the direction and relative intensities of the key and fill lights that are illuminating your image of light if you hope to re-create that image in the scene.

Color

As a visual clue to the type of light source or the time, season and weather being represented outside of a scene, color is incredibly important. The designer needs to pay close attention to the indications of color in his or her image of light. The similarities and differences of lighting colors within a scene will help determine its mood, with more neutral colors giving a more somber tone. It is also a key element in creating psychological atmosphere. Colors have emotional properties. Generally speaking:

Yellow	stimulating, cheerful, exciting, joyful, serene, hostile, unpleasant, aggressive
Orange	warm, happy, merry, exciting, stimulating, hot, disturbed, distressed, unpleasant
Red	happy, affectionate, loving, exciting, striking, active, intense, defiant, powerful, masterful, strong, aggressive, hostile
Green	youthful, fresh, leisurely, secure, calm, peaceful, emotionally controlled, ill
Blue	pleasant, cool, secure, comfortable, tender, soothing, social, dignified, sad, strong, full, great
Violet	dignified, stately, vigorous, disagreeable, sad, despondent, melancholy, unhappy, depressing
Black	sad, melancholy, vague, unhappy, dignified, stately, strong, powerful, hostile, distressed, fearful, old
White	pure, tender, soothing, solemn, empty
Brown	secure, comfortable, full, sad, disagreeable

Of course the meanings of color are constantly changing. Color meanings are influenced by many factors: cultural background, personality, adjoining colors, and individual mood.

Shadow

Shadows play a massive role in describing a light, and this is an area that we will go into in much greater depth in a couple of charters’ time. Shadows add to a scene’s realism, consistency, relationships and composition. It is also very useful for hiding imperfections. So designing shadows is as significant a task as designing the illumination in a scene.

Motivation

Lights can be categorized by how they operate in the scene in terms of their motivation. Lights will sometimes be referred to as logical. Logical lights can represent an actual source such as a table lamp, or they can represent the illumination from outside a window.

The placement of lights can also be motivated by purely aesthetic reasons. The pictorial lights introduce the drama and creates the emotional link with the audience. This is one of the keys to good lighting.

Reference:

Gillette, J. M. (1989). Designing with Light. The United States: Mayfield Publishing Company.

Dramatic lighting effects in 3D animation (2)

Perhaps the most fascinating and rewarding use of light is the possibility of influencing the mental state of the audience. The word atmosphere can cover a wide range of situations. It can mean something as basic as using light to tell the audience shether the action is taking place on an April afternoon or a July morning. Moreover it can also help to control whether the audience feel happy or sad, extrovert or withdrawn, aggressive or submissive.

Almost all of us, in our childhood, have placed a flashlight under our chin and impersonated a monster by shining the light up into our faces in the night. Especially the cold color, like blue light, will create a horror atmosphere. As in lighting design, just as in literature, the concepts of good and evil are often associated with light and darkness. When a scene is lit with dark and murky shadows, most people instinctively react with a scene of foreboding. When a scene is brightly lit, we instinctively relax. Moreover, lighting the face from beneath in the night. It will be a strong contrast between highlight and shadow. Of course it could be used for someone who has a distinct and strong character.

So the light could influence the atmosphere and mood through molding the role. One of the principal ways of controlling such atmosphere is by mixing warm and cool light. Other possibilities include the balancing of light and shade; exaggerated contrasts can induce feelings of claustrophobia, apprehension, even terror.

http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=pixar&in=28788&cl=2&lm=-1&pn=79&rn=1&di=5457007755&ln=1&fr=&fmq=&ic=0&s=0&se=1&sme=0&tab=&width=&height=&face=0&fb=0#pn331



    warm color & cold color   



http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=wall+e&in=11923&cl=2&lm=-1&pn=130&rn=1&di=34528778640&ln=1&fr=&fmq=&ic=0&s=0&se=1&sme=0&tab=&width=&height=&face=0&fb=0

Reference:

Gillette, J. M. (1989). Designing with Light. The United States: Mayfield Publishing Company.

http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=pixar&in=28788&cl=2&lm=-1&pn=79&rn=1&di=5457007755&ln=1&fr=&fmq=&ic=0&s=0&se=1&sme=0&tab=&width=&height=&face=0&fb=0#pn331

http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=wall+e&in=11923&cl=2&lm=-1&pn=130&rn=1&di=34528778640&ln=1&fr=&fmq=&ic=0&s=0&se=1&sme=0&tab=&width=&height=&face=0&fb=0



Dramatic lighting effects in 3D animation (1)

Generally speaking, if there is a lighting effect being kept within a whole animation, it is boring.

Animation is different from film and TV programs whose characters would be anything the designer hope for, even not existing in the real world. So it has more space for designers to develop their imagination and creativity. They can use some special lighting effects according to storytelling, which would not only attract the attentions of audience but also achieve some dramatic effects and artistic accomplishments. 

First of all I want to talk about selective focus. Selective focus means directing the audience’s attention to a specific area. The lighting designer can selectively focus attention in a number of ways but frequently does so by increasing the intensity of the lights on the desired area of interest. When this happens, all areas that are less brightly lit become of secondary importance. A common example of the use of selective focus occurs when the lighting designer reduces the intensity of lights on one area of a unit set while simultaneously increasing it on another. Instinct literally forces the audience to look at the brighter area. A more subtle use of selective focus can be seen in the lighting designs for most interior settings. In these designs the lights are usually brighter in the major acting areas than they are in the upstage corners of the set.

It is similar to the focal length. For instance, there are role A and role B having dialogues in a scene. If there are lines for A and the director want to attract the audience' attentions on it, A should be focused on by the camera focal length, which will be looked clearly whereas the rest are dim. Vice versa, if the lines are for B and then B is a key role. The focal length would focus on B, then B is clearer than A. Instinct literally forces the audience to look at the clear area. So the audience will easily put more focus on the key role' expression and psychological activity. It is helpful to understand the story.

Reference:

Gillette, J. M. (1989). Designing with Light. The United States: Mayfield Publishing Company.

Heys, D. (1989). Light on the subject. The United States: Proscenium Publishers Inc.

Basic three-point lighting

The convention of three-point lighting is one that is firmly established in cinematography, and has become one of the main foundations for CG lighting and this is the method and one of the reasons for this is the technique helps to emphasize three-dimensional forms within a scene using light.

Key light

The key light is the dominant light, or the one that casts the most obvious shadows. (For instance it could be for night time indoor shots, sunlight for outdoor work or sunlight entering through a window for daylit indoor shots). This defines a scene’s dominant lighting, giving the biggest clue to the location of the presumed light source.

Fill light

The job of fill lights is to model the indirect lighting that is produced by direct light bouncing off an environment’s surfaces. Generally its position is on the opposite side of the subject from the key, where it opens up the lighting on the side of the subject in shadow and reduces the density of the shadows.

Backlight

Helping to separate the subject from the background, the backlights give a scene depth. Its position is at the back of subject and in doing so they create a subtle glowing edge to the subject, which helps to create definition.

Of course the designers could create more lights according to their aims and in my opinion we could make it just like painting.

Richard Cadena has ever said that light is like paint, and lighting a set is like painting a canvass. Then we can make the following associations:

a. abare lamp is like a bucket of paint.

b. a luminaire or texture that the lamp goes in is like a paint brush or air compressor and air gun.

c. the beam angle is like the width of brush stroke.

d. illumination is like the thickness of the paint on the canvas.

Definitely, such a lighting method is totally different from Global Illumination and HDR(High Dynamic Range) images, which is more flexible for artists.

Reference:

Cadena, R. Focus on Lighting Technology.

Brooker, D. (2003). Essential CG Lighting Techniques with 3ds Max. Oxford: Elsevier Ltd.

A good example on visual language- Fallen Art

Fallen Art is one of my favorate animation which has ever won the first prize in 2005 Siggraph. It is made by Tomek Baginski, who made "The Cathedral" successfully in 2002 Siggraph. He is so gorgeous!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7HMz1WKkso

This animation is so perfect no matter in visual language or music. Especially in the middle part, in a dark room, the saturation is low and the shade is almost close to grey. At the same time, it imitates the film particles throughout the whole animation, which convey a depressed mood to audience. According to J.Michael Gilletle in "Design with light", the primary goal of lighting designer is to create an enviromental atmosphere which is supportive of the play's production concept. Under such a visual style we can clearly feel the role's contradiction and abnormal psychological activity. When the character turn on recorder's button, music is on and the machine is beginning to run. The camera moves with that machine in a same rhythm. However it is not rigid but vivid since the movement of camera has proper shake just like in a real film which pushes the story line to a new high.


The whole animation is about 300GB althouth it is only 6 minutes. Baginski introduced that this animation needs to render into 35mm movie format, so they have a large task to unfold textures' UV which definitely need a high quality. This is why we can watch the nice details about everything in animation even in such a grey images.


Reference:

Gillette, J. M. (1989). Designing with Light. The United States: Mayfield Publishing Company.

The film is on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7HMz1WKkso.

Nice Animation- StraBe Der Spezialisten

Today my supervisor Andy show me a fantasitic animation named " straBe der spezialisten" by studio soi. It is incredible that visual style I have never seen before. It is divided into three parts on a line in the screen.

The animation begins at the left side and end at the right side.

During the whole film, the maker sometimes uses all of three images at the same time and sometimes maybe just one or two which are used for promoting the development of drama. The reason why I impressed on it so deeply is I can appreciate the movie more comprehensive.

From the picture above, while the role striking matches, we can not only understand the atmosphere when story happened but also feel his complicated moods at that time through specific action. I have watched it three times and each time I had different experiences. In my opinion this film is worth for watching many times as every time you will focus on different images connecting to another obviously you would have a different understandying about it each time.

It is a good example on my research Visual Language and according to Visual Syntactic Structures by Neil Cohn, McCloud indentified six types of " panel- to- panel" transitions:

1. Action to action

2. Moment to moment

3. Subject to subject

4. Scene to scene

5. Aspect to aspect

6. No- Sequitur


Apparently the maker combine all of them in one aniamtion. It is fabulous. Moreover the character is made by cartoon materials whereas the scenes are three dimentional which has a stronger contrast. It makes the images more powerful.


Reference:

Cohn, N. (2003). Visual Syntactic Structures.

http://www.emaki.net

Solutions of Lighting Design in My 3D Aniamtion

According to my experiences before, there is something troublesome and inconvenient in lighting design of 3D animation making. As pictures of three-dimensional animation are rendered out by computer calculation. In order to obtain a satisfied effect, so many parameters need to be constantly adjusted and a lot of rendering tests are performed, which would obvioulsy consume a lot of time and resources. Especially the final render, it would greatly degrade the efficiency of the whole film making. So It is a major task to reduce the time for rendering as possible as I can.


However, the lighting set is one of the primary elements influncing the rendering efficiency. Generally speaking, the lighting illumination could be divided into traditional triangle illumination and high-level illumination which includes Global Illumination as well as Final Gathering. Global Illumination is through launching photons to imitate the real lighting effect in the world. Such an illumination is a killer for render time as there exists both the refraction and the secondary reflection between the surfaces of objects which would spend a lot of system resources on calculating. Moreover the more numbers of photons, the better effect and the lower efficiency. Apparently, It will take a computer much more time to calculate and to render if you want to use Global Illumination in order to get an ideal lighting effect. Whereas the traditional triangle illumination can hardly obtain such satisfactory effect. How to balance them is what I will focus on in current animation..


" The Ice Age" produced by 20th Century Fox was a good example which has well solved such a problem. The makers got rid of the restriction of high-level illumination, using conventional illumination way created a real and slightly exaggerated effects, which saved lots of time from rendering and made the film lifesome and dynamic. How they could create such a gorgeous lighting effect by the conventional illumination? In my opinion, to obtain a comfortable visual effect on lighting, most importantly, we have to follow the  lighting laws of nature. Animation is a piece of artwork and computer technology is just a tool to achieve. So firstly it is necessary for me to improve aesthetic standard and the master the theory of art. I can treat the lighting design as making a color painting. I will use the Global Illumination as the foundation, but less number of photons. Then to take advantages of complementary color, contrast of warm and cool color tone, create the light one by one according to the art knowledge under the Triangle illumination. According to David Hays( 1989), the book of "Light on the Subject," Colors, like people, will seem different depending on their companions. Clear will seem warm if the other side of the face is hit by cool, or if the background is cool. Clear light may seem cool if its surround is warm." Setting the color and modulating the light intensity step by step is just like painting harmonic color little by little on the canvas. However It will not waste too much time acquire desired effect even though many lights are used. Of course this is just a theory of my analysis and I need a lot of tests to Identify.


The lighting design in Three- Dimensional also has so many advantages over that in the realistic movie. First of all, the intensity of light can be infinitely magnified and reduced. It also could be set to negative number which does not have the lighting object function but can obsorb the light. Second, the brightness of light could be only related with the light position, which has nothing to do with the distance between light and object. Moreover it is flexible that can be set to identify which object need to be light up and which need not. Forth, you can choose whether open the shadow choice, even its shade and color. Most important, object also has the choice whether accept the shadow of other objects. Finally, it could not only simulate realistic lighting effects in reality but also imitate the effects which is not existing in the real world.


Through such a task, it will bring my lighting design and animation making to a new level and high efficiency. Finally I can use light more flexibly and more technically to well express movie themes and my ideas.

Reference:

Heys, D. (1989). Light on the subject. The United States: Proscenium Publishers Inc.

Background and Proposal

I am from Shanxi Province of China and have studied painting for many years throughout my childhood. At the beginning, i was forced to learn fine art by my father since i am not patient enough to keep doing one thing for a long time. So it was hard for me to spend several hours for finishing a piece of paint. However, i was gradually interested in art as i was attracted by colorful world which i could record the landscape using pens and brushes. However it is different from the photography. The painting is subjective which according to the personal comprehension and understanding. Different individuals use different colors.

When i was 20 i studied at Multimedia Department in Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts which was one of the most important choices in my life. I focused on 3D animation on my subject as i can make anything come to truth and give it life. It was amazing. During that period I had awarded in some animation competitions and the works were showed on CCTV-6 Movie channel in China. Also I have participated in writing the parts of lighting design, materials and textures in “XSI/ Softimage Technology” which was published by Chinese Electronic Industry Press. At the forth year I was the only person selected to 11^th Chinese Art Exhibition in Tianjin city in 2009. Finally i was graduated and obtained the Bachelor Degree as the first in my department in 2008.

My dream is to be an animation director in the future. so i came to Nottingham Trent University to learn MA Puppetry and Digital Animation FT for my career. It is definitely difficult for me. Since animation is an integrated art form including paintings, movies, digital media, photography, music, literature as well as many other kinds of art forms. So I have to get relatively wider knowledge and comprehensive theory to support creation especially in visual language, like color of images, camera angle, camera movement as well as lighting design as animation is a kind of video art based on visual language. They are what i will develop and focus on in my future master's project. 

For instance, in my country, Kaige Chen, Yimou Zhang, Changwei Gu are three most famous movie directors whose representative products are " Farewell, My Concubine", " Hero", " The peacock" separately. Moreover Yimou Zhang was also the director of The 29th Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 who gave us an unprecedented visual regale. Previously he was just a cameraman worked for Kaige Chen and when Yimou became a director, Changwei Gu made camera shooting for him. Obvioulsy, to be proficient in visual language is the decisive factor of being a director. They can make the audiences comfortably to understand story line and create some artistic sublimation to implicitly express their thoughts.

In order to improve what I have mentioned above I need to watch more films and animations to understand as well as analysis why directors use such visual styles and how they achieve. Moreover do more practices on color paintings not only i can collect materials for my creation but also improve both aesthetic standards and art accomplishments. Now I am planning for a new animation and I will achieve my proposal through hard effort. Finally I look forward to finishing my master subject successfully!