Week 14 - Lighting test

This week has been interesting to say the least. Apart from the huge amounts of stress trying to get audio files, see another blog post for more details, this week has been focusing trying to get the lighting and atmosphere right for all the scenes.

One of the key aspects of lighting for Suffragette Molly is getting it to look warm especially for Bradford’s room. Originally the main lighting was going to come from the fireplace, but upon suggestion from Sean, small gas wall lighting now fills the room. Adding these lights have improved the room greatly and have added so much atmosphere, with not only its historical look and appearance, but has emphaised the woody nature of the room.

Lighting is an important part of any animation and with Suffragette Molly is no different. The last couple of days have mostly comprised of testing after testing with renders from various angles. Some have worked and some didn’t either being too dark or too bright. I had to get that balance right. This balance did take some, playing around with the light intensity and adding some lights to further emphasis the mood and atmosphere required. At the moment, I think I do have the balance right with Bradford’s room, however, slight variations may change to suit the atmosphere of the interior.

Yes, I did have some problems with Bradford’s room, however, the most difficult lighting task I have had so far is within scene 4 as Molly arrives in 2113. I bordered up the windows and placed and area light hoping I would have streams of light coming through the gaps. At the moment this has not happened, so more testing and lights will be required.

The night exterior lighting has been fun, with many up and down results. Upon suggestion, I have placed light outside (the same as the interior lights) and this has made an incredible difference. It has created a warm, touch to the exterior of the building. The hardest aspect so far has been trying to get the atmospheric lighting right for the overall scene. The scene is during thunderstorm, lighting and rain everywhere (this will likely happened in After Effects), and to get that feeling right, it needs to feel dark and scary, but still have enough light to be able to view important aspects like the house and trees. I am still working on this, but I reckon I am close.

As I draw nearer, I hope to start the proper render as soon as this week, with scenes that don’t have any lip syching. Once I can get (or I should say if), the files with all the sounds, this should take me around a day to change and then rendering can begin on this. It’s coming down to the wire, I worried I may not get all the renders done in time, with half the film rendered by the time it needs to be handed in two weeks’ time. Worry is settling in, but I must remain calm so my energies don’t run out by the end of this long marathon.