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Short Film Capstone Project ( Weekly Report)

Updated: Oct 3, 2024



RESEARCH QUESTION

How can the combination of live-action and surreal visualisation effectively portray the feeling and sensations of lucid dreaming for a general audience?


 

Tagline : welcome to a beach where everything is possible. And nothing is real


Treatment

The story opens with The Man waking up on a beach unlike any he's ever seen.  Towering, impossible rock formations pierce the sky, and strange buildings defy gravity on a distant mountain. Disoriented and scared, he searches for any sign of familiarity but finds only a landscape that seems to bend to its own rules.

 

The world around him is constantly shifting.  Day turns to night unexpectedly, doors turn to jelly, and a giant, a plushie inexplicably appears and chases him.  He encounters a railway that seems to lead to another reality, filled with people walking along the sand.

 

The Man desperately tries to understand his situation and find a way out.  He searches for clues, but the beach seems to actively resist his attempts to escape.  As the days (or perhaps they are not days?) turn into weeks, the line between reality and dream blurs.


 
Week 1

Image reference



What is my Intended Project ?

 

In this visual effect short film. I want to focus on how people control their dream while they lucid dreaming. I will use CGI models integrated into the live action short film.


Themes

  •  surreal

  • After life

  • Sci-fi

  • Thriller

  • Lucid dream

  • Fantasy


Visual Style

 

  • Minimalism

  • Hyperrealism

  • aesthetic

  • Contemporary photography

 

Dir inspiration.  Apichatpong Weerasethakul, wong kar wai, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit

 

 

Film Inspiration

 

  • Nope

  • Slumberland

  • Blade runner

  • The creator

  • Inception


 


Week 2


moodboards


Research question (fixed)

 

(broader target audience)

 

  • How can 3D models in a film help people understand lucid dreaming better?

 

  • How can the combination of hyperrealistic live-action and surreal 3D models effectively portray lucid dreaming for a general audience?



Scene reference


Character reference


  • Chicken, Duck, bear

  • Chubby

  • plushie

  • Fluffy animal








 

Week 3

Filming Location

  • Karekare Beach

  • Piha beach

  • Whatipu Beach

Karekare Beach
whatipu beach

 


Logline

 

 

A disoriented man awakens on a surreal beach, where the rules of reality dissolve as he searches for meaning and escape.

 

 

SCRIPT

 

 

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH – DAY

 

The man stumbles out onto a beach unlike any he's ever seen. In the distance, impossible rock formations pierce the sky, and strange buildings on the mountain defy gravity.

 

He takes a tentative step forward, his face looking confused. He looks around, searching for any sign of familiarity, but sees nothing but the strange landscape.

 

CUT TO:

 

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH – DAY - CONT’D

 

A big fluffy duck doll (VFX) APPEARS behind the man. He LOOKS back and is terrified. The man freezes, momentarily paralyzed by the absurdity of the situation. Then, realizing the danger, he turns and sprints away.

CUT TO:

 

 

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH – DAY

The man looks back at the fluffy duck and uses his arms to protect his face. SUDDENLY, the Fluffy duck disappears.

 

 

 

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH – NIGHT - CONT’D

 

The sky TURNS to dark.

 

He sees a spotlight point above the wooden door in front of him. The man RUSHING toward the door, trying to open the doorknob, but the door suddenly softens like a jelly.

 

 

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH – DAY

 

 

A high-pitched noise louder in the distance. The man covers his ears and turns his head around very quick, looking for a sound source.

 

CUT TO:

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH – DAY

 

A railway appears on the beach. The man walks along the railway and looks up; he sees destroyed buildings and people walking on the beach.  

 

CUT TO:

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH – DAY

 

The man walks to one of the buildings, and suddenly, a bright light appears with a high-pitched noise, knocking the man out.

 

CUT TO:

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH – DAY (blue hour)

 

The man wakes up on the tall grass and walks up to see what happened. But a detail reveals it was all a dream, and he's still trapped. 



 
Week 4

Thumbnails


Outline board


Did a research reference of plushie in Toy Story 4




 
Week 5

I went to Whatipu beach to do a location scouting.


HDRI test

Captured in Polycam HDRI

Render test in Blender. Using free assets



 
Week 6

Modelled a plushie in Nomad Sculpt on iPad and textured in Substance Painter


Feedback from Hossein Najafi

Redesign arms and eyes/ make them bigger.


Storyboard

Feedback

  • Add more elements related to the Thai culture that I wanted to bring into the film (props, buildings)

  • Storytelling needs to be clearer.

  • Improve in camera angle.


 
Week 7

Render test of the building in MAYA using HDRI




 
Week 8

Obstacle: Plushie, beeping sound at the start.

Objective: a cinema, which is a way out

Character Background: In the coma, find the way out from the dreamworld to the consciousness.


Costume ideas.


I will show patient monitoring at the end beside the character.































 

Week 9





This week I modelled two assets (telephone box and patient monitor) and improve the details on the cinema by retextured the lightbox and add flags.




Reference image




Telephone box



Wireframe




Reference image



Patient monitor (Bionet bm5vet elite)



Reference image



 

Week 10

Textured in substance painter. Added sticker to improve the realism





NEW SCRIPT

 

Logline

 

A disoriented man awakens on a surreal beach, where the rules of reality dissolve as he searches for meaning and escape.

 


SCRIPT

 

 

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH - DAY

 

Sand-covered and dazed, Ezekiel sits up. An unfamiliar beach stretches out before him. In the distance, a turquoise art deco building with a neon "Scala" sign beckons. Hope flickers. Maybe the cinema offers escape.

 

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH - CONTINUOUS

 

He treks towards the Scala, but a giant blue plushie blocks his path. Panic surges. He sprints, the plushie lumbering after him. Suddenly, he trips, landing hard. Gasping, he looks up - the plushie is gone. Unease settles in.

 

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH - CONTINUOUS

 

A red door appears. Relief washes over him. He reaches for the knob, but the door crumbles to dust. Deflated, he continues towards the Scala.

 

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH - CONTINUOUS

 

Reaching the cinema, a blinding light erupts from the building, knocking him unconscious.

 

EXT. KAREKARE BEACH - DUSK

 

Ezekiel stirs, blinking away the fading light. He's sprawled on cool grass, not sand. A low, rhythmic beep pierces the quiet. Beside him, a strange machine with a blinking light displays a wavy line. Panic claws at him. Was it all a dream?

 

He lunges for the machine, the plastic casing giving way under his grasp. His fingers brush against... nothing. Just sand.



 

Modelled the red door from the reference image of Wat pho temple.





Did some extra work for turntable by model and textured a round turntable.




 
Week 11


HDRI captured on Polycam.



Rought edit and color grading in Premiere pro.

*Most of the shot are stable                                                                                Grab stills

Simulation test in Houdini 

Disintegration effect






 
Week 12

composting test


Rotoscope in After Effects



 
Week 13

Camera tracking in Nuke

Encountering jittering in camera tracking forced me to retract and render again


video example

  • Redshift rendering


 
Week 14

This week, I made adjustments to each scene to improve realism and aesthetics.



 

Week 15

I redid the monster's keyframe animation to improve smoothness and reduce jittering


(HDRI)




 

In the disintegration FX simulated in Houdini, I made several attempts to find the best-looking simulation.


Start the simulation at frame 135

Frame start 1 and End 212

I rendered the sequence in Houdini (Karma) instead of Maya (Redshift) due to issues with the mesh export to Maya


 

I rendered the grass in Maya and composited it with the simulation in Nuke to enhance realism.