Boot Screen

[iGeek]

I'm the "Key Grip" of my school's Film Consideration Club (FCC). We watch movies and talk about them. I've been assigned to make a backdrop for the projector. It's the image that displays when it's warming up, and before we put in a movie. It'll be up when people are coming in. It's not trying to sell anything, just something to look at. Here's my first pass at it. I plan to fix the way the film just ends on the upper right. Also, I wanted to do some spotlights a la 20th Century Fox, but I couldn't figure out a good way to do it. I plan to mess with the lighting a bit too. I'd love to hear what y'all think.

[iGeek]

I posted the prj on My iDisk.

[KenH]

It seems fine. I'm not sure wat the red stripes are. I would just stick with one colour in the background IMO. Maybe you could have the film coming out of a projector.....

 

Is the dog made in AM? Or is he your 2d macot....

[iGeek]

The stripes were supposed to look vaguely like a popcorn box, but I'm open to suggestions if you can think of a better background. If I do a dark blue background then maybe I can do the spotlights. ooo... projector.. If I have time I'll try that! PHS's mascot is a bulldog. I don't have access to any good images, so I just browsed their website and found that one. I'll see if I can contact the webmaster and get a better version. I'd make one in AM but I have homework.... Which I should be doing now...

 

-Zev

[Zaryin]

Yeah, I diefinately do not like those stripes. They make my eyes go all woogy. The film stip and logo looks great so far though.

 

I would also go with a straight color for the background. Maybe a velvet cutain red with waves in it to give you the feel of a curtain that will be rolling back...?

[brainmuffin]

Try a gradient for the background. Light blue on the bottom, to navy blue at the top. That should look good with the spotlights.

[iGeek]

Nice. I'll try both the curtain and the gradient and get back to you. And maybe a projector, but not anytime soon. I have less important but mandatory things to do. Thanks for the ideas.

 

-Zev

[iGeek]

I made a curtain. I posted the model on my iDisk at the link above. I have a few questions.

1) How do I make the ripples of the curtain more apparent?

2) I want to brighten the film and darken the unlit part of the background, but I can't figure out to light only specific objects with lights. The help files didn't clearly explain how Light Lists work, or at least I couldn't understand it. I modified the Satin material to make it less shiny, but I think I might put back the shine after seeing this render.

3) I couldn't do a final render. It kept crashing. This was a render in the chor window. I'm using the latest 10.5. Haven't upgraded to 11 yet.

4) Should I use DOF for this? I thought it might be nice to have the background in focus, but the back of the film a bit blurred. I'll play around with it.

 

I also tweaked the upper right edge of film so it would end out of frame.

Thanks for the comments so far.

-Zev

[Rodney]

Zev,

I like the improvements you've made with the possible exception of the red background. Red is fine but to have the whole background red seems a bit stark.

 

The blue Brainmuffin suggested or a combination of bluish/purple colors might look really nice.

 

Of course a lot might depend on your background in the room this will be projected in as well as how you want those viewing the screen to react.

Red would seem to set the tone for some serious critiquing. If that is what you are after... Red might work.

 

Here is a suggestion.

Render the image out to TGA format *without* the background and try it against several different color schemes. Then later if you determine you want to change it again all you need to do is change the background.

 

-Rodney

[JoshB]

I'm not sure agree with the blue. The film hole area is so dark it might fade into the blue background. Unless you could give the film some sort of radiance in that area or change the surface texture to a more grey like color. Also, unless I'm mistaken, film is clear in those areas--at least the negatives from a 35mm camera are.

 

Also, it doesn't seem playful enough to me. I hope you can handle a critique. Where I come from we have this thing--it's called Dayton Cheese. We the artistic community work for these business owners who tell us what they want--then through hours and hours of tweaking we end up with something very cheesy (not playful--just cheesy). Right now this image is hovering on a borderline between cheese done on purpose (the "let's all go to the lobby" animation) and an attempt to be "serious"--this is what makes Dayton Cheese. I don't want to corrupt your vision too much with suggestions right now.

 

The way to make the ripples more apparent is to change the angle at which your lights hit the curtain (you may want to make these model specific). The effect that causes frabic to look rippled are the gradiant changes from light to dark--if light is hitting from the fron there is less/no gradiant.

 

The way to light specific objects is to go into the modeling windows for the background right-click add new light. Position the light so you get the effect you want. There is an option under the lights properties which says light all models--turn that off. Do the same for the film strip.

 

If you decide to do something with DOF look at the contest entries for this month. Particularly this one in the clouds (can't remember whose it was). You may want to consider changing the way the film is lying though to give the image more depth.

 

Good start--just needs to be pushed--as my professors would say.

 

J

[iGeek]

Finally, here's an update. I've messed with the lights a bit, and also thinned the film so the logo is darker. I've increased the opacity of the letters "FCC" from 17% to 40% in the original Photoshop images. Does it read, or should I change it? This render was 16 pass. I turned down the fill lights and turned up the ambience of the film so the curtain could be darner, because I couldn't get lights built into models to work right... How's it look?

-Zev

[Zaryin]

I myself think it looks great. It's at this point were I find it hard to find anything to crit. *thinks abit* Maybe...um...The "FCC" is a little fuzzy on the closer film frames...um...I don't even know if that's a crit...um...no -- that's it, if anything.

[J.Bruce]

Sorry I fell off the planet and wanted to let you know that I'm really impressed with how the image has come along. I know it's probably WAY after the fact but, hey sometimes.