Set Models - Dining Room

[Ilidrake]

I tend to bounce around with this project working on one asset for a while and then another one. It helps me to not get burned out. Amazingly I have gotten a tremendous amount of work done. Here is a test pic of the dining area that will be used in the movie. The lighting is not final and is actually what I am staging right now. I know it's too early to be working on lighting but I'm simply playing with the model to see how it works.

 

So far it isn't quite how I want it and this is just a test.

 

The third is the latest lighting pic. So far I like it the best

Edited April 17, 2013 by Ilidrake
Added new lighting pics

[Vertexspline]

looks pretty cool to me already Lloyd--- and I even like the lighting ---kind of scary mood like something is about to happen or just did. Smiles

[Rodney]

I like the third lighting best as well.

 

I have some suggested modifications but I it's really too early in the game for me to suggest them.

Keep at it.

 

A few thoughts that come to mind in considering what you have already.

 

This set presents a situation where Latimer can see his Father already sitting at the table.

This is quite different than how I saw the scene playing out in my head and it could be useful in seeing how uncomfortable Latimer is and (as we move over to Father) how stern and solid he he. That'd make for a nice contrast in characters and really help play up their relationship.

 

The stairs seem a bit too grand in scale.

It appear a bit rich for Latimer's parents (although I know they are wealthly).

 

I like the sense of isolation the scale gives to Latimer but I think having the larger should be saved until later in the film; especially Cleo's palace etc.

 

Unless there is really good reason for it I don't think you'll want to actually animate Latimer actually walking down these stairs.

That seems like too much effort and unnecessary frames.

It should be enough for Latimer to move past his Mother and then the camera cuts to him emerging from the stairs.

Now... there is a way you could do this with the basic set you have in mind but I'll hold off on that until I see more of what you have in mind for the sequence.

You've got some gold with which to make a fine jewel of a scene here.

 

In thinking of how they might have built the house originally it might have been designed so that two people could pass as they were going up/down the stairs.

I seem to recall you saying they've lived in this house for a long time and as Father became more successful he built on to it incrementally. If that is the case then I'd definitely go for the smaller scale.

 

I have a thought regarding the cinematography of this scene that I'll try to put into imagery based on this set... I had envisioned a very tight/even cramped hallway emerging into a larger dining room. In the meantime here is a quick view of the widest I would make the stairs (note: There would be a wall at the right of the stairs and the railing on the wall side would be straight (as opposed to the other side which opens out into the room (one of the changes that Mother likely requested Father make when he had the stairs rebuilt):

 

I am impressed with your level of productivity of late!

[Ilidrake]

Having Latimer walking down the stairs is something I do not intend on animating. I just set up a simple pose so I could make sure the scale and everything looks correct with the actors and props in place. The room is extremely large! I had considered originally going with something tight and cramped but the larger pieces really drives home Latimer's feeling of insignificance. Which is a point I really want people to get.

 

This is just a small part of what I've been doing in regards to productivity. I also added all of Latimer's new phenomes. Added his sliders for facial controls. Smatskinned his shoulders and added new fanbones for mesh control. Weighted the mother model and have been adjusting her facial rig. Weighted the father model. And I'm trying to finish up the Cleo model mesh.

[Rodney]

Having Latimer walking down the stairs is something I do not intend on animating. I just set up a simple pose so I could make sure the scale and everything looks correct with the actors and props in place.

 

I thought as much. That's why it's useful to have a storyboard/animatic... so we don't have guys like me asking silly questions.

 

The room is extremely large!

Yes, but when last I checked the house itself was not very large.

This room is as large as the original house.

 

 

I had considered originally going with something tight and cramped

 

That's where I got my first image of what it might look like inside.

The sound you hear is me adjusting.

 

 

but the larger pieces really drives home Latimer's feeling of insignificance. Which is a point I really want people to get.

 

I hear you. Trust your impression.

I'm in one of those odd positions of defending a vision that I didn't start out with. I recall campaigning for -slightly- larger house.

Mild concern: This room suggests we are no longer in a house but a mansion.

 

As far as isolation goes... is Latimer really isolated at this point? Or is he stiffled, cramped and forced to fit into the structure his parents have built?

Don't get me wrong... it will play well to have them even more wealthy. They do have a butler so it'd be easy to assign them more staff.

 

Even as I'm typing I feel like I'm not coming across correctly so that is why I'm over explaining myself.

Whether big/small/otherwise doesn't particularly matter to me as much as pressing forward toward the mark. We'll adjust where necessary and everything will all work out. One concern I do have about this bigger house is how it will scale in comparison to the architecture we see later in the film.

I can see where a comparison between his real house and Cleo's would signal unwanted architecture for Latimer.

Or actually it might be an enticement to him because he's familiar with that large scale ritzy environment. (why live with Death, Edgar and Nora in squalor when he can stay in the big house!)

With this line of thought, we could better contrast Latimer with Nora who is really poor, miserable and unwanted (contrasted with Latimer who thought he was).

It is through Nora (and Death and Edgar) that Latimer then begins to better understand and appreciate the life that he once had.

This also would play in well with Cleo's enticement of Latimer's parents. They are in a much smaller house in TLotD... but Cleo has promised them she will help move up, into a better place with neighbors that are much more of their type and social structure.

 

Of note: Architecture is important to the story especially because it's a stated interest of Latimer's. This won't be as important in the short term to audiences but folks looking back at the movie many years from now will find that layering in of detail particularly fascinating.

 

As the rough designs begin to go final, the relative scales will all work themselves out; Latimer's house, The Raven, Nora's Hideout, Old Widows House, Cleo's Castle, etc.are all set to be strikingly different environments.