INFINITE
My senior capstone short-film, built 99% from the ground-up using Autodesk Maya, Unreal Engine 4, Adobe After Effects, and EbSynth. I wanted to highlight rendering entire cinematic sequences in real-time while creating a unique style and story.
So what is the story?
I created this film with very specific concepts, theories, and symbols in mind. However, I find that film and art is best enjoyed when the consumer is able to take what they want from the experience rather than being guided to an answer. Therefore the "meaning" and "story" is whatever you take from it and beyond.
Stylistic inspirations included films such as A Scanner Darkly, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and "Tunnel of Love" amusement rides.
The original storyboard
The concept for the film changed somewhat drastically from the original idea. I wanted to capture pivotal events within a person's life that might define who they've become, but thought this idea was too specific to be effective to mass audiences.
Original concepts for the tunnel were straight to create the "infinite" aspect of it, but was eventually scrapped because of actual implementation and spacial concept of the area which later resembles a space that actually feels somewhat realistic.
This is the official layout of the space, which becomes an infinite circle.
The Waiting Room
This is where the protagonist transitions into the tunnel space. It is representative of a purgatory space, between the real and the infinite.
Exhibit A
The baby toy assembly room barely changed from the original concept, besides minor tweaks to aesthetic changes (light fixture style, wall texture).
Exhibit B
The anima/animus room changed the least, and includes donated assets by Megan White (the statues) to help me save time and efficiently place my focus on larger aspects of the piece that needed attention.
Exhibit C
The mirror room changed quite a bit due to how complex planar reflections are. It also made more sense for there to be only one mirror to clearly represent an opposition or gateway versus a more literal self-reflection.
EbSynth
This software saved me hours of tedious keyframe animation. It takes one of my painted keyframes, png sequence footage and an alpha mask to automatically animate the other existing frames and helped me achieve my desired look much faster than if by hand. I then exported as AVI format and applied a video texture to planes which I animated within Unreal. This allowed me to capture the real-time lighting information within the scene rather than faking in post.
