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High quality version
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Resolution
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768 × 576 px
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Sound quality
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22.050 khz
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Filesize
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52.036 kb
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Low quality version
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Resolution
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768 × 576 px
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Sound quality
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22.050 khz
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Filesize
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26.262 kb
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Intel Indeo 5.1 Codec
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Please note that this codec should be provided with Microsoft Windows. You only need to download and install the codec when you are not able to view the film
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The theme of the film originates from a set of short fragments, which were originally published on www.boneprophet.de.
They describe certain creatures called "shadows" which are abstractions of common legends or childs’ stories. The Sandman, which is the main actor in the movie, is such a figure.
It represents a warped form of the known version, as it is a threat to grown up people, but not to children. This story is told by the text that is shown during the film.
The second character is a gruesome device called "Eyecube", which sees into the shadows.
So during the film, this eye allows the audience to follow the Sandman for a short period of
time, until the eye itself gets devoured by darkness.
The motives of the Sandman and of those who constructed the cube remain hidden, since the whole story aims not at providing answers, but to provide questions.
This film was designed to transport a vision, in a certain, surreal way, to the audience. So after the film closes, the mind of the audience can continue asking and thinking.
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I started my work on the project as an animation project for the 3D-Design Academy. Back then we had 3 months to complete an animated sequence. So I began designing the
characters and working on the plot. A short part of the "rooftop run" sequence served as my animation project. For my graduation project i chose to continue the
work and consequently added material. Since the whole project took about 8 Months to complete i always enjoyed the possibility to
apply newly acquired skills at given tasks.
Limitations
My working machine was a AthlonXP 2400+ with 1Gb of ram and a gaming video card. Since the rendering performance on this machine was relatively slow, this was my main limitation.
Another limitation was time. Due to a tight deadline much of the work had to be done fast and the whole film should be displayed via DVD. So after the graduation project i
converted the footage to a format supporting quadratic pixels, so that the film could be distributed via Internet.
modeling
Applications: Autodesk Maya 7™
The modeling process was aimed at producing a low poly scenery. So every detail that could be done with textures, was done that way.
In the first place, this decision ensured that the render times were held low. In addition, it forced me to go down to the limit of how low
you can go without giving up too much visual quality. With this in mind, only the absolutely necessary was modeled.
Texturing
Applications: Adobe Photoshop CS™ and Maxon Bodypaint 3D™
All objects were textured with hand painted images. Only two background objects use photographed material. I have chosen this approach out of two reasons.
First of all it was important to stick to a certain style. Hand painting just gave me more control over the final look of the objects.
Second, i wanted to improve my digital painting skills, so this was a fine practice.
The look of the film should be a combination of a surreal, semi realistic, and a painted look, and it should reflect the original
sketches that have been made some years ago, when the original story was written.
Animation
Applications: Autodesk Motion Builder 7™
The Sandman character features a Motion Builder compatible skeleton, the Eyecube character uses expression driven cluster animations.
The whole animation process consists of keyframe animations, except some background animations (e.G. lanterns) which use parameterised frame based expressions.
Every movement of the sandman was keyed in Motion Builder and then exported back to Maya for rendering.
Rendering
Applications: Mental Ray for Maya
Most rendering options were kept very simple, so that resources could be used for the important parts, like shadows.
Only the Eyecube scenes use global illumination and final gather. The render times could further be reduced by rendering the
scenes in passes, where possible. The results were later combined in After Effects.
The light setup focused on a dark, slightly green mood. So most shadows come from light and a supporting array of back-lights.
The Sandman for instance was additionally lighted by a separate back-light, that makes him appear lighter during his run sequence than he normally would have been.
This was done to have him appear unnatural bright, a white figure, looming over the rooftops.
Sound
Applications: Cool Edit 2.0
The sound effects were cut and sampled mostly from free or personal material.
Postproduction
Applications: Adobe After Effects™
All of the compositing work, especially special effects (like the magic the sandman uses on the roof) and text design, was done in After Effects. Cutting was also done here.
I made this uncommon decision, because there were many effects (like the black smeary frame) that go over more than one scene. And with the short duration of the film
in mind, i felt working the complete process in After Effects was much easier.
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