For this collaborative unit, our process can be divided into three stages, with my main role as Art Director.
Phase 1: Discuss the theme, story, style, and final output, coming up with areas that we are good at and want to try. We started with an open discussion, where each of us proposed a theme, and from the three themes we chose the most interesting ones to research and discuss in depth. The mood of the short film was one of the unknown, loneliness, insignificance, darkness and mystery, but in the end, it was the light in the darkness that we wanted to make people feel. At the end of this phase, we discussed the specific story, found references, drew up a storyboard.
And made a systematic and detailed division of labour. We used Notion to share the resource with each other.
Phase 2: Based on the division of labour in the previous phase, we started to work on our own part. My main work was to create a flowing sea, which I made in Houdini. Because of my lack of experience, I spent a long time learning, from the basic node functions to analysing the composition of the sea, to adjusting the various factors that affect the dynamic effects and the final export. Throughout the process, I had the experience of starting over twice, reasoning from scratch because I was not clear enough about the function of the nodes to adapt to the effect that I expect. but in the process, I gained a clearer logic of the whole sea and I think it was well worth spending so much time. By going through the particles to make the fluid, I learned about the effect of these two different properties of output separately, and I think I can apply a similar approach to many different visual effects in other projects in the future.
At this stage I was also responsible for gathering information and providing visual references. I needed to have an initial visual idea of how the characters would be portrayed and provide the group with references for the characters’ images and costumes, as well as references for the gothic style props. This step was fun and also provided a richer visual layering of the overall story picture.
Phase 3: The mutual help stage, integration and post-production division of labour. In this step, we need to pay attention to the export format. I was mainly responsible for fixing bugs in the footage and gathering background music material for the final edit of the finished film.
For collaborative projects, attitude is as important as the output. Respecting the work of others and listening to their ideas, thinking rationally and communicating patiently when there is a disagreement. It will make everything go smoother than expected, and I am really grateful to my team members Shuaiqi Li and Ruijia Zhang. We made it!