Cinder

In a dark village ruled by a clock of death, Dante’s son has been selected to be sacrificed. Dante refuses to accept this fate and desperately fights the clock, causing him to miss out on the last moments together with his son.

BOARDS

For the visual development/concept side of this project we worked together with two Production Designers to create the world of the film. At the same time one of our artists worked on the storyboard to see how the characters and the environment would play a role storywise. We started with quick sketches and a Miro board, where we could make multiple moodboards for the characters, environments, and the FX. 

PREVIS

In preproduction, we realized the need for a strategic approach. Recognizing our limited capacity to create detailed storyboards within the given timeframe, we used an initial set of storyboards for live-action filming. This allowed us to establish the timing and pacing of the film accurately. Additionally, involving the cinematographer in the process helped us explore captivating camera work within the constraints of a simple physical set.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

The characters were created based on a design provided by the art department and further developed through close collaboration among the art, directing, and sculpting teams. This process resulted in the final outcome that was achieved.

CLOTH

The film is set between 1880-1920, showcasing men in suits. The British gilet design incorporates diverse cultures with inspiration from Mediterranean/Middle Eastern vest styles, featuring a poppy pattern symbolizing grief and acceptance. Leonardo’s attire reflects his innocence as the son of a middle-class tailor, while the background characters’ appearances depict the well-being of different societal classes from that era.

RIGGING

For the rigging of the characters, performance was prioritized over shape quality. By using not very dense models and almost solely joint based setups, the rigs ran smooth in the viewport, while detailed shapes could be achieved by adding sticky mod controls in the animation phase.

TEXTURING & SHADING - LEO & DANTE

When it comes to texturing and shading, we strived to achieve a semi-photorealistic look. With influences from both realistic and stylized reference materials we looked for a place inbetween where we could exaggerate color and texture to help emphasise emotion but where it also felt real enough that the serious tone of the film would come through and to not move to much into the stylized world.

CG - ENVIRONMENT AND ASSETS

Cinder is set in a town on a cliff, with scenes featuring the street, town square, and clock tower.

The town’s 1800s architecture includes crowded, narrow streets. Our main focus was the prominent main street in the opening scenes.

Collaborating with the production design team, we added props to enhance the environment. Some were created in-house, while others were sourced from Megascans.

The clock tower was designed to be imposing and menacing, representing the main obstacle. Sharp corners, erosion effects, and varied green tones were used to achieve this timeless presence.

Two versions of the clock tower were created: a larger one for wide shots and a detailed version for close-ups in the film.

In the clock tower, Dante’s futile attempt to save Leonardo involves ripping out the clock components. To heighten the challenge, we intentionally designed the chaotic interior with an abundance of scattered components.

By scattering clock components throughout the room, we achieved a messy yet believable connection. Each shot featured different layouts, emphasizing the chaotic atmosphere and reflecting Dante’s character.

ANIMATION

For the animation part we filmed reference where we could to make things as clear as possible to the directors before blocking started. It was an interesting process figuring out how to get a continuous style while working with multiple animators. By bouncing back and forth and finding reference in other animated productions, we could iterate towards a more unified animation style. Our goal was to achieve a subtle and more realistic animation, which we tried to achieve by putting the focus on the eyes.

CFX

Our project approach prioritized technical accuracy, artistic focus, and teamwork. One team member handled Groom tasks and feedback, while the other managed the pipeline and ensured flawless grooming tools. This streamlined collaboration allowed efficient progress and issue resolution.

To optimize our small crew’s grooming pipeline, we developed four Houdini Digital Asset (HDA) files on groom and CFX templates. This division of tasks and utilization of our computer farm enabled us to meet the deadline for 45 grooming shots with two characters.

FX

The FX and compositing departments were responsible for the magical effects in Cinder, delivering a total of 12 shots. To manage the workload, we divided the setup within Houdini into multiple HDA packages, enabling easy sharing and reuse. Adjustments were made on a shot-by-shot basis due to proceduralism limitations. To ensure that every render layer worked perfectly, the FX lead created a slapcomp for each shot to check the renders before they were passed on to compositing.

LIGHTING

Lighting was a very important part of the film. With so much story beats to hit, lighting played an important role in setting the tone and mood for scenes. At the start of production, together with the DoP we constructed a detailed plan on how we were going to approach lighting across the film. This involved scene by scene breakdowns on what we tried to tell with lighting and how it would affect the viewer. 

COMPOSITING

After rendering the shots in RenderMan through Houdini, we entered the compositing stage. Here, we conducted tests on re-lighting and making light visible, as light played a crucial role in the script. Striking the right balance was the challenge, aiming for a style that wasn't overly realistic or stylized, but rather beautiful. Eventually, we settled on a "MOLE beam" style, emphasizing light as a key element. Collaboration with the lighting department was vital, as we divided renders into layers for optimization and efficiency, sending out light groups separately for further compositing work.

Hopefully this brief breakdown has given you some interesting insights. Thank you for taking the time to look at it!