Sweet Heart | Short VFX Film

About

'Sweet Heart' is a short VFX film which was produced within twelve weeks, by 3rd year animation and VFX students at Escape Studios in London. A story by Liam Mann and produced by Emmanouil Zervoudakis.

The story is about two male wedding figurines that fall in love but are mismatched by the baker when placing them on top of the wedding cake.

The Team

Liam Mann: Director, writer and animator

Shenaaz Suliman: Co-director and animator

Emmanouil Zervoudakis: Producer and editor

Clement Gharini: Director of photography

Efthymis Bairaktaris: 3D lead, render TD, matchmove, texture artist and actor

Montse Larqué Ferrer: Animation lead, concept artist and animator

Autul Sikdar: 2D lead

Chanakan Jeffries: Storyboarding, concept artist and animator

Shessy Idowu: Concept artist, lighter and animator

Ella Grunberger: Colour script artist and animator

Molly McCabe: Rigger

Cameron Haley: Animator

Recep Atalmis: Modeler

Frankie Elliott: Modeler and texture artist

Reece Roberts: Modeler and texture artist

Daniella Benfield: Modeler and graphic designer

Andrea Tomas: Compositor

Jack Carine: Compositor

Rahul Karavadra: Compositor

Maria Cortes-Monroy: Music compositor

Mihail Sustov: Foley artist

Toby Haslam: Illustrator

Produced at Escape Studios

Character Designs

We explored numerous designs until we find the ones that fitted our theme. Below, you can find a selection of our initial drafts and the final versions.

Storyboarding & Animatic

At this stage, our main objective was to ensure that the story works well so we experimented with various camera angles. After undergoing multiple revisions with the storyboarding team, we finalized the following panels and proceeded to edit them, incorporating a temporary music track and sound effects.

Please see below for the panels and edit.

Colour Script

Prior to entering the production phase, we made the decision to create a colour key. We specifically selected the three pivotal moments in the film and painted them accordingly, with the purpose of establishing the mood and lighting conditions for each shot.

'Crapamatic'

We then decided to create a 'crapamatic', using our own camera equipment. Through test shootings, we examined the feasibility of our ideas, focusing primarily on positions, camera angles, and timing.

Live Shooting

The day of the shooting soon arrived. We had all our costumes, character placeholders, set equipment and call sheet ready for the day. By working closely with the creative director and director of photography, we were able to successfully shoot everything we planned for and even some extra angles which gave us some flexibility after.

Please see below for a couple of pictures during the shoot and a time-lapse video.

Photogrammetry 

After shooting the film, we took many photos of the space and equipment to be able to build the environment in 3D without having to start from scratch or worry about the accurate positions of some items.

Cut-outs Edit

We decided to combine the characters from the storyboard panels with the live action plates and create an edit which would help us identify any issues before starting animating.

Please see below for the edit.

Cinematography

The following video demonstrates how much our camera angle changed since the animatic.  Every single adjustment helped us convey the story more effective.

Modeling & Texturing

Below you can find a few images showcasing the characters' evolution from the design stage to a rendered version. Additionally, I have included pictures of the two cakes we used and some detailed close-up shots.

Characters:

Cake No1:

Cake No2:

Animation

References are key. I cannot stretch enough how important references are for animators. We made sure to ask all animators to film their own references, and get the director to approve them before start animating. Once the blocking stage had well-defined poses and timing, we transitioned into splining and polishing.

Below, you can watch a good example showcasing this process.

VFX Breakdown

The following video provides a breakdown of our processes.

Production Management

'Sweet Heart' was managed using both ShotGrid and Google Sheets.

Please see below for all the software and documents used.

Shotgrid:

Everything was in one place and well connected, work was visually assigned and easily readable, artists were receiving notifications via email and the overall progress tracking was very efficient.

Production Schedule:

This calendar format schedule displays the main tasks with deadlines, status indicators, and progress bars, providing the production team with a constant, clear overview of the overall progress and important milestones.

Shot Breakdown:

Primarily utilized during pre-production, this document comprehensively breaks down all shots and presents essential data such as brief descriptions, durations, frame in/out points, transitions, shot types, sound effects etc.

Shot Plan:

Arguably the most crucial document utilized throughout this production, it effectively tracked all shots during animation, 2D and 3D work, lighting, rendering, and compositing stages. This document was color-coded, ensuring ease of readability, and included assignees and status updates for each task.

Asset Tracker:

Throughout all stages, this document helped us monitor the progress of our characters, environments, and individual items. We allocated a dedicated section at the bottom of the document for the team to report any issues or bugs encountered along the way.

One Sheet

Big thank you to Toby Haslam for working on our poster!