Lan JDL - Opening show

LAN JDL - OPENING SHOW

Last summer, I had the chance to work on my first freelance gig, the opening of the lan JDL. This lan party is a local event of Quebec city, Quebec, Canada. With over 400 participants, for a whole weekend gamers of the province play together, compete against each other, eat, sleep, drink for the whole weekend in a festive manner.

THE CONCEPT

After talking with the administrator - We knew the opening needed to be pc related since that's the core of the lan party. I had total control over the art direction. I pitched the idea of exploring different computer realm, floating through and inside different core computer aspect as the data, the cables, the processor, etc. They loved the idea, and I started quickly to explore ideas and put into imagery some sketch I drew and some concept I wrote.

THE VIDEO

What was presented during the opening ceremony, the project was a way to start the event grandiosely, and also a way to present the local streamers attending the event.

DIVING INTO THE CONCEPT

Here's the thought process behind each shot 

THE CASE

in the first scene, I wanted to present a computer case. As such it makes the transition from the outside world into the informatic realm easier. by beginning with a case the viewers will understand where we are and where we go. It allowed me as well to create an environment that feels like a LAN party from another dimension.

The Hard Drive

After research, I decided to present the hard drive with a rocky crystal ball. I wanted the movie to feel like a journey into the informatics of a distant future or from another dimension. by doing research about the next generation of hard drive, I have fallen on a scientific article presenting how quartz crystal can stock astronomical quantity of information. They said it might be used in the future to build hard drives of millions of terabytes. I was quite inspired after my read and imagined how such a quartz hard drive might be built in a distant future. 

The DATA

This is quite straightforward. I presented the concept of data with lines of glowing arrays a bit like The Matrix, but still with my own touch. I'm quite pleased with the result

The Monitor, the Mouse and the Keyboard

In the realization of the scene, I was inspired by old trackballs, ergonomic keyboards, and holograms as we see in movies. I wanted to reach a certain level of abstractness so the viewer still feels like in another dimension. 

The cables

in my head, cables need to feel like charges of electricity are passing trough, and have an overall inside look I can describe as a heating power core.  

The cables #2

For the second tunnel of cables I imagined something more industrial, I still wanted a feeling of booming power passing through, but I was looking to add metal panels, with textures a bit like what we see on motherboard or RAM.

Processor

As the final scene, I knew from the beginning it needed to be the logo of the LAN as a processor chipset. I found a good balance between the actual look of a chipset and something more abstract.

Printer

To go with the idea of a futuristic computer, I knew I couldn't present a regular paper printer. I decided to go with something more apparent to 3D printing. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

All shots were created with Cinema 4D, about the half was created with Octane render, but midway in production, I bought my license of Redshift and continued the production with my new renderer.

This project was spread on several weeks, working evenings, nights and weekends because of my internship at a local studio. Some weeks were harsh, where I was in crunch hour at the studio and had to work after long shifts on the gig. It's my passion that truly drove the project, and I'm extremely proud of how it turned out.