Barber Shop Crime Scene

Film Noir Scene BreakDown

Job time - 10 days

Software Maya / Mudbox / Substance Painter / Arnold / Nuke

Pre-production

And there came one of the best moments of the master, working in a group. For this work, we had to make a film noir scene with a script. The scenario we could see all the key elements of the synopsis. For this exercise, I worked with Marta Mollá. We had to get in the scene there were elements of a real story or invented and that was in colour. The process began with extensive documentation based on movie scenes. Classics such as Touch of Evil, The Asphalt Jungle or The Maltese Falcon were our first references handled. At all times we tried to create a scene with the most typical elements of the genre: femme fatale, disappearances, murders, detectives and a love story. Aesthetically we use references closer in time such as Once Upon a Time America, L.A. Confidential or Casino. The next step of the work was to develop a Film Noir synopsis.

References

We look for references to barber shops that look old. We found a picture of Greg Mimbs that was perfect. For lighting and textures, we chose three films as references: Once Upon a Time in America Casino and Party Girl.

Layout

The composition of the photograph was perfect and I made a layout in blocking to establish proportions and dimensions of the space to coordinate the work.

Modelling

Although in the reference they looked pretty good all the elements we decided to look for references of each one of them. At the time of modelling we divide all the assets in the following way:

Marta – Barbershop chair, Ceiling lamp, Round table, Trash, Chair, Magazine rack, Umbrella stand, Dryer, Calendar, Bottle 1, Bottle 2, Box 1, Box 2, Scissors, Clothes rack, Telephone.

Carlos – Washbasin, Furniture and drawers, Walls and floor, Mirror and lights, Bench, Pictures, Awning, Hat, Jacket, Necklace, Razors, Signs on the door, Mop, Tickets, Photography.

Small details like the broken chair were added in Mudbox. The mapping was done with UV layout and Maya.

Lighting

The lighting has three points of light. Two outside, one key light and another fill light. Inside there is a warmer light that has a door-shaped geometry in front.

Texturing

I made all the texturing of the scene. I divided the scene into eight UDIMs and managed it in Substance Painter. All the photographs on the walls belong to the photographer Weegee.

Composition

Finally, I also take care of the final render. Although the image was almost finished, I rendered each of the lights with their AOVs (diffuse, specular, transmission and Z-depth). The composition in Nuke was simple, correct small details and add glow to the exterior lights to give the image the desired look.

I thank you for your time and patience. I hope I have helped in some way.