AS1248 878
Arch hitectural Film m Makiing Ben Ra appell FKD Sttudio
Learrning Objjectives
Learn tech hniques to create high‐end architectural films Develop sskills based o on real‐world d techniquess Learn the process of aarchitectural film makingg Learn posst‐production n and editingg techniquess to enhance your projectt
Descrription Extend yyour artistry skills and leaarn the process of creating a captivatting film for your archite ectural project. Step througgh the entire process—fro om creating an idea, to vvisualizing it into a storyb board, to creatingg animated seequences, to o editing and d post‐production that brring your finaal film to life e. From real‐ world ap pplications, yyou’ll build u upon your camera animation techniques, learn m more about how the frame reendering pro ocess differs from stills, aand gain tips and tricks on n post‐produ uction. We’ll discuss challengges faced alo ong the way, how to solvee these as yo ou go, and ho ow to managge clients’ exxpectations, all whilee working witthin a budgeet.
Speak ker(s) Before joining FKD in n 2015, Ben has been an instructor at the Autodeesk accrediteed MAD Acad demy in ween 2008‐2 2010 and at FFloodSlicer as an Associatte Director b between 201 10‐2015. South Australia betw his time at M MAD Academy, he instruccted architeccts and designers in creatting photorealistic During h imageryy through Auttodesk accreedited courseeware. He haas both workked on and m managed many high profile aarchitectural projects botth in Australiia and intern nationally. Been was a lead d artist on th he ‘Imagina Award’ w winning entrry ‘Now and When’ for th he 2010 Venice Architectture Biennale as well as m multiple CG Architecct Award nom minated projjects. Since tthen he has ggone on to help start up FKD studio aand spearhead their film m team.
THE IM MPORTAN NCE OF PLA ANNING The Ide ea need to plan n it. You need d to plan it fo or yourself so o you have ssomething to o To creatte a successful film, you n refer back to but you u also need tto plan it forr your client aand for peop ple involved in the process so that you convvince them o of your vision n. p with multip ple pitch ideas. Go in witth your prefeerence and p push that ideea first. Howeever, it’s Come up worth having some b back up ideaas in case you ur client isn’tt sold on it. project has a brand already, ensure you at least in n part draw ffrom this as what you are creating is If your p part of aan overarchin ng project an nd it should feel as such. Draw insspiration forr your film fro om the projeect itself. Is the architecture strong enough to consider drawingg elements frrom it to insp pire your film m? Or does itt require a sttronger narraative?
The Scrript Scripts aare the quickkest way to gget your ideaa out of your head and into somethin ng tangible. YYou’re best to start off with a sim mple paragraaph or even dot points explaining your overarching idea. Thiss will later presentable script that yyou’ll use to p pitch your id dea. Start bro oad and refin ne. be expanded into a p web, or set one up yourseelf. There is no rule on how you You can download sample scriptts from the w o make sure need to set it up. Jusst rememberr what you’re using it forr, to convincee people of yyour idea, so ble and easy for people to o read and u understand. M My preference is to breaak it into colu umns. See it’s legib below caase study scrript. This is b broken into 3 3 columns, titles, vision, aand description. You mayy want to add a fo ourth column n for audio to o help explain your audio o intent.
Title: Crreate broad sections for your film. Att the end of tthe day yourr film should flow seamleessly into one cohesive vision, however yo ou are going to have sections that need to be covvered off.
Vision: What you arre going to see in each seection. Breakk this down ffurther if reqquired into animated DOPs understtand your vission for the sequencces and filmeed sequencess. This will heelp your 3d aartists and D screen.
Descrip ption: This iss the flow of your sequennces. How doo you envisagge each section looking?? Your audience should reaad through th his section an nd be able to o form a visio on in their head of how yyour film descriptive yyou can be th he easier you u should be aable to get th he vision for your film will lookk. The more d across.
Audio: TThis column can be impoortant if you have someoone creating custom mussic for your fiilm and you need to give them an understanding of how you envision n the audio w working.
Sample e Script
Overview w
‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐
ophistication. Silvery light, m muted tones. Bright flaring sun. Luxe, style, so Film moves frrom serene eaarly morning, tthrough bright sun lit day, tthrough to luxxe night Use of talent intercut throu ugh 3D footagge to give life Focus on the detail. Both in n film and in 3 3D, make featu ure of the detail, light time‐‐lapse, materiaality etc. Use brand maark as linking eelement intersspersed throu ughout film, bo oth through use of light and d shadow, architectural detail and graaphical overlayy to link spacees
Title
Vision
Description
Intro – Tittles
Film m:
Start on a close up on waater, calm, tran nquil. Yarra One brand d mark faintly d draws in left to o right, Yarra One logo aappears.
‐ ‐ ‐
Laneway C Culture
p on water, callm ripples. Close up Yarra on ne brand markk draws across screen, bottom left to o top right Yarra One logo
3D: ‐ ‐
Yarra One promenadee/streetscape Detail vignettes of arcchitecture, time‐lap pse shadows, ssun flares.
Feature th he desirability o of the atrium aarea both in wide format to show off the scope of tthe space and in close deetail to show beeauty of materriality and lightt in the spacce. Close ups o on ground as su un time lapses through, lo ook up through h latticework w with sun flaringg towards uss.
m: Film ‐ ‐
Amenitiess
South Yarra culture/ faashion/ cafes/ streetsccapes Talent in n situ
3D: ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ m: Film
Concierge (possibly grreen screen conciergge in desk overall shot) Wine Baar Commu unal Dining Commu unal Lounge
To bring th he area to life w we intercut the e atrium spacee with film o of South Yarra culture. Cafes//Fashion. Use of talent to o bring human n element to th he space. Talent riding pushbikes, walking chapel st/toorak rd, sitting at ccafé etc.
We move in from the ou utside to the fo ormal concierge entry via transsition element based on brand marrk. (note: if posssible shoot co oncierge at desk)
We move through the vaarious internal amenity spaces, again using filmeed talent, props etc as an additional human element to spaces.
‐ ‐ ‐
Interiors
3D: ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ Film m: ‐ ‐ ‐
Finale
Concierge close‐ups Talent w with wine, food d, whiskey Wine/fo ood close‐ups
3D: ‐
3 bed lo ounge Kitchen Hallwayy joinery Bedroom m Joinery Bedroom m Close up ps on talent geetting ready Man putting on cuff links/shoes etc Woman n putting on lipstick//earrings/perfu ume etc
‐ ‐ ‐
Keeping fo ocus on the cityy view we cut into the hero living room m with same view to CBD.
We explorre the differentt interior spacees in night (as per stills) tto keep the luxxe mood. As we e explore the spaces we intercut closee ups of talent ggetting ready.
Finish the interiors on th he bedroom.
We finish o on close up cutaway hero at night with view out to o CBD. If possible, shoot greeen screen of Hero cu utaway with beedroom in view w, talent in sp pace as a final touch. look outt to city Brand marrk and logo transition us out to black.
Film m: ‐ ‐
While show wing off wholee spaces, create more detailed viignettes of spaaces shown to pick up qualityy of materiaal/light, luxe deetail etc.
If possib ble, talent in beedroom. Woman n sitting on end d of bed putting shoes on. Putting something aw way in closet. Walkingg out of room etc
The Sto oryboard Your sto oryboard is th he visual rep presentation of your scrip pt. Generallyy the two will go hand in hand so that whe en you preseent your film m, your audience can refeer back to bo oth. It’s best tto make suree both relate to o each other,, so use the ssame section ning in both, and use a co ombination of images to o help visual explain yyour idea. Att any given p point you sho ould be able to refer to aa point in you ur script and relate it to a slide n number in yo our storyboarrd.
e Storyboard d Sample
The Animatic Animaticcs are an esssential tool to working up p your film; tthey are the evolution off your storyb board. Generally you will crreate multiple animatics through thee life of your project and they will evo olve to become your final ed dit. You should keep you urself in this animatic phase until you u have most of your elem ments signed off. This is our animated d sequencess. Try and keeep these as low res as po ossible to maake especially true for yo ng them out or adjusting them quick and easy. Att this point yo ou only need d to render e enough to swappin get yourr idea across.
AUDIO O Audio sh hould play a big part in your film makking. The visiion can be ass amazing ass you’d like b but if you don’t haave the right sound behin nd it your film m will suffer. The sound and vision sh hould go han nd in hand; they sho ould both plaay off each o other. be used, how wever if you can work with a There arre some greaat stock music sites around that can b composer to create something b bespoke you will lift yourr film to a higgher level. Th his allows yo ou more freedom m when it com mes to timing and editing. nd more read dily availablee; you can usse multiple trracks and cutt them Stock music sites aree cheaper an owever theyy are not uniq que and generally don’t have the sam me complexity as a together yourself, ho custom track. d will give yo ou far more fflexibility. You can craft the music to suit your Custom music on thee other hand djust elemen nts to suit you ur edit; however it’s far m more expenssive and mayy be cost overall vvision and ad prohibitive for somee projects. od idea to prresent a few w options to yyour client eaarly in the prrocess to maake sure you’’re on the It’s a goo same paage.
CAMERA ANIMA ATION AN ND COMPO OSITION n is as important in film aas it is in stills, and it can be the key tto a successfful and Camera composition me of the bassic principless to consider, and there aare a lot morre out there dynamicc film. These are just som that I wo ould suggestt researchingg to better yo our understaanding of com mposition an nd scene breakdown. It may sou und cliché, bu ut rules weree made to bee broken. Jusst because th hese (and other) rules exxist, that doesn’t mean you allways need tto abide by them. Use them as guides to set up your camerass.
Composition Techniques mage should d be divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines Rule of TThirds: the im and two o equally spaced vertical lines. Importtant compossitional elements should be placed along these lines or ttheir interseections
d to draw a viewers atten ntion to a speecific part off the frame, w whether it’s a person, orr Leading Lines: used a vanish hing point in the backgrou und of the frrame.
ments within a scene to frrame your su ubject. Framingg: using elem
Patternss and Repetiition: peoplee are drawn tto patterns aand repetitio on and you caan use this to find beauty in areas that you may fin nd otherwise bland. Breaking this can n add someth hing unexpeccted that w your audieence in. will draw
Symmettry: finding ssymmetry in your scene ccan be a pow werful way to o make a statement piece of your architeccture.
Get Inspired u like from fiilm and televvision and tryy and Draw insspiration from what is arround you. Find what you incorporrate them into your architectural film ms. The mostt successful sshots are gen nerally based d on real life techniqu ues.
Animatted Objects Enhancee your shots by adding an nimated objeects to them m. This can bee done in 3D or post prod duction. It will help p add subtle movement tto an otherw wise static wo orld. Be subtle with it tho ough as you don’t want to detract from yourr main subject, namely th he building o or space. ngs like: Consider adding thin wind ‐ Curtains blowing in the w he ground ‐ Leaves on th ‐ Birds flying iin the backgrround off ‐ Lights animaating on or o ‐ Time‐lapsingg sun
POST P PRODUCTTION As you sstart to put yyour film togeether, start tto consider yyour overall ccolour gradin ng. Making ssure your shots sitt in the samee colour tonee will give your film a mo ore cohesive look. Consid der your rend dered content and filmed ccontent toge ether for more seamless integration. oduction for animated seequences can n be a little trickier than sstatic image post. The files can Post pro become heavy and rreal‐time playback can be e near imposssible if you’re utilizing aa lot of elemeents, pluginss ou have donee static imagge post produ uction before its good to o think of you ur post in the e same way, etc. If yo yet try aand limit the amount of layers or massks you’re ussing. Utilize P Plugins Most can be done so olely using yo our post pro oduction softtware of choice, yet if you can afford to you ook around ffor plugins that can assisst. They can ggreatly enhaance your pro oduction and d speed up should lo your wo orkflow. onsider: Popular plugins to co ur grading) ‐ Magic Bullett Suite (colou uite (motion graphic enhaancements) ‐ Trapcode Su ‐ Frischluft (depth of field) ‐ RSMB Render Elements As with stills production, use as many render elements aas you deem necessary. YYou may not use them all and yyou can alwaays delete to clear up harrd drive spacce if you don’t use them, however it’ss better to have and d not to need than the alternative. Popular Elements to o consider: ‐ Reflection ‐ Refraction ‐ Lighting ‐ Shadows ‐ Z Depth G and B channels as maskks to be able to adjust ind dividual obje ects) ‐ Multimatte ID (uses R, G might want to use before e starting to render. This will save you on hard drrive space. Consider what you m
EDITIN NG The editting process is key to the success of yyour film. Your visuals could be amazzing, but with hout well considerred editing yyou can easilyy lose your aaudience. Keep your editting sharp, if you’re tryingg to edit to the beatt, ensure you u hit it exactlly otherwise everything w will seem ou ut of time. Yo ou don’t need to edit to the beatt, however th his is a good way to keep p. You may ju ust edit key m moments to the beat wh hich can be a strongerr statement.
