The Thinking behind Operation: Deli Platter
The potential of CG Storytelling
Operation: Deli Platter
Storytelling is my favorite part of being a filmmaker. Or maybe it’s Directing… They share a top spot :)
Ever since I picked up CG into my workflow as a Visual Effects artist I’ve been in love with its storytelling potential.
Operation: Deli Platter is a sequence of CG renders that function as film stills. All put together they should convey a complete story, including the opportunity for subtitles and music.
The Story
Operation: Deli Platter follows a variety of groups and their interconnected mystery. From the military, to its secretive leadership, and from civilians to those above the law; everyone is impacted by the mysterious Deli Platter.
Today I’d like to look at a secondary story set in the desert.
The plots about the global banana-trade and the Deli Platter converge and attract the interest of the FNPF.
Every shot was made in Cinema 4D, and rendered with Corona Renderer.
First Shot
for this shot it was important to convey a claustrophobic feeling as the plot thickens. Layered movement was important.
The rotors of the Blackhawk feel quite menacing in motion.
At 258 RPM the camera could barely catch it. At a shutter-speed of 1/500s we could render the rotors with enough definition.
Second shot
The Free Nations Peace Force (FNPF) soldier’s close-up was important to conveying the tension. Eyes express nuanced emotions. That makes them an invaluable tool for storytelling.
The banana-trade subplot requires a lot of colour coordination. When I think of Operation: Deli Platter what comes to mind is natural lighting and strong colors.
These colors can come from nature or by painted man-made objects.
Depth of Field
We’re using an f/1.8 lens to get this shallow depth of field. This helps with hiding imperfections in the 3D-model as well as bringing out a graphic element with the lights inside.
To achieve this quality of bokeh I used our Bokeh Builder to make an eye-bokeh map:
Third shot
The reverse shot was a challenge of its own.
The surface of the dunes had to look believable to sell the desert effect.
Luckily for me, Waleed Nabeel’s dune model was perfect for my needs.
The dune mesh was a bit heavy at first so I had to optimize it in Cinema 4D.
But I found this super useful video below.
The Volume Builder is used to recalculate the mesh density into a more manageable file, as StrangerObjects says at 6:40.
I could’ve simulated sand in the wind flying over the dunes but that might be something for the future.
The soldiers were rigged and dropped on the ground with Mixamo. In most situations for these renders you can get pretty far with Mixamo presets.
If I need additional adjustments I’ll do them manually in Cinema 4D.
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Shots in Sequence
The Story Continues...
As we make progress with Operation: Deli Platter we are developing more and more tools that we will share soon!
Conclusion
Operation: Deli Platter is maybe our most ambitious IP yet. With an expansive world-building featuring lots of different factions - and custom design for pretty much everything, this is a project that we expect to be developing for a long time. However, as we developed the world-building document in such detail, it's much simpler to create any asset for any scene.
We can simply reference the document to figure out what the design language and purpose is of that asset - thus adding much more custom detail to every scene :)
Reading List
References
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