LAMPION
A 3D animated film about the hazardous mountain ascent of a swarm of lantern Koi fish
‘Lampion‘ is my second year film project, made in collaboration with my coursemate Maciek Repeta.
The film tells the story of a swarm of lantern koi carp‘s difficult journey to reach the peak of a mountain. On their way to the top the swarm encounters a fierce storm which snuffs out their candles, effectively extinguishing their life force. Luckily one baby lantern has survived and is able to reignite the swarms fire. With renewed vigour the croup is able to propel its way through the clouds and finally reaches its intended destination.
DEVELOPMENT
This was my first 3D project. With little time, teamsize and experience a balance had to be maintained between aesthetics/story vs. feasibilty.
As I was figuring out a story I was most concered with not making horrible looking CGI. Darkness I though would be more forgiving to the models, which is why the scene is set at night. A swarm allowed us to put all our effort into only modelling, texturing and rigging on character. Rather than attention being on any individual fish the swarm was basically the main character. This fact and the fact that they are inanimate objects meant we could get away without facial rigging.
THE STORYBOARD
The storyboard documents the story more than the cinematography since Maciek and I decided on the camera angles by creating proxy objects in Maya.
THE FINAL LOOK
