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Preproduction (2/3)
- hankim28
- Sep 30
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 22
10/22/25
Due to our team's schedule, I had to model the wings for the fairy and butterfly this week to stay on track. I found a rigger and animator to help us finish our models before the start of Winter Quarter. I sent my model to Mia to retopologize before week 8.
Dates to Follow:
Week 8: Send off final model to our rigger
Week 11 (unofficial SCAD week): Rigger sends final model to our animator
January 5th: Completed animation
Here is my model mock-up sheet and model for the final design of the fairy wings!
10/19/25
Most of my time this week was spent organizing my team and checking in on their due-dates. I want to make sure everyone is completing their checkpoints efficiently and on time, and it seems like everyone supports the idea!
Team Work this Week:
Olivia's (lighting tester/ comp artist) lighting tests with fog
We also completed our first fundraiser of the quarter! After our production design meeting with our artist, the budget for the set alone is a $500 minimum. Our fundraiser was able to produce $350 in sales. We hope to do more in the near future to raise the appropriate budget amount.
The team and I are currently preparing for our green screen shoot day November 8th. We've been talking back and forth with our film team to finalize our shot list and lighting diagrams for the shoot. A wardrobe meeting is scheduled a couple days before to work out last minute touch-ups before the costume is shown on screen.
10/10/25
This week was focused on adjusting any problems we had on set. Our biggest problem, shot-wise, was 2H.2. The original shot over-complicated our comp work by extending the floor into the digital background. As much as our team is capable of doing this work, we want to prioritize quality in other shots to achieve the best outcome we cant get.
2H.2 Before 2H.3 After
10/04/25
We just completed our test shoot day at Savannah Film Studio's green screen! We got a lot of good information out of it and are now better prepared for our final shoot on November 8th. This is where Gracie and I sat down and personally went through all of the logistics behind our production design ideas and filming requirements.
Before filming, we discussed what we would need out of our production designer before our XR stage dates. We soon realized we needed more than expected; and with that a higher budget. We're hoping to host a fundraiser soon to cover most of the expenses used for the project. Regardless, I've set up check-in dates with our production designer to make sure she's on schedule.
As for film, we've on-boarded a DP, 1st AC, 1st AD, and gaffer. They've been incredibly helpful so far and have given us the opportunity to use the film departments camera and lighting equipment. We're getting better results and a smoother on-set pipeline thanks to their experience. We hope to try and rent out a Red V Raptor from the film department to keep the camera footage consistent when transitioning onto the XR stage (which uses a Red V Raptor). Hopefully with the reservations set up by our film people we're able to figure something out.
Here's some BTS of our shoot day! I was the stand-in actress (pardon my lack of acting). We needed someone to fill in the shots to match our animatic's camera angles and timing. Very happy with the information compiled.
Here's a rough slap comp of our most recent animatic with all of the test shots we took from today. Our environment artist rendered out rough shots for some of our scenes, too.
Our compositing artists are going to continue working on slap comping assests into our animatic. Our environment and lighting artists are hard at work, and I'm working on my moonlight beam FX in Houdini.
10/01/25
I began my research on my 'moonlight trail' FX this week. I have a general idea of what I want to capture, but I want a solid foundation of references before progressing on anything. I might draw something up soon too just so I can follow a solidified idea.
Here are a couple of video references I found on YouTube:
BlueZi's 'Magic Trail' is a great reference for layering. The glitter coming out of the center is something I would like to incorporate in my own tool. I'm looking for something a little less 'whispy', but I do enjoy the layers of different smoke sims he used to achieve that look.
The shape of my moonlight trail would be something similar to Tron's Light Cycles but with more elegance, inconsistencies, and layering. I like the idea of starting with a solid, but transparent, shape and building up from it.
The organic flow and the texturing in this video will heavily inspire my own setup. I love the way everything blends together. It would be interesting in playing with different or alternating hues.
Node Connector is another great example of layering. There is obvious distinction between shapes in his particle trail. The curves are smooth and elegant- something I also would like to achieve.
I'm also working on the occasional VisDev for certain portions of the film. Today I wanted to look into the design of our rabbit! The rabbit is made out of particles from the Fairy's interaction with the rotting tree in shot 2B. I would look cool to have animated strings of light inside the body to represent it's origin and how it isn't completely alive just yet. I hope to send this idea to our texture artist later down the line.
09/28/25
I'm happy to announce that our story is locked! Here is the compiled and finalized storyboard. This list was sent to Xristos in preparation of our XR stage shoot dates (January 12th/13th 2026).
On the topic of the XR stage, here is the information regarding all of the equipment accessible:
The film major at SCAD are the only students allows to reserve and use the equipment provided at the film lots. This encouraged our group to look for a DP and 1st AD to help gather the cameras/lighting/etc we will need on set. Our associate producer is on the search for these roles now!
With the story locked now, I'm excited to begin working on my FX tests! Gracie and I, lead FX artists, have split up the shots among the two of us. I will be starting on my 'moonlight trail' tool this week.
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