We’ve had two meetings this week and it was decided that our theme should be more realistic, so I’m not going to go with my previous proposal. And after a lot of discussion, we’ve decided to focus on the “visual poetry” of modeling the scenes and animating the renderings.

the process of project in MIRO ↓

Here’s what Poppy（she from the 2D animation） wrote about the poem that we’ll be focusing on to animate the scene.

Our beating heart

Many of us
Do not know
What’s inside our sea
90 per cent still
remains a mystery

For example did you know
That our world is mostly ocean?
And that its water is always moving
Constantly in motion

That its floor has many levels
And that it is many shades of blue
That most of it is dark
And that it holds the most life too

From the largest to the smallest
Creatures you will find
Some of them extraordinary
Some will blow your mind

Like the Manta Ray
The smartest of them all
Or the Giant Squid
Or Octupi that crawl

But it is not only creatures
That are living in the deep
There is so much more to ocean life
That we need to keep

It is like our beating heart
Or the blood beneath our skin
We cannot live without it
And all it holds within

After the third meeting, we will draw our own version of the story. Below are the content of the shots and story sketches I’ve conceptualized.

• A vertical shot showing multiple layers of the ocean from top to bottom, divided into three layers: the sunlit zone, the twilight zone, and the abyssal zone (This part, I’m going to I create part of the 3D model and finally put it into nuke for compositing).
• 01/ Sunlit Zone: The area is alive with vivid turquoise and azure hues. Coral reefs thrive in this area, filled with colorful fish and other marine life.
• 02/ Twilight Zone:The sunlight diminishes and the ocean takes on a deeper blue and indigo color. Unique and often bizarre organisms, and some glowing creatures, illuminate the darkness with a mesmerizing glow.
• 03/ Abyssal Zone:The colors here are muted and life is sparse. However, even in this extreme environment, certain organisms, such as lamellipods and extreme microorganisms, have adapted to the high pressures and cold temperatures of the seabed, and yet here emerges a fantastical underwater city

After a fourth meeting to discuss this, we agreed that the last storyboard would be modified to be more realistic. However, I’m working with another 3D animation student called Negin, and together we’re going to finish the modeling and rendering part of the scene, starting with a basic square in MAYA to show the structure of the scene and the camera movement. Next week I will focus on modeling the coral and cliff part and find some pictures for reference.

This week, the Collaborative Project session allowed us to discuss and share our ideas offline, as well as find partners to work with. I also met two students from 3d animation and one from animation online, they were both excellent and I look forward to working with them. Hopefully I will be able to learn more from them, I think my weakness is that I am very rusty with modeling software as this is my first time using it. So I would really like to improve my software skills to be able to present my work in a more complete way.

This week everyone was tasked with conceptualizing this UNESCO this project short story about protecting the oceans.

1. It is a thousand years later, a lonely ship floating on a polluted and abandoned ocean, surrounded by a scene of apocalyptic wasteland.
2. Its hull is crawling with strange seaweeds, some of which even glow, making it particularly mysterious. The metal surfaces of the ship have been eroded by seawater, but miraculously still stand in the polluted waters.
3. Abandoned skyscrapers still stand hidden in the water, making for a strange underwater landscape. The ecology of the flora and fauna here has mutated and adapted to pollution and climate change. The ocean is floating with garbage generated by human activities, while there are some peculiar land creatures of the appearance (the color can be more bright, peculiar shape)
4. However, the ship was suddenly caught in a whirlpool and it plunged to the bottom of the deep ocean. To their amazement, they found that in this abandoned world, there still existed a huge oceanarium, which had transparent walls of huge fish tanks inhabited by unique species mutated from sea creatures. Giant jellyfish, glowing butterfly fish, sharks with special sensory organs, and much more.