dock yard
We needed to come up with a solution that showed how the river and docks were developed over time, to handle the increase in size and weight of shipping. Our solution was to create a continually evolving OS style map with ships to scale in silhouette as this was the cleanest visual way of showing the issues. The Top Trumps style cards added a layer of detail in an easily understood visual format. As the sequence required a slow build we wanted to add a small amount of movement sympathetic enough not too distract from the main map.
Exhibit Designers : Event Communications
Producer : Graham English and Co.
Additional Credits : Map Construction - Anthony Roberts
Streets
A true choreography challenge. We had to produce a 4 minute loop of silhouetted people, overlaid onto historic images of Belfast while walking along a zig zag path. Straight forward enough, until you have people interacting with each other, which most did. Taking into account we have to include the gaps between the screen so that the pace is consistent. The people were shot in a studio against green screen, keyed, coloured and laid into a 6 screen time line. It took several attempts to work out a formula that worked, but, thankfully we did in the end after several cups of coffee! Below you will see an example of the workings out.
Exhibit Designers : Event Communications
Producer/Director : Graham English and Co.
Additional Credits : Soundtrack - Peter Key
the commissioning
A difficult scene to shoot as it required one continuous 2 minute take. A real challenge for the actors, and a great cheer was heard when they bagged it! For my part, a straight forward key solution, with a little rotoscoping to refine.
Exhibit Designers : Event Communications
Producer/Director : Graham English and Co.
Additional Credit : Soundtrack - Peter Key
The dark ride
The workings out. As a guide, the first thing we need to know was the length required for each media screen/exhibit and what is visible to each individual car. The solution was to move the eleven cars through the dark ride using the set of plans below. With the aid of the "blue" viewing angle, we could work out the maximum length each clip could be before the following car was able to see it. This made sure we were able to prevent spoilers! Additionally it also gave us a length to work to for scenes that looped and a guide for the dark ride programmers to also adhere too.
Exhibit Designers : Event Communications
The turning workshop
An environment (when we shot it) that had a lot less in it (as the reference image we had was from a more recent time period), turned into one of my favourite production pieces. The room model, although daunting, delivered a wonderful composition and married up with the live action perfectly.
Producer/Director : Graham English and Co.
Additional Credits : CG - Richard Booth I CG - Carl Kenyon I Soundtrack - Peter Key
confined spaces
Studio shoot with a physical set. The challenge for me was to make the rivets appear to be red hot, plus the addition of the odd spark/hot flake VFX falling away.
Producer/Director : Graham English and Co.
Additional Credits : Soundtrack - Peter Key
Titanics deck
This shot was added to the sequence after we'd done the studio shoot for the workshop. To solve the population problem, I decided to use the same camera angle as the workshop and bring the standing characters from the background into the foreground of the deck scene. The riveters under the deck are seen on separate monitors which are moved forward of the decks screen. This helps address the scale and perspective issues.
Producer/Director : Graham English and Co.
Additional Credits : CG - Richard Booth I Soundtrack - Peter Key
The night before the launch
Straight forward green screen shoot of men drinking beer, a little bit of multi layering added with varying levels blur and density to give depth to the door frosting.
Producer/Director : Graham English and Co.
Additional Credits : Soundtrack - Peter Key
The Slipway
The objective of the brief for the slipway was to give you an understanding of the scale of RMS Titanic stood on the slipway before her launch. Using the architectural plans of the building, we worked out the exact viewpoint altitude in relation to the ship at a 1:1 scale. The sweet spot for the viewpoint was around the middle of the room given that your eye level was 5 and a half feet (a reasonable average height for adults and older children). The image was then applied to a decal with a pre-specified line screen added to it.
Exhibit Designers : Event Communications
Producer : Graham English and Co.
setting sail
We shot the actors as part of the studio shoot using guide CAD information to understand the projection space. After keying, rotoscoping and grading. We sent the footage to Belfast to be projected on to the physical set. The first class scene needed refining so a test frame was sent to project so I could see the issue via a smart phone. Once the alteration was made, I was able to send a quick test frame back to confirm the solution was correct, then I remastered the shot for upload that evening.
Exhibit Designers : Event Communications
Producer : Graham English and Co
the sinking
In the style of a boys own book illustration. We made a total of 3 x 2.30 minute animations cover the sinking from "all stop!" to "she's gone!". After the animation was approved by experts. A full CG model with line illustration texture maps was rendered to give the desired illustrative look and feel.
Exhibit Designers : Event Communications
Producer : Graham English and Co.
Additional Credit : Texture maps - Anthony Roberts I Soundtrack - Peter Key
seabed
Initially I was supplied a detailed high resolution image of the ship on the seabed. The image required extensive clean up and colour balancing as it had been created using images over many years with several different cameras. Some sections had been omitted and required re-creation. When that stage was complete, I camera mapped the ship on to a 3 dimension geometry to enable parallax between decks and holes through decks. A new seabed was generated in e-on vue and shows the trauma around the bow created by the final impact. To give the sequence more depth I added small floating particles. The whole sequence takes 8 minutes to loop back and forth once and is viewed through a glass floor around 10 feet above a 4 x HD projection area.
Exhibit Designers : Event Communications
Producer : Graham English and Co.
Additional Credits : Photo re-touch - Anthony Roberts