The concept of my masters thesis film is inspired by my passion for mountain exploration. The Expedition is a short animated film that follows an ice climber on his journey as he ascends a mountain. This project was completed in three months.
This page is dedicated to the creation process of the film- from start to finish. Please make sure to watch the film in 1080p below.
Pre-Production
I was inspired to tell this story after summiting Ben Nevis in Scotland. My brother and I have been involved in mountain sports from a young age, so I wanted to create a project that shares my passions and spirit for the mountains. This project proved to be technically challenging, especially with the limited time. Below is the final animatic for the film, as well as my original character designs. This project is created by myself.
The stylistic design climber is inspired by a number of popular characters from animation. Overall, I wanted a friendly looking character who’s awkwardness would feel more likable to the audience. The creation of this project unerwent several hours worth of research in animation analysis, climbing research, and climbing analysis. Another major part of research was with Unreal Engine, since that was the chosen rendering method. The mountain peak that he climbs is inspired by the Matterhorn in Switzerland. I chose to reference this mountain because of its intimidating silhouette and height above the surrounding peaks.
Production Development
Sculpting and Rigging
The character was sculpted in Zbrush, retopoligized in Autodesk Maya, and then textured in Autodesk Mudbox and Photoshop. The rigging process was done in Maya using Advanced Skeleton. This clip showcases the facial rig.
Animation
The animation went through several iterations over the course of four weeks. Throughout this process was many animatic, or story changes. This included different shots being added or removed during the process. The animation itself proved to be challenging, as climbing is very technical.
As part of the research to execute the animation sucessfully, I analyzed several forms of animation and climbing. This clip is the final animation in Maya. The animation was done using a proxy mountain I sculpted in Houdini. The proxy mountain served as a filled for the Unreal Engine environment.
Unreal Engine
Snow and Clouds
Using the proxy mountain I created in Houdini, I began testing methods for the blizzard effect. I created a particle effect that proved to be effective. The effect is then placed in front of the cameras to create the illusion of a full blizzard. The clouds were created using a similar method.
Environment
The landscape is a sample environment from the Unreal Marketplace. I sculpted the mountain to match my concepts in Unreal. The animation and cameras were the intergrated into Unreal.
For the lighting, I referenced images and videos from films taken in the climbing mechas around the world (Himilayas, Alps, etc.) To match the overall solemn mood of the film, I wanted the lighting to be quite cold and blue.
