La Rosa y La Princesa (The Rose and The Princess) - VFX - Short Film by Juan Pablo Rainieri - Motion Graphics - Matte Painting - 3D

First, we shoot the actress interpretation in studio, over a chroma blue background, following a technical script which details the future movie.

Shooting takes and subsequent composition

Once ended the aesthetic research and onwards a specified animatic, we developed the final matte paintings of the shoot take and start the composition stage, where we chose a style close to the baroque paint, the sinister and the theatrical staging.

One of the most important items of the composition work is based on the skies and the lighting, so it was the idea that they tried to accompany the dramatic movement of the film and that they finish reveling the organic character of the world where the characters live.
For the lightning, we started from the premise that day has to go on correlatively.

Another challenge was the actress integration to this fantasy world.
It was given a graphic treatment, similar at the one that take place on the integration of toon characters.

Character integration

THE ROSE

The rose's model come up from a concept.
The idea was that it should be a photo-realistic rose but with well known female characteristics. Even the stem(body) has to maintain appropriate proportions to a real flower it also has to have the characteristics curves of the female body. The leafs that became the hands in the character's concept , were replaced by little buds.
The lack of visible face of the character difficulted determinate the character's body's orientation, therefore we add a kind of "tale" form by 3 leafs. This make it easier the character's position reading at first sight, help by the silhouette that shows little breast at the front.

For the material textured were used roses pictures, so much for the petals as for the the steam, leafs and thorns.
The idea about the Rose acting took place on humans movement, slowly, as it was moving under water and with female grace. An actress was filmed as reference, to make easier the acting direction.
Once it was filmed and edited the actress acting at the off-line, took place a first instance to simulate those movements with the 3d character.

Then has to adapt this animation, to make that the rose acting has the same intention than the actress, remarking the movements, making rhythms changes, using own elements of the rose such as the opening petals movement, the tale's leafs movements, the flowers (head) inclination replacing the lasting elements such as the facial expression.


The rose was illuminated at every take once the regarding matte painting was finished, so make the best integration with the environment as possible, always trying to keep the realism at the render but without getting out of the aesthetics of the short film.

It was not necessary use the bounce of real lights, because of it geometry, it didn't make any estimable visual improve.
The bounced Light was simulated through assistants lights and nodes of ambiental occlusions in the materials.