HARBOR + SCAD Week 2

January 14th - 2025

Meeting with Harbor - Feedback Pitch

In this meeting, we pitched our ideas for the video ad we would make with our teams. After showing our pitch and previs, the mentors gave us the following feedback:

• Get a lighting reference for the Journey of the Ring so everything is cohesive.

• Get more details and references for texturing.

• Work on the camera movements from scene 1 - add something to make the composition or camera movements more interesting.

• Change the opening with the logo because that could be boring for the viewer.

• What are the grey lumps on the end shot?

• Ensure the end frame looks interesting.

• Shot 1 - should be the focus of the commercial.

• Connect the two worlds - Sterile vs naturalistic.

• Ensure the ring is not just sitting on top of the dragon pearl.

• Work on brand research

We decided to do multiple things to achieve these changes and keep progressing with the project. First, we decided to hold a meeting to discuss new camera moves that can enhance the story, especially the first shot. After that meeting, we iterated our new previs and decided to play a little more with the camera, and we all worked on determining the best camera movements to tell our story.

One of our biggest challenges for these first shots is that, as 3D artists, the camera can be placed anywhere in the space. Still, when dealing with camera shooting equipment in live action, some of your filming can be limiting depending on the type of equipment you have available. So, as the compositor, I had to make sure that our shooting plans were archivable with our equipment. We plan on having a motion control that can help us stabilize the camera's movement so we can do dolly or pan movements to achieve the look of high fashion we aim for.

This is why we decided to do a High angle for the first shot, which will show the ring inside of the pearl as a "prize" that the dragon has in his hands, with a little pan that can start the viewer with a look at the product. Then, we worked on getting a context shot that would be a dolly out from the original dragon to incorporate some movement and 3D tracking into the shot. While it was panning, the disintegration would start in the panning and follow a still shot where the disintegration would be finished.

Then we decided in order. To keep everything together, the abstract space would be a dessert, and all of the particles in the advertisement would be sand because that is what the original company Bulgari did; they offered a desert abstract space for their Serpenti Collection. After the meeting, we worked on the previs; my main job was to help with the iterations so we could improve every time. I am also in charge of editing the previs and bringing everything together, and for this pitch I did half of shot one with Zane and Soi. I also worked on brand research and development to enhance the storytelling and camera work.

Update 2

Working on Brand Reasearch and Development

As shown in the presentation above, I worked in the research and development department to enhance our creative ideas for the Bulgari commercial.

Bulgari

Identity for their products/collections comes from:

1. Bulgari and Rome - Monuments and architectural treasures - is an Italian jewelry brand

2. Bulgari Items - such as serpenti, tubogas, bulgari bulgari, fiore, monete, parentesi.

3. Based on extraordinary women - Elizabeth Taylor

4. Heritage Collection

Brand Values

• Over the decades, the Brand has established a worldwide reputation as a magnificent Roman High Jeweler and icon of the Italian art of living thanks to its exquisite craftsmanship, visionary design, and audacious color combinations.

• Curiosity, diversity, and collaboration so that originality and diversity can flourish. We strive to be a disruptor and to be open to disruptive ideas.

• The Jeweler Of Extraordinary Women.

Serpenti Collection

• an emblem of wisdom, vitality and allure in this fascinating Creature.

• Whether realistic or geometrically abstract, the snake winds along BULGARI’S history as an embodiment of its hallmarks: love for color, juxtaposing materials, unmistakable wearability, and state-of-the-art goldsmith techniques.

• For this year they talk lunar new year and the year of the snake.

There is a lot more informartion about the reasearch on blugari but this is a summary of my findings. You could also find more information: https://www.bulgari.com/en-us/ . I also found a new advertisment that was made by The Mill, you can see it in the presentation above.

Update 3

Merging development with our concept for the Advertisment

To merge all of these elements of the advertisement, I brought new ideas that could help us embrace the mentors' and professors' feedback. Some of those ideas involve working with the dessert theme for the abstract space, which I suggested to the team, and they liked it; we also decided to incorporate the identical particles they are using as sand as the particles that transport the ring in the beginning so everything could be more cohesive and the change between the two worlds could be better for the viewer.

Since the first pitch, we have also considered embracing the Lunar New Year, and it was fantastic to discover that this Brand also embraces all of the topics we were developing for this ad. Shout out to Mia for helping select a good dessert HDRI that could favor that abstract scene and a supplementary HDRI for the museum while we could choose our life actions.

Working on an advertisement can be challenging because you need to portray exactly the brand's values and embrace all of the elements that the Brand is trying to show with its product. With that in mind, we decided to cut the leaves shot from the advertisement because it did not match the dessert theme. Also, we believed that the project's scope was too big, and the FX artist said that the weight of doing these effects and the other ones she had could be too much.

Update 4

Iterations.. Iterations.... Iterations...

Iterating is part of our job as visual effects artists, especially as compositors; I understand the necessity of iterating so things can improve. Thanks to the help of the professors, we received feedback on how to improve our camera moves, effects, and previs, so we are ready to shoot as soon as possible. I was again in charge of editing, but Zane asked me if he could experiment with the camera on shot 1, so as a group, we decided he could provide some ideas and camera movements for shots 1, 2, and 3 and work with Soi side by side.

I edited and organized all of the material I was receiving so it was easier for everyone to work on a sequence. I was also focused on bringing continuity to the short films because we had problems with the ring continuity and the naming convention of everything we were doing. We were organized, and nothing got lost. I also created a Collaboration Space where we can all update our latest versions just in case someone needs access to the files and for backup because it is essential to always have a backup.

While the team we were iterating on our previsualization, I helped Yilin embrace her camera movement so she could show her effect better and also that it would look better to transport the viewer into what we wanted to transmit.

I also decided to do two things. I have been researching the cameras available to shoot here in SCAD and analyzing which ones work with what equipment so we can make beautiful pictures with the correct equipment and make the HDRIs that will work for the advertisement correctly. The second task I have been working on is Location Scouting.

Update 5

Location Scouting

Location scouting is challenging, especially when you want to match an ideal everyone on the team has developed. So, I started the journey by visiting two types of locations. We decided that the vibe or place we wanted to portray was a museum or library. At the same time, we wanted a place with many windows so that in the first scene, we could play with lighting and maybe use real-life god rays to enhance the scene.

So, I decided to visit some SCAD buildings with libraries or museums and some buildings with impressive astonishing windows. Here are pictures of the location scouting I took; they are divided per SCAD building, so it is easier to discover what is happening and how that can influence our shooting times and moments.

Arnold Hall

Jen Library

Eckburg hall

These are some of the most interesting locations I found among SCAD buildings that were similar to what we were looking for as a theme. We will discuss which would be better for the story development and decide which is the better alternative for the story to shoot. This was a big responsibility because this live-action shot would set up the tone for the advertisement.