


THE CRYSTAL IN THE SEA
Studio II Group Project
My roles included: co-director, director of the epilogue, matte painter, art director,
compositor, and web designer
STORY
A magical crystal embodies life and possesses mysterious qualities,
sparking the journey of a curious sea slug.
BEHIND THE PROJECT
We had to pitch and fight for each step of this project since group projects are not commonly done in class. To make it even more complex, we also recruited animators and a PA outside of the class to contribute. To see our process and more on our short, check out the website https://camileighbutler.wixsite.com/studio2
Our short film showcases each of our own specialty skills while we work cohesively as a team. We take advantage of each person’s specialized skill set to create a visually stunning short in a 10-week period of time. As a team of
co-directors, each person is involved in every step of the process beyond their individual skills. By choosing this approach it allows each of us to hone in on our own skills while thinking beyond our own work and work in a pipeline process.
• • • •
The matte painting process, for example, includes several people. To save render time and still create depth, the piece has a total of 9 matte paintings, both 2D and 2.5D, split between myself and another teammate, Jacey. Each painting started out being sculpted in Zbrush and then imported into Keyshot for lighting. The shot is then tested in Nuke by Brad to make sure the camera is where it needs to be and to check any movement.
I am given the still of the geometry and a depth map to reference the depth implied in the shot. The painting is created in Photoshop using custom brushes, reference imagery, and classical painting techniques. The layers are then brought back into Nuke and projected on cards. Some particle effects are then added in Nuke to finish off the look.
CUSTOM PHOTOSHOP BRUSHES




MATTE PAINTINGS
ZBrush/Keyshot Render
Photoshop Painting












MATTE PAINTING BREAKDOWNS
FULL SHOT BREAKDOWN
MATCHING SHOTS & CHALLENGES
One of the challenges that I faced was making sure that my shots matched between camera angles in the same scene. They also needed to show accurate depth in the water, depth of field and level of detail.
Another thing I learned this time around was how to make an underwater scene not look like a day for night and appear underwater.



APPLICATIONS
