Environment:
The final stage of the pipeline was to develop an environment in Unreal Engine 5 (UE5), into which the posed creature would be placed that would evoke emotion, and demonstrate storytelling in a single shot.
Having decided to mainly base my creature design around a dog, the obvious environment was a domestic setting. However, to convey that mental illness invades even our most personal spaces and when troubled, the place we feel we can escape to, I chose a bedroom as the domain for my creature, and as the initial written accounts which inspired my design were relayed by teenagers, to make this room a representation of this age group.
However, while I’d hoped to use the skills learned from lectures and workshop exercises to create my own custom environment, as the free Quixel Megascan and Fab assets available didn’t contain the individual items needed to do this, I’d no option but to modify another creator’s resource to produce the backdrop I’d visualised, and to strengthen the storytelling, chose a Gamer’s room that also reflected this young demographic.
Original Asset Pack (SyllasVieira, Fab.com)
Following tutor feedback, and thinking back to an article which described chronic anxiety as ‘messy and unpredictable’ (Barry, 2019), wanting the environment to be a metaphor for mental illness in itself, items have been strewn around the room to produce this effect, and to relay the impact of depression, the computer monitors and ring light have been turned off, and the headphones placed on the top shelf to show how the young person no longer does the things they love, and have isolated themselves from the rest of the world.
Framed posters are also placed at skewed angles on the wall containing messaging including ‘Daddy is my Super Hero’ to reinforce the age of the person involved, and ‘Let’s Play;’ a twisted play on words to suggest that this nightmarish dog-like creature wants to play with you too, but ironically that this encounter will be far from fun.
The neon lighting has also been changed from blue to green; a colour associated with the supernatural, inhuman and monsters in legend, folklore, theatre and early colour film (Wikipedia, 2019), and which was often seen in monster movie promotional material.
Finally, the creature’s detached jawbone, used here to emphasise the difficulty faced by many of those suffering from poor mental health in talking about their illness or seeking help, has been placed prominently in the foreground of the scene, and both the UE5 exposure and temperature settings amended to create a dark, cold and sombre mood.
Modified Environment
Further Adaptations/Post-Process Effects:
While the creature had already been posed in Blender, and would simply be imported into the UE5 environment, to ensure the final render was impactful, emotive and memorable, other elements such as framing, perspective, fill lighting, and camera angle were important considerations if the required atmosphere and mood was to be achieved.
As above all, the creature needed to be the focal point of the image, it was positioned front and centre within the room, and to increase its nightmarish qualities, angled to not only show the ‘conflict’ pose, but appear to make direct eye contact with the viewer, and the perspective seem as though it could be poised to come out of the screen.
Next, to relay the intensity of anxiety, bright fill lighting was placed in close proximity to the tail appendage, and also, as its message is key to the design and backstory, to illuminate the jawbone and ensure it was clearly distinguishable from the other object lying around the floor. A low intensity green, neon light was also positioned just off camera, so that it spilled onto the skull to replicate the a faint, sickly, and unnatural glow seen in the imagery below.
A low, ‘Dutch’ (canted) camera angle, was then employed to create a disconcerting sense of unease, and to make the creature appear larger, more powerful, and in control.
Finally, as the degree of light and darkness in a scene is equally as important as colour, wanting to increase the fear of the unknown, and ensure that the creature was the one thing the eye was instinctively drawn to, I took the render of this scene into Adobe Photoshop to further adjust the lighting.
However, as the 2024 version no longer has access to lighting effects, I had to find an alternative solution, and in the end created a low level spotlight which produced a subtle, but noticeable change, by following the tutorial below, which achieves the desired effect by adding an exposure layer and using a gradient mask.
My final outcome is below, which, if it personifies the feelings experienced by even one person suffering from mental illness, or starts just one conversation, will be well worth the effort.
References:
Barry, S. (2019). 4 Illustrations of What Anxiety Looks Like. [online] Healthline. [Accessed: 26 November 2024].
Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/what-anxiety-looks-like
Wikipedia (2019). Green. [online] Wikipedia. [Accessed: 26 November 2024].
Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green
YouTube (2023). New Lighting Feature in Photoshop 2024: Easy Photoshop. [online.]. [Accessed 14 December 2024].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE9E-buKGq8
Credits:
Gamer Room – SyllasVieira (September 30, 2024)
https://www.fab.com/listings/8bcb7ab6-fbf7-40f8-982d-7d84105adf85
Animal Jaw Bone – Quixel (October 11, 2024)
https://www.fab.com/listings/6342cc06-f514-4a1c-bd7f-98eb40d23464
Bath Towel on Ground – Marc Sawyer (October 7, 2024)
https://www.fab.com/listings/808082ce-2194-4342-af31-8d1387c52281
Towels Pile Pastel – Axonite (October 23, 2024)
https://www.fab.com/listings/ee4b9a03-1d19-41f2-acff-2b8bc656e510
Pile of Clothes – SKRUNDA (October 16, 2024)
https://www.fab.com/listings/15902ef7-0f31-4e7a-adc6-3157fddddc71
Trash – Florian – Schmoldt (October 3, 2024)
https://www.fab.com/listings/987a2c73-7dcf-40e5-8975-2592fb85e30d
Picture Frame Collection – Roy Sousa (October 2, 2024)
https://www.fab.com/listings/697a4f42-9402-4a1c-977f-776fab583032