Machinima Module - Cardboard City

For the module OUDF505 ( Game Art and Machinima) we have been placed in groups of three and have to make a 1 minute long cut scene from a game. I am with Siobhan Parkhouse and Lija Jursins, click on their names to see their blogs. 

As each person in our group has their own strengths in different aspects on Film, Games and Animation I was given the task of directing the cut scene once everything is modelled etc and also as I enjoy modelling environments and using Unity I was given the task of modelling and designing our environment/scene for the cut scene. 

When im thinking of an enviroment in my head I have a way on looking at a surface like a desk and actually visualising it in 3D right there infront of me, this only really started happening towards the end of last year when I watched this video....

It was made by AndrewMFilms on Youtube and basically it is him making a theme park like you can do on the PC game Roller Coaster Tycoon but in actual real life! Its fantastically done and since watching this I visualise stuff in 3D in front of me like a hologram. Its kind of strange but works for me. This is one of the reasons why I have created this cardboard mini set of the set we want to use for our cut scene we are creating. It is also helping me to get the right camera angles and and positions of cameras for when I come to actually place them in Unity. 

The idea of making a mini cardboard cut out of our environment it really handy because the actual environment we will be using will be made from cardboard because the story behind our cut scene is that our character is a P.I undergoing training and this scene is of her starting off the training process in what she and the audience think is a real city when in fact its just made from cardboard. 

Here are the stages of me building it: 

- This is just a quick sketch of the layout I had in my head. After this I then started again with actual measurements on a fresh piece of cardboard and began building....

- Here I am just putting in footpaths to mark out the road and space I have to put the buildings in... 

These are the first sets on flat cardboard buildings I put in, they are around 12cm wide each but no of them go over 30cm in height. Iv trued to keep it all to scale the best I can but it was hard while thinking of out main characters height of 6 foot. -

- I have also just used triangular rest plates coming of the cardboard to hold it up like it would actually be in an actual fake studio set. 

Here are just some more images of the set/environment taking shape with more building etc. - 

- I particularly like shot like this where the camera is at a level where it seems like you are in the actual city model. 

These Images are of the cardboard city finished and with little toy cars and a little toy girl in it just to get scale while doing practice shots and other camera angles, I have also added little street lights to help work out the lighting for when I start modelling the fake city in Unity. 

This ii really going to help with camera angles, movements and positions when filming the cut scene and I can't wait to get started actually modelling the read think in Unity, every time I look at this model new things I could add to it keep popping into my head like steam greats and little news stands and stuff. Should be good!