Hey guys!
Thanks so much for all the replies. Ive been hard at work on the previz, which I’m uploading now. We are closing offices on the 19’th, but we should be pretty quiet from the 12th onwards, so Ill be able to get quite a bit done.
I’m uploading a video of the previz, as well as a contact sheet of the frames for the peeps that perhaps don’t have bandwidth to spare.
I haven’t had much time lately to do alot of work, but after watching WALL-E I was inspired to really try and take my previz up a level.
Here is Act 1’s previz…Act 2 and 3 will follow as soon as inspiration for exciting camera angles and such hits me! And work lets up a little… 
Sound is all temporary, and music is ripped from Bioshock (just to have something there linking things together!)
That was great. It was really easy to get caught up in the mood.
Now you got me beggin’ for acts 2 and 3 hehe.
-Joel
Hey man, really nice stuff!
Things I liked:
-great atmosphere, wonderful sound design
-great sense of scale, loved some of the establishing shots of the environment (even though I realize it’s all temp)
-nice cinematography
Things I thought would be nice to see:
-bit more of charon in the beginning…maybe him picking up the soul-cages and putting them on the ship or something
-bit more light in some of the areas. I like the atmosphere, but sometimes it was just difficult to make out what was going on…maybe if sharon has a torch or there is a brighter spotlight coming from somewhere to illuminate the areas around him, that would help to distinguish the foreground from the background a bit better…almost as if he’s near a small beacon of light in an infinite expanse of darkness filled with monstrous machines churning in the shadows.
Just minor critiques though…you’re off to a great start!
RageOfAges,
You and me both man!
Hey Tyson,
Thanks for the crit. Exactly the type of feedback I was hoping for!
I agree with seeing more of him in the begining. I even thought of extending the first few shots where you see his collection of items from people…the reason that was in there was to illustrate how lonely he is-and how he longs for contact from ‘humans’…I dont think that was really clear tho, so perhaps needs more explaining.
I love the name Soul Cages btw. Im going to add in a shot with him taking them to the ferry. I also thought of changing all the torches to electric light bulbs (or some variation of electric light bulbs…) to get a little more steam-punk tech into it. But also to have him walking down a path to the ferry dock, and as he passes the lights with the soul cages, they begin to get brighter as he passes them…almost as if the souls are feeding energy into the lights.
This could also contract nicely with having the gates of hades lit by traditional torches.
I agree that there are some places where it is a little to dark. I think I just got to excited with my contrast and colour correction. I think having him hold a lamp will definitely fix it up, as well as casting some very cool shadows across his face. Also I want to increase the ambient light about 15% or so in general. Ive been watching The Lord Of The Rings, and noticed that even when they are supposed to be in complete darkness (the halls of the dead, or in Moria), you can still pick out the details around them. I definitely want to try and get that feel.
To get my mind out of the previz, Ive moved onto modeling and texturing the props…
Also nailing down the look of the technology. I want it to look old, yet looked after. I mean, if your only purpose in life was to operate a ferry, no matter how old it was, you would make sure that its in 100% operating order.
Here is the final iteration of the Ferry. Ive changed it since doing the pre-viz, to fit with some better camera angles and such.
The Beauty render was done just to get an idea about how much will be seen in the final shots…quite a bit of it will be in darkness, but I definitely wanna be able to see some detail.
Thanks for the comments guys. It keeps me going! 
huhu, I love this kind of design… of course… well made…
I will keep my eyes here for sure…
best continuation man 
Love the work on the boat. The covering into darkness is a logical step though there is little light at sea. But maybe it could be a good suggestion to investigate some interesting back lighting to get some accents here and there. Backlights and highlights for the water will be an interesting addition as well.
very curious to see the next step.
cheers
Im no animator or rigger, so my rig is pretty basic, but should allow me to get the moves I need outa my main dude.
His ‘skirt’ will be run through a cloth sim, but its got some basic skinning applied to it for now.
Ive finished the Previs, complete with the suggested changes, but I cant convert the FLV here at work…Ill come in sometime during the week and upload it (I don’t have an internet connection at home…sometimes a blessing in disguise!)
Tomorrow I’m going to be doing all of my miniature shooting, which is pretty cool. Will definitely upload the progress shots there.
I definitely agree about the rim lighting. In my story, he is in a large cave system, so Im planning on having some area’s where light is streaming through cracks from the outside world, aswell as some sections perhaps having some sort of bio-luminescent qualities…almost like bacteria in the water…
There are so many chances for cool lighting! Thanks for the input mate. When I get some more ‘final’ looking shots up here, I would really appreciate your input again.
And to the other guys who commented, you keep me going on this stuff. Thanks!
Want to show you guys that ive been hard at work here!!!
Heres a series of images from the most completed shots. Ill post some video as soon as Im back in our main studio for the new year…
Happy new year guys!!
Everything look great.