Art Direction - Bonders
“Bonders” is a project about a world set in the future where talented kids get to enroll into an Elite Pilot Academy to learn how to operate the marvels of technology and fly some of the most high-tech machines out there. Spoiler alert, those machines can also transform into giant mech animals. The final product was all fully shot in Unreal Engine with minimal to no compositing work needed. It was a great opportunity to learn about the engine and push its capabilities in creating a real-time rendered animation pilot.
Forbes Article about the show here.
“Bonders” is a project about a world set in the future where talented kids get to enroll into an Elite Pilot Academy to learn how to operate the marvels of technology and fly some of the most high-tech machines out there. Spoiler alert, those machines can also transform into giant mech animals. The final product was all fully shot in Unreal Engine with minimal to no compositing work needed. It was a great opportunity to learn about the engine and push its capabilities in creating a real-time rendered animation pilot.
Art Direction and Colorkeys
Even though the animated pilot was 17 minutes long, investing in a detailed color script early on helped to optimize our budget and reduce the amount of iterations, eventually resulting in a better product. Through this exploration I was able to get the clients excited and show them that I understood and shared their vision for the project, while at the same discovering challenges ahead for myself and the lighting team.
It was important to capture the correct mood while Edison was getting ready as it required to convey the routine while also hinting at the upcoming challenge. Thanks to the futuristic world we worked with, we were able to use the combination of artificial lights and the strong sun beaming through the windows helped achieve the correct balance as the sequence progressed. While I always enjoy creating color scripts, the last sequence inside the hospital was especially a treat to design. The desaturated palette, the sun that blows out the highlights, and the particles hanging still in the air as we await to see the main character's fate were the elements that brought it all together in the final chapter.
As we looked to develop the world, there was a lot of thought put into how unique and how colorful it could be compared to real life, in both mood and local hues. Below, you can see examples of how I generally like to work with other departments through paintovers. Visual people get the most clarity from visual elements and that includes myself. We purposefully created strong light scenarios to create more drama and allow for greater contrast within shots. The bloom effect that I wanted to achieve in camera was challenging to achieve in Unreal Engine but ultimately it was worth it and I am very grateful for my lighting and tech teams that found a way to make it happen.
Characters
When it came to looking for a language of characters to fit into this world we were building, we leaned into a clean, designed silhouette that allowed for every curve or shape change to have a large impact. Softness of the facial features mixed with occasional hard edges of the hair and fabric designs made for a really appealing combination.
And once we got to the suits, we really got to play with hard edges that allowed for the rhythms within the costumes sing. Huge props to Theo Peronnard for being an incredible character artist who added so much of his own aesthetic into these characters and @ctchrysler for the sleek flow and vision.
Creature and Mech
Tilla - the spirit that was bonded with one of the characters and her mech version presented both the opportunity to craft a lovable companion and a menacing mecha beast. In her hologram form, it was key to convey quickly from the very first read that she was a projection. I painted a few variations of what the shaders could do and then collaborated closely with our modeling and surfacing departments to achieve something that could hit all of mentioned targets, while still being doable withing the limitations of Unreal Engine 4 and 5.
To convey the futuristic technology that was present in this world, Tilla mech concepts turned out to be a playground for soft versus hard shape design to give an impression that hard metals and plastics were fused into a flexible exo-skeleton. The show called for her to emote and I got to design a few face expressions that brought most of the read through the eyes. We considered using icons to be projected on her eyes, but that’s something that can be left for the future.
Matte Painting and Bonders’ World
While the animated pilot was only going to hint at this incredible futuristic Academy that the students would be studying at, we wanted to hook the viewer with something that created awe and made them want to learn more about this universe. I had a chance to design and paint the matte paintings below, where I sought out appealing shapes to create an abstract configuration that at the same time would convey the scope and technology advances of the time.
VFX
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
The clients shared this quote with me from science-fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke, which captured the tech and therefore, the VFX of this world. It was a really exciting challenge to come up with something that rode the fine line of man-made and yet just beyond our understanding. Nano particles and quantum technology are words we eagerly threw around in meetings and gone to the drawing board to imagine what they would look like. I had the pleasure of visualizing how the jet could turn into the mech while simultaneously communicating that the pilots on the inside were safe.
Video below shows the mock up I have made for the VFX and the timing so that we could clearly communicate our intentions to the clients as well as to our animating and effects teams. It was really valuable that everyone would get on board before we began executing this idea as we were already a few cycles of iteration into this sequence.