Group size: 4
Game engine: Unreal Engine 4
Beyond Curiosity is a short cinematic I had created with my team back in 2022. The goal of the project was to create a cutscene depicting the inciting incident before the beginning of a horror game.
The cinematic features the main character, David, exploring an abandoned mansion deep in the woods which was rumored to contain valuable treasure. Little did David know that the mansion harbors a deeper secret, and he soon regrets his decision to had ever stepped into this forbidden place.
My roles: Set & Lighting Designer, Camera & Quality Control
My main role in the project was to create the set of which the cinematic would take place in. This involved the design and building of the exterior and interior scenes. By using UE4, I was able to create 4 separate levels for the cinematic shots to be taken, and having the levels segregated meant that post processing effects can be isolated to each scene to create the most suitable environment possible. I had used UE4's landscaping system to create the landscape and vegetation for the outdoor scene, placed every object and furniture manually with the storyboard in mind, as well as creating and adjusting the lighting for intended tone.
With the set in place, I proceeded to support my team by making adjustments to the shots they have taken. I had adjusted camera angles, lighting, visual effects to fit the shot better, and artificial lighting attached to the camera was used frequently to make the shots appear more visible and consistent on screen.
Key Takeaways
Being a cinematic cutscene meant to take place in the game space for the prologue of a game, I was able to incorporate level design principles into the scenes, and I had learnt that level design and set dressing have overlapping aspects that I can learn from, such as the use of different lighting to represent danger or as a form of player guidance. I had also learnt that depending on ambient lighting of the scene alone is usually insufficient, and artificial lighting can be used to make the characters stand out and still appear natural in cinematics.
