Magic Light Experiment

This experiment is based on a scene in my idea for the live brief project. In the speech from my brief Natalie says "I am saying that we have the power to support each other to live well" so I had the idea of a person passing a beam of magic light between three other people that represents the 'power' that people use to support each other.

Research and Reference

My style for the idea is similar to a video game render so I looked in to how spells are presented and used in video games. Skyrim is a RPG that was released in 2011 for the PS3 and XBOX 360 and I studied some of the many materials, lighting and textures they used for the spells from the players inventory.

I wanted a light blue colour for my magic beam but I wanted the reference to focus and represent a light source so I chose the spell 'Candle light' because I thought it best fit my idea visually so I used it as my reference.

Experimenting with Materials in Cinema 4D

I started in Cinema 4D with a floor and wall in the background and light hanging above this is so you can see the scene in the render. I then used a basic sphere so I had something to apply my material to, so I could see what it would look like. I chose a sphere because I needed to see my object as a ball of light to accurately calculate the glow and the distance of the glow.  In the materials manager I focused on the colour, the glow, the reflectance, the luminance and the transparency to get to the material I have below.

Making the animation

I started by adding 4 figures to my scene which will act like place holders for my characters during the experiment. Next I resized the ball of light and its position in front of the main figure and then moved its position slightly throughout the timeline, this will simulate that the magic power is building up before blasting towards the other figures. Next I applied the light material to the main figure to show that he is infected or contains the power. Then I created another three spheres, applied the material to each of them and then reshaped them to be long and thin enough to reach between the main figure and the other figures. Finally on the timeline at the right moment I hide the spheres until they need to appear and then I made them grow very quickly to simulate that the magic light is coming from the main figures to hit the other figures. Then after the figures were hit I also applied the material to them to show that they were now infected or contained the power.