States of Mind - Room media test

Okayyy, so following on from my previous post about using a story as an emotional catalyst to illustrate this "states of mind" idea I had, I've been working in Maya to create a room which showcases three stages of this story over time. The first story I decided to go with was stillbirth, or miscarriage in the late stages of pregnancy. As stated previously, this was inspired by the events in the intro to Pixar's UP.

So I started off with the first version of the room, which was all about excitement, happiness and expectation.

Started out by modelling the basic shape of the room and then modeled the individual crib parts with the idea that they had come out of a flatpack box, sort of like IKEA products. This is to show the progress of the room as later versions would show the crib built and completed. I also included a ladder at the wall as I'm going to have a mural on the wall (again inspired by UP) to suggest their excitement and obvious glee in the expectation of their child as they handpaint the mural to add a personal touch to their child's room.

This image shows the sunlight streaming in through the window to fall on the crib parts, to convey an idea of happiness and lightheartedness.

This image shows the mural in progress, and shows the bump maps applied to the wooden crib and ladder.

Floor is super shiny, and so is the crib! Need to fix this be decreasing the specular rollof and the reflectivity. Added in an obvious light source - a bare bulb, to give the room a bit more light. Kept the bulb bare to again help to illustrate the progress of the room over time, as future iterations will have a lampshade.

Above image shows the room in it's finished "constructing" stage. I added in the flatpack box to suggest the parents were so excited about decorating the room that they have yet to discard the box in their haste to get started. I also added in a dustsheet over the shiny wooden floor as I realised that if people are painting in a room, they'd usually cover up any surfaces that might get paint spilled on them. Some paint tins were added in on top of the ladder. All in all the bright and mellow yellow colour of this room is supposed to convey a relaxing yet happy enironment. I tried to keep the shadows soft and unimposing, and keep the room bright all in attempt to add to this excited, all-round contented feel and create an atmosphere of safety.

Above image shows the second version of the nursery room, the "completed" stage. The ladder, paint tins and dust sheet have been removed and the mural has been completed, as has the crib which now stands basked in the sunlight steaming from the window. An empty rocking chair sits by the finished crib, to enhance the idea of "expectation" and "excitement" as the parents have set up where they will sit in the room already. A storage dresser for baby clothes etc has been included on the right hand side, and a baby changing station on the left. This iteration would have more props such as baby clothes stacked on the dresser or baby changing materials, but I have yet to implement them as I was trying to get something finished for the progress presentations which would clearly illustrate my idea, so I didn't have the time to include all the props and elements which would be in the final iteration. The lampshade casts a really horrible dark shadow on the ceiling and this was not intentional nor do I think it looks good. This is because the volume light I used to light the whole room is situated underneath the lampshade, but moving it cast the lampshade shadow in other ways so I've yet to figure out a good lighting technique to remove this brash dark shadow. Also there needs to be a light bounce reflection on the floor from the sunlight and the actual lamp itself. I want to include a light fog effect for the sunlight to show off some small dust particles in the light stream from the window, not just purely for aesthetic effect as I think would also help to illustrate the importance of the crib and symbolise that this baby is literally the light of the parent's lives. 

This image shows the room in the "after" stages, after the suggested miscarriage or stillbirth. The room is drastically darker to immediately create a contrast and imply that a horrible event has taken place. However, the sunlight visible outside and the resulting light on the crib, I felt, was a bit jarring to the image and took most of the effect away.

So I decided, it would work better at night, rather than putting curtains up. It also suggests a darkness of the mind and mental state. The moonlight falls on the crib in an attempt at poignant lighting. All the shadows in the room are very dark, and looming and almost suffocating to create an idea of grief and suffering. There are also cardboard boxes on the floor and dresser with "Charity" written across them, to imply that the baby clothes have been packed away to donate as they are no longer needed. This iteration is really dark and all 3 stages need more work done to them, but I just want to have something ready to show at the presentation on Thursday, to give a general idea of what my project is, and how it's progressed.