Hey guys

So, after many (many....) tests and tryouts with Iclone, i am now shooting my first complete movie!!

I am currently in the phase where i create the sets and the scenes, and something troubles me very much, so i would love some advice.

This is a set i created, it's an office of a very baaaad doctor. (oh, and it's supposed to be dark)



The problem: It looks soooo fake...

The set, the walls, the props etc, they all look like The Sims 2 graphics - wise, and from what i have seen from the community, iclone can produce greater and more realistic looks than this.

So, i was wondering if you would all be so kind as to help me with this. What could i do (graphics-wise) to make this scene more realistic / alive / not looking like a game from the 90s?

Any tips that you guys use and can share will help me greatly!!

Thank you all!!

Update: I want to upload the .project file, but i can't seem to be able to do it. I chose to upload a file and ziped the file, but the site tells me that i will exceed the maximum space available... Any thoughts?


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Phoenix  

Think about where the light comes from. There is not much directional light at night. Are there any lights in the building? Are there windows and street lights? Moon light? Flashlight?

Also try some ambient occlusion.

It looks bad because it is just to even.

Can you upload the pictured scene (minus animations) so that people can have a go and post their results + what they did exactly..?  

a few things I've considered on the same topic - 

1 - above all,  it is fake,  accept that and you will find it easier to focus on delivering a great story, the most important part of your movie.
2 - black and white tends to look more real
3 - the more you try to make it look real,  the more the slightest thing that's not real stands out
4 - shaking the camera helps a ton - so does adding a ton of edits and effects,  think sleight of hand
5 - don't try to be real,  make it as surreal as possible so the focus remains on your "story" see #1
6 - consistency is key,  if you draw a stick man,  and have a great story behind it,  stickman will become a phenomena because of the story,  your story won't become legendary because of stickman. -  so if you go lo-fi -  stay low fi  - any deviation from that low fidelity look will be a distraction,  and that's far worse than looking fake.
7 - have fun,  people can sense stress -  even if your film came out flawless. =  people also sense you having fun,  even if your visuals look like crap. ( ie - minecraft machinima movies -  which got picked up by warner brothers )

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@Rampa

What do u mean "even?" I didn't quite get that. As for the lights, my GPU is a GTX 275 (lol), so i can afford only 4 lights.... I will try the ambiend occlusion though, thank u!!

@pmaina

Good idea!! I would like to update the first post with the project!! The problem is that i don't know how to do it..

@planetstardragon

2) black and white? u mean to make a black and white movie?
4) shaking camera: I 've thought about it too, but i don't know how to do it. When i try it manually, the results are as if the camera man has Parkinson's....

I understand all the other advice, and thank you guys for the help!!


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Phoenix  

Yes, what planetstardragon said.

Also, the room looks bare to me, especially on the left side.
You could add a diploma or two on the wall or some more art work or how about a ficus tree or some office plant on the left.
The wall textures are too rough in my opinion. How about a filing cabinet, trash receptacle, sofa,piles of documents (i.e. clutter).
Think of what would be in a normal office.

Jeff



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Great Jeff, noted all the things u said!!!

(On the left side there is a bookcase, a file cabinet and a balcony door, they just aren't visible from this picture.)

Thanks


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Phoenix  

By "even" I meant there is no variation of lighting across the scene. 

I'm going to guess that there is light coming in from the balcony window that is out of site. So try using a spotlight shining through the balcony glass door. If there are no lights on in the building, then that would probably be the only light entering the room.

Observe the lighting where you live, and you'll see that the light is very different in different parts of the room. So try shining a spotlight from scene left.

Lamias , first if there's no lights camera can't see anything ;-) Second to have realistic look is just about lights/shadows and light behavior on object. You don't have choice to put somes lights on your scene (point light, spot light) on very specific place for object to be more "relief". Or one light from the window but the trick is to have good specular object .
This from a UDK night scene:


and the lights plan:



and in a real set you must put lights:



Hope this helps

Yes,  I made a playlist of some of my favorite youtube film making tutorials that I got some of my ideas from,  ( i posted below )  the video "understanding color" explains why black and white -  basically part of realism is the way the lights reflect on your scene and colors,  iclone doesn't have realistic lighting,  so trying to look realistic is only going to backfire - it will look like a glorified game at best  - if you understand the color theory idea and shake the camera so people don't notice slipping feet,  it removes the focus on things that look fake and brings in the realism by human nature - ie -  realistically speaking we move our heads, which is like a natural shaky cam ( unless you are staring at a wall )   and when something exciting is happening,  you constantly turn your head while running -  which translates to edits zooms and camera movement.   Forcing someone to stare at an unedited scene that is perfectly still ( not shaking )  is like putting someone to sit and stare at a wall without looking anywhere else ...it's stressful.   -  you have to consider the psychology behind good cinematography  -  which emulates you being right there where the action is. -  that's why some scenes edit to just a hand holding a gun....that's something you would do naturally if you were in a dangerous environment. you don't want to show people a movie,  you want them to feel like the camera is their actual eyes inside the movie.  This has nothing to do with realistic lighting, as it has to do with "if i were a cartoon,  this is how i'd react if i were in that movie watching what's happening" - the realism is the experience more than the just the visuals. if there were a huge fire that was about to explode,  you wouldn't sit there stiff looking at it.  Don't just film the movie,  be the movie.

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