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Fur & skin

D'Atelier has been a fan of David Attenborough and his documentaries, so this project was an admiration letter to the passionate work that made millions love Attenborough. This film is an evocation of the deep connection we ordinary individuals feel for nature, yet and ironically, we've failed to protect it. D'Atelier intended to develop this film into a dramatic piece of art that married the vibrant beauty of the wild to intensely intimate visuals. This is a story of a man that dedicated his life to animals.

D'Atelier has always been drawn to the way the light moves in cinema, to shadows, to sculpting shapes in interesting ways⏤during the making of this video, each scene of the narrative began to take on its own aesthetic, feel, and presence⏤Drawing inspiration from Kubrik who was incredibly skilled at manipulating small spaces through the lens, d'Atelier sought to create exposure of lights that would contrast with the boldness of the lion’s thick dark mane and the shiny silver tones of his fur. Rays of volumetric light were used to build volume and pair the drama of the animal's silhouettes. The way the shadows obscure parts of its body while revealing other parts, the wash of light over the face make some details more apparent. The white teeth, the rough skin, and fur against a curated background were all formidable ways to elevate the narrative.

The video introduces you to a seducing animal, awakening from a deep slumber in a stream of haze. Like a king that might emerge from his throne, the one made of tweed he lies on. He is again vividly portrayed in as majestic as the fantastic jungle beast that lives in our fables. His thick jaw, sharp teeth seem to sparkle in the blue of the moonlight. His fur shines bright, satiny. We see him walking through the room calmy⏤this evokes courage. His presence is bewitching. His majestic form evokes awe, but he seems distant, dormant, even vulnerable. What he used to be before he appeared in this strange room, he doesn’t know. Now, the metamorphosis is complete. There are so many layers to his spirit. He was the king, he is the king, he was an animal, he is human, he is us.

Striking a balance between modern camera language and digital photography helped captured the style of this film. In d’Atelier’s aesthetic language understanding the physicality is what brings authenticity to the shots. Although traditional camera operations were favored for much of the film, d’Atelier was willing to redraw the board and expand on those styles once he began producing the film by having a broader range of operation techniques.

Lighting

Good lighting communicates intent. It denotes mood and guides the viewer through the scene, signifying focus and story through pattern, color, and directionality. lights of varying sizes and profiles, mimicking a fresnel lens, this helped create interesting variations of shadows in the scene.

Workflow

Because of a self-adopted compressed production schedule, streamlining old workflows and adopting new ones was essential to curve the new types of challenges that arose throughout this production. D’Atelier had to constantly evaluate new approaches to his traditional workflow⏤This paid off. The rendering time was faster and the photography looked finer.

Each scene in this film required a custom lighting setup that supported the narrative. From a visual standpoint, this narrative is based on a series of signature images that d’Atelier had compiled into a huge Pinterest board for reference and inspiration. He then took that reference board and built a very detailed storyboard and shotlist from it, and then most of the scenes were assembled in 3ds Max. After the rigging and lighting, a CG location and props were added to the finished scene. D’Atelier also relied on out-of-the-box V-Ray volumetric tools, which was helpful when it came to recreating the atmospheric effect of the sunlight rays piercing through the windows. SD did the hair simulation in 3ds Max V-Ray. D’Atelier’s compositing pipeline also benefited from the renderer flexibility and fine-tuning controllers.

Director Steve d’Atelier created this short film, as an homage to David Attenborough. The short starts out with the lion looking for shelter inside a modern home. It walks into the kitchen and enters the bedroom. It’s an unfamiliar setting for a wild animal, but the jungle king feels right at home. The beast charismatic roaring takes over, as it stared vividly into the camera, showing off its perfectly sculpted teeth and its astounding ability to shoot down unwanted attention with simply a stare. SD created the short to feel surreal; also important was the mood which is tensing up with each frame.