Landscapes

This is a test film I made a few years ago, using one of my favourite software apps ever – Terragen.  Music by Ligeti.

It’s just a study of natural landscapes and rock formations, with care for composition, lighting and camera, inspired by Kubrick and Koyaanisqatsi cinematography.

Terragen uses height-field maps (flat grayscale images) to create its land forms, but another wonderful piece of shareware software called World Machine makes the creation of heightfield maps an artistic, mathematical and geological pre-production stage before rendering these in environments through Terragen.

I’m always amazed at how shareware software like those above and the enthusiasm of the user communities provide the digital art world with superior work compared to other big commercial terrain generating applications (without naming names).

The Red Rose of Newcastle

This was a short film I was commissioned for earlier in the year.  It’s part of a regional BBC series called Days Like This – animations depicting extraordinary stories of every day people – using their actual recorded monologue. 

My episode, The Red Rose of Newcastle, is about an elderly man who witnesses an amazing act of remembrance on a beach in Newcastle,  County Down, Northern Ireland – on a cold, windy day in January.

I created an ‘oil painted’ visual style and technique in After Effects, using everything from 3d animation, motion graphics, stock footage, photographs and illustrations – filtered through combinations of plugins to create a painted, hand crafted look.  I also done the sound design and music.

The series begins broadcasting tonight on BBC One NI at 10.35pm, and will run through until Christmas.  My episode is on this Thursday (4th December) at 10.30pm.