LIGHTING | Visual Effects
I worked as a lighting TD (technical director) at Rhythm and Hues Studios. I supported lighting teams with creating character lightings and technical troubleshooting, and worked with the compositing team for the render passes using in-house proprietary lighting tools for feature films: Hop, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Life of Pi.
Hop
I designed character lightings for the main characters, EB (Easter Bunny), EB's father and Carlos, as well as crowd chicks in CG factory scenes. I followed instructions from the team leads and supervisors for solving issues and achieving the looks on the shots.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
I established the looks and lighting atmospheres for various sequences of scenes, such as the cruise ship, volcano eruption and concert sequences. The cruise ship sequence is very bright and sunny. The chipmunks are dancing and hopping around outdoor, and having lots of fun. The volcano eruption sequence on the other hand is all intense and dim, with the sunset tone. Then the ending concert scenes are indoor with different stage lightings and pyrotechnics. The atmosphere is exciting and uplifting.
With the teamwork of lighting technical directors and compositing technical directors, and the help of production managers, we worked under pressure to meet production deadlines. We are near the end of the production pipeline, so it's crucial for us to finish scenes in time.
Life of Pi
I was responsible for creating character lighting for the CG main character, the tiger (Richard Parker) in different scenes, like on the lifeboat in daytime and nighttime, in the forest, and under the outrageous storm sliding inside the lifeboat. I also helped to set up lighting for crowd meerkats scenes.
The previous two comedy films have digital characters that are more cartoon-like, and the storylines are more joyful for families to watch, so we can be very creative in lighting the scenes. Life of Pi on the other hand, was adapted from Yann Martel's novel, which is a profound philosophical tale. Richard Parker has to be realistic enough for the audience to believe it's a real tiger. The fine-tuning of the specs, the shadows and so forth to perfectly merge the CG character and the background, then became our main goal.
