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Red Hat Ringo
Red Hat Ringo is an animated short film by The University of Texas at Dallas's Animation Lab: over the course of a year, I worked as a Look Development Lead and as a Lighting/Compositing Lead for this project.
Look Development
Part of my time working on Red Hat Ringo was spent as a Look Development Lead. This job included early surfacing and lighting tests, stress testing Unreal Engine 5 and finding processes for us to streamline our processes, and creating new storyboards and color keys to help sell the producers on the visual direction we had in mind for the film. This was done in tandem with other departments, and after a few months, we had finally settled on a style that the directors and producers wanted to run with.
Creative Direction
Part of my responsibilities I took on as Look Development Lead was helping to guide creative direction on shot compositions across the film. In the first clip, I proposed a transition between one of our 3D sequences and a 2D sequence that follows where our mysterious anti-hero blows up a mine. We were looking for creative ways to make the sequences transition to maintain momentum instead of hard cuts to the 2D animated "tall-tale" sequences. Similarly, I created an animatic (second clip) to help provide reference for how we could shoot the ending of the script, since the directors did not like the original boards for the final sequence.
Lighting and Compositing Work
As the Lighting and Compositing Lead, I had many responsibilities. This short was the first time Animation Lab had used Unreal Engine 5, and as one of the leads, it was my duty to instruct my team on best practices, create a workflow that allowed for easy iteration, and troubleshoot problems that arose from our new pipeline, all while working on shots of my own. In addition to working my own shots, I was also keeping detailed documentation for the Technical Directors to find bugs in the process and pass on any knowledge we gained to the next team that used Unreal Engine for their animated shorts.
The bandits enter the bank and make their demands. But the old bank teller resists, informing that their heist will incur a heavy penalty.
After calling the stories of Red Hat Ringo into question, the lights go out in the bank.
The bandits ride off empty handed, racing away from a mysterious figure who stands at the horizon.
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