Short Film: The Day I Became A Bird

'A boy falls in love for the first time and chooses to spread his wings no matter what the cost. A heartwarming story by Oscar-winning director Andrew Ruhemann based on the celebrated book of the same name by Ingrid Chabbert and Guridi.'

I was the Lead Unreal Artist on 'The Day I Became A Bird'.
I defined the lighting for the film, lit most of the shots and created all of the shaders.
The film was created with Unreal Engine 4.

Our director wanted to achieve a blend between 3D and 2D that kept the filmic qualities of 3D, while blending with a 2D watercolour aesthetic. I created outline shaders that reacted to light as well as shaders to blur and distort the background to give the impression of colours blending and running into each other. I also positioned drawn elements on card to achieve nice compositions and build the environments.

This was a dream project with a fantastic team and the film went on to be shown at several animation festivals, including Annecy.