Technique
CLIENT
DIRECTOR
pRODUCTION COMPANY
YEAR
To produce graphical elements and animated visual effects to enhance a documentary celebrating 100 years since the discovery of Tutankhamun.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Tutankhamun’s discovery, Alixe was commissioned by an old client of hers to integrate old but modern elements throughout a celebratory film to underline the historical/ancient theme.
As well as the budget presenting as a challenge, we also had some difficulties when working on some of the recreations depicting ancient Egypt, as we were not provided with any guidance or information of what was required and felt that we needed to be in keeping with the period.
To guarantee historical accuracy, we spent time researching the ancient history of Tutankhamun, ancient Egypt, visual depictions of the fashion and lifestyle, hieroglyphics, and their significance, making sure we duplicated them accurately. We used images to help recreate some of the buildings as 3D models in Cinema 4D. To ensure that we kept within the tight budget we simplified the animation process and used simple styles and techniques.
We researched the style and documentation, ensuring that we had guidelines to design historically factual content. We gathered a team of animators and illustrators who collaborated on the different steps to create assets, apply effects, animate and complete with post-production.
We had to construct and animate buildings mixed with live action.
Drawings and visual effects were intertwined and added to the actual footage of the documentary.
An external animator was commissioned to do the compositing and animation on the shots with the parallax technique and the shots with the illustration and recreation of the hieroglyphics.
2D and 3D Motion Graphics
Some of the illustrations for the episode were handmade in Illustrator, recreated, or created from scratch using fragments of ancient murals and found materials. (please see below the results, the animation was made by an external animator)
We had photos, rough cuts, texts, and illustrations to guide us in the visualisation of ancient Egypt and as a blueprint for the full post-production.
The buildings were created in Cinema 4D and After Effects. We used Illustrator and Photoshop to create the illustrations and transferred them to After Effects for animation.
Software: Cinema 4D, After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop.
Hieroglyphics
Typography
The client was extremely satisfied with the results, and pleasantly surprised with how we had accurately depicted the time of Tutankhamun, the Egyptians, recreations of the buildings of that period, as well as how many assets they received considering their low budget.
Design, 2D & 3D Motion Graphics: Alixe Lobato & Raul Ibarra
Assistant producer: Josephine von Bülow
Illustrations: Malena Lobato & Josephine von Bülow
2D and 3D Animation and Compositing: Federico Parodi
Mike Ibeji (Director: King Tut – A Century of Secrets)
“I first met Alixe when she was part of a team of GFX artists who parachuted in to help turn around a project that had gone horribly wrong. She immediately got what was needed and worked hard to help us rescue the project with the trademark flair and good humour that I have since come to rely on. Since then, she has teamed up with other colleagues to form a GFX studio that can tackle most of your needs – from bespoke photo-real CGI of palaces growing out of the sand to simple line illustrations that make complex concepts crystal clear. Alixe’s maps and lower thirds contrive to take something very ordinary and turn it into a work of art. All with a wry smile and a can-do attitude that makes her team a pleasure to work with. “
