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John Wick
Lighting Exercises
Church Interrogation Scene
Lamppost Establishing Shot
Church Interrogation Scene
In this shot, the Russian gang leader confronts John Wick about his son's murder. The Russian wants to say his peace before he executes John Wick. Even though John is constrained, three bodyguards are present to insure the boss's safety. All seems lost for John but his posture - one side silouhuetted and the other blasted with a spot light - implies he is not done.
Shot Process
Build Set and Add Characters
Anamorphic Camera and Lens Flare
Layout Set
Add Lights
Post Process for Color Timing
Build Set and Add Characters
3D assets were collected from the Unreal Marketplace and Quixel Bridge. The basic set was then pieced together to match the reference. Final placement of each object took place once the correct camera lens was established. The characters and their poses were downloaded from Mixamo.com. The characters were positioned in the scene and used to position the camera.
Mixamo Characters and poses
Set pieces: Initial Construction
Anamorphic Camera and Lens Flare
The anamorphic lens flare is such a big part of this scene, it's presence was a must. Anamorphic camera lenses have very distinct features: the lens itself squishes the image which is then stretched in post processing. Unreal Engine added new anamorphic camera features in version 5.1. The process is two-fold: one for the camera and one for the lens flare.
Unreal Engine lets you set a squeeze factor on your camera lens to approximate a real life anamorphic lens.
Anamorphic Lens Flare
In Unreal Engine, anamorphic lens flares are created in the Post Process Volume under Bloom. Here, you set the bloom method to convolution then add a texture to the Convolution Kernel.
Post Process Coloring Timing
Before and After Color Timing
Color timing also occurs in the Post Process Volume, allowing you to create extreme moods to emphasize an impactful moment in your story.
Lamppost Establishing Shot
Here, John parks his car and approaches the infamous Continental Hotel, a safe haven for assassins. This establishing shot announces that we are entering a new place with new characters to help John on his journey.
Reference photo from the movie
Unreal Image Before Color Timing
Unreal image: layout, minor post processing, HDRimage sky.
Unreal Image After Color Timing
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