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After Realizing That People Don’t Understand What His Job Means, Lighting Artist Shows Examples Of His Work
Sometimes it’s hard to understand how much work goes into something, especially in the creative fields that require a variety of skills. Let’s be honest, the majority of us have no idea what it takes to create some of our favorite things, such as animated movies. Luckily, the masters of the craft are willing to shed some light on their work, some of them even literally.
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Recently, a lighting artist, Dan O’Brien, shared an eye-opening Twitter thread about his job.
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
“When I tell people I do lighting for animated movies, they usually don’t understand what I mean by that,” he tweeted. To explain what his job entails, O’Brien shared a handful of shots from a brand new animated movie he worked on called “Spies in Disguise.” The provided shots feature the ‘before’ version with default lighting, and the illuminated ‘after’ version.
Before
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
After
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
Before
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
After
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
Before
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
After
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
Before
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
After
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
Before
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
After
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
Before
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
After
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
Before
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
After
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
Before
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
After
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
O’Brien’s work clearly demonstrates that lighting plays a crucial role in creating mood, depth, atmosphere, and realism in each scene. While lighting is often added as a last finishing touch in the film, the whole scene comes to life only when the environment is illuminated.
Image credits: OtherDanOBrien
The lighting artist’s goal is to enhance other artists’ work to create a naturally and beautifully lit sequence that allows its viewers to relate to the story and its atmosphere.
Here’s how people reacted
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What do you think ?
Cori 4 years ago
He spent too much time with the guys over on the fish monster article. 😬🦈🐟
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Full Name 5 years ago
I get the point about it being hard to explain, but these don't tell the whole story either. Much better would be a before/after of just his work, not combine with all of these other peoples work at the same time.
Daniel Taylor 4 years ago
That probably isn't possible - not easily enough to be worth doing just for some social media posts. The lighting job is _very much_ to bring out the strengths of the work other modellers and animators have already done on the scene, and it doesn't isolate easily - lighting has to coordinate with the sky and FX. (Imagine if the lighting colours didn't match the skybox!) An after including his lighting work separate from the FX team may not even exist. Look at the spillover onto the road of the car lights in the night scenes for an example of why. Gunfire or particle effects or glowy UIs may be done by the FX team, but lighting has to coordinate with that so that effects they add show on other surfaces properly. If the sky modellers add some clouds and the FX team add a gunpowder bloom, lighting needs to make sure those alter the colour response of the surfaces in the scene to match.
Load More Replies... Cori 4 years ago
He spent too much time with the guys over on the fish monster article. 😬🦈🐟
Load More Replies... Full Name 5 years ago
I get the point about it being hard to explain, but these don't tell the whole story either. Much better would be a before/after of just his work, not combine with all of these other peoples work at the same time.
Daniel Taylor 4 years ago
That probably isn't possible - not easily enough to be worth doing just for some social media posts. The lighting job is _very much_ to bring out the strengths of the work other modellers and animators have already done on the scene, and it doesn't isolate easily - lighting has to coordinate with the sky and FX. (Imagine if the lighting colours didn't match the skybox!) An after including his lighting work separate from the FX team may not even exist. Look at the spillover onto the road of the car lights in the night scenes for an example of why. Gunfire or particle effects or glowy UIs may be done by the FX team, but lighting has to coordinate with that so that effects they add show on other surfaces properly. If the sky modellers add some clouds and the FX team add a gunpowder bloom, lighting needs to make sure those alter the colour response of the surfaces in the scene to match.
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