Towards the final term, I have decided that I wanted to focus on FX simulations and hence I started working on ideas of which type of simulations exactly I wanted to try. From my long-time idea about interaction with all 4 elements to focusing on a specific type of element, I landed on wanting to experiment with liquid simulations. Working around some kind of storyline, I wanted to have two main plot ideas of relaxation and then shock, in a contrast to each other. Within each emotion, the FX simulation would have been the key element.
Setting the mood of an office environment, my story was based around a worker who decided to take a break and make themselves a much-deserved cup of coffee. The process of preparing ingredients and combining them all together would have been the moment of relaxation: with a culmination when they added milk, thus having a shot seeing how the milk would fall into the darker liquid of coffee and mix together. That would be the first main moment of liquid simulation, specifically a combination of two and conveying precisely how the liquids would interact with each other. Followed by a visual supportive action of the worker getting a few seconds of happiness and relief, their next step would be going back to their space and sitting down in the chair. As they would have sat down, the hand with the coffee would start placing the cup on the table but miss out the edge of it by a few centimeters, thus misplacing the cup, The following few shots would have been a slowed-down version of the cup falling and its content spilling all out, maybe taking a shape of something mid-air. Finally, the cup would fall and break, speeding up in time and ending the story. The last actions would be simulated as well, both the unusual shots of the falling cup with moving liquid and its crash.
After creating the storyboard, I made animatics and filmed the first version of test shots, to see the flow of the story, how it would develop, and if it would show correct emphasis on my VFX work. The peer-review helped me to understand that I had too many shots prior to the first fluid interaction shot and that I would need to refine the story. It was also pointed out to give more thoughts to what kind of shape I wanted the fluid to take, maybe it would be something personal to the worker, a state of their troubled mind or worries.
Having received the feedback, I now knew what my next steps would be and which parts of the story and background I need to give more consideration to.