Studio I Concept Development

Swimming has played a key role in my life and helped me become the person that I am today. For my senior project I wanted to create something that relates to this passion. It would be a great opportunity to show compositing skills, which is my focus.

The main idea is to recreate the U.S. Olympic Trials swimming pool in Omaha in a 3D environment or using 2.5D techniques and put myself in there as the only swimmer in the field.

Here are some reference videos and images of the arena to have a better understanding of the scale and atmosphere of the competition:

I made a scene with block outs of the pool and early camera movements and angles. My goal is to show the feeling the athletes are going through, the pressure they feel by expectations and the difference between being in the stands and on the pool deck. I haven't experienced the feeling but I can imagine how it could motivate athletes or make them break under pressure.

For my final shot I would show the point of view of the swimmer on the blocks. You'd hear the referee saying "Take Your Mark" and then the race starts. At the that moment it would cut black but the sound would still go.

First, rough shot list:

Shot #	Shot	​Camera Angle	Camera Move	VFX	Shot Description	Time	​Sound
1	Establishing, Long Shot	Eye Level	Little to no Camera Move	CG - Maya	Perspective of the swimmer facing the pool from last call room	0:00 - 0:05
2	Extreme Long	High Angle	Still	CG - Maya	Perspective of the audience high in the stands facing the entrance where the athletes come in	0:05 - 0:10
3	Close Up	Side View, Eye Level	Still	CG - Maya, Green Screen Comp	Side view of me in the last call room getting ready to walk out	0:10 - 0:15
4	Close Up	Back View High Angle	Still	CG - Maya, Green Screen Comp	Facing the swimming pool, in the background camera flashes as I start walking	0:15 - 0:20
5	Extreme Long Shot	High Angle	Still	CG - Maya	Audience’s perspective, similarly to Shot #2	0:20 - 0:25
6	Long Shot	Eye Level	First Person Camera Match	CG - Maya, Camera Tracking	Athlete’s perspective, looking at the stands, audience	0:25 - 0:30
7	Extreme Long	Eye Level	Still	​CG - Maya	Looking at the entrance, showing that it’s only one person walking out	0:30 - 0:35
8	Long Shot	Low Angle	Still	CG - Maya, Green Screen Comp	Looking up at an angle at the blocks with the athlete standing next to it, starts to look in the distance	0:35 - 0:40
9	Long Shot to Close Up	Eye Level	First Person Camera Match	CG - Maya, Camera Tracking, (Green Screen Comp)	Transition from previous shot, look in distance, deep breath, look dow at the block, steps on block	0:40 - 0:45
10	Extreme Close up	Low Angle	​Dolly	CG - Maya, Green Screen Comp	Close up on swimmer's face, building up tension as we see him focusing. The blocks are visible in the reflection of the goggles.	0:45 - 0:50
11	Close Up	Top Down	First Person Camera Match	CG - Maya, Camera Tracking, Reflection in water	Swimmer's perspective standing on the block, getting ready to jump. After the start it gets close to the water but cuts black before entering it.	0:50 - 0:55

I want to create a tense atmosphere and for that the sound design would play a key role so I though something like the following would help me deliver the tension.

3D Previz: