Technical factors of “Battle of the Kites” in a conversation with Saba:
The border between realism and fantasy in animation is one of the main challenges of creating believable worlds; The challenge in “Battle of the Kites” extends from the design of light and color and characterization to the choice of rendering technology and animation method. In a conversation with Saba, the technical staff of this animation talk about the difficulties of recreating reality in the world of animation, production limitations and trying to create harmony between the visual effects and the narrative logic of the work.
Nasser Arbab/Saba,Realism in animation, contrary to popular belief, does not simply mean bringing the appearance of characters and environments closer to real examples; Rather, it includes a series of technical and artistic decisions in the field of modeling, lighting, texturing, animation and rendering, which should ultimately lead to the creation of a believable world. In such an approach, the smallest inconsistency in the movement of a character, the light source of a scene or even the quality of shadows can take the audience out of the fictional world of the work. From this point of view, examining the production process of realistic animations also provides an opportunity to know the technical capacities and limitations of animation production in Iran.
The animated movie “Battle of the Kites” directed and produced by Elham Ebrahimi and written by Amirreza Mafi, is a work in the adventure genre with an apocalyptic atmosphere that tells the story of a group of teenagers. The heroes of this work are safe from an unknown attack on the minds of the inhabitants of an island, and now they are in a situation where they have to work to save the people of the island.
This animation was produced by the project of Aria Art Cultural Institute and is broadcasted by Bahman Sabz. On the way to its theatrical release, “The Battle of the Kites”, in addition to narrating an eventful story, has presented to the audience a technical experience in the use of modern animation production tools, including Maya software and Unreal Engine graphics engine.
In this regard, Saba In a conversation with Ali Mansouri, lighting supervisor, Mehdi Nazari, engine arrangement supervisor, and Abolfazl Broumandi, animation supervisor of this work, he has examined three important components in the formation of the visual and movement world of “Battle of the Kites”.
Storytelling through light
Ali Mansouri, the lighting supervisor of the “Kite Battle” animation, explained about his presence in this project: I was in the group from the beginning of the project, but at some point I had to stop working for some reason. After a while, I returned to the project. However, I can say that I carried out the main part of the lighting and the formation of the visual space of the work from the beginning and was with it until the end of the project.
He said about the lighting of the project with an apocalyptic and realistic atmosphere: the realism of the work required that the lighting also convey this feeling to the audience. Along with the design of spaces, objects and characters, lighting was one of the most important factors that could contribute to the believability of the animation world. For this reason, the lighting details had to be executed carefully; From the general lighting of the environment to the lighting of the characters’ faces.
Mansouri stated: In a closed space where a character is performing an action or a game, we could not use lights that do not have a specific source like in some fantasy works. In this project, we were trying to define a specific and logical source in the image space for each light that shines on the character. For example, in the underwater scenes, we considered orange linear lights in the background of the characters so that in addition to creating the desired shadows, we have a specific light source to illuminate the faces and backs of the characters.
The lighting supervisor of the animation stated: We designed different lighting in the outer spaces according to the time and situation of the story, both during the day and at night. Another important point was the geographical location of the story. Since the scene of the work takes place in the south of the country, I tried to convey the feeling of heat and humidity of the southern air to the audience with the external lights.
In response to the question of whether he used lighting for characterization and creating a difference between heroes and villains, he said: We coordinated with the director and the writing team in this regard. For example, the robots that are in the city chasing the characters were designed with red lights and their eyes are also red. In one of the sequences where Kamran and Salman are driving a motorbike at night and the robots are chasing them and shooting at them, my idea was to use blue, navy blue and green lights in the part of the frame where Kamran and Salman are present and to have red light on the other side of the frame, where the robots are seen. This color contrast helped to make the difference between the two sides of the conflict clearer for the audience.
The animation lighting supervisor noted: I also had several lighting ideas for Sullivan’s character, especially regarding his red eyes. However, after discussing with the directing team, we came to the conclusion that it is better to keep the design at the same level because the implementation of some ideas could have taken the atmosphere of the work too much towards fantasy and not in harmony with the realistic approach of the animation.
In the end, Mansouri stated: In general, we also used lighting for characterization. Especially for characters like Dawood, Sohail and Salman, we considered warmer and more pleasant lights so that their personality traits are better conveyed to the audience.
Realism in animation reveals the smallest errors
Mehdi Nazari, the head of the “Kite Battle Animation” layout engine, explained about the software used in the production of this animation: Our main software for animation was Maya, and like many companies active in this field, we used this software for animating and animating the characters. The reason for choosing it was that domestic animators are more familiar with Maya and it is easier for them to work with it. But for lighting and final rendering, we went to Unreal Engine software.
He emphasized: Since the animation locations were extensive and we had many long-shot shots, the processing and rendering of these scenes with the usual methods was very time-consuming and heavy. For this reason, we decided to use Unreal Engine. This software was originally developed for the gaming industry and has a feature called LOD that adjusts the amount of detail based on the distance of objects from the camera. That is, closer elements are displayed with more detail, and the farther they are from the camera, the less detail is considered for processing. This feature helped us process large locations more quickly and easily; A task that takes much more time using Maya and traditional rendering methods.
Nazari clarified: One of the advantages of Unreal Engine is the possibility of rendering almost simultaneously with the preview. That is, it is possible to get an image output in a time close to the preview display speed. Of course, this did not apply to all sequences; Because our characters had a lot of geometric detail and we used high resolution textures. In addition, hair simulation and rendering was also a heavy process. In order for the hair to be rendered without noise and shadow vibration, it was sometimes necessary for the systems to spend two to three hours for one output.
He said about the technical challenges of a real animation: Realism in animation has its own challenges. In a fantasy or stylized work, the audience may see some unnatural movements of the characters as part of the visual style of the work, but in a realistic animation, everything is compared to the real world. Even if the audience does not have specialized knowledge of animation, they will recognize the slightest unnatural movement. For example, if a character moves or walks and these movements are not in sync with the movement pattern of a real human, the audience will quickly notice it. This issue makes realism in animation require more sensitivity and precision in areas such as modeling, animation, lighting and rendering.
In response to the question of what challenges the use of Unreal Engine in the production process created for the group, Nazari said: Before the production of this animation, Ifa Image Institute had another project called “Joanmardan” in its portfolio, which was produced in the form of 117 20-minute episodes. All these parts were made using Unreal Engine, and because of this, the team members had experience working with this software.
In the end, he noted: However, Unreal Engine is still not as stable as software like Maya and sometimes causes problems in the work process. In some cases, we had to find proprietary solutions to fix these problems because we might encounter a bug that no one has experienced before or there is no specific solution for it in educational resources and the Internet. For this reason, sometimes the group members had to find a suitable solution by themselves. Even in the final stages of editing and production, some of these problems were solved by trial and error and the group’s efforts.
An overview of the animation “Battle of the Kites”
Abolfazl Broumandi, the supervisor of the animation of the “Battle of the Kites” animation, explained about the way of animating the characters and the technical considerations of this work: Part of the project was done before I joined the group. Part of the work was supposed to be animated using motion capture and another part manually. We tried to harmonize these two methods and correct the parts that needed to be developed and improved.
He added: The budget of the project was somewhat limited and we had to get the best possible quality from the production group in addition to cost management. On the other hand, more professional forces usually have higher wages, and this issue also created restrictions for the selection and use of forces. Despite these conditions, we tried to bring the quality of the work as close as possible to the desired standards according to the cost, time and available facilities.
Bromandi said about animating the action parts of the project: We had more challenges in the action parts. Of course, there were certain considerations in the dramatic parts, especially the scenes where the characters talk to each other and convey their feelings to the audience. In these sections, we tried to identify key situations or so-called golden moments; The moments that have the greatest capacity to convey emotions to the audience. Then, by choosing the appropriate poses and expressions of the characters, we tried to convey these feelings in the best way.
He continued: In the action section, I personally designed and animated some sequences manually. For example, I manually redesigned the motorcycle riding sequence and the explosion at night from scratch so that the animators could better extract the poses and timing of movements and ultimately give the sequence a more impactful feel.
At the end of the answer to the question, what considerations did he have in designing the movements and acting of the characters in order to approach the character traits of the heroes and villains, Bromandi said: In order to get to know the characters better, we tried to have a conversation with the director and writer during the project and get to know the characteristics of each character more precisely. This recognition should also be reflected in the gameplay and the movements of the characters. For example, a character like David, who is more humorous, should have different movements and acting than a serious or thoughtful character. Therefore, it was necessary to properly convey these characteristics to the animators and team members so that the animation of each character fits their individual moods and characteristics. As much as we had time, we tried to include these features in the performance of the characters.
The director of the project of this work is Aria Picture Cultural and Art Institute, and it continues to be screened by Bahmansabz Broadcasting in cinemas across the country.
