Designing My Houses

Since my task is to design 2 houses. I first looked across the internet for photos to give me inspiration:

 

Here are some designs that I drew up after looking at some examples of previously built glamarous houses:

 

 

After taking into account of realistic builds that Lambert Construction would make, I made my 2 final designs which I will be using. One is a grand looking home which features a balcony on the front, whilst the second home design is a more suburbian generalised build.

 

 

 

Storyboards & Animatic

 

 

The original plan was to create a panning animation of the 3D Visualisations which would loop and could be the used for the office screen. However felt this would be too basic. So I disscussed this with my client and It was decided that I would produce a Promotional video instead.

 

This is my final storyboard which is now for a promotional video. It's much stronger than what I had previously planned & there's going to be some use of motiongraphics within this.

 

Below, I created an Animatic to plan the timing effectively.

 

What makes a good Promo Video?

A promotional video can be very effective in expanding awareness of a business. To make sure I was going to cover what I need to take into consideration, I looked at various Promotional videos.

 

 

An effective promo video should be kept short as posible. After 60 seconds, the number of viewers decrease quickly, so it's important I keep the video length under a minute with concise messages. Colours and graphics need to be vibrant and eye catching also to gain the intial interest of the video. The use of motion graphics will also be useful to present the text in best way possible

Generating an Idea

After brainstorming some ideas I had & accepted to work with Lambert Construction Cambridge. I thought of two ideas on what I could produce for them.

 

 

My first idea was the potential of producing a short animated Ident of the company logo which they could use to display on the monitors in their office.

 

 

My other idea was to produce some 3D visualisations of the types of houses the company builds, this could be used to promote what they can do. & also would be a good way of promoting themselves.

 

It was agreed that I would produce 5 modeled houses from plans they will provide me. I would create 3-5 different still images from these models and also create an animation which pans across the properties contained on a cul-de-sac. This would be used on the office monitors and also a website they plan to start soon.

 

However in order to meet my assessment criteria I had to make some changes and the agreement now is that I am to model 4 houses, 2 being their plans & 2 houses being designed by me. The still images will still be required and I am now going to produce a promotional animation of the houses which advertises the business. This animation will now include some use of motion graphics aswell as various camera movements.

Identifying & Researching My Target Audience

3D Visualisation is very prominent within architectural backgrounds and property developers because they allow the creation of realistic images before any construction occurs. And this can even be useful for those who haven't yet even purchased land. Using CGI for property has become such a vital part of the sales and marketing strategy, that it has in itself created the industry of Architectural Visualisation.

'Architectural Visualisation is the phrase used to describe the creation of CGI’s specifically within the construction industry. Architect’s find Property CGI’s to be invaluable in the process of gaining planning consent, particularly when the CGI is merged with a real photograph. This is known as a Photomontage. These photographs can show the surrounding infrastructure and context of a site, but with the added value of showing how the completed building would look if it were actually built there.'

 

Blue Cube Studios, http://bluecubestudios.co.uk

 

 

Looking at other businesses such as Blue Cube Studios, I can see that there is a high demand of 3D Visualisations in the property business. The term used to describe this is very self explanatory, in that it allows developers to plan exactly how a property should look, before it has been built and it is also a time where changes can be made if the 3D visualisation hi-lights any issues about the architecture.

Another advantage that a Visualisation has over a photograph is that it can be fully controlled in regards of the time, weather, environment and landscaping.

 

 

I've found some examples across the internet of successful Architectural Visualisations, which shows a level of standard I need to be working towards in order to make an impact with my Client's brief.

My produced visualisation work would be targetted towards home buyers and those wanting to uptake their own home design project. The age range would be targetted to most adult clients.

Finding A Client

As I began my Final Major Project. I found two potential clients:

Screenetics:

This is a medical screening company based in Milton Keynes who had mascot characters previously designed for them to help promote them. They are looking for someone to create a short animation of their characters to promote healthy eating.

Lambert Construction Cambridge:

Lambert Construction is a building company who would like to have 3D Visualisations produced of properties not yet built by them and conceptual designs to promote what they do. They would like to have some stills, including a video which pans across a modelled cul-de-sac which will be displayed on a monitor in their offices.


After discussing technicalities with Screenetics about a realistic time frame to produce this work in and the need of their client feedback, they decided to shelve the idea as they felt it wasn't a good time to get involved, since they're currently very busy. So I decided to contact Lambert Construction and offer them my services, in which they accepted.

Having had experience in 3D Visualisation from last year. I feel confident in my ability to create an eye catching piece to promote their property developments. I will demonstrate my modelling skills from previous work I have produced from a portfolio upon our first meeting. Works will be stills such as the ones below: