How the team at Baobab Studios constructed the detailed VR world of Baba Yaga.
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How the team at Baobab Studios constructed the detailed VR world of Baba Yaga.
Baobab Studios’ latest project Baba Yaga has raised the bar of what is achievable in the VR animation world. Directed and written by Eric Darnell (Madagascar movies) and co-directed by Mathias Chelebourg, the short features the voices of Kate Winslet, Daisy Ridley and Jennifer Hudson. It invites viewers to be a main character to be part of a haunting fairytale and step inside the world of an enigmatic witch who uses her powers to stop the villagers from destroying her enchanted forest. The team at the studio was kind enough to share some of the behind-the-scenes images from their acclaimed project
The final render of Magda handing the viewer the lantern and thereby asking them to accompany her. Using the Storyteller Platform, the creative team set the tone by using theatrical lighting, Magda’s positioning and her complex facial expressions, delivering an emotional connection between the user and their sister. The lantern helps establish that bond and makes Magda’s journey the user’s journey. ◆
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Production design work for the project, created by lead character designer Kal Athannassov.
With the viewer able to look and move anywhere in virtual reality very early in development, the team must lay out how a scene, the viewer and characters will appear in detail. They designed the forest to account for numerous scenarios, while focusing on a singular narrative goal. This also helps determine the overall size, how the viewer might move around the space, and the respective importance of the project’s various elements.
Using Baobab’s Real-Time Storyteller Platform, the studio created its first human character, Magda, with the challenge of needing her to feel present all the time from her hair, skin, clothing and facial expressions. This is important for virtual reality, due to how close the user is to Magda, but difficult to do in real time on a mobile headset running at 90 frames per second in each eye. This scene was one of the most crucial to get right as it is the first time the viewer is interacting with their “sister.”
Texture and surfacing of hair, skin and clothing is an important detail to consider in VR, since the viewer stands quite close to the characters and can take time to note how hair falls, or how fabric looks and moves. The team chose to hand-animate Magda’s clothing to give a nice tactile feel and help build the bond with the viewer’s sister. Magda is a complex character who is brave but is also a young girl who must overcome her fears to face Baba Yaga.
The project’s creators wanted the scenes to feel hand-crafted but still provide depth and allow for the viewer to move and interact with key elements. They created a layered effect similar to a pop-up illustration to create the storybook feel but still having interactive 3D characters and forest creatures.