How Daniel Quirke Projected His Animation into Water Vapour
BAFTA-nominated director and graduate of the National Film and Television School Daniel Quirke has recently created and directed the Edinburgh International Festival’s promo – a captivating 30-second trailer made by projecting animation into water vapour!
At the brief level, EIF asked Daniel for an energetic and engaging trailer to pique curiosity about the event, but one that also aligned with the festival’s themes of artistry, mythology and Scottish identity.
Daniel’s starting points were references to certain mythological characters – Will-o'-the-wisps and shape shifters – as well as the atmospheric projections that would be used throughout the festival. “From this, I felt that trying to combine these elements could be really exciting and I quite quickly settled on the idea of wispy characters and creatures forming in light rays that morph and change into different characters.”
The team first experimented with shooting plates of smoke, talcum powder, vapour and lens flares before compositing them to create the final magic. Here’s how it all came together.
LBB> Why was this approach the winning one for the idea, and how did it relate with the EIF?
Daniel> I decided to settle on this idea as I felt it linked really nicely with what EIF was asking for in the brief, with subtle nods to what might be present in the opening event without giving too much away. I felt like it would also allow me to try creating something visually exciting and try a technique that I hadn't used before.
LBB> Talk to me about the water vapour - how was the animation projected onto it? How did it work?
Daniel> I first experimented with a smoke machine, but found it was really difficult to control as the smoke moved around so much. This meant that any images/animation I projected into it were too fleeting and unclear, so after doing some research, I found some examples of people projecting images into vapour machines. So, I ordered a diffuser on Amazon and began to play around with projecting through the diffuser's water vapour into the lens of my phone camera. The water vapour moves around a lot less than the smoke so the projected image becomes a lot clearer. It was still pretty difficult to control and had its limitations, but through multiple rounds of testing we gradually found different ways to get the best results.
LBB> And what was the involvement of the smoke, talcum powder, and lens flares? How did it all come to work together?
Daniel> When testing, I really liked how the light of the projector would cause lens flares and how the animation would also interfere with it when it crossed the light. Also, I had wanted to use smoke for transitions between sequences and characters. However, we quickly discovered that it would be quite difficult with the limitations of the technique, time and resources to shoot everything in camera. So when shooting, we decided to shoot plates of smoke, talcum powder, dust particles and lens flares that I could then composite together with the footage of the projected animation to use as transitions.
LBB> What were the biggest challenges in the creation of the campaign and how did you overcome them?
Daniel> As I'd never used this technique before, it was probably the fact that I didn't know if I could actually make this technique work and make something visually exciting and engaging within the limitations of the time and budget. I had some anxiety before starting, but I often find that with projects that make me nervous. I also find them most satisfying and exciting as it involves learning something new, experimenting and problem solving.
LBB> What were some elements in the narrative of the film that you were very keen to include and why?
Daniel> I thought it was important that the characters and elements that we visualised in the trailer should be dynamic actions that would look good projected in the smoke, but also make the trailer engaging and energetic. However, these still had to connect to the festival and what it represents. I also wanted to connect these smoky characters and creatures that come to life to the city of Edinburgh where the festival takes place, but also really liked the idea of mixing that with shots where the setting is a bit more vague and non-descriptive with the focus more on the characters.
Through discussions with the festival, it felt right to ground the opening and ending with visuals of the city of Edinburgh (especially the building of George Heriot's School where the opening event takes place) and to have the vague morphing, atmospheric, mythical smoke world in between that.
LBB> And what was the most fun part?
Daniel> Testing and shooting with cinematographer Max Halstead was probably the most fun part. We had a day and a half of testing and one day for the shoot, so we used those testing days to be quite playful which allowed us to try out lots of different things and discover the best way to put the trailer together.
Also, probably my favourite part of any production is during the sound and music creation phase, as it's when I really feel the piece coming together and find that it can be a dialogue between sound/music and visuals where ideas can be influenced by what the other does. Working with the composer/sound designer Oliver Mapp was great for that!
LBB> How long did the entire production process take?
Daniel> It was a fairly tight turnaround that spanned just under a month from finding out we had been picked for the job to delivery. A lot of the time was spent on planning, animating and getting ready for the one day shoot and then about a week of intense compositing, editing.
