Stephanie Cushing

Lighting TD

2017 Lighting/Compositing Show Reel

Mar 11, 2015 •

Images courtesy of Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rovio Animation, Sony Pictures Animati... Read more

0:16-0:20

Smurfs: The Lost Village

Lighting TD

Master Key Lighting based off of painted color key. Multiple layers included atmosphere, fx, and water reflections.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
0:20-0:23

The Angry Birds Movie

Lighting TD

Shot included multiple layers with heavy characters and feather fx. Occlusion of Matilda's head feathers onto Terrance was tricked using alpha masks and color correction.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
0:23-0:24

Storks

Lighting TD

Master Key Lighting based off of painted color key. Multiple layers included fire fx and 3 moving lights to simulate firelight. This was one of my favorite lighting set-ups.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
0:24-0:28

The Emoji Movie

Lighting TD and Look Dev

Master Key lighting - Close up of Chars. The red amphitheater was edited in look dev from it's original blue-green color. Additional layers included high subsurface in Gene.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
0:28-0:32

Hotel Transylvania 2

Lighting TD

Shot lighting based of master key. Fun shot with a moving camera, a lot of layers, and several layers of atmo.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
0:32-0:36

Epic

Lighting TD

Shot lighting included creating and timing the shadow effect of the crow. Layers included skin passes (radiosity, occlusion, ambiance, and color), atmo, and atmo fx. Very fun and challenging shot.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
0:36-0:38

Rio 2

Lighting TD

This sequence was challenging as the Master key had a top down key light. Lighting had to be moved around to still achieve the top town look, but also beauty light the chars.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
0:38-0:40

Ice Age: Continental Drift

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. The challenge here was to make sure the attention was on Manny and the log and not the sun.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
0:40-0:44

Storks

Lighting TD

Establishing Master shot of the sequence. As well as the multiple moving lights to simulate firelight, there are several reflection passes for the water in order to get the moon reflection just right.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
0:44-0:48

Smurfs: The Lost Village

Lighting TD

Master Key lighting - character close-up. The background and sand fx were roto'ed and color corrected in order to match the color key.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
0:48-0:58

The Angry Birds Movie

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. This was probably one of the most challenging shots I've had to tackle. There were two master rigs, and the Judge walks through both as the camera stays on him. In order to balance the two, the shot was rendered twice, once with each rig, and mixed together in Nuke. It was also an extremely heavy shot with a lot of characters and feather fx.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
0:58-1:04

The Emoji Movie

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. I really enjoy shots with moving cameras and multiple characters. This shot included multiple passes that included occlusion and reflection passes for the cubes, debris, and ground.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:04-1:15

Hotel Transylvania 2

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. The challenge here was the multiple lights that Drac walks through as well as the interactive screen lights. Porridge Head and Fly also required a lot of color correction based off of Director notes.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:15-1:19

Storks

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Multiple layers.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:19-1:23

Storks

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. This was an especially fun shot due to the play of shadows on Jr's face and the rims on Tulip and the baby.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:23-1:28

Storks

Lighting TD

Master Key lighting for Jr's angle. Multiple layers include a layer of three moving lights to simulate firelight.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:28-1:32

Epic

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Two back-to-back shots of same character in same environment. Beauty lighting for pup and enough specular on the tongue to look wet.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
1:32-1:36

Epic

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Two back-to-back shots, reversed angle.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:36-1:40

Storks

Lighting TD

Master key lighting to match painted color key. Multiple layers included a layer of three moving lights to simulate firelight as well as fire and smoke fx.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:40-1:48

Hotel Transylvania 2

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. This was a fun and challenging shot. Drac and Johnny move from one light rig and toward another. There wasn't a specific rig in-between so I created my own to fill in the gaps. A lot of activity in the background to light subtly added to the challenge.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:48-1:50

Epic

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. This was fun to play with the shadow in order to add to the drama of the shot and sequence.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
1:50-1:52

The Emoji Movie

Lighting TD and Lookdev

Master Key Shot for the sequence. The cubes and lighting were edited in lookdev in order to give them their red hue instead of the normal blue/green. Many heavy characters added to the layers.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:52-1:54

The Emoji Movie

Lighting TD

One-off. There was a rig for the amphitheater and a general rig for the inside of the cab. There are only two times you see the inside of the cab for this specific sequence - both lit by me. Heavy comp work on the characters and the glass to pull out shadows and reflections.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:54-1:55

Storks

Lighting TD

Master key shot for part 2 of this sequence. The fire has gone down so the lighting had to be more subtle, without losing the characters in the moonlight. There's a separate layer for the coal light - the lights moving more subtly.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:55-1:58

Smurfs: The Lost Village

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Blossoms hair penetrates Smurfettes face, so the two were rendered separately and the occlusion shadows faked with alpha layers.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:58-1:59

The Angry Birds Movie

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Multiple characters.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
1:59-2:03

Hotel Transylvania 2

Lighting TD

One-off. The main rig did not include this section of the set so I created one based off the main action of the sequence. The firefly fx were created into mesh lights in order to interact with the kids.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
2:03-2:04

Rio 2

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. A mesh light was created in order for the match light to interact with Blu.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:04-2:05

Ice Age: Continental Drift

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Since it was important to establish contact between Manny and the post, multiple occlusion and shadow layers were required.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:05-2:06

Ice Age: Continental Drift

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. The focus here was to beautify the back-lit Ellie and Peaches as well as bring out the eyes to increase the drama of the shot.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:06-2:07

Ice Age: Continental Drift

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. The two goons are very similar in color and tone to the background so the goal was to make sure their lighting made them stand out.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:07-2:08

Epic

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Because of the high level of motion blur it was important to light the characters in order to pull them off the background. The shadow placement of the log also had to be tweaked to keep continuity through the next several shots.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:08-2:09

Rio 2

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. This was a beauty shot to establish the two team captains. Special gobos and crowd lighting were required.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:09-2:10

Rio 2

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. The interior shot takes place in the morning, so the lighting and environment atmo had to reflect that. Occlusions were required to soften the back wall and special care was taken not to clip out the background windows.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:10-2:14

Epic

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. The shot required that Nim pop off the dark background and still maintain his subtle glow. Special care was also taken to illuminate the dark background to be dark but still be cavernous.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:14-2:18

Smurfs: The Lost Village

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Subtle lighting tricks were required to pull Brainy out from the background as SmurfStorm points at him. The background layer was also required to look painted so lighting and comp techniques were used to achieve this effect.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
2:18-2:22

Epic

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Lighting between Queen Tara and her dress in order to properly balance them in Nuke. Several skin passes were required for the Queen including radiosity, color, ambiance

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:22-2:25

Storks

Lighting TD

One-off. There was no rig for this section of the set, so beauty lighting was created for the character and minimal background.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
2:25-2:26

Epic

Lighting TD

One-off. There was a basic rig for the exterior and the interior but it required editing for this particular angle. Rim lights were created to add more shape to the opening of the mouse hole and give it more interest.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:26-2:28

Epic

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. The key is coming from straight above so it was imperative to keep MK's shaping on her face.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:28-2:30

Epic

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Beauty shot of the exterior he had just jumped through. It was important to keep the background from clipping out.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:30-2:36

Storks

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. This was a fun shot as the characters move from one light rig to another. I wanted to make sure their faces were readable in the beginning as they peek around the corner. Extra lights were created to also bring attention to the water splash fx.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
2:36-2:40

The Angry Birds Movie

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. The challenge here was that Red's color had to be super saturated without clipping out.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
2:40-2:42

Hotel Transylvania 2

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. We were given a basic color key, but every shot in this sequence was tweaked as per the director's notes. It's easy to let red hair go super saturated in red light, so Denis's hair had special lighting. Multiple layers of atmo were edited to give the specific dramatic look.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
2:42-2:44

Smurfs: The Lost Village

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Gobos were created to give the appearance of larger plants in the background.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
2:44-2:50

Storks

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. Layout had moved around the set pieces so the original rig didn't work as well here. The lighting had to be edited to match the surrounding shots.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke
2:50-2:51

Ice Age: Continental Drift

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. This was an interesting shot because the shadowed are on the ice to Diego's right was actually painted in Nuke since the rig wasn't giving any shape to the ice. Occlusion layers were added to help ground the characters even more.

Tools: Studio+ (proprietary), Nuke
2:51-2:56

The Angry Birds Movie

Lighting TD

Shot lighting. This shot was fairly heavy due to the multiple characters and feather fx. Occlusion and shadow layers were added to help ground the characters. The lighter birds required different rigs in order to keep them from clipping out.

Tools: Katana, Arnold, Nuke

Comments (1)

James Bennett
Nice work.

127 months ago

More from