A CGI music video tribute to the people that preserve and improve our spaces.
Architecture was not made for them, yet they see its beauty the most.

Part 01 – vimeo.com/384832104
Breakdowns – artstation.com/artwork/w68WPY

By Ryan Wai Kin Lam

Story and lyrics with Hana Schonegger
Music with Teresa Tan
Motion graphics with Alberto Vangelista
Crowd simulation by Jon Hudson
Vocals by Kintsuku
Typography by Alexa Kelly
Narration by Molly Gavin

Original score :
Wai Kin – Silent Footfalls
youtube.com/watch?v=C1bEW80beKs

My workplace is constantly buzzing with noise, movement and light. However, the building does take on a second life during my late nights and weekend trips there.

I do meet the people that work during these hours more than most. Cleaners, maintenance workers, security guards etc. When the building is ‘switched off’, it transforms and develops a whole new identity, a whole new atmosphere.

The way street lights creep into corridors, the cool blue glow of the security guard’s monitor, the river caustics hitting the ceiling in the summer, the way the lights on my desk form a pool in the surrounding gloom of the open-plan office. These isolated moments feel incredibly cinematic.

This short CG film is an attempt to show people this unique second side to the everyday life they so rarely glimpse beyond.

A couple’s hidden sanctuary

3ds Max, VRay, Nuke, Photoshop

The facades of individuals portrayed through those of architecture.

Facades hide flaws, failings and – ultimately – reality. In the past decade, the structures surrounding us have been cosmetically overhauled; covering the deeper, economic faults.

Can parallels be found between these architectural fronts and the fronts put up by a community?

The visuals and its narration attempt to demonstrate that it doesn’t matter; aesthetics trumps all.

“What we seek, at the deepest level, is inwardly to resemble, rather than physically to possess, the objects and places that touch us through their beauty. “– Alain de Botton

By Ryan Wai Kin LAM
Music with Teresa CP TAN
Narration written and voiced by Hana SCHONEGGER
Typography and motion graphics by Manuel A FERNANDEZ

Song :
soundcloud.com/waikin182/facades

Making Of :
artstation.com/artwork/babWkG

A worker’s sanctuary hidden within a red structure.

A short film about a building in the middle of a mountain landscape and forest. Solar/wind turbine control center.

Did an early morning shot where rubbish trucks and cleaners can be seen doing their work.

Glass facade building in the middle of a city square.

I wanted to see how messy I could get this image to be in terms of the number of lights and still try to get the 2 main characters to stand out.

Hemisphere structures in the mountains.

First project using World Machine to sculpt the landscape. Used Forest Pack for forest and VrayFur for grass. Apart from chromatic aberration, this has 0 post production.

An old pebble road street with golden lights from a restaurant.

I wanted to create an image that was in the past. I played around more with the VrayAerialPerspective atmosphere effect to give a misty feel.

A car park under a bridge overlooking an office building and a train route.

Tried using the VrayAerialPerspective instead of the usual environment fog to create a misty depth; which turned out much faster and cleaner.

A rainy scene of New York city seen through a window.

A bump map was painted on the foreground windows for the water droplets.

This was used to test the Vray Environment fog, which looks much better than doing the depth in post production.