Walter Beese

Walter Beese is a filmmaker, animator, and digital designer seeking opportunities to utilize his multidisciplinary skill set. He is obtaining a B.A. in Interactive Multimedia at The College of New Jersey as part of the class of 2021. His skills include video production, 3D modeling, animation/visual effects, motion graphics, digital and web design.

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Project Overview

Meet BZ-9E, the star of my live-action short film, Conception. Conception revolves around an inventor, Nat Warner, who is attempting to create a robot using artificial intelligence. After many failed attempts, Nat is able to create BZ-9E, a curious, exuberant robot made from an iPhone. This project utilized all of the skills that I gained over the past four years in the IMM program at TCNJ. BZ-9E is a CGI character made from real world objects using a variety of digital tools, especially Autodesk Maya.

Process & Tools

The creation of BZ-9E required 3D rendering software such as Autodesk Maya as well as video compositing software such as Adobe After Effects. The process of modeling, texturing, rigging, and animating BZ-9E was done in Autodesk Maya. I filmed the live action myself, and edited the footage in Adobe Premiere Pro. To merge the live action footage with the CGI elements I used Adobe After Effects. The robotic sounds that BZ-9E makes were created from scratch in Adobe Audition.

Biggest Challenges

My biggest challenge was teaching myself the techniques involved in creating a CGI character for live action. I have created 3D characters in the past as well as short films, but I have never combined the two into one project. This allowed me to explore an unfamiliar aspect of IMM and learn more about HDRI maps and 3D compositing.