In Depth: DEPTHMAP NEXT's Creative Process

Back in 2019, I had no idea that the original DEPTHMAP would even be considered creatively and artistically relevant until I started to put all of the pieces together in post-production. While the properties of the depth of field maps themselves were adjustable to some degree through console commands in Q3MME, it was simply impossible to get an idea about the end result until the capturing process was at least some time under way. Every batch of frames was a necessary evil in that regard as parts of the picture were either black or white and shifts in image were not directly visible. There was nothing in between. If a shot did not match the perceived outcome, I would need to resort back to my notes containing all of the numbers assigned to the depth of field properties and start over again. While repeatedly watching all of the footage and interpreting their usability and respective roles, I realized how interesting this particular project could be. During early post-production, it was evident that I had to let the music lead the film, so to speak. I had a hard time adjusting to editing footage in which I would sometimes barely be able to distinguish what I was looking at. It was a mindset I gradually managed to shift in the right direction by seeing DEPTHMAP as a whole package and recognizing its full potential: a powerful presentation of eerie black and white images that presented a original and brand new interpretation on Quake III Arena. While I was within this process, the music (TATE265 by YRROW) proved to be the main lifeline for me. During editing, I would sometimes glimpse over every part of every piece of footage and play the music in the background in order to intuitively 'feel' whether a piece of footage was in the right place. Fast forward a year later, and I am still able to feel these jolts of emotion every so often whenever I watch the first film. 

 

 

Besides emotions and practical insights, the original DEPTHMAP showed me a way of Machinima making I never thought existed. All of these positive factors eventually led to an (in my opinion) inevitable question: "Are there additional machinima-related uses for Quake III depth of field maps?". Considering DEPTHMAP NEXT released a little over a year later, the answer was obviously yes, but the process was not as forward as one might expect. From a very point on during the 'R&D' phase of DEPTHMAP NEXT, the idea of 'masking' multiple depth of field maps kept ringing in my head, but I had no initial idea how to execute this plan. The initial plan was to place multiple black and white depthmaps in a single composition, and mask out various pieces of the different layers of footage. This would result in a representation of various puzzle pieces that would represent a new distorted reality to the viewer consisting out of tiny pieces from various other distorted realities. Perhaps this idea was used within Hyper Reality instead to some extent (see In Depth: Hyper Reality's Creative Process), but it was arguably harder to successfully implement this within a DEPTHMAP sequel. The second phase, which I named the 'testing phase', consisted of various gaming sessions during which I would simply record and render out random pieces of footage. While checking up on the end results, I remembered that both the depth of field map and the original footage are rendered during batch capturing. I initially forgot that I had deleted all of the original footage in the original film due to the heavy emphasis on the depth maps themselves and figured this could be a relevant new take on their usage. Therefore, the next step revolved around finding out ways to combine the original footage and its depthmap overlay.

 

I wanted to keep that particular atmosphere that became such a trademark for the original film. Therefore, I quickly came to the conclusion that if both shots were to be combined, they would need to be converted into black and white and serve complimenting roles towards one another. The depthmap would still serve as the backbone of the image, while the original footage had a more supporting role by adding in details within the shot that were invisible within the original. Through this approach and the use of additional visual effects, the depthmap atmosphere would remain intact, while creating a better sense of 'place'. The original film's power was also its weakness at times: it was impossible to link a location to a particular shot, thus further amplifying its experimental nature. While DEPTHMAP NEXT's tempo was often higher at times, it was necessary to implement this sense of place in order not to throw the viewer off guard. In my opinion, I would not have changed the shots in the original DEPTHMAP if I was given the option of changing its aesthetic contents since its experimental nature worked perfectly for me. However, for the sequel, change in image aesthetics were a necessity in order to keep the film 'experimentally digestible' because of fluctuating tempo in video and audio. Besides the obvious technological extension in DEPTHMAP NEXT, my purpose was to create a softer, more visually pleasing image within the depthmap dimensions in order to give the illusion of cohesion between the different images.

An example can be found above, in which the process of frame manipulation is explained. The original frame was placed in After Effects, and the corresponding depthmap underneath. Parts of the original footage that contained the most interesting details were masked out, resulting in what can be seen in frame 2. Only a part of the original frame is visible with the remaining image being filled by the depthmap. The original footage was highlighted using various video effects and the mask was adjusted in order to fit the depthmap. Afterwards, additional effects were added to the depthmap in order to create a final picture. Frame 5 and 6 show a clear overview of what particularly has been used of each of the pieces of footage. Just as in the original film, the majority of the post-production time was spent cutting footage and placing the pieces across the various parts of the music in order to see whether the audio and video were a matching fit. Because of the increase in detail, the film gave off a more sinister and eerie vibe than the original, resulting in the emphasis on heavy bass, industrial/techno like music.

DEPTHMAP NEXT can be viewed down below. For more information about the film and other projects, please check my Behance page.