"What Goes On In Apartment 666...?" (Creep It Real Submission)

TaylorAmbrosioWood · October 28, 2022, 2:55pm

Submission:

Title: “What Goes On In Apartment 666…?”
Student Submission: No
All music, sound effects, and voices were created by myself as well.
Made in UE5.0.3

What goes on in apartment 666 on Halloween night?
I started learning Unreal Engine earlier this year and wanted to enter this challenge because Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. I wondered if zombies and monsters celebrate Halloween and love it as much as I do, so I imagined the story of a zombie college student coming home to his apartment for a Halloween party!

For the world-building and environment design of this scene, I decorated his apartments with custom props to make it feel more lived in. For example, I created a “Zombie University” Poster and a fun picture of him with his school friends:

Of course, no Halloween party is complete without a dry ice punch bowl! I made this dry ice fog in Niagara. I have also learned to use the 3D modeling mode built into UE5, so I modeled the glowing slime drink and bowl of brains as well for their Halloween treats:

The “Happy Halloween” Banner I also modeled in-engine:

The TV playing “Creep It Real” is an image I created, then imported into UE5 as a texture, and used that to create an emissive material to put on a plane in front of the TV mesh. I also added a light source so that light would radiate onto the table stand:

For the level design and to convey the atmosphere, I made the hallway plainly lit, with beige wallpaper and carpet. I wanted the narrow hallway to feel dark and muted, to contrast the colorful party in the apartment. I modeled the string lights and ceiling lights in unreal using spheres and cylinder shapes in the modeling mode. I made the lights vibrant Halloween colors like green, purple, red, and orange:

I also made sure the apartment layout would be a realistic one for a college student to share with roommates. (i.e. having a small kitchen and no stairs, having carpet not hardwood floors) It’s modeled after the apartment I used to live in. For the furniture, I used Twinmotion meshes (linked below) and made sure to pick mismatching chairs, bar stools and tables, as no college student would own matching furniture as it was most likely all purchased 2nd hand.

I hadn’t worked with animations before, so it was fun to learn how to retarget the dance animations to the various monsters’ skeletons:

For the composition of this scene, I made the hallway shot with multiple cameras switching between multiple angles and tilts to create a sense of unease. When the camera moves into the apartment and it’s shown to be a party, I made the camera move in one continuous take with constant smooth movements so that it feels like you(the camera) are attending the party:

I am a music composer, so all music and sound effects were created and mixed by me as well. The zombie growls, vocals, and speaking voice over the music are my voice with various plugins applied. I had a lot of fun designing the synths for the party music to feel extra spooky. For those who are curious, here are screenshots of how I scored the scene in Cubase:

Thanks for reading, and have a Happy Halloween!
-Taylor

allegraambrosio · October 31, 2022, 5:24pm

Amazing!!

TaylorAmbrosioWood · November 2, 2022, 10:32pm

Dawww thanks