---
title: "The Hunted Story"
canonical: "https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/RU/563478530/The%20Hunted%20Story"
format: markdown
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### Starting your challenge image with a strong story beat is very important.
As judges, we only get a few minutes to look at the image, so the story, message, and focus need to be clear. Too much visual clutter can easily distract from the main story you are trying to tell.
Be concise with your image. Be clear and focused on the action and any hero characters, and then work from there.
Getting a clear story instantly across is the first tip to a successful entry and image.
Below is my creative process for dialling in the story I wanted to tell.
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### 1 - The Story
Before I started on anything, I wanted to ensure I had a clear story to my image.
I knew I wanted a scene featuring a UFO and a main character. I had an ice cream truck model from an animation I’d made a few years back. I’ve included the clip here so you can take a look. It’s not relevant, I like it.
Anyway, my story is based on the idea that a UFO-hunting van (a bit like a storm chaser) is out on the hunt one night for UFOs. The tables turn when he stops at a railroad crossing and suddenly and unexpectedly becomes the hunted. The hunter becomes the hunted.
I knew I wanted the van to be the main character, and as you’ll see in later lessons, I used modelling and texturing to enhance the sense of character in the van itself.
I also decided pretty early on that I didn’t want actually to see the UFO itself. I’ll leave that up to the viewer to decide what that looks like.
Keeping a sense of mystery is good. A strong image puts the viewer in the middle of the action and allow the viewer to decide on ‘why is the truck there?' and ‘what happens next?’
You don’t need to answer every question in the image.
Just set up the question and let the viewer's curiosity and imagination fill in the rest.
> ℹ️ [Suffering from writer's block? This lesson will help spark some ideas!](https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/RU/569278526)
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### 2 - Finding an inspiring reference
Being a fan of UFO films, I wanted to pay homage to one of my favourites. I’m not going to say which one, I’ll let you figure it out, but let’s say it’s not “Far Encounters of the 4th Kind!”
I re-watched the film with an eye for finding one frame that I wanted to use as a reference, and one particular scene early on in the film stood out to me.
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### 3 - Location Scouting
Now .. I’m an artist who likes to dive into the details. Perhaps, sometimes, a little too much, I started doing some research on this particular scene. I quickly found the location where the scene was filmed, and then used Google Maps to pinpoint the actual location.
Google Street View proved very useful too for references and figuring out placement and object distances.
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### 4 - Matching Camera / Lens
Remember earlier, I mentioned that I like to dive into the details? Well … this is one of those times.
I wanted to find out what camera and lens were used to film the actual scene. A look around ShotDeck got me most of the info I needed. I discovered the film was mainly shot on a Panavision 65HR & Panavision Panaflex 35mm film cameras.
I also discovered which lenses were used on the film. These were Panavision C series prime lenses.
Having come from a film background, I understand prime lenses, and looking at the set of prime lenses this kit comes with, I was quickly able to eliminate specific lenses I knew wouldn’t have been used. This left me with a choice of 2 … a 30mm and a 40mm lens.
Having this info, plus I knew the aspect ratio was 2.35, I felt armed with enough camera info that I needed to progress.
Note: In the final image, I did actually tweak the lens and aspect ratio a little. I matched the scene exactly to the back plate, but once I got that far, I decided to break away a little from matching the filmed scene exactly. There are times when being too stuck on fully matching a reference can hinder the creative process. This was one such case, so I broke free from being 100% exact for the sake of creativity and storytelling.
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### 5 - Initial Poster
One final note to add is that, initially, I’d wanted this image to be printed as a real poster. It didn’t start off as the challenge teaser image, but more of a poster people could keep and hang on their wall.
Below is a quick poster mockup I’d made very early on. I’m not interested in the shading or lighting too much at this stage; I just wanted to get an idea going.
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