Continuing from the previous stage, I worked on animations throughout October and early November. I followed the shot sequence closely—starting with the prologue and leaving the third act for the end, as it required the most intricate body movement and emotional beats.
Alongside animation, I developed a fish swarm particle effect for the final sequence and added subtle foliage elements around the stepwell to give the environment a bit more life and texture. I also added camera shakes at this stage.
Polishing Animations and Blinks
Towards the end of the project, I did have to rush through a few animations, but I was still satisfied with how they supported the story. Instead of perfecting every micro-movement, I prioritised the overall performance and whether the character’s emotions were being communicated clearly.
For example, in one of the final scenes, the character is overwhelmed by the sight of so much water and collapses onto his knees before drinking in a rush. This emotional beat mattered far more than polishing every secondary movement, so I focused my cleanup efforts on the key poses and transitions that made the moment read effectively.
Towards the end, I also got a feedback from George to add blinks where the characters face was visible. This added a lot of life to the character which was still looking a bit un-alive. I made a simple blink animation separatley in Blender and layered it on top of the other animations.
Fish Swarm
The fish swarm wass a crucial element of the final act. It ties directly back to the initial research, from the concept of the lost river to the marine fossils found in Rajasthan, and it needed to feel magical and surprising.
I followed a tutorial by MTR Animations to create a geometry nodes setup in Blender, making slight adjustments to suit my needs. One of the main changes was adding a control section to adjust the Z-height of the entire swarm, allowing me to position it precisely within the cave environment.
I chose to use Blender’s Geometry Nodes instead of Niagara in Unreal Engine because I wanted finer control over the behaviour, and I was more comfortable handling this part inside Blender.
[fish swarm in unreal engine]
Foliage and other elements
To add more life to the desert environment, I placed sparse dry foliage and small shrubs around the stepwell. I also added more architectural elements to the opening road scene. Additionally, I created warning signboards in Hindi to place along the fenced area near the stepwell, which helped reinforce the world-building.
These small environmental additions made the world feel richer and gave the stepwell surroundings an extra layer of believability.
[Image of foliage in Unreal]
[image of city]
[image of signboards]
Camera Shakes
Adding camera shake was an essential improvement for the bike ride shots. Without it, the scenes felt too flat and lacked a sense of speed or urgency.
With help from my colleague Hanze in the cohort, we tried a few variations and settled on a simple but effective camera shake setup. This small adjustment made the shots feel much more dynamic.