This project depicts the events that transpired on April 12th 1992 in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict region in Azerbaijan. Based on a true story told to me by a war photographer that wishes not to be named.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region is a conflict area in Azerbaijan in which Armenians took up arms against the Azerbaijani people after the fall of the Soviet-Union. After the fall of the Soviet-Union, Nagorno-Karabakh pronounced itself an independent republic with it's capital named Stepanakert.
The war photographer had told me about the things he had seen whilst working there, how the people treated him and how in return they were able to deal with the ongoing conflict.
In the short period he was there, a lot had transpired. He had been on the frontline witnessing gunfire and dead bodies piled on the street. He was also captured by the Armenian Militia, and transported to the capital of Armenia.
He was a prisoner of war but he in truth was nothing more than a journalist.
One of the stories he had told me was about how the people of Stepanakert showed him an endless amount of hospitality and kindness, sharing with him the stories of their lives and inviting him for dinner and to share cognac with them.
During this time he noticed how unbothered the people of Stepanakert were by the conflict.
During this time he noticed how unbothered the people of Stepanakert were by the conflict.
The assignment was to visualize an interview we had done. I found this quite the challenge, and had to treat the story with care and respect.
I had set out to create a 3D environment in Blender in which the story would take place. Initially I had started out with modelling a room in which the photographer would speak with the resident of the area, but as I was working very hard I took the risk to increase the scope of the project and created a street scene as well.
I started off in the block-out phase, in which I loosely placed around cubes that represented objects I would later model more carefully. I did this to create a lay-out and composition that appealed to me.
Afterwards I started working out the shapes and elements like the chairs, the table and the cupboards. Meanwhile I also started playing with the feel of the room using different lighting techniques. The scene takes place at night, so I wanted it to be very moody and the only light sources being the moon and the candle on the diner table.
I'm really proud of how everything turned out as I made every single object from scratch!
In the end, I was graded two 8's and a 9. I was pleased with the feedback from my teachers, and felt extremely honored to have been able to record the story from the photographer in the first place.
Thank you so much for viewing the project!
