This is my entry for one of the Academy of Animated Art (AAA) lighting challenges.
It is the result of wanting to improve my skills in story-telling through lighting and learning a new software Katana.

One of the resources for learning look development and lighting in Katana provides the scene of "Hidden people", and as soon as I saw the assets, I thought of combining different assets from the AAA to create a magical-looking set. I created a scene to make the viewer feel magic, love, hope, and peace with the heavily incorporated and emphasized golden tones.

I gave the star a significant role in my scene, as it is an important symbol we see around Christmas. To capture the viewer’s focus, I made the star larger and emphasized its brightness in the observer’s view as compared to the Christmas gnomes.

I also took special care in positioning the camera in a way for the characters to be looking at the star. I like the result of this scene, as the characters are awe-struck by the shine and beauty of the star, like a sign of love and hope.