Character - Designing from Clip 4 - initial thoughts

Clip 4 - 'This is happening, he said he was going to do it and he's doing it now, the most stupendious, the most incredible crime of the century.'

Worlds To Choose from

Petshop
Childrens Entertainment / Clowning
Wildcard?

As far as I can tell it's from, 'The adventures of Sherlock Holmes'(1939) in which "The master sleuth hunts his archenemy Professor Moriarty, who is planning the crime of the century." The man playing Professor Moriarty in this particular reactment is George Zucco.

George Zucco Caricature Possibility

It was made quite clear in the briefing yesterday that we must remove the quote away from where it can be sourced. I believe that I can use the reference from that quote to instead refer to who it was regarding. George Zucco. I reckon I could use him as caricature and although I briefly researched him online I think he has some key features that could distinguish him apart from his co-actors and could breathe life into the basis for animation.

From the two worlds given to me I can connect a crime to both initially in the following ways;

Petshop

• Stealing a pet/food
• Escaping the cage
• Holding up the Clerk
• Murdering the shopkeep?

Children's Entertainment/Clowning

• Stealing a present/celebration food
• Slap-stick (Punch and Judy style)
• Murdering or devouring another character ( Itchy and Scratchy type)
• Age restricted violence?

I will be brainstorming further when I think of more, but I think Caricature is a possibility and if that fails possibly using the key words from the sound clip to exaggerate the character.

Narrative - Man Vs Machine - My initial thoughts

So yesterday we received the brief for the Narrative project, we already have been designated groups and are in the very early stages of drafting ideas and are looking to form a basis for research soon. If you haven't seen my groups blog please defer to here.

The restrictions given for the short animation we were asked to create are as follows;

• A Film Genre
• A Conflict
• An End Sentence
• A Non-Realistic Design Style
• A Stylised Construction Method
• 90 Second Duration

We've also been tasked with adopting roles to mitigate time management and reserve responsibilities for certain areas;

• Animator
• Art Director
• CG Modeller
• Compositor
• Director
• Editor
• Graphic Designer
• Layout Artist ( Cinematographer)
• Lighting Technical Director
• Marketing Manager
• Media Planner
• Producer
• Production Designer (Concept Artist)
• Render Wrangler
• Researcher
• Rigger
• Screenwriter
• Sound Designer
• Storyboard Artist
• Texture Artist

I am fairly certain we can split the 20 roles amongst the four people in the group, I can acknowledge there will be hurdles along the way that may divide the work flow and pause until something is unto scratch. This should be the time we all intervene and come together to make sure we achieve the most desired effect in the time allotted. 

Man Vs Machine

So the conflict we were given yesterday as to what to base the project on was 'Man Vs Machine'. A conflict that is both rich in potential but also includes a lot of areas in my own personal opinion have been explored excessively. I wish to push our group toward originality instead of being based on work that has already been made. If I was to refer to Film and Tv, In my eyes this conflict is often resolved with man realising his mistakes too late and overcoming the odds and defeating machine. Its something thats been battered to death and seems rather cliche and a common trope. 

Instead we should push forward the idea that it is machine which overcomes man. 

To strengthen this idea I would then speak about Stephen Hawking's warnings against artificial intelligence.  “The real risk with AI isn't malice but competence,” Professor Hawking said. “A super intelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals, and if those goals aren't aligned with ours, we're in trouble." you can read the article here for more information.

Examples Taken From Film and TV

So I quickly highlighted some existing examples trying to show what I mean about machine overcoming man. I have included four images, two to explain one route and two to explain another.

In short, 'Ex_Machina' and 'A.I.' are two films that explore the idea of machine out-living man and becoming independent, self preserving things that at some point think themselves as beings of their own. 

'The Six Million Dollar Man' and 'Robocop' are two separate examples that play on the idea that by integrating a damaged host with advanced cybernetics, allows them to achieve things either on par to norm or exceed them exponentially. 

Both examples of the possible routes are interesting and can be explored in-depth in a stylised form. Just finding the appropriate story for the style would no doubt compliment it.

'His Knees Steadied, His Heart Beat Fiercely And He Began To Run Again'

So the above phrase is what we were given to be the ending sentence to our piece. I believe it ties in quite well to our conflict. From this phrase we can base the animation on either the Man or Machine overcoming the other, and becoming independent. Again we could avoid the trope of falling into the obvious and instead explore newer ideas if we but took the risk.

I would like to see;

• A prosthesis attached to a living host that enables them to move or perform to norm or beyond what was anticipated.
• A machine that is somehow oppressed by man and is put beneath them, but once man disappears they can become independent and perform something.
• A machine that ironically creates a man? perhaps their idea of perfect is being inside a body instead of being a data stream.

I think we have a lot of ideas to play around with and I would remind you guys to follow our group blog if you haven't already its here again. All of these ideas can be condensed into a 90 second animation and if you have any insightful ideas or knowledge please comment :)

Adaptation & Professional Practice Part B - Character mood board

 Aziraphale
The angel that chose to safeguard humanity from the forces of evil. He and Crowley are each others opposites and are here to balance the good and evil. Aziraphale dresses quite smartly and is often described to be someone caught in the closet within the library which would hint to the kind of attire he would wear. In this image I've matched him up to some possible connections to his persona and overall characteristics. He is the type of character who would become obsessed with the object matter, the book of prophecies he searches for engrosses all other tasks. A simple book that would be disregarded by others but holds such a significance with the character.

Adam Young
The anti-christ and the centre of the plot, he is given to the hospice by Crowley and is switched into humanities fray. He hasn't been taught of his satanic heritage or his redemption in divine intervention. Adam can unknowingly alter the reality around him to what ever is his choosing. In 'Good Omens' he is said to have more power than Metratron and Beelzebub. The characters I have linked Adam to also have this trait, they can alter minds or realities to their own personal gains.

Crowley
The demon that is the counterpart of Aziraphale on Earth. He is here to carry out Beelzebubs plans for the end of days. He loves being evil but through his many years on Earth has come to realise that he wishes to save it from the coming rapture. A demon that aspires to be an angel in his actions by altering the plans for the apocalypse. Unlike Adam, Crowley accepts his demonic side and uses it to alter small things around him and cast 'magic'. He is seen to be charming but blunt in his conversations, dresses smartly and has link to the serpent in the garden of eden.

Adaptation & Professional Practice Part A - Tutorial Feedback Week 1

Feedback
After consulting with Alan on the results of my '10 steps to becoming a morning person' research and findings, I have progressed further into my development. Alan agreed that the list need alterations and re-phrasing here and there. He is a draft of that revised list of steps;

1. Go to sleep at the same time everyday
2. Start slowly (Alarm)
3. Expose yourself to natural light
4. Be hygienic
5. Eat a breakfast
6. Caffeine
7. No gadgetry
8. Listen to your favorite music
9. Persevere and be realistic (Composure)
10. JGU&FDI

Colours
Also for style we discussed the application of using breakfast cereal colours to create a consistent flow of 'morningness' in the audience. Each colour would represent the step perhaps, I shall be looking into cereal types and seeing if I can connect them to the steps.

So for example the colours for steps 2 and 3 could be light oranges to whites, because it is the rise of the morning, sun rise and would remind the audience breakfast could potentially also come near.

Fonts
Alan gave me the idea of using the fonts and colours in collaboration with one another, maybe even base the size and style of font on the shapes of the cereal I could be using. Or the other option would be to negate from this and choose a consistent font style that can be used throughout. But I must take into consideration the styles of the colour and animation usage or they wont integrate properly.

Next Step
From this point I must try to fit some colours and shapes of cereals into the steps, plan each step on screen whilst consulting with Alan. Finally the animation style needs to start developing in after effects with some playblasts of examples and the direction I want to take.

Adaptation & Professional Practice Part B - Novel Ideas

The Martian - Andy Weir

 

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first man to die there.

It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he's stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to get him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

 

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett

 

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.
And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . . 

 



 

Steelheart - Brandon Sanderson

 

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart - the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning - and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

 

Misspent Youth - Peter F. Hamilton

It is forty years in the future and, following decades of research and trillions of euros spent on genetics, Europe is finally in a position to rejuvenate a human being.

The first subject chosen for treatment is Jeff Baker, the father of the datasphere (which replaced the Internet) and philanthropist extraordinaire. After 18 months in a German medical facility, the 78-year-old patient returns home looking like a healthy 20-year-old.

"Misspent Youth" follows the effect his reappearance has on his friends and family -- his young ex-model wife Sue, his teenage son Tim, and his long term pals, themselves all pensioners, who are starting to resent what Jeff has become.

 



Bibliography

 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12067.Good_Omens?from_search=true

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17182126-steelheart?from_search=true

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45248.Misspent_Youth

 

 

 



Please VOTE! - Adaptation & Professional Practice Part A

I need help making a decision on what to do for this project, I have chosen three ideas to be taken forward from the pitch feedback today. The aim is to create a 30 second to 2 minute animation to detail the steps to become (Blank). So the three ideas I have are;

1. 10 Steps to Becoming a Ninja
2. 10 Steps to Becoming a morning person
3. 10 Steps to Becoming a serial killer

Please comment on this post as I'm stuck for choice Ill be making a decision shortly.

Adaptation and Professional Practice Part A - Pitch Feedback

From the pitch for the adaptation project part A, I received positive feedback on quite a few of my ideas with nods and hints to what could be successful if conveyed across to the audience correctly. The ideas that stuck to the pitch audience were;

• A morning person
• A ninja
• A serial killer
• A wizard
• A healthier person
• A planet/star

Easy

A planet/star
Healthier person

In process of elimination I will try to single out the ideas I feel would be difficult to lengthen out 10 individual steps to produce the said theme. I think that the planet, star and healthier person have quite a variety of factual knowledge and statistics and I feel that they would be easy to detail 10 steps successfully.



Moderate

A wizard
A serial killer

The wizard and the serial killer ideas both have the potential to become great info graphics if done correctly and the tones suiting the themes that jive them up in a way that compliments them both. I can see the serial killer idea being quite comical if I presented it in a dark humorous way, for example the bodies being disposed of in a collage of different ways. has potential to be controversially dark but with a humorous undertone. The Wizard idea would reflect on learning incantations and brewing potions, it would be a fixed info graphic without relevance as the theme itself is absolute fiction.

 

 

Difficult

 

 

A morning person

A ninja

 

 

I feel that these two would be the most challenging of the six ideas I've taken time to reflect upon, again both have much potential but I don't know if I can stretch the steps out equally over the areas. As relevant as the morning person idea is to the audience, it needs to ring true with the majority of them. More research would be needed here in my own opinion, creating a questionnaire about the theme could help. A ninja on the other hand could be comical and also cliché as the trope is for a ninja to hide in the shadows and strike enemies with precision. They also reside in temples in the mountains somewhere. The danger is not evenly distributing the steps to a progressive climb, at the moment I'm restricted to about 6 steps on this before reaching the end.

 

 

 

The Verdict

 

I am drawn more to the ninja and the serial killer ideas, I know the strengths and weaknesses but there may still be some inclines on the way. I also see the promise of the 'morning person' theme and I think with the right research and progression, its the winner here for the time being but it being from the off, I want to keep my options open to the ninja and serial killer ideas also. I may look into research into these themes and then cross reference them to my own findings and ideas and make a more executive decision then.

 

 

 





Character: The Fabric Characters

I hope to have multiple characters for this project and a variety of them in the rooster. The style needs to be round and inviting to all audiences so I think simplistic colourful designs are crucial with this. My characters will be fabric based and so will my environment and so I will list some of these materials and bullet point suggesting possible designs.

 

 

Cotton

• Fluffy
• Spongy
• Soft
• Bouncy
• White (Snow?)

 Silk

• Luxurious
• Delicate/Precise
• Sleek
• Glossy
• Satin
• Purple?

Wool

• Yarn
• Fur
• Fleece
• Pelt
• Fuzz
• Brown/Cream?

Denim

• Jeans
• Blue?
• Rough
• Stitching
• Bumpy

Leather

• Skin
• Rind (Cow-Western?)
• Hide
• Black-Light Browns?
• Biker

Velcro

• Clingy
• Extremely rough
• Sticky
• Bristly
• Black?

 *Experiment drawings

 

*Rough plan of a track idea. It could be for the silk characters home track, based on a birdseye view of an existing track with the alterations done on the selected areas.

Character: Ideas from Justin's Tutorial

Yesterday I had my tutorial with Justin in regards to what my three given cards could formulate in terms of environment, characters and mechanisms to work the game. I have decided to create the game as a side scrolling action-adventure plat-former. This can be handheld or even taken to console. Played online.

Fabric

We discussed that the fabric could be the character of the game, the fabric could help represent the different factions that will be pitted against each other. Perhaps there can be alternate clothing for different races that almost define the characters. I need to make it obvious that the three cards I've been given have been chosen for the three areas, they need to speak aloud to themselves.

Result: The fabric will represent the characters that will be included in the game, the attires can indicate the level of player that is playing the game. A silent progression system so it could be;

Green - Yellow - Orange - Red - Purple - Blue

As the colours slide from left to right so could the level of detail into the characters fabrics. Green being ragged and falling apart and Blue being the most desired and aesthetically pleasing. This in turn would help entice players to level up from the clothing and onto higher levels. Perhaps the fabric are pickups for completing tasks? 

 

Vehicles

 

 

The vehicles could be the mechanism that drives the game, gets the characters from A-B. Perhaps a variety if possible and this could also compliment the environment if synced correctly. What if the vehicles were dependent on certain terrains? This would open up multiple levels that could be accessed by the player; Sea, Land, Sky, Space, Underwater? It could be a progressive feature also because if we were to look at Sonic the Hedgehog or Super Mario, they usually start in a green colourful world and the evil is represented in much darker colours and found to be darker toward the end levels. Perhaps Space could be that darkness to conquer in the final battle.


Result: The vehicles will be the mechanism that will pit the player against the environment. The vehicles will reflect the terrain perfectly, with power-ups being accessed by a leveling tree to upgrade your vehicles. You can customize the look of the vehicle, adding extra weaponry or outfitting it with armor that would be gained from completing tasks. 


Mystery

Mystery could formulate the environment. When you are playing a faced paced arcade plat-former you can never know what is coming next, so perhaps the game design should be a side scrolling plat-former. Also creating a surrealism in these levels could emphasis the fact this game looks to push the expectations of players aside. Perhaps an indicator in the environment to show that a new enemy is nearby? Or maybe no indication what the player must do, this would lead to the player solving the puzzle to 'Open the door with the golden key'.

Result: The mystery will make the game a sides scrolling action adventure game, you wont know what is ahead of you until you move to that position and reveal the camera there. This would help unveil enemies that would upset the character in there quest and perhaps detain them. The mystery could highly influence the story also, perhaps something is amiss in this world and coins must be obtained to power something to defend an area from attack?

Next is to reflect from these thoughts, tweak them and of course receive feedback before producing a story that will drive all these aspects together.

Character: Inital Ideas

Mystery

• Suspense
• Tension
• Shadows
• Dark
• Problem solving
• Conundrum
• Riddle
• Secrecy
• Cryptogram
• Oracle
• Brainteaser

Vehicles

• Mechanism
• Automobile
• Invention
• Transportation
• Steampunk
• Transformer
• Piston
• Generator
• Turbine

Fabric

• Fiber
• Texture
• Cloth
• Material
• Cotton
• Outfit
• Attire
• Uniform
• Clean

Fantastic Voyage - Influence Map

My influence is derived heavily from a gaming 'techno' HUD that will annotate all key actions that would be taking place in my animation, the actual style and forms of my characters would be quite simplistic but rich with design and will want to grasp the viewers attention on it. The way I am hoping to present is like a blueprint mold that will animate the entire life cycle of the Plasmodial.

Fantastic Voyage - Chosen Bio-scientific Scenario

Fantastic Voyage - Chosen Scenario

From Script to Screen - Clown + Claims adjuster Influence maps

From Script to Screen : Forming a story (PostOGR)

After the feedback I received from my OGR I have taken into consideration my tutor's advice and I believe that my environment has indeed fallen away from the 'Joke shop' theme. The scare at the end I think will help round off the experience but I think this jokeshop should have once resided in a space, that is now occupied by living space or storage of some kind.

My tutor advised to introduce a character into a property situated in a terrace of houses and from their drop in strange happenings like novelty items appearing or laughter in the dead of night. Then reveal through the use of a old cine-cinema 8mm camera the truth of the matter. I wish to incorporate these ideas and my own to establish a new story.

So I brainstormed a few ideas of my own and they are as follows..

1. A theater owner opens a new highly anticipated film that is based on a mad clown that is supposedly possessed by a demon. He puts it to play and sits in the auditorium. We are put into one of the scenes of the film where we see the clown scare a woman to death in a joke shop enclosed nightmare and we cut back to the theater with the clown seated behind the owner.
2. An estate agent is tasked with shifting an old derelict property and she takes photos of the exterior and notices a figure in the downstairs window of one of the photos taken. She enters the property and examines the room for the intruder and she is welcomed by the burned out joke shop ruin and she hears laughter from upstairs. She goes up the stairs and the figure follows her silently up the stairs, tele-porting around the property and she is trapped by the reflection of her seeing the ghost in a mirror knowing her haunter is right behind her.
3. A father and wife are on a sofa mourning the loss of their child and they view old pictures through a camera output to TV and they cry over the joy of seeing their child once more. His 5th birthday party at a joke emporium was the last birthday he would have. Slowly a figure appears in an image and seems to be stalking their child, almost ghost like until finally the figure is right behind the child. The parents look at each other in shock and we the audience see the ghosts of the Clown and son standing behind the sofa.

These kind of ideas are the general direction I want to take my idea. 

Feedback welcome! What do you prefer? What should be added or taken away :)

Soundscape 'Circus' idea notes

Fergie and I produced some notes for my own consideration for planning ahead for my soundscape project, he helped me understand some of the key components needed to produce successful sound design;

• Timbre- the character or the quality of a musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity.
• Volume- the amount of space that a object occupies or that is enclosed within a container. 
• Foley-sound effects after shooting a scene, i.e. the raw character sounds

Soundscape 'Circus' Idea

In preparations to diving into sound design I had a chat with Fergie in regards to who this scene is actually about? In previous projects I have focused on the story aspects strongly but with this project the sound plays a vital role to its strength. For example the clown in the foreground with the open hands could have very light clothing with a high frequency of sound in his movements, so a soft timbre would be made to compensate for this.

So the story could be about a small child that climbs onto the stage to retrieve a object. Because we have chosen a child we can set the tone for what kind of volumes of sound could be produced. Are the sounds meant to scare the child or to invite him into the environment. The Circus itself could have multiple layers for the environment, tent, people and animals.

I think the child would be invited in the environment, so a soft tone would be created to show this. Also if we observe the actual colour palette it seems quite joyful but it does include almost every colour, so perhaps some of my characters could be happy e.g. the woman and horse and some be miserable like the horse on the podium and the dancing man.

I would like the resolve of the animatic to be the child's participation in the act and it could help bring forth the original key frame within the scene. From an audiences point of view we can tell that the characters are moving in unison and the act fits together. Also the actual placement of the scene is vital to some of the sounds. For example high up above in the tent could have a very high frequency of sound and falling down could be showing the height, like piano keys going up in notes when running upstairs.

  
From here I wish to create a more reformed story and think about some of the sounds I will need and create a road map of my journey from start to finish for this project.

H.G. Wells 'Time Machine' Extract One Analysis

In the first extract we are introduced to the Time travellers workshop and study, extensive use of descriptive writing detailing all the little components that make up the scene. This is the first time the Time traveller has actually used the device so an obvious recording of the time (10'clock)is advised. He first travels from 10.01 to 15.30 in an instant and he describes Mrs Watchett as a blur of motion and even the snail blazing past on the floor. Interesting aspects that were followed up in the original film. This extract is vital to introducing the traveller, machine, workshop and the journey between A to B. I think from my mind map and highlighted analysis I can produce a piece for this extract. I am hoping to create a piece for each extract.