Character Modelsheet Re-do Day 07

CHARACTER MODELSHEET

I was sick over the weekend and yesterday. So I wasn't able to do any work...

I will stay late today and catch up, I am still feeling a little sick but a lot better.

I redid the character modelsheet rough traditionally, and am working on it digitally now. I have trouble with the face. I sketched it out, traditionally, figuring out how his nose works. I did a lot of attempts of getting the character's proportions right and according to the style. I looked up the "The Night we were Kings" Modelsheets and they helped a lot. 

Character Head Sketches

ROUGH MODELSHEET 02

 Hopefully final character turn around

His quarter view looks weird, I will go over it tomorrow. 

Group Project Character Modelsheet, Monster and Girl Day 05

CHARACTER MODELSHEET

We went over the character concepts I did yesterday, and I started a mdoelsheet for the Main Character, I mainly sorted out the shapes (I had many tries...) and Liam was able to do a rough quarter view of the girl and a back view for her. My plan for the weekend is to get both modelsheets done, and color them in the style we want them to look.

We will probably have the characters without outlines (like a lot of Gobelins animations), and add affects to the Beast (his ink main) later.

We all decided what we want to achieve by the end of the weekend (by Monday). I will do the modelsheets over the weekend, Liam will do a rough storyboard, Danielle will finish the look frame as well as a Beast modelsheet, Zack is doing assets (3D) for the circus, and Jaron is working in Forrest assets.

MODELSHEET

MONSTER 

(drew the monster for Danielle so she knows what I was thinking about for its design)

 

Group Project Animatic and Character Concepts Day 4

STORY

We went over the story/script with Danielle and she said she liked all of it except for a few minor things, we changed them and looked up reference for the Ink scene. Jaron found really good reference for the Ink and I found the scene from Harry Potter where he sees the memories of Dumbledore meeting Voldemort for the first time. The ink morphs into the memory/scene and we can use that as reference for our animation.

We went over the Characters as well, what we like about the designs and what we don't. Liam did some concepts for the Girl Character and for the Guy character.

I also had the idea to make the fur collar a feather collar, but Oana and Liam said that it wouldn't match with the lion feel to the Girl Character. I think I just liked the look of them too much. I tried it out on the monster but I think the Fur would look better.

ANIMATIC

I continued working on the Storyboard thumbnails and put them in the animatic to see how it would look like (for timing as well). I didn't know how to make the monster fully visible when everything around becomes fully 2D. When I watched the animatic, I had an idea to make the beast come out of the trees one last time but instead of disappearing behind a tree again, it's still visible, making it obvious it is fully there now, I added the pounce but Liam suggested making it a low angle, which I like a lot better. Liam will work on the low angle tonight, I will try and get some more concepts donw based on what everyone liked/disliked.

CHARACTER CONCEPTS

I tried out doing some character concepts based on the feedback I got for the characters. I tried matching it a little more for the style we will be going for. We looked at an animation short called: "The Night we were Kings", we all liked the style of the noses and the shapes for the bodies.
I added rough colors to my sketches, just working out what colors work and what colors don't work. (I just realized they're pretty much in the same pose!)

Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRsrwumQ - ref for beast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GPS8Xe8wIU - ref for ink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voM7T1cd20w - ref for beast

https://vimeo.com/32517749 - style

Group Project Rough Outline of Story, Thumbnails and Animatic Day 3

ROUGH OUTLINE

We continued to discuss the story today, and were able to get a rough outline of the story. We talked about the different scenes and how we could improve on them, but keeping the main idea the same.
We all came up with many different ideas for the same shot, which was great! We found a way to incorporate both ideas or to get a look we all want.( it was so cool!)
I sent the script outline to Danielle and Zack to have a look at and to come up with a few ideas themselves (or if they're happy with it or not) and make changes in the morning.

OUTLINE

We see a Tree in the foreground with a poster stapled on it (the title of the short movie) and in the background is a Circus Tent. The foreground is slightly in focus and then the circus becomes in focus. We hear applause (from an audience) and then a sudden gasp. We see a man burst out of the Circus tent, the camera tracks him, and a bigger tree (closer to camera) swipes past, transitioning the 3D character into 2D. (the trees are still 3D)
As the man keeps running through the forest, the Beast is swiped on and off through the trees. The trees start to gradually become 2D as the man gets deeper into the forest. The beast seems to get closer and closer as the 2D becomes more consistent with the background, and eventually leaps for the man, he looks behind him and sees the beast leaping for him, he stumbles backward and the beast overshoots him. The camera stays with the beast as it slides along the ground, catching itself. The beast looks around, and we see from its point of view that the man is running in the distance, deeper into the forest.
It cuts back to the man running, but he starts to get out of breath and slows down. He desperatley looks for a tree to hide behind, and sees a thick tree which he hides behind. We see the man hiding behind the tree. The man peeks behind him and sees that the beast has dissapeared (the camera stays with the man, following what he sees), but we see that the beast is on the other side of the tree, getting closer (swirling from one side of the tree to the other). The man decides to take another peek (on the same side he peeked from before) and the monster is right infront of him. He freaks out, starts to run but in his rush he stumbles and starts to tumble. The shots are very fast as he tumbles. The camera blackens and then we see a point of view shot (from his eyes) as he opens his eyes and see the trees curving like a circus tent. He gets up and starts to brush off the dirt but stops midway, as something catches his eye. He gets up properly and squints his eyes.
Over the shoulder shot where the camera pans around the edge of the clearing looking inward and the mirror appears into view. (it was lined up with the man before)
He starts to walk towards it, puzzled. Once he reaches the mirror, he touches it with his finger, ink seems to come out of his hands, but in the mirror and foms into the beast.
The camera zooms into the monster's eye (it is a very pale blue colour) and starts to zoom out, as it zooms out we see that the eye of the monster is the iris of the Girl and as it zooms out she becomes fully visible. (transition to circus scene) – the rest of the circus scene is the same as the storyboard-
It zooms back out of the man's eye, he blinks again, his expression angry/guilty. He starts to turn away, but stops midway. He looks at his hands, the side that the mirror is, his one hand is in a fist while the other hand which is facing toward the forest is open. He looks at them, trying to figure out what he should do/which fate he wants/ He clenches his other hand that was open before and looks toward the mirror, determined.
He anticipates and starts to run towards the mirror, he leaps into the mirror and catches the trapeze bar in the circus. -the rest of the ending is the same as the storyboard, but this time he has an expression of acceptance -

ANIMATIC

I tried out drawing a really rough storyboard for the start scene with the circus and the poster, as Jaron couldn't quite picture how the Beast would flicker on and off, I showed it to him and he agreed on the idea and liked it :)

I decided to make it into an Animatic to try out the pacing (the beginning needs to be longer) and how the camera movements would look and if they would work.

CHARACTER SKETCHES

Did a few more character sketches, tried out different buns for the girl character, I think I strayed too much from the "Lion" look though, whereas I tried making the Guy character more "Zebra" like, adding a longer nose and sharper eyes. I think I like the hair on him though.

Group Project Story and Thumbnails Day 2

GROUP PROJECT: STORY

BACKSTORY

This morning we went over the story/storyboard. I had the idea to come up with back stories for the main character and the girl, just so we get a better understanding of the characters personalities. We decided on making the two characters siblings, the boy was the first born and got all the attention of the parents but as soon as his sister was born, she was in the "spotlight". She started to surpass him in everything, and became the parents' favorite. The siblings had the usual sibling competition, but their levels got too vast that she would always get all the things he wanted. (she got the good end of the stick) The two siblings joined the circus (the parents hardly keep in contact, and if they do they keep in contact with the daughter). As they joined the circus, they start off as a sibling act, the brother thinks he finally has a chance to be equals with his sister or even to surpass her. But as the act continues, the crowd loves the daughter more and changes from a sibling act to a single act. (he now is only the assistant and she is the main act).

We pin-pointed it down to:

Guy Character

• Courageous
• Thinks he always gets the short end of the stick 
• Fed up
• Aggressive
• Loner

Girl Character

• Proud
• Selfish
• Show off
• Know it all
• Confident
• Cheerful

Liam described it as the "Ying and Yang", they are both opposites and contrast each other.

STORY

We started discussing the start scene, as the Industry feedback said to change the intro to tie in with the ending more. We bounced off lots of ideas one another, and asked Frans to have a look at our ideas as well. Jaron showed us a short pixar movie called "Prestro", where the intro starts with a poster of the magician and it explains everything the audience needs to know. We all liked this idea and started thinking about ideas to incorporate the poster (and title of the short) into the intro. 

Jaron came up with this really cool idea of the poster stamped to a tree (intro in 3D) and the circus in the background. We then hear applause and then a sudden shock from the audience (in the tent) and then the main character bursts out of the tent. (Frans suggested the idea of the audience sound effects)

The camera track the main character running, and another tree swipes the transition of 3D to 2D.

Zack had also a really cool idea of the main character running, and Danielle suggested making the monster appear off and on behind him chasing him, the trees swiping the monster on and off as the camera tracks the main character. We incorporated both of the ideas by the main character running through the forest right away (no vast blank space) and the monster keeps flickering through the trees until it becomes fully visual and chasing him. (this already gives a feeling of "is it real or not?")

As the high pace chase continues (cutting to extreme close ups, intense), the main character eventually hides behind a tree, we see the monster behind him looking for him. The main character decides to gap it, the monster looking his way (very animal like, predator like). But as he runs he starts tripping and starts tumbling until he tumbles into the clearing. The beast stops (the trees are too thick for the beast to get through) and starts walking around the clearing (predator like) looking at the main character (figuring out another way in).
We are also staying with the Vintage look for the circus/characters now.

Liam also suggested making the circus "Russian" which I think would work really well, as the fur the woman wears ties it in as well as the safety precaution would not be used. Russians are also quite strict, and devil-dare which would suit.

Did some character concepts as well tonight, I tried making the guy and the girl look more like siblings and russian. I also had a go at the Beast, I added the collar, arm and leg collars as well to match it with the girl character better. I looked at the "Beast" from the first episode of "Over the garden wall". I tried making the Zebra stripes more wrapped around, I looked at the Zebra patterns from Martin off Madagascar.

Group Project "The Chase" Day 1

GROUP PROJECT

Wohoo! Started our first day working on our group projects! We all went over the schedule for the 16 weeks we will have to work on our project. We also started a weekly schedule, to make sure everyone is on task, and knows what they have to do when.

We all decided to do some character concepts first, working on a more defined style. We also discussed the backgrounds and how the 3D and 2D will work. Oana suggested making the circus scene 3D and the dream state 2D, but we all agreed that it would look too different.We though 3D backgrounds would look good with 2D characters (like Gorillaz). I continued planning our schedule, and thought about assigning each 2D animator one character (eg. I animate the boy, Liam animates the Beast and Danielle animated the Girl).

CHARACTER AND BACKGROUND  DESIGNS

With the industry feedback, we played around with the idea of giving the main character a Mohawk, and making the Zebra stripes more "Zebra like". I tried having a go on the Main Character, Danielle had a go on the Girl Character, Liam had a go on the "Beast" and Jaron tried out the Dream state.

Jaron had the amazing! idea of making the trees hands (reaching, fist) either as a whole tree or the branches having hands. His concepts looked amazing and inspired me to keep working on my own designs!

I also suggested making the Era more "modern", kind of like in "Madagascar" where they use bright lights in the circus and make the circus tent look really appealing and abstract in a way. My group liked the idea and we all tried out different ideas.

Danielle also had a really cool idea of making the Girl African. Her designs are looking really good, we also played around with the idea of giving her an Afro, and integrating the afro with the monster.

 3D AND 2D INTEGRATION 

After Lunch Oana and Frans talked to us about the 3D and 2D collaboration. Oana said that we should still do the circus scene in 3D, and showed us some examples of how it could work. After seeing the examples we all had a better idea of what they were thinking about for this project.

Oana showed us a Short called "Meet Buck", and Frans showed us "Salesman Pete". They both combine 3D and 2D and do it so well that it is hard to tell the difference when they do switch.

We all agreed on making the circus scene 3D and having the dream state 2D.

Jaroun is going to make a 3D Hand tree in Maya and tomorrow we will try out painting the texture and putting it on the 3D to test out what look we want to go for.

CHARACTER SKETCHES

MAIN CHARACTER

I tried out doing some sketches for the main character, girl and beast. I tried making the Zebra stripes look less like a Tiger's stripes, I think they are still too sharp and I need to make the stripes wrap around. I like the idea of giving the guy a mohawk, I looked at some reference for modern mohwaks (I have no idea what that hairtsyle is called). 

(Scanner at home stopped working :'(, going to scan these in properly tomorrow)

GIRL CHARACTER 

Tried out giving the girl and Afro, and other hairstyles. I like the idea of the afro and messy hair. I also tried out fur collars but also gold collars. I tried making her eyes more lion like, I looked at Lion images and tried simplifying it. I also had a play around with fur arm bands. I thought it looked too "Eskimo-like", and stirred away from it a little. I will have another go at it later though.

BEAST SKETCHES

Tried out giving the Beast an afro as a mane, and also giving it the fur collar. Tried out matching the beast more with the girl.

Performance Study - Reflection and Exposure Sheet (20/03/2015)

REFLECTION

I wrote my Reflection for my Performance Study today. I thought about how the dialogue helped the actions and if I would want to include dialogue in my pitch.

SECTION ONE: CONSIDER THE PERFORMANCE STUDY

Does the dialogue add to or detract from the action and why? The dialogue adds to the action because without the dialogue, the context wouldn't be clear. The characters looks to the left and complains about getting a smaller glass, without the dialogue is wouldn't be clear what he is complaining about. The actions and dialogue help bring out the personality of the character of my story, better than if there was no dialogue. His tone is passive aggressive (making the question sound like a statement), which shows that he is certain of himself. It shows that the main character is very self-centred and always thinks he gets the short end of the stick. When he sees that “she” got a bigger glass, his expressions changes to envy and anger, it shows that the character is jealous. He gestures his hands and slams down the glass, as if to say that what happened is unacceptable (making a bigger deal about it than it actually is).

SECTION TWO: CONSIDER THE PITCH PACK

Did you include dialogue in your short story pitch?

I did not include dialogue in my short story pitch.

Would dialogue improve the impact of your proposed pitch, and why?

I don't think dialogue would improve the impact of my proposed pitch, because my pitch idea is more atmospheric and I think dialogue would detract from the mood I want to go for. The actions the characters make are clear enough so that dialogue wouldn't be needed. I have to think of the saying “A picture paints a thousand words” so I think sometimes you can add more to the story without dialogue.

If you had no dialogue, what kind of impact on clarity and flow would occur?

With no dialogue the impact on clarity and flow would mean that all of the actions have to be very clear to the audience. If the character is feeling sad the audience has to feel that through the emotions through the acting techniques of the character rather than through the words.

Would you revise your pitch to include or remove dialogue, and why?

I would not revise my pitch to include dialogue, because I like the idea of the audience figuring out what is happening just with the animation/movement. I also think the story is clear enough without dialogue.

Performance Study (19/03/2015)

PERFORMANCE STUDY

I continued working on my Performance Study, focusing on the dialogue now. I asked one of my classmates to listen to the dialogue and to see if the mouth shapes work.

I asked Frans to have a look at my work, and he said his head movements was too slow, and that he should slow into the keyframe and then slow into the anticipation. He also suggested, isntead of ENN going profile to the left twice, making him glance first. I think this works really well because it makes the second time he looks to the left stand out.

Here is the before and after:

BEFORE

AFTER

48 HOUR

We also had a meeting for the 48 hour, and me, Liam and Eli talked to the people who are interested and showed them what styles we are going for the animation. I also did some sketches so they get an idea of how they can mix different styles together to create a unique one.

Performance Study and "The Chase" (18/03/2015)

Performance Study

I continued working on my fourth rough pass, I changed the proportions to match ENN more and also added more expressions/face. I worked on the dialogue as well, finding out the mouth shapes and movement. I found that ENN's face shrinks and gets bigger throughout the animation, as well as the body. I will fix those things tomorrow.

"THE CHASE"

Today I found out what group I am and who is in my group. We had a meeting with Oana and Frans and talked about the animation and aiming high. We all had a meeting after, figuring out what each others strengths are and how we will schedule everything. It was really cool and I am so happy with my group :) I'm looking forward to next week!

Performance Study Animation (17/03/2015)

ANIMATION

I continued working on my Performance Study animation this morning. I continued working on my 3rd rough pass, I also tried out another acting technique, but I think I liked my second idea better. I tried incorporating the pointing when he says "SHE" but I think there is not enough emphasize on the "She" and more on the "Glass". I just focused on when the dialogue comes in, I made his movements less aggressive but I think it doesn't quite match the character, so I decided to stick with my third rough pass.

SECOND GESTURE

I continued working on my fourth rough pass, and started my fifth. In my fifth I want to add expressions and make it more on model (ENN).

I changed the timing of his right arm, so it doesn't go down at the same time as his left arm.I might change the timing of the arms in the last bit of the animation as they both move at the same time, might just change the timing a little.

FOURTH ROUGH PASS

FIFTH ROUGH PASS (STARTED)

My Story also got picked for the top 6!!!!!!!!! SO I WILL BE ANIMATING IT :D SO EXCITED!!

Performance Study (16/03/2015)

PERFORMANCE STUDY

Today I worked on our second Assessment, "Performance Study". I was able to get a few sketches down on what I want the character to be doing in my animation.

I also tried out mouth shapes, matching them in the dialogue and seeing if they work or not.

I tried out 2 different acting techniques and found out I liked my second one the best. I defined it more on my second rough pass, and started working on my third. 

GESTURE

SECOND ROUGH PASS

THIRD ROUGH PASS

Pitch Pack (12/03/2015)

PITCH PACK

I woke up earlier today to work on my pitch pack in the morning, and was able to submit it by 9:30.

I presented my Pitch Pack today, I think it went pretty well. I showed the animatic first, and then explained what it was about and the metaphors/symbols. I forgot to say that I wanted to deceive the audience into thinking the main character is heroic by his appearance.

I really liked all of the ideas other students came up with, they were all very good.

I especially liked Bryn, Andrew, Zack, Gino, Rumi, Corianne and Leigh.

Thinking about the time we will be committing for the project, I thought about the idea/characters/style.

I like Bryn's idea because it is very comedic and would be fun to animate. I like the different characters, and how they would be animated differently. Having the characters flat but giving them depth through their animation is such a cool idea, and I think it would be fun/challenging to animate.

I like Andrew's idea because I like the creepy/cute mood about it. Dealing with death but making light and dark at the same time. I especially like the style he chose for the story: Tim Burton inspired. It would be challenging to animate but so cool.

I like Zack's idea because I like the idea of how another person can encourage you to keep going or pick yourself up again, and I think we all have been there and can all relate. I also really like 101 Dalmatians style, so yeah.

I like Gino's one because it has a nice message, superheroes are all around us, and they're our friends/family. I really liked the style he went for (Up/Lilo and Stitch). I also fell in love with his character (sorry Gino), his design is so appealing,cute and clumsy. He would be so much fun to animate.

I liked Rumi's idea because I liked the twist at the end, and I think it was very deep and meaningful and it made me want to watch more. I liked how this story was more of a love story with a sad ending.

I liked Corianne's idea because I like how she used the japanese inspired foxes and made it quite meaningful with the statues at the end. I liked the designs of the foxes and animating it would be fun and challenging. I also think it would be great to study foxes and animating animals for a change, learning how to animate animals.

I liked Leigh's idea because it was very meaningful and sweet. Animating the floating and the monsters would be a lot of fun, and I liked the idea of combining both medias, 3D and 2D. 

I was a little mad at the tutors after school when I saw that for those people who hadn't finished today still had a chance to submit their work tomorrow. They still have a chance to get picked, and their work to be looked at by industry. I think this is very unfair for those people who worked hard to get their work done by today. Frans said that they get an extra day because of technical difficulties, but if they had told me I had till tomorrow to get my work done, I would have worked harder on my pitch pack (made it look nicer) and animatic. If me and a lot of other people were able to get it done by today (even with the fire alarm going off yesterday) then it is the others fault for not submitting it on time. Last year, our college wasn't very set on deadlines and Oana/Frans made it very clear that this year there are no deadlines to be missed, so I worked really hard to get it done on time. I think this is really unfair! :(

Storyboard Finished! And Pitch Pack! (11/03/2015)

Storyboard

Finally finished my storyboard this morning, I showed my panels to Frans and he suggested little things I can add that would make it flow nicer. I added more expressions for when "Demetrius" sees what the Beast showed him, and made the end more obvious that he doesn't want to let her fall this time by adding a tighter grip at the end and his expression more proud/glad he got the chance to change it.

Animatic

I also did my Animatic today, I wanted to animate it but I ran out of time, I put it together how I would see the timing and was able to fit it into 2 minutes. I showed it to Frans and he suggested making the transition from the monster like the Monsters face transitions into the circus (kind of like in the movie "The Fall", the transitions scenes). I thought it was a really cool idea and will keep it in mind for other ideas!

I tried making the timing so that the beginning (the chase) is very fast paced and slows down in the forest and mirror scene, near the end it picks up on speed again, and slows down at the very end.

Pitch Pack

I started working on my Pitch Pack today! I was able to almost complete it, I did the schedule sheet, and some layout in InDesign, I will come in early tomorrow and fix up little things and check that I have everything that I need to submit. I just need to do the cover sheet, and the Pitch Pack out nicely.

I might also write down me Que cards to help me present my Pitch Pack tomorrow, although I'm sure I will only show my Animatic and maybe present my Logline. I wish i would have had more time to make the Pitch Pack look better...