Background Design

We decided today in our group meeting that we would use the building design for the project instead of the photocopy buildings. We need to go out and take pictures of more buildings so we can make the textures.

De Saturation

Here is a test of the buildings modelled, on a hill and with pavement. With the help of Jim I have also got some tests in De-Saturation and below that a soft focus.

I think this looks better than the plain B&W images - it has the same sort of feel but has that slight hint of colour that makes the whole thing look more decaying and lifeless. It looks nice and could be a happy medium for us all.
Jim says we should try and 'add some dirt as well with some random decal maps'

Maybe if we slightly model the windows as well so they are a little less flat. Also the soft focus test was done in post production I’m sure if we use the z-depth in Maya it would look a lot better.
It will take some work but I reckon it could be worth it.

Modeling Tests

After some questions rose about whether we would be able to transfer my concept into a 3D model I decided to do a few modelling tests to see what my ‘texture concept’ would look like.

At the moment I think they are looking pretty good. But I'll work on it a bit more over the weekend. If nothing else this test has helped me work out how to model buildings in Maya.

Concept Texture

After the presentation we were given an extra burst of enthusiasm, we decided that rather than stick with what we have, we would spend the next week coming up with everything again – stripping he project right back down to the idea and the map. Not necessarily to re do it, just to see if we could come up with anything better before we made the decision to start production. So we looked at character designs, textures and cameras.

In the end we decided to keep the camera angles the same as we were pretty happy with them, and instead concentrate on the look of the city and the character. I was keen to work on the textures as I still have problems with the photocopy look. So I decided to do a concept picture to show more what I was thinking the buildings should look like.

Above is the Texture concept I came up with. I took pictures of lots of different buildings and took all the worst bits for each. I then layered them into the picture making a building that looks completely derelict and abandoned. I also added a layer of paint to make the picture a little less photo like. I also put the photocopy brick wall into the picture’s I was keen to keep some aspects of the original design in there. I then worked on top of the picture with a pencil effect in Photoshop, so that the character would look more a part of this world if it was animated in 2D. I really like the outcome of this piece and although it took a long time to do, I think it would be worth the effort if the rest of the group agrees to make the town in this way.

I showed this to the rest of the group and they all seemed pretty happy with it. We took a vote on whether we should use my design and it was unanimous. So the real task is seeing if it can be carried off into making other buildings…

Texture Tests

After a chat with Dave we looked at the design of the buildings and thought about combining the other parts of buildings to construct a whole new building.
Above is my test – which obviously doesnt work very well and wouldn’t work in our film. I like the idea of constructing buildings using the worst parts of other buildings.

Animatic

We spent most of today making the final storyboard and animatic so it could be ready for tomorrow’s presentation. The final product gives me great hope and enthusiasm for this project. It looks really good, and the character is even beginning to grow on me.

In the evening we had curry and sorted out the final touches to the presentation and animatic.

Model Placement

Here is an image showing the position of all the cameras in the scene. Today I refined the storyboard ready for an animatic – I used Matt’s model and placed the character around the scene. (As seen below)

Doubts

Looking at this character I am starting to have doubts about it. It has moved away from the small deformed adult sketches we started with and is heading towards a more child like figure. The size of his head and his cheeks just say child to me, its proportions, I feel, don't say small man; which is moving away from our original intentions :/ I’m not sure what the rest of the group feel about this.

Tests

Dan C showed us the above texture test for the buildings with the photocopies, the group seemed pretty happy with it. I’m not to sure really, On first looking at it I thought it was alright, but on reflection I just think it looks a bit like a video game with plane textures rendered onto the buildings. But if everyone else is happy with it I’m willing to go along with them. But I do have me reservations, I think the textures need to be worked into more, maybe with pencil or something so that they have some of the design and style values of the character within them or the character may look out of place.

Here is a test model of what the character might look like if we tried to do it in CG. It looks alright but again I’m not sure. It may be best to animate the character in 2D. But we will have to do some animation tests before we can decide anything.

Textures

We also discussed the design of the backgrounds and what we think the city space should be like. We came up with the idea of using photocopies of old decrepit industrial buildings; they have an interesting texture to them that we feel is right for the scene.

Below is how we could use them as a repeated texture for a street.

Storyboard Pitch

Today we met up and went over the entire storyboard as a group. There were various versions of it that we could have so it did take a while to get through all of the possibilities.

And after a few arguments about moving cameras and reassurances of our abilities we finally came up with the final edit of the storyboard that we were all happy with.

I am very pleased with the outcome, there are an interesting variety of shots and a sense of space and time that I feel comes across very strong and clearly.

Edited Storyboard

A few of us met up again today to add in the extra shots we talked about last night so we could have them in the storyboard ready for our group meeting tomorrow. I then drew the character into the shots and added directions as Dan had done the precious night

I am much happier with the storyboard now, with these new scenes the piece has much more varied shots, and looks more exciting.

Storyboard and Beer

We had a night in tonight to discuss the shots we had come up with and drink beer at my house. We started adding to the pictures directions for the character and talked about what other shots we would need. So far it’s looking quite good. I’m happy with the shots we have, they are a bit to similar and Id like to add in some closer shots of the character, we need to add in more shots so I will suggest more close ups then.

But overall, it’s looking promising.

Storyboard

Dan G gave us these character designs today, Its kind of cute in a gross way. I do like the one saying he is cute to a dead crowJ. The joules are particularly nice; it gives the character an older appearance than his stature suggests.

Dan and I sat down with the map in Maya this evening and tried to sort out some camera shots and a provisional storyboard for the group to look at. In the shots we were choosing we wanted them to be reflective of the character and the narrative. At the same time we also wanted to keep the feeling of time and space, so we didn’t want the audience to feel like they didn’t know where they were – or that time had elapsed. This was a decision that the group as a whole was keen to adhere to, so we were conscious of keeping elements of mise-en-scene and character movements carried through in the next shot, but also keeping in mind the nature of circular narratives, so we had to be careful not to repeat to much of the same angle or movements, such as lifting the camera and putting it back down – as this would bore the audience if we saw the character do it 6 times.

Maya Town

Today I set about making the town in Maya –just simple shapes where the buildings should be so we could work out the sort of shots and the path of our character. When building the town I realised that something was missing from it. Everything was to clean and ‘computerised’ I looked at some pictures of towns and could not think of what it was that made it seem so false. Then I watched a particularly bad CG graduate film from Hull and I realised – there are no hills! Everything was so flat that it just seemed unnatural. As soon as I started adding in curves and hills the map started to look a lot more natural. Not a breakthrough for the field of CG but it has certainly helped me. Also in making a hexagon shaped town it allows interesting angles and slants to buildings that are really interesting.

I have marked on the map the path of our character and what events happen at different locations.

Map design

This evening myself and Dan C cleaned up the storyboard and started planning shots. We then decided it would be beneficial to design the general look of the map and then primitively build it in Maya so we can look around the town and see which shots would work best in each scene. (Below is the sketch of the map.)

Map construction.

We met up today to discuss and refine the storyline and ideas that we had already set out. In all we had 12 scenarios for the narrative. We decided to bring it down to the scenes we were happiest with and the ones we thought work best within the piece.

We chose the following scenarios and we felt they also work best in this order.

1. Dead cat by the side of a skip, starved to death – through the lens a happy kitten (butterfly! Butterfly!)
2. Building – run down 1970s concrete block dwellings, through the camera is the leaning tower of pizza. He looks above the camera at the building, thinks about it, tilts his head slightly and takes the picture.
3. Closed, white washed/boarded up shop fronts turn to busy Parisian Street with café.
4. Tramp and trolley turns to jolly ice cream salesman and happy little child.
5. Gutter full of manky water turns to aerial view of resort.
6. Man sits on the bench, someone comes down and sits next to him, he takes a picture
   

The dead cat scene is first as this would be a clear indication of what was happening and what the character was doing. The last scene we decided to not see the slide of what the man on the bench was, as this would help us lead into the circular narrative. The mechanism in the camera means you see the last slide before you see the new one – so when we see the slide of the kitten come into place, we will first see the previous slide – which could relate to the man on the bench. This would give the circular narrative of our film much more meaning as it suggests as we had thought that the character is in an ongoing cycle, so in effect he could know what is the next slide coming in the camera and be looking for an object that would best fit that slide.

Above is a pre-visualisation storyboard.

We also decided to think about the layout of the film and where the character would be walking. We came up with the idea that the map should also be circular to reflect the narrative. Through this design it would be possible to see other points in the film in the background of all the other shots, helping to give a sensation of space and also enclose the characters world around him – make the piece seem more claustrophobic.

To add to this latter impression we thought of creating a halo of noise around the character – enhancing the sound e.g. When a car goes past the halo around the character gets heavier and bigger – reflecting the sound of the car..

Concept Sketch 2

I wanted to try and get a feel for the run down and decrepit aesthetic for the film with this sketch. I really like the character here, he seems to fit in with the world, yet not be a part of it at the same time. The industrial nature of this sketch works really well.

Background Concept

Dan C showed us this test today of how we could intergrate the 2D and 3D styles. I really like this. It will work really well, so long as we model the buildings so they look like solid bulidings. I dont want to just use planes...

Crowd Character

A quick sketch of how I would like the background characters to look, I really like their long spindly legs, and their hunched posture – almost looking down to our characters level. I’m not sure if it would work though – the idea is that the protagonist is not noticed by the rest of the world…

Wetherspoons

We met up today in town to try and find a toy camera like the one in our story, however no where seemed to sell any.

We decided to take a lunch break and here we discussed the story further, actions to be taken and character design.



Below are some sketches of our ideas. We really liked the picture of the character sat on a bench and decided we really wanted to include this in the film.



Dan C didnt seem to think that the above characters were cute enough for the piece. 'Blood streaming eyes' kept being mentioned :) I like them... not really cute though.