Character & Narrative- Intrim Critique

Intrim Critique

The intrim crit is done to see what progress has been done in the last few weeks as well as letting me be opened up to peer feedback on how to improve my idea and go further with it.

Core Idea
When I have been planning my work and ideas. The anamatic was done as well as the storyboards telling the story of the male zombie, losing his love when he comes out of the grave but after searching around, finds her. As I am a lot more confident with the female character compared to the male, I am going to switch the roles.This means the story can in essence, stay the same but with switched characters. This means the woman will come out of the grave, find her husbands arm on the grave instead of the flower. She will then go to find him and when she done, re-attaches his arm and he gives her the flower. I will storyboard this to i can see what the new story is going to be so I can follow it when it comes to making it.

The Set
As I have been struggling with how to actually assemble the set, even though i know what will go inside it. I asked everyone if they had any ideas. Most thought it would be overall easier and look more effective if the background were to be a green screen. I dont really know how to do this so it looks effective so I need to research further into what it could look and if i could make a better background in Photoshop than painted which I think I would be more confident with.

List of what i need to do now:

• Character sheets
• Individual objects to draw for the set
• Draw out the finalised set
• Turn around
• Colour pallet tests for the characters
• Build characters + set

Stop Motion Research
One peer told me about how the Corpse Bride characters were made which i will have to look at as i will be using fabric for the female and male characters so I would like to see if there are any tips I could take from the behind the scenes.

Character & Narrative- Week 3- Character Development, Storyboarding and Anamatic

Week 3- 

Character Development, Storyboarding and Animatic

This week i have been thinking about the storyboarding and buying all of the fabrics and materials needed for the characters. As i have done more for the female character, i decided to make a start on the concept designs for the male character. As I find male characters harder to do, it has taken me a while to get going with him. This meant i didn't feel as far along as i am supposed to be.

As i wanted the two to match and clearly look married, their outfits needed to look from the same era, which is the victorian era. The look Im thinking about would be waistcoats, trousers, shirt and maybe either a bow tie or braces. I like the look of the face in the second design out of all my concepts bellow. He looks the least threatening while still being a zombie. The lanky skinny look is also more ideal for building as it means less of a body needing to be bulked up, and less material would be used.

The characters bellow range from different features and styles that i was testing to try and get a good look overall, if i did want him to be threatening, i really like the middle bald character and how he looks. But as i am wanting more of a kind face for the zombie, this would not fit the brief.

This was a make-shift set so i could look at what the camera placement within my set could look like. As this was quite a large set, i realised how much i needed to scale down the characters, bellow she is about 20 cm high. This would be great if i could build a larger set, but because of time and me wanting it to look as good as possible, i don't think this will be possible. I think for it to be more portable and look better overall, i might make the set out of thin light wood. I just need to build the set and then i can get going and start making all of my assets. 

So i know exactly what i am building, i will draw out all of the objects and what they need to look like. So this will be a step for me to complete next as well as finalised characters and the character sheets.

Here i have already started on making the female characters framework. As i am scaling her down these were good starting points so i can see which material works best. I started out drawing the female again, then doing a wire frame next to it with the same measurements. After i bulked her up with where i needed to have the bigger bones to go and the fabric of the skirt. 

The wire frames were done in two different metals, One thin and more pliable, and one thinker but much thicker. The thicker one would be a much more stable character to build and create but i don't know if it would be too hard to create motion without ruining the character when trying to bend her into different positions. I am thinking of using the thiner metal but instead of twisting the metal into two, i may double it again to give more stability, but till be pliable and flexible.

These are the storyboards i have done so i can map out my story and work out exactly what is going to happen, in what order and when. I found this was actually really good to do for me as i hadn't quite worked out how the end was going to play out so this forced me to think of why things were happening and to what end. I don't normally do storyboards in photoshop, but i really like how the Digital look can add different more subtle colour to the scenes. I can also duplicate the backgrounds so they can look the same and only small motions happen, this means i can create a more accurate storyboard, as it will show motion, not just arrows to show were motion would be.

Im still not 100% happy with my story so when we have the intrim crit next week, i hope to get insight into what others think of it so far and what i can do to improve the idea and see if the story makes sense to other people.

This is the anamatic with a bit of sound testing so the audience can see what is happening as well as letting me find out which sounds i would like in the final animation.

Character & Narrative- Week 2- Mood Boards and References

Week 2- 

Mood Boards and References

When starting out a new project, I always want to get a visual in my head, this is why I do a few different mood boards along the way for different aspects of the projects Im doing. They also let me see colour pallets, references and what is out there already.

This was a mood board of key elements i want in my project. For it to be set in a graveyard, For the main character to be a zombie and for it to be a stop motion. This let me see that the colour pallets are mostly browns, greens and blues.

This second one was when I was thinking about the set itself. As it was in a graveyard, The question was, how i was going to create a background that looked to be going into the distance, but still having a small set. This really makes you think about placement and how to trick the audience into thinking the graveyard the characters are in, is a whole lot bigger than it is. This also let me see what mediums could be used to create a good scene and a good looking set.

Looking at what is out there, zombies have been very popular in tv shows and in the industry at the moment so there are many different looks, styles, shapes and colours that can be seen. This really makes it difficult to choose one that has its own overall look and personality. I dont want an aggressive character as it is more of a romantic animation. This means many of these designs can tell me what to stay away from and what i should be going for, for him to be more innocent and not a threat.

This was when I came up with the idea of creating a love story, the skeleton in my animation was originally going to be a prop. Since the start it has progressed into a zombie loving a skeleton. This mood board was when i originally was going to have the two being zombies, but i thought since my chosen brief is opposites attract, them being different stages of undead, it seemed more poetic and endearing. It still helped me in the progression of my story and let me see what the female could still end up looking like.

As I am more comfortable doing female characters, many ideas were coming together for what the overall look of the character should look like. Wether she should be cute and all bone, or bone showing but like a sugar skull woman, or if i should do more of a comic look. This can all be seen in my other post about where i was taking my designs and what i have been practicing for the aesthetic.

When testing the designs, I drew one in Victorian dress. This really made me want to use this as the era in which my animation is held. As I am also doing a stop motion, I will be building her outfit, so I have to make sure I research the era and what the dresses should look like. I have always wanted to do a character from the Victorian times, so this was a great opportunity to do so, this is why I am very exited about this project and what i am doing.

Character & Narrative- 7 Essential Acting Concepts Seminar

7 Essential Acting Concepts

1. Thinking leads to movements and emotion
2. Acting is reacting, acting is doing.
3. A character needs to have an objective
4. A character should play an action until something makes them play a different action
5. All action begins with movement
6. Audiences empathize with emotion
7. A scene is a negotiation 

Narrative couldn't be more important in creating a captivating story!

From this i realise how important it is to plan out the characters with emotions when animating as it is key in creating something the audience can believe. I have always used references when creating animation so i can really see the movements and what the character needs to be doing, but i have never thought about the emotion of the person and how it could effect how the audience perceives my character, so i really need to think of this in the future.

I have always wanted to work with actors or dancers for animating so i will try to do this in the future so i can see how they flow and show emotions, which need to come across in the final characters.

I need to watch old movies and skits like Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy as i grew up watching them and i really need to see how they managed to get their emotions and actions across to the public with no words present.

Character & Narrative- Week 2-Final Idea & Pre Production

Week 2:

Final Idea & Pre Production 

The final idea for my animation brief, Telling Tales, is about a couple who have both passed away. One has come back as a zombie, yet the other is a skeleton. He will come out of his grave to see her missing, so he gets worried but soon finds her and they come together. 

With this idea, i needed to make sure i picked the story i wanted and stick to it, as this was a problem i had in the past which stopped me from starting and getting going. This year i have chosen within the first week and now i am well underway in my pre-production and planning out the module and the work load.

Script

I started doing a rough script with who was going to be in the scene, where it is, what is happening and noises that are going on. I did this so i could still have a chance to change and go further with the ideas i have, but also make sure i have planned out enough to make sure i know what is happening and with which character. I will now write it up on word so i can use it as a guide for when i am setting up my animation in the stop motion set and when i start to move the characters around.

Female Skeleton Character (Belle)

These are the concept ideas for my female skeleton. I couldn't decide wether or not to do a more animated cute character, or a more humanoid character. At first i was testing out different ways to do a skull so that it can look female so the audience can understand my story from the start. This is why i added flowers and bows to many of the designs.

The two i struggled choosing between, would be the bottom left design and the cute skeleton above. The reason i struggled, was because they are very different in style and look overall, so choosing between the two, would decide on the overall look of my stop motion as a whole.  

As you can see i preferred the bottom left skeleton deign that still looks quite humanoid, but has bones, rotting flesh and the bullet wound showing. As i became more comfortable with digital, i have done this character on Photoshop, i have tried a few different eye designs and a body shape/ how i am going to make it. This is because stop motion means i need to make the character, taking that into consideration, means i need to design accordingly and thinking of how this character is going to be small.

I started the female design first as i am generally more comfortable designing with females, and developing their looks. This is when i thought more on my actual story and how the couple could be from the same era, thus backing up my story, to be about their Opposites attract theme as she is a skeleton and him a zombie but they're still in love.

Here is when i thought more about what the outfit should look like and how i am going to make it. The first design is by a fashion student i am collaborating with who was thinking about what elements could be made and which would look good on a small character. The other three are some i have come up with for what i think the character should be wearing and how she looks like she is from the victorian era.

On this project, i will be working with two fashion students, who go to a different university. I am asking for help because in the first year, the character i designed, i didn't feel was as good as i was able to achieve. I will be asking them about fabrics, pattern pieces, the overall look and how to change elements for things smaller (buttons of knotted fabric as buttons cant come that small) This has really made me exited about the project as i know what i am doing clearly, and i can get help into making the characters i am designing, look as good as possible for the stop motion.

This is a design sheet, done by one of the fashion students that i have helped design. We were talking about how the character should look, her body shape, how she will be built and which elements of the era i wanted to show more of in the overall look. As i have never made pattern pieces, i found her help to be very useful and really made me think of what i was doing and how i need to think about how i will make it. 

Im overall very happy with how she is looking but i am not sure about the bottom half of the dress but the top half is exactly what i wanted. I will carry on working with them both so that i can get an outfit i am happy with and making the character exactly how i imagine her to look.

Male Zombie Character (Vincent)

These are simple head shapes and facial feature placements for the male focal character. These are just so i can see which ones work better for the character i am thinking of. He will be a zombie so i have drawn more longer faces, as i feel that the shape is more fitting. As he will be dead, he will be lanky so longer features fits with that thought.

Set Design

These are the set designs i have done so far. I was looking at where the camera could be placed and what shots i needed to achieve. These are all helping me to get a more clear image in my head about what i want the animation to look like overall and what the environment should be like.

I found that when designing, the scenes can look too flat if too much is placed against the back wall of the set. This is why i started playing round with placements of everything and what backgrounds could be drawn on the backgrounds. I am liking the end result more than the rest, as the other designs were when i was testing space and placement, so the bottom design is what i have been working towards creating. The idea of a path, also creates a way for the eye of the viewer to travel through the scene, not be stopped at the flat base.

I have also been looking at where the camera needs to go and which walls need to be built. If i make the scene larger, i can build three walls. Therefore creating more of a large feel within as there will be more background, but i can also have more camera shots and angles.

Character & Narrative- Short story design

Short Story Design

This seminar was to make us think about how to do a short story animation with a script and thinking into animations narrative's.

Explicit Narrative- Plain to see (Normally what younger viewers take from the story)

Implicit Narrative- Hidden/ mature meaning

Cordell Barker's-Runaway

This fully animation is 9minutes long, yet clearly shows its Implicit message to be about classes and how the lower class and poor folk, sell whatever they have for money. Yet the rich con the weak and poor for their own gain. This really made me think of how much can be accomplished with no words and a short story's narrative.

What a story needs; A well thought out world, a main character or two that are clear and understood, and a problem that much occur for it to be interesting.


RoughCut BirdBox Studio's are a studio i am looking into more for narrative, as they dont normally use words yet their world and idea's are plain to understand. Their backgrounds, which i also like, are very plain and simple, yet aren't needed for it to have characters that stand out, and draw you into their environment.

Character and Narrative- Getting a project idea

Ideas and Thoughts

Titles to work with:

Happy Days

Predator Pray

Leap of Faith

Opposites Attract

Road to Nowhere

The Message

Last Chance

Adrift

Rivals

One the first day of getting the brief, I did some spider diagrams of ideas for the titles and which stood out the most to me for potential. These ended up being, The Message, Rivals, Opposites Attract and Happy Days. I really want to work with stop motion this year as i didn't manage to do it last year so i'm thinking of ideas that i would be able to make, build and film that wouldn't be too complicated.

I was originally thinking of working with someone for this project but when talking it over with people who i were also going to do stop motion, I didn't feel confident enough to work with them with the ideas they were going for, but I will defiantly have to work with them in the future to get used to being with others as in the industry your never working alone.

The idea i've had has changed and progressed through the week of when it was set. Ive been storyboarding along the way to show where my ideas have been going and what they used to be compared to the final idea i have thought of. I did these as thumbnails in a note book so i could jot down ideas quickly that i didn't need to take too much care with.

These were in a graveyard where a zombie was coming and discovering a skeleton who's head had fallen off which he was going to correct (left) or a zombie breaking out of his grave (right)

First Idea

The briefs, my ideas work into would be The message, Opposites Attract and Happy Days. The environment and scene will be in a gravesite so, Im thinking of a zombie coming out of his grave, struggling and pushing his way out, before finding the grave next to his being empty like something else had come out of a grave too. He will look worried before walking around the site and finding the female zombie sat on a headstone looking at the moon. When he walks up and she turns, the audience will realise she has one of his arms as her own, connecting them together.

Im hoping to be able to build all of these as stop motion characters and set, but i would like to experiment with paper cut out and digital so as i progress i am needing to be thinking of how i would like the overall piece to look. My tutor suggested looking at Paddington Bear, I had not realised until searching it that the set used to be done in pen, Paddington was an actual bear and the people around him here paper cut out and some digital so it was really interesting to see how all the different elements look in one animated story.

Character & Narrative-Week 1-Telling Tales brief

Character & Narrative-

Telling Tales

Blog:
-One per week
-250 words min
-What have you done?
-How has it helped?
-1000 Evaluation
-Potential and Limited techniques of the medium

Telling Tales

For this project we need one focal character. If you decide to work in pairs it needs to be two focal characters. The animation will be 30 seconds, unless in two pairs, then it would be 1 minute long. we will be  working on the production of the animation in this brief;

Pre Production--> Production--> Post Production

It does not need dialogue but sound must be present. I need to think about the environment as this can be as important as making a good character as it is the world that you create for the characters that helps the come to life.

Titles to work with:

Happy Days

Predator Pray

Leap of Faith

Opposites Attract

Road to Nowhere

The Message

Last Chance

Adrift

Rivals

This project much be finished at H264 not Quicktime as it is not supported anymore. 

I would like to do much more research for his project about the medium, we have 5 Substantial blog posts to do on the focus topic. This should help me to think more about the process of animations as well as the end product. There needs to be 200 words per post and could be about; Sustainability, Technique, Aesthetics, Process, etc and need to research into facts on the medium of my animation.