week 16 Navigation (Pre-viz)

Navigation

We are now into the last 15 weeks of the year and only have 3 more units to go, we will grow to be 2nd years and so will need to up our game as the work will become harder. Its important i know this because it enable me to work more efficiently and constantly showing more strength in my work.

The next project is navigation we will be scriptwriting and creating our own conceptual designs for storyboarding, the unit will allow us to explore our ideas and my blog will show my vision of what i want to achieve, I'm glad that we were given certain topics to work towards for instance i received along with the rest of the group a protagonist,an environment and an object, even though we could have explored our own story's having the limit of these three topics create a better understanding of what needs to be considered.

Below shows the three main topics i picked.

Protagonist (Main character): Magician

Environment: Zoo

Object: Egg



I feel fortunate and pleased with what i choose compared to the others in the group the combination is very exciting as i think they can work together allowing me to craft an interesting story, i can associate the egg with the environment through the nature of the zoo as it contains animals such as birds which lay eggs the protagonist and be connected within this also.

The first idea...

At the beginning my mind was twirling around trying to gather my thoughts the idea that stuck out come to when thinking about the world today and everyday life, I had this vision of using the real world when receiving the protagonist.

I thought of an average guy living in a busy city with a successful past, the passing of his father lead to the drowning of his success, his father was a very successful being one of the leading magicians of his time, as you see in society in this case with families things get passed down through generation to generation, now it was the magicians time to shine and take over his fathers place however the passing of his father had a massive affect on his career he could not full fill his dream of become the magician his father once was.

Added the mystical supernatural element using the object I received (egg) becoming part of the magicians life it appear in the story in near by tree by his apartment, he takes no notice of it at first and carried on unaware this was the source which would essentially fix his problems he’s having at work, I liked to use a the environment as a metaphor when he performs the audience laugh like hyenas giggling away and a mental picture of the audience yawning like lions is seen as a blur so in a way the magician sees the environment in which he works in as a zoo the reason for this is because the performances have not been going wrong lately you see the connection here to the passing of his father.

Once the act had finished he sees the egg once again however this time its glowing which leads to him taking it still unaware of its magical properties turning his life around.

Magicians of our time

My first step after thinking about my story was to locate some real life magicians and find out there life story such as there biography's this would give me an over view of what a realistic magicians life was like and perhaps find out and learn more about them.

i understand this could be going a bit too far however this could pay off giving a realistic visualisation of a magician life style.

http://www.angelfire.com/md/magicwand/Magicians.html
the three main magicians i would like to base my magicians character are:

1.David Copperfield

2.Harry Houdini

3.Chung Ling Soo

The choices made are from all different walks of life , the first of which is an American illusionist David Copperfield he is best known for his excellent combinations of illusions and storytelling, many things need a beginning and the only way to understand the new is to research the old, this is the reason for me choosing Harry Houdini as he was well known for stunt performances (escapologist), i think with the last magician i founded a element of humour Chung Ling Soo's most famous for dying from the bullet catch trick which had gone wrong.

Researching the environment...

http://www.giveusahome.co.uk/ContentFrame.htm
Great Britain consists of many different zoos, however i limited the choice of the environment in my story to zoos just in Great Britain here are some places i researched:

- Banham Norfolk

- Blackpool Lancashire

- Bristol Gardens

-London Zoo

- Chester zoo

- Colchester zoo

- Newquay

This was when i decided on the choice on have based the environment on London zoo focusing on the penguin enclosure mainly.

script writers

http://www.filmscriptwriting.com/storystructure.html

'Story-Making'

Workshop

From the Story-Making Workshop I was able to express my idea and the thoughts I was having, the idea at the beginning seemed to have a realistic element to it and so wasn't ideal, thanks to Phil the idea was completely turned around also help from Matt of using the magician character as a penguin.

Research into scriptwriting the site i have come across shows a whole range of draft scripts from films that have already been created including Antz Animation and hundred of others.

http://www.simplyscripts.com/genre/animation-scripts.html

Information on penguins describing the life style in which they live in such as the habitats, the environment and some interesting facts about them also which i can look back onto when designing for example the penguins.

http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Penguins/home.html

The next idea....

After some careful consideration i have this vision

Based on London zoo in a city like environment, very busy and polluted which has a congested sounds in the background, an enclosure which consists of two species of penguin the black footed penguin and the rock Hooper penguins seem to enjoy each others company in the day time in the enclosure, however they dislike each other during the night as they are from different parts of the world , the feud results in tension between the two family's of penguins.

The magician is the only emperor penguin left in the enclosure he entertains the crowds of visitors and keeps the peace between the feuding family's.

The object is a key part of the film as it symbolises i sign of life, many zoos have a problem with breeding animals in captivity and the penguins is also part of this rare happening, i would like to use the egg as a sign of new life as one of the family's give breath to an egg which leads to the feud growing even more as there is a balanced amount of penguins in the enclosure and so one of the family's having another in the environment makes the feud even stronger.

The magician deiced to inherit the egg....

This is where my idea has gone so far so i will be seeking help for further it more

Animation...

DreamWorks Animation SKG is devoted to producing high-quality family entertainment through the use of computer generated(CG) animation.

With world-class creative talent and technological capabilities, our goal is to release two CG animated feature films a year that deliver great stories, breathtaking visual imagery and a sensibility that appeals to both children and adults.

Main influence

Madagascar

Kung fu panda

Shark tale

Over the hedge


Pixar Animation Studios is an Academy Award ®-winning computer animation studio with the technical, creative and production capabilities to create a new generation of animated feature films, merchandise and other related products. Pixar's objective is to combine proprietary technology and world-class creative talent to develop computer-animated feature films with memorable characters and heart-warming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages.

Inspiration

Wall e

Incredibles

Toy story

Nemo

After researching into films i had to look at more footage containing gags and joke you see in most of the animation films today this give the element of humour and also draws you into the film, as the idea was to use penguins i thought the perfect film to understand was Madagascar which contains four extremely funny characters.

week 14

Its now the final week of the project and starting to feel the pressure a bit however , should be able to get everything done I've planned out for the last 2 week to write up my essay and to put everything together for my final scene.

The idea is to right about a recent film for my essay as i can contrast the deference's it has to the older generation of film we have seen during the project.Which is why i have chosen the most Mirrors 2008 directed by Alexandre Aja.

Invasion of the Body snatchers

Dir. Don Siegel

1965

This film is all about identity the main character (Kevin McCarthy) playing Dr.J.Miles.Bennell starts the film by telling the story of the Invasion Of The Body Snatchers you have no idea what is going to happen in the films as it doesn't give much away at the beginning, i like the way the film made you want to know what is going to occur next keeping you in suspense, Bennell enters the scene very distressed and then the scene suddenly changes to him looking every smart in his surgery the element of strangeness enters when the public aren't visiting the surgery for there check ups, i noted this quote ''there's no emotion just the intense of it'' this was taken when uncle Ira (Tom Fadden) had changed.

Miles friends had found a body lying outside, they then carried it into there home thinking the body was dead as they checked the body there was no features such as eyes finger prints and so on, the sounds add to the scary atmosphere displayed with dark shadows behind the 'fake' person, the best scene i noticed was near the end of the film (Dana Wynter) Becky Driscoll and Miles Bennell were trying to escape and warn the rest of the world they come across a huge farm breeding the alien organisms (pods) on a mass scale showing the rapid rate of what is happening.

Blue Velvet
Dir David Lynch
1986

I don't thinking I'll ever forget this film there were some very bizarre sexual scenes in the content of the film however contained some excellent scenes i saw some similarity to Edward scissor hands within this film in terms of its lighting and constructed sets, (Kyle MacLachlan) playing Jeffery Beaumont had found a human ear after his father was attacked i thought this had some connection to the attacking but wasn't too sure.

I remember the scene where Sandy Williams (Laura Dern) and Jeffery Beaumont where looking up at this dark desolate blocks of apartments which later was broke into by Jeffery,when he arrive on the 7th floor everything is very dim and gloomy in contrast to the outside and the lower floor.The harsh humming noise added to the huge effect of uncanny style of the apartment.

The reason i wont forget the film is that it made me feel distressed because Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) character was being abused and raped by (Dennis Hopper) Frank Booths character i also think this was a very good way to end the unit.

Maya work

The sample images below show where the basic shape of what i was creating began, simply by creating a polygon cube and adding and taking away faces leaving it easier to sculpture these were the main steps i took during the modeling process.

I also had to consider the lighting within my scene as it would play a key part,this was done by experimenting with the different lights Maya had to offer and configuring with the attributes making sure for example i get the right amount of intensity.

The door i sculptured which will be placed at the end of the hallway.

This is my scene complete ,your probably wondering why there is a joystick in the scene and thinking about how it got there, this is where i took the idea from the films we have watched showing the mystery's and unanswered questions take place.

I wanted the viewer to feel as if something has taken place in the scene such as a robbery the significant of the joysticks plays a big roll i think as it may suggest a kidnapping has taken place because the joystick symbolises a child's toy.

Although i came across a few errors with Maya i think overall my experience using Maya was very positive and now can take this and go onto bigger and better things.