Tutorial Research

I entered the tutorial today with very vague mind set however that afternoon turned out very positive indeed, the major concern was the storyboard in which I made a mistake in trying to embark upon this early on, so many other things to consider before designing the storyboard for instance the main backbone R&D(research and development). All I could think about was the storyboard and expressing the nature of how I should tackle it, although there was something more that needed to be examined the research side of the project needed to be established before anything, the talk which tutor Phil filled my mind which was much needed also attention-grabbing, he expressed how I should look at the poem as if it was created by someone else, piecing together this notion of what it looks like from another persons point of view, now the idea is to tap into children’s fears there emotion’s the things they do not wish to see when going to sleep for example in there ‘bedroom’.

So much was mentioned and expressed the use of shadows within film Noir is a nice topic to devour, along with German expressionism as a whole these will be the key area’s to exploit next before I move on. As my knowledge of the genres is limited I must pick up them quickly therefore some examples where given, the different kinds of film/video footage conveys what my project is all about. These are some of the research material I’ll be looking into. Nosferan, Caligari, Judderman. Svank Majer- ‘down in the cellar’ Chiascuro.

Taking note of as much as I could from the tutorial session has allowed me to get the ball rolling, here is a list of words used to describe the visual style which will play the most important part drawing in the audience and creating that attraction.
Visual style?
Sharp
Scratchy
Hard
Bold
Harmful
Casting shadows
Black and White
Jagged shapes
Distortion
Triangular
No Curvature

 If we look at my past pieces of artwork they don’t really obtain theses attributes given in the visual aesthetics’ although its not to say they aren’t nice piece’s of art work, more needs to be done and the visual style guidelines should be useful in the process.

Narration voice over request.

http://www.divshare.com/
I’ve found a unique quick and simple way to upload mp3 files without any hassle and it’s also some what a time keeper, you are able to manage uploaded mp3 files into various folders with a capacity of 5 MB of free space. Preliminary I would have used YouTube to upload the sound/sounds on by one as I’m familiar with this process however this has saved time. Organise your files into folders and embed multiple sounds, then straight onto your blog and keep a copy online also.
Hope you can get a sense of what I’m looking for with the animation from the sounds its an nice start to the overall picture to my piece. Enjoy!

Voice over narration

Good news! I’ve just received a voice over narration courtesy of http://www.voiceovers.co.uk/ vocal talent Harvey Cook agreed to take on the poem and produce the perfect piece of narration for me. He was directed to handle the script in a spooky kind of suspense way which was done just right.

I feel very lucky and privileged to have the narration by Harvey Cook feature in my work, with over 10 years experience what more could I ask for. Here’s a brief summary detailing his achievements plus an insight to examples of his work.
‘Smooth, warm -- conveying authority and quality. 10 years voicing ads for big name brands, like L'Oreal, corporates, e-learning, in-store and onhold messages’.
Clients
‘Commercials for a host of big name brands -- including L'Oreal and Fixodent. Currently on TV campaign for Bahlsen biscuits. Also narrated ITV1's "Haunted Homes" programme. Other clients over the past 10 years also include, BBC, Vodaphone, Dell, Norwich Union, Fujitsu, GMTV, Thomson, Carlsberg, CNN, Vauxhall, Sky, British Airways London Eye, Disney, Discovery, Warner Music, Toyota and countless UK ILR stations and production companies worldwide.’
http://www.voiceovers.co.uk/harvey.cook/noshock.html

More Minor sketch work

These are some additional monster sketches created over the summer, what I was really looking for in these designs where shape and form once again this shows a nice indication of how I like to start the design process and perhaps in some cases the environment and style can be based around this, also the sketches demonstrate an example of the method I use when building the an idea of the characters within my world. 

As explained in the proposal the aesthetics are not yet clear, so I set out to gather some research to get my head around this, thoughts about the kind of aesthetics that may play an important part in the overall design of my creatures where considered. I had come across an interesting quote which relates to the problem that I am facing, the article title Monster Inc. Serial killers and custom culture examines seminal example of serial killer fiction and film. The only way I’ll be able to ensure the animation goes to plan and connect with the targeted audience is to make sure I understand this market of ‘monsters’.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/20491224/Monsters-Inc-Serial-killers-and-consumer-culture
'But the notion of the monster is rather difficult to deal with, to get a hold on, to stabilize . . . monstrosity may reveal or make one aware of what normality is'. (Derrida, 1995: 386

3rd Year official back!

I’m officially back at UCA feeling confident ready to unlock my true potential for the last year ahead, we had been asked to produce a project brief outlining the proposal of work detailing the chosen idea, my proposal included the basic premise of the self-lead assignment which is essentially a transcription of children’s Poem by Trevor Millum ‘tell me it isn’t there’, thinking about the route in which to tackle the piece of poetry a large amount of thought will be expressed through a high bred combination of live action with cg. Because I have been working on this over the summer preparing initial steps, I felt the opportunity was there in the tutorial to explain some points/views about the project relating to the 15 weeks we have, (just to add, things are going to be very specific and on a level of achievability this is based on experience of past units), discussing relevant issues that lie ahead backed up with some concept art work. Also in the tutorial I gave details about the productiveness of my summer and how I was fortunate enough to seek advice from another source ‘Matthew Fletcher’ a past UCA student who has experienced the nature of what I have set out to do for this project, an overview of his experience was shared, very useful stuff. Liaising with Matt through the project will really help in difficult situations and a time saver when encountering problems that need solving. It was interesting to discuss the whole idea on a one to one session with Alan, I felt he was intrigued by my idea of taking this kind of approach as its something different plus a new challenge.

So as Alan was aware of the position I’m in with the project, I stressed the potential areas in which I maybe encounter problems, things like how to undertake the initial poem and transfer it into a storyboard context. Should I go for a cartoony approach with the monsters or push for some realistic looking creatures? After reading the poem some suggestion where made firstly the kind of style that will be portrayed in the animation needs to be clear, the decision was made to go for a spooky suspense kind if approach much like a recent day film Paranormal Activity which exploits this nature of suspense and fear, therefore it becomes clear assessing b movies for example taking note of the language of these films will be one of the main areas of research, ensuring this is performed correctly will determine the success of the project. 

Target audience?

As the narration is designed for children I would still like the targeted audience to be of a young age but perhaps have a wider appeal also. Bringing the poem alive with creative sounds, eye catching cg is the main aim.

Taking control of this unit I’ve enlisted the next stages that need to be resolved.
1. Storyboard/Animatic.
2. Researching topics (b movies)
3. Voice over narration – emails have been sent waiting on replies.
4. Boujou tutorials – preferred software package recommend.
5. Environment Tests (HD camera set up)
6. Creating sounds.