Thursday, May 29, 2008

Fish fish fish glub glub


Fishy fishy - we are going to deepen the scales, add fins and shiny up the eye. We will also add some actual texture to the skin as well as the bump map.

charlie occlusion




After chatting to Andrew he has suggested we make a few minor changes in the mesh:-

  • bevel hard edges
  • flatten out nose to cheek a bit more
  • lose some fatness in cheeks to make look a bit older

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Updated Asset List

Charlie - model completed - Sascha - currently in process of unwrapping and rigging test
Apartment - in progress - sascha - ill probably do most of the little aparmtent things as i go i.e bath, sink etc...
Fish - in progress -Caryn
Chest of drawers - Damien completed
Couch - in progress - Damien

caterpiller- experimental?
dragonfly- experimental?
butterfly- experimental?
lotus flower - experimental?
sun/moon
scrabble
gramophone
Bed
Wardrobe
scissors
Outdoor chair and table
old TV
tea cups/ saucers
plates
toaster
toast
kettle
dish rack
tea towel?
bottle with plant in it for on window sill
mirror
pedastal sink
bathroom floor cabinet
high slipper back bath
toothbrush
toothpaste tub
soap
towel rack and towel
bathmat
toilet
dirty clothes basket
laundry basket
pegs
various books
lamp
alarm clock
pictures for the walls
shelves
clock for kitchen
coffee table
magazine holder
coat rack
screen divider
sketchbook and pencils
seed packet
post card

Concepts




Colour tests

More like this toward end of film.

More like this colour palette below for the beginning of the film...






Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Technical Aspects of Down the Line

Length: 3-4mins
Genre: Surreal Drama
Medium: 3D animated short film with mixed media compositing

Concepts we hope to achieve:-
  • 3D backgrounds and assests which look like line art
  • Stop Motion - origami folding letters (by Erin)
  • writing overlays of letters onto screen as she writes
Programs we are using:
  • Maya - all 3D modelling and animation
  • After Effects for special effects such as the writing overlays and colour seepage aswell as compositing
  • Photoshop for texturing, concept art
  • Flash - Animatic
  • Protools for sound editing






Down to the Musak...

Andrew McLellan is a 2nd year Music composer whom approached us after we desperately pitched our film idea on the cuff at the sound lecture we had combined with the film and sound students.

Originally we thought we would go for a Dirty Three feel to our music - organic and melodic which has both dark and light elements.

We have had one official meeting with Andrew so far where he bought along various examples of his work and other musicians which he feels would suit our film. Andrew seems rather keen to assist us with the music for our film, which is going to be VERY important being A. we have no dialogue and B. The script is driven musically as a suggestion to whats happening.

It was really exciting and intersting to watch and listen to Andrew as he went through our storyboards with his ideas and suggestions as far as stepping away a bit from the noise and more to the melodic. He has some really great examples of his work which he thinks will work well with our script. And some of his ideas for suggestions for character and story have really helped us alot. I very much look forward to working with him on this for both the collaborative experience as people ideas and for his experience. Sitting with Andrew, also really solidified this project for me, its a real thing...not just an assessment peice for our final project...its just real...its weird.

The Environment - inside out and furniture

Charlie is a solitary creature at present and lives in a very compact studio apartment, however, this apartment seems to be suspended in an unknown grey location with no other form of life around her. This is a suggestion of her shying away from the rest of the world and living in limbo as she tries to find herself.

Due to the lyrical nature of the story we felt that bohemian or french style apartment and furnishing would best suit the nature of the story and also add a bit of femininess to Charlie and her personality.






This is our rough layout so far of Charlies unit

Meet the characters

We have 3 characters in our film as follows:-

Charlie - Main character.

An early 20 something who has recently left a relationship to basically find herself. We wanted her to be attractive but not sexual. The design style was to have a rather stylised features and stay away from the realistic, realising that realism in 3D doesn't work to well. So we agreed on having a largish, squarish head and petite hands and feet in comparison. Influenced from Jean Seberg.



Fish - This is Charlies pet, who in the surreal world that charlie is currently living in, is able to float around her apartment etc.


Pot Plant Creature - A suggestion of her past life, or a hobby she used to be into but has since neglected. This creature came about when we decided that Charlie would receive seeds as a suggestion of a new love for herself and for the other person down the line.





In the beginning...the seed for the story



We decided that none of our story ideas would be realistic to realise in the short time frame we had. Then one night, Damien came across the above image of Erwin Madrids which inspired him to write the original script which as a group we devloped further.