Sunday 29 January 2017
Friday 27 January 2017
My Google Calendar for this semester
My Google calendar for this semester is full of various activities from working on my university work to sporting events to international events. This production calendar will hopefully help me to better manage my time at the university during this time.
Choosing a quote
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-100-best-movie-quotes-of-all-time-as-chosen-by-hollywood-a6895141.html
A list of famous movie quotes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN6FAsem9F0
Looking through a series of quotes and films, i started to look at how animations could fit in with the animation. After seeing a large variety of clips in order to study the emotions of the characters, i decided that i actually really like one of the first clips that I saw of the phone scene from "Taken" and thought how that could be an interesting animation to recreate but with Nightcrawler talking to the camera about it, almost threatening the viewer. This could work well as it is an unusual thing for the character to say as he is usually quite religious and peaceful so for him to make a threat, (hopefully in a way that will utilise the two finger hands) may be a powerful animation. Here is a clip of that scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKnJATnsxjY, Taken, (2008), kaj266, published 10 Feb 2013, Accessed 27/01/2017
I think that I will take this quote from the point where he says, "If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."
This is an ambitious project but I feel that I can do this.
A list of famous movie quotes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN6FAsem9F0
Looking through a series of quotes and films, i started to look at how animations could fit in with the animation. After seeing a large variety of clips in order to study the emotions of the characters, i decided that i actually really like one of the first clips that I saw of the phone scene from "Taken" and thought how that could be an interesting animation to recreate but with Nightcrawler talking to the camera about it, almost threatening the viewer. This could work well as it is an unusual thing for the character to say as he is usually quite religious and peaceful so for him to make a threat, (hopefully in a way that will utilise the two finger hands) may be a powerful animation. Here is a clip of that scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKnJATnsxjY, Taken, (2008), kaj266, published 10 Feb 2013, Accessed 27/01/2017
I think that I will take this quote from the point where he says, "If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."
This is an ambitious project but I feel that I can do this.
Thursday 26 January 2017
11 second club: Interesting animation
Here is an example of two animations from the 11 second club competition. They take a quote from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971) and take it into two completely different directions with regards to story.
http://www.11secondclub.com/competitions/december09/winner deals with a poker game and http://www.11secondclub.com/competitions/december09/entry/l0zFU4 which is about a plane going down. Both are very interesting takes and because of the limitations of the quote, they naturally have to deal with the conflict between two characters but still, they are tackled in two very different ways.
The overall animation quality of the first clip is better than that of the second one but i feel that the second one has a higher level of characterisation and a better story. The ending where the parachute is taken by the more human character is unexpected and although not overly good technically, serves for a much more compelling story device than that of the poker animation. That being said, the overall emotions of the characters were stronger, from the look of disgust on the human's face to the sheer pride of the devil's victory. These things all gave themselves nicely to the atmosphere of the scene.
There are issues with both, like most things, such as some issues where the characters don't seem weighted properly but looking past that, it is nice to look at the thought process of two animators so that different ideas and approaches to the same subject can be compared and interpreted. I like the use of dialogue in these animations and they will prove to be a valuable resource when it comes to my animation and the quote that I must choose. It is clear that characterisation is powerful and so, in order to create a powerful animation, this must be explored through the superhero and quote that I choose.
http://www.11secondclub.com/competitions/december09/winner deals with a poker game and http://www.11secondclub.com/competitions/december09/entry/l0zFU4 which is about a plane going down. Both are very interesting takes and because of the limitations of the quote, they naturally have to deal with the conflict between two characters but still, they are tackled in two very different ways.
The overall animation quality of the first clip is better than that of the second one but i feel that the second one has a higher level of characterisation and a better story. The ending where the parachute is taken by the more human character is unexpected and although not overly good technically, serves for a much more compelling story device than that of the poker animation. That being said, the overall emotions of the characters were stronger, from the look of disgust on the human's face to the sheer pride of the devil's victory. These things all gave themselves nicely to the atmosphere of the scene.
There are issues with both, like most things, such as some issues where the characters don't seem weighted properly but looking past that, it is nice to look at the thought process of two animators so that different ideas and approaches to the same subject can be compared and interpreted. I like the use of dialogue in these animations and they will prove to be a valuable resource when it comes to my animation and the quote that I must choose. It is clear that characterisation is powerful and so, in order to create a powerful animation, this must be explored through the superhero and quote that I choose.
Choosing a character
https://uk.pinterest.com/josephlearoyd/facial-animation-references/
Here is the link to my pinterest board on facial animation which i used for my thought process when searching images.
When I heard that a superhero was the character design of this animation project, it was a great opportunity for me to explore an area that greatly influenced my decision to choose animation as a subject. Superheroes, comic books and superhero films have always been of great interest to me and so i was able to study the many possibilities for the animation. I started off by looking at various clips from Marvel and DC films as well as pinterest. I quickly ruled out the idea of using the film versions of various characters due to the need for the model to have an actor likeness rather than the original reference material. Looking next at action figures in order to see characters in a three dimensional space, i was able to look better into the various designs of the characters from their molds.
From here, i managed to narrow down the possibilities of the characters to a much smaller list, looking at smaller details such as "The Falcon's" tinted goggles and how that could be replicated in maya using material x texturing. I looked at the shape and form of various characters as well as through comics to see designs and movement of the heroes. The powerful thing about superheroes is the many incarnations of a hero based on the comic artist, the film versions, costume changes and the animated series versions. These were all taken into account as I looked through the designs.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9d/25/f4/9d25f4a7fde7649f661fa900385bb457.jpg
For example, these are just some of the many designs for Wolverine.
Looking at characters and how they were able to react to the quote was also a major situation. How would the quote affect the characterisation. After much debate, i eventually settled on the character of Nightcrawler from the X-Men. This teleporting superhero has been around in comics, films and animated shows for quite some time and is one of the most popular X-men characters.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqJfeEqz3-GX-rU3bvQOzZAgu1bAF403KmBqyUeMHDgfc0hwH6wFA8QSjEyCdDu1tM9vHl0liEmqUzjQ_TZo72zLCl2-oRS465cWz8a_UaVEc98npI7ebFxBb4nXSxSfRi5MN6uy7Nc3T/s320/Nightcrawler.bmp
Here we see some of the many versions of Nightcrawler. I have decided to go with the 1970s "Second Genesis" version of the character which can be seen here in a drawing:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/95/96/3b/95963b4e948847839ddb50537bfd7ddd.jpg
I plan to adjust this though to incorporate the xmen evolution animated series nightcrawler eye design, (above, bottom, middle) in order to create effective eye designs that can be used to show emotion in the character. This drawing is effective as it is colourful, conveys depth and form and highlights and shadows are clearly visible. Here is a side reference of the character.
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/370350769335142703/
This provides a nice reference of the side of the head and the notably pointed ears of the character. This will be a challenge to create but with the right timing and work it is doable to create this character.
Here is the link to my pinterest board on facial animation which i used for my thought process when searching images.
When I heard that a superhero was the character design of this animation project, it was a great opportunity for me to explore an area that greatly influenced my decision to choose animation as a subject. Superheroes, comic books and superhero films have always been of great interest to me and so i was able to study the many possibilities for the animation. I started off by looking at various clips from Marvel and DC films as well as pinterest. I quickly ruled out the idea of using the film versions of various characters due to the need for the model to have an actor likeness rather than the original reference material. Looking next at action figures in order to see characters in a three dimensional space, i was able to look better into the various designs of the characters from their molds.
From here, i managed to narrow down the possibilities of the characters to a much smaller list, looking at smaller details such as "The Falcon's" tinted goggles and how that could be replicated in maya using material x texturing. I looked at the shape and form of various characters as well as through comics to see designs and movement of the heroes. The powerful thing about superheroes is the many incarnations of a hero based on the comic artist, the film versions, costume changes and the animated series versions. These were all taken into account as I looked through the designs.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9d/25/f4/9d25f4a7fde7649f661fa900385bb457.jpg
Looking at characters and how they were able to react to the quote was also a major situation. How would the quote affect the characterisation. After much debate, i eventually settled on the character of Nightcrawler from the X-Men. This teleporting superhero has been around in comics, films and animated shows for quite some time and is one of the most popular X-men characters.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqJfeEqz3-GX-rU3bvQOzZAgu1bAF403KmBqyUeMHDgfc0hwH6wFA8QSjEyCdDu1tM9vHl0liEmqUzjQ_TZo72zLCl2-oRS465cWz8a_UaVEc98npI7ebFxBb4nXSxSfRi5MN6uy7Nc3T/s320/Nightcrawler.bmp
Here we see some of the many versions of Nightcrawler. I have decided to go with the 1970s "Second Genesis" version of the character which can be seen here in a drawing:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/95/96/3b/95963b4e948847839ddb50537bfd7ddd.jpg
I plan to adjust this though to incorporate the xmen evolution animated series nightcrawler eye design, (above, bottom, middle) in order to create effective eye designs that can be used to show emotion in the character. This drawing is effective as it is colourful, conveys depth and form and highlights and shadows are clearly visible. Here is a side reference of the character.
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/370350769335142703/
This provides a nice reference of the side of the head and the notably pointed ears of the character. This will be a challenge to create but with the right timing and work it is doable to create this character.
Drawings of the face references
Firstly we have a drawing of a female character. The angle of the head works nicely here and the cheek bones can be seen as well defined and strong. The ear also manages to get a great level of detail in it and one can see it quite closely. The hair is quite detailed and it is overall a powerful drawing. If i was to find fault with it, it would be in the fact that it is hard to visualise the overall size of the head due to the angle and so, further references of the girl would be needed.
Tom Cruise is nicely represented as a caricature. I looked at the idea of caricatures as they are popular forms of cartoon imagery combined with drawings which manage to capture the emotions of a character through their expressions and physical features. From newspapers strips to Satirical shows such as "Spitting Image" (1984-1996), the caricature has always been popular. To take this idea into an animation or modelling point of view may work well. Accentuating the features of a superhero or famous character could add an interesting twist to it. Obviously the lack of realism would be the major flaw in this concept.
Finally, Hugh Laurie's character, Dr. Gregory House from "House M.D" (2004-2012) is a character that i find to be extremely compelling. The character, although fairly ordinary looking, has had his complex emotions captured perfectly by the artist here. The image creates depth and is extremely three dimensional. The look of his hair, eyes and shading around the nose and cheeks all make it easier to use this as a reference to form a good looking model. This would again, need to be grouped with other varying images of the side and back of his head but it is still a drawing that I found to be powerful as characterisation and the pain of the character comes through in the expression on the page.
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