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Sunday 23 October 2016

Narrative | OGR (Updated Version)

Due to some quality issues within the prior presentation, I have updated it and ensured that all of the work inside is a fair representation of everyone's work. Therefore below is an updated and newer OGR.


Saturday 22 October 2016

Narrative | Edited Thumbnails | Environment and Signs










These are the updated versions of Danni's first thumbnails for the Environment. After posting the OGR we encountered some issues as a group. This lead Danni agreeing to let me make enhancements to her work with her guidance. 

Friday 21 October 2016

Thursday 20 October 2016

Art Style Development: Environment Art and Paranoia vs Not Paranoid

Not Paranoid Rough Colour Pallette 
Environment Art and Paranoia Chase

Miscellaneous Shirt Designs Character

Miscellaneous Shirt Designs Character
There will be a lot of people on the side of our streets into our animation. To make them stand out we will be using different character designs in the animation to add depth.

Narrative | Car Thumbnails | Chasing Car




Intro Text Stylization

Intro Text Style

Environment and Production Design Starting Points



Wednesday 19 October 2016

Early Abstract Car Thumbnails



Art Style Development

Art Style Development
This kind of style is supposed to be a hybrid of the Saul Bass art style mixed with some more modern art styles.

These designs will also be easy to incorporate into Maya so that is also the idea behind this idea.

Narrative | Car Thumbnails | Main Character Car



There is currently a lot more concept art for the different cars on the way, firstly Thomas will be taking these thumbnails and adding some overexposure in order to make them more fluid and give a greater sense of movement throughout the drawings. This post will be updated with at lot more thumbnails by the end of the day.

Research: Art Styles & Artistic Methods & Technical Development

Project Breakdown

The Story

So to begin with each group was given certain themes for their animations such as "Man vs Nature", "Man vs Man" or "Man vs The Universe", we were given "Man vs Machine".

With our idea, instead of going with traditional "Man vs Literal Machine" (Terminator, Megatron, HAL) we decided to go down a much more diverse path, focusing on the machine of society rather than a physical machine. Originally the idea was about a father who had lost his son, who later replaced his sons absence with a small robot. Given our genre the story then developed into something much more different, our storyline now follows a wanted thief in a stolen car, paranoia prominent in this thieves mind. We aim to build the paranoia through light and shape, our inspirational focus being Saul Bass. Bass's work involves extravagant sharp shapes and brilliant colours which will incorporate nicely with our use of bright lights to convey paranoia within the character. With the 'chase' becoming more prominent the colours of Bass combined with the shapes will create an intensity that will build on the paranoia and urgency of the characters. The use of Bass in our city can also be used to our advantage as we can exaggerate the city, make the builds larger than what they should appear - adding to the effect that the character is beginning to feel enclosed. Our animations end sentence is as follows: "His Knees Steadied, His Heart Beat Fiercely And He Began To Run Again", we put this into a literal context by having our main character meeting his demise at the end, he was on the run but isn't anymore.

Art Style

Zaha Hadid
An influence on our art style is a piece created by Zaha Hadid. One of our main goals for this project is designing objects that can only be seen with motion. These thumbnails have a sense of deliberate 'speed' to them, the angles used and the color combinations allow you to see these shapes as objects, but never as a solid.

Overexposure 1
Overexposure 2
Having overexposure lights as an artistic asset in the animation should allow us to give some real feelings of speed and movement. Going back, some of these photos are a good example of showing speed when it is merely a still image, when this technique gets put into the animation we should see some nice results in terms of movement.


Saul Bass
With our main influential artist for this project being Saul Bass. he mainly focuses on minimalist shapes to create organic and easily recognizable shapes. With our concept and production art we plan to incorporate these natural lines in our car, character and buildings to make it simplistic and to add to the paranoia.

The Technology/Development Process

There will be certain methods used in terms of "Creative Assembly" to create the final animation we all want, having certain aspects of the animation more complex than others so some artistic/design choices are able to stand out more.


Software Requirements/Colour Palette
The main production tools that will be used for this project will be, Adobe PhotoshopCC.2015.5, Adobe After Effects CC 2015.3, Maya 2016, CC Adobe Audition 2015.2.,CC Adobe Premier Pro 2015.3 and CC Adobe Media Encoder 2015.3. Photoshop will be used to create our basic concepts and textures After Effects will be used for giving the animation some colour management/rough editing. Maya will be used for rendering and creating our main animation and Audition will be where our sound is edited, created and stockpiled. Premier Pro is where all of the assets come together to create the final animation and Media Encoder will export the video a whatever quality is chosen for the end product. Methods for some of our animation will include characters that are moved around on 2D planes, which can be layered and swapped to give the illusion of 3D. The car will be modeled in 3D as will most of the roads.

The Soundscape

The Soundscape is a priority for this project to achieve this idea of paranoia in conjunction with Bass, the sound will give a feel to the animation without a clear physical visual input. Already we have a big stock of field recorded sounds from some members of the team and we have more coming in soon.

The screenplay for the animation has got two versions, the first is the storyline of the animation, how it flows and acts. But the second version is of sounds specifically tailored for certain parts of the screenplay, so we can get an idea of what it would sound like.


Screenplay Link

Thursday 13 October 2016

Narrative | Car Thumbnails 1-12


I have created a few rough ideas in thumbnail format to mostly try to get our body shape and headlight section secured and ready, more thumbnails coming tonight.

Wednesday 12 October 2016

The Physical Journey

The Map

In order to grasp how I imagine the surroundings of the car I have taken an image of South Beach Miami and laid out 3 basic/possible routes for our journey to take. I have done this in order to get an understanding of what buildings there will be, how built up the area should ideally be and also lighting. The journey made be extended or changed later but this map is purely there to help me create the production art and the atmosphere in the animation.


Narrative | Sounds to Screenplay



'UNTITLED ANIMATION'
Screenplay written by Rhys Wadmore
Sounds written by Samuel Johnson *green parts
Version # 01


Sound Fade In:


Ext. Quiet Street - Night


Through the ambient sounds of a SLEEPING CITY, we hear feet shuffling coming closer and closer toward us. A smashing of GLASS, car door OPENS and Brushing sounds just before it SLAMS abruptly, fidgeting as someone attempts to spark two wires. Sound of an ENGINE stirring with excitement and a STEADY ACCELERATION.


(Quiet outdoor ambient sounds | Sound of trainer/shoe walking from distance | Loud Smash of thick glass | fast opening of car door | Sound of medium build character shuffling across leather | Loud slam of car door | Further movement on leather seat with clicking and banging made by sound of character breaking casing to hotwire car | Sounds of sparks | Revving of engine as car starts up | Steady acceleration to purr of engine)


Fade In:


Ext. Bumper Shot Pan


The Lights of a vehicle are shone out into the camera and the front bumper and grill of a car is seen, the car is travelling at an average speed and the sound of the engine is PURRS along with the camera as it pans up to the BONNET.


(Steady purring of engine as it is travelling | ambient noises of the outdoor world)


Int. Car -Low Angle Shot


An obscured man is seen behind the wheel of an attractive automobile, driving, watching the road ahead while exploring the confines of the interior space with his other hand. He searches his upper jacket pocket and reveals a SMALL BOX.


(Muffled noise of engine | ambient noises of being in a car  | Shuffling around of hand on hard plastic of dashboard | quiet disgruntled noise from character| sound of hand rummaging in a fabric pocket | shaking of cigarette packet )


Int. Car - Rear View Mirror Shot


The SMALL BOX is bought closer to the man's mouth, opened with his free hand and a single CIGARETTE is taken out and placed into his mouth. The man leans forward and a short CLICK is heard.


(Sound of thin cardboard box being slid open | ambient noises of being in a car )


Int. Car - Inside Glove Box


The GLOVE BOX is opened by the man and he reaches for a handful of random cassette tapes and retracts his arm and places the tapes onto the SEAT beside him and closes the GLOVE BOX.


(Clicking of glovebox handle being opened | sound of door to glovebox being released and slamming | sound of several cassette cases being moved around | muffled slamming noise of cassettes being thrown onto nearby seat | ambient noises of being in a car )


Int. Car - Low Angle Shot


The man multi-tasks driving and looking down onto the SEAT beside him browsing through the tapes with one hand, the name of the tape he chooses is seen briefly on the back--


( Sound of 5-6 cassettes being shuffled about on leather seat | ambient noises of being in a car)


Tape is inserted and a WHIRRING sound is made.


(When cassette is inserted the noise of the rotating wheels in the player are heard)


Int. Car - Rear View Mirror Shot


The man leans forward slightly as a CLICKING sound is made as a spark ignites beneath his lips and the CIGARETTE is lit, a deep INHALE ---


and EXHALE as the music from the Cassette plays quitely builds.


(Breathing in deeply | Exhaling | Ignition of lighter | sound of ember crackling lightly on cigarette)


Ext. Car - Driver Side Rig Cam Shot


The man extends his left hand outside the window resting on the side of the car as the sound of the music fills the air and smoke puffs out the side. The sound of a PASSING cars and light appear to the sides of the car.


(slightly muffled music | sound of passing cars, accelerating and honking their horns| sound of slight wind | outdoor ambience)


Dissolves Out with the PASSING LIGHT:


Ext. Car - Driver Side - Front Wheel Rig Shot


Lights a reflected by the BODYWORK of the car, (Insert Saul Bass Colour Palette). The Sound of the wheel ROLLING against the Tarmac as the car begins to come to a crawl.


(Slowed tyre sounds upon tarmac | deceleration of the engine | outdoor ambience)


Ext. Traffic lights - Shot down


A CHAIN of lights are shone down onto the bonnet and windscreen of the car as it screeches to a steady halt, Other vehicles are in view but are dull silhouettes compared to our car of focus. Except one car that is a few cars behind.


(Sound of multiple cars passing and stopping | Deceleration of engines of other cars too | outdoor ambience )


Int. Car - Dashboard Cam


The Man leans forward to get a closer view out the front windscreen and into focus comes the words SOUTH BEACH and UPPER EAST written backwards as part of a reflection. The man looks left and right making a decision and before the Traffic lights change a REPEATED CLICK is heard.


(Car ambience | Radio | Clicking | muffled engine sounds)


Ext. Street Sign - High Angle Shot


A CIGARETTE is flicked past the words SOUTH BEACH, Camera focuses and as the acceleration of the car builds to speed, we refocus onto the car journeying towards a NEON LIT landscape. The SOUNDS of the car begin to die down the further away it travels. Another Car follows slowly in the same direction.


(sound of a cigarette being flicked | Acceleration of Car | sound of another car | main car decelerating | outdoor ambience)


Int. Car - Low Angle


Man reopens SMALL BOX to see its there is one CIGARETTE left, places it inside his mouth deep sigh as he throws the empty box toward the SEAT next to the camera. A slight CHINK is heard, Man ignites new CIGARETTE--


(Sound of thin cardboard box being slid open | Sigh of male character |  ambient noises of being in a car | sound of cigarette packet hitting the seat | igniting of lighter )


Focuses in on CIGARETTE light


Man inhales and exhales smoke once more--


(Inhaling | Exhaling)


Ext. South Beach Sidewalk - High Angle - Static Shot


New music pours into the scene from the establishments littering the area --
The car pulls over slowly in front of brilliant NEON lights, stops centre frame and the man applies the HANDBRAKE. Man sticks out his head slightly to observe the area. The sound of a second car


(Loud party music | handbrake sound | other cars engine sounds | louder ambience sounds | main car's engine sounds | sirens )


Int. Car - Rear View Mirror Shot


The man readies himself to disembark the vehicle, turns OFF the ENGINE the focus of the camera zooming slowly through the back window of the car showing the audience the second car thats pulled up a little way behind the car.


(Deceleration of main car | squealing of brakes | tyres on tarmac | stopping of car)


Ext. Car - Wing Mirror Shot


The man opens his door slowly and takes his time getting out, the door of the car that follows the man also opens in sync. The door the camera is on pauses to open fully, so does the door of the car that follows. SOUNDS INTENSIFY


(Door opening | Door opening in distance | sirens)


Int. Car - Rear View Mirror Zoomed Shot


The camera fully centred throw the back window of the car the man SLAMS the door and shifts back into the seat, staring into the rear view mirror. Lights fill the side of the shot focusing in on the two men sitting in the car waiting-- SOUNDS AND LIGHT INTENSIFY


(Door slamming | shuffling on leather seat )


Man looks back slowly, then sharply forward


Int. Car - Low Angle


The man still staring at the Rear View Mirror struggles to reach the seatbelt over his right shoulder, and slowly CLICKS into position. The man places the key into the ignition slowly--


Distorted sound floods the scene and becomes uncomfortable


(dragging of material | sound of seat belt being clicked into holster | sound of key being inserted into ignition | sirens  )


Ext. Car - Back of car panning down


The man turns the key in the ignition and the engine ROARS into life, Lights turn back ON, the car SCREECHES its tyres and kicks up smoke, Handbrake DISENGAGES, car shunts backwards because of TORQUE and the car speeds off through the smoke it creates.


( key turning | acceleration of engine | screeching tyres | handbrake sounds | sound of car shunting backwards | speeding car noises | sirens )


Int. Numerous Abstract Shots.


-- Cameras detail the inside of the car while the man is speeding away, Focuses on the GEAR STICK when he's shifting up, in key with the ACCELERATOR and CLUTCH. SPEEDOMETER increases and so does the aggression of the vehicle. Wheels screeching as he sharply turns left and right, Objects shift to show the direction of gravity.


(sound of speeding engine | gear shift sound | screeching on each turn | sirens )


Ext. Slow Zoom From Front Bumper To Mans Face


The camera pans up from the Bumper to show the audience this build up of smoke the car has kicked up, the distorted and unclear lights, the sounds of passing vehicles and the progression of sound the car is making. --
Camera reaches mans face and continues to zoom in


(sound of speeding engine | gear shift sound | screeching on each turn | passing vehicle noises | sirens )


Ext. Parallel Follow Camera Shot


Audience is shown the car leaving the clouds of confusion that had been left in its wake. Sounds are left behind the car as the car speeds away from the distortion.


(speeding away car | engine sounds going into distance | sirens )


Int. Over The Shoulder Shot


Focuses over the mans shoulder to the -- THANK YOU FOR VISITING -- sign shown on the RIGHT hand side of the road, the man follows sign passing him and looks through the back window, as a red light is shown ahead of the man and fastly approaches.


( engine noises )


Fade to Black --


Sounds of the man applying the BRAKES to the vehicle and spinning out of control, GRUNTS, Sounds of CLANGING bodywork and SMASHING glass. Car hurtles out of control and sound goes quiet


( brakes being used | smashing glass sound | sirens | clanging of bodywork | car crashing noise )


Fade in --


Ext. Slow Zoom From Side Of Car


The camera slowly zooms through the kicked up dust and smoke the car has created due to a horrific collision, A Single BRIGHT LIGHT shines through the smoke. A rim rolls toward the camera and spins as it comes to a halt. The car is overturned and the man is left mangled in the crash, lying to the ceiling of the car--
Camera enters car


Sound of FLAMES igniting and a distant sound of sirens glowing ever closer in the air, a very faint red and blue light gradually builds in the smashed window.

( Sound of ambient noises | sirens | fire noises )

Soundscape: Sounds Mixdown

Acceleration


Car Ambience



Heartbeat


City Ambience

There are 50+ sound files that can be altered. These are just some examples of what some mixtures/edits of the sounds could be like. These sounds were collected in about 3 days, trying to capture raw audio so the project seems more alive, rather than made up of cheesy stock noises. Also it will give us much more diversity in our soundscape, which is what our project will be heavily based on.

Sunday 9 October 2016

Narrative - Screenplay #1 - Man Vs Machine

Okay so this is my initial attempt of writing a ScreenPlay for our Animation. Im trying to incorporate the sounds and lighting we wish to achieve into the writing and I hope to give the impression the Man in the Animation is comfortable, to increasingly paranoid.

Any criticism is appreciated and I do apologise if its presented in the incorrect format, it is my first time doing this sort of writing. 

-- Rhys



'UNTITLED ANIMATION'
Screenplay written by Rhys Wadmore
Version # 01



Sound Fade In:

Ext. Quiet Street - Night

Through the ambient sounds of a SLEEPING CITY, we hear feet shuffling coming closer and closer toward us. A smashing of GLASS, car door OPENS and Brushing sounds just before it SLAMS abruptly, fidgeting as someone attempts to spark two wires. Sound of an ENGINE stirring with excitement and a STEADY ACCELERATION.

Fade In:

Ext. Bumper Shot Pan

The Lights of a vehicle are shone out into the camera and the front bumper and grill of a car is seen, the car is travelling at an average speed and the sound of the engine is PURRS along with the camera as it pans up to the BONNET.

Int. Car -Low Angle Shot

An obscured man is seen behind the wheel of an attractive automobile, driving, watching the road ahead while exploring the confines of the interior space with his other hand. He searches his upper jacket pocket and reveals a SMALL BOX.

Int. Car - Rear View Mirror Shot

The SMALL BOX is bought closer to the man's mouth, opened with his free hand and a single CIGARETTE is taken out and placed into his mouth. The man leans forward and a short CLICK is heard.

Int. Car - Inside Glove Box

The GLOVE BOX is opened by the man and he reaches for a handful of random cassette tapes and retracts his arm and places the tapes onto the SEAT beside him and closes the GLOVE BOX.

Int. Car - Low Angle Shot

The man multi-tasks driving and looking down onto the SEAT beside him browsing through the tapes with one hand, the name of the tape he chooses is seen briefly on the back--

Tape is inserted and a WHIRRING sound is made.

Int. Car - Rear View Mirror Shot

The man leans forward slightly as a CLICKING sound is made as a spark ignites beneath his lips and the CIGARETTE is lit, a deep INHALE ---

and EXHALE as the music from the Cassette plays quitely builds.

Ext. Car - Driver Side Rig Cam Shot

The man extends his left hand outside the window resting on the side of the car as the sound of the music fills the air and smoke puffs out the side. The sound of a PASSING cars and light appear to the sides of the car.

Dissolves Out with the PASSING LIGHT:

Ext. Car - Driver Side - Front Wheel Rig Shot

Lights a reflected by the BODYWORK of the car, (Insert Saul Bass Colour Palette). The Sound of the wheel ROLLING against the Tarmac as the car begins to come to a crawl.

Ext. Traffic lights - Shot down

A CHAIN of lights are shone down onto the bonnet and windscreen of the car as it screeches to a steady halt, Other vehicles are in view but are dull silhouettes compared to our car of focus. Except one car that is a few cars behind.

Int. Car - Dashboard Cam

The Man leans forward to get a closer view out the front windscreen and into focus comes the words SOUTH BEACH and UPPER EST written backwards as part of a reflection. The man looks left and right making a decision and before the Traffic lights change a REPEATED CLICK is heard.

Ext. Street Sign - High Angle Shot

A CIGARETTE is flicked past the words SOUTH BEACH, Camera focuses and as the acceleration of the car builds to speed, we refocus onto the car journeying towards a NEON LIT landscape. The SOUNDS of the car begin to die down the further away it travels. Another Car follows slowly in the same direction.

Int. Car - Low Angle

Man reopens SMALL BOX to see its there is one CIGARETTE left, places it inside his mouth deep sigh as he throws the empty box toward the SEAT next to the camera. A slight CHINK is heard, Man ignites new CIGARETTE--

Focuses in on CIGARETTE light

Man inhales and exhales smoke once more--

Ext. South Beach Sidewalk - High Angle - Static Shot

New music pours into the scene from the establishments littering the area --
The car pulls over slowly in front of brilliant NEON lights, stops centre frame and the man applies the HANDBRAKE. Man sticks out his head slightly to observe the area. The sound of a second car

Int. Car - Rear View Mirror Shot

The man readies himself to disembark the vehicle, turns OFF the ENGINE the focus of the camera zooming slowly through the back window of the car showing the audience the second car thats pulled up a little way behind the car.

Ext. Car - Wing Mirror Shot

The man opens his door slowly and takes his time getting out, the door of the car that follows the man also opens in sync. The door the camera is on pauses to open fully, so does the door of the car that follows. SOUNDS INTENSIFY

Int. Car - Rear View Mirror Zoomed Shot

The camera fully centred throw the back window of the car the man SLAMS the door and shifts back into the seat, staring into the rear view mirror. Lights fill the side of the shot focusing in on the two men sitting in the car waiting-- SOUNDS AND LIGHT INTENSIFY

Man looks back slowly, then sharply forward

Int. Car - Low Angle

The man still staring at the Rear View Mirror struggles to reach the seatbelt over his right shoulder, and slowly CLICKS into position. The man places the key into the ignition slowly--

Distorted sound floods the scene and becomes uncomfortable

Ext. Car - Back of car panning down

The man turns the key in the ignition and the engine ROARS into life, Lights turn back ON, the car SCREECHES its tyres and kicks up smoke, Handbrake DISENGAGES, car shunts backwards because of TORQUE and the car speeds off through the smoke it creates.

Int. Numerous Abstract Shots.

-- Cameras detail the inside of the car while the man is speeding away, Focuses on the GEAR STICK when he's shifting up, in key with the ACCELERATOR and CLUTCH. SPEEDOMETER increases and so does the aggression of the vehicle. Wheels screeching as he sharply turns left and right, Objects shift to show the direction of gravity.

Ext. Slow Zoom From Front Bumper To Mans Face

The camera pans up from the Bumper to show the audience this build up of smoke the car has kicked up, the distorted and unclear lights, the sounds of passing vehicles and the progression of sound the car is making. --
Camera reaches mans face and continues to zoom in

Ext. Parallel Follow Camera Shot

Audience is shown the car leaving the clouds of confusion that had been left in its wake. Sounds are left behind the car as the car speeds away from the distortion.

Int. Over The Shoulder Shot

Focuses over the mans shoulder to the -- THANK YOU FOR VISITING -- sign shown on the RIGHT hand side of the road, the man follows sign passing him and looks through the back window, as a red light is shown ahead of the man and fastly approaches.

Fade to Black --

Sounds of the man applying the BRAKES to the vehicle and spinning out of control, GRUNTS, Sounds of CLANGING bodywork and SMASHING glass. Car hurtles out of control and sound goes quiet

Fade in --

Ext. Slow Zoom From Side Of Car

The camera slowly zooms through the kicked up dust and smoke the car has created due to a horrific collision, A Single BRIGHT LIGHT shines through the smoke. A rim rolls toward the camera and spins as it comes to a halt. The car is overturned and the man is left mangled in the crash, lying to the ceiling of the car--
Camera enters car

Sound of FLAMES igniting and a distant sound of sirens glowing ever closer in the air, a very faint red and blue light gradually builds in the smashed window.

Cut To Black.