Collaboration - Reflective Statement

Going into this project I was.. nervous. I have extreme social anxiety which makes it hard for me to work well with others. Its not exactly a: I hate other people so I won't work with them thing. Its more of a: Oh god what if they don't like me? What if I annoy them? What if they don't like the work I produce? thing. However when our groups were revealed and I saw my group members I felt better about it. I knew Adri and Frankie pretty well already, though there was still some nagging doubts in the back of my head. I put those thoughts aside quickly however, as once I put myself into the work everything seemed to wash away and my thoughts were more focused on producing good work and making my group happy with how things were going.

I do however regret not going forward with the roles I wanted. As much as I enjoyed what I did, I would have liked to do more character design since that is my career goal. Editing was the most fun for me, I had a lot of freedom with it after getting input on what kind of aesthetic to go for with it.

The worst with in this project for me was not going in as much as I liked. External circumstances prevented me from coming in a lot, which was unfortunate. But nevertheless I still continued with my work from him and tried to keep in good contact with my team.

I feel like this project has been the most stressful for me, as I did have to wait for work from others before I could go on with my own tasks. We also did some things out of order from what a typical pipeline for animation and modelling would be. We added the textures after we started the animation which caused a few complications with files. I didn't get the texture files until the final week of the project. But other than that, I did think it was a necessary project to teach us about studio work. Although its not exactly as a studio would be, it was still good to have this project for experience if I ever work with a studio in the future.

Collaboration - Film Reviews

Death of the Author

Hero's Journey

Archetypes

Linear Storytelling

Non-Linear Storytelling

Character & Storytelling

Collaboration - Final Film

Collaboration - Scene 2 Raw Render

Collaboration - Composition and Editing

The entire film has 4 effects put over it. The fast blur has a expression on it written as wiggle(10,5). This changes the the blurriness of the picture to imitate old film reels. The black and white effect is whats giving it the color. Without this effect the film would look like this: 

Posterize time changes the frame rate of this particular pre comp from 24 to 12. It also gives it the look of an old time film. And the CC Vignette also has wiggle(10,5) on both its Angle of View and Center, to give it a decaying look.

On this Black solid I applied a Fractal Noise. The Contrast was put way up and the Brightness way down to give it a noisy look. The under Evolution Options I put the expression random()*100 to randomize the seed so it would change with each frame.

Collaboration - Making of the Pixel Moon Logo

Deciding on a Name

Initial Concept

Sketches by Adri

Process of new logo

Final Contenders

Final Logo

Collaboration - Lighting the Scene

Unlighted

Lighted

In the scene there are 3 directional lights. One in the back to simulate the sun from behind and two in the front to light the inner garage and the front of the house. I also included a spotlight inside to light the corner of the garage, and an area light to simulate the color/warmth of sunlight.

 Modelling // Frankie

Textures // Adri

Lighting // Annie

Toolkit 2 - Character Design: Design Bible

Collaboration - Scene 2_1st and 2nd Animation Passes

Perspectives - 5 Ways that Moulin Rouge is Postmodern

1. The film is non-linear. The story that Christian is writing is framed within him writing it at the beginning of the film. The story he's writing is real, and eventually catches up as he finished the story.


2. The film is incredibly hyper real, but becomes less so as it catches up to Christian in the present. It starts out fast paced but becomes slower toward the end. An example of its hyper reality is when Christian and Satine dance on the clouds.


3. The film pastiche in its use of Mashups. It has taken many different songs and remixed them in a way, adapting them to the film.


4. During the opening of the film, the director makes the camera cut quickly between different shots, showing the pacing of the opening, and also disorientating the audience.


5. The film mixes genres. The film is a musical drama with comedy elements. They subtract from reality, making the film seem much more like a fabrication or a dream.

Perspectives - 5 Ways that Scream is Postmodern

1. Scream advertises itself as a horror slasher film. However it is a pastiche of these genre or film. The film imitates the stereotypes of horror, such as the mask of Michael Myers in Halloween.

2. The mask itself is an appropriation of Edward Munch's famous painting, 'The Scream'. It has striking similarities, including the general shape of the head and openness of the mouth.

3. Scream uses irony in its story. The teenage victims claim to know a lot about horror movies, stating that they would know what to do in that type of situation because of that. "What's the point? They're all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door. It's insulting." However, the fact that they know all this doesn't prevent them from being murdered.

4. Scream acknowledges the fact that it audience will have seen horror films before, and invited us to comment on his predictability. At the time it was a new, self conscious and at times humorous example of the genre.

5. The film sets it own "rules" as it goes on. "Don't have sex. Only the virgin survives. Don't drink or do drugs. Don't say 'I'll be right back'."

Toolkit 2 - Character Design: Conway Turnarounds + Character Bible WIP

Finished Turnaround

Original Sketch

Rough Cover Page

 Rough Character Pages

Rough Coral Design Page

Perspectives - Postmodern Definitions #8

Hyperrealism - more real than real.

Simulation - an imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system.

Simulacra - an image or representation of someone or something.

‘Fake news’ - a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and broadcast news media or online social media.

Perspectives - Postmodern Definitions #7

Metafiction - fiction in which the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness of a work by parodying or departing from novelistic conventions and traditional narrative techniques.

Intertextuality - the relationship between texts, especially literary ones.

Mise-en-abyme - a formal technique of placing a copy of an image within itself, often in a way that suggests an infinitely recurring sequence. In film theory and literary theory, it refers to the technique of inserting a story within a story.

The 4th Wall - a performance convention in which an invisible, imagined wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes, the actors act as if they cannot.

Collaboration - Opening

Billy Logo Vector / Original Design by Adri

Perspectives - Postmodern Definitions #6

Normativity - the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good or desirable or permissible and others as bad or undesirable or impermissible.

Binary opposition - a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning.

Deconstruction - a critique of the relationship between text and meaning originated by the philosopher Jacques Derrida.

Différance - a French term coined by Jacques Derrida. The term différance means "difference and deferral of meaning."

Reinscribe - to reestablish or rename in a new and especially stronger form or context

Cognitive dissonance -  the mental discomfort experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values.

Judith Butler - An American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics and the fields of third-wave feminist, queer and literary theory. She challenges conventional notions of gender.

Perspectives - Postmodern Definitions #5

The Canon - a term applied to something that is generally accepted as superior to other things in the same field.

DWEMs - Dead white European Males. A person viewed as unjustly dominant in culture, and archetypcally despised by feminists, multiculturalists and postmodernists.

Phallocentrism - the ideology that the phallus, or male sexual organ, is the central element in the organization of the social world

Eurocentrism - a worldview centered on and biased towards Western civilization.

Postcolonialism - the political or cultural condition of a former colony.

Multiculturalism - the presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society.

Feminism - the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.

Perspectives - Postmodern Definitions #4

Avant-garde - new and experimental ideas and methods in art, music, literature or film.

Nostalgia - a sentimental longing for the past. something presented in order to evoke feelings of nostalgia.

Appropriation - the action of taking something for your own use, typically without permission.

Pastiche - imitation of a certain style or genre.

Parody - imitation of a writer, artist or genre with exaggeration for comic effect.

Irony - an event that is contrary to what someone would expect, and is often amusing as a result

Ideology - collection of beliefs and values that a group holds

Genre - a style of art, music, literature and film.

Sherrie Levine - american photographer known for her exact photographic reproductions of the work of other photographer such as Walker Evans. Her work is considered a form of appropriation by some.

Toolkit 2 - Character Design: Sidekicks

Initial Exploration of a sidekick

Development of Seahorse showgirl who wants to dance with the shark. I decided on this because of a seahorses flexibility and feminine shapes. I started planning what would happen between these characters. The shark is dancing in the background and the Seahorse call him over, but because he's so much bigger than her, he washes her away and she spins around getting dizzy and messed up. Then she chases after him.

Collaboration - Character & Storytelling - RWBY

The two characters I'll be looking at are Ozpin/Ozma and Salem from an internet show by Roosterteeth called RWBY.

Personal History

(Salem and Ozma, RWBY 6 Episode 3: The Lost Fable, 2018)

The personal history of Salem and Ozpin/Ozma is tied together closely. Ozma was a knight, striving for justice and all things good in the world. He heard tales of a girl locked away in a tower by her abusive father and sets out to rescue her. This girl is of course Salem. Ozma manages to save Salem and without meaning to they both fall in love. However, Ozma grows ill and dies. Distraught, Salem seeks the help of the gods, but when they refuse to bring Ozma back from the dead, Salem attacks them. The gods curse Salem with immortality for this, and no matter how much she tries to end her life to be with Ozma, she always comes back. At one point Salem jumps into a pool of black sludge, hoping it would finally kill her, but she emerges, bent on destruction.

Meanwhile, the Gods summon Ozma, granting him the ability to jump into another like minded males body when he dies. In each reincarnation, he has a different name. His most recent being Ozpin and Oscar. He's given the task to defeat Salem, and redeem mankind. However, over the years it becomes apparent that Salem is invincible, and his once precious love was a completely different woman. 

Salem now leads a secret group, aiming to destroy Ozpin. And Ozpin runs a school in beacon, training his students to protect mankind.

(Ozma Currently inside Oscar, RWBY Volume 5 Opening, 2017)

Personal World View

Salem is an insidious woman, she moves quietly with deliberation in order to destroy her enemies. She feels the minds of mankind are easily swayed, and wishes to become a living god, someone for mankind to worship. 

Ozpin however is the opposite. Believing in humanity and their ability for survival. Although Stoic, he cares deeply for his colleagues and students. He is however secretive, not wanting people to know about his past with Salem, and blaming himself immensely.

Inherited World

Ozpin and Salem came from a world where the Gods walked among men, and gifted them with magical powers. However when Salem attacked the gods, they destroyed the world, leaving mankind without magic. Mankind eventually rebuilt itself. Salem became a sort of witch among men, and still is. Whereas Ozpin was confused upon being bought back, Magic no longer being something just anyone could wield.

Wants (Goals)

Salem wants to destroy Ozpin, and become a god among humankind.

Ozpin wants to destroy Salem, and redeem mankind so that the Gods may fix Salems mistakes.

Needs

Salems one and only need includes her Goal. She needs to use and manipulate people in order to get what she wants, stating that 'The only way to get what you desire, is through me. This isn't a threat, it is simply the truth."

Ozpin needs help from allies in order to even have a chance at besting Salem, since she cannot die. He feels as if he's responsible for everything that has happened to mankind, and that he needs to fix it.

Internal vs External Traits

Salem

Internal: Insidious, Sadistic, Manipulative

External: Confident, Self-Assured, Tolerating

Ozpin:

Internal: Secretive, Caring, Respecting

External: Stoic, Humble, Blunt

(Salem Currently, RWBY Volume 6 Opening, 2018)

Flaws

Most of Salems traits are flaws, except one. Once in her life, after she became who she is today, she had children and was genuinely loving toward them.

Ozpins main flaw is his inability to trust. Having been through so many lives and in most of those lives having people (and Salem) lie to him and betray him, he keeps many secrets from people.

Story Arc and Conflicts

Since the story of RWBY, and by extension these two characters is still in progress, It's hard to say much about these two points as of now.

Bibliography:

Images: 

RWBY. (2013 - 2018). [Web Series] Directed by M. Oum. Texas: Roosterteeth.

Toolkit 2 - Fog (Legacy) & Atmosphere

aiFog

aiAtmosphere Volume

Toolkit 2 - Displacement

Displacement

Vector Displacement

Collaboration - Non-Linear Storytelling - Mulholland Drive

(Mulholland Drive, 2001)

Non-Linear Methods:

Chronicle - The main dream of Mulholland Drive is linear in a way. It does follow events forward, but switches between different characters perspectives. Then as soon as we're out of Diane's dream, things get muddled quickly.

Zig Zag - The narrative jumps between different perspectives, the "main story" of Rita and Betty, the dilemma of the director Adam and at the end Diane's perspective as she becomes more and more upset about what happened to her.

Analepsis, Prolepsis and Achrony - These 3 tie in with each other, as we're not sure which events in the end are flashbacks or flash forwards, or in which order the Analepsis and Prolepsis take place. Therefore as the events become more random, Achrony takes over.

Storytelling Devices:

Framing - The main story takes place inside of Diane's Dream.

Twist - The twist is that everything with Betty and Rita was a dream, something Diane was making up as an ideal scenario.

Bibliography:

Images:

Mulholland Drive Poster. (2001). [image] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulholland_Drive_(film)#/media/File:Mulholland.png [Accessed 16 Nov. 2018].

Toolkit 2 - Working from Realistic Reference: Dope Sheet

Toolkit 2 - Pipeline 1: Head Modelling Part 6

 Front

 Side

Above

Toolkit 2 - Character Design: Expressions

 Expression Sketches

Figuring out a turnaround and how he would look in different views, since there would obviously be moments where we see him in a front view. I need to know how that would work.

Toolkit 2 - Cleaned up Animation

Today Alan helped me refine and clean up my animation since I had missed the previous weeks lessons due to illness. I do still have a little catching up to do since he couldn't cover everything.

Toolkit 2 - Character Design: Environment Exploration

 Initial Sketches of "Stage" Idea

 Coral UPA Style

Color Palette Exploration