Wednesday, 30 January 2019

Toolkit 2 - Infographic: Animatic

Looking into more core themes of RWBY I found a big one lurking beneath the show's theme of friendship. Loneliness. During the first 3 volumes its very evident that all the girls feel lonely in one way or another even though they're around people all day. Whether its due to family issues or otherwise, it's clear that this theme is important to the first 3 volumes of RWBY.

Using the show's music "When it Falls" (V.S.Q) by Jeff William's, I developed this basic Animatic for my title sequence.

Tuesday, 29 January 2019

@Alan @Phil - Premise - Possible World History

Long ago there was a tribe. A tribe that could harness the magic of nature and bring light to the world. History now knows this tribe as the first Gods, but they were far from it. They were just like anyone else... At the time...

When the tribe died out they left in their wake “mankind”. They gifted mankind with marks, that could be used to harness the magic of nature.

As history went on, Mankind forgot about The “Gods” who gifted them this power, science taking place over magic and the marks being nothing more than decoration on the flesh of mankind.

As mankind grew, they started to explore the stars, wanting to learn more about life beyond their world, doing so however, bought about a great evil. Darkness.

The Gods started to become angry. “How dare they not use our gifts. How dare they ignore and forget us. Leaving the world we left them!”

The marks, mysteriously began to distort, turning dark, taking over the body and turning mankind into creatures bent on bringing darkness to the world. New “gifts” from the Gods.

And thus, a era of darkness began.

Premise - Talk with Phil 29/01/19


  • Who benefits from marks consuming people? Gods? Villain?
  • Who is the Villain?
  • Villain trying to weaponize the people who are consumed??
  • Marks giving power?
  • Marks are normal? Categorizing the characters?
  • The marks give them a "role" to fill. Bred as one thing but wants to be another. A flaw. 
  • Use flaw as strength.
  • Whats the risk? And the Cost? What would happen if these marks weren't stopped.


Marks used as a Sorting device. Marks must be shown at all times to show any progress of the marks consuming a person. Marks start off as something representing a person, but eventually becomes distorted the more a person gives into darker thoughts. Marks spread over the body and takes over a person, consuming and controlling them. They become "monsters". My main characters fight against these monsters.

Marks given by the gods? Gods are villains. The main characters are fighting against the gods that have been hidden by history. Gods have a group of underlings/worshipers that are carrying out their will?

Gods are making the marks spread and distort. Before it was just a gift of happiness for the characters. But when the characters stopped believing and eventually forgot, the Gods became angry and started controlling them more as the marks become distorted...?

  • Message? Its okay to not be okay. Its okay to have flaws as long as you don't let them control you. You are who you are no matter what anyone may say. It's okay to feel different to other people and look different from other people. 

Premise - Talk with Alan 29/1/19

Answer unanswered questions about world. Then if you'll know more.

  • What happens to the people with the marks?
  • Takes over body?
  • More desperate for help?
  • Groups that help people whose marks are overtaking them?
  • Discrimination?
  • More it spread more it consumes and controls them?
  • Society of world?
  • History? Tribal Spiritual Past. Advanced technological future.
  • Gods? Ancestors? Cursed them with the marks? Or is it just normal?
  • Skewed Universe?
Base off a real place and real things and world will come to fruition. Example: Pokemons regions are based off real city's. Kalos = France, Alola = Hawaii, Unova = America.
Base architecture off real life stuff too like in RWBY. 
What is the transport like? How do they get from A to B?

Locations: Space elevator to academy? Local Gravity?

Avoid skewed alien eyes. Doesn't translate well to 3D and dehumanizes a character, makes them look alien.

Base off something? Example: Steven universe has Gems, RWBY has colors and fairytales etc etc.

Planets? Tribal? Animals? Something to contrast something so futuristic.

Sunday, 27 January 2019

World Animation - Australia: Mary and Max (2009)

Image result for mary and max
(Mary and Max Poster, 2009)

Mary and Max is a 2009 stop motion comedy-drama film directed by Adam Elliot. Set in 1975, it tells the story of Mary Daisy Dinkle and Max Jerry Horowitz as they form an unlikely friendship.

Core Premise

The core themes in this film are loneliness, neglect, depression, anxiety, disability and most importantly friendship. They are all challenging things to discuss in a film, but through the use of animation, we are able to distance ourselves from reality in order to discuss these issues.

Animation and Production

The film was made using Claymation, and the characters aren't very lifelike, so it allows for the film to show things that might be upsetting in a live action film, such as death, suicide, drug use and alcoholism. If the film were live action the director wouldn't have been able to talk about these things openly, and people may find it too uncomfortable to watch.

Reception

Mary and Max received positive reviews and won many awards. Matt Ravier said the story is "paper-thin and some stretches of it are simply too long, yet whenever the narrative thread threatens to tear the sheer authenticity and bold honesty of the characters save the day" (Ravier, 2009). The Los Angeles Times called it remarkable and poignant.

Bibliography:

Images:

Mary and Max. (2009). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/42/b6/1e/42b61efa8760719fb089d6a9a1a88d1e.jpg

Quotes:

Ravier, M. (2009). Review: Mary and Max (2009). [online] In Film Australia - all about Australian films. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20110706105455/http://www.infilm.com.au/?p=745 [Accessed 27 Jan. 2019].

Saturday, 26 January 2019

Premise - Early Thumbnails

 Random Characters // Experimenting on different Space suit styles and how they can be customised.
Early "Mark" Experimentation // Example of how they could distort. Not every mark will look like this, they will depend on the character.

Toolkit 2 - Infographics: Research

Core Themes of RWBY

Teamwork
Friendship
Acceptance

After identifying the core themes of RWBY I decided to skim through the Season 1 (Volumes 1 - 3) episodes to find key moments of the show that reflect these themes. In brackets are extra things that could be shown alongside these moments to better understand the impact of the show). I've chosen 3 moments for each Volume.

Volume 1 - Episode 8 - This episode marks the moment team RWBY first work together as a team. They demonstrate teamwork under pressure and come up with strategies on the spot. (Enemies are Nevermore and Deathstalker)

Volume 1 - Episode 9 and 10 - Weiss gets jealous that Ruby is the team leader, but quickly learns she's the one best suited and accepts that fact. (Weiss realises this through a talk with her professor and Ruby is eavesdropping at the time)

Volume 1 - Episode 15 - 16 - Team trusts each other enough to depend on each other in a proper fight. Weiss finds out Blake is a Faunus and though she is angry for being lied to, accepts her for who she is. A pivotal moment in their friendship.

Volume 2 - Episode 2 - The first time Weiss come out of her shell around her friends. (While playing a board game in a library)

Volume 2 - Episode 4 - Team fight when they first give each other team names and team attack names, working together flawlessly against a new enemy. They all joke about it after.

Volume 2 - Episode 6 - Yang confronts Blake, telling her she doesn't need to take on stuff all by herself. (Scene is taken place next to a chalkboard, could be chalk inspired graphics?)

Volume 3 -Episode 4 - Ruby and Yang play video games with their Uncle, bonding with each other and unaware about what's going to happen in the next few days. (The attack on beacon)

Volume 3 - Episode 6 - After Yang is being hypnotised by Emerald and attacks Mercury "unprovoked", the team believe that she was being manipulated to do it, proving their friendship. (The negative emotion caused by this cause Grimm to come from the hills.)

Volume 3 - Episode 11 - Yang saves Blake from being killed by her abusive ex by sacrificing herself. Losing an arm in the progress. 

Perspectives - Thesis proposal mindmap

This is my mindmap of things to research for my thesis research performa. Since I missed the lesson we did this in I had to do it by my self its not as big as others in my class, so any recomendations for research would be great. Next I will research these points more and find academic writings in books and on websites, and more modern examples of writing too. I’ll also find more examples of cartoons, and look into gender and lgbt+ in general media and history.

Friday, 25 January 2019

Toolkit 2 - Mudbox: Still Life Scene Progress

 Reference Image

Sculpted Assets

Non Sculpted Assets

Toolkit 2 - Mudbox: Posing Tools and Face Sculpting

Rudimentary Rig

"Sculpting" using Rig

Face Sculpt

Premise - World Building #2

After talking with Alan it was agreed that I would need to flesh out my first rule a little more. As it was it didn't make much sense and was a little confusing to understand.

"All characters will have a set of bar code birthmarks on them that have been there since they were born. The color of their birthmarks reflect the person's "soul" and changes color and shape they grow. The shape eventually ends up as a symbol that reflects their true self. They're in a different spot for each person. It is to resemble a sense of vulnerability of having who you are literally on the surface. Looking at what locations on the body means in terms of tattoos and birthmarks and also color theory and color emotion are important in deciding what works on what characters."

So I've decided to make it more linked to state of mind and not the "soul" or "being" of a person. As such its more of a dealing with demons type thing rather than vulnerability on the surface type thing.

"Dealing with demons. The quicker the issues are solved, the less the mark changes. Marks connected to state of mind. Can tackle mental health issues. The “darker” the marks are the more corrupted the person. Reflects their state of mind."

The vulnerability aspect is still there, but now its related to something better than just someones character development. Having it linked to a persons state of mind brings forward an idea of suspense, and the question of how the character will then deal with it.

The marks act as a kind of clock. The darker and more messed up the mark gets, the less time a character has to a complete breakdown of sorts. AKA, becoming a villain, giving into madness, etc. If the character notices their mark becoming distorted they have limited time to find whatever is causing it.

The idea of location on the body and color theory will still depend on the characters, but I feel like the way these marks work are much better now.

Thursday, 24 January 2019

Toolkit 2 - Infographics: Class Task 1

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5

I wanted to convey a sense of darkness in these layouts. Blake Belladonna is a very lonely character, as much as she has friends around her, she always feels lonely. "Beauty against the Beast" is a reference to the story she's based upon "Beauty and the Beast". The Beast refers to two things in this case, her battle against her PTSD and loneliness, and the cause of that PTSD, her ex and former abuser Adam Taurus, the Beast.

Sunday, 20 January 2019

Premise - World Building #1

While brainstorming today I narrowed down some "themes" I'd like to include in my world.

Space
Retro
LGBT+
Myths/Legends

I also started thinking of possible rules to use for my characters and the world.

Rules

1. All characters will have a set of barcode birthmarks on them that have been there since they were born. The colour of their birthmarks reflect the persons "soul" and changes colour and shape they grow. The shape eventually ends up as a symbol that reflects their true self. They're in a different spot for each person. It is to resemble a sense of vulnerability of having who you are literally on the surface. Looking at what locations on the body means in terms of tattoos and birthmarks and also colour theory and colour emotion are important in deciding what works on what characters.

Locations: https://consciousreminder.com/2017/08/30/are-there-special-meanings-to-birthmarks/
          https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tattoo-placement-says-personality-201225946.html
                  https://yogainternational.com/article/view/what-are-the-7-chakras

Colors: https://graf1x.com/color-psychology-emotion-meaning-poster/

I will also need to think of a historical reason why the characters in this universe have these marks. Is it religious? Were they cursed? Something from a god? Another species?

2. In the Academy, the main group of characters will be set in there must be many “crews” of people. These “crews” not only teach people to work in groups but they are also how they’re graded as they go through the program. A “crew” consists of a Captain, Pilot, Engineer and Fighter. Though they have specific roles in the crew, they are all trained in various different fields for the case of emergencies that may happen in space travel (a crew member goes missing, death, etc). So all members have a diverse range of skills.

3. All characters must have a different weapon that they have made in classes. This way they are tailored to his/her/their needs in battle. It can be something as small as a knife or as big as a scythe but they must be able to defend themselves in some way.

Environment/World

Space Training Academy off the planet in space. A place to train would be adventurers and astronauts for dangers of space, how to fly spaceships and how to work the technology used in space tech. Training for pilots, engineers, fighters (in case there's hostile life), botany experts (for other food on unknown planets), seekers (who would scouts these planets) is included, plus generic space travel training and language study for already known languages on other planets.

Like Hogwarts, this academy has different “houses” in this academy to encourage extracurricular activities for students. Though I haven't decided what they will be yet.

Quick Concept piece



Aesthetic, Influence, and Palette

Palette Influence

Earlier in December, I made some early concepts of characters for a retro space setting such as this. I’m going to use the same concepts as an aesthetic influence.




Though I won't be taking these particular characters forward, I will use them as a basis for what kind of aesthetic I want with the characters.

Influence Pinterest Board: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/owljunk/moodboard-premise/

Friday, 18 January 2019

Premise - Further research

After discussing with Phil about the possibility of a character based project, he said yes to me doing one that could eventually be used to pitch a tv show, and yes to have a group of characters centred around space.

He did, however, say that I needed to answer some questions to solidify my idea so that it could be used to sustain 12+ episodes of a season.

An environment that would sustain episodes

All tv shows have a place where characters are set. It allows for people to live there and live their lives, while also allowing for things to happen to that environment as time passes by in seasons. The environment of a show concept must be almost first and foremost, even just thinking of what the environment could be will help to build characters for it. You can't make the characters first and then throw them in. The environment comes first, and the characters will follow.

Shows like Steven Universe have set environments. One being beach city, the other being the temple where Steven lives. Only recently have they expanded those environments to the "Homeworld" where all gemkind live.

Other shows like Voltron have a myriad of environments to use like the different planets they save, but they still have their main one where they hang out. Which is the castle turned ship.

Thinking about a place to set this space adventure in was simple enough. Anything big like a school or space station would be perfect since people would always be coming through. Plenty of space for a main group and secondary characters to enhance a cast. Though I'm thinking of a training school for astronauts and space adventurers. The characters could be training there and all of a sudden be thrust into an adventure when something goes awry.

Other environments could be different planets. The group could be going there on adventures and there would always be secondary characters on those too.

The environment must have a backstory/history and a set of rules

The environment the characters are set in must have a kind of history. Like our world has our history of wars and evolution, so do imaginary worlds like RWBY and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

RWBYs history of The World of Remnant is complicated and still hasn't been explained fully (though its getting there) in their Six seasons of the show and 3 seasons of World Building episodes. The main gist of it is that in the past there were 2 brothers, gods that lived on earth and gifted mankind with magic. When mankind displeased them, they took away that magic, leaving them with dust. Stones infused with magic that can be harnessed by mankind. Dust can be used by everyone and is an open resource. However, the gods also left mankind with 4 relics, that when bought together could summon the gods back and allow humankind to be judged. Evil forces known as Grimm are drawn to them to destroy them, and so humankind built academies to train humans to fight the Grimm and to protect without them ever knowing the relics existing.

The set of rules that encompass the world of RWBY is much more simple. Every character must be based loosely off a fairytale, story or myth/legend. Ruby has red riding hoods Cape, Blake reads books like Belle and has a counterpart Adam who is based off the Beast loosely. The characters also must have names that are based off, or resemble a colour. Blake is Black, Weiss is White in German, etc. There are also teams in RWBY that must be based on colours as well and only consist of four people. The team RWBY consists of  Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang. The four main characters. One more rule is that the characters must have a semblance. A semblance is a unique power that characters have. Weiss can summon glyphs and Blake can use "shadows" to help her be unharmed.

Though I haven't begun thinking of a backstory and backstory to the world I hope to create, I am aware it needs to happen and am hoping it will blossom as I go forward in premise. Especially since coming up with these histories and rules are complicated and need to fit together.

What's already in Culture relating to your subject

On the theme of space, there is a multitude of things in popular culture. Ranging from cartoons to horror films. In terms of cartoons and tv shows, which is what I will be focusing on, there are Voltron, She-Ra, Steven Universe and Sailor Moon (and most magical girl shows feature extraterrestrial influence) are some just to name a few.

The challenge for me is bringing something unique to the table that hasn't been linked up with Space before. Or something that has been done, but in a different way than others. Therefore I'm thinking of going with a retro theme and influence with my designs, but still keeping "modern" aspects of that makes space shows what they are, Futuristic.

In terms of diversity, it doesn't make sense to just have the "gay team" just for the sake of diversity. If someone is gay, or trans etc it needs to come up in the show as naturally as any straight relationship would. For example in RWBYs latest episode, it was revealed during a fight (and after several long months of friendship) that two characters Yang and Blake like each other more than just friends, and that they love and protect each other more like a couple. It came up because throughout the previous 3 seasons their friendship was tested and strained and the more they talked the more they realised their feelings. It isn't the overarching plot of RWBY, but it was relevant for that story arc of them reconciling their friendship.

Toolkit 2 - Mudbox: Full Table


Toolkit 2 - Mudbox: Bowl


Thursday, 17 January 2019

Perspectives - Thesis Proposal Premise

A cultural Product + Theoretical Framework / Issue

Cartoons + LGBT+ and Gender representation

(How they've evolved and portrayed in old vs new cartoons)

Premise - About Aphantasia

Following a small talk with Alan about what Aphantasia means to me, He said i should write up about my experiences with it. So I did. He said I didn't have to post it all on the blog, but I don't mind sharing this if it helps other people learn about it.

--

Imagine a beach. With its golden sand and its shining blue waves, maybe there's people there. The sun is shining they’re having fun. It's nice right? You can see it. Smell it. Hear it.

Now, imagine not being able to see that. Being asked to conjure up this complicated imagery and seeing nothing. A void, static, or some kind of messed up blurry version of a beach. Thats me. I see the void.

Now you might be thinking. That's because of a lack of imagination. It's too complicated to imagine. Well okay, I say. Lets try.. an apple. You can see it right? Its red. Or green. Maybe it's bruised. Who knows it's your apple. Simple right? You can turn it around, see how it would look in different angles. Different lights. I can’t.

Once again, Thats me. Something as simple as an apple. I can't even see that. It's silly. But it's me. And all my life i thought that was normal. I thought if i cant see this stuff in this so called mind's eye, then no one can. It's perfectly normal. But, recently i learnt people can. And that what i experience isn't normal.

This… condition, as much as I loathe to call it that, is called Aphantasia. And those with it are called Aphants. I Don't suffer, it's not a condition. It's just who i am.

You’d think as a creative this would hinder me, make me stop thinking. But no. My imagination is quite large. I can think of all these amazing worlds and how they work. But… I just can’t see them. Sometimes it is frustrating, but it's fine, I find ways to work through it.

As a budding character designer, it's sometimes hard to come up with designs, but once I get a design that clicks, drawing that character becomes almost like muscle memory. I can’t see them in my head, but i can feel the character, how they’d act, how they’d speak, and that flows onto the page.

With music, it's different. Some Aphants can’t hear a song in their head, but with me it's an earworm. Songs on repeat in my head, and then.. I can see.. Well not really see. But I feel warmth and colors and sometimes the colors show themselves and I see Warm Reds and Cool Blues.Whatever the music makes me feel. This also translates to my character design. The palettes I feel from music get jotted down. Music helps me create, even if I can’t see. 

With sound however,  I can’t… think. I hear something like a ringing like a essense of a voice but nothing comes out. I can hear them, it, me? But I can’t hear them at the same time. It's strange to describe, and I find myself repeating the essences in my head, over and over until I find something that makes sense. It makes it hard to read, hard to write, hard to think. Its numbing.

Now Aphantasia doesn’t affect dreams. Its different things. Dreams are subconscious, involuntarily conjuring imagery. But consciously trying to imagine images isn’t a dream. So sometimes I have the most vivid dreams, I know I do. I just can’t remember them, Can’t imagine them again, and can’t describe them when I wake up. Sometimes the dreams stick with me. I remember my very first dream. It was.. A street. With white lights almost ghost like floating in the lamps. And victorian esque people all dressed in white. Very gray. No color. And that was it. But I don’t remember what it looks like. Just.. that description i’ve remembered from it.

I can’t see faces in my head, but I can recognise people. I recognise my mother when I see her and my father and my grandad. But… Deceased people I can’t remember and that haunts me. I have a photo of my great nan, and I look at it and know its my great nan. But when I think of her truly think I… remember nothing of her features. Of her voice. All I know is she had an accent. Its strange. I have no photos of my late grandpa. All I remember of him is, I was scared, he liked to smoke and that scared me. I don’t remember what he looked like at all. Its.. sad. It makes me sad. I can’t even remember his voice I don’t know what he sounds like, I don’t know what he looks like and it's.. sad.

Wednesday, 16 January 2019

Premise - New Idea


While strugglng to get to sleep last night I started thinking more about how I could show Aphantasia through animation. And I figured I could make it a character. I could show me, aphantasia and depression as characters. Introduce the two as my ‘friends’ and explain how they’re not very good friends. Show how they work together and how they do what they do through the metaphor of them being real people.

Though its not very representative of what i want to do as a career, i thought i should document it just in case.

Tuesday, 15 January 2019

Toolkit 2 - Character Design: Live Challenge


Original Concepts
Additional Concepts

 Space Ship Design

 Final Sketch

 Color Palette
Finished Character Design

Toolkit 2 - Character Design: In-Class Activities

Week 1





Week 2



 Week 3



 Week 4




Week 5




Week 6


Week 7





Premise - Post Tutorial Ideas

Blue are my original notes, Pink is post tutorial notes.

Idea 1: The main idea for this was to make a few characters and weapons for a fighting game, the vignettes would be how they fight and incorporate their personality in their fighting. They would each take from the show RWBY in the sense that their characters are very loosely based off fairy tails, stories and folklore. (Ruby is red riding hood, Weiss is Snow White etc.) I would do the same sort of thing and base my characters off folkelores and such and incorporate them into a world where that would make sense. I still would like to do this idea, but maybe with a different theme.


Idea 2: In christmas I make a few initial designs for a Team of Retro themed Astronauts. I would take 3 of them forward and make short vignettes akin to my first idea on their personalities and such. Alan suggested their style could be put forward into toy ideas and a TV Short.


Idea 3: My strongest idea but hardest to pull off. Based on my Aphantasia and explaining it through animation. This would be hard since i can't explain it with animation properly without the overuse of black screens. And that isn't really animation. Plus I really want to incorporate character design into premise somehow.


Idea 4: A remake of my FMP project from foundation. It was a book with a poem based on how my depression has evolved and taken over my life. The two characters in it are based off me and my depressions (as a demon) respectfully. Alan said that it has been overdone however.


Idea 5: Similar to my first idea but based more around building a world around my characters, then making a series of informative videos explaining the rules of the world using the characters as examples.


Idea 6: A few years back I wanted to make a LGBT+ comic about a roman goddess called Lyra who is banished to earth for being too disruptive to her community. She then falls in love with an agender human and so on. It would be about difficulties of the LGBT+ community and being agender with fantastical influences. I could do this idea as either a short film or as a character design project.


I am adamant I want to do a character design project. I think working on it as a world building project with character design implemented, would be a good idea. That way I can maybe build it as a pitch for a potential TV Show.

So the goal would be to design 3 characters, and produce 3 1 minute shorts introducing those characters. Then perhaps I could do a pilot episode step outline or script, and an animation of an intro sequence animation by the end of 3rd year. As well as Character Bibles and a Making Of document.

It might be a bit too much, and I'll discuss with Alan and Phil for any other ideas. I also don't know what to base them off as of yet, so that will be what i'll look into next. It needs to be something simple enough to base characters off, but not overly done in popular media.

Any feedback would be appreciated.