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.

@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.

World Animation - Australia: Mary and Max (2009)

(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].

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.

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.