Progress Report 2

Now in the modelling phase at last. I don't think theres any revisions needed for the characters now, besides the mechanical Overlords colour (thats something I'll aim to get fixed before the texturing phase).

An early capture of my work in progress. I have almost completed the face now so next update on the modelling will show a lot more.

With deadlines approaching, I will also begin work on my final 2D animatic (when I say final, I'm talking about the overall quality of the drawings and adding the changes made from latest revisions in the script).

I will also begin work on a 3D animatic, although this will be very rough blocks moving around to represent characters and evironment. The primary aim here is to have the 3D animatic represent the camera angles and positions since the 2D animatic is focued purely on communicating the story.

It's been mayhem lately in trying to get everything balanced out with dissertation, my scientist lip sync and this project but I'm getting there now. With a draft of the dissertation finished, I only have minor edits to do to fix the errors. As for the lip sync, I'm definately going to have to buy my own light box to work with as they are all booked out at university; which I was planning on getting before next year anyways.

Muybridge Exhibition at Tate and British Museum

Back from the London day trip to see the Muybridge exhibition at Tate. Enjoyed it a lot as I had never been to Tate or British museum.

Muybridge Exhibition

This was pretty cool, although I was surprised how small it was (for some reason I thought it was going to be a huge exhibition). Found quite a few good reference photos by Muybridge that would help a lot with Project Enzo; like the studies of the birds and mining poses.




Muybridge's Bird Study



Wanted to buy something related to the bird studies but couldn't find any other than the book so I left with a pose-able wooden hand (<impulse buy and it will be useful for drawing and modelling hands).

Forbidden Planet

We also went to Forbidden Planet, which I've been to before but it was still awesome. Wish I could have got everything from there.

British Museum

I was shocked by how amazing it was, the moment you enter the court hall inside and realise how big it is... felt quite intimidating and felt like I was standing inside something from God of War. Didn't get too see much because of how little time we had (some of us had decided to quickly find a McDonalds which turned into a long search so we had 35 minutes to see as much of the museum as possible). I was glad I was able to see the Egyptian exhibitions as I loved studying ancient Egypt when I was younger (alongside space and dinosaurs). Was quite surprised to see the 'mummified' Cleopatra there too.




Mo, Matt, Gary and me got impatient for my phones camera to work



Disappointed we had so little time to check it all out, but I definitely wouldn't mind going again just to visit the museum.

Thinking of a title for 'Project Enzo'

Most of my animations stick to a one word title as I believe it's easier to remember. This is a tradition that I would like to keep for Project Enzo.

Currently, have a long list of potential title names but none of them feels perfect yet. Of course, I have a lot of time to decided on this so it's not really an issue.

The kind of title I'm looking for should represent the themes of escape, confinement, friendship and relate to Enzo and Bird. It'll be interesting to see if the final title does reflect these themes.

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I have recently watched two films: Big Buck Bunny and Sintel which I find amazing! They are both created using Blender instead of an expensive software such as Maya or 3DS Max and the quality of animation and visuals are awesome.

Whilst I enjoyed big buck bunny for its humour and impressive visuals (the colour palette is beautiful) I enjoyed Sintel more. This is the kind of animation project I would love to work on and it kind of reflects what I have already been aiming for in my project: A story about the bond between two characters. If you haven't watched it, head on to YouTube and check it out. It's a 15 min short film.

Connected worlds

An idea I've had for quite a while now is the use of references to past animations I've made which would pretty much function as easter eggs. Those who know my past work may be able to recognise some of the visual cues to existing work.

My ideas so far:

------References to Beyond------
- Posters of the piloted robot could be placed on one of the walls

- At the ending when Enzo looks out into the world, somewhere amongst the establishing shots a white cube
will be seen where one side of it falls out.

------References to Sentry------

- A picture of the tiny sentry bot could be placed somewhere or actually be present in physical form as a deactivated machinery where other robot parts may be kept.

- The other sentry designs could be placed somewhere as blue prints in the construction site

- A picture of the environment at the beginning of Sentry could be placed somewhere as landscape painting

------References to Beat's Audition----

- A portrait of B.E.A.T and V1RU5 could be placed somewhere as a poster for the advertising new entertainment for the Overlords

- Pieces of B.E.A.T could be stored with the tiny Sentry bot


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Of course, this will be something I'll only put in once the core animation is done.

Finalised character designs - True Overlord

This is the final design for the true form of the Overlords. Small, goblin like critters that bark orders from inside a mechanical body. They are well aware that they are weak compared to the slaves, however their knowledge of technology has given them the advantage. Now they roam about in their robotic forms showcasing their superiority.

The True Overlords.

In comparison to their towering robotic forms, these guys

are tiny (barely reaching Enzo's knee)

In traditional stories, Goblins have loved treasure. The Overlords are similar, the mines contain godly amounts of valuable ore, gold, diamonds etc and they wont stop until they claim all of it for themselves. Of course, the slaves do the digging whilst the Overlords sit back and pick one of them to attack for fun. They have a habit of constantly keeping track of numbers which represents how wealthy they have become.

Behind the scenes, away from the working portions of the mines, the overlords enjoy their luxurious life away from the robotic forms such as night clubs and gambling.

I will post their robotic forms soon. It's still a work in progress as I'm not happy with the colour for the armour at the moment.

Synopsis

Seeing as I've posted so much about Project Enzo, I think it's best I post the synopsis now to clear a few things up. My current synopsis, I want to edit this near the deadline a bit but for now its not a priority.

A slave is freed by a small bird and taught how to enjoy his life. As the two become friends, the bird falls prey to the toxic atmosphere of the steam punk mines. It is now the slave’s turn to help out a friend as he attempts to find the entrance to the mines. The Overlords are out hunting the duo, determined to stop the slave from leaving. As the bird is freed into the outer world, the slave is dragged back by the Overlords for execution; however their plans are stopped by a swarm of birds that strip the Overlords of their mechanical armour. The true form of the Overlords are revealed to be small, goblin like critters that immediately flee the scene leaving the slave to follow the birds and his friend into the outside world.

I won't post the treatment just yet but the majority of the animation will be 3D with the exception of the credits which will have a 2D approach. I'll be starting the modelling of the characters very soon which I'm eager to start.

doodle of Enzo and the Overlord. good times...

I'll also have two animatics: one as a story focused 2D animatic and the other a 3D animatic that focuses the choreography and camera angles of each scene.

As for the credits animation, I will save that for another blog entry.

The background of Project Enzo

The majority of the animation takes place in the mines where the slaves are forced to work day and night under the watchful eyes of the Overlords. The Overlords enjoy their superiority and will some times dish out punishment for their own amusement.

The Overlords are large robots who order the slaves around and are obsessed with obtaining all the precious ore from the mines. Their greed for riches never being satisfied.

The slaves are born in the mines and die in the mines, the dirty air they breath has no effect on them. perhaps evolution has given them immunity but for any outsiders the environment is lethal.

One bird's curiosity to enter the mines will change everything...

A friendship will form and grow...

and for the first time in the history of these mines, one slave will escape to see the outer world...

This is the second setting of the animation, which will be pretty fun to create and render out. It will feature gigantic plants and flowers and a surreal landscape. Instead of the reds and oranges of the mines it will showcase greens and blues in contrast.

Although most of the animation takes place in the mines, the design will gradually change. What starts off as a very rocky, natural cave will evolve into a facility like environment with small remnants of the caves remaining. Metallic rooms will be present instead of the large mining caves.

Flip Festival - impressions

With Flip Festival over it's back to work but here's my thoughts on the festival.

Thursday - Birmingham: Millennium Point

A little disappointing in attendance as I imagined it to be busier than the main festival days at the Lighthouse. My film was shown too, although it had to be restarted when the projector switched off and the screen saver appeared. Quite a scary experience when only the sound effects could be heard. Luckily, the reaction at the end of the film made up for the mistakes made during the screening process so it was worth it.

Although, I hope they have a bigger screen next year for the launch party screenings as it was only a fraction of the size of the screen at the lighthouse (as the Thursday screenings were shown on a small lecture room sized screen).

Friday - Wolverhampton: Lighthouse

Definitely my favourite day of the festival and was the busiest of the three days. I was part of the volunteering staff for this day and Saturday so it meant I had something to do in between the waiting times. The screenings were great but my highlight was definitely the media molecule talk. It felt like a really fun studio to work in, in terms of the atmosphere and the way they worked. It was great to see the development of Sack boy too.

Back to the screenings, I was amazed by the amount of stop motion animations and how awesome they all were. My favourite of these was Savage Mountain and Lucky.

Saturday - Wolverhampton: Lighthouse

Another great day although very disappointed that Andy Gent never turned up for his talk (hope he's ok though). The international shorts were great, my favourite being Urs which combined 3D characters against beautiful 2D backgrounds.

The student screenings were cool too. Unfortunately, my uni didn't make the top 3 animations but the ones that won were exceptionally good so congratulations to them.

A Gorilla's shortcut

Been working on this piece over the past 3 days (perhaps around 8-12 hours was spent on this, not sure).

Anyways, it started off with the face which I designed on a cushion when watching TV. By design, I mean using your finger to change the direction of the pillow material so that the light and shade forms a picture...if that makes sense. I will always find a way to keep drawing and designing even if i dont have a pen and paper.

So I scribbled the idea down on paper before i lost the cushion's version but had no idea what to use it for.

Well, then I thought why not have the Gorilla surf on a giant banana...right?

Click for bigger version....

The Best Shortcut

As the sun sets and it gets late, the Gorilla takes a shortcut...

I will always find time to paint (digitally) as I find it's great way to take your mind off other pressures like work. Sit back, listen to music and draw...that's my way of relaxing and keeping my motivation high.

Now...back to work.

(Also posted this in my deviant art gallery too)