Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Friday, 10 June 2011
Negotiated Brief - Music Video - Finished!!
I am pleased to announce that I've completed my Negotiated project good and proper now..
If you want to skip the 'making of' and see the final video - I've embedded it at the bottom of this post.
I was quite inspired by the Richard Morrison talk earlier this term and took a couple of things from it. With reference to this project I applied what he said about letting the idea come out naturally - and not forcing it out. This was partly due to juggling several other projects but also a result of my way of working.
I acted on moments of inspiration and combined the results of these creative impulses with a methodical approach. In other words - doing some storyboarding and visually responding to the music (see earlier post) as well as thinking 'hmmm - I'd quite like to put in a sunrise timelapse' or 'I feel like going out and doing some creative night photography'.
Some results of these experiments are below:
Also during the term I went to an Audio Visual and Projection mapping Festival at Geneva with Simon which was great fun and inspiring. I will do a separate blog post on this. The point of me mentioning it is that I was able to get some great shots of being above the clouds.
So around a week or two ago my head was full of ideas - I had lots of footage filmed in mind of the project, I had some initial artwork to go on, and some timelapses and photographs. I just needed to somehow condense everything into the 50 second audio piece. Essentially I needed to go 'back to the drawing board' and do some final preparation work. I still needed a proper storyboard (the first one was done before getting a lot more ideas/footage etc.) , a dopesheet -which turned out to be very useful and a place to put all my ideas:
I got to work following the storyboard and produced some artwork designed to be composited into the piece (whilst listening to the music I was doing it for) Eventually I had all the raw material I needed and worked the different elements into After Effects.
One fun idea was to dress up in a suit and incorporate pixellation of me holding a heartbeat (using a video but having it printed off so literally holding up a frame at a time.) I was planning to do the same with a sunrise - but due to time constraints I decided 'hey I'll just composite it onto a blank sheet of paper that I'm holding ' This was a massive time saver and looks a lot smoother. There is a nice hand-done quality to the Heartbeat however. If you have any opinions on this feel free to comment! Getting muddy whilst wearing the smart clothes was Ninas idea (who is also featured in the film.) This was great fun. Also see if you can spot the additional prop in the shot. Here are some elements I put into the final video:
I cut out these cogs by hand using a scalple and some card. Then I scanned them in and animated them in Flash. These fed into the people timelapse shot below - for this I used After Effects.
These were initially hand drawn using pastels on black paper. Then I put them into photoshop and
used a pallett brush and liquify effect. I designed them carefully on photoshop to be able to be looped.
So you get the idea - inspired creativity is what it is! I Love it!
Presenting an Audio Visual piece I produced for my 'Negotiated Brief' project at the Digital Animation BA course in Falmouth.
I really enjoyed doing this, it gave me a chance to be quite experimental and incorporate a range of techniques. Hopefully I will continue to do this kind of audio visual work. Its great to have an idea and then make it happen.
The highlights have to be dressing up in a suit and getting muddy - great fun!
Thanks to Nina Cumberbirch for allowing me to feature her in the video. Thanks to Lazulene for the music.
What does it all mean?.. well I leave that to your interpretation.
Now I must go out and celebrate ! Wooooooooooo!
If you want to skip the 'making of' and see the final video - I've embedded it at the bottom of this post.
I was quite inspired by the Richard Morrison talk earlier this term and took a couple of things from it. With reference to this project I applied what he said about letting the idea come out naturally - and not forcing it out. This was partly due to juggling several other projects but also a result of my way of working.
I acted on moments of inspiration and combined the results of these creative impulses with a methodical approach. In other words - doing some storyboarding and visually responding to the music (see earlier post) as well as thinking 'hmmm - I'd quite like to put in a sunrise timelapse' or 'I feel like going out and doing some creative night photography'.
Some results of these experiments are below:
Also during the term I went to an Audio Visual and Projection mapping Festival at Geneva with Simon which was great fun and inspiring. I will do a separate blog post on this. The point of me mentioning it is that I was able to get some great shots of being above the clouds.
So around a week or two ago my head was full of ideas - I had lots of footage filmed in mind of the project, I had some initial artwork to go on, and some timelapses and photographs. I just needed to somehow condense everything into the 50 second audio piece. Essentially I needed to go 'back to the drawing board' and do some final preparation work. I still needed a proper storyboard (the first one was done before getting a lot more ideas/footage etc.) , a dopesheet -which turned out to be very useful and a place to put all my ideas:
I got to work following the storyboard and produced some artwork designed to be composited into the piece (whilst listening to the music I was doing it for) Eventually I had all the raw material I needed and worked the different elements into After Effects.
One fun idea was to dress up in a suit and incorporate pixellation of me holding a heartbeat (using a video but having it printed off so literally holding up a frame at a time.) I was planning to do the same with a sunrise - but due to time constraints I decided 'hey I'll just composite it onto a blank sheet of paper that I'm holding ' This was a massive time saver and looks a lot smoother. There is a nice hand-done quality to the Heartbeat however. If you have any opinions on this feel free to comment! Getting muddy whilst wearing the smart clothes was Ninas idea (who is also featured in the film.) This was great fun. Also see if you can spot the additional prop in the shot. Here are some elements I put into the final video:
I cut out these cogs by hand using a scalple and some card. Then I scanned them in and animated them in Flash. These fed into the people timelapse shot below - for this I used After Effects.
These were initially hand drawn using pastels on black paper. Then I put them into photoshop and
used a pallett brush and liquify effect. I designed them carefully on photoshop to be able to be looped.
So you get the idea - inspired creativity is what it is! I Love it!
Presenting an Audio Visual piece I produced for my 'Negotiated Brief' project at the Digital Animation BA course in Falmouth.
I really enjoyed doing this, it gave me a chance to be quite experimental and incorporate a range of techniques. Hopefully I will continue to do this kind of audio visual work. Its great to have an idea and then make it happen.
The highlights have to be dressing up in a suit and getting muddy - great fun!
Thanks to Nina Cumberbirch for allowing me to feature her in the video. Thanks to Lazulene for the music.
What does it all mean?.. well I leave that to your interpretation.
Now I must go out and celebrate ! Wooooooooooo!
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Pitch Project - Mismatched - A cartoon series for kids
The aim of one of our projects this term has been to practice pitching, culminating in a professional pitch at the cinema to our class and lecturers. The content of out pitch has been secondary to the pitching itself in terms of the purpose of the assignment. The main goal was to do an exciting, innovative and well delivered pitch to resonate with the audience.
Andy Luck came up with the idea for the content at the beginning of the project. It worked well because it incorporated our equal commitment and involvement. To sum it up - we were to pitch a children's cartoon series, and each one of us were to design one of the main characters. At the pitch we could dress up as the characters to make it all the more memorable. We had a practice run through two weeks ago which proved essential for getting valuable feedback from Rosa Mulraney. There were a lot of flaws at the time - mainly: Why should we care about these characters (whats their motivation) and why are they on a boat.
We ironed these problems out throughout the week using Facebook as a platform for discussion. We also re-jigged the order of our pitch bible so all the business information (show formula, formats and audience etc.) would go at the end rather then the beginning. Andy was going to summarize the key concepts of the show at the beginning along with the title page so the audience had a fundamental idea of what the show was about before launching into design work.
Here is a photo of my costume:
A timing plan of our pitch:
And the pitch bible itself. I will briefly summarize the order, presentation and content of our pitch:
Entrance to pirate music, all wearing our character costumes. I'm pleased to say this seemed to amuse the audience.
Title page
Andy Introduced the basic concept and audience. ie. We have four characters who have been outcasted from society. They all have their own motivations and dream of obtaining treasure which is different for each individual. It is for a child audience aged 9 - 12. etc.
Character pages
Here we each talked about our own character.
ie. Chai is wild and crazy in nature, he has joined the ship in search of adventure and irritates Nigel the tiger by bringing chaos to his sense of order and structure.
Ship setting and Pilot episode
Thomas spoke about the setting of the ship and an idea for a possible pilot episode. They run out of bait and use Chai the chip as a solution. Chai attracts this huge fish and chaos ensues.
The world
Joseph spoke about the world and how it accommodates for their crazy adventures. Its a spontaneous, funny world.
Synopsis
Andy read through these bullet points talking about the business side of it and into more depth about the formula of the show.
We rounded it up and took questions from the audience.
The verbal feedback we got was to have a key character that children could latch onto and get interested in intially. For this we suggested Chai the chip could be the protagonist as he is the source of the main funny situation that occurs in out pilot episode idea. It was also mentioned that we should probably have 2 female characters and 2 male characters instead of the '1 token female.' It was suggested that we should spread out the text-heavy synopsis at the end of the pitch bible throughout the pitch bible - or at least simplify the text at the end so fewer key bullet points could be expanded on in verbal form.
In further written feedback it states that there is some confusion in the character relationships and how they work with each other (It would be nice to have more clarity on this point as I thought each of us spoke about the dynamics of our character and relationships with other characters.) They also said a few areas may not be relatable to a kids audience, they were mainly referring to Nigel the tiger here, whose motivation is a bit too grown-up (he wants a mortgage!)
On a positive note Kathy mentioned there was potential for longevity here (I believe this is due to the depth and play between the characters and the formula of the show.) The costumes worn at the pitch also reinforced the comedy of our project and it was suggested we should test the pitch out on children.
I think the final pitch went well. There was a bit of an issue with me trying to power my ipod speakers at the beginning - so next time I will either use battery powered speakers or simply make use of the computer to play the music (which was the solution in our final pitch.) Also it may have been nice for me to try and stay in my costume throughout the pitch - for this I would have needed to cut another hole for the mouth so my voice wouldn't be muffled. In the final pitch I took my costume off when I talked about my character (I soon put it back on again.) I think we could have benefited from one last dress rehearsal as well - unfortuantly we were all too busy with other projects and events to make time for this.
It was quite an enjoyable day, and there were some really good entertaining pitches and ideas.
Andy Luck came up with the idea for the content at the beginning of the project. It worked well because it incorporated our equal commitment and involvement. To sum it up - we were to pitch a children's cartoon series, and each one of us were to design one of the main characters. At the pitch we could dress up as the characters to make it all the more memorable. We had a practice run through two weeks ago which proved essential for getting valuable feedback from Rosa Mulraney. There were a lot of flaws at the time - mainly: Why should we care about these characters (whats their motivation) and why are they on a boat.
We ironed these problems out throughout the week using Facebook as a platform for discussion. We also re-jigged the order of our pitch bible so all the business information (show formula, formats and audience etc.) would go at the end rather then the beginning. Andy was going to summarize the key concepts of the show at the beginning along with the title page so the audience had a fundamental idea of what the show was about before launching into design work.
Here is a photo of my costume:
A timing plan of our pitch:
And the pitch bible itself. I will briefly summarize the order, presentation and content of our pitch:
Entrance to pirate music, all wearing our character costumes. I'm pleased to say this seemed to amuse the audience.
Title page
Andy Introduced the basic concept and audience. ie. We have four characters who have been outcasted from society. They all have their own motivations and dream of obtaining treasure which is different for each individual. It is for a child audience aged 9 - 12. etc.
Character pages
Here we each talked about our own character.
ie. Chai is wild and crazy in nature, he has joined the ship in search of adventure and irritates Nigel the tiger by bringing chaos to his sense of order and structure.
Ship setting and Pilot episode
Thomas spoke about the setting of the ship and an idea for a possible pilot episode. They run out of bait and use Chai the chip as a solution. Chai attracts this huge fish and chaos ensues.
The world
Joseph spoke about the world and how it accommodates for their crazy adventures. Its a spontaneous, funny world.
Synopsis
Andy read through these bullet points talking about the business side of it and into more depth about the formula of the show.
We rounded it up and took questions from the audience.
The verbal feedback we got was to have a key character that children could latch onto and get interested in intially. For this we suggested Chai the chip could be the protagonist as he is the source of the main funny situation that occurs in out pilot episode idea. It was also mentioned that we should probably have 2 female characters and 2 male characters instead of the '1 token female.' It was suggested that we should spread out the text-heavy synopsis at the end of the pitch bible throughout the pitch bible - or at least simplify the text at the end so fewer key bullet points could be expanded on in verbal form.
In further written feedback it states that there is some confusion in the character relationships and how they work with each other (It would be nice to have more clarity on this point as I thought each of us spoke about the dynamics of our character and relationships with other characters.) They also said a few areas may not be relatable to a kids audience, they were mainly referring to Nigel the tiger here, whose motivation is a bit too grown-up (he wants a mortgage!)
On a positive note Kathy mentioned there was potential for longevity here (I believe this is due to the depth and play between the characters and the formula of the show.) The costumes worn at the pitch also reinforced the comedy of our project and it was suggested we should test the pitch out on children.
I think the final pitch went well. There was a bit of an issue with me trying to power my ipod speakers at the beginning - so next time I will either use battery powered speakers or simply make use of the computer to play the music (which was the solution in our final pitch.) Also it may have been nice for me to try and stay in my costume throughout the pitch - for this I would have needed to cut another hole for the mouth so my voice wouldn't be muffled. In the final pitch I took my costume off when I talked about my character (I soon put it back on again.) I think we could have benefited from one last dress rehearsal as well - unfortuantly we were all too busy with other projects and events to make time for this.
It was quite an enjoyable day, and there were some really good entertaining pitches and ideas.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Animation Technologies Assignment - Virtual Reality
This term we have looked into Animation Technology. We were assigned to research into the history, present and future of a technology that is relevant to Animation. After browsing across various areas I decided to focus in on Virtual Reality. In particular, focusing on an experiment which involves virtual reality modelling. You can see my essay on this if you scroll down to the bottom of this post.
We also had to do a 5-10 minute presentation on our topic. For this I have posted up the slides that I showed with corresponding text that represents what I spoke about with each slide. Look at this to get a quicker impression and understanding of my topic.
Presentation:
I looked at Virtual Reality for my project. First, a little bit of history:
Morton Heligs 'Sensorama' was a mechanical device that included a stereoscopic display, fans, odour emitters, stereo speakers and a moving chair. It embraced all senses.
The Philco Corporation developed Headsight. This was a headset connected to a camera - when the users head moved, so did the camera. It allowed Helicopter pilots to fly at night using headsets that were connected (via magnetic tracking) to infrared cameras positioned below the helicopter.
Ivan Sutherland was the first to connect the Headsight to a computer and established some principles of Virtual Reality which are still in use today: The Virtual Reality comes across as a real environment. It is generated by a computer in real time. It allows users to manipulate virtual objects.
Antonio Medina was a NASA scientist who found a way of controlling Mars Rovers and experiencing Mars from Earth.
So, what kind of environment is required for Virtual Reality to work?
Here is an example:
This is a 4-sided stereoscopic head-tracked immersive display. It uses the same technology as 3D films. Oppositely polarised light is projected in at 4 angles allowing the virtual world to be fed in via computer and interpreted by the user in 3D space.
The main experiment I looked at used this same structure:
Do check out the video link! It is quite remarkable.
Effectively its like being inside Maya. It incorporates a bi-manual interface and allows the user to interact with virtual objects using 2 hands. The head and less dominant hand is tracked using ultrasonic technology. Input comes from both hands (one of which controlling a wand - the equivalent of a mouse.)
There are 3 different modes. Immersive, Table and Mixed. Immersive is 1 : 1 allowing the user to get up close and inspect their work. Table is table sized (!) and allows for quicker and easier editing. Mixed (like the above picture) is a combination.
The software was developed using C++ and Open GL. It is based on an earlier program by Cabral et al. This program allows the user to put together models using model pieces. The models update in real time as the user manipulates them.
Here's another experiment I have looked at. This one involves tactile feedback and allows the user to feel the holograms. So here, the user can feel virtual raindrops splashing on their hands. Again, it is worth checking out the video found at the link above.
So what are the future applications? Well...
We would be more like virtual builders with a greater degree of natural interactivity and control. One possible application demonstrated in my picture above is in Scene Planning and Pre - Visualisation. You would be able to work collaboratively around a 3D scene. You would physically be able to move the virtual cameras, lights and characters. You would be able to check what the virtual cameras are viewing in the 2D viewports and adjust the composition to suit your needs.
Other areas of future application are in modelling and animation. With modelling the standard could be what is achieved with Maya today. With tactile feedback you may be able to literally feel the models, so effectively it could be like working with clay. Painting and Texture applications could also be created. In animation, actors would be motion captured much like they are now, only they would be able to act within a virtual environment. This may may lead to more convincing acting.
To sum up my presentation:
On an ethical note: If Virtual Reality becomes more prominent as a means of entertainment and media we should be careful not to get addicted to such entertainment and keep a sense of our physical real world identities and realities.
On a positive note: A more immersive and interactive virtual process would heighten our physical and mental engagement and reduce RSI. A greater natural interface between the user and the software would enhance our enjoyment of the work involved.
Essay:
Animation Technologies Assignment
We also had to do a 5-10 minute presentation on our topic. For this I have posted up the slides that I showed with corresponding text that represents what I spoke about with each slide. Look at this to get a quicker impression and understanding of my topic.
Presentation:
I looked at Virtual Reality for my project. First, a little bit of history:
Morton Heligs 'Sensorama' was a mechanical device that included a stereoscopic display, fans, odour emitters, stereo speakers and a moving chair. It embraced all senses.
The Philco Corporation developed Headsight. This was a headset connected to a camera - when the users head moved, so did the camera. It allowed Helicopter pilots to fly at night using headsets that were connected (via magnetic tracking) to infrared cameras positioned below the helicopter.
Ivan Sutherland was the first to connect the Headsight to a computer and established some principles of Virtual Reality which are still in use today: The Virtual Reality comes across as a real environment. It is generated by a computer in real time. It allows users to manipulate virtual objects.
Antonio Medina was a NASA scientist who found a way of controlling Mars Rovers and experiencing Mars from Earth.
So, what kind of environment is required for Virtual Reality to work?
Here is an example:
This is a 4-sided stereoscopic head-tracked immersive display. It uses the same technology as 3D films. Oppositely polarised light is projected in at 4 angles allowing the virtual world to be fed in via computer and interpreted by the user in 3D space.
The main experiment I looked at used this same structure:
Do check out the video link! It is quite remarkable.
Effectively its like being inside Maya. It incorporates a bi-manual interface and allows the user to interact with virtual objects using 2 hands. The head and less dominant hand is tracked using ultrasonic technology. Input comes from both hands (one of which controlling a wand - the equivalent of a mouse.)
There are 3 different modes. Immersive, Table and Mixed. Immersive is 1 : 1 allowing the user to get up close and inspect their work. Table is table sized (!) and allows for quicker and easier editing. Mixed (like the above picture) is a combination.
The software was developed using C++ and Open GL. It is based on an earlier program by Cabral et al. This program allows the user to put together models using model pieces. The models update in real time as the user manipulates them.
Here's another experiment I have looked at. This one involves tactile feedback and allows the user to feel the holograms. So here, the user can feel virtual raindrops splashing on their hands. Again, it is worth checking out the video found at the link above.
So what are the future applications? Well...
We would be more like virtual builders with a greater degree of natural interactivity and control. One possible application demonstrated in my picture above is in Scene Planning and Pre - Visualisation. You would be able to work collaboratively around a 3D scene. You would physically be able to move the virtual cameras, lights and characters. You would be able to check what the virtual cameras are viewing in the 2D viewports and adjust the composition to suit your needs.
Other areas of future application are in modelling and animation. With modelling the standard could be what is achieved with Maya today. With tactile feedback you may be able to literally feel the models, so effectively it could be like working with clay. Painting and Texture applications could also be created. In animation, actors would be motion captured much like they are now, only they would be able to act within a virtual environment. This may may lead to more convincing acting.
To sum up my presentation:
On an ethical note: If Virtual Reality becomes more prominent as a means of entertainment and media we should be careful not to get addicted to such entertainment and keep a sense of our physical real world identities and realities.
On a positive note: A more immersive and interactive virtual process would heighten our physical and mental engagement and reduce RSI. A greater natural interface between the user and the software would enhance our enjoyment of the work involved.
Essay:
Animation Technologies Assignment
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Projected History - Final Ship
There was room for improvement on my last video to do my ship a bit more justice. Previously, the movie represented my ship a little bit too much on the 2D side. Now, I have changed the camera position and created an ocean shader resulting in a more impressive 3D render with a kinda real looking (but not really) ocean underneath it. I'm content with this and it seems to have been all worthwhile! Fingers crossed for Simon getting it projected in freshers week later this year..
I achieved this by first rendering the ship alone from Maya using Mental ray. Then I put a black surface shader on the ship and rendered the ocean shader using Maya software. I then composited them together using Composite and put it through after effects to make the final movie files. I also experimented using a bezier warp tool in After Effects to create more of a fish eye effect, this works well in making the ship seem massive. I will upload a video of this and put it here soon. The whole process took a day from when Simon told me yesterday he would like the final ship files to this afternoon when I handed them to him.
I achieved this by first rendering the ship alone from Maya using Mental ray. Then I put a black surface shader on the ship and rendered the ocean shader using Maya software. I then composited them together using Composite and put it through after effects to make the final movie files. I also experimented using a bezier warp tool in After Effects to create more of a fish eye effect, this works well in making the ship seem massive. I will upload a video of this and put it here soon. The whole process took a day from when Simon told me yesterday he would like the final ship files to this afternoon when I handed them to him.
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