Major Project: Final Film

This is the final film. Overall I think it turned out a lot better than I thought it would. Although, I would have tried to make it more detailed, especially where the 3D is concerned. I would also have tried to make the 2D less solid. I could probably have added a song to it as well. However, I think the timing on it is quite good. And I think the colors at least work well together. And I think the colors at least work well together. I used yellow for the energy because I wanted to evoke a sunny feeling.          

I also used two sound effects that can be found here. 

https://www.freesound.org/people/fridobeck/sounds/191694/

https://www.freesound.org/people/cydon/sounds/268557/ 

I also had to add the REACT logo at the end, so I found a logo and added a grey background to it. 

Major Project: 2D breakdowns and reference

These are the reference videos I filmed for the 2D 

These are the keyframes from my 2D sequence

These are the final coloured sequences for the 2D. 

Major Project: 3D scenes

These are the 3D scenes I did for the Film. 

This is the first scene. I based it on one of the street photos on the moodboard. 

This is the second scene. I based it on some syrian architecture but decided to make it more like towers building on top of one another. 

Major Project: Animatics

These are the animatics I created for the film

The only major difference between these two is the buildings. The second one has more refined buildings.  

Major Project: Moodboards

These are the moodboards I gathered together during the course of this unit. 

For my concepts, I took a great deal of reference from the top image when designing the street in the first scene, and I have modelled the 3D scene based on it as well.  

Major Project: Concepts

These are the concept drawings I produced for the project. 

I initially went for a more cartoony look for the character, but ultimately went with the kind of look on the right.  

A cityscape concept

These are designs for the boy grown up as an architect. 

How I pictured the final scene would look. 

Some turnarounds for the grown up 

More finalised designs for the boy character. Towards the end I was inspired by the Gobelin’s film Grand Central, and its simplistic designs for its characters and backgrounds.

A quick turnaround for the boy. I would later change the t-shirt colour to red and use the blue for the book instead.

 

Major Project: REACT Initial idea and storyboards

For our first major project, we had to create a 30-40 second animation for a charity called REACT. They are group who primarily focus on providing education and shelter for refugees. 

I at first found coming up a story based on this difficult, primarily because I haven't much experience working toward a brief, but also because I knew very little about REACT or their cause. But eventually I was able to come up with an idea. I decided to focus on REACT's goals of providing education to refugees.  

My basic idea involves a little boy studying in a classroom. Floating behind him are words that one would associate with hope. Then suddenly an explosion occurs, and the book he is reading, and the words are blown away. The camera then pans around him as he stares aimlessly into space. Then, a book floats down to him, he opens it, and the words return.  

Following some feedback, I changed the story a little so it would begin instead with an explosion, as i felt that the story would have more impact if it were to begin more tragically. The boy still finds the book, but instead of inspirational words, a city pops out of the book, and the pan shot then shows the boy has grown up as an architect, a result of the education that REACT was able to provide.  

This is the same story as before, but I have changed some of the buildings to make them look more Syria. I have also chnaged the ending of the scene so that the perspective is more dramatic. 

Pre - Production Methods: Alternate storyline Animatic (Final animatic)

Using the storyboards for the alternate settng storyline, I created the third animatic. The Narrative here is very much the same, with the hero having anxiety over whether he causes more harm than good, with images coming in showing things going horrifically wrong. The hero's teammate then enters the hideout (which may need explaining) and then reminds him that he is a hero, helping him to regain his confidence and then go out and save the day. As the story is the same I felt that it would make sense to keep most of the shots from the previous animatics. However, the changes to the setting, such as the shadows and the light coming from the TV screen; do a great deal to increase the drama and tension, particularly at the beggining. 

Given the improvements that can be found in this animatic, I think that I consider this to be the final animatic. However, the only things that I think could be improved here, is the ending, and the lack of audio. Overall I think I spent a bit too much time on visuals and narrative rather than audio and the video does suffer for it, as it still doesn't resolve whether or not the visions are memories or the character's imagination. As I personally feel that anxiety often involves worrying about what could happen as opposed to what actually happen, something I have done far too often, I feel that it would be better if the visions were figments of the character's imagination. Therefore, a voiceover by the character's inner voice would do a lot to make things clearer. The ending is also still somewhat quick, and I may need to rethink it a tad during production. I also need to consider the 3D techniques that I will use to make the short, as the hideout, and props such as Crimson Claymore's sword will need to be modeled from scratch. The only other thing I'm having a problem with is coming up with a name for the main character. While I initially had Powerman in mind, the name has been used a lot by Marvel, and quite frankly it sounds too generic. 

Pre-Production Methods: alternate storyline

After some feedback, I decided that a different setting would aid the narrative. So I changed the setting from a cityscape to a cave-like hideout that our hero would use a place of solace. 

The story begins with the character watching a news report about a fire breaking out. In the darkness of his hideout, he begins to feel a great deal of doubt over whether he can truly help. He then hears a familiar voice and he turns around to see his teammate standing behind him. Once again the teammate (who I have now named Crimson Claymore) speaks words of encouragement, and the hero expresses his doubt.  

These shots show the hero expressing his doubt, I added some inbetweens for the shots, both to save time, and to get a better idea of the timing of these shots. After remembering his friends, the hero once again feels his confidence returning, and this time I have given him a less angry look on his face and rather a more determined but still cheerful one. The only lighting that I wanted for this scene is from the TV, as I feel it will make the scene more dramatic, and I feel that it give off the feeling of doubt that our hero feels. 

I also did some quick thumbnails for the hideout. When I was doing these I had in mind superhero hideouts such as the Batcave, but I also had a look at some of the hideout selections from the superhero videogame Champions Online. Along with creating your own superpowered character, you can also choose a hideout for that character, including hideouts that resemble basements. I felt that a basement or underground hideout would better suit someone whose anxiety would prompt solace and isolation. 

Pre-production methods, 3D rig, and visual lighting styles

As I am going to be making this film using predominantly 3D methods, I will of course need to consider 3D production techniques. First on that list is 3D rigs. Although I was open to creating a model and rigging it from scratch, the amount of time that it would take to do so would potentially drain out time for animation. As I prefer animating to modelling and rigging, it would be easier to use rigs and texture them to suit the character. Fortunately, I managed to find a rig called 'Ray' that would suit the thinner physique of the character. What really appeals to me about the rig is that it has a lot of facial controls, which for the shots involving the characters anxiety attack will prove invaluable. The only problem that I forsee is the fact that the character is clothed already, which means I may need to remodel it, which I would rather avoid due to the fact this was a pre created rig. 

 

I had a playaround with the rig and I think the controls work really well, especially the facial controls, and I was thankful that the arms had more controls in them than the body mechanics rigs we used in our 2nd year. 

 On a similar note, I have also taken a look at several examples of the kind of lighting that I would like to try out for this film. I think that I will try and use realistic but still cartoony lighting, as I think it will suit the general design of the characters.  

Pre-Production Methods: Animatic 2

This is the second version of the animatic. Once again, I have used the storyboards from the previous animatic, but with the added inbetweens and the changes involving the friend of the hero coming in give him the encouragement he needs. The most important improvement here is that the good memory of the hero and his teammates/friends is given a trigger, and is now less sporadic. The timing also works again, but some of the shots hold a little too long, such as the memory of the friends. The second character also works in my opinion as the two characters are very contrasting, both in costume design and size. What I think needs to be thought about now is the distinction between memory and imagination in the visions, as it still isn't very clear whether or not the visions actually happened.  I will also need think about the designs of the other characters.    

Pre-Production Methods: Storyboard additions

These are inbetweens that I created to fill in the gaps in the first animatic, as well as get a better sense of timing for the overall piece. I added three extra shots to the flying scene, as I don't want it to be overly long. I did the same for the landing scene, as the landing needs to be quick. Other additional shots show the hero in an idle state before he notices the danger, and inbetweens show him preparing to jump from the building. 

I also decided to add some extra content to the story. Initially, I was simply going to have the character remember a happy memory involving his friends, which would then make him regain his self confidence. However, I later felt that such a change would be incredibly sporadic, and thus, a trigger was needed so the sudden confidence would make sense. So I created a new character. He is more of a brawny and confident character, which would serve the main hero well in reminding him that he is not a complete failure. He enters the fray by placing a hand on the hero's shoulder, and he is revealed in a low angle shot, which I felt would emphasize the confidence of the character. He speaks of how he is a true hero and he has friends who love him and think of him as a good person, which is enough to snap the hero out of it. After the hero snaps out his panic, the bigger hero then draws his sword, and the two race off in a long shot, which I used because I wanted to show the two heroes in action.   

I also did a quick sketch of the two characters. I feel that having the supportive character be a big strong and confident hero would work well as he serves as an encouraging and friendly foil for the main hero.   

When designing the strong character, I decided to look at stronger and more confident superheroes such as Ares (though he isn't as brutal as Ares) , Captain Marvel, and Minotaur, from the Actioneers, a team of heroes who appear in Image Comics' Wolfman series. 

Minotaur is the character with the axe in this image. 

Pre-production methods. Animatic 1

This is the first animatic created for this project. To save time, I felt it would be easier to use the storyboards I created digitally and edit the combined sequence in Aftereffects.   

For a first pass, this isn't a bad animatic. The timing is good and the story does flow, but as I stated for the storyboard, the ending lacks a trigger moment for the good memory. I will need to add in-betweens so I have a better idea of what the timing will be. I will also need to make sure that it is clear whether or not the visions the character has are memories, or simply figments of the imagination. Either would be impactful, as a bad memory would of course cause problems for the characters self confidence, however my personal experience has shown that your imagination can also conjure up harrowing situations, and you can become anxious and think that you would in fact cause such problems.     

Pre-production methods: More Character body types

This is a series of more exaggerated body types. The ones on the left are more thin and gangly, while the ones on the right are more... portly and big, with the exception of the second last on the right.   

I also used this as an opportunity to play around with the costume designs, so I inverted the colours on the costume. I think I prefer the more thinner types, as I find them more stylised and suited to the feel of the piece, and I also think it will suit the character's personality a lot more. 

Pre-production methods: storyboard

This is the first pass at the storyboard. As I personally prefer design over story, coming up with how the story would flow was admittedly quite tricky for me. 

The story begins with a long shot of the hero flying though the sky, and a medium shot of him flying toward the screen. Then, we see a long shot of him landing on a rooftop. In a medium shot, he then notices a dangerous situation (probably a burning building, I want to be careful about what kind of situation I use, mainly due for technical and workload based reasons. Just as he is about to take care of the situation, he has a moment of panic. The camera then goes to an  extreme close up shot of his eye (partially zooming in), and we see some pan shots of things going completely wrong. He misses his mark when shooting his energy blasts, nearly hitting some bystanders, and when trying to catch a falling car, the whiplash causes the necks of the two people inside to snap.

This is the second storyboard sheet. Continuing on, the vision shows the hero failing to catch a falling citizen. After another close-up shot of the eye, we see a vision of the hero with a team of other superheroes. This is a more positive image, meant to snap him back to reality and show him he is not as much a failure as he seems. The next two medium shots show him regaining himself, and then he flies off. In a fade to black, a newspaper shows the outcome which shows the hero was able to solve the crisis. While this is a good ending, I feel that the good memory comes up somewhat sporadically and there needs to be a trigger for it.    

I have also drawn the vision scenes in a more lined style, as I have decided to do these in a 2D hand drawn style. While there won't be any animation as such, these will make use of the parralax effect, similarly used in trailers and cutscenes for games such as Overwatch, and DC Universe Online.   

Though these images are still-images with parralax added to them, I admire them because they are still used to convey a narrative that is interesting, and the imagery itself is dynamic and colorful. The compositions in the first and third images are also very dynamic, as they encourage the eye to look around from one area of the image to the other. 

Pre Production methods: Environment designs

I had to begin designing how I wanted my environment to look. As this was a superhero themed piece, the obvious choice is to set this film in a cityscape. I began by looking at different images of cities that I could use as reference. 

Then I created some quick thumbnails for how the city could look. 

Pre-Production Methods: Continued Costumes and body types

I decided to play around with some costume designs here. To begin with, I looked at some costumes, particularly ones on more classic heroes such as Superman, Nightwing, the Sentry, and Mr Incredible. As you can see from these ones, I wanted to create a character who on the outside seemed more hopeful and bright as opposed to the more withdrawn and anxiety-ridden character that my hero was. 

I took influence from these costume designs and have created a more sleeker, darker suit for my character to wear. On the right is a set of different configurations. When designing superheroes, a key thing to keep in mind is that the costume should always the personality and powers that the character possesses, so the costumes on the right are more varied, as I wanted to explore some powersets. Although energy based powers are tempting, the amount of effects work required would be considerable. 

I continued with the costume design, while also playing around with some more body types. Here, I'm trying to establish more of an inbetween for the bodies. I also added some variations to the suit, adding a 3-4 mask that covers most of the face. The reason that this is more darker is that felt that the costume should resemble the hero's personality. While he does come off as hopeful, there is a hint of inner torment within him.   

Pre-Production methods: initial character body-types

I began to consider what body types I should use for this character. The first option is to use a thinner shape, which would probably suit the anxiety-ridden character better. However, a strong type may also work, as it will enforce the fact that anyone, even the worlds strongest man, can suffer from anxiety problems. 

I had also a look at actual body types for inspiration for how to make this character look.  

When considering the thinner kind of character, one character that came to mind was Power Ring, an alternate Earth version of DC Comic's Green Lantern. The character himself, named Harold Jordan, is a spineless and fearful coward, whose ring feeds off of his fear, and his body, and in turn gives him powers, and his anxiety only increases the pain that the ring inflicts on him. Though nowhere near as extreme as my character, I do like how much the character's anxiety feeds into his persona and identity.