Car Modelling 01

Thanks for the tutorial! Looking forward for next step.

Narrative Lecture 28.09.2010 – “Ed Wood” directed by Tim Burton

The film represents the period in Edward Davis Wood, Jr.’s life when he made his best-known best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Béla Lugosi.

I will not retell the plot of this film, because everyone can watch the film or read it in the internet.

From the one hand, Ed Wood is a great man. His positive thinking is something inspirational for every human being including myself. However, “Tim Burton decided not to depict the darker side of Wood's life because his letters never alluded to this aspect and remained upbeat.”

I liked his possession for filmmaking even if his films were not good. For me he looked like a young boy, who with eager and interest was building a dream castle from cubes.

However, on the second hand his delusional way of thinking that he is making great films is a disaster for many people. Ed Wood was harmless, a bit childlike, so I think this two characteristic could be together. But there are people like Uwe Boll who spoiled many good ideas with his film interpretations. We must judge objectively our works and not to be delusional. I had a group mate with this kind of problem, I know, that everyone understands what I am talking about.

The story of Béla Lugosi is also interesting. Many people run from problems using drugs. People who get used to success after many failures start abusing drugs. I think everyone should avoid this, there are good things in this world apart being famous etc.

Overall, I liked the film. There are many good things to pick up from Wood’s life.

Narrative Lecture 21.09.2010 - Documentary: Lost In La Mancha, 2002, Louis Pepe & Keith Fulton.

Lost in La Mancha is a documentary film about Terry Gilliam's failed first attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film adaptation of the novel Don Quixote.

“As a film project, Quixote already seemed to be cursed. Orson Welles started shooting a version in 1957 and sweated over it for two decades; his star Francisco Reiguera died before the project could be completed.”

First of all, the documentary tells how important film management is. In my opinion, Terry Gilliam has a huge lack of organization skills and ability to clearly appraise his possibilities and desires. His actions and behavior was chaotic as his project itself. He had his own vision of his project, which the crew could barely understand. As one of Gilliam’s crew says “I think he’s a little bit the Quixote [himself], who sees things other humans cannot see.”

I think, if you are visualizer you must explain your visions in understandable form for your crew, otherwise you will not get a result. Organization is the key for the every project, there must be coordinator who will lead the group, [not dominate, but lead (!).]

Secondly, there will be always some unpredictable situations. I don’t know actually is it possible to foretold those things which happened in Terry Gilliam’s project. The first outdoor location turns out to be next to a NATO bombing range. A downpour and hailstorm wash away the set in a flash flood on day 2 of shooting. The 70-year-old French actor Jean Rochefort develops ailments both psychosomatic and real. Moreover, after a couple of days he received a message that there are will be no funds for his movie. THE END – Project was closed.

As Terry Gilliam mentioned that some things which were born in your head should stay there.

Finally, from the very beginning this film is a good help for me and us. I’m glad that we had an opportunity to see it. I’ve learnt from this documentary that organization, time management, collaboration and communicate your ideas it’s very important thing. Moreover, we must always consider that thing that something can always go wrong and we could quickly operate in that situation. And most important is to find the golden mean between desires and facilities.

I think every young director must see this film.

Lipsynicng

Week 1: Character Installation, Audio Import & Jaw Blocking

Week 2: Adding Phoneme & Viseme Shapes.



Week 3: Tongue Blink

Character Design - 01

Character Design - plot for show

Everything takes place in Arabian Nights realm.

Idea 1

The main pirate-hero was drawn into a whirlpool and appeared in a different world. He tries to escape this world, however, there is one who wants to stop him and kill (Djinn (Efreet) Villain). Sidekick is his old pet, who becomes intelligent and can speak.

Idea 2

Strange portals are opened for many years, thousand of mighty warriors tried to find a way to close it, but unsuccessful. The sacred mission of main hero is to kill the beast that killed his father many years ago! After a shipwreck the pirate-hero finds out that creature from beyond attacked them and this is the same creature that killed his father. His sidekick is a small loyal creature ice mephit from beyond.

Idea 3

The Arabian pirate-Villain in the end of his life he understands that he was wrong and returns back to the past. He wants to correct mistakes of his youth.

Idea 4

The cursed pirate is trying to find a cure. He is trying to understand why he was cursed and for what. The only way to do this is to find the “person” who cursed him and kill him or synthesize a cure from his bone. Pirate’s sidekick is a wise snake which gives him advices in difficult situations. (another option: a silly mephit)

Ideas are drawn from different films and stories. For example: Samurai Jack, H.P.Lovecraft novels and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Influence map:

The Bad Kids go to Hell - Thoughts

Thanks to Matthew Spradlin for the gift and thanks to Alan for delivering it. Thanks to all people who worked on this comic book. I usually don’t read comics, but I think this one worth reading. Some thoughts:

#The artwork is great and very qualitative, I enjoyed every page.

#Vivid characters with strong personalities and own strong worldview; nasty hot sexy girls didn’t left me indifferent.

#Intriguing and catchy story grasps you ‘til the end. You can’t stop, you want more and more and then suddenly you realize that this is “the end”. The end wasn’t big surprise for me however the unpredictable ending element is a big advantage!

#Some realities of our life. Spoiled teenagers from rich families, which are arrogant and mentally unstable. “Money is not a goal, but supplement!”

#Revenge of the Indian descendants (!), I think, this is “curse” of American people. They will never forget it and will write about it again and again. And this is very good, we must know history, learn from it and don’t repeat mistakes.

Overall: I enjoyed it. Interesting and catchy story with perfect art in addition. Good, but not enough!

Character design - Briefing

Assessment Requirements

Part 1: Toon Force 80

We need to prepare a ‘Character Design & Animation Bible’ for three of the shows main characters – The Hero, The Villain, and The Sidekick. This encompassing source book will contain a synopsis of the show, expression sheets, and turnarounds for three all three characters.

Typically cartoons of the 1980s comprise multiple genres or a ‘mash up’ of ideas. Therefore each ‘artist’ will start with a random set of genres. These will be chosen by drawing two traditional ‘playing cards’ and using the ‘key’ below. If you draw a red suit, use the first result column, if it’s a black suit, use the second.

My themes are:

Arabian Nights & Pirates

Part 2: Assignments.

Each week you will be given an assignment to be completed for next week’s class. These will slowly increase your understanding of character design and add to your ‘Character Bible’.

Narrative project - Briefing

Requirements:

1.A short animated film trailer of no more than 2 minutes in length.
Animation name: "Revenge of the radioactive bunny from hell"
2.Film must be16:9 in aspect ratio
3.For marketing purposes please submit three ‘stills’ at 300dpi.

This is group project, therefore for our stuido we need to:

1. Form an animation studio and submit an entry to the ‘Retro-Fest’ animation festival for review by a panel of judges.
2. Establish a brand identity: Studio name, logo, ident, business card(s).
3. Studio Blog: Create a studio blog which professionally presents the productions creative progress to the public and promotes studios brand identity.
4. Business plan: Produce a costing of the amount of finance needed to produce an independent short. Including, minimum personal salary, production length, and render time and software (studio accommodation & computers are provided free of charge).
5. Delegate project management roles: Who is responsible for – Direction, Art Direction, Communication & Meetings, Administration, Time management, Studio blogging, and Marketing.
6. Marketing: Plan and instigate an online marketing campaign utilising viral techniques, teaser trailers, and your brand identity.
7. Delegate pre-production roles: Who is responsible for Story development, Script, Voice work, Concept Art, Character Design, R&D, Story boards, Pre-viz and camera movement.
8. Delegate production roles: Who is responsible for, character modelling, set modelling, texturing, rigging, lighting, animation, effects, rendering, and sound (Foley).
9. Delegate post-production roles: Who is responsible for, compositing, editing, sound, and formatting. The production of a marketing (Press Junket) package, a making of document, online marketing, and a film.

Objective 2: As an Individual…

 Maintain my personal blog: Keep an up-to-date blog throughout the 15 week period.
 Complete all technical tutorials and uploaded them to your personal blog.

Project Timetable…

Weeks
1 -5: Script Writing & Pre-production. Week 5 will be the final studio
‘pitch & sign off’. The following system will apply,

5 - 10: Production (Week 10/11 = The Interim Review).
11 - 15: Rendering, Post-Production, & Submission

Assessment Check List…

Studio Submissions:
Completed short film.
Submission documentation.
Three 300dpi ‘stills’
‘Press Junket’ and Poster.
‘A making of’… Document.
An up-to-date Studio Blog

Individual Submissions:

My up-to-date individual blog.
All technical tutorials uploaded to my individual blog.