My MA 3D Computer Animation piece at point of hand in. I am hoping to spend sometime re-working some of the aspects, but for now this is it!
Animation:
The animation I am proposing to produce is for a more adult audience. The idea is to illustrate the internal frustration and struggle that we as human beings sometimes experience within our own minds. A state of mental un-easiness on the inside even though on the outside things would appear calm and still.
I am planning to mix visuals with a spoken word /poetry piece. There is an established genre within animation of animated poetry. Through my studies of animation I have seen a number of them which have inspired me to make my own poetry animation. Here are a couple of examples.
fig4.
Walter De La Mare D H Lawrence Dylan Thomas
The poems:
‘The Scarecrow’ By Walter De La Mare
‘And oh, That The Man I Am Might Cease To Be.’ By D H Lawrence
‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ By Dylan Thomas
I have 3 poems in mind, and currently I am having them read and recorded. The final piece will work with either of the above, but I am waiting to hear the final readings before I make my decision. However for the purpose of my animatic I have chosen to work with ‘do not go gentle into that good night’ by Dylan Thomas.
Animation Theme: Frustration or the internal struggle.
Personally I am fascinated in what lies behind the eyes of people. I find it interesting to know what people are truly feeling and it is so often that when talking to people the true feelings or state of mind is hidden. Myself included, I can be bubbly and chatty and funny on the outside, but actually inside can be incredible angry, frustrated or sad. The state of mind can easily be hidden.
Sometimes outside influences can spark of frustration and internal struggle. Recently I found myself watching the news about the Tsunami in Japan. And I thought how helpless I am. I can see the terrible event happening but I am incapable to act upon what I am witnessing. This got me thinking as to what else happens in day to day life, which I am unable to change or influence. I was reminded of times in my life when I have been under pressure and how, at moments it felt like there was never going to be an end to the cycle of struggle that I was experiencing. (Restriction, incarceration and bondage, the physical representation of mental frustration and struggle.)
The next stage of thinking took me to my interest in Japanese culture. Throughout my own development as an artist I have often looked towards Japanese culture for influence. For previous projects throughout my education I have looked at printing techniques, textiles, graphics and illustration as well as philosophy and stories. Interestingly I was researching Japanese religions and came across a deity known as the.
Kuebiko : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuebiko
· Kuebiko from kuzue-biko (崩え彦 "disabled prince")and Yamada no Sohodo meaning "someone left soaking wet from standing guard over mountain rice fields", a euphemism for scarecrow"
· So [the Deity here] called the Crumbling Prince, who revealed the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity, is what is now [called] the scarecrow in the mountain fields. This Deity, though his legs do not walk, is a Deity who knows everything in the Empire.[
· "Because he stands all day outdoors, he knows everything",
Fig5
Collection of images representing Kuebiko in legendary form and contemporary scarecrow visualizations
The next stage of thinking got me looking at references of scarecrows. The image of a scarecrow can be a strong image which portrays strong reference to bondage and restriction. The very structures and bindings used to hold the scarecrow in an upright position can also be seen in many medieval forms of torture and restraint. Immediately one can think of crucifixion and chains, ropes. This again strongly visualizes the inability to move and react in a given situation. ‘My hands were tied’ is a saying which is used when someone was unable to help in a situation even if they would want to.
Visual research took me down two paths. Path one was the representation of scarecrows in film, T.V. etc. Mostly I was disappointed with what I found, especially as it seemed more horror based or comedy based. The second path was of icon imagery of Christ and of similar imagery of people being crucified.
Fig7.Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz.1939 |
Fig6.Scene from Scarecrows 1988
Directed by: William Wesley
Directed by: William Wesley
Fig9.Scarecrows from Dr Who, BBC 2009 |
Fig8.Scarecrow movie 2010 Joseph Bat
Fig8 show some good lighting, I don’t want to go with the style of scarecrow
Fig10. Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes Fig11.Gustav Dore / Dante’s Wood
Plate 39 from The Disasters of War 1810-1820 (first pub. 1863)
Fig12 fig13 fig14
Fig12 123RF 2010..I really like this point of view.
Fig13 Rembrandt-van-rijn-christ-on-the-cross. Great light and shade
Fig14http://dailylinked.blogspot.com/2009/04/crucifixion-so-painful.html. Another interesting point of view.
Animation Movement
Movement of my character I would like to be quite Staccato and jerky. The movements should start quite small and gradually get more violent until the last moments where the energy seems to fade with the final motion being a slump into stillness.
Character Design:
Having researched scarecrows and how they are represented in film etc. I began exploring my character’s look, by sketching.
But I felt I was still falling into the obvious styling, seen so many times before. I had to re-think! I returned to my references of Japanese styled scarecrows and began to think of the individual parts of the scarecrow, like the hands, head etc.
I began to notice the textile qualities to the Japanese scarecrows and that reminded me of a previous project I had worked on during my degree ‘The Hanger Men.’
Fig15. Japanese Scarecrow with kimono Fig16. Simular Kimono styled body
Lighting:
The lighting in this project is very important. I want to use light to help illustrate the two points of view. When we are experiencing the Scarecrows mental state I want the lighting to be quick dramatic. In contrast when we look upon the scarecrow from an outside perspective I want the lighting to be quite calming and relaxed. I also want the light to change throughout the piece as though it’s the passing of the day. The story starts at day break and ends at night fall. So the light should change accordingly. To get a feel for light I have been looking at Art and Cinematography. For Dramatic Light I have been looking at film noir as well as the following paintings.
Fig18.Caravaggio, John-the-Baptist 1604
fig19. Claude Monet, soleil levant, 1872 oil on canvase
fig20.Salvador Dali, Christ of St John of the Cross 1951.
Below is a visualisation of how I hope to create the calm scene. Note the painterly effect. I feel this would be an ideal way to help frame a calm scene.
Image study to get feel for the calm scenes
As well as visual references I also read a couple of books which I felt would be useful in understanding light better; Painting with light by John Alton and Film Lighting-talks with Hollywood’s cinematographers and gaffers. Both these books give technical advice but they also give you an intimate insight into the effects of light, with a more artistic approach. This got me excited so I tried a number of experiments.
Above are just a couple of examples that I have produced to recreate some lighting scenes with cinematography techniques that I had been researching.
Texturing:
For the texturing I want to get away from the CGI look. I am reading into ways of creating paint stroke effects using shaders and XSI dynamic effects using ICE. I hope to create my textures in Photoshop and then wrap or project them onto the geometry within the scenes.
Modeling
Most of my pre model tests have involved cloth simulations, however I have started to look into building the Environment for scene 1 (daybreak) and I have also started looking at building the head and gloves.
STORY BOARD
The story board should show the light changing through the course of the day as well as relaying the story of struggling.
I want the camera angles to help intensify the animation so lots of disorientation and movement and extreme close ups.
Story board with notation of camera angles and movements.
Once the story had been put together I began to put the animatic together with the Poem to get an idea of timing and rhythm. I am still Looking at the timing with the recording I have, however as stated earlier I am still in the process of recording all the poems with a couple of actors, so the final animation my run slightly different from the current animatic.
Animatic with Poem, Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas, Read by Richard Burton
Pipeline Time Schedule
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