New Showreel Posted

Just a quick blog post just to say I have just posted my new showreel up on Vimeo and on the Showreel page. It showcases some of the pieces I have produced over the last two years both in and out of uni. This also includes the project I am currently working on. Take a look and tell me what you think.

Highway 1 Cameras

These are cameras actually on the route that Max has been speaking about using. This way I can see the scenario and see the scene that would be flying past the vehicle. I can also see what the weather is typically like and the colour schemes the background are.

These show the Golden Gate bridge and everything I have been building from more angles than I have been looking at so far and has even helped when building the bridge. Seeing the scales of things and how the sizes change in relation to each other is important when puting everything together.

Speeded Up Bonnet Camera

A speeded up camera may work to cover up some of the problems I was having before. The whole idea of time-lapse could help a lot both fot the titles and credits as in the short story it said the journey took for hours to get to the final location. This could show the journey and all the time the main character Ed had alone with his thoughts.

Lost Highway, David Lynch

This is a Clip that Max sent through to me a couple of days ago. High mentioned this title sequence to me and whated me to watch it to get a clearer idea of the kind of thing he wanted.

Now I have taken a look and I love it, and I like how it looks but I have thought of a couple of problems that I have thought of when trying to produce something. Depending on whether Max wants a live footage or a animation version of these titles there are many problems.

3D:-

-I he wants it 3D like the bridge the file is going to be massive if he wants the car moving at speed.
-The other cars on the road could be a problem.
-The scenery flying past the car and location is not readily available.

Live Footage:-

-We drive on the other side of the road.
-We have different road markings.
-Making our coast look like LA? Have you been to the UK?

It is for these reasons why I would like to look at other methods of revealing the credits. Like focusing on the car itself as upposed to the journey maybe or maybe using a map of the route as upposed to showing it. It is for these reasons why I need to speak to Max again and tell him what I think and see if we can come to some arrangement.

Dashboard Camera

Following the last post I have also been looking at different viewpoints for the road sequence Max would like me to tackle. This one is of a camera that has been mounted on the dashboard to get more of a drivers point of view. The idea of using this view would be to do the same as the last post and have the credits come up the road or at the side of the road. This is a lot like the "Kiss Me Deadly" titles where the text came up screen. I think this is where Max would like me to go with the idea but I would like to do something a little different. I don't want to be seen as just copying other work I want to put a little bit of me in the sequence.

Bumper Camera

When speaking to Max about changing the credit sequence I started to look at scenes people had recorded of themselves driving down the road. This one reminded me of the types of views you get on driving games, something like the Bumper Cam. You get a great sense of speed and it might be a good idea to have the text being revealed on the Road or by it. Maybe as road markings or maybe on signs and things around the road.

I have sent the idea to Max and hopefully it is something we can develop on but for now I am just going to continue with the titles as I know what I am doing with that and I need to get on as Max wants this before my deadline.

Kiss Me Deadly Intro

As I mentioned in my sketchbooks, I have shown Max the tests for my water credits and after making more and more changes to suit how he wants it to look he has decided it's not working. We spoke about how the film ends and how he doesn't feel going back to the dead body is right anymore. One of the main problems we had, was the version I received from Max the last scene was one where Ed and Eliza we driving down the coast but then it ended where the screen went black with just the voiceover. This is why I thought of doing the credits as the water, so it would bring the whole film full circle.

Max liked this idea but now thinks that the camera shouldn't go back to Eliza's dead body after Ed drives off into the distance. I think it could still work, as the camera is staying with the mess Ed has left behind but Max thinks that that isn't right. Instead he wants some sort of sequence with the road in it. He sent this clip through and thought something like this would be good.

He said his film was noir style even if it doesn't have any of the normal traits of a noir film. He would like something like the driving scene in the "Kiss Me Deadly" titles. He was thinking of having a the type scroll up screen for as Ed was driving down the coast. He also quite liked the titles for "Lost Highway". I said that I obviously didn't want to copy anything existed and that I would come up with some ideas and send them across:

Here is the intro for "Kiss Me Deadly"

Sky Atlantic Bridges Ident

I have just seen this advert for the new channel Sky Atlantic.

This is a perfect example of what I want to do for my title sequence for the short film. I want to focus on the ironwork of the bridge and how I can then move to reveal the title of the film. I need to look closely at how the bridge is made and the textures used. I also like how the view behind the bridge changes to different locations.

This is the kind of realism I would like to get with my piece. I need to collect some more imagery on how the Golden Gate Bridge is constructed as well as the condition in which it is in. The background of my composition could be a problem as I don't have any primary imagery that I can use so I will have to try and think of angles and resources I can use to complete the titles. I have spent quite a long time on getting the credits right and looking right, but I think I need to also focus on how I am going produce the titles as I want to complete them both. This has just given me a big boost and some inspiration to change/tweek my titles sequence. So I am going to draw up an alternative storyboard and see if I can create something that will overcome the obstacles I have found.

Matthew Davies Portfolio Visit

Last Thursday Matthew came around to the flat to look both my and Matt Geeling portfolio's. It was a great to get feedback from a guy who also directs and edits project but maybe looks at it in a different way.

Matt is a freelancer and is currently working at the BBC filming a new programme. He came around after he had finished for the day which were long hours he told us. After seeing him film in November for a web advert we were interested in what else he worked on. It shows the scope, he can work on. He mentioned that he works along side some other guys who build up a small team. This team had just got the contract to make 10 music videos for an undisclosed artist which he is directing. Work is going well for him as he is very busy at the moment and has jobs lined up as some end.

When looking through my portfolio he did seem impressed. I started by showing him my showreel just to give him a general feel to my work before I showed him a couple of individual pieces. I then showed him a variety of different pieces of work. I started with the big draw sting which lead him to ask how it was done. For this I showed him the short making of and the setup I had rigged to create the piece. After this I showed him the 3D title sequence and the negotiated project Nexus which he really enjoyed. He asked about sound and how it had been put together. I explained that I animated to a piece I had found before sending it off to a composer to write to.

After this we sat and spoke of opportunities. We spoke of where he had been since he finished his course at Salford and how he had worked at Sky and ESPN before getting to where he is now. We all spoke of a business that has freelancers on the books which is a possible opportunity while looking for jobs after graduating. We also discussed the possibility of a collaboration in the future and completing a job together. This is something that could be developed in the future and hopefully a good route to explore once the course is complete.

Benjamin Gudel

Like I said earlier on my blog, recently I have been looking at a lot of illustrators recently and this especially. I love his cartoon style work. He has his own style that really stands out from all of his competition. It reminds me a little of the artwork that was used in conjunction with the Grand Theft Auto games. This style has a lot of emotion and mood within each piece. This is due to the colour palettes used. I also find the heavy lines he uses within the composition are a bridge between illustrations and silhouettes. When looking into his work and through his book Blood, Sweat & Tears I found a lot of his images reminded me of sections of Fall North.

Images that stood out to me:

Woyzeck

This piece Woyzeck reminds me of when Ed is in his room looking through the photos of Eliza and Hammond before he has his last sleep before he heads to get her. (This obviously doesn't have anything to do with the boy in the chair, it was just the guy at the end of the bed that suggested this to me).

Personal Jesus

Personal Jesus reminds me of the section of the story when Ed and Eliza get back to the hotel room and shower. Ed strikes me as a character that is clean and always does things the same way. When Eliza enters his life, everything starts to get shaken up. His organisation for example.

Wiener Kiez

Wiener Kiez reminds me of Rollo, the politician that gives Ed the job and ask him to collect his daughter. He is a Ukrainian corrupt politician that you wouldn't trust as far as you could throw him. I don't know about you but this character above, from first glance, seems very shifty to me.

Final Major Thoughts

As you can see I have posted quite a verity of work on my blog recently to do with this project. I really like this 2D compositing style of animation quite a lot at the moment and think it could work well in my piece. The thing is I quite like the idea of combining it with other methods to deliver my message.

I like the idea of using different media to represent different things. Basically, I've been thinking of what I want to produce for my final major. I want to show off all the skills I have and how I can combine them to show something different, something that will stand out.

I have recently had the idea of using Ed's (Fall North) objects to introduce the character. Its like the idea of being able to figure out and get to know a person by the stuff they have. I wanted to do it in a series of flashbacks and flash forwards. Bare with me and I'll explain...

For arguments sake we are in Ed's apartment and a load of belongings are spread around the room that were mentioned in the Fall North. This could all be made out of 3D or filmed live I thought. Then Ed would go over to each object and as he approached/touched them he has a flash back/forward to what he has done with the object. For example, he could approach his car keys and as he picked them up it flashed to him driving to Boston on the mission. This would be done in more of a 2D graphic novel style though. A bit like this:

Obviously I need to run some tests to see if this will work but in theory it should. Also I am still no sure on the length of the piece I will be producing so this will all have to be decided so I have something to work to. You will be happy to know that I am happy with my idea and I don't think I'll be changing my idea this time!

Paranoia, Sandeepan Chanda

I was shown this a while ago and it has stuck in my mind as I have been thinking of my visual style for this piece. I love the use of flat images as well as the animation over the top. A group of 4 students created this as part of their final degree's. It's a story about a passenger who is paranoid about a criminal he has read about and think he sees the criminal sat opposite of him on the train. There is no speech in the short which but it still gets its message across. That shows how good the writing is, as anyone, any nationality can watch it and appreciate it. It shows how everything doesn't have to be obvious and that sometimes images and reactions can speak louder than words.

Paranoia

As well as the short they also created a trailer for it to get people excited about it. I like this idea and I am seriously considering doing the same for my Final Major. I would like to do the full package. Titles, credits, trailers and the promotional posters. This would look great for my final show. My section could be like a promotional stand for the short. It shows I can work in a verity of media as well as considering all possible directions I can take and work.

Paranoia Teaser

I also put in the animatic for this piece as it is probably one of the best animatics I have seen. It shows exactly how the final outcome will look as well as getting all the timings and movements exactly right. It also highlights what exactly needs to be animated and what can be still images. This therefore makes the final outcome a lot easier to produce. This is definitely something I need to be doing for this project to get the best outcome possible. Now I just need to decide on the imagery and what scenes I'm going picture. I'm already getting really excited about how I can do my piece and what the outcome could look like.

Paranoia Anamatic

Tomb Raider Underworld Trailer

I've been thinking of focusing on the possessions of the main character to introduce him and give us a little about his background. I thought of the possibilities of using Ed's gun and as he approached it he to show his memories or even future events. When thinking of this it reminded me of this trailer released at comic cons in 2008.

This short promotional video is a teaser for the game and plays on the idea of seeing the outcome first. I like the focus on the 2 guns at the beginning along with the mysterious soundtrack. This adds to the mystery of the viewer trying to figure out what we are looking at.