Yesterday we pitched our idea for our film. We already had the script, so knew the basic ideas, but we had to put forward our take on it; how will make it interesting and unique, and the style and genre we were going to incorporate into it.
Our script is about a guy that knocks on a random door and claims to hav been invited to a party there, invites himself and makes himself at home, all whilst the flat owner, is trying to figure out who he is and why he is actually there. We have decided to take quite a dark and tense approach to out interpretation. We want to make the intruder quite sinister and really play on the mysterious way of who he is and why's he's there. In contrast the other character will become incrasingly unsettled and and will feel totally out of control of the situation as the intruder imposes himself more and more. In the original script the intruder makes a sandwhich, we have decided to adapt this slightly, in ours the intruder will be interupting on the other characters preparations for a romantic meal with his girlfriend. This allows to play around with a really effective atmosphere, as the room will be candelit, which will produce effective shadows and allow the intruder to have a more imposing persona. Also the original script starts with the intruder knocking on the door, however we want to add a bit at the strart of ours which shows both contrasting character's getting ready, with quick cut shots between each of them and the opening credits, the shots will never reveal the intruders face until the other character sees him, so your're in the same situation as the intruded character. This will build into the story more effectively and leave the viewer wanting to know where it is going.
Today we organised a schedule for props, location, and filming, so we are now quite organised, we also made sure we all know waht we are doing and where we are heading. We also set up a blog so we can share our ideas and progress on there!
Friday, 25 February 2011
Thursday, 17 February 2011
First Moving Image class
Today we had our first lesson for moving image. We got given a script that we have to interpret via a short film. The script is quite good and our group got some good ideas going around, which hopefully we can turn into a successful short film. Our lecturer seems like he will be really good as well, being a leading script writer on shows such as Shameless and New tricks. So hopefully I can learn a lot from him. Importantly I think I have a good group so we should be able to make this a success!
We also assigned our roles today, I have taken on the Producer's role so will be in charge of making sure everything is going to plan etc.
Me - Producer
Joe - Director
Hollie - Assistant Director
Mark - Editor
Sam - Camera
Naomi - Lighting and Sound
We also assigned our roles today, I have taken on the Producer's role so will be in charge of making sure everything is going to plan etc.
Me - Producer
Joe - Director
Hollie - Assistant Director
Mark - Editor
Sam - Camera
Naomi - Lighting and Sound
Presentation Lecture
Yesterday we had a lecture working with the other narrative design students. It gave us a chance to talk to other students about our work, and get there take on it. As well as listen to what their courses and projects are like, and giving them some feedback where I could. It was really interesting to see how much our courses overlapped and was really useful to get different perspectives on my work and how to improve it. I was interested to hear about the kinds of projects they undertake and how they go about them, and I was pleased to be able to help them with any problems they had, by having a multimedia perspective on their issues. It was a really good opportunity to sell myself as a designer and I picked up some really good feedback to use in the future. Overall a great success!
Mobile phone design
I was bored one afternoon so decided to mock a design for a mobile phone I thought would be cool, using Sketch Up.
Animation
I have finished my animation project now, well when I say finished I mean we're moving on to out next carousel, however my animation piece still has some work to be done. I found the project really challenging, and have struggled to complete it in time. There was a lot of content to include for the project, and this was using software (3ds max) that I have very little experience using and a not many skills. That means that everything takes that much longer to do because I am looking for ways to do what I want, and when I found the right tool, I'm not always sure of the best way to use it. I also think that the pace of the main workshop was too fast, and didn't give me a chance to keep up with what we were supposed to be learning, and once you miss a step, it is very difficult to catch up or you find that it does not work out at the end because you've missed a step. In DP1 I was able to keep up a lot more easily, despite having no experience using the software. I believe that the gap between the two projects was too large, for someone with very little knowledge of the software.
On the other hand I think the brief was really interesting, and with a little more time I think I should be able to have a fairly good piece. I came up with the idea of old fashioned London theme murder trail for my ride. I thought this would be a bit different and had some good ideas for scare scenes. My inspiration for the idea came from a mix of Jack the ripper and the ride at the London Dungeons, which is set in London streets and has a really effective eerie feel. I wanted to create a really dark and damp feel to my ride, so I played around with a lot of lighting and fog effects to really set the scene for the ride. I did this by adjusting the volume light and fog in the Environments settings. I think this is one of the most effective aspects of my project and the part I am most pleased with. My scare scenes were a old graveyard to start the ride of, with creaking gate at the end to get the riders attention right at the start, the ride then goes up a hill, and through a tunnel and which point a body drops down at the end, this conceals the track dropping away and the rider is convinced that they will hit the body before dropping away, it then comes down to a old London street, with rows of houses, with lots of dark and dingey alleyways, you can hear footsteps and evil laughs, the cart then turns into a dead end where it is revealed there is a body on the wall and a message scrawled across it, 'There is no escape now!.' I think that the scare scenes work well, however I found it quite difficult to make them work effectively. I researched techniques via online tutorials which really helped me create some of the effects.
To develop my ideas I created 3d models of the track using wire, this allowed me a different perspective of the track and the confinements I had to work to. I also used Sketch Up to mock up ideas for the cart which were really useful to let me see it in 3d before transferring it to 3ds Max and did initial sketches of my designs for my scare scenes which made it easier to replicate them in 3ds Max. I researched images and created a mood board on my blog to give me inspiration for my scare scenes, as well as looking at examples on YouTube and researching the ride at the London Dungeons. These methods of research were really effective in giving me inspiration, the only other things I could have would have been maybe to visit an actual ride to gain ideas.
One of the most difficult aspects of the ride was to make the houses look as realistic as possible. I did this extrude part of the material bitmaps to make it look slightly 3d as well as experimenting with different lighting effects to cast realistic shadows.
Overall the project was a difficult one and I am pleased it has finished, although I still have some developments for my ride. I think if I was to do it again I would ensure that I planned out my time a lot more effectively and ensured i was fully up to date with the work at each stage of the design process.
On the other hand I think the brief was really interesting, and with a little more time I think I should be able to have a fairly good piece. I came up with the idea of old fashioned London theme murder trail for my ride. I thought this would be a bit different and had some good ideas for scare scenes. My inspiration for the idea came from a mix of Jack the ripper and the ride at the London Dungeons, which is set in London streets and has a really effective eerie feel. I wanted to create a really dark and damp feel to my ride, so I played around with a lot of lighting and fog effects to really set the scene for the ride. I did this by adjusting the volume light and fog in the Environments settings. I think this is one of the most effective aspects of my project and the part I am most pleased with. My scare scenes were a old graveyard to start the ride of, with creaking gate at the end to get the riders attention right at the start, the ride then goes up a hill, and through a tunnel and which point a body drops down at the end, this conceals the track dropping away and the rider is convinced that they will hit the body before dropping away, it then comes down to a old London street, with rows of houses, with lots of dark and dingey alleyways, you can hear footsteps and evil laughs, the cart then turns into a dead end where it is revealed there is a body on the wall and a message scrawled across it, 'There is no escape now!.' I think that the scare scenes work well, however I found it quite difficult to make them work effectively. I researched techniques via online tutorials which really helped me create some of the effects.
To develop my ideas I created 3d models of the track using wire, this allowed me a different perspective of the track and the confinements I had to work to. I also used Sketch Up to mock up ideas for the cart which were really useful to let me see it in 3d before transferring it to 3ds Max and did initial sketches of my designs for my scare scenes which made it easier to replicate them in 3ds Max. I researched images and created a mood board on my blog to give me inspiration for my scare scenes, as well as looking at examples on YouTube and researching the ride at the London Dungeons. These methods of research were really effective in giving me inspiration, the only other things I could have would have been maybe to visit an actual ride to gain ideas.
One of the most difficult aspects of the ride was to make the houses look as realistic as possible. I did this extrude part of the material bitmaps to make it look slightly 3d as well as experimenting with different lighting effects to cast realistic shadows.
Overall the project was a difficult one and I am pleased it has finished, although I still have some developments for my ride. I think if I was to do it again I would ensure that I planned out my time a lot more effectively and ensured i was fully up to date with the work at each stage of the design process.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Beer Festival Competition
Last year I entered a competition to design an logo for an upcoming beer festival in Oxford. It has to use only 1 colour, preferably black so that it couldeasily be transferred on to classes and t-shirts. It also had to include important information about the event.
For my design I took the theme of beer and though it would be a good idea to have the beer glass as the central part of the logo. To make the the text more interesting I thoughtit would be a good idea to have it tumbling into the glass, like pouring a pint. ( I also played around with the glass upright and the text filling the glass) To identify the logo alongside Oxford I thought it might be quite nice to have to Oxford skyline at the bottom of the glass. This also creates an image of the event details tumbling into Oxford.
For my design I took the theme of beer and though it would be a good idea to have the beer glass as the central part of the logo. To make the the text more interesting I thoughtit would be a good idea to have it tumbling into the glass, like pouring a pint. ( I also played around with the glass upright and the text filling the glass) To identify the logo alongside Oxford I thought it might be quite nice to have to Oxford skyline at the bottom of the glass. This also creates an image of the event details tumbling into Oxford.
Graveyard animation
Animated version of my graveyard scene, just playing around with light and movement of time. For my haunted ride I want to depict time by gradually taking the light from dusk to dark to build fear factor as you move through the ride.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Graveyard scene, Lighting and ambience
I've working with lighting to create a certain feel to scene which I will be able to incorporate into my scary ride animation. I set up a basic scene using animation props for the ride. I then set up adjusting the lighting to create a feeling of fear and mystery. I adjusted the tints, taking away the black and replacing it with blue to try and re-create a moonlight feel. I also adjusted the shadows making them more grey and played around with the light placement to find the optimum place to create the best shadows. I added noise to the light and have used fog to create an eerie feel. To give it a more authentic look I played around with the plane, creating contours and re-positioned the gravestone to give it attention to detail. However it is important to point out that the props are all plane, and I think its really interesting that light and noise can produce a really realistic feel.
The Paradox of Choice
This is the theory of the modern age:
Maximise Welfare - Maximise Choice - Maximise Freedom
However in reality, too much choice puts a burden on people who often do not have enough knowledge or patience to make a decision. For example doctors will often give a patient 2 options with the pros and cons and let the patient make the decision, whereas it should be the doctor with all the required knowledge, that should make the decision for us.
Another example comes from the amount of choices people have when buying anything from clothes to electrical equipment it almost impossible to make a decision. This is because we are constantly weighing up the opportunity costs of the different options. This inevitably means that when we make the decision the minute there is the slightest negative about the choice we immediately regret the decision and think about what might have been. However we always forgot that it is much easier to imagination the good things about a different choice, because we are not actually experiencing it.
Choices raise expectations and we expect perfection from the choice we make, which will almost always lead us to be disappointed. Therefore oddly enough, if you lower your expectations you are more likely to be happy with the outcome.
Overall just remember......Less is more!
Maximise Welfare - Maximise Choice - Maximise Freedom
However in reality, too much choice puts a burden on people who often do not have enough knowledge or patience to make a decision. For example doctors will often give a patient 2 options with the pros and cons and let the patient make the decision, whereas it should be the doctor with all the required knowledge, that should make the decision for us.
Another example comes from the amount of choices people have when buying anything from clothes to electrical equipment it almost impossible to make a decision. This is because we are constantly weighing up the opportunity costs of the different options. This inevitably means that when we make the decision the minute there is the slightest negative about the choice we immediately regret the decision and think about what might have been. However we always forgot that it is much easier to imagination the good things about a different choice, because we are not actually experiencing it.
Choices raise expectations and we expect perfection from the choice we make, which will almost always lead us to be disappointed. Therefore oddly enough, if you lower your expectations you are more likely to be happy with the outcome.
Overall just remember......Less is more!
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