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Category: Advanced & Experimental

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3.1 Week 2 Advanced & Experimental

Week 2: Establishing the World

This week we studied world building in animation. World-building is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with a whole fictional universe. World building is an essential part to support the narrative of our story.

A setting that is specifically chosen to act as the physical location for a story’s events often has a much larger role to play than merely acting as a backdrop. Setting informs the personalities of the characters, the choices they make, and the ways in which events unfold, but it also effects how closely themes and ideals within the narrative stick with the reader once the tale has ended. Just as characters evolve and influence the plot through action, so does a rich and vividly imagined world become an accomplice in its creation of atmosphere and identity within the narrative

Example of World Building

Image showing the environment of Courage the Cowardly Dog

John R. Dilworth’s surreal and darkly comic 1996 series, Courage the Cowardly Dog, exemplifies this perfectly through an infusion of influences drawn from sci-fi, horror, early cinema. Set apart by its grotesque art style and primary setting in the middle of nowhere, Courage begins in the midst of a neglected landscape that might not be immediately familiar to young viewers, but would certainly be recognizable to anyone who has grown up with the cult drive-in movies that defined cinema during the Atomic Age. There is initially very little life presented in Courage’s surroundings as the single two-story house with wooden walls and peeling wallpaper, which sits in the midst of a barren land with only a lone windmill for company, becomes an iconic image for the series that grounds it firmly in reality.

Set design/Staging in Animation

One of the most important aspects of any set/world in animation is the fact that it should work as a stage for the characters and story, as well as any action that takes place within it. When you look back at some of the classic feature film animations, you’ll notice that each frame is designed so that it contains the best composition to tell the story. Your set design should be no different: it should first and foremost be designed for the camera and story.

Storyboards

Idea 1: The Gift

So, the first idea I thought about revolved around the topic of overbearing parenting. I belong to South Asia and this theme is very close to the culture of the countries of South Asia. I decided to show this theme in a symbolic manner like most of the animation studios are doing nowadays.

This story revolves around a teenage girl who is loved by her parents and the parents are very protective for her. The girl is always wearing a knitted sweater, which symbolizes the love/care of her parents. The story proceeds like the sweater has slowly started to suffocate the girl. Initially it started tightening the grip on her which eventually leads to the difficulty to take the sweater off. The girl slowly started noticing the marks of the sweater on her skin which made her scared. One day when the girl was coming back from college the sweater started to tighten her grip, the girl towards home, she couldn’t breath and she barely made to her room. When she tried to take the sweater off it got stuck and didn’t come off. She saw scissors and cut the sweater to make herself free. The yarn of sweater then transformed into a demon and tried to possess the girl. The girl tried to escape but she was unable to do so. The knitted demon wrapped itself around the girl like the snake. The girl put all her energy and throws a candle from her table to the demon and it burnt off.

Idea 2: The Scar

This idea is about mental health and how it effects human. This story is about a girl who is very chirpy and is always a happy party girl. But one day she noticed a scar on her body (the scar here represents depression). The scar kept growing and she continued to hide her with clothes until one day her whole face was covered with the scar. When she saw herself in the mirror she got scared and she started feeling something in the mirror. She touched the mirror and there was a parallel world behind it. She went inside the mirror and sees a sad human covered with arrows inside her. When she was close to the human she noticed that it’s her. She got scared and started to take the arrows out. But then a demon appears from inside the body and attacked her. The girl started running first but then in the end she stopped running and faced it. After some months we see a happy her.

Idea 3: Star

This idea was more light hearted and comedy. It is about a school going boy.

The story starts with an introduction of a science quiz happening at a school and whoever will win this competition will become the star of the school. All kids have worked hard and they are filling their answer sheets. Everyone wants to win the competition. The camera pans through the students who are busy filling their sheets, the camera stops at the protagonist who is very sleepy and he is trying hard to stay up. The camera then zooms on his sheet where he is just drawing stars because he doesn’t know the test. Soon he stars seeing a portal opening from the sheet and he fells inside.

When he wakes up he was shocked to see the star badge at some distance. He got excited and planned to get that star but when he stands up he sees multiple obstacles in the way to get that star. He started running and jumping over the platforms, he was running fast and about to get there but then he falls down but he falls down on a paper plane flying towards the direction of the star. After crossing all the obstacles when he was finally about to pick that star, he started listening alarm ringing and he wakes up in the classroom. It took him sometime to realize that he was dreaming.

  • Real World
  • Dream/Abstract World
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3.1 Week 2 Advanced & Experimental Term 1

Week 2: Mechanical Arm Modeling

This week we started our new term and this term we are supposed to design, model, rig, texture and animate a mechanical arm. We started with basic modeling today.

Designing

The concept of mechanical arm

Modeling

We started with modeling fingers first. We used basic shape and then adjusted the poly count from the channel box to adjust it according to our desired style.

  1. Firstly, we designed a part of the finger. I used bevel and extrude modifiers to get this desired look.
  2. Secondly, I modeled the wheel

After modeling basic parts, I combined them all and made a finger. Later on I made the hierarchy and named the fingers properly. I copied the geometry of the finger and made rest of the fingers and adjusted the sizes.

After modeling, all the fingers I tested basic animation to see if everything is working fine. The fingers were working fine.

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3.1 Week 1 Advanced & Experimental Term 1 Uncategorised

Week1: Elements of Mise En Scene/ Camera animation

This week we studied animation from production point of view. We discussed mise-en-scene and its elements, camera animation and camera shots in films.

Mise-en-scène

Everything that communicates to us within the frame is part of the Mise-en-Scène. This is A French term meaning what is put into a scene or frame and is constituted by all the visual information in front of the camera and can communicate essential information to the audience. The Mise-en-Scène is an essential part of the director’s creative art.

The analogy works for animation too. The animation director metaphorically “stages” the scene by controlling the placement of images, colours and lines. They also work with background artists and storyboard artists, who play major role in shaping the layout.

Everything in the animated mise-en-scène must be consciously woven into the frame, whether it is through hand-drawn animation, props, CG, or some combination of the above. There is nothing that can be “incidentally” caught in the frame. Film directors go to great lengths to control the set design, where the cameras are set up, and so on. But even they are strongly influenced by physical factors such as the weather, their level of access to certain locations and props, and their crew size and abilities. This is why people talk about film as a form of “heightened reality”, because even though much of it is staged and often supplemented by computer graphics, it is never completely divorced from the physical environment.

Example

The epic romance and disaster film, Titanic, is largely memorable for its bewitching use of key mise-en-scène elements. The biggest challenge is that it’s wholly set in a ship sailing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover, deep space is often used where even the far view of the ship is in clear focus. The use of lighting and costumes conveys the difference in classes within the ship. In the later half of the film, particularly, low-key lighting is used to express the epic tragedy. It wasn’t the tragic love story alone that made Titanic the success it was. The awe-inspiring visuals played an equal role. Now, that’s the power of a meticulously-designed mise-en-scène.

Image showing a still from movie, Titanic

Camera Shots

Extreme close-up: which gives us very little information, we can only see the character, bringing us very close to a person experience for instance.

Close-up: which gives the audience a bit more of Information but still limited and still tells to focus on that moment which is useful to create a feeling of intimacy.

Medium shot: still relatively close shot, usually showing a character from the waist up. A medium shot is used to emphasize both the actor and their surroundings by giving them an equal presence on screen.

Long shot: a view of a scene that is shot from a considerable distance, so that people appear as indistinct shapes.

Extreme long shot: a view from an even greater distance, in which people appear as small dots in the landscape if at all. No expression is visible and the characters get overwhelmed by the environment.

The camera within a shot can also move:

Pan shot: the camera is mounted on a non-moving base. The camera pivots on its axis along the line of the horizon pans left to right.

Tilt shot: The camera can move up or down while fixed on its axis.

Travelling shot (dolly shot): the camera can move forward or backward while fixed on its axis on a track.

Crane shot: The camera can move in and out and up and down while fixed on a mechanical crane.

Image showing camera shots

Exploring Camera Shots

We explored different camera shots today in the class using the crane rig. Here are some of the example shots I made

Car Chasing Shot

Secretly Chasing Shot