Previously a production blog for my final year project ( you can still find the old posts of WIP images) YOu have stumbled across a collection of knick knacks and tutorials for 3D CG...

Sunday, August 30, 2009

The Red Herring...


A few treasures from the oracle...
__________________________________________________
If ur gonna use a red herring like this, then might as well go all the way to mislead and subvert audience expectations
so, forget abt making it the pet, your storyboard with the barking dog sound good and logical now, ie the dog is barking because it's not a pet, its a scruffy street mongrel hauled back to be fattened as a macabre/cheap version of meatloaf
now you work your narrative on 2 parallel levels:
(1) you have your butcher fatten the poor unsuspecting mongrel (up to this point mistaken as a pet by audience) for the kill;
(2) you as the director-writer fatten your unsuspecting audience for the kill 
so picking up from your original storyboard, go for the macguffin after the "pet feeding-*pet*pet* good dog" cliched moment of affectionate bonding and stroking
(1) do a cut-away shot to something seemingly unrelated (cld be environment, storm outside abating etc); (2) camera slowly pulling out to re-establishment (3) slow fade to black
basically u PLAY UP to the audience's stereotype or expectations of nice warm fuzzy ending, except this is a false ending
u need to pace very carefully here, basically it shud slow down enuff to lull audience into a false sense of security-some editors will tell u pacing shud slow to mimic human breathing 
(commando friends have told me that is exactly how they kill chicken with their bare hands in the jungle, u must stroke your animal affectionately...slowly...until their breathing becomes slow and relaxed....then they twist the head off in one gesture.)
I know cos I am vegetarian
then sharp sound of cleaver slash
CUT TO: aftermath of slaughter etc 
basically the dog didn't see it coming, and neither shud the audience
u dun even need to show butcher eating fattened pet (that's stating the obvious + there's unspoken screen taboo abt death of animals and children in film, ie it evokes v strong neg aud reactions. implied is gd enuff.)
mebbe the last shot shud be a recipe book open to the page on How to Make Christmas MeatLoaf? I dunno 
subtle but clear enuff 

Friday, August 28, 2009

More butcher Concepts


Some more concepts...Subconsciously I think I'm influenced heavy from Starwars.. Had a comment that one looks like an evil Yoda while the other a cross between a Rancor and Boss Nass...

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Character Design...

A loose speed concept painting. I'm satisfied with the final mood.. Had to force myself to keep detailing at a minimum and focus on lighting, colour and mood.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

How to make Cool Fire!

Stumbled across this tutorial! and managed to replicate it!
Thanks to Zgrachan!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3My test Render! quite heavy though, 32 secs per frame...





Saturday, August 22, 2009

Scary Production Timeline

Production Timeline:

Week 4: Finalize Character Designs + Set layout
Week 5: Storyboard/ Blocking
Week 6: Finalize Storyboard/AnimaticStoryboard
Week 7: Modeling
Week 8: Modeling + Texturing
Week 9: Texturing / Sculpting + Rigging
Week 10: Rigging + Animation
Week 11: Animation
Week 12: Animation + lighting
Week 13: Lighting + Rendering
Week 14: Rendering + Compositing
Week 15: Compositing

I'm getting increasingly nervous typing this list...there is absolutely no buffer whatsoever.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

"The meal"

A speed painting to capture the mood of "The Meal'. The image was floating around in my head so i decided to get it out on paper/screen...

"The Meal" concepts...

Concept designs for the pet animal/meal concepts. Want it to be appealing, helpless, and instantly bonding with the audience. Help!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Butcher/Chef Concept 01

A simple 2 hour sketch on one of the silhouettes i thought was interesting.

Story Version 1.1

Alternate story directions:

  • The pet animal is food, in a cage waiting to be slaughtered...
  • The pet animal is from the outside, a wild creature trespassing into the house...
  • Chef/butcher eats the fattened pet animal after all..


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Opening Frame Mood board...

Mood Study i skeched up in 20 minutes. Just exploring the colour and layout of the opening sequence. Got it down on "paper" at least!

Butcher Silhouettes 01

Some silhouettes for butcher character... still experimenting and searching for the right one...

head sketches

Some head sketches i did over the weekend, took inspiration from different forms and silhouettes that I liked. Trying not to make the creature too mindless nor too intelligent looking.

Timeline

Weeks

1

2 Establish Complete Theme/Concept

3 Character Development

4 Presentation / Workcheck

5 Storyboard

6 Final Character Designs

7 Presentation :Animatic with sound.
*5 Layout shots in blue
Maquette

Monday, August 17, 2009

Script 1.0

The theme will revolve around Stereotyping and Stigmatization. Medium will be 3D, style will be hyper-realistic caricature.
referances:
Fallen Art: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7HMz1WKkso&feature=fvw
Ark:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tch8mHk81ug
The Cathedral: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8GyHvBogrI
Sebastian's Voodoo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ePWK0qfisE&feature=related


Story v1.0

  1. Setting: Gloomy, stormy night, establishing shot of hut on a hill
  2. Slowly zoom in to lit window, noise and activity going on inside. (thumping and clanging)
  3. Pan around messy kitchen, dirty pots and pans, assorted utensils especially knives hanging off wall.
  4. Focus on Cleaver stuck in chopping board, grubby hand unsticks it violently.
  5. Hands furiously at work, chopping, dicing, smashing
  6. slowly reveal chef/butcher
  7. Thunder claps outside as storm starts to intensify, a animal bark draws focus to a adorable pet animal.
  8. Back shot of chef/butcher working furiously, pet animal running around his feet barking and yelping at the rain/thunderclaps/lightning flash
  9. Chef/butcher gets increasingly annoyed, with the chopping, thunder, and incessant noise of the pet animal.
  10. noise reaches cacophony, Chef/butcher snaps.
  11. POV pet animal, Big hands grabbing it
  12. pet animal wimpers and yelps as butcher/chef ties a sack up
  13. browses through his hanging utensils, lifts a heavy two handed club
  14. raises it up and smashes the sack. stunned silence
  15. reaches into the sack and tastes some red goo
  16. licks his lips in approval
  17. scoops some pieces and goo from the sack and pours a mountain of it into a pet feeding bowl
  18. pet animal perks up behind the mountain of food and digs in with gusto
  19. chef/butcher sighs in content and tickles his pet behind the ears
  20. sits down on a stool at a table and tucks in to a drumstick, bones and all.
  21. The End

Other versions:
Brings sack out onto railway track to get smashed.
Eats the pet after stuffing it full of food.

Comments on this version
Punchline revealed too fast if framing is not right
Too long drawn?
Punchline weak
cliché

Objectives:
I want the audience to stereotype the butcher chef based on his environment and home. The image i have is an obese, grubby, creature
that will portray a self-centered and indulgent character that is probably violent and detested by society. The plot reveals that appearances
are not what it seems as he has a kind heart and love for his pet hence reversing the audience's labelling in the first 2 minutes at the end.