Narrative: Wheelchair UVs

Added the wheelchair .mb file to dropbox, too.

Narrative: Wheelchair Prop

I was asked by Nat to see if i could try my hand at the wheelchair for our final production.

Narrative: Anecdote Studios Ident

Character: Fat Cat Design, Costume & Color Scheme ideas..

With Fat Cat, I didn't want to go with the traditional appearance of a suit, mainly because this takes place in the future and the design of the business suit could have evolved over the years. I took the design of the business suit and altered it slightly in order to come up with these designs below.

Top Left: This design combines abstract folds in the cloth and an asymmetrical design to create something familiar, but also different.

Top Middle: I was very much inspired by the Sith Empire's crew uniform from the 'Star Wars' saga and the outfit worn by Dr. Evil from 'Austin Powers'.

Top Right: I decided to try and see how close I could get to the stereotypical business suit without using all of the iconic features. The collar flaps on the blazer  instead of being two triangular shapes, are now fused into one and the button in the center is different in shape.

Bottom Left: With this design, I combined both the top middle and top right designs.

Bottom Middle: Because of Fat Cat's scientific background, I attempted a Mad Scientist approach, inspired by long lab coats and high collars while also still keeping the essence of a business suit.

Bottom Right: I went all out on this one, throwing in essences of asymmetry, technology/scifi and militaristic backgrounds.

I then begun to think about color scheme, which, for a villain, led me to think about the color red and black. Red is often used to keep viewers alert, which is why it is often used in stop signs. It increases respiration, raises blood pressure and enhances metabolism. When used in the color scheme of villains, it signifies danger, wrath, malice and rage. Black is often associated with the fear of the unknown. It's a mysterious color which is often associated with negativity, especially when used in association with death and grief. Black symbolizes strength and authority, which would be perfect for Fat Cat's character; he's the mysterious, unseen, iron-fisted overseer of the city of Jennisburgh. Red, combined with technology in popular culture, also gives us two iconic characters of science fiction, both of them being villains.

The Terminator Androids (The Terminator 1984)

Hal-9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968)

After watching these movies, tell me these two characters aren't absolutely terrifying.

However, I wanted to think outside of the box at least somewhat, which is why I began to look at the color green. This color is often associated with otherworldly things and, when used correctly, can be either seen as unnatural or natural. It is also synonymous with infection and disease, which is what one could view Fat Cat as: a disease spread throughout the city. Green is also a symbol of greed and jealousy and greed is something that Fat Cat is no stranger to.

Agent Smith (The Matrix Revolutions, 2003)

This has lead me to either one of two decisions for Fat Cat's color scheme: Black & Green or Black & Red.

Narrative: Spray Can and Flag Props

3D Models

UV Layouts

Flag

Spray Can

Character: Experimenting with Creature Anatomy

Another day, another session. This time, I experimented with the proportions, body language and anatomy of creatures. I used two very different animals for this: a horse and a bat. Ultimately, the horse was the more challenging to do, primarily because the limbs of a horse are completely alien in comparison to a human's limbs.

The bat, however, was relatively familiar in terms of anatomy: they have distinct knees, elbows and shoulders. The only difference is that their hands are very outlandish in terms of their proportions. Their fingers are elongated and strung together by a stretchy, fleshy membrane to form their wings. Their legs are tiny and used only for clambering over the floor or to hang by, since they don't walk, but they are familiar in structure.

Lastly, I tried my hand at creating my own creature from scratch, but I was given a landscape to work from: a mountainous landscape. Immediately, when I thought of this, I imagine an alpine, snowy backdrop with looming mountains and rocky cliff faces. I began thinking about what types of animals may live in those conditions and what common ground they have with one another. Two things I found in common were mountain lions and monkeys (Takasakiyama Monkeys from Japan to be exact), which use claws and fingers to grab onto rock formations and climb steep, rocky landscapes. These animals can also use these appendages as weapons: cats using claws of slashing and raking and monkeys for punching and hitting.

However, I wanted to think outside of the box with my landscape. I chose instead to look at the rocky, arid landscapes of Nevada and the Australian outback.

Then, I began thinking about protection from falling impact should this creature fall from a rock face. This, combined with the hot, arid and rocky climate being synonymous with termite mounds and, ultimately, insects, lead me to think about a hard exoskeleton. This, in turn, lead me to take inspiration from crustaceans like crabs and how these creatures may act in swarms, emerging from cracks in the cliff faces in the thousands.

The use of claw-like appendages both as weapons and grappling hook-like appendages for climbing was perfect.

____________________________________________________

Finished Creature

Name: Chittin

Habitat: Kurabi Desert

Planet: Kaderak

Character: Height Chart

Starting with Fat Cat, I wanted him to be tall as well as massive in proportion in order to give him a sense of a scale, superiority and higher authority. I also wanted to give him an intimidating aura; naturally, us humans see larger creatures as intimidating and scary. 

With Issac, being a sidekick as well as mode, I saw it fit to give him a stout appearance to enhance his comedic effect. Since he's a super-genius, it would be fitting to apply the phrase: "more brain than brawn" to him. 

Kat, since she is the main heroine, would have to be well proportioned and heroically built, so I gave her an athletic build, with a tall, but still average height.

Narrative: Alan's UVs

Ident Concepts

Since we seemed to mostly agree upon the concept of a painterly-themed ident, I've drawn up a few concepts for the introduction to our logo. I thought it would be a suitable idea to keep it black and white to match our animation.

1: Scattered ink transition from black to white.

2: Ink wipe logo from top right to bottom left.

3: Ink wipe on backdrop from right to left. Logo zoom fade from white.

4: Logo spiral ink wipe from centre to outer frame.

5: Scribble/erase from black.

@Phil Critical Perspectives: Essay Plan

Pam and I worked this  out together during one of our tutorial sessions together and I was going to work on the essay until Wednesday's lecture and the seminar soon after when the lecture inspired me to change my plan. Now I'm not exactly sure whether or not this previous plan would be a good one to go by. I have a feeling that it's too broad, especially the first paragraph.

What would you suggest?

__________________________________________________________

Critical Perspectives: Base Essay Plan  

Essay Title: The Use and Effects of Post-modernity in Blade Runner

Needs INTRO

Chapter 1? 

Paragraph 1: Discussing the term and origin of post-modernism.

Paragraph 2: What is post-modernism?

Paragraph 3: Examples of post-modernism in film

Paragraph 4: How post-modernism is used in film.

Paragraph 5: Introduce Blade Runner 

Paragraph 6: Talk about the style of the film 

6a: and compare with others 

7: What inspired their director.

Chapter 2 ?

Paragraph 8: Explain how post-modernism is used in the artistic style of both movie.

Paragraph 9

Most modern architecture within the film (compare with traditional styles)

10 Clothing

11 Rhetoric – /script

Chapter 3

Paragraph 12: Introduce the messages and meanings in Blade Runner. (Explain how post modernism can be used to decipher said messages and meanings.)

Paragraph 13: religions mortality/immortality 

14 politics: Marxism etc

15: consumerism

Enhanced effects/meanings with lighting and sound

Paragraph 16: Conclusion.

Narrative: Alan Head Final

 

Narrative: Alan Head V3

Re-edited to try and conform with Nat's feedback:

"It's alot better than the previous one, but I think it still needs work. There's something a bit off, perhaps a bit pouty? The bottom lip needs to go in a bit to create the overbite, the top lip needs to be wider than the bottom then go in when it reaches the cheeks. Some more things too, I can see the sections but it might be a little hard to explain"

Character: Heroine Costume Designs

All around, design number 1 on my series of costume designs for Kat seemed to be the overall favourite and Justin liked the hood idea that I incorporated into the costume design earlier. However, it seemed a bit too medieval thief-ish, so I attempted to make it appear a little more futuristic. I took particular inspiration from the hood of the character 'Tali'zorah nar rayya' from the Mass Effect RPG trilogy.

It was also suggested that I somehow incorporate the hood into the outfit.

The idea of the roman numerals 'IX' for the number nine was also a favoured idea and in order to avoid just slapping a 'IX' into the front of the chest, I decided to make the symbol look like a trio of claw marks which would flow seamlessly into the design of the suit.

I also created a version with the coat/robe design. Again, attempting to incorporate it seamlessly into the suit.

Character Session: Studying Silhouettes

During this session, we looked at silhouettes and how they can alter what kind of character is being depicted: How they move, how they act, and their general demeanor. We were tasked with creating a selection of entirely different characters all with their own unique silhouettes. I used the basis of monsters and demons.

_________________________________________________

After, I picked out one silhouette which looked like it had the most substance and drew a full version of it. Since the silhouette had armor, I started out with the basic figure.

-then, using a light box, I traced armor over it. I also made some alterations, turning it into a 'dragon-born'/lizardman creature.

I will admit, I wad way too much fun with this.