Monday 30 September 2013

Minor Project: Trailer script draft


Trailer Music



EXPERIMENT IX TRAILER – FIRST DRAFT

INT. BLACK SCREEN
The sound of a helicopter gradually fades in

INT. CITYSCAPE OF JENNISBURG CITY
A helicopter flies over Jennisburg City

FEMALE NEWS REPORTER 1
Jennisburg City’s mayor, despite critical illness,
continues to make questionable decisions regarding the recent protests-

MALE NEWS REPORTER 1
-Fat Cat has called for yet another show of military force against the city’s civilians-

FADE TO BLACK
INT. STREETS OF JENNISBURG
A group of protestors face off against a line of militarized Jennisburg police and a tank. The police raise their rifles and open fire on the protestors.

CUT TO BLACK
MALE NEWS REPORTER 2
Many have spoken out against Fat Cat’s seat in office, calling it a ‘corruption of Government’.

FEMALE NEWS REPORTER 2
Recent speculations attribute the mayor’s ‘unnatural abilities’ to his iron grip on the city and his declining health.
INT. FAT CAT’S LAIR
Fat Cat’s hand hovers over a control panel where wires and electrical tubing infused in green psychic energy extent from his hand and into the console.

FADE TO BLACK
INT. STREETS OF JENNISBURG
Military police shove a struggling civilian protestor with a bag over his head into the back of a truck. Televisions in the window of a technical appliance store show Fat Cat talking to an interviewer

FAT CAT
Some might say I’m a monster. I disagree.

INT. ISSAC’S BASE OF OPERATIONS
Issac types at his computer and presses the enter key.

CUT TO STREETS OF JENNISBURG
The large digital billboards flash with static interference, briefly displaying the words: “Fight for Freedom” followed by the Molenov Initiative logo.

FAT CAT
The real monsters are those who aim to disturb the order I’ve created.

CUT TO TV SCREEN
Fat Cat is still being interviewed

INTERVIEWER
-and the online allegations of cloning for an heir to your seat in power?
FADE TO BLACK

INT. CLONING FACILITY
9 fluid-filled cloning tanks fill the room containing 8 failed, experiments and fetuses. All except one fully formed female clone.

FADE TO BLACK

CUT TO TV SCREEN
FAT CAT
Cloning is a fantasy.
FADE TO BLACK

INT. CLONING FACILITY
FAT CAT
If such things were a reality, it’s possible for such subjects to ‘rebel’.

The fully formed female clone leaps through and breaks through the glass, hands and eyes glowing with purple psychic energy.

SCENE FLASHES BLACK

FADE INT. ROOFTOP
Experiment 9 ‘Kat’ looks over the city

KAT
Who am I?

INT. JENNISBURG STREET
Kat, wrapped in tattered sheets, walks through the streets and rips a propaganda poster against the Molenov Initative off the wall.

ISSAC
I’ve seen the files. You’re an experiment. A clone.

INT. ALLEYWAY
Kat hides behind a trash can while military police force another bag-headed civilian into the back of a truck.

KAT
There’s so much injustice in this city. What can we do?

INT. ISSAC’S BASE
Issac turns around in his seat from his computer and looks up at Kat

ISSAC
It’s called the Molenov Initiative.

CUT TO KAT
Kat clenches her fist out in front of her as purple psychic energy flows up her arm.

KAT
How can I help?

FADE TO BLACK

FADE INT. CABINET
Two iron doors slide open, revealing Kat’s new superhero costume

CUT BACK TO ISSAC IN CHAIR

ISSAC
Let’s see what you can do.

CUT TO BLACK
FADE INT. TARGET PRACTICE FACILITY
Kat throws an energy ball at a target robot and disintegrates it.

CUT INT. JENNISBURG STREET
Kat runs out of an alleyway and leaps into a psychic-energy motorcycle in the shape of a cheetah as police sirens are heard in the background

CUT TO VIEW OF POLICE CAR
Two police cars collide. One flips over the other and explodes.

FADE TO BLACK

CUT INT. ROOFTOP
A helicopter hovers just off the rooftop’s edge as it fires on Kat, who has leaped out behind a wall, throwing two energy balls at the helicopter’s blades.

CUT INT. JENNISBURG STREETS
Kat fights hand-to-hand with a military policeman.

CUT INT. JENNISBURG STREETS
Kat, in ethereal tiger form, growls and stomps on a tank’s barrel before bending it upward with her hands.
          
          FADE TO BLACK

          FADE INT. ISSAC’S BASE
Issac is staring at his computer screen, stunned in disbelief.

ISSAC
Damn.
         
          FADE TO BLACK

          FADE INT. JENNISBURG STREETS
          An organized army of military police walk in lockstep.

FAT CAT
I want her found.
           
           CUT TO SCREEN OF FAT CAT

FAT CAT
-And she will sit at my side in this new era.
          
          CUT TO ALLEYWAY
Kat raises her hands as a pair of firearms form from psychic energy in her hands in her hands.

CUT TO STREET
Kat leaps out from an alley in her leopard form and, in slow motion, fires upon the military barricade in the middle of the road.

CUT TO ALLEY
A hooded youth spray-paints the roman numerals IX on the wall.

KAT
I know what you tried to make me into

CUT INT. ISSAC’S BASE
Issac shifts around some holographic displays.

KAT
A power-hungry monster.

CUT TO ALLEY
The hooded youth continues to spray-paint the roman numerals IX on a brick wall.

ISSAC
Today we take back our city.

CUT INT. ISSAC’S BASE
Issac shifts around some more holographic displays and hits the enter key.

FADE INT. STREET
Issac’s silhouetted face is on a digital billboard in the city’s center. His voice is masked and deepened.

ISSAC
This monster is responsible for the deaths-

FADE TO BLACK

FADE INT. DARK ROOM
Issac is tied up to a chair with a single spotlight on him. He looks up in anger.

ISSAC
-and disappearances of hundreds of people.

CUT TO FAT CAT ON-SCREEN

FAT CAT
They will learn NOT. TO. QUESTION!

CUT TO ALLEY
The hooded youth continues to spray-paint the roman numerals IX on a brick wall.

CUT TO ROOFTOPS
Kat is running across rooftops, leaping and flipping with boundless agility.

KAT
It’s time we finished this.

Kat leaps off of a building to avoid an explosion

CUT TO INSIDE OF BUILDING
Kat roundhouse kicks a knife-wielding military policeman before another enters the fray.

FADE TO BLACK

CUT TO STREET
Kat revs her psychic-energy motorcycle and makes a U-turn in the road. before driving up the front of a police vehicle, doing a backflip before landing at the entrance of a tunnel and driving down into it.

FADE TO BLACK

CUT TO ALLEY
The hooded youth continues to spray-paint the roman numerals IX on a brick wall.

FAT CAT
You have no idea what you're dealing with, child.

CUT TO FAT CAT'S LAIR
Fat cat turns around from a computer as tendrils of metal, claw-like appendages descent from the ceiling.

FADE TO BLACK

CUT TO FAT CAT'S LAIR
Kat stands at the entrance to Fat Cat's lair, her hand swelling with purple energy as she prepares for battle.

CUT INT. STREET
A line of military police raise their rifles and arm them.

FADE TO BLACK

FAT CAT
(Mocking) So you consider yourself a hero?

CUT TO OUTSIDE WINDOW OF SKYSCRAPER
A tendril claw shatters the window, pushing Kat out with it in its grasp

KAT
This city doesn't need heroes. It needs hope.

CUT TO ALLEY
The hooded youth continues to spray-paint the roman numerals IX on a brick wall, finally finishing it.

KAT
I am that hope.

CUT TO BLACK
Everything cuts to black except the spray-painted IX which ignites in a purple ethereal fire. The word 'Experiment' forms in the same way in front of it.










Some Major changes to the Minor Project

So I heard that one of my fellow students, Urvashi, is using the whole year, both Minor and Major projects, to create an entire animated short based upon the Owl and the Pussycat children's rhyme. I previously thought that we weren't able to do such a thing until the news struck me. After consulting with Phil, I proposed to him that I do something similar with one of my previous ideas: a proposal trailer for a movie of my previous project: Experiment 9

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Phil seemed very much on board with this saying, quite rightly so in my opinion, that it 'makes sense'. I'm very much on board with this too as I've wanted to create this trailer ever since I came up with the characters featured in the poster. Phil and I agreed that I should get started as soon as possible and that this Minor Project should be focused mainly on pre-production: creating a script, animatic and character and set modelling and rigging. I should also start looking for voice actors to play the parts of Kat, Issac and Fat Cat. I cannot describe how excited I am to begin work on this. That said, let's get started, shall we?


We have lift-off!




Friday 27 September 2013

Minor Project: Forming new ideas

A talk with Alan brought to light that I was still floating about in a cloud of vague ideas with nothing to grasp at but vaporous, generic concepts, so he suggested that I try and find some kind of specific fact or concept within science to build my idea off of, which is a fair point. After a bit of browsing and researching for interesting facts regarding science while listening to some music in the background, my music playlist stumbled upon this-



An idea then struck me. At last, a possible light at the end of this inspiration-less tunnel! Perhaps I might be able to relate this music to Astrophysics and the formation of the Earth. Even more specifically, I could create some type of psychedelic music video depicting the formation of the Earth with a colorful art style. I am unsure if this would best be done within Autodesk Maya or Adobe After Effects after effects, however.

Examples of said art style.








Thursday 26 September 2013

Minor Project: Completely Stumped for ideas

The title says it all really. Ever since I've had a talk with Alan, my mind has been (almost) completely barren of ideas that aren't already fleshed out starting points like my previous ideas.

However. a few points that I -could- potentially start out with are Astronomy, Cosmology, Science Fiction, or Extra-terrestrial life, since those are the subjects that I'm most fond of and that I know will motivate me in this project. I'm also fond of 3D modelling, environment and character design, though that may also sound like it's all ready limiting the spectrum of ideas that I could come up with in the future.

In any case, here are a few images that have inspired me so far.






Tuesday 24 September 2013

Minor Project: First Initial Ideas

Initial Idea: 1
3D Character Design: Realistic Alien creature

Examples:


This first idea stems from my infatuation with sci-fi and the concept of extra-terrestrial life. I love character design and sci-fi but I normally head in the direction of a more cartoonish style, so this would be a great chance for me to further my talents and try something mote challenging. I am also fascinated with biology; how living organisms function and have evolved from simpler life forms. With this idea, I would attempt to study the hypothetical physiology and evolutionary history behind a creature from another planet and interlace it with the creature's design. However, a down-side to this is the fact that I don't have any experience creating realistic characters.


Additional Idea:

As an additional concept, if the design of this creature turns out to be something that was an intelligent and sentient being, I could implement it into a CG scene based around an escape from a human compound; a facility based on Area 51, if you will.

Initial Idea: 2
3D Character Design: Cowboy robot

Examples:


The seed that grew into this idea came from this music video by the group "Steam Powered Giraffes"

I've always enjoyed the theme of the Wild West and the sense of adventure that comes with it. Even more, I've loved the combination of seemingly two unrelated genres into a mish-mash of genre soup, then having them being stirred and boiled into one that just works. The fact that the aesthetics of a machine can be altered so much from different metal parts while still keeping the aesthetics of a robot speaks about how much fun one can have with the character design of a robot. The addition of the traditional western tropes: the lone ranger, the barmaid, the old, stout prospector, only makes the concept of a western robot all the more appealing. However, I have only just finished a project from year 2 that was based around a western-themed character. Doing the same genre twice would be analogous to an old dog with no new tricks.

Initial Idea: 3
CGI Animation: Experiment 9 Trailer

Examples of Trailers: 

I fell in love with the character design project and I got -very- involved in the background stories of the characters I came up with, so much so that I could see them in a big-screen production or an animated series. I came up with the idea to create a faux-trailer for such a film after listening to some sound tracks. Particularly these two, of the latter I think would be perfect:

Own Little World (Remorse Code & Blue Stahli Remix)



ReallySlowMotion - Reborn From Ashes




After explaining to my tutors that, during my previous project, I was advised otherwise since it was such a large undertaking for such a brief space of time (understandably so) and save it for my third year, which has now arrived. However, after considering the previous approach of this concept by my tutors, I also realize that, even for my minor project, this is idea will -still- require plenty of effort and time. I am torn between starting it now or waiting until my major project begins.