22 Nov 2010
Sound Project
The classroom;
There are rows of chairs with only the sound of the clock ticking in the background. The walls are slightly degraded with dull paint that is cracked in places. The room itself is very minimal, with only a blackboard, wooden desks, chairs and a window. Brightly coloured monochromatic posters cover the walls with propagandistic slogans such as "Younger workers, longer hours, stronger armies, faster victories" . Most desks are seen to be empty, with only a handful of students in the classroom. Nothing much is happening but the sound of the clock ticking and an eerie twitching movement of the students in their seats. A tall, featureless, shadowy figure emerges from the wall in the corner of the room, the teacher. He gestures that the class has ended with the pointing of his hand to the door. A rush of movement from the students as they push back their chairs in a hurry, the focus turns to one girls bag as she peers through it to briefly glance at a package, before hiding it beneath books and closing the desk. The secretive nature of this package should be emphasized.
School gates:
The exit of the school is accompanied by 2 armed guards at a "checkpoint". The walls encompassing the school grounds are big concrete slabs with razor wire on the top. The guards are dressed in heavy protection gear that brandish symbols of authority, with masks that obscure their faces and grant them a soulless almost mechanistic quality. Behind them is a big machine with glass windows. The girl issues her ID to the guard and then walks in to the scanner and raises her arms, it takes a few moments to scan her whilst giving off humming noises, similar to a microwave.
the city
The girl passes through a narrow street, the buildings are so tall not much light reaches the bottom, the sky is white and the view of the street is positioned in the centre to emphasis the grim, boring nature of the city. Most of the windows are boarded up, with black iron bars covering them. As the girl walks passed she runs a stick along the bars of the windows. In the shadows, small creatures scatter as the noise from the bars is heard. There are more posters that are decayed on the walls, detailing "zone c".
outskirts:
As she approaches the outskirts of the city her vision becomes slightly hazy/blurred, with trails or symbols passing over the buildings, following their contours. On the outskirts of the city is mainly flat, dirt land, with spots of greenery and an imposing city in the background. A man in uniform is seen orchestrating workers who are chained, in his hand he holds what looks like an electric cattle prod. The workers are dressed in dull grey clothing, pushing carts. Their faces are a grey blur.
The camera detaches from the vision of the girl and moves to focus on what the workers are doing, at a closer range. They are seen pushing carts of the dead, flesh and bones in to a pit, as people are marched in to the pit alive and a man is melted by a guard with an electric prod. The camera returns to the girl and focuses on her feet as she is seen running quickly through the grass. She arrives at human sized hole in the rock face, which looks fairly well hidden. She can just about easily walk through but an adult would have to squeeze through.
The cave:
Inside the cave are impoverished people, some in blankets, playing music or selling worthless things, taking little notice of the girl. She walks through the dimly lit cave until she comes across a cellar door which she opens, making a creaking sound. Inside is an old woman with children in a dark empty room with the exception of a wooden fire (the only light source) and an old worn out wooden table. The girl opens her bag and the old woman's eyes light up, her character visibly gets slightly lighter as well as the room, she takes out the food and the girl makes her tea. She passes the tea cup to the old woman which she drinks nervously as she shakes the teacup against the saucer as she cannot steady her hand.
low grade story boards
1.
Revision 2.
added and rearranged some panels so the story makes more sense
21 Nov 2010
Research, sound project
This is an example of the general theme I am going for i.e. an imposing, 1984 style society. Although I wish to approach this from a different angle, instead of the city being a city it will be more of a mindset, giving life to inanimate objects and morphing things to suit the characters.
john hurt aids advert
This is another example of the theme I am going for, the voice of John Hurt and subtle eerie background music sets the mood more than the actual imagery.
suzie templeton - dog
I like the macabre and dark aspects of this animation, particularly the uncomfortable lack of dialogue when the characters look emptily at you.
the quay brothers
This demonstrates the style of the movement I want to use, with things like screws and scissors moving on their own accord.
German expressionism
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
fritz lang 1927 metropolis
schindler's list
Dark city
propaganda posters
analysis, most of these posters are monochromatic, using strong colours and keeping to simplistic straight lines, with an imposing typography. In my designs I will want the colours to be more subdued to show age.
18 Nov 2010
retrograde motion of mars
16 Nov 2010
film analysis
film: the matrix
characters:
-the film is focused around neo, who you get a unique perspective on his mindset as he senses that something is not right with the world
-Morpheus is basically the teacher in the film who poses philosophical questions and helps you delve deeper in to the mind of neo as he discovers more.
character traits:
Morpheus is a complicated character but in many ways remains a bit of a mystery throughout the film, I think this adds to his perception of a "Teacher" of sorts. He shows a hint of desperation towards neo in his desire for him to save him from the machines.
how does the film keeps the audience engaged? What do you think the key factors are?
-In a good film you need at least one or 2 people to feel real, as in they have an entire system of thoughts and emotions that battle against each other internally and produce something unique and interesting, not just a 2 dimensional conclusion of the surface acts of the character. In the matrix that is done excellently with morpheus and neo as the characters interact it pulls you in to their mind set and entrenches you in to the story where as without 3 dimensional characters the story is just a sequence of events in a distant fantasy and even with the best cgi in the world it will remain there.
-The story plays on philosophical questions that have been asked for 1000s of years, changing the characters perception of their own reality. Which taps in to a lot of peoples own feelings/thoughts i.e. what if the world isn't real and what is real?
what are the elements or patterns repeated throughout the film? At what points? And what do you think is the purpose or intention?
A constant distortion of normalcy designed to make the viewer question their senses and reality of what is going on, in the film and in their own lives. For example at the beginning neo is told there will be a nock on the door on his computer screen and there is and he even briefly mentions having the feeling of dreaming whilst awake. Secondly when he is captured by agents and his mouth is transformed shut, he suddenly wakes up and one is left questioning if that really did happen.
Throughout the form of the film, try to establish the plot and sub-plot. How does the revelation compare from the beginning to the end?
the film starts with an unnerving, pervading feeling that something is not right in the world but what it is, is not known. This grows throughout the film and at the tipping point neo rejects the glaringly evident nature of "the matrix" even after it his shown to him, he panics and is seen clinging on to his artificial world out of disbelief. This continues until neo has a true understanding of the world he lived in and it's artificial nature which allows him to master it. i.e. at the end he is seen flying.
15 Nov 2010
7 Nov 2010
the script
EXT. COUNTRY SIDE. NIGHT
An old car drives along a deserted countryside.
CUT TO:
INT. CAR. NIGHT
A man in his mid forty's is behind the wheels with his teenage daughter beside him. The radio plays in the background with distorted frequency. The daughter gazes out the window.
FATHER
You know you could have just grabbed a taxi. I mean, God only knows how busy I am just to make ends meet.
The girl rolls her eyes and huffs and tries adjusting the radio's frequency.
FATHER
Ah, honey I...uh..Sorry I didn't mean...It's just, you know how it is..for me working a double shift..mine and your mom's divorce.
As the daughter adjusts the radio frequency which fails to work properly, she hits the radio real hard in anger and it switches off. Silence creeps in and the daughter continues to gaze out the window with her arm leaning on the arm rest. Suddenly, her gaze turns into a stare as something grabs her attention.
DAUGHTER
Dad stop! Stop!!!
The father abruptly hits the sudden break and jolts.
FATHER
What the?!?
DAUGHTER
Someone's back there!
FATHER
In the middle of nowhere?!?!
The daughter leans out her window and looks out behind.
CUT TO:
EXT. COUNTRY SIDE. NIGHT
A young girl sits curled up on the side of the road, wearing a pink frock and clutching onto something like a part of a stuffed toy. The daughter looks at the girl and calls out.
DAUGHTER
Are you alright there?
The young girl remains still and quiet. The daughter looks at her and tries to question again while her father observes from the rear view mirror.
DAUGHTER
Are you out here all by yourself?
The girl remains unresponsive.
DAUGHTER
Do you need a lift?
The young girl gets up, slowly walks towards the car and enters at the back seat.
CUT TO:
INT. CAR. NIGHT
The father squints and observes the young girl from the rear view mirror. The daughter looks behind.
DAUGHTER
Do you know where you live?
After a moments pause, the girl responds.
YOUNG GIRL
Old country house..
FATHER
That's about 5 miles ahead.
The father accelerates further.
CUT TO:
EXT. COUNTRY SIDE. NIGHT
The car drives down the road.
CUT TO:
INT. CAR. NIGHT
DAUGHTER
So what were you doing out there by yourself?
The daughter turns back to look at the young girl, who does not respond but coldly glares out the window. The daughter notices the girl is holding onto what appears to be a broken arm of a stuffed toy bear. She turns back to the front, looks at her father and shrugs.
CROSS DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. OUTSIDE OLD COUNTRY HOUSE. NIGHT
The car slowly pulls over right outside the Old Country House which appears to be slightly dingy.
CUT TO:
INT. CAR. NIGHT
The father glances at the house from the front window.
FATHER
Well, here we are...
The father looks into the rear view mirror and is startled. He quickly turns his head to look at the girl behind, who is not there anymore.
FATHER
Where'd she go???
The father and daughter exchange mystified looks to each other. They sit there, perplexed.
CUT TO:
EXT. OUtside the door of old country house. night
The father and daughter walk towards the front porch of the house. The daughter looks at her father with an apprehensive expression. She knocks on the door and within a moment the door opens and they are confronted by a couple in their mid fifties. The couple doesn't seem surprised to see them.
WIFE
Don't worry. We know why you're here.
The father and daughter are puzzled.
DAUGHTER
Wha?!?! Huh?!
HUSBAND
You thought you found our daughter? She disappeared 20 years ago.
The father and daughter listen intently but baffled.
HUSBAND
Every year, on this day, we get people on our doorstep, just like you.
The father and daughter appear dumbfounded.
wife
Today was her birthday...
The father and daughter exchanges glances to each other and look down at the lady's hand, in which she is gently holding a stuffed teddy bear with a missing arm.
FADE OUT:
4 Nov 2010
Mindmap/concepts
initial storyboards
character development:
shows the pig from different angles with different expressions, and a drawing of the tree branch that points the way to student services.
initial animatic
here is an example of how I want the money to fall, although it will be mixed in with coins as well, you may have to watch the video a few times to see it as it goes very fast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFYhLAPikk4&feature=related#t=0m4s
observational drawings
based on the reference photos I have drawn 2 stylized versions to represent money in my animation.