On Monday we had a storyboarding session with Darren. We went over a few examples but most of the class was spend working individually on thumb nailing and developing boards. I did draw up some thumbnails based on the idea that my film would now just be 2D rather than entirely projected, as per Mario’s advice.
I’ve also debated doing the character vignettes rather than a full minute, due to much of my initial idea revolving around atmosphere for the projection, rather than movement and character. The idea is that I would mock up the projection, create a minute of vignettes of the narrative, in order to later be able to develop the full installation, perhaps as a DPS personal project. I will discuss this with tutors during the interim.
On Wednesday we had our first interim presentations. Below are the slides I presented.
The general concept seemed to be well recieved, but I fell into my usual pitfall of not explaining myself in enough detail. I tend to have so many ideas but the time pressure gets to me. I also always find myself volunteering to go first because everyone else is nervous, so I never get a chance to gague what kind of feedback people are getting and time to adjust my presentation. I definitely need to prepare these pitches much more in advance so I have time to practice what I want to say, and get across all the detail I need.
I was given some great feedback, though I will be booking a tutorial to discuss it further so I have a very clear action plan over the break. I plan to watch both ‘Freaks’ and the episode of ‘League of Gentlemen’ Steve suggested, and also Killer Klowns from Outer Space as that has the bright horror/comedy vibe I’m going for.
My main takeaway was to really push the character personalities. I think I subconsciously sanitized some of my ideas because I was presenting, but I really do want to create off-putting gross characters. I really want the more childish art style to completely contrast these nasty behaviors. I described Calliope as flirty, but she’s not just flirty, she’s a borderline pervert, she crosses boundaries and says disgusting things. Petra is not just stoic, she is fully ignorant of other’s emotions, she speaks her mind and no one wants to hear it. Arlo is not just happy go lucky, he is entirely manic. I think I can write some character bios to reflect this, but I need to find a way to really push this in the dialogue I end up writing for the film. This project might end up a bit taboo but my main audience really is the freaks out in the world.
By the end of next week I want to have a very clear idea of the story, hopefully with the dialogue written as well.
I think the dynamic I’d like to create really falls under the Cesar A. Cruz quote “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” These characters normalise their behaviors within their company, they love each other in all their repulsiveness, and they revel in the idea that people find them offensive. However, the audience should marvel at how any of them can put up with any other one of them. I think the characters love for each other will still keep audiences rooting for them and the conflict I write for the story should also make them more sympathetic. Limp Bizkit’s ‘Hot Dog’ is a thematic representation of how I want these characters to be received.
Su-Lynn also said she’d like to see a mock up of an installation, perhaps using pictures of a space that I edit, but preferably a physical mock up. So I will definitely work to produce that, however it will not be my priority over the spring break.
The toolkit sessions on Fridays have been very back and forth for me between Mario and Ben’s classes. Mario gives really good realistic advice, and good tasks to follow, but there are so many people in that class I find it hard to focus. With Ben I basically get an empty room and any After Effects help I want, but I don’t do much animating. This week, I sat in Ben’s class to figure out some of the projection mapping as suggested by the technicians and Su-Lynn. I found a way to link a Photoshop file to After Effects and then use the CC Environment effect to turn an equirectangular image into a 360 environment. This would let me draw the environment in Photoshop while checking the live proportions. I think this technique would be great for a digital mockup, however I’m still not clear on what perspective I should use if I have a multi projector, cuboid room set up.
I also realized that in the digital mockup if I wanted the character to be able to move around in space (rather than just 360 panning view) and have the structures all move in a realistic parallax, I would have to make a 3D model. I can always texture it in a very stylised 2D manner, but can’t think of any easier way to make the environment navigable. A very relevant reference I found was this video. I definitely won’t be doing that for this current project, however like I discussed in the interim, I would like to continue this project during my DPS and I could get a 3D artist to assist me.
Currently, I think the best path for me to take for the project outcome would be:
1. Produce a 2D film with a more clear narrative allowing me to develop the characters, develop the visual style, and focus on animation skills.
2. Create a mock-up using one of the environments to show how I would present this as an installation