Responsive: Choosing an Idea by Callum Brown

I think we all knew which story we were going to choose before even making the mind-map, although we made it to make sure we had a range of stories to go with, it was really a matter of who wanted to say it first as it was a bit awkward to bring up, I did in the end as I knew it would make a great film, not only that but its a very relevant issue, and although my story has a happy ending, alot of people do not. I still have many friends who are going through this traumatic experience and think its important that more people are aware of what others go through, and perhaps this film could raise awareness in some way, we will be looking into what started my fall into depression, what life was like then, and how I finally came out of it.

Mindmap

Here we created a mind-map of different personal stories we could make into a film, some happy, some not, however all i think could make great short films and have a specific audience to target.

Mandarin costume 2

 I finished making the Mandarin costume, I built it out of fabrics I purchased in the indoor market, I made it so the arms spread as it does in the film, and used colours that resembled my concept art, I bought the indian sword from a local antiques in hebden bridge but I am yet to get the 10 rings but so far I much prefer this costume to my last, as I predicted going for a more filmic look worked better and looks more professional and realistic, since taking these photos I have also managed to find some gold aviators and and actor with a Mandarin- esc beard.

Iron Man Costume

 I finally finished building all props I need for the iron man costume, I had the arc reactor hand made from someone on ebay and I found a guy on facebook who built the palm of the hands for my (I'm useless with electronics). However I built the rest myself, including the fingers, arm area, and painted it all using spray paints, the arm area is made from a pair of old crutches, a hair dryer, fiber-glass,  a box of pringles and a few empty bottles. I like the result of the costume, all I need to do is make sure I make my hair decent when filming, as it resembles a bowl-cut in one oh the images.

Thought Bubble: Richard Starkings

Richard Starkings is the creator and artist of the incredible Elephentmen series, he told us today that he is currently got a movie deal and creating a script for it, I am huge fan of his work and that comic series. We asked him to quickly review our work and critique it and this is what he said: you need to work of paneled pages, this is great, and your work is ready to be in comics but that's the easy part, story? dialogue? not easy, throw in all your ideas and don't worry about story arcs, as you do in films, different media, don't worry about critique, as long as you can express your love for comics in your work other comic fans will like it, keep the comic vibe you have, most comics have alot more bright colors than your work but if your comic is going to be a bit more gritty than say Jack Kirbys work then that's what your need, Batman comics don't have vibrant colors as much so it all depends on the tone you want, but keep that comic vibe I can see hear, its working.' I was also pleased with this feedback, having said that i am pleased with all feedback as you need it to improve, but this is what I wanted to hear, our story does have dark parts, real world problems but overall has a very comic vibe.

Thought Bubble: Olly Moss

Olly Moss designs alternative movie posters in a simplistic way, he is featured in Empire Magazine as 'The way movie posters should be done' we briefly saw him and he had no critiques to make, he seemed surprised at how good our work was and liked it how it was. I like his ideas, and the way he re-creates stories from simplistic images, however I do prefer traditional movie posters.

Thought Bubble: Mondo

Mondo is a great artist who I personally love for the simplistic yet realistic style, he's done alot of work on 'The Avengers'. when we showed him our work he said this: its hard to find criticism, the gear and the weapons are fantastic, over all its really nice, yeah its great.' This was exiting for me, everyone I was talking to seemed to be saying the same thing, in that we were finally ready to start the next stage in our project.

Mandarin costume 1

This is my start on the comic version of my Mandarin costume, however so far i think it looks ridiculous, half of me like the reflectiveness and half of me hates it, all over i think its too much, although its starting to look wealthy, it does not look threatening, or menacing. I think the best thing to do is start a fresh one, one which i will base on my more realistic design.

Thought Bubble: Leonie Bostock and Amrit Birdi

We saw Leonie Bostock an Amrit Birdi, Bostock is the writer and Birdi the artist, after asking him what we needed to improve on he said 'The work is really nice, the style works and they way you collaborate together is really unique and you should keep doing that, the art itself is comic worthy already and I don't think you should change anything about it.' This amazed me, although it was along the same lines as what the previous artists had said he seemed much more confident in that we should keep the art exactly how it is, and that the collaboration we have is a good thing.

Thought Bubble: Des Taylor

Des Taylor is an artist who created cartoon like super hero themed pieces, after asking him to review our work he said 'as for pitch we need to start making pages, organize your work into folders, do profiles for each character including, history and traits, you should come up with a tittle and logo so it becomes more instantly recognizable, get your entire project on paper and copyright it by sending it all to yourselves via post.' I was happy with the feedback as he also seems to think our works is ready to be in comics, all we need to do is secure what we have and carry on, organize it better and start making it into a professional proposal.

Thought Bubble: David Baldeon

Me and my brother attended the Thought Bubble comic convention in Leeds,where we asked a few of our favorite artists to review our work and critique it so we can improve our drawing skills in order to turn our 300 page script into a comic book, firstly we saw David Baldeon, whom said our work could already be in a comic book, and that we should start creating pages from our own script as well as scripts off the internet, he said he liked the slightly exaggerated style and it works, he said 'there are slight things you could do to improve anatomy but overall its ready to be in comics, if its for concept or game art its perfect already, but for comic art you need to work on pages so we can see how you work with that'. I was pleased with his reaction as its the first time I have been told by a professional that my work is ready for what I want to do. plus as a Marvel Comics illustrator I love his work.

Animatic

I have made my storyboards into a short Animatic, I've read thorough the script to make sure there is enough room for the dialogue, however my animatic runs over 60 seconds, so I have decided to make the whole film anyway and edit out either the beginning, trim the dialogue or shorten each shot, I will decide which fit is best in post production, you can view my Animatic here -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKv3u1OFmUY&feature=youtu.be

Maya

I attempted to make the arm and hand in Maya and composite it onto my film, however after getting a bit of the way through the model I found it not only difficult but unnecessary, I learnt that we only have the motion capture technology for 2D, and as I need mine for 3d purposes, I would be unable to use a model with human like movements. I have therefore decided to build the parts myself, and I will composite on any flying scenes using green screen.

Picking a live brief

There were many briefs we thought we could accomplish to a high level, but only one really grabbed my attention, it was D@AD 'Don't sell, tell' brief, were the idea is to tell a very honest and personal story that you don't want to tell, were were to do this through a short film. As our group looked at this brief we all had many ideas of things we could make a film on, but there was only one that we thought could actually act as an awareness campaign and help people who others can not, through my story, perhaps there could be a silver lining, as here is an opportunity to make the best out of a bad situation, and make some people feel less alone, so we choose to tell my story of the fall into depression, self harming, and desperation in seeking what I felt I had lost.

Dissecting the brief

Here is the brief we have chosen in full.

Background

It’s not breaking news. The creative industries are competitive. You need to stand out and make your mark. Understanding what sets you apart from the next hungry young creative is key. You’re not alone. Brands and organisations have had to adapt and change to ensure that they stand out in a crowded and much scrutinised marketplace. A seismic shift in the desire for truth and authenticity by consumers has seen many more brands investigate their purpose and express it in order to captivate a loyal following. D&AD’s industry network repeatedly tell us that good companies hire and commission good people. This is your chance to showcase your truth. The 21st Century belongs to the modern-day storyteller. Creative Challenge Share your own personal story. But don’t tell us what you think we want to hear.

Explain who you are, your values, your identity, your purpose… your truth. This is telling, not selling.

1] Know who you are.  2] Communicate it. You should use this opportunity to showcase your creative talent in the execution of your story. Once you know what you want to say, impress us with how you say, show and present it. We understand that your story is a work in progress, it’s still being written. We’re interested in your journey to date, a suggestion of what’s to come. Get people excited about your “To be continued…”.

Considerations

• Write words, take pictures, shoot film

or code - the medium’s up to you.

• This isn’t a CV, it’s a statement of your creative self.

• Don’t be cool. Be genuine and sincere.

• Your story might be about more than one person – maybe you’re in a team or collective – we still want to hear it.

• You might want to consider defining your behaviours and characteristics in order to help build a clear depiction of yourself.

Target Audience

Your story should remain the same regardless of audience. However the way in which you present it should engage those who you want to hear it most – your potential employers and / or commissioners.

Mandatories

• Your idea must be reflective of your

skills and portfolio.

• Your response should make people

want to find out more – include a link

to your online portfolio in your

execution.

Deliverables

Judges will see your main deliverable(s) first, and will then view any supporting material if they wish.

You must refer to the ‘Preparing Your Entries’ document included in your brief pack for full format specs and submission guidance. Work in formats other than those outlined will not be accepted. Main deliverables (mandatory) Present your solution using either a  video (MPEG or MOV, max. 2 mins) or up to eight images (JPEG only). You must also submit a link to your online portfolio when you enter online (you won’t be judged on the content of your portfolio but this will help the jury to see your response in context). Supporting material (optional) This could include executions or mock-ups of your solution, or show your process and the development of your idea. You can submit the following as supporting material: interactive work (websites, widgets, apps, HTML, etc.); physical material (prototypes, mockups, etc.); additional text (PDF, max. 1 A4 page). If your main deliverable is video, you can also submit up to four images (JPEG only). If your main deliverable is images, you can also submit video (MPEG or MOV, max. 1 min).

Deconstruction

The background of this mostly tells of how to make a unique and personal story the no-one else can tell, and quotes 'don’t tell us what you think we want to hear. Explain who you are, your values, your identity, your purpose… your truth. This is telling, not selling.' This is something I find particularly interesting, to tell a story from my perspective is a great opportunity although it may not be an easy one for several reasons, it may not be something I want to tell, but I certainly feel I should. 'Once you know what you want to say, impress us with how you say, show and present it.' this is the factor I really want to get right, a story is something I know I can get right, keeping it honest, relatable and sympathetic. The considerations is something I have already begun to think about, using photographs to give a brief history, or voiceover to tell the story, perhaps cutting between timelines? I imagine there will be a few characteristics to put in, but I depending on the story I tell, I may not show the lighter ones, as if I did, I don't think it would be as effective. I believe I have already found the target audience, as I think they will be the people not only suffering the same story, but opening eyes to what other people go through, perhaps without them realising. We had an idea that the deliverables would be photographs of the real people involved at the time. 

Responsive schedule

Here is our schedule for this module that Meg created, it details how much time we commit to each stage of production until the deadline.

History of Compositing

Compositing is a technique employed to combine different shots and elements into one Image. In the 1898 film 'Melies' the director, Georges Melies used a double exposure technique to create the shots, parts of the exposure was blocked using black paint on a piece of glass, the film was then rewound and a new matte matte would expose the previously blocked areas and block the already exposed ares. This is called 'Un Homme De Tetes'.

This tecnique was also used by Edwin S. Porter in the 1903 film 'The Great Train Robbery' however Porter used it to create a larger more realistic world.

As film production developed as did the techniques for compositing, the 'Glass Shot' was developed by Norman Dawn, which was simply a plate of glass with elements painted on and placed between the camera and the subject, the problem with this however it that the camera could not be moved, and also had to be ready on set, however Dawn got round this by creating a black matte with the glass and then re-exposing the film when the artists had finished the painting. 


Frank Williams furthered this process by using a black background which the subject was filmed on and then increasingly high contrast negatives were copied until only the silhouette remained. This was known as the 'Travelling Matte'.



However the problem with this process was that in the black matte all the shadows would be lost. So in 1925 Dodge Dunning developed a process that delt with the issue, the 'Dunning Process' used coloured lights to identify  a subject from the background, creating separation. This is called the 'Blue Screen'.

This was however only used in black and white film as the lights had to be coloured yellow, and as more colour was coming into films a new technique took over. 

In 1940 Larry Butler created a process that allowed this, the 'Butler Process' used the subject shot against blue background, using Technicolor film. this needed an optical printer to remove the need of multiple exposure.  Shot using the three strip process the blue channel could be used to separate the subject from the background and to create a travelling matte for the background. 

This remained as the best compositing technique until the late 1950's when Petro Vlahos invented the 'Sodium Vapour Process'. This process allowed actors, standing in front of a white screen, to be lit normally while the screen was lit by powerful sodium vapour lights. As the lights emit a very specific wavelength, that averages out to 589.3 nm/s Valhos was able to design a special camera that could separate the sodium vapour lit background from the subject. A specially coated prism in a converted film camera split off the sodium light and captured it onto a black and white film while the normal light was captured to regular 3 strip film. 

However as only one camera was made and owned by disney it was rarely rented and when it was it wasn't cheap. Most compeines reverted to the Blue screen tecnique and Vlahos spent 6  months improving the blue screen process and developed it into the 'Colour Difference Matte Process'. This created a clean mask with minimal edge. This remaind the prime tecnique for over 40 years. It was hardly changed until digital compositing was created. As Green registers brighter on electronic displays, and it was a less common colour of clothing as well as being easier to light, it became more and more popular. Most digital camera sensors capture double the amount of green as they do blue or red, making green easier to key.

BAF: Brain Horton

Brain Horton (Senior Art Director of Crystal Dynamics) was here to discuss the making and re-imaginig of Lara Croft, he explained how the character had deteriorated over time and had not kept up with modern times and was being viewed as more of a video game sex symbol rather than an actual heroine, the choice they made to reinvent her came early, but it went down a few different paths such as survival horror, where Lara would face monsters, and how here character developed e.g. at one point they considered weather to have her with a child, another where she was accompanied by a orang-utan, all of which were interesting, however what I found most comforting was how they approached the re-design, they firstly picked an angle they liked, then an actress or character whom they might like her to be based on, and then to the costume designs, this I loved because its exactly what I do, I glad I am on the right path as I have been criticised for doing it in the past, and its great to hear that the industry is doing the same thing.

BAF: Team 17

Team 17 are a small games company famously responsible for the Worms Franchise, I was surprised how much small details they put into the 3D worms, even the tail is animated so it acts differently to each terrain and how the worms react to your actions, in the talk they explained what their aim is and how they try and improve each game, I also enjoyed how they talked about the menu, and what they did with theirs. I did however know quite alot about the making of worms anyway as I have a close friend working at Team 17 so much of the information wasn't new, but it has given me the idea to interview this friend to try and advance my knowledge in the Game industry, which I will do in due course.

BAF: Victor Antonov

Victor Antonov is the design director of Zenimax Media, and his talk focused on cities and environments as characters, and how important the space between spaces are, the negative space, and the origin of the future city and how everything was based on the same pioneers of this idea such as Hugh Ferris, who drew sketches in charcoal and rubber that inspired Judge Dredd, Gotham City and Blade Runner. his work on Dishonered is considered some of his best, he explained how a city should have a soul and a character, sometimes it may be the main character and its important it has the focus it deserves.

BAF: Futurlab

Futurlab are famous for their 2D game Velocity, and Futurlab members Callum Roberts, Chris Goff and Jack Hamilton were here to talk to us about the sequel, they took us through some amazing concept art and how they developed the characters and races, how they made the environments and characters co-exisit, making it obvious who belonged where, and how the environment had to express the personality traits, I found it amazing how much effort they put into the characters appearance reflect their personalties, but I was happy to see it as it is also what i like to do when creating my characters.  They also took us through the techniques they used to create two genres in the same 2D game.

BAF: Phil Gray

Phil Gray is the director of cut scenes and Tt games, famous for the Lego game series including Lego Lord of the Rings, Lego Star wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, Lego Harry Potter and Lego Batman, however I was most exited for this talk because I knew it was going to be focused on their new release Lego Marvel Superheroes, if you haven't guessed already I'm a huge Marvel fan, so this talk was expecially exiting for me, he showed us some footage from the game and explained the differences between converting an existing story (Potter, Indy, LOTR, Star Wars) into Lego and making a brand new one (Batman, Marvel) I was amazed at how much character and personality they had put into each of the 150 character in the game, each completely individual and unique, after hearing what Phil had to say I am even more exited for this release.

BAF: Warren Spector

Warren has worked on big tittles like Dues Ex but he talked to us mostly about 'Epic Mickey' and how honoured he was to bring back the character of Oswald, he also talked about how many different versions of Mickey mouse and how he has changed over the years, and how they came up with their own unique design for a 'Heroic' Mickey, he also explained how he thought more musical games should be created, what I found most interesting about this talk is the sheer amount of research they did into Mickey Mouse, and how accurate they needed to be to the original cartoons, how they mimicked the movements of Mickey to get their version just right.

BAF: Karl Abson

Here we learnt about the use of motion capture, especially the use of motion capture on animals, Karl took us through the stages of how to make this work and the safety hazards involved with working with animals, he taught us the stages of motion capture and that its very important to do your research on said animal, surprisingly the smallest animal to be motion captured is as small as a spider, which I found   incredible, we briefly had time for questions and unfortunately I didn't get a chance to ask mine, however I was interested how they would motion capture something like Rocket Racoon in the upcoming 'Guardians of the Galaxy' which is a racoon space alien which will be voiced by a human, would they motion capture a racoon or a human? or both?

BAF: Steve Lycett

our talk with Steve Lycett (executive producer of Sumo Digital) was intriguing.  He mostly talked of their first platfomer (Moshi Monsters: Katsuma Unleashed) and how they created the models and environments for the game, they discussed their choice in Gameplay, saying it had to be simple, fun, bright and engaging as it was aimed primarily for 10 year olds, although I admire the process and skill involved to make the game, it is not one that would interest me, Even if i was still 10 I fell they missed plenty of opportunity's, e.g they have a huge amount of very interesting characters and monsters, each being individual, and everyone may have their favourite (I know I would have) unfortunately only one is playable, I find this disappointing, with opportunity to create several characters, each with unique moves and powers I found it a lazy approach to just play as the one character. However what I found most interesting about the talk was there three year project: Sonic all stars racing transformed, each track has an amazing amount of detail in, things you would never notice has been focused on, and the animations as the vehicles transform from car to boat to jet are so smooth its truly beautifully done, so good in fact I may will buy the game myself, it has references to other sonic games and not only revives the franchise but improves it.

BAF: Mark Bithell

At the Bradford Animation Festival our first talk was with Mark Bithell, famous for his the indie game 'Thomas was alone' he mostly discussed his new project 'Volume' which is a modern take of Robin Hood, like me he said he is a huge fan of Tony Stark and said that was one of the reasons he made the character Alan-a-dale an AI, much like Jarvis. He explained as in all adaptions from tales, you simply take what is crucial and the parts you like, you have to make it your own or all interpretations would be the same, he took what was recently relevant from the myth in terms of the state of the government, and quoted Russell Brand's recent interview with Jeremy Paxman, saying the idea of over throwing the government and revolution is a heavy inspiration in the game, i found this highly relevant to my film as it is directly involved in what he is talking about (he even mentions Tony Stark, the lead character in my film.) and his disription of how he interprets a story is helpful for me in future projects.

Storyboards

I've created my storyboards here, I think I've done too much and my film will probably run over 60 seconds, however I plan to film everything at a length I am happy with, and then I will edit it down to the required amount, I plan to submit both films and clearly label which is which.

Mandarin Final Design

Although I will still attempt to make both costumes, I have decided that the film version will be more suitable, by decision is still subject to change but i feel it is not only better but more appropriate.

Final Design

This is my Final Design for Tony Stark, I think its worked pretty well and my next stage will be making the costume. As for Mandarin, my final design will depend on which costume i decide to go with after making both.

Mandarin Concept art

Here I have come up with various designs and then expanded on my favourite two, one based on the Mandarin from the comics, and one design based on the film, I have decided to make both of them and see which turns out better, I imagine the film based one will look better as it is designed for film rather than on paper.

Costume design development

this is my mixing and matching stage, all of them have at least one glove as my script demands it, as for the second hit that knocks down mandarin, it can be a foot, hand or chest shot, so its mostly up to design preference, at the moment I really like the one with a half arm and glove, the half arm and the half leg, and the one with the full arm and half leg, I'll decide soon as they need building, I do however already own half an arm, but they all contain at least that.

Stark Costume Designs

I have draw some costumes based on my earlier post researching Starks costumes throughout the Iron Man Movies, I also have my own Iron Man armour design although i doubt it will be fully used, now I have these my next stage will be deciding which parts of the armour to apply to my favourite costume here.

Hand designs

I've been designing some of my own Iron Man gauntlets in preparation for my film, I picked my favourite and did a turn around for it, I'll design the rest of the costume, then design my costume for the Mandarin and build the costumes after I have finalised my designs.

Things I need to collect/find/buy

Costume

• Tony Stark Costume
• Red goggles
• Mandarin costume
• Mandarins rings x10
• Blankets x2      

Props

• Blow torch­
•  Arc reactor
• Creates 
• Metallic parts
• Iron man suit (miniature, maya model) ?
• Iron Man arm
• Guns x2
•  Indian sword

Location

•  Warehouse
• Mansion
•  Laboratory
• Workshop
• VFX ?
•  Green Screen
• Studio theatre