Digital Films Week9:Green Screen

Here are a couple of images of Mark within the green screen setup to which was then taken into After Affects to be removed and use the live action from the footage to be used with my sketched background.

Using after affects was great to get rid of the green screen and manipulate the final footage within the artwork and at the start of using the After Affects software was a bit challenging however because i had many green screen footage's to edit i was able to become accustomed to how it works.

Digital Films Week9:Creature Interaction

Carrying on with the extra time available from not filming this week i was able to get a design done for my creature and was able to do a couple seconds of movement which will be considered as interaction once i put the animation with the footage.

Again i had chosen to do a basic creature because i didn't want to have to waste alot of time having to do frame by frame of detail and with that in mind i went for a fairly smooth shape for the body with limbs like Rayman.



The reason why i chose the rayman style body is because again a simplistic creature would save time in devvelopment and i always liked the basic view of Rayman and how his limbs look separate but move with the body.

However i didn't know whether i wante dto do the body moves, limbs move like Rayman so instead i went for limbs can move with the body as it's walking but if the whole of the body is moving up and down slightly, then the limbs won't be moving as the body does.

After having my creature set to animate i started with the basic movement of hands towards my live action clip and this is just the part of the creature as it would look interacting with the live action clip and so i have created around about 2 seconds of one sene where the creature is breathing and the next couple of seconds where the creature is interacting aka moving its hand towards, what will be the live action clip of Mark:

Digital Films Week9:Flying Creature

Myself, Mark, Chris and John planned to use the theatre hall to do our filming and Mark had been able to book the studio theatre but was only available to book it for 6:30pm-9:00pm and that wouldn't have given us enough time to do our filming as well as having no equipment available to be used, Mark had tried to book all of these a week in advance but the equipment had already been taken out.

So this week Mark and myself had been able to book the studio theatre and equipment out for next week to film in a full day which would allows us two weeks for editting and so with this week being available i continued with my development of sketches and animations. I was able to create my flying creature which will catch teh attention of my actor to make him turn to see a doorway.

After completing my flying creature design, i had chosento do a basic design allowing me to save time on doing detail after detail within each frame and so what i have created is basically a 24 frames per second of my flying creature flapping its wings for 1 second and using that 1 second of film i will duplicate it to make a continous film of a flying creature. Here is my 1 second flying creature:

Digital Films Week8:Archway Scene

I had started to sketch my archway hands on using photoshop when i looked at what i had done so far and noticed that i had different view points and the sketches didn't match up and so i was advised to try creating a 3D model of an archway to which i could use as a rough point for sketching.








After successfll creating a 3D moel of an archway i took a scrrenshot of the view i wouldn't to start from and transferred the image into photoshop to start my archway and I was able to see a vast improvement on the perspective and see how much tidier the sketch looks.









Using the mountains image i had previously created used it as a background image behing the archways.













As you can see on the left i went bck into maya and took another screenshot from my 3D model but at a different angle.









From that base i was able to add my sketch of the archway and the mountains.

Digital Films Week8:Background Mountains Sketches

Below are just two of the mountain background, which will be used in my film and from these two images i have tried to create different variations of the mountains combining parts of both of the sketches.











And below are the variation of background images that i will be using throughout the film:

Digital Films Week8:Visuals

I came up with having a basic background for my scenery as i started to look at different types of mountains because i wanted a mountain background to show a wasteland of hills and which wouldn't have any inhabitants.







Another image i want to use as a piece ofmy background as it shows the basic formation of earth and shows no sign of any life.










Then i started to look at the different ways of showing my archway and the different formations of the arches and found this visully stunning view from Assasins Creed II concept art and found having archways in the dark could hide any fine details.


Looking through fantasyartdesign.com i found this image which is similar to one of my scenes and shows a perspective of my walkthrough archway could be percieved.








Another archway which i saw as a stand out image is this one which is from the same site as mentioned and with this image, it wasn't the perspective but the arches that stood out because they have fine detail and how they are all linked, which shows a different view of archways.










Here is a image of a small pillar which i saw that stood out with it's pattern and how the figures and intwined with one another.

Digital Films Week7:Research

I have been looking at various videos to which have similar style of visuals to what i am hoping to achieve and have come across the main video that comes to mind which is the A-HA, Take On Me video:


The reason why i have chosen this particular video is because its black and white animation/sketches have fused really well with the live action scenes within the video particularly in the 1:43 time frame where you have a sketched woman viewing a live action male and from that perspective the camera turns to the view of the male as he turns to sketch and the woman cuts from sketched to live action and that transition stands out as it has both elements in use.

Scene starts at 3:36:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRes1xa9iZI&feature=related
The Pagemaster which is another live action to animation film which is one that stands out in my mind because the scene of th eboy going into the book really captures how many readers are made to feel like they are part of the stories they are reading.

Also there are the colourful animated/live action videos such as Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, James and the Giant Peach to name a few and those are the types of films that stand out due to involvement of bothe live action and animation.

Digital Films Week7:1 Minute Basic Shot by Shot Scenes

The images on the left are basic shot by shot of my 1 minute film in which i have broken down the scenes into 6 parts. With the shot by shot established i will be able to set up my viewpoints for filming.

What i am going for as a final film is to have a live action starting to which will descend into a sketched background and then have a few animations to which would interact with the actor and finish off with a, What happened to the guy? question. Having basic animation was needed as i didn't want to have to spend a lot of time doing frame by frame of detailed images as well as something basic can be remembered by people.

Spartacus Blood and Sand Prequel

Spartacus Prequel to Start Shooting this Summer

Pre-production is underway on a six-part prequel to Starz' hit original series "Spartacus: Blood and Sand."

Andy Whitfield, who played the title character in the series, will appear in the prequel briefly, but Lucy Lawless and John Hannah take center stage in this story of the rise of the House of Batiatus and its champions before Spartacus arrives as a captured Thracian slave. With the title still to be determined, the prequel will begin production this summer in New Zealand, and is slated to air on Starz in January 2011.

John Hannah returns as Batiatus, owner of the Ludus, along with his wife Lucretia, played by Lucy Lawless. Other returning actors include Peter Mensah (Doctore), Manu Bennett (Crixus), Antonio Te Maioha (Barca), Nick E. Tarabay (Ashur), Lesley-Ann Brandt (Naevia) – and others. New characters will also be added – most notably the gladiator who was champion of the House of Batiatus before Spartacus or even Crixus – who will help fill in the story about the people and politics in the House of Batiatus and ancient Capua as a whole.

Production on the second season of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" was postponed this spring to allow Andy Whitfield to be treated for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in New Zealand. His doctors indicate that the actor is responding well.

"The prequel story maintains the excitement and entertainment value of the first season of 'Spartacus,' giving audiences the engaging experience they've come to expect," said Starz President and CEO Chris Albrecht. "We look forward to continuing the Spartacus story."

Produced by Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi, Joshua Donen and Steven S. DeKnight, "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" was the highest rated show for the 18-49 demographic among all cable networks for 12 of the 13 Fridays on which it aired based on coverage rating.* The production team remains intact for the six-part prequel.

Digital Films Week6:1 Minute Film Plan

Scene 1 begins with the main character looking through a book until he is transported into book, to which he then would be looking around to see where he is.

Scene 2 carries on with the previous scene to the point where the character starts to travel through the place he was transported into.

Scene 3 all of a sudden he stops to notice a person or thing in front of him but doesn’t looks threatening and starts to interact with it. Example, hand-to-hand

Scene 4 as the interaction continues, a creature just flies past and the character follows the creature through watching it.

Scene 5 character stops following the creature to find a door and goes towards it and opens it to see himself just a couple of seconds ago where he is looking/reading the book and was transported.

Scene 6 back to the book view where another character comes to look at book but instead closes it and walks away with it.

Digital Films Week6:Film is Complete!

Here is the finished film which came out better than expected:

Digital Films Week5:Fly or No Fly!

In this shot we had talked to each other in how we should have the fly be represented visually or with sound, eventually coming up with havng sound as visuals would take time off what actually needed to be done, the editing.

Another representation was to have a fly eye view, where the camera wouldfcus into the flys vision of the environment and we found that using the insect eye view via Final Cut Pro we were able have sound and visuals as the fly without actually seeing it.

As you can see in this screenshot the whole usage of Final Cut Pro was new to me as i had never used an advanced piece of software to edit a video and the amount of functions to edit a clip.

However using it was good skills as it wasn't as difficult as it looked to use and as mentioned before we were ble to use some of the effects that were availible by Final Cut Pro into our film.

Digital Films Week5:Film Flaws

Whilst finalizing our storyboards and shot sequences i hadn't thought of how to get an inside microwave view, as this flaw arrived during filming.

However thinking on the spot Mark had come up with a great idea in which we film through one side of the door and have the spotlight as the microwave light and using white card or paper as the inside side parts of a microwave.






Another flaw had been something which Mark had spoken to me about and that was continous shots as shown in the left image that this was the start of the continous shot which had been flawed because of Tom having his left hand away from the food in the previous shot where as he is touching it in this shot.

Overcoming this obstacle was to have the start of the previous shot finish as if Tom's hand was touching te food to give it a continous shot at the start of this one.

Piranha Trailer

I didn't expect this to be a good trailer of a movie which didn't seem interesting but i was proven wrong and it looks really good:

Spartacus Blood and Sand:Behind the Scenes

After finish watching the Spartacus Blood and Sand show last night i couldn't believe how great a show had an affect on me and found thsvideo of behind the scenes which got me thinkingof how itcould help witht the prduction of my film.

Contextual and Theoretical Studies Week 11:Identify an Artifact-use 3 Academic Texts

Again specific to your essay subject identify one particular relevant artefact, this could be an image, a video game and animation, an advert a film etc, and identify and summarise 3 texts that extend your understanding of this artefact, the texts must be academic and you must demonstrate how the texts help you to further analyse the work i.e. what positions are the texts taking on the work, where are they saying things the same and where are they differing? Why might this be?

The artefact I have chosen is the video game known as Prince of Persia-

My first piece of text is:

‘In 3D modelling it is essential to have a good understanding of 3D space and the ways in which it is represented in two dimensions. It is important to develop a good spatial sense, and the terminology of 3D must be learned and understood.’

This text helped to analyse the artefact much better as it is written to tell the creator that in order to get the better creation of a 3D model is to envision how it will be perceived through a two dimensional view and that that is the way to understand the basic ideas of 3D within gaming. This piece of text showed me that creating a 3D model for a game is only well received by the viewer if the areas that are visible to the viewer are shown with perfection, so focusing on a singular part of armour of the character wouldn’t help with the overall product.

The second text I have found is:

‘A large part of a game artist’s job involves the creation and application of textures. Textures are digital images applied to 3D surfaces to give them the appearance of different materials such as brick, wood, or fabric.’

The position that the text is taking upon the artefact is that it shows the stage behind the production in which textures play a huge role in how good and realistic a character, building or other objects are, as the texture of the game helped me understand that if it was a character model running or moving around it would seem boring but enhancing the product with visual approvals and allow the gamer to acknowledge the difference of a character to another.

The third and final text is:

‘How many polygons are there in a low poly model?,,, It also depends on the intended use for the model-one that will appear in numbers (such as a wall lamp) will need to be very low in polygons, while a set piece model, one intended to be the showpiece or visual highlight of a level or map, may be very high in polygons compared to the average model for a given game or game engine. ’

The final text that I have chosen is one which I feel helps unveil the method of creating the objects and characters within games and that was told to me by reading that characters are made up of polygon shapes which are moulded to form the characters. But not only of how they are created but how they are used because in the text it is told that depending on what the hardware the polygons are used upon for example if they are used for a army battle where there are multiple fights going on then the amount of polygons would need to be high in the game model.

Final analysis:

Each text has developed an understanding of the game in its production stages as each text unveils how the game model such as characters are only modelled with detail depending on what is seen, textures play a vital role in distancing certain objects from another and a poly model is what actually makes up a variety of objects within a game.

The texts are saying some similar things such as how their subject is what makes up a game but what differentiates them from each other is that 3D modelling understands what is meant to be shown, where as textures are helping to establish the detail to give it more of a realistic look and that polygons are helping the game to accomplish multiple battles or making up the 3D models and objects for the textures.

This is because with each having their own unique specialty, which helps to create a game which focuses on upgrading the detail and look of a game because of looking at ideas in a different way to create something which is unexpected.

Contextual and Theoretical Studies Week 10:Choose 4 Academic Texts

In relation to your chosen essay subject for your portfolio, and completed on your own blogs, a summary and evaluation of 4 texts that relate to your chosen subject, these must be academic texts.

First Piece of academic text supporting my essay is:
‘Game characters will become increasingly important, not just as Distant Digital Actors but as new social circles. After all, many players now spend more time with them than with their real friends or family. The best of these new companions will be more than just painted polygons: instead they will have motives, emotions, fears and desires-personalities that make you car.’

From this text I believe that this short introduction into gaming characters explains that characters within games have become or will become so advanced with tweaks or reality, that users would rather spend time with virtual characters than actual friends.

Academic Text from ‘The Art of Gaming Characters’

Second Piece of academic text:
‘...technology will contribute to the demise of hyperrealism...We will simply switch off when confronted with hyper real corpses trying to convince us they are human and all the time our unconscious and conscious will scream out, “No you are not!”’

This text describes that with so much of technology advancing the reality within gaming and how realistic is better gaming, that with the consistent sense of reality getting to gamers as it will be hard to depict what is real and what isn’t. Anger towards manufacturers would arise because having the game become so realistic that people are involving themselves with virtual life rather than reality itself.

Academic Text from ‘The Art of Gaming Characters’

The third piece of academic test is:
‘Graphics are the most elemental form of storytelling...We are taught at a very young age, through Saturday morning cartoons and programmes such as Sesame Street, to relate more to visuals in motion, because they are convenient, easy to remember-and instinctual’
This next text I have chosen describes in my view that motion graphics are vital within any form of media, as we grew up with maturing forms of entertainment, which helped us to know the differences of for example games which are different in view to reality and helping us depict real and unreal.

Academic Text from ‘Motion by Design’

My fourth and final academic text is:
‘..Unedited motion and capture techniques generally look like puppets or store mannequins that have come to life. ... Human behaviour is often lost when a computer artist tries to emulate them. ...When animators exaggerate the movements and expressions of their characters, they appear more lifelike and realistic.’

Within 3D human modelling and animation the computer artist has a goal in which he/she has to create a more human motion or more of an in depth or reality within his/her characters and that the more exaggeration gone into the movement of the models the more realistic the experience.

Academic Text from ‘3D Human Modelling and Animation-Second Edition’

Contextual and Theoretical Studies Week 9:Summary of Lectures

You all need to make sure you have lecture notes for each subject covered, if you were away for that session or for some reason you don't have notes then you will need to pursue that subject on your own and reflect your research in the portfolio. Notes from lectures should be supported by further study outside of the classroom-this could be; notes from further reading and reflection on this, a critical evaluation of an exhibition or event that relates to the lecture subject area, a critical evaluation of images, films, games etc that relate to the subject area or all of these things
4th Nov
Module briefing and introductions-task set for online blog
This session will introduce you to the themes of the module and the process and requirements for assessment. We will be doing seminar work via blog and e-learning environments so there will be an introduction to this process and a task set to be addressed before the next session.

11th Nov
Visit to animation festival –no contextual studies session

18th Nov
The Animate and the Inanimate: Part 1
Ideas of the Uncanny and the compulsion to make the still move and the silent speak
Over two sessions we will explore the concept of the uncanny as it is understood in relation to the ideas of the animated form. Stemming from psychologist Sigmund Freud’s definition of the uncanny as the familiar made strange and for him finding one of its key manifestations in the inanimate made animate, we will address both its history and evolution and its implication for reading and interpreting the animated form

Summary: The uncanny stated in this first session of teaching is that objects that have no self-motion but are moving are uncanny, in the sense that a simple object that you wouldn’t see moving but then is shown moving creates an uncomfortable feeling as we wouldn’t have expected it to be living or have human traits. An example of this is if someone picked up an orange and made it a living thing by moving it around and acting real would make it uncanny.

25th Nov
The Animate and the Inanimate: Part 2
Continuing with the Uncanny, we will apply our understanding of the uncanny to a range of outputs including the films such as those of the Quay Brothers considering how the development in genre and technique from that of stop motion to the digital disrupts the idea of the Uncanny.

Summary: In the next session of The Uncanny there are effects of The Uncanny within medias such as in film where houses come alive, robots are human like and from that I researched into this and found that in terms of film, the ‘Monster House’ animated film has the uncanny because the characters are modelled to utmost detail of a human creating an uncanny moment where reality is being played through virtual means. Going back to the ‘Monster House’ character of the film, the uncanny is that the house has been created with human characteristics such as the windows as eyes, the chandelier in the hallway as the uvula and little traits resembling humans.

2nd Dec
Radical Typography
Cut and paste, DIY and sheer necessity created the distinctive look of the punk graphics of the 1970s. This session looks at how the graphics of a period are determined by the social and political disruptions of their times and how they can provide a key route into to the understanding of period. This can be as radical as asserting ‘appearance’ over legibility in a desire to establish a ‘radical typography’.

Summary: In this session we discussed how the Punk era in the 70’s had affected many forms of media as well a society and because of the Punk era’s stand out and be heard attitude created controversy and art as the simplistic yet meaningful cover art and lyrics of the rock groups. From the punk grew a whole new genre of music, art and society as it was a outspoken, be heard time yet created a whole admired genre because of the political time.

9th Dec
Don’t Look Now! Truth, fiction and the art of story-telling
This session will explore the slippery nature of truth and fiction in contemporary visual story-telling. We frequently have to look again to understand the ‘truth’ of an image and are constantly left with images that are open ended and unresolved in terms of narrative closure. In this context how is meaning established within contemporary narrative? We will address this concern by thinking about the new position the viewer is now placed in relation to the image via ideas of theorist Roland Barthes essay Death of the Author.

Summary: This session we looked at the different ways of narrating a storyline to the audience and there were ways such as a characters point of view as it is in the comedy series ‘Scrubs’ where the main character is narrating his thoughts to the audience and thus giving more depth to a simple storyline. Another way is one which I had researched into and found the episode of ‘The Simpsons’ where each of the main characters had told their own individual part of the main storyline, giving their view and route to the conclusion.

16th Dec
Entering the Hyper-real –Planet Baudrillard
The Hyper-real places us in virtual world where ‘reality’ is out of reach.
Constantly receding from the grounded object in real space the hyper-real takes us to a world of sign and image, flatness and surface, reflection and copy. What are the rules of existence in such an environment? We will explore this universe and its rules through the ideas of sociologist Jean Baudrillard.

Summary: This session was interesting yet complicated at the same time however I was able to find out what the hyperreal is and found that Jean Baudillard had started to speculate that with virtual forms becoming realistic with each new form of technology that because of the realistic similarities that the virtual world is reality and we are the virtual population and because of that it is hard to work out which is reality to fantasy.

CHRISTMAS BREAK

13th Jan
Reading Film and Video Part 1:
Genre
This session will look at the idea of genre in film and video. How do we identify particular styles of film and how does that style work with ideas of narrative, period and social context? Increasingly in films such as Pulp Fiction there is a collaging of a range of genres into one film, this is typical of Post-Modernism and we will be looking at the way such approaches to describing the world around us provide a commentary or window on the world to contemporary life.

Summary: This session we were looking at the different types of genre that clarify and reveal what category films are stated in and from those categories films are able to be acknowledged and unveiled for what they are created for and with the range of genres that are available many films are starting to use a range of genres to expose their film.
With the range of genres being used in one film that particular film can use that specific genre to allow the audience to view the world and its history, for instance if a sci-fi film was stated as a sci-fi film which went back in time to the western era you would be able to show the audience the different contrasts of human life now compared to back n the western time.

20th Jan
Reading Film and Video Part 2:
the place of the spectator
Increasingly the viewer in film and video is subsumed within the work in some way rather that being a passive observer. This is done in a range of ways, through technical manipulation, narrative structure, interactive engagement. This session will look how the relationship of audience to film/video is the final is the final point of understanding. We will be exploring its historical development through ideas such as Laura Mulvey’s theory of the gaze.

Summary: Within this session there was a lot of uncertainty of what it was about but as I gradually started to research into it, I found that within films there is ways in which the audience is captured in the storyline such as the audience knowing part of the storyline where the main characters don’t or trying to use as stated in the theory of the gaze that women within film are objectified through means of objects as women are shown as the frail and weak due to their appearances and men are shown as the strong, heroic half through their appearance.

27th Jan
No Boundaries! The Global and the Local.
From ideas of the hyper-real to the concept of the cyborg the idea of boundary is constantly shifting within digital culture. This is most pressingly and currently felt in the shifts between the global and the local. The space of the Internet collapses notions of distance and proximity, space and place, journey and arrival. This has a huge impact on our sense of self in relation to place and regional identity. This session will consider how re-drawing the boundary has implications for the way that we structure our world.

Summary: With this session I hardly remember what it was about but what I can remember is that it may have be about the fact that within our world we have certain boundaries such as what we are limited to do but within the spaces of the internet the boundaries are put forward from ourselves on what we want to do on the internet. That locally we have boundaries set to keep order within that area and which might differ from the boundaries of a global region and if we begin to re-draft those boundaries put in front of us could cause chaos and confusion in the structure of the world.

3rd Feb
Where do I begin and end? Identity and the cyber real
This session will explore the increasing possibilities of the interface between the human and the machine. The android or robot has long had its place within science-fiction narrative and film, such as Blade Runner and The Matrix, but in reality what would such interfaces imply for ideas of embodiment, gender, identity, the very notion of the human?

Summary: Within this session the belief that robots in reality would be simply to make life easier however if life was easy it wouldn’t be exciting and worth learning from and with androids or robots in reality would cause rights and rules within the different genders of human and robots. Interfaces between the robots would seem like the humans would at first be thankful that they won’t have to lift a finger, to the point where life would become too complacent and planned and cause friction to end the robots. The very existence of robots within reality would seem like there would be no purpose for the human race and would end up having lost their identity and what shows the type of person he or she is.

10th Feb
Hacking-a new form of resistance
The role of the hacker has been a persistent image of resistance or subversion in popular culture from established TV series such as Morse or Primeval to major Hollywood films such as Wargames. As the computer has become more ubiquitous the idea of the hacker has transformed from one of geek to hero. This session will explore the phenomenon of the hacker as an act of resistence.

Summary: Hackers have been the quiet people who try to break free from the rules and regulations of the world and from their persistent rule breaks they have become somewhat of heroes due to there resistence and from the idea of the hackers being evil and trying to ruin things was gradually changed to doing what the millions of people wanted to do and that is to screw up the rules. The image of hackers were seen as a break out from the societies that kept them quiet and in place and were shown through the means of film to execute the affect of what hackers are capable of doing and can affect the world.

Digital Films Week4:Tape Sheet from filming

As we had finised filming i wanted to post the image of the tape sheet we used and found it intereting that we had to log our shots and scenes that were filmed, as this would help to look for the shots we have taken.

Digital Films Week4:Hazards and Risk Asessments

The image on the left is of the Hazard cheklist sheet in which we had to fill out or tick which could be a hazard during our filming. Fortunatley for our sake there were no big hazard to be careful of and insteazd were able film with no caution.

The next image on the left is the Risk Asessment sheet which had to be filled out to begin our filming and so we filled it out showing some risks that we could see and how to handle the situation if it arose.