Ok so we already uploaded this file to Facebook, however Mike commented that the eyes at the start of the animation were too stand out, and needed brought down in brightness.
We tried to lower this down but given the limited amount of time and different work flows in different team members we decided to work with what we could in After Effects. Below is the finalised version.
Lorna and I tag teamed with editing. Well I say tag teamed, I mean she did the editing and I helped with moral support and timings. Also I was the voice of questioning when mailing Conánn with problems.
We encountered some problems during editing, but were able to fix them quickly.
One of the comments made by Conánn and Alec was to make the eyes more prominent and have more movement when they search in the dark. It was suggested that this could be done in photoshop.
Originally we assigned the task to Jordan to complete, however due to irregularities in his files, it was decided that I just create them, to match how it was imagined.
I opened up some of my original research, looking into the opening credits from Trap Door (1984) and the eyes from Scooby Doo (1969-1970) and The Little Mermaid (1989).
Trap Door introduction. I really liked the addition of the squash and stretch to make it seem like the eyes were their own character. This wasn’t suitable to do in our own footage, however, it is something that could be experimented with after the deadline (?) with a simplified character.
The eyes from Scooby Doo. It will be interesting for me to experiment with the linage under the eyes. Our character doesn’t have lids to create this look but i wanted to try and (Vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net, 2016)
Although not strictly black and white, the personality of the eels is reflected well in their eyes.
I tried to imitate these styles to to play with the look. Although I love Scooby Doo style eyes
My Own Eyes
To keep the glasses shape consistent I used a screen shot of the character from the original model and then lassoed around the lens.
I cleaned it up, neatening the edges, keeping the each lens and each pupil on separate layers. This made it easier to position on the timeline. I tried to use Jordan’s original eye creations to make it easier to plot the movements.
References
Vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net. (2016). [online] Available at: http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/hanna-barbera/images/5/5c/NewScoobyDooMoviesEyes.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141103225708 [Accessed 9 May 2016].
To lead on from the execution scene, we decided to alter the character’s look to fit with this post electrocution look.
We only wanted to change a few elements though, due to limited time with editing and corrections so we agreed on the following;
The hair itself contains positively charged ions due to their amino acid structure. The electric current contains negatively charged ions, attracting the positive proteins in the hair, causing them to stand up. What I remembered quite vividly was that from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) when Marv is electrocuted.
Both the skeleton and hair principles combined. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). (YouTube, 2016).
Below is the hair I created, inspired by those I had looked into. Although our hair isn’t modelled in the same way as in our references (individual strands) I did my best to work with what I had and create this static look. Although, it was commented, she does look like Sonic the Hedgehog.
2. Burn/ singe marks on the skin
When looking into some cartoon references for this scene, we realised that the skin was normally ashened or had a smoke like look to the flesh.
After Pikatu has electrocuted Ash in an old episode of the show Pokemon. I liked the minimal marks shown on the character, however it was obvious they had been electrocuted. The smoke is definitely something we hope to do by the end of the project, in After Effects.
Below is the map I created for the character. I realised that after creating the lines on the face that the glasses cover a significant area.
3. Smoke from the head
Another thing we wanted to include was the use of smoke appearing above the head after our character is electrocuted, as if she is still smouldering. Lorna has informed me this is something that can be done in post production in After Effects. The best example I could find of this to shown Lorna how it would be styled was the old Road Runner (1931) cartoons. Wile E. Coyote often is blown up in his many attempts to catch the Road Runner.
I forgot how good old school cartoon violence is. (YouTube, 2016).
Update 08/05/16– we decided to leave out the skeleton in the arm during editing as we realised that it was too much when we added the electric jolts through the arm itself. I think Lorna did a great job in creating this look, given that it was hard to outline the arm, as it was not rendered on a separate pass.
References
YouTube. (2016). Wile E. Coyote: 80 explosions in 11 minutes. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R66Fvhx0vQ [Accessed 9 May 2016].
YouTube. (2016). Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (4/5) Movie CLIP – Marv Gets Electrocuted, Harry Blows Up (1992) HD. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTPq0mNS0-0 [Accessed 9 May 2016].
This sums up the current feeling in our team. (Imgur, 2016).
I swear rendering hates us. When we rendered the final take for scene one (the intro pan) the camera had key framed in random places.
We literally had play blasted the scene right before rendering- I have no idea. It was an easy fix though and thankfully more computers had become available for rendering- so instead of 8 hours of rendering on one, it was split by 5 computers.
Our acid tripped camera.
References
Imgur. (2016). This is fine. [online] Available at: http://i.imgur.com/c4jt321.png [Accessed 10 May 2016].
Going off of the feedback from our previous presentation, Conánn had said that a real old school comedic zap would look best- to emphasise she was getting shocked while unscrewing the bulb. We decided three things we wanted to include into the scene overall. On a more cinematic note- it kind of reminded me of the death by electric chair scenes from The Green Mile (1999).
A disturbing execution- death of Eduard Delacroix. The Green Mile (1999).
The death of the innocent. The Green Mile (1999).
Electroshock Therapy in the Simpson. (YouTube, 2016).
In this scene you can see the wavy like lines for the characters shape, expressing more movement than is just being done by the character.
Electrocution character test. (YouTube, 2016)
Although this character has more of a puppet feel and look to it, I think it shows the kind of uncontrollable movement that we can use in our own character.
2. The appearance of a skeleton
Ursula’s Death. (YouTube, 2016).
We would take the animation of the hand and have the skeleton follow the motion path and move accordingly, like in the scenes above. We would probably either have to black out the hand or darken it to create a similar look to that above.
3. Electrical current flowing through the hand (or some sort of lightning ‘zaps’ stemming from the hand down the arm .
Family Guy crow explosion. (YouTube, 2016).
This animation is a metaphor of how we all feel about the project now. Kind of.
Leon the Lion- Lightening Shock. (YouTube, 2016).
Thankfully, a lot, or nearly all, can be done in After Effects to cut on render time and messing about with unknown elements in Maya.
If you want to have a laugh while marking please watch this informative safety video. (YouTube, 2016).
References
YouTube. (2016). The Little Mermaid – Ursula’s Final Fight (1989). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o642qBLvfQM [Accessed 6 May 2016].
YouTube. (2016). The Simpsons S1E4 Shock Therapy. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP4INdt_-fk [Accessed 6 May 2016].
YouTube. (2016). Electric shock animation loop. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHYMv5TavqI [Accessed 6 May 2016].YouTube. (2016).
Cartoon Crow Electrocution. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPEBbsmNa0g [Accessed 6 May 2016].
YouTube. (2016). Leon The Lion-Electroshock. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5VyI9hdLjw [Accessed 6 May 2016].
YouTube. (2016). Electrical Work Safety Awareness Training. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhtQGQbuq6w [Accessed 10 May 2016].
We came to realise that any movie we looked into featured Stanley Kubrick, and we came to realise a lot of his devices used are replicated throughout all of his movies (see below for an example of the One- Point Perspective).
This documentary really helped introduce me to Kubrick’s work. (YouTube, 2016).
Another documentary I watched. (YouTube, 2016).
Cassie’s introduction to cinematography and what it actually implies really helped me in this module. Getting to understand the lighting and framing of shots is something I will have to work on and will be something I will one day, hopefully master, the more I appreciate it.
One Point Perspective
This technique is defined as “…a mathematical system for representing three-dimensional objects and space on a two-dimensional surface by means of intersecting lines that are drawn vertically and horizontally and that radiate from one point on a horizon line…” (Robinson, 2016). This complicated jargon literally means that the as objects get further away in a frame, they appear to get smaller, converging to a vanishing point on the horizon line. The method is usually implied when the camera is front on.
One point perspective can be seen in the image below- following a map. (Olejarz.com, 2016).
In Kubrick’s work, the symmetrical look to the frame can be taken in both a humorous
One Point Perspective- comparing all of Kuberick’s movies. (Vimeo, 2012).
When considering the pan, as suggested from our feedback on animatic 2, we realised that we have two different options.
Either have the camera run between the two rows of beds, as if a person is walking between them or having a camera run at an angle from the wall. Kubrick’s OPP applies in both of these. Below is the test pan that we included in our animation. We went with it, despite having doubts. The pan is quite hard to capture a lot of movement, as the character is not the main focus as the camera is still moving. I found that the camera and motion need to be in the same direction of the movement.
For this scene we had tried looked into the bed scenes in Full Metal Jacket (1987).
This is my Rifle. (Full Metal Jacket).
One point perspective is obvious in many of the marching scenes. (Full Metal Jacket).
Our original pan.
One point perspective -in the scene. I think for this to work well the camera needs to be lower to the ground.
Zooms
Kurbick’s use of zooms is evident in many of his movies, however the Shining and Full Metal Jacket are the ones that have had the most cinematic success and appreciation. In Full Metal Jacketv the zooms are used often to show the characters reaction to a scene before conveying what is actually going on around them. For example, the trench scene shows the face of PVT. Joker Davis, his horror evident. It then zooms out to show the trenches, filled with the dead bodies of the women covered in white powder.
In The Shining, however, these zooms are used to give a griping sense of claustrophobia to the setting. This camera movement, at quite a slow pace, is not one you would see in horror movies, Kubrick, however, pulls it off- giving a chilling sense as if someone is watching the character.
The zooms in Full Heavy Metal jacket (please mute the song is rather painful). (YouTube, 2016).
Zooms in the Shining. (Vimeo, 2012).
Our original zoom out for the final scene. Mike had told use that it wasn’t necessary so we removed it.
We had tried to replicate the style of camera zoom Kubrick uses in Heavy Metal Jacket, to show the character’s reaction before zooming out and showing the carnage of the room around them.
This was the final camera movement for the scene, once we applied Mike’s critic.
References
Vimeo. (2012). Kubrick // One-Point Perspective. [online] Available at: https://vimeo.com/48425421 [Accessed 3 May 2016].
Robinson, A. (2016). One Point Perspective Drawing: The Ultimate Guide. [online] Student Art Guide. Available at: http://www.studentartguide.com/articles/one-point-perspective-drawing [Accessed 3 May 2016].
YouTube. (2016). The Art of Stanley Kubrick. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6BjgA37qyI [Accessed 3 May 2016].
Olejarz.com. (2016). [online] Available at: http://www.olejarz.com/arted/perspective/images/intro.gif [Accessed 3 May 2016].
Vimeo. (2012). The Shining – Zooms. [online] Available at: https://vimeo.com/38828455 [Accessed 10 May 2016].
YouTube. (2016). Kubrick Zooms; Full Metal Jacket. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUsfzzqU7Us [Accessed 10 May 2016].
When looking at the pose for the getting caught scene, we looked into a lot of different movies and other advertisements for inspiration. As mentioned earlier, we were heavily inspired by Spaced (1999-2001) and Hot Fuzz (2007) for these elements.
Still from Spaced.
Still from Hot Fuzz.
Golem/ Sméagol
Golem played a huge inspiration from the start, ever since Cassie drew the below frame in her book.
Golem inspired drawings by Cassie.
We looked into a lot of the posing of Golem/ Sméagol in the Lord of the Rings movies.
From the innocent look of Sméagol to the more sinister of Golem, there is a great variety in poses from this character. Walking on all fours, Golem is the breakdown of a once human character to that obsessed by the Ring. It was revealed that this character was influenced entirely by addiction, he is a symbol of man, corrupted by greed and self entitlement. We thought this was very relevant to our own character- her persistent nature to get this ‘necessity’ of the lightbulb, which proves to be her later downfall.
Horror Movie Posters
We looked into a lot of old school horror movie posters as many of these showed the character but in full body pose, to give the audience an idea of what they were in for. Nothing was really hidden or kept as unseen- they needed to entice audiences to this new genre of movie, the title ‘Horror’ not being made official until the 1930s. Universal Pictures (known as Universal Studios nowadays) was the forefront in horror movies, their first highly acclaimed movie being s Dracula (1931), directed by Tod Browning. James Whale then followed with Frankenstein (1931) with the help of Boris Karloff. Karl Freund followed with The Mummy (1932), then James Whale with the Invisible Man (1933), Stuart Walker’s Werewolf in London (1935) and Hambert Hillyer’s Dracula’s Daughter (1936). Information acquired here.
Movie posters were a huge part of advertising around this time as many people did not own a television. Any advertising they saw would have been public- on bus shelters, plastered on walls. In the 1930s, Posters tended to favour bold fonts, with large images of the main character’s face placed over scenes from the movie (see the Frankenstein poster below). In the 1940s, however, posters had less of the scene depiction and the typography was less harsh, not as garish as the previous years.
We noted a lot of the posing of the characters in these posters had extended limbs, their wide stretch fingers/hand giving the true intention and manic behind their mind set. We decided to play with this in our own work- as shown when we took the photos.
Frankenstein (1931).
The Wolf Man (1941).
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).
Frankenstein (1943).
Dracula (1931).
I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958).
Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954).
Another of the critics that Mike pointed out was that our theory for the lighting didn’t carry consistently throughout the scene. He said that as the character touches the bed, it too should light up. When Cassie met with Conánn to discuss a few things he mentioned that the imprint of her arms/ legs should light up as she travels across the bed. He also suggested that this could be done out of Maya and in photoshop, however, we wanted to do a few tests before setting anything in stone.
Cassie realised that this look was very similar to a thermochromatic table that she had seen online. Instead of handprints in ours, however, we wanted to show the indents created in the bed as the character moved along.
The table lights up as the heat marks come into contact with it. (Ticatoca.com, 2016).
The effect I was experimenting with remind me of the Pin Point toys that exist (below). Although they aren’t that popular in the UK, I have found memories of these in America.
The impression of the character. (YouTube, 2016)
References
Ticatoca.com. (2016). [online] Available at: http://www.ticatoca.com/products/little_little_longer_gift.jpg [Accessed 2 May 2016].
YouTube. (2016). Pin Point Impression Flip Pinhead 3D Images Frame. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCHgb1gkWqk [Accessed 2 May 2016].
dabbling.in.ideation 
