Showcase Presentation - Peter McVerry Project

Showcase Presentation - Peter McVerry Project

A represnetive from the Trust had come in to see our process and also to see if anything needed to be changed from the original. I prepared a showcase of the assets we had currently made, though they had not be composited together just yet. Aishling, the representative, like what we had done so far, however she encouraged us to add additional animations on the rightside of the house and to maybe also add an opening as the animation began to suddenly.

 (A showcase of the current assets.)

December Animatic Presentation

Animatic Presentation

Having taken the advice give to me during the last presentation, I changed various parts of the story to allow it to flow easier. The key difference was the opening, where the mother is calling up the babysitting helpline and grows annoyed with her child. The original saw the child throw it's pacifier at the mother, blinding her and causing her to press the wrong button. One opening that was suggested was the mother holds the child and he vomits on her, causing her to follow the same course of action and would jump straight to the zombie entering as the mother hand him the child and rushes out the door still covered in the vomit. Though it is funny, this  scene would have simply thrown off the pacing of the rest of the animation. However, I did change the scene so that the mother is in the kitchen as the child cries at the table, not wanting to eat his dinner. The child throws the hot food at the mother and thus burns her, making her unable to see.

Character design references;

The character design for the zombie changed numerous times, going from a traditional ghoul-like creature to overly bizarre creatures such as a monster with just a mouth.

(Early concept art of the zombie.)

I started to look at the work of Jamie Hewlett, a comic artist known for Tank Girl and his part in creating the fictional characters for the Gorillaz, designs that I looked into.

(Images done by Jamie Hewlett, characters of the Gorilliaz.)

The characters that embody the real-life members of the band have an angular style, similar to the style i wish to develop in my own animation. The characters resemble rather ghoulish creatures in their design that I wanted to try.

(The most recent designs for the zombie)

Background References

(Taken from Pinterest; an early reference for the house)

(References for the bedroom environment)

(Reference for the kitchen layout; I may incorporate a change in composition similar to the bottom one)

Text Style Tests - Peter McVerry Project

Text Style Tests - Peter McVerry Project

In Adobe Affects, I started by testing the text animation where I physically drew it with the pen tools, adding the texture over it and alpha-channeling so it appeared within the writing. After that I tested the animation with pre-generated text, applying the texture the same way and testing out the trucking animation tools.

Text Style Reference - Peter McVerry Project

Text Style Reference - Peter McVerry Project

My part in the actual animation of the project was to design and animate the text that would be used in the final piece. I wanted something simple in design so as not to take away from the visual animation; text that would be easy to read in the short amount of time yet still be part of the animation style. I looked into 3D styles of text but ultimately stuck to the flat, cartoon-like text to once again follow the same style as the visual animation. 

Visual Reference; Wreck-It Ralph - Thesis

Wreck-It Ralph

In addition to my own animation, roughly titled 'Baby Troubles', I chose the 2012 computer-animated film Wreck-It Ralph from Walt Disney Animation Studios to use as an example as due to the similarities it held to my original animation in terms of the stages of the narrative method, the Hero's Journey.

Call to Adventure

For Ralph, his call to adventure comes from the loneliness he feels as he is often excluded from the activities the other residences of his game hold in honour for Felix, the 'good guy' of his game. Ralph is urged his call when he decides he want's to be a good guy.

Herald

The Herald for Ralph, the person who taunts him into going after a medal, us Gene, the hotel manager. He says if Ralph can find a Medal, he'll be allowed to stay in the penthouse.

Refusal of the Call

Ralph does not refuse his call, he gladly leaves his own game to search out the object of his desire, the Medal that he believes will make him appear to be a good guy, a hero.

Ordeal

After all his trails, after gaining allies and enemies and getting over many thresholds, Ralph is faced with his main Ordeal; destroy the cart he can Vanellope worked to create in return for his medal.

Visual Reference - Peter McVerry Project

Peter McVerry Group Project - Visual Reference 

I began researching continuous line effects to influence the creative process, looking at various ways to form the line, from intricate weaving patterns that overlap to a more simplistic style where the line does not touch at all. For colour palettes, I looked at mute tones for the background while the animation and text would be brighter, bolder, to stand out more.

Peter McVerry Trust Project Presentation

Peter McVerry Trust Project Presentation

Style

The animation will be a sequence of quick-moving scenarios that will mostly depict what the speaker is talking about.

BABA from joel kefali on Vimeo.

Concept Examples;

Continuous Line Animation Example;

Cut-Out like animation done in Adobe Aftereffects for greater flexibility in producing the animation. The animation will be have a continuous line format where the audience will follow the path around as it forms a house. The palette will be the blues and whites of the Peter McVerry Trust website to keep with the theme.

Examples of Houses in Continuous Line 

Theme;

The animation follows a 'path to security', highlighting the advantages the Trust has given this person to maintain a safe, secure existence; filled with with dignity and security.

Animatic 4

Animatic 4

The animatic done for the mid-point presentation on the 6th November, 2017.

In-depth Look of The Hero's Journey - Thesis

In-depth Look of The Hero's Journey

The Hero's Journey;

(The Path of the Hero's Journey; the quest is often shown as a circle, as it begins and ends in the same world, only the characters may be changed.)

The Hero's Journey is a narrative pattern seen in many stories and often adapted to visual media as a way of have characters and stories that the audience can relate to. In the Hero's Journey, there are twelve stages to this narrative that allow it to flow well;

The Ordinary World; the hero is seen in their everyday life.

The Call to Adventure; the initiating incident of the story.

Refusal of the Call; the hero experiences some hesitation to answer the call.

Meeting the Mentor; the hero gains the supplies, knowledge and confidence needed to commence the adventure.

Crossing the First Threshold; the hero commits wholeheartedly to the adventure.

Tests, Allies and Enemies; the hero explores the special world, faces trails and makes friends and enemies. 

Approach to the Innermost Cave; the hero nears the centre of the story.

The Ordeal; the hero faces the greatest challenge yet and experiences death and rebirth.

Reward; the hero experiences the consequences of surviving death.

The Road Back; the hero returns to the ordinary world or continues to an ultimate quest.

The Resurrection; the hero experiences the final moment of death and rebirth so they are pure when the re-enter the ordinary world.

Return with the Elixir; the hero returns with something to improve the ordinary world.

The Three Acts

The Hero's Journey is broken down into three acts, in which the sequence of events are laid out accordingly in how they effect the story and allow it to have a beginning, middle and end. The stages are set up in a way that the main character has a cause to undertaking this journey or quest; it allows a build up of tension at the middle stage and finally a gripping climax at the end.

(The Acts; The stages are often grouped together in order to build tension or further the story.)

The Archetypes

Archetypes are characteristics or qualities that can be seen in certain characters throughout a story. The are given to roles in order to further the narrative of a storyline or to develop a certain character's personality traits. Often times a character may display numerous Archetypes within them.

(The Core Archetypes; There are many different Archetypes seen in storytelling, the Archetypes are given many different names also, however there are often recurring ones.)

Zombie Character Concept - Major Film

Character Design

With the development of my story, I decided to go back and re design my zombie character fir the new story-line.

Group Project - New Idea Development

Peter McVerry Trust Idea

The new animation I had in mind for the Group animation would be a text-based animation, with imagery and maybe characters to go alongside it. The animation would be done in a cut-out style, where I hope it would be bright, colourful and an overall positive looking piece. I want the pacing of the animation to quick, but not so fast that it can't be understood, so I feel I may need to ignore some of the dialogue to focus on the more important aspects the original video.

Story Outline;

The animation opens with an arrow zigzagging it's way up to the top of the screen, as the works 'Safe Pass' appear on the trail it leaves behind. The arrow continues up and makes a sharp turn right as a set of workman's clothing drops onto it, seemingly amazed by it's own ability to move. Behind it, like a neon billboard, the words 'Work Clothes' flashes. The jumpsuit moves right, along the trail, where the arrow has dropped suddenly. The jumpsuit jumps off the edge, and as it disappears below the screen, books, pencils and other educational material bursts up like water splashed up onto the screen as he talks about getting into college. The camera jumps down to follow the jumpsuit, it has become like normal clothing stuck in the wind as it falls. In the background, various explosions and clustered shapes mimic the sense of chaos as the screen grows darker. The jumpsuit falls below the screen, just as several hands rise up with a burst of light, weaving around the screen. The jumpsuit is perched on the last hand to rise, looking confident as the scene ends.

Reference Material

https://vimeo.com/76827185

https://vimeo.com/42059246

https://vimeo.com/133356390

https://vimeo.com/67189243

B.A Animation - Thesis Topic

Thesis Topic

Narrative Style in Animation; Looking at The Hero's Journey

What I wish to research;

1. The Hero's Journey is a narrative pattern that appears in many forms of entertainment media; games, film, animation, etc. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as the Hero, an individual who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of themselves, or someone else.

2. Stages of Character Development; the Hero's Journey;

• Living fully in Identity
• Glimpsing, Longing or Destiny
• Moving towards Essence without leaving Identity
• Fully committed to Essence, but Growing Fear
• Living One's Truth, with everything to Lose.
• The journey is complete, destiny achieved

3. Character Arcs; The transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of the story, starting as one sort of character and gradually transforms into another in response to change or a key moment in the narrative,

4. Developing a character's story by creating a three-dimensional character

• A well-rounded character
• Three dimensions; Physical, Sociological and Psychological 

5. Character Archetypes in displayed in the Hero's Journey narrative, how these characteristics could be applied to my own characters and what problems come with it?

6. Comparing an example from modern animation with my own character from the animation short.

How this is related to my B.A Major Film;

My own animation short is one where I want to focus on character design and character animation. In creating characters, I find the process of developing intriguing characters an entertaining procedure, solving the problems that may arise during the process and the reward of a physically appealing character at the end is worth it. However, wanted to look at the narrative side of creating a character and from it, a story. The aspect of the narrative pattern of The Hero's Journey, is the path the character takes from his beginnings, going through trails and dangers at the centre of the story and reaching the end, where they gain and the glories or destiny they wanted from the start.  My own character, the zombie known as Creak, only has a minute and a half to get through his story, but I find that I can apply many of the stages of a Hero's Journey to his character arc, from his sudden impromptu desire to not want to die for real and the need to keep the child out of danger for his own safety.
 
Reference Material;

'Character Development and Storytelling for Games' by Lee Sheldon
'The Writer's Journey' by Christopher Vogler
'The Hero with a Thousand Faces' by Joseph Campbell
'A Practical Guide to The Hero with Thousand Faces' by Christopher Volger

Visual Reference Material;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngZQUebMSEg Pixar in a Box; Character Development 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvGcG4m9tgY Screenwriting; The Six Stages of Character Development - IFH Film School - The Hero's Journey

Wreak-It Ralph Produced by Walt Disney Animation Studio, directed by Rich Moore

Script Draft 4

‘BABY TROUBLES’ (WORKING TITLE)

DRAFT 4

FADE IN:

VFX. CAMERA PANS TOWARDS HOUSE.

EXT. FOREST, HOUSE ON A HILL - NIGHT

Camera pans over treeline to a rickety, two storey cabin perched on a shallow hill. The moon is high and a old car sits outside. The camera moves forward, towards upper window and passes through.

VFX/SFX. PAN THROUGH WINDOW, NIGHTTIME SOUNDS SHIFT TO LOW JAZZ MUSIC

CUT TO

:

Aerial shot of coffee table, a folder is placed on it that says ‘BABYSITTERS AT SCARILY CHEAP PRICES!’ in tacky writing. Passes on the bloodthirsty werewolf with high body count, the creepy religious vampire and the mad scientist that show him/her with various body parts, laughing madly. Stops on picture of zombie.

Profile shows CREAK, stands nervously while not looking at camera in ridiculous HAWAIIAN SHIRT. He has never eaten children and only wants a BIG, JUICY BRAIN as payment. Someone taps on the page and the sound of a phone being picked up.

CUT TO:

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

Opens to darkened hallway with cheap vibe, cracked photo frames and furniture that has been hastily repaired instead of replaced. On Mother as she opens the door. Creak stands outside. Creak reaches out slowly to shake her hand, however mother is in too much of a rush to notice. She simply pushes past him and out the door. Creak is left standing in HALL, still with his hand out. DOOR SLAMS SHUT behind him.

A BANG is heard upstairs, then shuffling across the floorboards before it stops. Creak startles at sudden noise, looks frantically about for source. He begins to PANIC and follows the sound, lumbered towards the stairs as fast as his legs can.

CUT TO:

SILHOUETTE of Creak fumbling up the stairs, falling once or twice.

CUT TO:

INT. TODDLER'S ROOM - NIGHT

Creak peeks into room, finds the crib empty. Creak begins to panic, looking frantically around the room for the baby. Finds the baby over among his toys, playing happily. Creak approaches with hunched back and waves awkwardly at child. Child simply stares at him as he gestures to the crib and motions a sleep hand gesture. The child blows bubbles at him and throws toy brick at him, knocking his eyes out.

By the time Creak puts eyes back in, baby is gone again and Creak freaks out. He finds the baby trying to climb up to the window, but quckly snatches him up. The baby begins to cry and and through a tanturm, knocking off Creak’s head as he flails his arms.

Head bounces off ground to other side of room. Creak is not happy, but hears the baby giggle at him and see the child is calmed down. His body picks him up and he talks to the child, convincing him to sleep. As Creak goes to put the child in the crib, the camera shows Creak’s face as a rip and tear sound is heard.

The scene fades in on the child hugging Creak’s severed arm and pans out to show Creak sitting in a chair beside him reading a newspaper.

Palettes - Major Film

Palettes

Backgrounds

Establishing Shot

Though I planned to have my animation take place at night, a majority of it would take place inside the house of the mother and child. The palettes I hope to use for my animation short are dark, muted tones that that blend together. In terms of background design, much of the environments will be based indoors, where I hope to use darker tones but softened to highlight the atmosphere of a cosy home, even in it's state of disarray. The backgrounds will have no define outline, more so they would comprise of colour and shade, becoming lighter the further the scene gets from the foreground.

There is only one outdoor scene shown in great detail; the establishing shot of the the delapidated house that has been cheaply repaired numourous times. The house sits on a hill, surrounded by trees, shrubs and mountains in the background. I wanted this opening scene to begin with that traditional dark and spooky vibe most scary films begin with, maybe adding some thunder and lightning to give the scene more feel. However, I want it to compose of greens and blues, with hints of purple to give it that outer-worldly effect due to the strangeness of the storyline.





          Interior Environment

The interior of the house will be brighter thanks to the artificial lighting of the lamps and lights within the house. The interior will be a showcase of a cluttered, messy home of a single mother, but should have the sense that this is a home, a place she and her child are perfectly comfortable in. There will be no dense shadows, nor will there be overly dark colours. I hope to be able to blend various shades of blue to highlight shadows with hints of warm colours centred around lighting.

Peter McVerry Talk

Peter McVerry Talk

On Tuesday 3rd of October, we welcomed a guest speaker from the Peter McVerry Trust. The speaker began by introducing the Trust the mission of the trust and its history that is spread over the last few decades. She highlighted the Trust’s aims and goals for the next few years and even had the strange business strategy to go out of business, something that would only be achievable by ending homelessness in Ireland. The speaker emphasized the goals of the Trust they hoped to achieve for the homeless in Ireland, some of which were building houses for the homeless or those in bad situations.

In terms of the animations, she spoke of need for the animations to represent the Trust’s message pf hope and highlighted several key aspects the animation should show;

- Positive; don’t focus on the negative
- Respect for the person
- Use of Imagery
- Stereotypes; challenge people’s perception of homelessness.

Original Story Idea and Why It May Not Work;

In the beginning, I found a short animated series online known as '1Minute Nature' that used digital animation on top of cut-out backgrounds and images of real environments that where scaled up compared to the characters. I wanted to try cut-out animation with a small blend of manipulation animation in the background of the short. The simple outline of the story was to have the character in a kitchen environment while real people in the back went about setting the table. The character would sit on a mug while in the background people would place cutlery on the table. The character would jump down and indicate that the mug was similar to the cell he slept in for a number of years while in hostels. As he would describe the house he now owns, the people in the background would place down everyday objects that would represent the areas he describes. The character would then move behind one of this objects and the scene would transition to a scale model of a sitting room or kitchen where he would sit and say he can final have a cup of tea in his own house.

I changed my initial idea due to the fact that when I looked at my idea in a bit more in-depth, I found that I felt I was making the character seem small compared to the individuals in the background and thusly making him appear less important and denying him a sense of respect for his story.

Now I am planning out an idea involving a text based animation with respective imagery for the scene. The short will mostly comprise of quick moving scenes and transition from one angle to another so that the animation is not just one straight line.

Peter McVerry Trust Story Idea - Group Project

Peter McVerry Trust Story Idea

Influenced by the animations from the ‘1Minute Nature’ Series, I thought it would be interesting to go with this style from the Group Project as it was something I had done little of in the past. The style of this animation would be that the character would be shrunk down in size and would interact with the enlarged environment around them. I often did digital animation so I wanted to stay away from it for this project. Instead of the characters being digitally animated, I wanted to try cut-out animation with the realistic environments. The goal for me was to think up of a story in which the character would need to interact with the surroundings for the message to get across. However, I found this difficult as the number of objects I could find where limited in the fact that they had little connection to the setting or events the character would speak about.

Plot

Taking into account the ambiance audio in the background of the clip, I tried to set the animation somewhere relevant. The animation opens up into a normal, real kitchen and the camera pans down to the table at the center. The character sits on a mug as people in the background place cutlery on the table. The character will jump down as the audio starts, indicating that the mug was the same size as the cell he stead in while in the hostel. As he describes the house he currently owns, the normal sized people place down everyday objects that would represent the areas he describes as he walks forward. The character moves through the objects as they are placed before the scene transitions to a model of a sitting room by the character taking behind an object and walks into the new scene. He sits down, saying he can finally have a cup of tea in his own house. The scene ends as the Trust logo appears.

The story will need work, but I think I will enjoy this project as it gives the class an opportunity to work as a group in a real client-esque setting. 

(Samples from '1Minute Nature' Series; Not the scale of the characters compared to the realistic 

objects in frame.)

Influences - Artist Inspiration - Major Film

Influences - Artist Inspiration

Genndy Tartakovsky

One of the key artist who has influenced my short animation is Genndy Tartakovsky, a Russian-American Animator, Director, Producer and Storyboard Artist, known for creating the animated television series, Samurai Jack, Dexter's Laboratory and Star Wars: Clone Wars for Cartoon Network. He has also worked on animated series such as the Powerpuff Girls and most recently, Tartakovsky directed the animated Hotel Transylvania films.

(Top; Dexter's Laboratory. Bottom; Samurai Jack 2017)

I think what appeals to me in terms of his character designs, is Tartakovsky's use of simple characters with angular designs and thick, flowing outlines.  from to his designs have maintained this style and though these designs may not seem inherently nice to look at, I still think the are done so for a purpose. Though some of the angles may seem unnecessary, in my opinion the limited number of outlines seems to help streamline the images and thus, the animation clicks for the viewer.

(Top; Concept art from the animated film Hotel Transylvania. Bottom; My own early concept art of the Zombie Main character)

I wanted to try this type of drawing style as it is simplistic yet effective in focusing the audience on the character and not drawing them away with too much excess detail. My attempts at Tartakovsky's have shown me that my own character designs are still too overly complex and I will need to simplify them further.

Peter McVerry Trust Project

Peter McVerry Trust Project

As part of the Professional Animation Project, we were given the opportunity to develop a 15 to 30 second animation for the Peter McVerry Trust, a charity set up to reduce homelessness in Ireland and the damge caused by drug abuse and social disadvantage.

About Peter McVerry Trust

Peter McVerry Trust is committed to reducing homelessness, the harm caused by substance misuse and social disadvantage. Peter McVerry Trust provides low-threshold entry services, primarily to younger people and vulnerable adults with complex needs, and offers pathways out of homelessness based on the principles of the Housing First model.  

Aims

• To target those most marginalised in society and offer a safe, challenging and supportive environment through our service provision.
• To treat participants with warmth and respect and actively encourage them to be involved in all aspects of their own support plan.
• To offer a comprehensive prevention package of support to reduce the likelihood of homelessness to those leaving care, those leaving treatment, those leaving prison or other institutions and those whose accommodation is vulnerable.
• To offer a comprehensive package of support that will provide the best opportunity possible for them and assist them in planning a pathway out of homelessness or drug use, or if they continue to use drugs, to assist them towards some level of stabilisation in order to live a life of dignity, with respect and opportunity.
• To assist each person to re-establish himself or herself in the community and move towards greater independence.

Style Influences;

1minute Nature 

http://1minuutjes.nl/?page_id=267

BABA

https://vimeo.com/96454349

'Andersartig' by Dennis Stein-Schomberg

https://vimeo.com/31686433

Story Ideas

The style I had in mind was paper cut out, with maybe digital animation layered over it. I do not have a set story in mind just yet, however I have an idea involving an enlarged environment where the character appears small next to mundane items and objects. A scene in mind would be set on a kitchen table and the character, describing his story, would be represented by things like cups or salt shakers.