Premise Character Thumbnails

I haven't done some character designs in a while and since I uploaded my last set, I've been given some advice from Alan since then so tried to bare that in mind with these designs. Due to changes in the story I will be designing some antagonist thumbnails soon too. 

Premise Story update

After uploading my loose animatic I've had talks with Alan and made changes to my story. One thing that I've struggled with when updating my scripts has been the action. I've either been too vague or there's not enough action overall. As well as, the action there were elements of the story that could be taken out or just weren't beneficial to the story. Overall, I'm very happy with story one, having looked into action scenes more based on Alan's advice I think this one has more action as well as reduces the amount of necessary things such as too many pigeon troops.

Premise Story Ideas by alfie gunter on Scribd

Premise Loose Animatic @Phil @Alan

Ideally I wanted this to go up sooner, but my loose animatic is finally done. There's still some things I need to figure out such as character design and layout of the environment, however this was intended to visualise what my story would look like before I refine the script as well as the story itself.

Premise - Concept Idea

I wanted to try and visualise the environment my story would be set in as well as a test for a potential concept piece. At the moment the scene is quite empty and could do with developing further. I have ideas for thumbnails that I can work on to further explore the environment as well as the trenches.

Premise - Character Thumbnails and Silhouettes

These Character designs I did before receiving my OGR feedback, however I wanted to post them anyway. In the future I need to not make my designs don't look goofy but also characterise them to fit with WW1. I drew some character silhouettes to try and define body type and character.  

Premise Script Update - Version Three

Premise Script Draft 03 by on Scribd

Premise OGR

Premise OGR by on Scribd

The script is hard to see, so the first script is here and the second one is here

@Alan Analogue Sculpting ideas

I should have posted this sooner, but kept putting it on the back burner. However, these are my ideas for sculpting. 

Miles Morales 

Russel 

Booker Dewitt 

Junkrat

Waluigi

PIPELINE: UV LAYOUT BODY AND FINAL UVs

Front View

3/4 View

Side View

Head UVs

Lower Body UVs

Upper Body UVs

PIPELINE: UV LAYOUT HEAD

Front View

Back View

Side View

Film Review: Fantastic Mr.Fox (America)

(Fig 1: Movie Still)

Fantastic Mr.Fox (2009) Original story by Roald Dahl, Directed by Wes Anderson follows the story of Mr.Fox and his family. Mr.Fox was once a chicken thief but when his wife becomes pregnant, she wants him to give up that line of work and find something less dangerous. 12 years later, he's living a mundane life and breaks the promise he made years ago.

(Fig 2: Movie Still)

The film has sub plots to do with other characters such as Mr.Foxes son dealing with being different and his cousin being more popular than him. However, the overarching story is Mr.Fox betraying the trust of his wife and endangering those around him, but working to try and fix what he caused. Not only that it's a fable about responsibility and freedom, in the film Mr.Fox mentions a lot about being a wild animal and questions why he's a fox. He is used to a certain life and going 12 years without being himself, a "Wild animal" he eventually relapsed and he has to learn from what he has done.

(Fig 3: Movie Still)

The film is stop motion animated, which is common with Wes Anderson in other films such as 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'. The film is aware of it's hand made style and owns it, Seitz says " in all of these moments you're aware that you're seeing something that was made by people...and the movies okay with that, it's not trying to fool you" (Seitz, 2014) In fact this adds to the charm of film, the way in which you can see the bits of fur move from where the animator has moved the model. Things like that just emphasises that the film was made by humans and not just a computer.

(Fig 4: Movie Still)

The film also pastiches other films in certain scenes. For example, the scene where the farmers start to dig up the tree it resembles a scene from 'Apocalypse Now' playing the Rolling Stones in an "action" scene. Another example would be the rat character we see in the cider cellar. He gives off a west side story vibe as he walks around menacingly, clicking his fingers. 

(Fig 5, Movie Still)

As well as pastiche the film also has a lot of interesting shots. Examples of which would be when all the creature retreat underground and Mr.Foxes wife confronts him. It's a dark shot but illuminated by the light of the waterfall in the background. Another key shot is the view of the three farms, we see it a lot throughout the film, but it really comes alive during the scene when the creatures are all digging away from the farmers while there's mayhem above ground.

Illustration List:

Fig 1, Movie Poster: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/fantastic-mr-fox/id336288777

Fig 2, Movie Still: https://www.spotern.com/en/spot/movie/fantastic-mr-fox/2312/la-cagoule-de-voleur-de-mr-fox-george-clooney-dans-fantastic-mr-fox

Fig 3, Movie Still: https://thetyee.ca/ArtsAndCulture/2009/12/11/FantasticMrFox/

Fig 4, Movie Still: https://www.myreviewer.com/Blu-ray/132013/Fantastic-Mr-Fox/132021/JPEG

Fig 5, Movie Still: http://forum.filmspotting.net/index.php?topic=7571.270

Bibliography:

Seitz, M. (2017). THE WES ANDERSON COLLECTION CHAPTER 6: FANTASTIC MR. FOX. [online] Vimeo. Available at: https://vimeo.com/77745711 [Accessed 2 Mar. 2019].

Film Review: Ethel & Ernest (UK)

(Fig 1: Movie Poster)

Ethel and Ernest (2016) is the story of British author and illustrator Raymond Briggs. The film doesn't really focus on Raymond himself but more so on his parents. Throughout the film we how Briggs's parents meet right up until the very end, creating a roll coaster ride of emotions for audiences.

(Fig 2: Movie Still)

As mentioned the film focuses on Briggs's parents and how they change. The film spans over 40 years showing how Briggs's parents reacted and dealt with certain life changing events. For example, the war and not knowing whether they'll be bombed or not as well as Ernest being a firefighter during the time was apart of the fire guard and seeing people he knew die. The film takes us through their (Ethel and Ernest) experiences well and it's like you're really experiencing it along with the characters.

(Fig 3: Movie Still)

The film uses hand drawn animation, which seems appropriate considering Briggs's illustrations and using any other type of animation feels like it wouldn't be as authentic. Thompson puts it nicely, "drawing style that's close enough to Briggs for comfort" (Thompson, 2017) This film most probably could work as a live action, however it would lose a bit of Briggs in the process and considering it's a personal story it wouldn't pack as much of a punch. However, hand drawn animation doesn't come any difficulties, like I said the film spans over 40 years meaning the characters change a lot. Roger Mainwood said this about tackling that issue, "they age over 40 years and they have different clothing so I think we ended up with something like 306 or 90 model sheets for them" (Mainwood, 2016) The film tackles a lot of technical issues with animation, however they also have a lot of triumphs. One noticeable but subtle thing the film does is the passing of time. It would happen so seamlessly and the story doesn't stop it keeps going at a brisk pace. For example, the use of the newspaper and television as a way to give more context to the time period.   

(Fig 4, Movie Still)

The film was well received and premiered at the London Film Festival. The crew that worked on the film was around 300 and 175 of that were artists as stated by Camilla Deakin, Producer. Briggs although not physically able to always be in London giving his input, but he had a hand in the character design and story boarding decisions again as stated by Deakin. Overall, this film is a great example of not only animation but storytelling and a better look at Briggs's life.

Illustration List: 

Fig 1, Movie Poster: http://getthechance.wales/2016/11/16/review-ethel-ernest-jonathan-evans/

Fig 2, Movie Still: https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/747864/Ethel-and-Ernest-Raymond-Briggs-film-time-date-cast-trailer

Fig 3, Movie Still: https://homemcr.org/film/ethel-ernest/

Fig 4, Movie Still: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukethompson/2017/12/18/ethel-and-ernest-when-the-wind-blows-raymond-briggs-book-movie/

Bibliography:

Johnson, J. (2016). Raymond Briggs on the Ethel & Ernest movie: "I spent all the time watching it blubbing away". [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLDCxqV5wg4 [Accessed 2 Mar. 2019].

Thompson, L. (2017). Review: 'Ethel & Ernest' Is The True Story Behind 'When The Wind Blows,' In Animation. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukethompson/2017/12/18/ethel-and-ernest-when-the-wind-blows-raymond-briggs-book-movie/#68c389876b84 [Accessed 2 Mar. 2019].