Narrative Pitch Presentation

Character Design Tutorial: Distinctive Characters

This weeks character workshop looked at silhouettes and and clothing. We started by drawing out some silhouettes, in which I got Elvis impersonators. I started with some generic looking characters but decide to try an gorilla impersonating Elvis which i have to say is my favourite of all of them.

I also tried an Elvis costume on an alien and also Jigglypuff (I thought why not, it sings right?)

We then had a look at creating believable materials such as draped cloths and creases in cloth. It proved to be a little difficult making metal believable but I did manage to make the cape look the part so I'm pleased with that. 

Character Design: Heroine And Evil Sidekick

Character Design Tutorial: Personality: The Spark of Life

Todays workshop covered body language and expressions. We started off with some basic body language drawings looking at the direction in which the limbs moved and shaped.

We also tried our hands at expression. Below is a character head I made up and made him look angry.

I alos tried a few expression on Superman but was having trouble with the jaw line.

Week 5 Summary

Synopsis

In 1982 the body of a young woman was found dead in her hotel room at the Hotel Del Coronado. From the evidence gathered at the time, her death was ruled a suicide but no one could explain why she killed herself.

Nearly 30 years after the apparent suicide a series of mysterious death have occurred in the same room most of which were hushed up to protect the hotels public image. However news on the most recent death had worked its way into the newspaper attracting the attention of an ageing detective. The detective experiences strange phenomenon during his stay at the hotel leading him to uncover a murder building up to a confrontation between the now aged killer and the detective.

Character Triangle

Character Bio's

Name: Annalise (Ghost Woman)

Age: 25 (age at time of death)

Died:1822

Before her death she was an attractive woman, her husband and her were both gamblers and she escaped to the hotel avoid gambling debts waiting for her lover to follow. After 5 days she was raped and murdered, however her death is written off as a suicide. Desparate to unveil the truth of her murder her spirit is tied to this world, however she is bitter and twisted for revenge so she kills all those who tries to contact. She will only rest when she gets her revenge.  

Name: Warren Everett

Age: 49

Many years of experience have made Warren Everett a damn good detective. However years of dealing with the dark underground of the big city has hardened him.  He is cynical about almost everything, and has turned to cigarettes and alcohol to help him cope. One last case, a case like no other, may change his outlook on the world or reinforce his cynical nature.

Name: Eugene Milton Jr.

Age: 55

Eugene Milton Jr inherited the illustrious Hotel Del Coronado from his billionaire father Eugene Milton Sr. Thanks to his inheritance Milton Jr has been rich all his life because the hotel is a massive source of income. The persona Milton presents to the public is proud, business like and welcoming.  However he is hiding a terrible secret and more sinister side to his personality.

Visual Style

Chosen Visual Style: 

• Set and character design will be influenced by German Expressionism, translating the jagged shapes into the 1920's furniture and architecture.   
• Black and white footage
• Lighting Style  - Noir 

Initial Story Board and Animatics

Character Design: Week 4 Summary

Synopsis

The evil secret agent organisation D.I.E has stolen a super weapon in which they hope will help achieve world domination. However the weapon requires five key codes that were separated and put under guard.

In order to prevent D.I.E from succeeding, A.C.E agent Akali Chaser must act fast to obtain the key codes before D.I.E agents Sly Specter and Boon, using her new cybernetic enhancements to get the job done.

Character Biographies

Heroine: Akali Chaser

Akali Chaser is an agent within the sceret agent organisation A.C.E. fighting evil-doers from around the world. Little is known about Akali's past and how she came to be a member of A.C.E. is also unknown, but it is presumed she was hired due to her acrobat skills and ability to get the job done quickly and efficiently. Knowing D.I.E has possession of a super weapon, Akali must undergo cyborg enhancement to stop their plans before it's too late.

Villain: Sly Spector 

Before joining D.I.E, Sly was an amateur thief, capable of stealing near invaluable items due to his inexperience. He was considered a joke amongst higher class thieves, until he attempted to steal a precious gem locked in a vault. Sly was successful in his attempt and made a name for himself. However he mysteriously vanished soon after. Years later, he reappeared, working for D.I.E as a top agent. His most recent assignment must see him become part man, part robot to obtain secrets that have been lost for decades, to further D.I.E's plans to rule the world.

Sidekick: Boon

Sidekick to Sly, Boon is the strongman of the evil duo. Regarded as a top agent in D.I.E, Boon's intimidating appearance demands respect from those who meet him. He was hired into D.I.E purely as muscle, to complete tasks other agents couldn't handle physically. After he and Sly underwent cyborg enhancement, Boon causes the occasional blunder, losing control over his enhancements from time to time due to his simple mindedness not being able to handle everything at once.

Character Design: More Female Body Proportions

Two more sketches for my heroines body. I think I'm getting closer to the acrobat styled body I want.

Exploring Film Noir

Film noir was a term first coined in the mid 1940's by French critic Nino Frank, and although it grew to become a very popular genre with many mid 20th century Hollywood films, the name was not widely adopted until the 1970's. The genre is generally associated with Hollywood crime films, particularly those involving cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. These types of films generally had a black and white visual style rooted in German Expressionism amongst several other influences. In his book What is Film Noir?, author William Park writes:

"What is film noir? Most commentators agree on the essential films that make up the category, films such as Double Indemnity (1944) and Out of the Past (1947). They also agree that the "movement" began in earnest in 1941 with The Maltese Falcon (the third Hollywood version), that it peaked in the late 1940's and early 1950's, that it included a semi-documentary phase, and that its classic period ended in 1958 with Touch of Evil. Every writer acknowledges the same sources of noir: German expressionism, pre-Code Hollywood, French poetic realism, the pulp fictions of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain and Cornell Woolrich."

                       

In terms of the visual characteristics of the film noir genre low-key lighting was a major contribution. This lighting style was key for creating the great light and dark contrasts - also known as chiaroscuro - also allowing for great shadow play; faces and bodies obscured by shadows. The lighting can also also help with setting the mood of a particular scene.

Noir films also employed methods of disorientation including multiple mirror reflections, strange natural forms, obscured view points (i.e. frosted glass) and low, wide and tilted angle shots. Most films were also shot at night - also known as Night-for-Night shooting - as opposed to faked night scenes (Day-for-Night shooting)

Shadows of window blinds fall upon private eye Jake Gittes, Chinatown (1974)

Character Design Tutorial: Drawing Stuff

This week in our character workshop we looked at creating characters out of inanimate objects. Justin gave us each a room from a house and asked up to draw character out of objects in that room. I got the gym.

I started by looking at what was in a gym first, like medals, trophies, etc. and attempted bringing life to them. Then I looked at gym equipment which actually turned out more successful than my original ideas.

The above drawings are my initial ideas for the characters. I quite liked the punching bad being a villain, the boxing glove a hero and the training ball as a sidekick. Justin also gave me a few pointers about manipulating the shape too much as was the case with the boxing glove.

Here are the more finalised version of my three choice; the sidekick training ball being a little deflated to make it look fat and the pump nozzle acting as a mouth. I made the punching bag more angular and gave him a few patches and stitches. I also shortened the boxing glove and used the creases in the leather as 'eyes'.

We also looked at creating some props for our iconic characters. My first attempt was in the right direction but too tidy and my character was disorganised, so i stuck lots of notes and paper onto it to make it suit the characters design.

Character Design: Character Biographies

Heroine: Akali Chaser
Akali Chaser is an agent within the sceret agent organisation A.C.E. fighting evil-doers from around the world. Little is known about Akali's past and how she came to be a member of A.C.E. is also unknown, but it is presumed she was hired due to her acrobat skills and ability to get the job done quickly and efficiently. Knowing D.I.E has possession of a super weapon, Akali must undergo cyborg enhancement to stop their plans before it's too late.

Villain: Sly Spector 
Before joining D.I.E, Sly was an amateur thief, capable of stealing near invaluable items due to his inexperience. He was considered a joke amongst higher class thieves, until he attempted to steal a precious gem locked in a vault. Sly was successful in his attempt and made a name for himself. However he mysteriously vanished soon after. Years later, he reappeared, working for D.I.E as a top agent. His most recent assignment must see him become part man, part robot to obtain secrets that have been lost for decades, to further D.I.E's plans to rule the world.

Sidekick: Boon
Sidekick to Sly, Boon is the strongman of the evil duo. Regarded as a top agent in D.I.E, Boon's intimidating appearance demands respect from those who meet him. He was hired into D.I.E purely as muscle, to complete tasks other agents couldn't handle physically. After he and Sly underwent cyborg enhancement, Boon causes the occasional blunder, losing control over his enhancements from time to time due to his simple mindedness not being able to handle everything at once.

Character Design: Synopsis v2.0

I have decided to re-approach the synopsis to my 80's mash up cartoon of secret agents and cyborgs, and I have to say there are quite a few changes, so here goes!

Premise

Years ago a weapons tech facility developed a super weapon intended to defend the innocent from the world's evil-doers. However the weapon was deemed to powerful for anyone to possess and was ultimately hidden to prevent it from falling into evil hands.

In the present, the year is 2191 and an underground organisation of evil secret agents known as D.I.E (Deceptive International Espionage) has uncovered the location of the super weapon, planning to use its power to further their goals of world domination. However, the super weapon requires five key codes to activate, each of them separately hidden within encrypted data, and held under guard.

Knowing that finding and retrieving the keys will be too challenging for any regular agents, the mysterious leader of D.I.E selects his top agents, Sly Specter and Boon to take on the mission. In a bid to gain the upper hand against any potential opposition and overcome the challenges of find and retrieving the key codes, Sin and Boon are enhanced with state of the art cybernetics.

With the super weapon stolen, A.C.E (Agents Combating Evil), an organisation of good secret agents dedicated to stopping evil, spring into action to prevent D.I.E from succeeding in retrieving all five key codes. A.C.E dispatches its own top agent, Akali Chaser but after learning that her foe is enhanced and severely outmatches her, she too must don cybernetic enhancements if she hopes to stop D.I.E.

Synopsis

The evil secret agent organisation D.I.E has stolen a super weapon in which they hope will help achieve world domination. However the weapon requires five key codes that were separated and put under guard.

In order to prevent D.I.E from succeeding, A.C.E agent Akali Chaser must act fast to obtain the key codes before D.I.E agents Sly Specter and Boon, using her new cybernetic enhancements to get the job done.

Character Design: Female Body Proportions And Sketches

Here are a few more attempts at getting the body proportions for my heroine right. I quite like the first one on the left in the top image.

Maya Tutorial: Lip Sync Part 3

Character Design: Synopsis V1.0

The evil spy organisation known simply as the D.I.E (Deceptive International Espionage) has had its plans for world domination thwarted yet again by a team of good spies led by secret agent Akali. In retaliation to their constant meddling, the D.I.E initiates a plan to capture the spy team by luring the them into a trap. The trap is successful to a certain degree, capturing four of the five good spies with Akali only just escaping.

The D.I.E procede to put their new prisoners to 'good' use, brainwashing and fitting them with cybernetic enhancement to turn them into evil super agents and to ensure that they would be undefeatable by any do-gooders. Soon enough Akali finds that her former team has reappeared and causing trouble around the world with their new enhancements. Knowing she can't beat the D.I.E and her former team as she is, Akali teams up with a brilliant but strange cyberneticist Dr. Hanz, who provides Akali with the necessary enhancements and gadgets to put a stop to the D.I.E's plans and rescue her team mates.

Trailer Timeline - The Woman In Black

0:00 - 0:11

Production company titles and content warnings.

0:12

Focus on old fashioned child's room with toys on the floor.

0:14 - 0:18

The focus shifts to several toys in the room including a creepy and worn doll and musical monkeys.

0:18

Musical monkey starts playing its harp which continues throughout the trailer.

0:21 - 0:23

A wide shot of a horse and carriage moving through marshland.

0:24 - 0:25

Close up of the horse and carriage passing a religious cross stuck in the ground.

0:26 - 0:27

Camera moves to an old gothic mansion in disrepair. The gates to the mansion are knocked in and handing off the hinges, with overgrown bushes everywhere.

0:28 - 0:32

Long shot down a dark, candle lit corridor. Enters into an entrance hall with a balcony overlooking the room. Again the room is dark and only slightly lit. the furniture is covered by cloths.

0:32 - 0:33

Old photograph of a family in front of the mansion, including a young boy, his mother and father.

0:33 - 0:35

Three girls play in one of the room and turn their heads towards the camera.

0:36 - 0:37

Ariel view of the horse and carriage moving along a worn track.

0:37 - 0:39

Another photograph of the boy and his parents is shown this time with their eyes cut out of the picture.

0:40 - 0:41

Focus shot of a mansion window showing a ghostly female figure to the right side of it.

0:42 - 0:51

Quick scene shots of various things including an island, a woman crying and the mansion.

0:52 - 0:54

Man sitting asleep at a desk in the mansion with something moving in the corridor in the background.

0:55 - 0:56

Thunderstorm and rain outside. The camera looks out of a window to a grave with a cross at its head.

0:57 - 0:58

Man rips wallpaper of the wall to find words written in blood and a toys starts moving behind him, startling him.

0:59 - 1:06

Flashes of scenes including the man running through a forest and the three girls stepping up to a window.

1:07 - 1:12

Flashes of different scenes quickly turning to black after a second of each.

1:13 - 1:14

Actor title card.

1:15 - 1:21

Man looks out of a window to the road outside. The road is partially covered by fog but completely void of life.

1:22 - 1:24

Man continues to look out of the window as the head of a ghostly figure appears over his left shoulder. The scene then turns black.

1:25 - 1:32

Films title card. Zooming out.

1:35 - 1:38

Coming soon.

Film Review: Best Worst Movie

Fig. 1 Best Worst Movie poster

A 2009 documentary directed by Michael Stephenson, Best Worst Movie dives into the world of the 1990 film Troll 2, a horror B-movie directed by Italian director Claudio Fragasso, which starred an all amateur cast from Utah, USA. Troll 2 has come to be one of cinematographies most notorious films, labeled by many film critics as the worst film ever and receiving terrible ratings and reviews.

Best Worst Movie explores the aftermath of Troll 2, diving into the world of its large cult following that has amassed 20 years after its release in 1990 and how it has affected the lives of the cast. Through a series of interviews, cult gatherings and screenings, Michael Stephenson shows just how far Troll 2's fanbase stretches. 

"Troll 2 star Michael Stephenson steps behind the camera to explore the phenomenon behind the low-budget Italian-produced horror sequel that young movie fanatics have christened "the Rocky Horror of our generation" in this documentary which proves that just because a movie is awful doesn't mean it won't find an audience." (Rotten Tomatoes, 2009)

Fig. 2 Interview with George Hardy

To its cult following Troll 2 has become iconic, a legend within the history of film. What was once considered a blemish on the face of cinema has now risen to become something highly celebrated by a generation of film fanatics. But what makes it such a hit after years of abject failure? Simply put, the film is 'so bad that it's good'. 

"Sure to be embraced by moviegoers even more fascinated by blazing failure than by success..." (Frank Scheck, 2010)

Terrible acting from an inexperienced cast, poor plot; curtesy of a director who didn't speak english and very low budget costumes, add on top of that the fact the the film featured now trolls whatsoever, Troll 2 became something in which was not intended: a comedy. The fact that the film was intended to be a real horror though is the icing on the cake, as Stephenson put it:

"With Troll 2, we thought we were making a great horror film, and that's what causes people to smile and to laugh." (Hubbard, 2010)     

Fig. 3 Scene from Troll 2

"But there's no denying that it is often outrageous fun, and the news that Fragasso and Drudi are working on a script for "Troll 2: Part 2" is but the icing on a very nasty cake." (Frank Scheck, 2010)

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Best Worst Movie (2009) Best Worst Movie Poster. 

At: http://collider.com/best-worst-movie-review/25618/ (Accessed on 05/10/11)

Figure 2. Best Worst Movie (2009) Interview with George Hardy.

At: http://uk.dvd.ign.com/dor/objects/86667/best-worst-movie/images/best-worst-movie-20101117033910429.html (Accessed on 05/10/11)

Figure 3. Best Worst Movie (2009) Scene from Troll 2. 

At: http://eternalsunshineofthelogicalmind.blogspot.com/2009/05/best-worst-movie.html 

(Accessed on 05/10/11)

Bibliography

Rotten Tomatoes (2009) Best Worst Movie 

At: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/best_worst_movie/ (Accessed on 05/10/11)

Scheck, Frank (2009) Best Worst Movie - Film Review 

At: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/best-worst-movie-film-review-29583 

(Accessed on 05/10/11)

Hubbard, Jeremy (2010) Fan Base Forms Around Worst Movie Ever

At: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/cult-fan-base-forms-troll-worst-movie/story?id=10565306

Synopsis v1.0

In 1982 a young woman arrives at the Hotel Del Coronado where she intends to stay until her lover arrives several days later. During her stay she frequents the hotel bar. As the days pass, the likelihood of the woman's lover arriving lessens and with each night she returns to the bar for comfort. On the fifth night, as the woman returns to her room from the bar, she is followed by an obscured figure. As she closes the door the figure stops her and walks into the room. Moments later the woman is raped and as she tries to escape, is then murdered by the obscure figure, the audience seeing only the shadows on the wall and ending with a gunshot. The following day the woman is found in her room with the scene staged to look like suicide.

Every seven years on the day of the apparent suicide, a mysterious death occurs, the victims being men who stay in the room of the murder. The deaths were not common knowledge, but several years following the death of the last victim, a news article is published about it. A detective reads the article about the series of strange deaths and takes the opportunity to investigate them, requesting to stay in the same room as the victims. Although advised by several members of hotel staff, the manager included, he insists that his stay is within this particular room. Throughout the detective's stay, he experiences several odd phenomenon that eventually draws him into the world of the woman who was murdered all those years before. The detective learns the truth behind the strange deaths of men who stayed in the room and begins to learn the truth behind the woman appearances. After some thorough investigation and the events of the phenomenon to aid him, the detective manages to identify the woman's killer.

Compiling his evidence, the detective confronts the manager of the hotel over the woman's death, explaining that he was the son of the previous manager and inheritor of the hotel. Before he was able to take charge of the hotel, he was made to learn the business from the ground up, working as the hotel bartender when the woman stayed in the hotel. As he was in a position of power (being the son of the manager) he forced himself upon the woman and as she tried to escape he shot her and staged the murder as a suicide. In the years after, he covered up the deaths so as not to tarnish the hotels name and ruin his business. 

The manager tries to keep the murder a secret by disposing of the detective but he is lured to the room as the detective escapes. A fight ensues with the manager getting the upper hand but suddenly stops. The manager falls to the floor lifeless, the ghost of the woman having killed him. The woman, having finally got her revenge, is able to rest in peace and pass on to the other side. The detective picks himself, and walks to the door of the room. He turns back for one last look at the room before departing.

Character Design Tutorial: Drawing in the Third Dimension

In our third character workshop, Justin showed us how to structure the joints and limbs using a basic skeleton structure, so that we could create different body types. 

We again had another iconic character (Homer Simpson this time around) and were tasked with drawing out its basic form. My first try went well but it ended up making Homer look as though he were on a diet (top left drawing). Justin then showed me what parts were off by drawing out Homers form himself (right side). I wasn't too far off I don't think! XD

After this we were asked to design our own character bodies using the same method as above, which I really enjoyed. It was great to manipulate parts of the body to create something weird and wonderful.

We also looked at making our own character faces after Justin told us about exaggerating proportions. Here are some of my attempts:

Character Design: Secret Agent Costumes