Warehouse For Test Progress

This is Lina Ivanova's environment so far for the test (which we shall shoot for next week.)

The lighting will be a little different, based on film noir, and the textures shall be touched up in terms of resolution.

I will do a multi-pass render and create an atmosphere in the place in the composite. Then, I might composite the beautiful Alona Kiricenko into the the environment after the live action (green screen) shoot next Wednesday with Michal Zagorski (if the chroma keying goes well enough...), and follow the storyboard presented in a previous post.

Notes on Siamese Twins

As recommended by Mark Grossi...

Films to watch for reference:

- Sisters (Brian De Palma)

- Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg)

- Basket Case (Frank Hennenlotter)

Research into:

- Chang and Eng Bunker (first noted case of conjoined twins)

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Note: The film should be haunting and alluring through the character's search in their dreamlike state, and I imagine it would have at least one surreal exchange with an individual (just visualising). A long shot of the brother from a distance, facing away from camera, in an expansive setting is another detail which comes to mind from the offset.

The quirky twist in which it ends on should also be heartfelt and portray as accurate as possible a portrayal of siamese twins' relationship with each other.

It is led by a fear of loss, subtly shown as a desire to find someone.

The rest of the piece is all about these composite shots I want to produce with the storyline.

My studies are therefore focussed on siamese twins to an extent, as well as more predominantly compositing techniques and further cinematic/film understandings.

Character/Scenario Development 2

As for the final piece, I think I am settled on a premise to explore and develop.

Last time, I posted Mark Grossi's concepts. I was favouring the idea of a man searching for his brother through a strange environment, later to reveal that he has been hallucinating and he is still in fact conjoined to his siamese twin brother.

Mark has pitched, since, another concept. Here it is:

A man is struggling through the city streets - cold, tired, hungry and jobless. As he fumbled through the crowds, he makes it into the job centre to find a job. He leaves (successfully/unsuccessfully) but something happens to him that sends him spinning into the throes of death. An angry voice is heard followed by a loud bang - we zoom out of the incident, through a tv to see an unemployed guy in a messy, unkept flat furious that his character on the game died.

Tom Paxton has also provided his ideas for the film:

1.

A visitor to an unknown city, wandering lost in the streets. He is a kind and well liked man, but he is also proud, and would never consider stopping to ask for directions despite the fact that with every step he takes he becomes more and more lost. As he becomes anxious and frustrated with his situation, the very city around him seems to loom above him, becoming more alien and unwelcoming then ever. He has a map, but it seems not to correspond to the unfriendly land around him, and even as he looks at it the coloured lines and text seem to squirm and rearrange themselves in front of him.Slightly unsure of the ending. Could eventually find his way by sheer fluke.
and reassure himself that he knew the way all along and was never lost.*
Or possibly have an ending where something bad happens to him if you wanted to make it darker.

2.

A guy in a hospital, the nurse is telling him that it's for something serious, though he is convinced there is nothing wrong with him and that the hospital staff are imposters keeping him for shadier purposes. Once the nurse is gone he attempts to leave, but the building is disorientating and unnatural in it's layout and architecture, like something out of a dream. You're then left with the chance to decide whether he is just delusional from sickness and drugs, or actually correct in his paranoia about the ulterior motives of the staff. Or you could just leave it open to interpretation.

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The concepts here are along the same lines as we discussed - a setting exposing the character, and the feeling of being lost or on a quest.

I am now convinced I want to go ahead and use the concept of the siamese twins for my final piece. Hopefully I'll be able to explore this as far as possible to complete the piece whilst still ticking the academic boxes. I feel it does tick the boxes for what I want to explore this year - visually, technically, and I will bring my studies of film into this very easily, I feel...

I have spoken to cinematographer Michal Zagorski about this and we are to have a few meetings again later, and talk to some other collaborators of ours.

Myself, Mark and Tom will be in discussion through the development of the script.

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Hopefully a first draft script will be written up soon/for the beginning of December. (It will be developed more thoroughly briefly after this...)

Semester 1 Test - Storyboard

I have booked the green screen and photography studio for next week, and arranged to shoot a test there with cinematographer Michal Zagorski, with the performance by Alona Kiricenko. We have also went into details as to how we shall set everything up, and suggestions about character and wardrobe.

It is designed to combine practice in Nuke and other programs, green screening and compositing and using the environment modelling and composites I am collaborating with Lina Ivanova on. 

It is also important that it has influence from cinema's past and has particular looks, such as film noir, pure cinematics... for my studies.

If it were to be completed beyond merely tests, this is the very simple storyline the shots will produce:

These are the first draft storyboard pages.

I also put together a video to show things in a LITTLE more detail. This might do with being a little better, but the information is currently there. 

This is a first draft as well:

Thoughts?...

Character/Scenario Development 1

I had a meeting last week with Mark Grossi and Tom Paxton, who graduated from Animation and Electronic Media (BA Hons) this summer with me.

We went through the project and communicated the main objectives in the piece I have discussed briefly in other posts.

Mark has provided his first few starter concepts.

Here they are:-

- A man has constant nightmares of searching for his brother through large, pertinacious rooms and constructs. His brother is always within sight but he can never reach him. Shattered and despondent, he's plagued by these scenarios crafted by his subconcious. He awakes in a sweat and breathing heavily, but is soon calmed to find his conjoined brother is still there next to him.

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- A happy go lucky kind of guy. He takes to the streets with a spring in his step and seems to be amazed and enchanted by his surroundings (what he 'sees' can be embellished or fabricated: everything is breathtaking). Whenever a person walks past with a dog a smile flashes up on his face as he immediately squats down and talks to the dog as if it were human (completely ignoring the dog walker). This happens a few times along with other incidents until something triggers the reality that he is in fact a dog being walked down a dreary street.

***

And here is an optional third:-

- A bitter and resentful character who left his wife after their kid died at an early age. He lives a life of not only regret, but denial; refusing to face the realities of his actions. He didn't leave his wife because he was inherently nasty, but because he was weak and every passing day her face would remind him of their daughter.

He knows deep down that he has to confront this fear for the sake of not only his mental state but, most importantly, his wife and daughter.

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Let me know what you think is your favourite and any ideas on them if you'd like.

Initially what I like about these is the simple premise which I can develop around visuals and techniques and influences, etc, which also have a nice twist in the (dog's) tale. This is the simplicity I'm looking for, whilst being a rounded concept.

The second character is a funny one. It seems original, but I'm also thinking how I will reveal it is in fact a dog. But again, it is visual through a subjective viewpoint, which is what we are looking to create. 
The first one is in the lead for me, at the moment, because the character has a clear desire which will drive the short piece - and is a simple gag and interesting to play with...
It will be good to develop both, they are interesting and I am very keen to make these. But, I am waiting out for other ideas, and see if they change a little as well...

With these ideas collecting, I am getting more excited about exploring these visuals and techniques.

More ideas to come from Mark Grossi's creative brain...

Tom Paxton is also working on his starter ideas at the moment. A string of posts imminent.

Environment For Test So Far

I am doing a test this semester for compositing an environment in Nuke.

For this, I am working with classmate Lina Ivanova.

So, here is a render with physical sun and sky lighting.

Once a few more objects are modeled and placed into the environment, as well as some simple textures are applied, I will set up the camera, lighting, render layers and then add elements, other styles and correct everything and generally composite in Nuke (I might even add a live action character if all goes exceptionally well)...

Here is Lina's full post on this.

NURBs Progress

(Kind of)

I have simply added a few basic objects to it since the last update. If it was real, it would now function as it is intended (yes, if it was real) as I have now modeled the lights. They may need a little more attention, though ..I'll make sure I don't keep them on, as this is bad for your eyes.

I wanted to see it a little differently, so I did a very basic IBL, assigned a mental ray shader (looks like a blinking plane!) and composited it in Photoshop.