Tracings

Today I traced over some of the cardboard models of the pillars I made a few weeks back. I did this because the pillars I had been creating were very perfect looking. They almost looked like a city scape. By using the real life ones as a direct reference I was able to get a much more natural look. In both perspective and shape.
Once I hade a few done I played with the colour, light emissions and textures.
This could be a much more interesting approach to the settings.

Storyboard for Animated Short, Less Traveled

This is the storyboard for my animated short Less Traveled. I tried to keep the writing descriptive to give one a feeling for the characters and their situation.

 This has given me a good sense of what the pacing will be like. But of course, things are likely to change. I have noticed points that need more shots to explain things better like after he picks up the coin I need to show him walking down the path to the left in the first place. 

I'm also going to include cutaways (I small shot to inform the world) especially in the village. Perhaps an over pampered goat there. 

Nemesis - Page Analysis

I've chosen to analyse the very last page of the 4th comic. In it we get a glimpse of the man pulling the stings behind Nemesis as he sits on a secluded beach sipping on a glass of red wine.

Character
The one and only character visible in this page is the man behind Nemesis. He is essentially the main antagonist of the serise, Nemesis being his puppet, a vessel  for his horrendous deeds. Just from the brief glimpse that's shown I see him as being a suave, self-satisfied man. He has a self satisfied smirk on his lips as he takes the first sip of his wine. It's quite arrogant of him in a way to send that bottle of wine to Blake and to sit on a beutiful place sipping the same bottle of wine at the same moment in time as Blake and his wife.

The only other character slightly present is the waiter who has the line "..... he delivered these 10 years ago." It just goes to show how insanely clever and manipulative the man in the chair is. He had to manipulate Blake's choices somehow so that he would end up at that resort on that exact day.

Setting
He's some ways away from Blake, evident that they're in different time zones. The setting informs the character further. He's a little clichéd and for lack of a better term, pompous. It seems clichéd to sit on a secluded beach (which he more than likely owns) sipping wine and watching the sun set to celebrate outsmarting a man he never even met.

Mise-en-scene
There's the obvious connection of the bottle of wine he's sipping and the one he sent to Blake. They probably are the same kind of wine. On the previous page the lighting of the restaurant, even though it's the blackness of night outside, is a similar orange to the setting sun he sits in front of. This further connects the 2 characters and settings.

Shots

1. Establishing shot of the secluded beach and ocean.
2. Extreme close up of the wine and mans lips.
3. Wide shot of the area

The shots are very obscured, giving us only glimpses of the man behind Nemesis. The artist is keeping the unseen villain unseen. Nemesis was scary, yet often cool and I even rooted for him at points through out the comic. However, this man is much more terrifying than Nemesis could ever be and part of that is that he's never fully seen. This end page is using a basic fear of the unknown to full effect and not letting you see who was destroying lives all around. 

Some Storyboard

These are a few select images from my storyboard. These are from the very beginning when they have just come to the fork and are trying to decide which direction to take.

 The son has changed a bit since I last uploaded anything. I squared up his jaw and unhooded his eyes. It was an effort to to make him look less evil and more like his father. I think the nose will still change so that they are more similar. But I think the connection of father and son can be made easier now. 

2001: A Space Odyssey Scene Analyisis

I've chosen the scene in 2001 where Victor Kaminsky (I think that's his name) is exercising in the circular room 53.54 - 55.00. This scene is very much focused on the set and the set is what atrracted me to analyse this scene. I still can't qute understand how it's done.

Character
There's only one character in this entire scene and that's Kaminsky. He doesn't even speak bar some grunts. So we find out very little about him other than he takes his job as a space traveler seriously by keeping in shape in Zero G.
However something I noticed is that there is a very distinct lack of extras. In the scene previoulsy we see the space ship is massive and there's plenty of chairs and control panels in the circular room but no one to man them. The me this emptiness is reflecting the emptiness of space outside of the ship.

Setting
I think this circular room is used to show how fast technology is progressing. In just 18 months they have developed Artifical Gravity technology.  In an earlier scene we see a pen floating around in a space shuttle and the "Space Hostess" has to walk down the isle using velcro on the bottom of her shoes and it was actually quite difficult for her. Now they are able to freely move and even exercise without any help or restrictions. The cirular room allows them to show, in a very dynamic way, that they now have the ability to walk on any surface using the Artifical Gravity.

Mise-en-Scene
The multiple empty chairs suggest that they're low on peronelle for this mission. This is reinforced by the dead silence of the ship bar the lonely grunts of Victor. Or perhaps it is foreshadowing to HAL who can control everything on the ship. However that doesn't explain why they built the chairs into the ship in the first place if they weren't needed.
I thought the chambers where the rest of the crew were in hibernation were coffins at first. But becaue I couldn't see anyone through the small windows I thought they were empty coffins as if this mission was so dangerous they had the coffins just in case.
The gravity is so strange, it's not pulling things DOWN but kind of AROUND. Gravity affects the circle in all directions.
Camera

1. Wide and panning
2. Full body tracking
3. Close up
4. Extreme Close up tracking

These shots seem to be used to show off the complexity of the location, that Victor can run around and around without falling down due to gravity. 

Sound
To be honest when I listen to the scene but dont watch it, it sounds like what it is, someone exercising. However the lack of anything else really suggests loneliness to me. This is backed up by the melancholy music.

Finished Script for Purposes of Treatment File.

EXT – ROAD – MIDDAY

The area is lit by a cyan light emanating from between the hexagonal pillars that line the road. The light is coming from the weird bio-luminescent flora and fungi that thrive between the pillars unseen. Particles of pollen from the plants beneath fall to the ground. The entire landscape is a game between light and shadow.

We join our characters standing before a sign on a wide road. It could comfortably fit a merchant and his cart. This large road however now forks off into 2 smaller roads. On the fork there is an old wooden sign jammed into the road tilted and rotting. It reads “Tanah Air”. Underneath the sign are 2 arrows pointing in opposite directions. Tanah Air could be in either direction they don’t know.

They regard the sign in confusion and weariness. Their journey has been long and they have got lost or held up many times along the way. Now all they want to do is return home.

The SON begins to walk down the road to the right but is stopped by his FATHER who grabs him by the hood of his robe. Father half drags Son toward the left road. Only for SON to struggle free from his vice like grip.

They look at each other disgruntled. They’re stuck. They have been by each other’s side for such a long time that it doesn’t occur to them that they could conceivably split up.

FATHER gets an idea. Being an excitable man he retrieves a coin from his pocket. He showcases it for his son. He shows him tails and points toward the left road. He shows him the heads side and points towards the right road. There’s a grin of self-satisfaction across his face. Nothing gives him greater pleasure then coming up with a viable solution.

He flips the coin. It hangs in the air for a moment they let it fall to the ground. It’s tails. FATHER has won. FATHER is bent over the coin, their heads are level. He smirks at his son. He relishes in the small victory over his son. SON looks at his father in impatience. He pretends to drop the issue as if it never really mattered which side it came up anyway. He walks down the road he originally chose with conviction. FATHER takes a breath of air to call after him but realises both paths eventually lead to the same place and it doesn’t really matter which way they travel. Though because they are still as stubborn as each other, (even if father doesn’t show it) he makes his way down the left path the one he had chosen.

They are now separated from each other by a thick forest of rock and flora.

EXT – SMALLER ROAD – DAY

SON now on his own walks the path with little interest in his surroundings or in actually getting to their destination quickly. He has his head down to the ground. He looks up once to notice that he has approached the same fork in the road for a second time. In disbelief, he makes sure the sign is the same sign and comes across his father’s coin still lying on the ground. He returns to the path, fobbing it off thinking he must have taken a wrong turn in his absent mindedness.

There’s a moment where nothing is happening on screen. The boy yet again approaches the fork for a 3^rd time. He doesn’t hesitate this time he just heads down the road to the right. He looks worried.

EXT – CLEARING – EVENING

FATHER is standing in the clearing where the road emerges from the thicket of pillars. Behind him is a wide expanse of plain and the faint outline of a village, which is presumably “Tanah Air”. He looks at the sun setting in the west then to the village then back to the roads. He’s unsure of where his son is or even which road he could take if he were to back track. He decides it better to check if his son has already reached home. After all, he didn’t seem inclined to stop and wait for his father any longer.

EXT – ROAD – NIGHT

SON is now more relaxed about looping around. He is too stubborn to believe his father is right. He believes his choice is the only way. At times during this sequence there are 2 or 3 variants of SON on screen at the same time each one doing slightly varying movements, gestures or interactions.

EXT – ROAD – WINTERTIME – DAY

It’s colder. SON gathers robes around him to shield himself from the bitter air. The pollen has been falling consistently since he started through the area and has now began to gather in little piles.

EXT – ROAD – SPRINGTIME – DAY

The pollen is being blown down the road by a harsh wind. The wind is blowing against SON making it difficult for him to continue forward.

EXT – TANAH AIR STREET – SPRINGTIME - DAY

FATHER is sitting on a bench outside what could be their home. He looks up and down the road expectantly. The streets are quiet. A mother walks past with her 4 young children.

EXT – ROAD – DAY

SON has come to the same fork again. He’s lost count of how many times he’s come to it. He stops for a moment and looks down the left road. The road his father had chosen. He inches towards it, but shakes off the idea of changing course and whips back to his original path with even more conviction than he did all those months ago. In doing so he kicks up the coin that had been buried in dust and dirt over the months. He doesn’t notice it.

EXT – TANAH AIR STREET – DAY

FATHER has his back turned. He’s working on something unseen. Yet he still glances up and down the road searching for his son.

EXT – ROAD – DAY

SON approaches the fork yet again, nothing unusual until he notices the coin protruding from the earth. He picks it up and turns it in his hand. He’s exhausted. A year has now passed since he’s last seen anyone. He misses home and his father. With a sigh he takes his first steps on the path his father walked all those months ago.

EXT – CLEARING – EVENING

Son passes the same spot his father stood worrying for his safety

EXT – TANAH AIR STREET – DUSK

SON walks to his father’s bench. He is visibly older in spirit and age. His body has slightly filled out and now fits perfectly into his robes. He sits beside his father who is still waiting. Neither acknowledges the other much.

FATHER turns to look at his son in relief and tiredness. The past year has been nothing but stress without him. Son is looking ahead of him. FATHER puts his arm around SON and rests it there. FATHER fades. His spirit awaited the return of his son. Once he has completely faded, SON looks up at where his father’s face was. He picks himself up from the low bench and walks off screen. 

Treatment File

Here's my treatment file. Now bare in mind I never really used InDesign before but I just wanted to at least try it instead of just firing it up on the blog. Achieves the same thing in the end really. This will be a bit of a repost, I'm going to include my 3rd poster and Setting Visual Studies as well as the Treatment file.

Also while I remeber here's the link to some of the music I was inspired by.
Lostwinds OST

Characters

So these are the final character designs for my short. I'm still having some difficulty drawing them for the side. Especially Father. But I'll keep trying. Their colour schemes haven't been decided on yet either. I want father to be mainly red/ brown to symbolize power and strength. And Son will be some where in the reigon of yellow to green with a splash of purple to throw off the eye. Make him uneasy to look at. 

Cowboy Bebop - Scene Analyisis

Characters

Only one of the main cast makes an appearance in this scene and that's Jet. He doesn't change much other than we get a little bit of back story on him and find out he was once a cop and quit because of all the corruption in the force. Other than that we meet Bob a cop and friend of Jets. There's also the characters that appear in the movie the pair are watching. There is something a little strange about the way they are drawn. Their eyes seem a little too close together. I think this might be because they are a Japanese portrayal of American people and a slight dig. 

Setting

The setting does little to push the story forward although it does inform the scene. The movie that's playing in the drive in theater is an old western involving cowboys and sheriffs There's the obvious connection to the title in "cowboys" as well as the sheriff and Jet are linked. By the end the sheriff has quit in the film just as Jet is explaining that he once quit the force as well. The white glow from the movie screen gives Jet and Bob a white glow as if it were a flash back. And Jet is slightly reminiscent about his days as a cop.

Mise-en-scene

As I have said the cowboy western film on screen reflects Jet's back story. Also we again see influences from 90s American cop films in the pair chatting drinking coffee. A beverage that has become associated with American police. 

The panning shots of the area seem to be showing the huge variation in modes of transport that have arrived in 2071. There can be seen cars with wheel and what look like space ships/ rockets.

Camera

1. long/ over the shoulder
2. close up
3. close up
4. close up
5. group close up
6. close up from low angle
7. over shoulder
8. explanation
9. pan and zoom
10. establishing
11. establishing
12. over the shoulder
13. head shot
14. over the shoulder

I think these shots were chosen to slow the film down and allow the viewer to concentrate on what Jet and Bob are talking about.

Sound

Through out the film music is evocative of 90s American movies. But the music kind of seems to play along with what's happening on screen as well as what Jet and Bob are talking about. There's a kind of "Dun dun duuuuun" rise when Bob reveals there's something more sinister about the tankard explosion. 

At one point we can also hear cheering but it is ambiguous in whether it's coming from the crowd in the film or the crowd in the theater. I think it's coming from the crowd in the theater. It's just that little bit more clear than the sound from the film. It kind of reminds me of hearing about old movie theaters when the the crowd would interact more with the movie. Cheering on the good guy and hissing at the bad guy.