Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage - Sounds

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage - Reflective Statement

This project has proven difficult and has required the previous skills that have been developed over the course of the year. While a final product has been created in time for the client it has been difficult to keep up with all the work required for the course. Looking at other course members both past and present has helped to inspire and drive my work. Areas that I have found exceedingly difficult have included time management and Maya. Alongside this I have not posted as much in comparison to the previous projects and it has shown. 

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage - Art Of

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage (final animation)

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Progress update 4

Hopefully I will be able to move onto sound soon

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Progress update 3

All of the Maya has been completed and the voice has been added. Small details still missing include some transitions, sounds and several additional layers.

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Progress update 2

The majority of the animation has been completed. With the lack of Maya at home it has been a struggle to complete most of the work load but it has been possible. Currently only a few scenes are missing including the G2 and S phase. Additionally the voice has arrived with multiple takes. The final takes have been selected and cut. Finishing touches visually include correcting the colour, changing the transitions and adding titles to the scenes.

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Art of Progress 1

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Progress update 1

It has been a while since this blog has been updated, currently several seconds of the animation have been completed and rendered. Cyril has been completely finished and rigged. Alongside Cyril props such as the school, book and pencils have been modelled. While a large majority of the animation has yet to be finished the scene below has been completed. Despite this I have realised that the scenes will have to be re-rendered as they are not sRGB gamma colour corrected. Alongside this a voice actor has been hired and will have the voice completed by the 30th.

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Script

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Pitch Reflection

Reception

I was pleased with the reception from the pitch. The main character Cyril was well received by the client and the concept of using a school setting was liked for its inclusion of humour and sense of nostalgia. 

However there will have to be a number of improvements and changes including the removal of the G0 phase and inclusion of digetic sounds to increase tension during the exam such as the clicking of the clock and pencils scratching on the paper. Additionally the paper must be animated so that it appears to be flipped through during the text book stages to make the animation more fluid. The dialogue must be revised in order to create a sense of school nostalgia and colloquialism giving Cyril more character. The world that Cyril is based in must also make use of more vibrate and saturated colours giving a more cartoon feel while making the others de-saturated to draw attention to Cyril. Finally the ending must have a better conclusion either with Cyril "remarking" at his joy of starting school again or restarting and reverting back to his former self.

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Pitch

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Healthy Cell Finished (Protagonist)

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Healthy Cell Thumbnails (Protagonist)

Colour coming soon 

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, OGR 1

Story Telling and Commission: Fantastic Voyage, Initial Research

The given age group for this brief was for a student of GCSE level education. This means that the age range will typically be of 14-16 years depending on the school. While the aim personally is to create an animation that is aimed at teenagers the video must retain enough clarity to be understood by a younger audience (11 years old as requested by client).  

In terms of animations that have been geared towards teenagers there is a large variety of styles and settings. This can be traced back to the introduction of various media used to created entertainment aimed at adults. Good examples that have helped to open up animation towards adults and the wider audience include “South Park”, “Simpsons” and “Diara”. “South Park” was discussed as highly controversial with its humour written for more mature audience containing large amounts of racism, violence and sexual themes. This humour is conveyed through the more simplistic cartoon characters that had been cut out from paper which would be related to more childish programs.

As a result there is a large plethora choice in art style for the animation. However there is an aim to retain a simpler art style that is commonly enjoyed by all age groups. Inspiration was originally taken from Channel 4’s “It’s Pay Back Time” cancer trailer, promoting funding against cancer through the use of animation. The way that the animation had been rendered is that of a more realistic art style producing a rather unique piece, despite this it is the choice in shapes for the characters and environments that is the focus. In terms of how the world will actually be rendered inspiration will be taken from more flat forms of animation. These will include animation such as “Dumb Ways to Die”, “Bob’s Burgers” and “The Mr Men Show”.

The age group that has been chosen not only has access to a large amount of animation art styles but also story settings. A large number of TV shows aimed at this age group consists of more relatable characters with more unique twists. In terms of GCSE a relatable environment would be that of school and has been commonly explored by a number of programs and will be the selected environment for the animation. In terms of the setting the target audience will be able to understand the context of the animation. The school theme will be carried out with the various stages such as G1 being a class for education on how a cell should grow and replicate and the various checkpoints being a school test that must be completed. As cells reproduce a number of times other elements from “Road hog Day” could be included.

Some Animations

Bob’s Burgers

Simpsons

Futurama

Samurai Zack

Links

YouTube dumb ways to die

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw

YouTube the Mr men show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmFZkio8Qoo

YouTube BBC cancer animation, pay back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ0aksbiiXw