Narrative - Hotel Hallway Concept

I have been working on an environment concept, in most of our animatics so far we have had shot moving down a hallway moving towards the door. When i started working on the concept i realised i was making it too realistic for Sam's detective's style so i toned it down with lighting and really exaggerated the the expressionist angles on the doors. The final touch was to add a blue tint as an overlay to make the grey tones feel more cold and icy creating a ghostly atmosphere.

Reference Images

1930's Art Deco Carpet

Hallway reference for perspective.

30's Art Deco light for reference.

Mini House Sketch Jam - Character Faces

Working on character faces and expressions and finding a way to exaggerate them as well as adopting a style recommended by Lyn-Dae. The style above works by using shapes and making a face to fit within the shape using simple line features. After copying a couple of the drawings I managed to create a few interesting faces of my own using the same shapes, even flipping one of them upside down.    

Character Design - Bryon Lyonard Development

 

 Moving on from my last stage I have decided to make him more skinny to find a body shape that is more 'geeky' looking. I have also been looking at archaeologist/safari type clothing influenced by the 1930's similar to Indiana Jones that has influenced modern male fashion, like the examples above. I have not really been thinking of time period in which my character is living in but the stereotypical image of an archaeologist comes from the 1930's. As my story has a sci-fi element with cyborgs maybe making him a futuristic archaeologist so mixing this 1930's look with a cyber aesthetic edge.   

Character Design - Cyborg Alchemy Silhouettes

In previous projects I feel my most interesting characters came from overlapping shapes and creating silhouettes from objects so I think this will push me towards more interesting designs. For my cyborgs it would make sense for them to be made from a combination of random machine parts. Over the summer I downloaded Alchemy which has a selection of machine parts plugged into it, after playing around with the shapes for a while I managed to create some strong robot silhouettes to start from to develop. The next step is going to be importing my own images into the program so I can create a different type of robotic silhouette.

   

Character Design - Hero Development Cont.

Echoing what I started I sketched out a few more faces beginning to think what other features and clothing  say archaeologist. The most iconic examples are Indiana Jones and Lara Croft there clothing seem to be very simple piratical and neutral colours and not forgetting the hat. For audiences to know straight away this guy is an archaeologist I feel that I may have to use allude to these already iconic characters in my characters clothing.

The image above is a more finalised step towards my character thinking about the pose clothes. The figure is not exaggerated and is very generic (a guy in an Indiana Jones costume! grrrr :( ) but it is going in the right direction as basis to diverse from. I need to find a more inventive way to create interesting figures because I feel that drawing like this is not working for me. 

Character Design - Hero Sketches and Ideas

I have been thinking about what sort of character my hero is going to be, I know in my story that he is not your typical hero straight off, not till he finds the stone that transforms him into a macho anthropomorphic being that gives him powers. I have chosen him to transform into a lion because they are very protective and territorial animals because he is going to defend earth against cyborgs.

He is an archaeologist therefore he will be intelligent possibly a bit geeky and a bit of an outcast with great passion for adventures, searching for his big break, like the character Milo from Atlantis for example. With this knowledge in mind I will want his physic to be skinny, have a geeky but strong appearance (square slim face) that resembles features of a lion that will translate when he transforms.

The item that is transforming Bryon is going to be a stone therefore when he transforms he could become a stone like being. To begin looking at facial shapes I have looked at stone and crystal carvings of lions, looking for block shapes to translate into the face that will show similarities between his normal and transformed appearances.    

Female Archaeologist/Explorer  - Possible Side Kick 

After experimenting with various body shapes I developed the one above, it has been the most exaggerated form I have done that I like thus far. I have been struggling with the male body proportions because it is something I have never really tackled in terms of drawing, also in comparison of my knowledge of drawing the female form. I feel that I am wrapped up in the technicalities of understanding the form that I am finding it harder to exaggerate. The figure above I  tried to make him tall and skinny but in the process I gave him big legs and big hands, Justin pointed out that this figure would suggest that the character is likely to do a lot of kicking and fighting with these exaggerated features.

@Justin Character Design - Finalised Story!

The McGuffin


Vis-Stones* - Energy Stones that are created in meteor showers. They are able to connect to the human soul that allow it to transform physical form.

*Vis - Latin for Energy

Villian


N.O.V.A *-  A cyborg race from another universe who can use the Vis-Stones and attach to their machinery to give them power. They are also searching for more stones to power more advanced weaponry.

*(Neohuman Optimised for Vis-Stone Attachment)

Hero


Bryon Lyonard - (The Unwilling Hero)

The Side Kick


Columbus (Monkey) - (Comic Relief)

Synopsis


Thousands of years ago there was a meteor shower that brought Vis-Stones to earth, which were hidden until discovered by archaeologist Bryon Lyonard. The stones when touched by a human turn them into an animal form that lies in their soul. The Vis-Stones are also used by a cyborg race N.O.V.A, who arrive on Earth to harvest the rest of the stones to power their weapons posing a threat to other planets, including Earth. Bryon has to protect his stone because once a bond is made shattering the stone destroys the soul.  It becomes Bryon's duty to find the other stones to stop N.O.V.A to protect the universe.

Narrative - Quick Storyboard

From the beginning of the project we have been talking about one continuous shot leading to the ghost woman on the balcony of the hotel. To give us an idea of what it will look like I put together a quick animatic. Each frame is supposed to continue into the next one so there are no cuts. 

Looking at the animatic if we are to use one long shot we will have to put more inter cutting sequences or add something to the scenes to make them interesting. 

  

'Best Worst Movie' Review (2009)

The 'Best Worst Movie' title goes to Troll 2 (1990) directed by Claudio Fragasso. The documentary explores the cultism behaviour towards a film that has been dubbed as being so bad it is 'good' as it 'Tries to pin down the alchemy that transports a film from reject bin to cult favourite.' (Catsoulis, J (2010)

To readers who are unfamilar with the film this documentary is based upon the story is about a family that go on vacation and end up in a town of goblins disguised as humans who plan to turn them into plants so they can eat them. In the documentary the director is questioned about one of countless flaws in the movie, one of which is why there is no form of troll in the movie despite the name, Fragasso's reply was 'you have no idea.'  Furthermore it does not have any connections to the first movie.

"Troll 2 has become a midnight favorite, and Stephenson looks at the phenomenon while catching up with his profoundly untalented costars and the grouchy Italian director." Jones, J, R (2010)

The Italian director is seen in denial of the film being placed in the 'holy f***ing s***' realm of film, as he believes the film to be a masterpiece about family that is 'emotionally moving'. He truly believed that he 'inspired' people to see the movie as he shakes hands with the fans walking into a showings believing he is being praised for his mastery. Its not until he watches the audiences reaction to the film he comments why do they 'laugh when they are not meant to laugh.' The directors frustration builds up to the point where he lashes out in anger at a cast and crew by calling them 'dogs' at a conference as he blames the failure on the actors bad acting.

"There are movies that are bad. There are movies that are so-bad-they're-good. And then there's Troll 2 -- a movie that's so bad that it defies comprehension." (Henke, K (2008)


They follow one of the staring actors George Hardy as he went on a tour to special organised events where big crowds of the already fans of the cult phenomena, gathered to appreciate the movie where they can revel in its absurdity. At the events they re-enact the scenes that are the most hysterically cheesy which have become iconic amongst the cult. The most remembered and loved is the poorly acted, choreographed and scripted scene between the father and son leaving laughable puzzlement about his parental disciplinary methods.
.  

Although one of the cast refuse to put the film on there resume out of embarrassment, however the film and crew have found a strange claim to fame by making the worst film ever make. Troll 2 is proof that any film can find and audience.

Images

• Image 1: http://impawards.com/2010/best_worst_movie.html
• Image 2:  http://postercabaret.com/the-troll-2-alamo-drafthouse-movie-poster-sold-out.html

Quotes

• J, Catsoulis, 2010. Rotten Tomatoes: New York Times [Online] available at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/best_worst_movie/ Accessed: 12/10/11
• K, Henke, 2008. Troll 2 Review [Online] available at: http://www.mountainx.com/movies/review/troll_2#.TpThrt6Xuso Accessed: 12/10/11
• J. R. Jones, 2010. Chicago Reade: Best Worst Movie [Online] available at: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/best-worst-movie/Film?oid=2135418

Narrative - Hat Silhouettes

Phil commented on my first concept that the woman looked like a pirate, looking back at it I can understand why. The shape of the hat was too bulky and the gloves were too big, I just need to refine the silhouette to make it look feminine and Victorian.

To start, I have been looking at shapes and styles of Victorian hats from images and blocking out some silhouettes, I personally like 6, 7, 8 and 11 but it would be good for other opinions :).      

Character Proportional Sketches

Have been experimenting with character proportions possibilities and comparing them to the size of an average human. 

Character Shapes and Initial Sketches