Unit 2.1 Advanced and Experimental 3D Computer Animation Techniques – Project 2, week 4.
Project Design
Project Name (TBC): Phantom Presence, Building a Presence Test. Testing the Phantom. Lantern. The ghost. Gone shadow and constant light. Hope and Vision.
Project/Animation Name:
Hope and Vision
Themes
- On and off-screen narrative interaction.
- Presence/lack of presence. The built up suggestion of a presence through on and off-screen interaction.
- Comparison between two stimuli of different settings (a mood/scene set and a reaction that the audience interprets).
Setting
Exterior:city street. or country pathway. Unsure about the environment yet, however at this stage it doesn’t really matter. I am only testing the premise for the Final Major Project, so a similar environment would suffice. Also, to keep things simple, I will simply add planes with textures as the background and ground. Then, using lighting and a HDRI or physical sky, as well as soft focus on the camera, the aesthetics should be more appealing. As well as, closer to my FMP design plan.
Workflow Plan
Maya – model, rig, Uv, Texture Animate the character and camera.
Substance Painter and Photoshop – Texture.
Arnold – render (including the render farm).
Link to project notes/ showing progress to tutor: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOxxu9CQ=/
Design/ Story
Story Board/ Script
(the camera is always on the dog)
- Establishing shot/ pan onto camera.
- Camera standing still, sniffing floor.
- Dialogue off-screen “Oh! there is a doggy over there” or “Hello, little doggy” (a greeting that can be repeated). Dog is attentive. After pause, the dog starts walking forwards towards the voice.
- Dialogue line is repeated. Dog shows no change . Keeps walking forward. Dog is observing the voice/presence. Head moves up as the voice gets closer.
- Psychological interaction= “How about I give you a treat?”.
- Physical interaction= donut comes into the screen. Character turns its head away. Donut exists screen.
- Emotional interaction= “Where did you come from little guy” (clarify gender is male). “Do you have a home?”.
- Long pause where the dog performs ‘sad’, head down, sit down?
- Shot zooms out to reveal empty space (no source of the voice). Dog looks around? (to indicate empty space. How far should I zoom out?
Dialogue Lines
The dialogue lines in part 1 will be repeated with the same animation with different lines three times. Then the narrative to part 2…
Part 1- repeated visuals (same reactions) with different dialogue styles.
- “Oi, what’s this mutt doing here?” Obnoxious, harsh, loud, and rude.
- “Sigh, why does a dog have to be here, now.” Despondent, melancholy, quieter?
- “It’s okay. Come here, little doggy.” Comforting voice, a calming voice that tames an animal.
Part 2- continues after the repeats.
- “How about I give you a treat? Ah, dogs can’t eat donuts.”
- “Where do you come from?” Pitiful.
- “Do you have a home?” Hopeful.
Composition/Environment Design
The character will be not move, only the environment will move to the correct speed. This is since, I can make sure to simplify the practical application of my techniques and camera work. For example, with this method, the camera movement and lighting will be centred around the character, without needing to adjust for the character’s movements. I can quickly interchange the camera shots where necessary with editing. This method should make the process faster than moving the character.
Rough notes: On treadmill- dog is not moving, only the ground and wall will move. Need room for the end reveal in the environment. Need to time the stops and start right- the feet and the treadmill speed. BG = two planes, one for the ground and one for a BG wall -add simply material texture from online. Wall = Brick wall or fence with hill in BG. Ground = Gravel, concrete, dirt. The Background environment will have to be a physical object close to the character, e.g. a brick wall, instead of e.g. an open field.
Camera
I imagine the dog is facing right, with the camera mostly on a front-right position on the character (right by the characters body). The camera can track onto the character with a sideways pan. Experimentation will begin with sideways view, slight perspective or frontal views, to see which perspective will suit the test animation best. The narrative will begin with a wide full shot, then when the narrative begins to get more eventful, I can experiment with the camera shot types.
Lighting
Simple, will experiment more with this in my FMP. Right now I have other experiments to focus on. A sky dome with HDRI, and three point lighting should suffice. I would like to add one like source as the main understood light source in the scene (e.g. the sun or a lamp). Then the other two can have complimentary colours that change the characters colour on the part that it shines on. For example, bright blue or red.
Presence/ Lack of Presence Theme Notes
Since the presence is announced through audiovisual stimulus and other interaction then that creates the presence/ character (what ever it is). However, was it ever really there? Does the presence only truly exist if the on-screen protagonist acknowledges or interactions with it. What if at the end of the narrative, after all of that build up of the presence, there is a reveal that shows that there wasn’t any presence or character off-screen. Even though the character interacted with it previously. What does that say about the character’s purpose/ state of mind or hopes/wants/desires by acknowledging the presence that wasn’t there. Perhaps the protagonist wishes that they were there.
Aesthetics/ Style
The style is not necessary to think about too seriously as this is only the testing phase. I can keep the style of the character the same. The scenery can simply be textured with, for example a brick wall and a concrete floor. Need to think more about the setting to suit the textures accordingly.
Mock Environment
This is a test to experiment with placement and composition. The floor and wall will move and the character will stay still, when there is a walk cycle for example. I will need more space to move the camera, in the instance that I need a from view shot, or to zoom out. I will definitely need to zoom out when I reveal the non-existent presence, so the floor should be wider.
Notes after talking with tutor
The first 20-30 seconds camera simply tracks the character with pans.. Then juxtapose with more camera movements later. whip off and on the cam. Camera ‘falls asleep’, tilts, then goes back quickly. Whip pan +sleep rotation=jolt for when the first dialogue line is said. Make Camera and character timing test. Give a lot of breathing room for timing- time before each thing and after each action.
I could immerse the audience for a long time of the dog searching/sniffing the ground, before the other more interesting narrative elements happens.
Priority: Complete the simplest and most manageable animation first, to make sure that I have enough time. Then expand on it afterwards.
Camera Position, Angle and Movement at the Moment of the Reveal. Notes:
- Front view?
- Quick wide zoom out?
- Top shot – jarring effect.
- Intentional showing off the scene in maya.