@Phil Minor Project: 6 Chosen animals

Here are the 6 chosen animals along with the drawings and speech provided. Once these are polished I intend to send these to voiceover artists. 

Bird

"I see my anxiety as a bird. It starts off smaller in size, sits on your shoulder and makes your feel irritable. It doesn’t really want to hurt you; it thinks it’s protecting you but it becomes a nuisance and pecks away at you. Over time it grows into something unbearable and you feel it weighing you down. It uses it’s claws to perch above and prey on you, figuring out the best way to change you and carry you off into a different direction."

Deer (Doe)

"The first thing that comes to mind is a doe. They're very quiet and gentle but it's their weakness because that's what makes them weak and an easy target to hunters? They seem to always be on edge and over aware like they're expecting something to jump out and attack any moment. They don't have the large antlers to defend themselves, sometimes I think that's how I feel not being able to speak out and defend myself. I just freeze a bit. Like a deer in the headlights. I find doe when you look at them they seem calm and unaware, but when they know you're looking they run."

Snake

"I would probably say that my anxiety would be best represented by a snake. There are some days where it's only a small little thing, but then there are other days when it grows into this huge beast. Like a snake, and with myself being the "prey", it coils itself around me, to constrict me. Its suffocating and unbearable. And the poisonous bite that it marks me with can leave me feeling cold and bitter towards the world. This cold blooded creature only cares for itself, but it pretends that it cares for me, that it's the only one that understands me, that I can't trust anyone else and that I must succumb to it."

Spider 

"I think the Ocyale Guttata Spider is the best representation of my anxiety because it's a deadly creature and is near impossible to spot just like anxiety, you're aware it's out there somewhere but unsure as to where exactly it is and when you may step on it or aggravate it, I could be walking somewhere feeling completely fine and the next minute it comes out of nowhere leaving me confused and irritable, it's sole purpose is to paralyse and consume me, bit by bit."

Armadillo

"I see my anxiety as an armadillo. It tries to hide itself by curling in a ball, but I know that it is always there in some form or another. Some days it might hide as much as it can but it never truly goes away, it just takes shelter. At times it may come out but it always finds itself going and retreating to the back of my mind. It always nags and eats away at you and sometimes you don't notice it because of it hiding away."

Ferret

"I never really thought about what animal I might be most like let alone my anxiety to be manifested as one but the more I thought about it the more a ferret made sense, ferrets are generally quite timid and shy almost scared of everything and even if they like you they'll still bite you even though they didn't mean too and hurt the people they care about. On the other hand when they're comfortable they're happy and running around and don't have a care in the world and just want to give love and for others to be as happy as they are."

Next is to find voice actors to read these texts and to begin translating these characters into 3D models.

@Phil Minor Project: Creative writing task

As Phil asked previously I've completed a short creative writing task trying to visualise Anxiety. 

Anxiety is the feeling you get when you trip and fall but you don’t stop falling. It smothers you in fear, doubt and undermines the person that you are. It’s loud and will attempt to block you out as much as possible, telling you you’re not capable of tasks that you want to do. It’s incredibly clever, it sneaks up on you and will pick slowly at you until you notice it. It’s annoying and will consistently try to get your attention, it’s difficult to block it out. Sometimes anxiety takes a holiday, those days are the nicest because you feel like you’re free and there’s no weight on your shoulders.  If anxiety took a physical form I’d imagine it as a bird. Consistently chirping and pecking away at a person. It’d sit on your shoulder and cause a fuss when you had something important to do. It’d have fairly big wings, large enough to block the paths you wanted to go down. When it feels like it’s done its job it’d fly away and migrate until the next time.

@Alan Rethinking Year 3 Idea

Although I liked the idea of working with Lemurs as characters I felt that's all that was pushing my idea and a story wasn't coming naturally to me.

I didn't feel like I was a strong storywriter so instead I looked into some unfamilar short stories. I tried to pick stories with interesting characters as this is something that appeals to me.

Here are some of the stories I have found appealing:

"The Little Green Monster"

(Haruki Murakami)

Synopsis: A monster burrows up into a woman's garden, breaks into her house, and proposes love. The creature can read her mind and she uses this fact to fight against it.

I found this story interesting because it reminded me of receiving unwanted attention. The ending involves the creature being tortured (by the womans mind) and the woman firmly stating that his proposal was unwanted. If I choose this idea I'd like to change this ending slightly to make it more appropriate for children.

"The Tale of the Rainbow Cat"

(Miyahara Kōichirō)

Synopsis: A mischievous rainbow cat visits a wedding in the clouds and tricks a Thunder God.

I felt that the character design for this story would be particularly interesting. Also I feel like the rainbow cat would be an appealing character for children. Not much about this story would have to be changed.

"The Tidy Drawer"

(Mo McAuley)

Synopsis: Abby is told to tidy up by her mother but when she's cleaned up and about to collect her reward they find fun things in the tidy drawer.

This story has an interesting premise and shows children that it can be fun to do things such as tidy up. 

I personally think that both the Tale of the Rainbow Cat and The Tidy Drawer would both be fun to adapt, the Rainbow Cat has more interesting characters however I think the Tidy Drawer is better in terms of story. I'd like to know peoples thoughts on which story they'd like to see.

@Alan Third Year Project: Story ideas and Art direction

So my Premise for this story essentially is a lemur leaving it's troop of lemurs, with lemurs being highly social animals I felt like this was an interesting story to follow. 

I have two main ideas for the story but I'd like an extra opinion, I'm also not sure about whether my lemurs should talk in my animation and how many I should have. Troops often have 7-10 lemurs but I think 5-7 simple but characterful models are a more reasonable target.

Idea 1 - Baby lemur accidentally leaves group

Rosalyn brought a book called Once Upon a cloud to my attention. In the book the girl wants to find the perfect gift for her mother. This story idea follows a similar plot.

A version of the story can be found in the youtube video below.

A baby lemur, just leaving it's mother and able to look out for itself wants to show it's troop that it's a capable lemur. It decides that it will catch some food for it's mother which is the troop leader. While on the ground with it's troop it discovers a cicada/butterfly and chases after it so it can give it to it's mother. The baby lemur has a fun time chasing the insect but then realises it's lost and must find it's troop. 

Idea 2 - Young lemur leaves group feeling left out

A young lemur appears to be born without any rings on it's tail. This makes the lemur feel unwanted in it's troop and therefore it leaves. Later on his rings come in, this is how the troop find it and they feel bad for making fun of it.

I prefer idea 1, but I'm happy to work with either idea.

Lemurs come from Madagascar so I looked into the culture and art to help find an art direction for this project.

This influence map shows some work by malagasy artists. They tend to use bright colours in their work. 

Malagasy people often make their own textiles. They wear them as Lamba. These often feature bright, colourful patterns. 

I also put the influence map through a colour palette picker to determine which colours were the strongest in these pieces. Orange and Blue seem to be key colours in the work.

Third Year Project Idea: Lemurs!

This idea started it's life as a trip to ZSL London Zoo. An exhibit there had a walk in lemur section in which you could see ringtailed lemurs. I didn't really know much lemurs and I was fascinated by them. I've included some of my excited shots of them below!

During the ideas surgery on Monday I mentioned these lovely creatures as being a starting point in which I was asked to look into them further and question what if these things were different. 

Lemur Facts

• Lemurs are small primates that are mammals 
• Lemurs are only found in Madagascar and Comoro Island
• Some Lemurs are Herbivores and some are Omnivores
• Most lemurs are Arboreal meaning they stay in the trees, apart from the ringtailed lemurs which search the ground for food
• Some lemurs like the dwarf mouse and aye-aye are nocturnal
• They have pointed noses and a good sense of smell
• Lemurs are highly social creatures
• They live in troops of 7-10 Lemurs with a female leader
• Ringtailed lemurs use their tails to help stay within sight of each other
• Lemurs are endangered because people want them as pets and their habitat is shrinking

From these facts I wondered what would happen if a lemur accidentally wondered from their group?

I can only imagine being the social creatures they are they'd look for this lemur. 

Then I thought about the lemur itself and why it might wonder in the first place. I thought what if this lemur was a baby and excited about exploring it's world. 

Premise

I would like to tell the story of a mischievous baby lemur that wonders from it's troop. It would go on an amazing adventure with some perils along the way but eventually find it's way home to the troop.

Adaptation A: Pitch

In todays briefing I picked out the sentence "Creative ways to ______".  Below I've written some of my initial ideas down. 

Out of the 30 ideas I have however my Top Ten are: 

1. Die
2. Commit Murder
3. Travel
4. Propose
5. Recycle
6. Answer the Phone
7. Organise Belongings
8. Exercise
9. Spend your time
10. Make Friends

I think that with research the top 4 will be most interesting but I'm interested in hearing feedback!

Narrative: Revised Script

Narrative Script (Revised)

I swapped a task with Max and wrote up a revised script. I'd like opinions on this as I want to make sure everyone is happy with this, the sooner changes are made (if necessary), the better. I think possibly the middle could be a problem? I'm worried it may not fit in with Tonal Montage, but I'm mainly imagining this being edited to music.

Character: Refinement of Ideas

With my three cards in mind my idea is now taking shape. My game will be a video game in which the player makes choices to determine their alignment and morality within the game. The crime aspect of my game will mostly be reflected in the games villain and environment. The environment will be a city overrun with crime, it will be dark and dim and reflect those of a lower morality. The resistance of the game will come from the main character, who is a member of a resistance and is fighting to win back the city from crime.

The characters within my game will be animals, I wanted a less serious tone as I felt that serious crime stories were a little overdone.

In terms of my characters I'm thinking of designing the crime boss and two members of the resistance.

Character 1 - "The Codfather"

Who: Leader of the Mafia.
Why: Wants power over people.
Where: Lives in the Criminal city which he controls.
How: Controls the city by manipulating people.

The Codfather is a codfish that is to be feared. Manipulative and unmoral, he resists the law. He will do anything to get what he wants.

Character 2 - "The  Vigilante/ Hero"

Who: An average citizen of city that takes the law into their own hands.
Why: They want to make the city a safe place, especially after her friend has gone missing.
Where: Lives underneath the city.

The Vigilante, although their actions are not legal, is trying to make the city a better place. Leading a resistance underneath the city, they strives to make the city a better place.

Possible Animals: Fox, Rabbit, Badger

Character 3 - "The Sidekick/ Secondary Hero"

The third character will possess similar goals to the hero but I'm also playing with the idea of an interchangeable hero. If this third character was a sidekick they'd also possess an underground quality however their talents would be used to help feed information as opposed to fighting, etc. If this character was a secondary interchangeable hero then they'd be an animal with the ability to climb and would scout the city from above instead therefore the player would have the choice on the playstyle they'd like to use.

Possible Animals: Badger, Mole, Shrew /  Cat, Squirrel, Raccoon

Narrative: Script

Narrative Script

Fantastic Voyage: Jam Jar Science final script

Jam Jar Science Final Script

@Phil Fantastic Voyage: Script third draft

It's possible that I've found a voiceover artist for my animation so I went back and tidied up my script, if anyone knows anything I could change then please let me know! 

Jam Jar Science script third draft

Fantastic Voyage: Revised script

After the pitch I changed my script to now include a voiceover for the quiz (with an incorrect answer). I've also added in a reward system for players to unlock new jam jars. It's also now clearer as to what happens in Act 2 as we now go inside the body cell. I also spoke to some peers after the pitch and they suggested that it might be a good idea to be able to move the influenza at somepoint.

Fantastic Voyage: Story outline and Script first draft

I wanted my three acts to represent different parts of the lifecycle and based them upon Transmission, Replication and Preventing Flu.

Act 1- Transmission

Basically summarizes how flu gets into our bodies.

Act 2- Replication 

Shows the user how the flu cell is replicated and how it can take over the body.

Act 3- Preventing Flu

Shows how to prevent flu by taking flu shots and washing your hands.

Jam Jar Science script first draft

This is my rough draft for my script, I expect it will change as I storyboard.

Fantastic Voyage: Idea development and influence maps

After speaking with Phil I've developed the idea I had. The influenza would still be kept in a jar but instead of being in a sweetshop it would be a specimen jar on a shelf as if someone was collecting bits of science. The animation itself could work as an appification and show someone using an app and selecting the Jam Jar with Influenza in. By choosing this Jar they'd learn about the life cycle and that a flu shot is available to be taken. By presenting the virus this way it makes science seem fun like a 'pick and mix sweet shop'. I still plan on basing my art direction on sweets and generally giving it a soft and sweet look. 

Here are some of the influence maps I've put together. 

Fantastic Voyage: Developing my first idea

When I was thinking about my initial ideas I came up with the idea of using sweets as the influence for the designs because of the way it looks. I was worried however about the best way to show this to children because if I'm not careful they could be scared by the virus or think influenza is a good thing because it's like a sweet.

Rather than the typical setting of the body I'd like to instead explain it using a Sweet Shop which could seem less intimidating for children. The parts of the body would be inside jars and then as a possible story idea through some kind of event they would fall and influenza would be able to infect cells? As the cells get worn out they would rot.

I looked into the kind of cells that might be found in the respiratory system and thought about possible sweets to base them off, I thought normal cells looked like licorice for example. The sketches above were just there to help me picture what my mix of cells might look like. I also sketched out a rough sweet shop however I'd like to research this further as I think a vintage sweet shop design would work really well. 

I think this idea could work but it still needs development in terms of story and needs more research into the environment and how well it could link into representing the human body. I'm thinking of ideas such as my sweet shop could have a staircase based on a DNA strand. 

Fantastic Voyage: Initial thoughts

After the briefing today and watching the videos provided here are some of my initial thoughts for this project. 

While watching the videos I bullet pointed some notes:

I'm mostly interested in the Influenza and Slime Mold life cycles at this stage. I think I'll be aiming my animation towards school children though I'm not sure which age range yet.

I've also done bits of research into styles and thought that using a '2D looking' environment would not only be interesting but also simple enough for children to engage with. 

 

In the game 'Child Of Light' this works pretty successfully as the environment is 3D yet all looks handpainted. If I choose to do this kinda of texturing I'd like to almost create a 3D college and take influences from monoprinting but making sure it's colourful and engaging for my target audience.

I quite liked how Dr Klappa referred to the influenza as looking like a 'sweet chestnut' and I'm thinking about an idea of having sweets represent the cells within the body. This may be a more cozy way for children to learn about the virus and it also allows for the animation to be colourful and appealing.

FSTS: Character Bios

Character: The Fisherman
Species: Alien
Appearance: Has green skin, somewhat round and tubby, wears a spacesuit and a helmet.
Qualities: Good at collecting items and putting them together.
Other info: Lives at the spacestation and fishes there for a living.

Character: The Fish
Species: Fish
Appearance: Wears a space helmet, large and orange.
Qualities: Intelligent and cunning.

FSTS: Final Script

Deep Space Fishing final script

FSTS: Script 3rd draft

FSTS: Script second draft

Fisherman vs Fish second draft

Second draft of my script, added in some of the changes the storyboard brought up. I also need to consider some more titles, the one I have is too simple.