7x7 | Friday 17th September 2010

Nutshell - Made storyboards and from that we made a list of stuff to do....things changed in the storyboards after reading the text which meant we had to add and take away from the list of stuff to do. Ow yer, we also did a test.

(hey! by clicking on the pictures and scans it helps you see better!)
 

This text is from the above scans...

Me & Luke came together to talk about storyboards (we had said we were going to have a think over the two days off and draw up sum ideas) 

I pitched my ideas and worked off them, we got a first draft storyboard done which we could then tweak if necessary.

From looking at the storyboards I made a list of stuff we would need to green screen eg: trees, snow etc. A list of what we would need to animate eg: walk cycle, backgrounds etc. and lastly a list of stuff we will ask the illustrators to make for us. we decided that we would ask if we could draw some of the stuff because we thought that the list I made was too big, so to take the weight off them we would do a bit.

When talking with Chris we decided we decided that reading the text might alter somethings, which it would. ***just to point out, we did want to read the text from the start, but the illustrators didnt have a copy, I e-mails one of them to get it off them, but only got a reply after we read it on this day***

We realized the protagonist actually walks up stairs before falling down them, we had storyboards for him walking towards stairs, wanting to go down them, and slipping. So we went back to the storyboards and changed that, plus added stuff which became apparent once we had read it. ***the illustrators told us that it was a 'crap' story and I actually gave up reading half way, Luke picked up on most of the stuff which we added the the storyboards***

We also did one test to see how one of the more complicated shots would work, it worked well! and now we have a good motive to carry on with the project. When things start getting dry something that looks good boosts the moral of the team!

Next Tuesday we will pitch storyboards to illustrators and show the tests we did and ask them to make some of the things we made a list of. were hoping for a final design for the protagonist off them, fingers crossed as they didn't seem too organized at the first meeting (suppose we have to take into account that they have a lot of shit to do, or maybe I'm being too soft!)  

 

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These are my storyboards which i came up with on the days off before the Friday session, which I pitched to Luke..

 From looking at the above storyboards, I made these lists below...

Once we'd read the text, theses changes were made...

Test of walk down street....

7x7 | Tuesday 14th September 2010

Nutshell - Met the illustrators (Dan Hodgkinson & Stephen Nuttall) for the first time,

(do some clicking to make the pictures n' scans bigger!)

This text is from the above scan (my writing is atrocious) it gets straight to it...

Guys had done seprate illustrations, one had got the breif alot later that the other (due to him only joining the coarce this year) so they hadn't collabrated.
Me n' Luke looked at two seprate styles (which were in no way the same) both had taken totally different appraoches
We liked aspects of one, and loved other bit of the other (we didnt want to upset any on!) So, we came to the conclusion, which everyone was happy with, of having the illustrators go and work on a style which we can work with which uses bits of each of their work.
We decided on the illustrators working on a 'merged' style because of the vision of the MI we had created in are heads from discussion between all four of us.

For Tuesday next week (21st) the illustrators will have come up with a character based on both styles/ to fit the mood and time of the peace. ***sorry, I'm going to butt in here and explain that the bit saying 'mood and time' is reffering to the convosating we had that day which i forgot to write about... they were telling us about the period it was set in, Edwardian/Victorian like, and that it was a dark story (Tim Burton like)***
Me and Luke will have a rough storyboard and animatics ready to show them.

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This is what they showed us on the day...

This first set of illustrations are Stephen Nuttall's. I like the character, but me and Luke both agreed we didn't like the boot.

These two are Dan Hodgkinson's which have a nice style which were thinking of using. But we need to incorporate both styles, so lets hope that come up with something nice.

7x7 | William Morris

One of the illustrators main influences on his illustrations was william morris, heres some of his work.......william morris that is...

were hoping to put these sorts of pattens in the animation....we haven't got much detail in the animation, for instance, in one shot which pans up a staircase we will have the illustration of the staircase then the background will be the william morris like pattern.


Maybe something like this....we'll see what the illustrators give us....if they ever do

7x7 | Layers/ '2 and a half D'

Suppose this is 2 and a half D, but I thought that the layer element is necessary for what we plan to do.

watch from 4.45, that's what i'm talking about....

You will not believe your eyes

There's an offer on at tescos right, £5 off when you spend more than £25 on clothing. These leaflets were everywhere, all over the tills and stuff...

so when looking at one (whilst doing no work) i made a discovery..........the pound sign has a cat in it.

Now look at it from a side and you'll see it...i think

YOU CANT SAY THATS NOT A CAT.....here's proof, on some till roll.

You'll never see the pound symbol in the same way ever again.

7x7 | Before we knew anything...well we knew a few things

So we know what the brief is, don't know what much else yet....waiting patiently for tuesday.

 errrrr i was browsing youtube today and ended up watching 13 documentaries on each beatles album (4 minuets each) they came out in 2009 with the remastered albums.

I thought when watching them that this would be kinda relevant to this 7x7 brief. For every documentary they animate the album covers which looks cheesy on sum albums (Abbey Road) but worked on others (Revolver).

But the main thing to take from this is that every album cover is unique and most of them are well remembered, from the photograph taken at EMI's Manchester building on 'Please Please Me' to the artwork by Klaus Voormann on 'Revolver'.
The stuff we will be getting from the illustration pathway (from what i saw from the '6x6' booklet) could be limes with lips (photograph....kinda....will using realistic imagery) to guys with guns (flat imagery, like cartoon...ish) and from the videos below of two of the beatles albums (revolver and Abbey road) one being a photograph and one being a collage/ drawing could be helpful when finding out what we have to work with and how to bring stuff to life for 20 seconds.

The 'Moving Image' Industry | North West | kilogramme

kilogramme have worked closely with Firestep (another company I looked at) and from looking at their website and there animations on Vimeo I'm liking there stuff!

There logo (top) dosnt do them any justice, they look real fun if you go on their website.....HERE!

Also, they worked on the doctor who animated serie. No client list is given but the BBC will be one of them also firtstep, Oxfordshire DAAT, Leadforce and French Colwell (which can be viewed below...second video)

Here's something from Vimeo...


Christmas card from Kilogramme on Vimeo.



Leadforce from Kilogramme on Vimeo.


This shows how diverse they are, style wise, which i like. And also it shows that they dont just do adverts, they also have fun which is shown in 'Christmas card' which wasn't created for anyone but themselves, and it actually got nominated for an award (big chips)

The 'Moving Image' Industry | North West | Milky Tea

This liverpool based company, founded in 2005, specialize in; 3D, visual effects, animation and illustration.


Clients include...

>BBC
>Starbucks
>Liverpool JMU
>Fruit Boost
>Team a Go-Go

and loads more...


They strive for client satisfaction, but still, by understanding the brief they'll craft it into a decent idea and make somthing visually exciting, whether that be an illustration an animation ect..

They work fast, because there an advertising agency, but the look on some of the work they produce is really good.