The Reaper Waits For No One - A student Blog on the creation of a short film.

ALL HANDED IN!

2008-06-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

TODAY I HANDED IN MY FINAL FOLDERS, I NEVER REALISED HOW MUCH WORK I HAD DONE IN ALL FOLDERS. I GOT THIS DONE BY THURSDAY NIGHT AND IT WAS A HUGE RELIEF TO HAND IT IN TODAY.... BUT THEN PROBLEMS STARTED.

I GOT IN AT 11AM AS I PLANNED TO BE DONE BY 12 EVEN THOUGH THE HAND IN WAS PUT BACK TO 4. JOHN AND RACHEL DECIDED NOT TO TURN UP UNTIL HALF 4. I TEXT THEM REPEATEDLY ASKING WHERE THEY WERE AND ALL JOHN WOULD SAY WAS THE FILM IS ALMOST FINISHED, WE'LL BE THERE SOON.

I WAS TOLD THREE TIMES THEY WERE ON THERE WAY BEFORE THEY ACTUALLY WERE.

I WAS WITH RAPHAEL AND WAN AT THIS POINT WHO WERE BOTH WAITING ON JOHN AND RACHEL FOR SCREEN SHOTS TO USE IN THEIR FOLDERS. I ASKED JOHN TO BRING IN THE SCREENSHOTS AND I GOT THE REPLY, I CANT BE BOTHERED TO BRING IN ANY HARD DRIVE OR LAPTOP, IM ONLY BRINGING IN THE FILM ON DVD.

THEY THEN DECIDED TO COME IN AND COMPLAIN ABOUT LACK OF SLEEP, WHICH EVERYONE IS SUFFERING FROM RECENTLY. THEY SAID THERE WERE LOTS OF PROBLEMS WITH THE COMPOSITING THEY WILLINGLY DECIDED TO TAKE ON LAST NIGHT, AND AS THEY DID NOT COME IN I COULD NOT HELP THEM. I OFFERED BUT AS THEY NEVER TOLD ME UNTIL THEY CAME IN AND THEY JUST KEPT MAKING EXCUSES THAT THEY'D BE THERE SOON I FEEL QUITE LEFT OUT OF THIS PART.

SURPRISINGLY JOHN GAVE ME MY HARD DRIVE BACK WITH RENDER SHOTS ON, BUT IT WAS TOO LATE TO GIVE ANYTHING TO WAN OR RAPHAEL AT THAT POINT, AND I FEEL SORRY FOR THEM AND I FEEL I HAVE LET THEM DOWN. WAN HAS DONE AN AMAZING JOB WITH THE DYNAMICS AND RAPHAEL DID A HARD PIECE OF ANIMATION, AND BECUASE JOHN AND RACHEL DIDN'T WANT TO COME IN ANY EARLIER THEY HAVE NOW BOTH LOST OUT.

AFTER WATCHING THE FILM AND STUDYING IT SO I CAN MAKE IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE DEGREE SHOW I WAS SHOCKED, APPAULED AND OUTRAGED.

JOHN OR RACHEL, AND TO BE HONEST ID ASSUME JOHN, HAS MADE SEVERAL CHANGES BEFORE WE RENDERED AND NOT TOLD ME. I HAVE ONLY JUST FOUND OUT AS I STUDIED THE FILM. HE HAS NOT MENTIONED A WORD.

HE HAS DELETED THE TREE FROM OUTSIDE OF THE OLD PEOPLES HOME WHICH I ADDED AS JOHNS MODELS ARE VERY BLOCKY. HE HAS DELETED MY OLD PEOPLE'S SIGN FROM OUTSIDE THE OLD PEOPLE'S HOME AS WELL, WHICH IS THERE TO MAKE IT OBVIOUS OLD PEOPLE INHABIT THAT HOUSE. THE LAMBERT HE APPLIED TO THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS AT THE END IS TRANSPARENT AND IT SHOULDN'T BE. WHEN HE COMPOSITIED THE AFTER EFFECTS ANIMATIONS HE HAS TOTALLY RUINED TWO OF THEM, THEY ARE IN MY FOLDERS AND YOU CAN SEE THEY WORK, BUT SOMEHOW HE'S MADE THEM NOT WORK. I ASKED HIM TO EXTEND THE ERROR SHOT FOR ME FOR A FEW FRAMES AND HE HASN'T.

HE ALSO CHANGED A TABLE IN THE TEA AREA, MINE FOR HIS OWN, WHICH IS OUT OF PROPORTION (THE LOWER HALF WOULD NOT BE REALISTIC, THE WOOD IS TOO THICK), HIS ANIMATION OF THE OLD LADY WITH THE ZIMMER FRAME, HER HANDS GO THROUGH HER ZIMMER FRAME, THE OLD ARMY MAN HE ANIMATED DROPS THE GRENADE WHEN ONLY THE PIN SHOULD FALL AND HIS HAND OBSCURES THE SHOT OF THE PIN FALLING. JOHN HAS ALSO CHANGED THE CAMERA SHOT BY THE TELEVISION AREA SO MY OLD MAN SLEEPING IS NO LONGER IN SHOT.

AS FOR RACHEL HER ANIMATION OF THE SCYTHE WHEN GRIM LEAVES THE CRYPT IS A BIT POOR AS IT JUMPS, AND WHEN GRIM TAUNTS THE NURSE HIS PDA IS IN HIS HAND WHEN IT SHOULDN'T BE.

MISTAKES ON MY BEHALF WOULD BE I NEVER GOT TO FINISH THE LOGO AT THE START, AND I WOULD OF LIKED TO OF MADE A TEAR FOR GRIMS FACE WHEN HE CRIED BUT I WASN'T GIVEN THE SCENE SO I COULDN'T DO SO.

I ALSO READ THROUGH THE CREDITS AND FOUND MISTAKES AS MY NAME BEING SPELT 'JAME'S DEAN' , THE FACT I WROTE THE SCRIPT WAS NOT MENTIONED, HE MISPELT MODELLING (MODDELING), MISPELT PATRICKS LAST NAME, FORGOT TO MENTION BEN WOODHEAD MODELLED A TEA SET FOR US, DIDNT SAY THANKS TO JESS FOR LENDING US THE BUS, OR DAVE FOR LENDING US A LEAF TEXTURE.

I DO LIKE THE MUSIC, SEEING AS I HADN'T HEARD IT NO MATTER HOW MUCH I ASKED JOHN HOW IT WAS GOING, AND REPEATADLY ASKED TO HEAR IT FOR WEEKS AND WEEKS. THE SAME GUY WHO RECORDED OUR MUSIC WAS SUPPOSED TO DO OUR SOUND BUT AS YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL, THE WHOLE FILM LACKS SOUND EFFECTS, IT GOES TOO QUIET MOST OF THE TIME AND NEEDS ALOT MORE WORK. THIS IS DOWN TO OUR SOUND GUY GOING ON HOLIDAY, AND JOHN AND RACHEL STEPPING IN. TO BE HONEST ITS A POOR JOB, AND I THOUGHT THEY COULD OF DONE BETTER. IF THEY HAD COME IN TODAY FOR HAND IN EARLIER I COULD OF EASILY DONE ALL OF THE SOUND WHILST TTHEY COMPOSITED, BUT THEY DIDN'T AND I WAS LEFT IN THE DARK.

I ACTUALLY ONLY SAW THE FINAL FILM AFTER THEY HAD HANDED IT IN.

I PLAN TO SPEND THE NEXT THREE WEEKS FINISHING THE FILM, I'LL DO THIS ALL ON MY OWN IF I HAVE TO BECAUSE I DONT FEEL IT IS WORTHY OF SHOWINGG AT THE DEGREE SHOW WHICH SUCH MAJOR FAULTS.

HAND IN DAY!

2008-06-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

THANK GOD.

AFTER ALL THE PROBLEMS IM GLAD THIS IS OVER. THE FUN HAS REALLY BEEN DRAINED FROM IT AND IF I WAS TO DO THIS AGAIN I KNOW I WOULD IMPROVE IT TENS TIMES OVER. I WOULDN'T WORK WITH A COUPLE. I WOULD HIRE MORE PEOPLE, WHO ARE MORE RELIABLE. I WOULDN'T OF SPENT SO MUCH TIME PLANNING, AND OVERALL I FELL MY ANIMATING SKILLS HAVE IMPROVED ALONG WITH MY MODELLING, AS I HAVE NOW LEARNT CHARACTER MODELLING, UV MAPPING AND ALOT MORE TEXTURING TECHNIQUES, INCLUDING HOW TO CREATE BUILT IN APLHA CHANNELS.

I'LL UPLOAD THE FINAL FILM SOON.

STAY TUNED FOLKS.

Term Three - Week 10

2008-06-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

This week has mainly been overtaken by rendering. We've been rendering over the weekend and had been waiting on Raphael's Animation along with Wan's Dynamic Smoke for Scenes One and Three.

Wan gave us the Scene Three files on Monday so they got rendered as soon as possible, and then he sent us the Scene One files on Tuesday. At this time i was adding in the names on all the graves as it had been missed out.

By Tuesday night we had rendeed most of scene three, and started scene one. By Wednesday we had everything rendered apart from the dynamic smoke in scene one.

Whilst all this has been happening i have spent my time wisely by learning after effects for all the smaller thing we need such as the puff of smoke as Bob appears and the electrocution for the heart attack man. I animated them onto of the 3d animatic playblasts. Unfortunately when it came to putting them on the final renders john had changed the shots slightly so i had to redo most of them and change them around.

Unfortunately they are too big to upload on here.

I have also played around with the titles.

Monday was mainly taken up by the meeting with the tutors but at leasts thats all sorted out now.

We finished rendering the final scene Thursday afternoon.

I still feel there is tension between me and John and he has left out my old people's sign from scene two as him and rachel decided it looked stupid. To be honest i discussed this with tutors and it is needed so that it is obvious that it is an old people's home, otherwise you do not know until scene three and you have to make the assumption. It has rendered now and i didn't know until after, and now it is too late too add it in.

John called me during the week because the textures wouldnt load on the jehovah's witness in scene four when they came to render, and blamed me. It was becuase Rachel had used the wrong file and the keys had to be copied over. It was fixed but no one owned up to making a mistake.

I also realised that the PDA animation where it flies out of grims hands is very shoddy and should be redone but we do not have time. Im not sure if that was John or Rachels fault.

Problems occured:
Rendering stopped for no reason.
Rendering Raphael's file, a problem with the texture meant he rendered black.
Rendering John's Tree, it accidental had a transparency map on it and rendered see through.
Rendering Wan's Dynamics were taking about 30minutes a frame.
Rachel had not replaced the old scythe in scene one with the UV mapped and textured one.
John had changed the first camera, and made it run longer than it should of.
A fence went white for no reason

Skills Learnt:
After Effects stock footage importing and composition.
After Effects Wiggler.
After Effects Blur.
After Effects Electricity (Lightning).
Maya, how to copy over attributes for the pivot on an object.

Term Three - Week Nine

2008-06-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

DOUBLE CHECK TIME MAKING SURE EVERYTHING IS OK AND READY FOR RENDERING.

AFTER THAT IVE BEEN ANIMATING ALL WEEK:

THE OFFICE FAN

THE OLD MAN LAUGHING AFTER THE GRENADE

THE OLD MAN PLAYING CHESS AND OLD MAN READING ARE TOO BIG TO UPLOAD!

THE OLD MAN ASLEEP INFRONT OF THE TELEVISION

THE WINDOW CLEANER WIPING A WINDOW

I HAVE ALSO CREATED A BURNT TEXTURE AND SOME VARIATION TEXTURES FOR THE OLD LADY

ON WEDNESDAY I HAD AN ARGUEMENT WITH JOHN, I DECIDED NOT TO ANSWER HIS 5 PHONE CALLS, AS HE CALLED ME UP, RAISED HIS VOICE, AND IN AN AGGRESSIVE TONE SAID 'WHAT THE F**K HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FILE' SO I DECIDED TO SPEAK TO RACHEL WHO WAS ALOT CALMER AND MORE PROFESSIONAL ABOUT THE WHOLE MATTER.

ALL I HAD DONE WAS DELETE A SECTION OF A FENCE AS I FELT IT LOOKED STUPID, BUT HE SAID IT HAD TO BE KEPT IN TO HIDE HIS 'TEXTURE F**K UPS' AND 'RACHELS ANIMATING F**K UPS'. WHEN I DELETED IT, IT MUST OF CHANGED HIS UVS, AS HE HAD NOT FROZEN TRANSFORMATIONS. I SAID OK THATS FAIR ENOUGH SO JUST REPLACE IT WITH AN OLDER VERSION FROM A PAST FILE. I GAVE HIM A VALID REASON FOR CHANGING THE FENCE WHICH WAS 'IT OBSCURRED THE CAMERA SHOT AND WAS UN-NEEDED'. I HAD NEVER INTENDED TO HAVE A FENCE LEADING UPTO THE HOUSE, YOU CAN SEE FROM MY ORIGINAL CONCEPT THAT IT WAS NEVER THERE. FOR IT TO TAKE TWO HOURS TO IMPORT A SINGLE FENCE WAS RIDICULOUS. TO HAVE SPENT HOURS MODELLING UV MAPPING AND TEXTURING A FENCE I COULD OF MADE IN LESS THAN AN HOUR IS UNACCEPTABLE. TO BE HONEST AS I AM THE DIRECTOR I HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE SUCH CHANGES ANYWAY.

HE ALSO ASSUMED THAT THE REASON FOR ME HAVING MY HARD DRIVE WAS TO PLACE THE ANIMATIONS ON IT, WHEN WHAT I WAS ACTUALLY DOING WAS SORTING OUT ALL OF HIS FILES WHICH HE HAD DECIDED NOT TO CLEAN UP, NOT TO LABEL OR SORT INTO LAYERS EVEN THOUGH I ASKED HIM TO, AND HE HAD NOT DELETED HISTORY EVEN THOUGH WAN NEEDED THE FILES ASAP.

AS SOON AS I REALISED RACHEL NEEDED THE ANIMATIONS I EMAILED THEM TO HER ASAP AS REQUESTED. IF ANYTHING JOHN AND RACHEL HAD TO WAIT AN HOUR AFTER CALLING ME THE FIRST TIME.

HE THEN DECIDED NOT TO SPEAK TO ME FOR THE WHOLE OF THURSDAY.

HE HAS ALSO CHANGED MY ESTABLISHING SHOT, WHICH I DO NOT LIKE, AND REFUSES TO CHANGE IT BACK.

I THEN THOUGHT 'THIS ISNT WORTH ARGUING ABOUT' AND APOLOGIZED TO HIM VIA TEXT ON THURSDAY NIGHT

I FIND OUT FRIDAY MORNING HE HAS RAN TO THE TUTORS TELLING THEM I HAVENT DONE ENOUGH WORK, WHICH I SEE AS STABBING ME IN THE BACK, AND THERE WAS NO REASON TO GO TO THEM, WE COULD OF SORTED IT OUT. I'VE SORTED OUT EVERY OTHER PROBLEM SO FAR WITH EVERYONE FROM LOSING BENJAMIN, LOSING PAT, RIGGING PROBLEMS AND MORE, WITHOUT THE TUTORS EVEN KNOWING. HE HAS MADE MORE THAN HIS FAIR SHARE OF MISTAKES AND IVE TAKEN IT INTO MY HANDS TO FIX THEM WITHOUT SHOUTING AT HIM OR TAKING IT TO THE TUTORS.

I TRIED SPEAKING TO RACHEL ABOUT THIS BUT I CAN'T GET HER ENVOLVED AS ITS HER BOYFRIEND AND SHE WON'T GO AGAINST HIM BECASE IT WILL START ARGUEMENTS IN THERE RELATIONSHIP AND I DONT WANT TO CAUSE THAT.

IF HE'S CHILDISH ENOUGH NOT TO APOLOGISE THEN THATS FAIR ENOUGH FOR HIM, AND OUR FRIENDSHIP MAY CRUMBLE AFTER THIS COURSE. ALL I WANT IS FOR MY BA TO COME TO AN END, A PASS, AND TO GET THIS FILM FINISHED.

I HAVE ARRANGED A MEETING WITH THE TUTORS ON MONDAY TO HAVE MY SAY, AND SET THE RECORDS STRAIGHT.

LEARNT:
MORE ANIMATING
HOW TO LOOP AND COPY KEYS
HOW TO USE THE GRAPH EDITOR
DO NOT RELY ON ANYONE YOU DO NOT KNOW VERY WELL
WHEN IT ALL GOES WRONG PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS BLAME THE DIRECTOR
NEVER WORK WITH A COUPLE
ALL PRODUCERS WANT TO BE DIRECTORS

PROBLEMS:
COULD NOT CONTACT RAPHAEL ABOUT HIS ANIMATING
ANIMATING IS HARD!
JOHN IS VERY HARD TO TOLERATE RIGHT NOW
JOHN KEEPS TRYING TO MAKE CHANGES WITHOUT TELLING ME, IT SEEMS HE WANTS TO TAKE THE FILM OVER AT THE END AND GET ALL OF THE CREDIT.

Term Three - Week Eight

2008-05-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEK I HAVE CLEANED UP THE MODELS WE RECEIEVED FROM PAT WHO HAS NOW UNFORTUNATELY LEFT THE COURSE DUE TO PERSOANL REASON WHICH I WILL NOT STATE HERE.

I CUT THE POLYS ON HIS MODELS AND THEN UV MAPPED AND TEXTURED THEM

I ALSO TEXTURED JOHNS ASSETS WHICH HE NEVER GOT TO DO, AND AS HE'S NOW ANIMATING I THOUGHT ID BE NICE AND DO THEM FOR HIM.

I HAVE GONE THROUGH THE GRAVEYARD AND INTERIOR HOUSE FILES AND REPLACED EVERYONES MODELS INCLUDING MY OWN WITH THE UV MAPPED AND TEXTURED VERSIONS SO WE NOW HAVE COLOUR!

I HAVE ALSO SAVED ALL FILES TO MY EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WHICH WE HAVE BEEN USING TO STORE THE COMPLETE PROJECT, SO THAT WHEN IT COMES TO RENDERING WE CAN JUST COPY THE PROJECT FILE FROM THE HARD DRIVE TO ANY COMPUTER WE USE. I HAVE SAVED THE FILES WITH RELOADED TEXTURES SO THEY NOW AUTOMATICALLY LOAD NO MATTER WHAT COMPUTER THEY ARE ON.

I USED THE LEAVES I GOT OFF DAVE AND STARTED TO FINISHED JOHNS TREE AS HE HASN'T.

I HAVE ALSO ARRANGED RUBBISH SUCH AS THE BLACK BAGS AND TRAFFIC CONES OUTSIDE THE HOUSE TO GIVE IT A BETTER LOOK, AND I AVE CREATED AN OLD PEOPLES SIGN SO THAT PEOPLE KNOW ITS AN OLD PEOPLES HOME.

I ALSO GOT A LAMPPOST OFF OF IAN AND PUT IT IN THE EXTERIOR SHOTS OF THE OLD PEOPLES HOME.

AND I CREATED SOME PLANTS FOR THE CONSERVATORY.

AND I MADE SOME PICTURES FOR THE WALLS OF THE HOUSE

PROBLEM:
A CHAIR WENT WRONG AND I HAD TO RE-UV IT
PATS MODELS HAD TO BE PARTLY REMODELLED TO CUT DOWN ON POLYS AND TO SORT FACES.
JOHNS UV MAPS ARE VERY MESSY SO ONE OF HIS CHAIRS TEXTURE DOESNT WORK PROPERLY.
JOHN'S HOUSE N THE HILL MODEL TEXTURE DIDNT WORK, HE HAD SAVED THE WRONG FILE ON THE HARD DRIVE UNDER THE SAME NAME.

Term Three - Week Seven

2008-05-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEK I HAVE UV MAPPED AND TEXTURED:

AN ARMCHAIR PLUS TWO VARIATIONS TEXTURES

A LAMP

AN OFFICE FAN, WITH TRANSPARENCY MAP AND ALPHA CHANNEL BLADE WHICH ROTATES

A FILING CABINET WITH PLANT

A GRANDFATHER CLOCK

A SMALL BOOKCASE

A SOFA PLUS TWO VARIATION TEXTURES

A TEA TRAY

A TRAFFIC CONE

A SPONGE

A JESUS BOOK

A LADDER

A BUCKET

AND I HAVE MODELLED UV MAPPED AND TEXTURED:

SOME LOGS

AND SOME SIGNS FOR OUTSIDE THE CRYPT

Term Three - Week Six

2008-05-17T17:18:00.000-07:00

UV MAPPED AND TEXTURED ASSETS:
TABLE ONE, TABLE TWO, VIDEO PLAYER, TELEVISION, TELEVISION UNIT, WATER COOLER, CHESS SET, AND DOILY.

I HAVE ALOS MANAGED TO GET HOLD OF A BUS FROM JESS SO WE DONT NEED TO MODEL ONE FOR OUR FINAL SCENE ANYMORE AND ALSO DAVE HAS BEEN NICE ENOUGH TO LEND ME A LEAF TEXTURE FOR JOHNS TREE AS HE NEVER PUT ANY LEAVES ON IT.

Term Three - Week Five

2008-05-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

UV MAPPED AND TEXTURED THE CRYPT, MADE THE DOOR OPEN AS WELL. ALSO UV MAPPED AND TEXTURED A GRAVE AND A TOMB.

UV MAPPING AND TEXTURING THE GRAVEYARD

COMPLETED THE FENCING, GATES AND TERRAIN, INLCUDING SURROUNDING PATHS AND ROAD

Term Three - Week Four

2008-05-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

WINDOW CLEANER UV MAPPED,TEXTURED AND THEN RIGGED BY WAN.

UNFORTUNATELY DAVID ROSS'S RIG FOR THE NURSE DIDN'T WORK AND WAS UNUSABLE.

AS ITS THIS LATE IN THE PROJECT AND WAN IS TOO BUSY RIGGING EXTRAS CHARACTERS JOHN DECIDED TO MODEL, EVEN THOUGH I NEVER ASKED HIM TO I WAS HAPPY TICKING WITH ONE CHARACTER AND USING DIFFERENT TEXTURE MAPS, THE NURSE WILL UNFORTUNATELY HAVE TO BE CUT AND WE'LL USE AN OLD LADY AND IVE CHANGED HER TEXTURE MAP WITH THE NURSES.

I HAVE ALSO TEXTURED THE OLD LADY AND SHE HAS BEEN RIGGED BY WAN.

Term Three - Week Three

2008-04-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEK IVE MODELLED AND TEXTURED SOME ASSETS FOR THE GRAVEYARD

8 DIFFERENT GRAVESTONES

Term Three - Week Two

2008-04-19T18:04:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN ENTIRELY TAKEN UP BY BLENDSHAPING FOR ALL OF THE CHARACTERS I'VE MODELLED, GRIM, OLD LADY, NURSE SUMMERS, JEHOVAH'S WITNESS AND THE WINDOW CLEANER.

TO SAVE TIME ON THE WINDOW CLEANER I HAVE USED THE HEAD FROM THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS AND CHANGED IT SO I ONLY HAVE TO CREATE ONE SET OF BLENDSHAPES TO FINISH TWO CHARACTERS

LEARNT:
HOW TO MODEL A CHARACTER SO THAT ITS EASIER TO BLENDSHAPE

PROBLEMS:
BLENDSHAPING IS HARD!
SOME BLENDSHAPES LOST AND HAD TO REDO THEM.

Term Three - Week One

2008-04-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

UNFORTUNATELY GREG (THIRD YEAR LAST YEAR) WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO MODEL GRIM HAS DECIDED NOT TO DO IT, PAT WILLINGLY JUMPED IN AND TRIED TO MODEL IT INSTEAD BUT HIS MODEL IS WAY TOO HIGH POLY, ITS NOT EXACT ENOUGH TO THE MODEL SHEETS, AND THE SKULL IS ATTACHED TO THE BODY AND WE NEED IT SEPERATE FOR BLENDSHAPES, SO I'VE REMODELLED GRIM AND STARTED GIVING HIM BLENDSHAPES AND HE'LL BE HANDED TO RACHEL TO BE RIGGED.

I HAVE ALSO UV MAPPED AND TEXTURED THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS AND HE'LL BE RIGGED BY WAN.

UPDATED:VIDEO

AND UV MAPPED AND TEXTURED THE NURSE READY TO BE RIGGED BY DAVID ROSS.

AND ALSO I HAVE MODELLED THE ZIMMERFRAME FOR THE OLD LADY AND UV MAPPED THE OLD LADY HERSELF.

Term Two - Week Thirteen

2008-04-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

NURSE MODELLED.

NEVER MODEL A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN A CG PROGRAM.

Term Two - Week Twelve

2008-03-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

JEHOVAH'S WITNESS MODELLED

OLD LADY MODELLED

Term Two - Week Eleven

2008-03-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

STILL DISSERTATION!!!

AND THIS WEEK IVE LEARNT UV MAPPING :o)

Term Two - Week Ten

2008-03-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION

AND SPENT EVERY OTHER HOUR I HAD LEARNING CHARACTER MODELLING AS WE REALISED NONE OF US OUR CHARACTER MODELLERS.

I THINK IM PREPARED FOR IT NOW, FOUND A VERY GOOD TUTORIAL CALLED DAVES WAY....

Term Two - Week Nine

2008-03-08T19:29:00.000-08:00

DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION

AND GRANDFATHER CLOCK MODELLED

CHESS SET MODELLED AND STARTED TEXTURING

Term Two - Week Eight

2008-02-29T19:28:00.000-08:00

DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION

AND MODELLED A JESUS BOOK FOR THE JEHOVAHS WITNESS

AND SOME BLACK BAGS WITH TEXTURES

Term Two - Week Seven

2008-02-23T19:26:00.000-08:00

DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION

AND SIDE TABLE MODELLED AND TEXTURED

I GOT BORED ;OP

TWO CHAIRS MODELLED

A LAMP MODELLED

Term Two - Week Six

2008-02-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION

AND MODELLED THE CRYPT FOR THE GRAVEYARD AND A SOFA

Term two - Week Five

2008-02-09T19:25:00.000-08:00

DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION
DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION
DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION
DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION
DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION
DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION

Term Two - Week Four

2008-02-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION

AND MODELLED:

ARMCHAIR
TOMBS
FLAT GRAVES

Term two - Week Three

2008-01-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION

AND MODELLED 6 MORE GRAVESTONES

Term Two - Week Two

2008-01-19T19:21:00.000-08:00

DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION

AND MODELLED:
TWO GRAVESTONES
A BUCKET
A LADDER
A NAIL FILE
A SCYTHE
A SPONGE
AND THE GATES TO THE GRAVEYARD

Term Two - Week One

2008-01-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

DISSERTATION DISSERTATION DISSERTATION

AND MODELLED THE FENCING FOR THE GRAVEYARD

Animatic Presentation

2007-11-30T17:43:00.000-08:00

After a huge amount of panicing and worrying because our story had changed 5days before presentation time, and our old storyboard was void becuase we changed all the hsots and cut loads and moved bits, we actually managed to get tons done.

One presentation, One Slideshow, 149 Shots, A rough timed animatic, A motion film version of our story (cut short due to camera batteries dieing), and a short clip of our block out animatic, done in roughly 3/4days.

(Also at this time we were all working on our essays and presentations for the other units)

Not bad really.

Good Job Team.

Yet Another NEW SCRPIT and Storyboard + Animatic

2007-11-29T11:07:00.001-08:00

After many talks with many tutors we've taken some advice and added it to our story. We liked jamie's idea's of adding more jokes and making it a little crazier and we took jareds advice into consideration about looking at background information for more inspiration into why things are happening.

We then spoke to Dan and he was a huge help, he's helped us see faults, tie up lose ends in the story so now everything ties together, everything has a purpose and reason, and the slower scenes have bin cut and any info needed from them has been applied to other shots and scenes.

Overall we are all very happy with the story now.

THE FINAL CONCLUSION
first draft concept.

Camera Paths/Shots

2007-11-28T15:34:00.000-08:00

Camera shots drawn over the layouts to work out paths and what will be seen and what won't. This will also help in the final storyboard, and can be used for the block out animatic.

Character Design Sheets

2007-11-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

Model sheets for the Characters
Drawn onto graph paper, so all in proportion ready to be modelled.

Character Modelling Sheets - Rough/Improved

2007-11-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

Colour Sheets

2007-11-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

A few experimental colour design sheets to see which colours work and suit the scenes and which dont.

Style

2007-11-07T15:36:00.000-08:00

The only way we can describe the style we're going for is the look of Monster House by Pixar, the way the environments and rendering effects look realistic, yet its obviously a cartoon as the character proportions are exaggerated and whatnot.

The Floor Plan - The Graveyard

2007-11-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Floorplan for the Graveyard.
Took alot longer than expected, as ive drawn it from looking at actual graveyard layouts, making sure all of our shots will work, giving characters enough room to move where they need to, and to make the graveyard practical, so if someone was to visit it and walk around there would be no problems.

Graveyard Research

2007-11-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

The Floor Plan - The Old People's Home

2007-10-31T12:14:00.000-07:00

Floorplan for the Old People's Home.
With all furniture, all shots taken into consideration. walk paths also consudered so charcters can move freely and nothing gets in the way.

Old People's Home Research

2007-10-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

Thumbnailing 10

2007-10-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

I spent the whole of today rotating, scaling and cropping the thumbnails and we now have them each saved as indiviudal jpegs, so from here we can photoshop them further, Rachel will be colour washing them, and John is then putting them into Premiere, where we can work out sounds, music and timing, and produce an Animatic.

Thumbnailing 8

2007-10-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

Thumbnailing 9

2007-10-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

Thumbnailing 7

2007-10-24T13:42:00.001-07:00

Thumbnailing 6

2007-10-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Thumbnailing 5

2007-10-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

Thumbnailing 4

2007-10-23T13:36:00.001-07:00

Thumbnailing 3

2007-10-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Thumbnailing 2

2007-10-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

Thumbnailing

2007-10-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

Wrote out all the shots next to the thumbnail boxes which went on for ages, but everythings planned and ready to be drawn now, 87 shots in total.

Nursey and Neighbour 3

2007-10-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

Finished photoshopping the original sketches of Bob and Hope. Looking good but still need some work i feel, feel Bob needs to be a bit more gruesome and decaying.

Graveyard Concept

2007-10-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

Just a quick Sketch of what the Graveyard will look like, roughly. Just to get an idea of the arranegment and feel.Hill with a shed type building on top of it in the background, with a crypt in the foregrounds to the right, and a large tombstone to the left. A tree in the background with the crowes on it, to the left also. Many graves situated around randomly, and a tall iron fence surrounding the area.

Nursey and Neighbour 2

2007-10-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

Redesigned the Nurse Hope Summers and the neighbourly ghost Bob. Just quick sketches scanned and touched up slightly ready to be photoshopped.

Floor Plan 1

2007-10-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick rough plan of the interior floor paln for Hunningford's Retirement Home, just to show John what my ideas were, and then he can improve on it and add in his ideas and what not.

Research 2

2007-10-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

Research 1

2007-10-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

My friend Christine recentlt took a trip to her grandparents house to take pictures for a project for her P&FD project, and i managed to convince her to take some picture for me of there household to get some inspiration and research for the old people's home.

Unfortunatly the files are being troublesome and arent loading up on here, not too sure why, but they are contained in the project folder with the rest of our research.

Morpheus Departs

2007-10-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

Today i recieved an email From JB Webb-Benjamin aka Morpheus, stating he will no longe rbe on the BA course due to family circumstances and what not and we will therefore be lacking a member, the Technician, but I'm sure we'll be ok. This is roughly what the email contained;

Concerning Project: Grim ->

Unfortunately I'll be unable to continue with this project so regretably I
have to resign from my position as full-time technical expert and concept
artist. However, so that my colleagues are not left in the lurch, so to
speak, I am more than willing to offer any technical assistance they may
require now or in the future throughout the duration of the project, so if
you need advice or any quick research and development then by all means
contact myself and I'll do my best to get you a result as quickly as
possible even though I won't be available physically. Not only can I offer
my technical assistance but I can also offer my technological assistance
also, so if necessary, I can offer an extra 1TB of rendering power when
required.

In conclusion I cannot apologise enough for all the inconvenience that
this will course. My apologies.

Many thanks and good luck to all.

JB Webb-Benjamin
T3RMINAL KAOS LTD.
t3kaos.spaces.live.com

PS: For any enquiries of technical assistance please e-mail me at
t-3-kaos@hotmail.co.uk

Pat has volunteered to take on some of the Technical aspects of the project, and all together are are willing to try learn new things, and hopefully with JB Webb-Benjamin as an 'online tutor' when needed, we will be able to still get the effects we originally planned for the project.

Nursey and Neighbour

2007-10-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

A few concepts were done for Bob but it just didnt feel right and as we're keeping this quite simple visually so people dont get side tracked away from the humor, we need characters people recognise and can relate to.

I still want to go with the original blue glow in the style of Peter Jackson's 'The Frighteners' (which im trying to get on dvd which is seeming almost impossible at the moment) but ive dropped the idea brought up about the caspar style tail effect, changed him from his original Tutor style clothing and modelled him on more of a 'blokey' character, builder like in appareance, and for personality i was thinking 'Wilson W. Wilson Jr.' from the hit TV show 'Home Improvement' played by Earl Hindman, the friendly neighbour. Just so others can get a feel of what he is like.

Nurse Summers' first concept done by Ross, was pretty much exactly what i was looking for, i knew he would design something to suit her, yet his lack of face on the character wasnt what i was going for so i've taken his body structure concept and redesigned the head, Also thought the arms were a lil too thin and wouldn't fit in as well with the setting and other characters. I wanted Hope to be Modelled on a Ditzy Blonde and I came up with the character 'Bridget Erin Hennessy' from the TV show '8 Simple rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter' played by Kaley Cuoco.

Environment Synopsis

2007-10-12T13:57:00.000-07:00

Graveyard:
Large Area.
Hill in background with what looks like an abandoned house/shed on the peak.
Several trees.
Many graves.
Large spiked iron fence surrounding the grounds, with large iron gates containing name of plot.
Large Crypt off center.
Winding path leading from house to gates.
LOCATION: Next door to the Old People's Home
SCENES: 1 SCENE ONE - INTRODUCTION, 5 SCENE FOUR - CONCLUSION

Hunningford's Retirement Home EXT
Hunningford's Retirement Home.
Computer generated.
Sub-Urban.
Falling apart and very warn down yet sunny environment.
Unfriendly atmosphere.
Faded paint.
White pickett fence surrounding the grounds.
Sign saying name of the old people's home.
Outisde seating area in the form of decking, a few chairs and tables.
A few trees.
A few flowers beds neatly arranged yet dieing.
LOCATION: Outer London, Suburbs, Kent.
SCENES: 1 SCENE ONE - INTRODUCTION, 2 SCENE TWO - PROBLEM, 4 SCENE FOUR - SOLUTION

Hunningford's Retirement Home INT
Computer generated.
Very old fashioned furniture, hardly any of which matches.
Very bland textures and patterns that look awful.
Very unexciting and dull.
Lack of technology.
Television area with seats gathered around.
Seating areas.
Table areas for cards and chess etc.
Reception desk with young friendly female nurse.
SCENES: 2 SCENE TWO - PROBLEM, 3 SCENE THREE - STRUGGLE, 4 SCENE FOUR - SOLUTION

Script Writing 3

2007-10-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

The Script is now finalised and spent today writing shot notes all over it, getting ready for the Thumbnails and Storyboarding.

Got some really good ideas for camer shots after a group discussion woth John, Rachel and Pat, and some clever Hitchcock style shots.

Animal Synopsis

2007-10-11T14:04:00.000-07:00

Crowes:
Black, dark and sinister.
Sit around the graveyard, glaring horrifically.
They look slithly odd and disformed.

Kittie:
The Black Cat.
Can sense evil and therefore can see Grim and will react accordingly.
Very smooth, feline figure, very well groomed.
Very aggressive when provoked by evil.

Character Synopsis

2007-10-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

Idea for Bob the Ghost, Blue Glow, Transparent: Reference Peter Jackson's 'The Frighteners'

Script Writing 2

2007-10-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

expanded on the script now and got everything written down in more detail. just got a bit of a gap where the main comdey accidents will be as im going to discuss that with the group 2moro.

To Do List (rough)

2007-10-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

1. Script Writing
2. Concept/Floor Plans
3. Character Design Sheets
4. Thumbnailing/Storyboarding
5. Animatic with basic sound.
6. Visual Development
7. Plan production Flow
8. Blockout Environments
9. Model Characters
10. Model Sets
11. Block Out Animatic/Camera
12. Rig Characters
13. Texture

Script Writing

2007-10-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

Started writing the script up, just a rough copy so i can get the structure right and work on from there.

Downloaded the free software CELTX which i can honestly say is amazing for a free program and i love it.

Part Two

2007-10-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

I have a lovely list of people willing to work on my idea btw which is:

John (FULLTIME PRODUCER) (Concept/Modelling/Animation)
Rachel (FULLTIME ART DIRECTOR) (Concept/Modelling/Animation)
Morpheus (FULLTIME TECHINCIAN) (Concept/Modelling/Technical)
Andrew Monin (Modelling)
Ben Woodhead (Animation/Modelling)
Desmond Walsh (Animation)
Ash Reemul (Animation)
Gary Butler (Animation)
Patrick Quirke (Modelling/Techinical)
Caspar TT (Concept)
Christina M (Concept)
Ross W ((Concept/Modelling/Techincal)

and obviously myself FULLTIME EVERYTHING!!

The Pitch

2007-10-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

Ok so after coming up with several ideas i settled with one of my last ideas.

The discarded ideas were: Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road and something to do with live action and killer foxes. Also had an idea about a young boy trying to sleep and counting sheep which come to life and fill his bedroom, but anyway my chosen pitch was:

The Reaper Waits For No One:

A short tale about the well known Grim reaper aka Death, having a slow day at work. He sits and waits around an old people’s care home, checking his electronic scheduler, as he is very high tech these days, only to realise his battery has died, and now not knowing who will be next he waits around the home, keeping eye on the occupants.

After many accidents and incidents each and every pensioner recovers, no matter what they get themselves into, and annoyed by this Death hangs his head and walks out of the door, killing a Jehovah’s Witness just for the hell of it, because he has to fill the quota for the day.

I'd done some concept on the old people's home, some old people and the grim reaper, scanned them in and touched them up in photoshop.

It got chosen hence why i am now writing a blog about my pitch and i will continue to update this until completetion :o)