Thumbnail Color Script

So while one of my teammates worked on the storyboard the other was putting it all together in the first rough cut animatic. I was tasked with the color script for the film. So I took the storyboard thumbnails and painted this quick and dirty color script. Pending some tweaking we are in week 4 and will hopefully begin production this weekend. Time to start animating!

Another New Film

Working this quarter on my second film we are currently calling it "Red". It is a biographical film about Robert Goddard. The only requirements for the class are the following.

1. An "abstract" biography
2. It must be mixed media
3. Stay withing 1-2 minutes

So you can check out our production blog over at jimcowjaz.blogspot.com. I will try to post work here as well.

I will be lead character animator on the film! It is my first so wish me luck. Below you can see two of my concepts for the environment and the character design of Goddard at multiple ages.

At first we were going to have the character as a paper cut out but we are slowly moving away from it as we develop the look further.

My first concept was a paper sketch of  a cherry tree then a digital painting on top.

Second concept is using photo textures composited together then some Photoshop painting. Another team mate is exploring watercolor skies that are looking pretty sweet.

Props Update

Been hard at work with the rest of the class on our collaborative film Vita Magus. I've moved over to the props and effects side of the film so below is some of the work I've produced the past few weeks. I have a group working along side myself to model and texture everything but I've also attached the Props I modeled. It's going to be rough, we are 5 weeks in and have 5 left to finish the film with 0% of it animated!<

Props_FoodTruck_Turntable_Ver001_MacDonald from Vita Magus on Vimeo.


Props FoodCart Turntable Ver001 MacDonald from Vita Magus on Vimeo.

New Collab film

Just finished a few pieces from the new film I am working on in class. I still have some other concepts I'm finishing up tonight/tomorrow but here's one character sheet and a speed painting of the street performing location the help capture the mood. The entire class will be posting to vitamagusfilm.blogspot.com so check it out.

The above character is a woman in her 60's that has been performing as a magician for over 40 years. I wanted an older woman that wasn't what you normally see in animated films; hunched, wrinkled, and eccentric. She should have a sophistication and refinement about her gained through performing her act for decades. A past that was filled with stardom and beauty in which she continues to confidently project.

My key influence was the beautiful 63 year old Jessica Lange. Another is a Canadian street performer by the name of Billy Kidd who along with Janelle Monae inspired the androgynous outfit. This adds an interesting character trait to her unseen history of struggling with not only trying to introduce magic to the world but also to stand out and become accepted. Billy Kidd stated in an interview "It's a boys' club,"... "I have to work harder and do different things." which is one reason for Kidd's androgynous persona.

Lastly the color pallet chosen is an example of how the world could look towards the final few scenes of the film. Bright colors that play with a high contrast complimentary pallet. This method is more about experimenting with hue contrast than value contrast.

After finishing the last environment frame I decided to do a quick concept of the little girl in the street to refine that sloppy painting. This idea of having a child being able to also see the magic everyone else overlooks was brought up in class and I though it was interesting and worth exploring. I wanted her forms to reflect the magician she is impersonating so I tapered her arms and legs to mimic the magician silhouette.

Launch of Jellie Blog

Another film blog post! I have set up a separate blog for my short Jellie so I'm not overwhelming this one with relevant posts. You can check it out/follow HERE, read the synopsis, check out the completed storyboard and soon the 3rd and complete animatic. Stay tuned for updates as I show the film and get feedback from people, develop the aesthetic, and begin pencil tests.

Second New Short

Hello followers. I wanted to let everyone know that I am returning to school Tuesday and will be working on a total of 2 films this quarter. FML!

The first film is my own called Jellie and you've maybe check out my posts here. The second film is for my 2D/3D Collaborative Project class. So far it is myself and my two friends Jenna and Davonne. The concept was brought forward by Jenna and I thought it sounded cool so I jumped on board to develop the kernal of an idea into a, hopefully, bad ass little short.

Please jump on over to The Keepers of the Trees and follow our progress over the next 10 weeks as we try to finish our film!

Jellie Update!

Whew! It's been a busy week. I've completed all but 2 or so shots in the animatic. It's been fun designing the backgrounds and adding some new cuts/reworking old ones from the original thumbnail storyboards. All in all I feels it's coming together quite well. I will return to school on January 7th so I would like to have the entire short completed in animatic form to show my professors and get some feedback during the first few weeks of the quarter. I am also in a collaborative class and I do have to opportunity to pitch the concept as the short the class would work on for the coming 10 weeks. I am however reluctant to share this project. Over the past few weeks I have built upon the original concept making this film quite personal with some metaphors that may or may not be so subtle.

Jellie WIP animatic 02 from efmuok on Vimeo.

Jellie

So I have a new working title for my short film. I am calling it “Jellie”. Updates too. I have a sound designer that will be working on the short. Check out his blog over at Sound of the Hunt. And lastly some animatic work. I have about 80% of the scenes finished with the main character added. I am working on more backgrounds now then I will add in the flying fish and some subway riders/pedestrians.


Jellie WIP animatic 01 from efmuok on Vimeo.

Lastly, the biggest update. Due to MARTA photo policies being ridiculous, the aquarium always being packed and the fact that there are some shots of things that simple don’t exist and/or would be impossible for me to shoot I will be painting all the backgrounds digitally. Sucks but hey I think it’ll be better and closer to the film I see in my head. That being said I now have good photo reference hahaha.

Aquarium Backgrounds and Styleframe

Alright. Finally got off my lazy ass and took the photographs for my aquarium short. Went to the MARTA last night and after getting yelled at by 2 security guards and 1 police officer I got the photos I needed. But NO FILMING! And I wasn't allowed to use my tripod. I'm not exactly sure what the restriction on tripods is for. I mean midday rush hour sure but there was maybe 5 other people on the train with me. It was a pain in the ass to shoot at night w/out a tripod though.

I've been editing, compositing, and color correcting all day but I now have the first few shots completed. The first background has the top of the stairs with an alpha, I will go to the aquarium and grad some photos of the underwater tunnel and the viewing wall the combine. The subway windows also have alpha so I can put images and lights passing by as he travels on the train.

I also grabbed the illustration I did and dropped it into one of the backgrounds to get an idea of how the final animation will be composited together. I've been tweaking the colors as well to get the mood of the film I want. Enjoy.

I am on a deadline for this one...April in the job fair and I need it for my demo reel!