Adaptation Part B: The Red Room By H.G. Wells

I'm thinking of adapting 'The Red Room' By H.G Wells for my Part B. In Year 1 I did three digital paintings for the short story, which I thought were quite successful, the vibrant reds and greens really gave a toxic and haunting feel so hopefully I can recreate that same kind of atmosphere in a digital set. These were my final three paintings for that project:

 

 

 I think the splitting beams of light and the strong, bold mark-making really brings them to life. After my tutorial with Alan, he showed me Alex Edmond's work from his adaptation project last year which has a similar style to mine. We discussed how I could use some of the techniques he did to create my desired effect. Here's some renders of Alex's set:

I really like this style and would aim to have camera movement / small aspects of animation in my set as well.

Adaptation: Infographic - Brand Research

Here's some popular dog food brands that I've found to inspire my title font. They are all with bold and friendly lettering with thick lines and rounded edges, soft like a dog would be. IAMS has the dog's paw print and Pedigree has the rosette from a dog show. Now I have some good inspiration to create a typeface.

Adaptation: Infographic Influence Map

I'm choosing to do my infographic based on 'The timeline of a dog's day'.  It's based on graphic design so will be clean silhouettes transitioning from one to the other telling the story of what a dog might get up to in a day. I've chosen this because it's fun and could talk about things such as how far the average dog might run in a day, how long they might sleep, get bathed, how much they eat, poo, chase animals, and any other antics or characteristics that will add to the infographic.

Narrative: Inspiration, Logorama

 
In our tutorial Alan showed us this animation 'Logorama' which is about a world made from well known logos. I couldn't find the English one but it's more about the visuals anyway. He suggested that maybe we could make our factory environment from the shapes of icons that are found on cardboard boxes. This would mean that it would have a really unique style and that Will's cardboard box characters would fit in really well with that environment.

Here's some icons that I've found that may be helpful:

 

Character: Games Influence Map

For my game I'm looking at either having platform style game where it's quite basic and blocky or one in the style of addictive app game 'Temple Run'. I'm edging more towards the Temple Run themed game as I think it will be easier to incorporate the device tilt action when playing rather than the more flat side view game. Like the coins in Temple Run, the Pigs will collect food to boost their energy levels but there will be many obstacles to dodge along the way such as gaps in the path, water, enemies etc. So the player will have to choose the appropriate pig to use each time to get to the end of the course. All the environments in each level will vary and get weirder each time to keep interest in the game. Player has to reach a certain score to unlock next level or new powers? 

Pigs (Wildlife/Animals)  Food (Energy) Tilt (Balance/Stability)

Narrative: Environment Influence Map (Factory)

 

I like these three images in particular to inspire our environment. Images 1 and 2 have the straight-on view of the conveyor belt whereas the third one it at a slight angle. Although I like the fun and simplicity of the first one, I really think the colours of 2 and 3 would really work for our animation.

Narrative: Research + Investigation Into Environment Design

After Gemma had posted this on our group blog earlier, I thought I would share it further on here so the full development process of our animation is clear on both the group blog and individual blog. So after Scarlett spoke with Phil about our project we had a change of plan and have now decided that the animation will be set in a greetings card factory. Gemma had found this video on YouTube which takes you through the process of what would take place in a real world card printing factory and you can see how all the machines would work. Here's the video and I think It's going to be really helpful when it comes to modelling and animating our scene.

Figure 1:  Xerox iGen4

Figure 2:  UV Coater

Narrative: Post-Tutorial Feedback

So today we came to realise we all had some usable element  from all of our ideas but we just weren't fully there. Alan gave us a few ideas to push us along in the right direction and gave us some material to look at. As the character is working in a factory day in, day out, same routine etc... he is sort of, 'becoming the factory' and blending in with this robotic style of work so Alan mentioned ex-student Molly Bolder's 'Proportion' which is based on depression/anxiety which could link in with our idea (see below).


He also mentioned the film Mary and Max for us to watch as Max's character is similar to what we aim for our character to be, so we will be definitely be watching that soon for inspiration. 
 I really like the idea of the animation starting off with no visual but just the repetitive sound of our character in the factory process; either stamping something down or screwing something onto something else. So first the audience are curious but then cuts in to show the monotonous and dull space of what is going on. By the end of the animation, his actions will portray something contradicting his depressing factory environment and his initial boring routine, make light of his situation.
As a group we are now going start finalising the narrative and making some rough character designs. 

Narrative - Group Project, Initial Ideas...

For the narrative project I was grouped with Scarlett and Gemma. We haven't managed to speak to each other much in person but across social networks we have put a few ideas here and there. At the briefing, we found out that our animation will be based upon the quote "Actions speak louder than words" and it will take place "In the Factory". My first thoughts being that it can be about love as this is what the quote is most commonly known for, and the factory part just made me think of scrap metal parts and machines that can come alive like humans, similar to that in Beauty and the Beast, but more 'Steam-punk'. So a quick animated short that is like the product of 'Paperman meets Wall-e'.

We have also decided on the name of 'Cogworks Studios' for our group as we have a Factory theme for our animation and we are working together (like cogworks or cogwheels would). Here is my first design for a logo...  

 

Fantastic Voyage: Influence Map

My most recent influence map for this project is based more on the style I'm aiming for. The idea is to have vibrant complimentary colours against a black background so it stands out, I've also been looking at heat-sensitive photography and Japanese art for inspiration.

Fantastic Voyage: Further Inspiration

EPIC (2013)

I find the environments in 'Epic' so refreshing and satisfying to the eye. The mostly green colour palette throughout exploits nature at it's finest. I also really like how from afar the scenes seem perfectly normal and fairly realistic but the close-ups take you into a whole new world of fantasy where the plants are personified and really come alive in the most fascinating way. 

                                           

THE CROODS (2013)

'The Croods' is a more exotic adventure and again, the environments really catch my eye. With unworldly vegetation, species and vibrant colours, the audience really engage with the exciting palette and magical space.

With these two films being my main source of inspiration / influence, I aim to keep areas in my animation with hints of uniqueness and vibrancy like in The Croods and also personify and give some characteristics where possible in the 'moss reproduction cycle' like in Epic. I want to make a 3D journey that shows science in a magical and elegant way. 

*Images screen-shotted from YouTube trailers (see below for reference).

Fantastic Voyage: Initial Influence Map

From Script to Screen - Influence Maps

LION TAMER

KITCHEN

SUPER GLUE

Production Set Designer Influence - Ken Adam

Ken Adam

Influence Map - Hero Prop

Thinking of making a sort of 'sleeping pod' that protects and energizes the Master Criminal.

Influence Map - Atomic Lair

In my OGR feedback, Phil suggested quite a few images for me to look at inspire me, most of them I've included in this Influence Map as I really liked them and they are helpful for my lair design. I've included a few others too relating to what was said in Phil's suggestions. I hope to include the vibrant and exciting colours again in this project.

 :)

Hero Prop Ideas

A quick page of 'Hero Prop' thumbnails. By typing words relating to 'atomic', 'bionic' and 'nuclear' into a search engine I found some really interesting items that could be of use to me in creating a Hero Prop for my 'Atomic Master Criminal'. These are not drawn free hand, I quickly traced over the images to get the general idea and inspiration for my final outcome, I may end up using parts of these and combining a few to make one quite interesting finished piece.

Influence Maps

Here's a couple of influence maps for my 'Atomic Master Criminal' character's lair...

Inspirational Artist - Matt Gaser

MATT GASER

 I have chosen to look at concept artist Matt Gaser, his digital concept paintings that I have seen online are so interesting and inspiring. His website www.mattgaser.com takes you through his landscapes, projects, personal work, sketches, doodles, sculptures, biography and more; I really could spend hours looking at his work! 

In the ‘doodles’ section there are a range of basic developmental thumbnail style work, so just some quick ideas that he’s got down on a page as a starting point which shows that even the greatest digital paintings start off with the simplest quick pencil sketch. 

I feel that a lot of his ‘personal work’ has quite a whimsical / fantastical feel about it and just takes you to another world completely, I really admire his use of colour and his ideas in general.
He has worked for some really great companies such as Hallmark, Got Milk and Stormfront as well as working on some of the designs in the Star Wars films with Lucasfilm Animation. In his own time he does many personal projects and is starting to generate a range of merchandise.

I really would recommend a visit to his website... he has some fantastic stuff :)