Strengths and Weaknesses

Hello everyone,

I am sorry I have not been contributing as of yet and I will do a better job of it in future posts.

Strengths:
Modeling: Proficient enough to model non organic and environmental items (toasters, cars, trees)(character modeling still needs work).
Animation:Fairly good at animating people, and basic objects (I don't think I can animate anything with more than 4 legs in a timely manner).
Texturing: Basic UV mapping texturing skills.

Weaknesses:
Modeling: Faces - I am not very good at modeling faces.
Lighting: I am not very good at it
Time management
Waking up in the morning
sketches - they are usually stick figures or very quick outlines of objects.
Brainstorming etc.
Audio - I have no real experiance with audio in videos.

Interests
Lighting - any type of lighting
cinematography
Texture molding - using photoshop and illustrator (or similar programs) to mold/create textures.

3/31 - Class references

On the subject of innovation and creativity/originality, along with visuals and whatnot:

Braid - Xbox 360
Time based gameplay elements
Gamespot Review
Gameplay Vid

Flower - PS3
Gamespot Review
Video
Video 2

Okami - PS2/Wii - Visuals
Intro Video
Gameplay

3/31 - Class Discussion

Elements to Consider

• Length
• Complexity
• Strength of narrative
• Visual style
• Goal
• Tone
• Number of characters
• Character relationships to others, story, etc
• Dialogue
• Relationships to tone/music
• Genre

Another Story Spline - (from Ken Adam)

• Once upon a time...
• Every day...
• But one day...
• Because of that...
• Because of that...
• Until finally...
• Ever since then...
• The moral is...

Guidelines from "Inspired 3D Short Film Production"
(by Jeremy Cantor & Pepe Valencia)

• Narrative over production
• Scope and plan ahead
• Originality
• Personal investment
  
• Trust your instincts
• Back up your work!
  

Genres

• Drama
• Comedy
• Suspense
• SciFi
• Fantasy
• Dark comedy
• Crime, police, courtroom
• Mystery
• Action adventure
• Spots
• Tragedy
• Bio
• Musical

Storytypes

• the gag
• the booty
• the moral
• the villain
• the pickle
• the parody
• the rescue
• the journey
• I wish…

Discussion

• Simplicity: think about conveying story as haiku; think about children's books
• What elements are most important?
• What is most memorable?

Story Generalization

• Search for meaning. <---> Escape from reality. (Patrick Kriwanek)
  
• Somebody/something comes to town. <---> Somebody leaves/dies.
  

Pieces

• Theme - simple way to think about the story ("10 sec elevator pitch")
  
• Plot - flow of events (sequence)
• >> Event-driven story
• >> Character-driven story
  
• Characters - who?
  
• Setting - where? when?
• Conflict - characters play a large role: why is this important? how do they deal with this?
  

Story Ideas, Round 2

The Demon

A kingdom is plagued by a demon, which is destroying crops, killing citizens, and in general wreaking havoc. Many have tried to capture or kill the beast, but none have succeeded. The king is finally persuaded to attempt to pacify the demon by offering up his only daughter as a sacrifice. The girl is chained to a tree nearby where it is believed the demon lives. The king and his men retreat off a distance, hoping for a miracle. They wait. They hear something moving in the woods, and fear the worst. Out of the bush steps a medium sized, white animal with a single horn, a unicorn. The king relaxes, perhaps his daughter will be saved by this gentle beast. The unicorn walks over to where the girl is chained, and uses it's horn to unlock her bindings. The girl and the unicorn stare at each other for a moment, then the girl leaps onto it's back. The unicorn whirls, and runs toward the king. The king is overjoyed that the fates have allowed his daughter to live. He opens his arms...as the unicorn spears him through the heart on it's single ivory horn. The unicorn tosses the king's body away, rears with eyes glowing red, and with the girl still on his back vanishes into the forest once more.

This is based on a story I read once long ago. I can't find the original, so I'm not sure how close they actually are.

A good amount of Native American stories can be found at http://www.native-languages.org/legends.htm if anyone is interested in that idea. I will try to read through some and have some more specific ideas tomorrow as well.

ETA:
Lodge-Boy and Throw-Away-Boy

A pregnant woman was attacked by a terrible monster while giving birth. The woman is killed, but the twin babies survive. One child is found and raised by the tribe, the other is found and raised by bears. The twins are eventually reunited, and together are able to defeat the monster who killed their mother. (The importance is the balance of the reasoning, logical Lodge-Boy, and the emotional, creative Throw-Away-Boy. Both are needed to defeat the monster.)

This is a story from a woodland tribe, I'm not sure which.

Some Story ideas

No Food or Drinks

The film would begin with a scientist going to work at a lab. When he gets to the door, there is a sign out front that says no food or drinks allowed. He thinks about throwing away his drink but instead hides it under his coat. He beings a routine of mixing two test tubes and taking a drink from the bottle under his lab coat. The boss then walks behind him which makes him quickly hide his drink. He starts again as soon as the boss leaves but reverses the order, mixing his bottle and drinking from his test tube. He immediately realizes what he has done, takes a look at the test tube and thinks “oh this can't be good”. After a few seconds pause, his head bursts into flames causing him to run around in a panic. This rest of the film would consist of him unsuccessfully trying to put out the flames on his head in comical fashion.

Gourmet Cooking

The first scene is of a absent minded women pulling out a cookbook and finding a recipe. Once she finds the recipe she wants she starts finding and putting the ingredients into a bowl. She quickly finds she doesn't have the right ingredients and start making substitutions, using pepper when she needs salt, using ketchup when she needs tomato sauce, that kind of thing. When the recipe calls for beef she looks around and can't find anything in the refrigerator she could use as a substitute. At that point, a cat then walks into the room and starts sleeping in the corner. The women looks over at the cat, the cat lifts head and looks back at her. After a few seconds of awkward silence it cuts to the final scene when she has finished the dish with chunks of fur around the room. At last she closes the book and the title of the book is reveled to the audience “gourmet cat food”. The final scene is her placing the bowl on the ground and calling the cat.

Somehow all I could come up with are twisted comedy ideas.

Skrills/Stories

Hey all,

Unfortunately I am unable to take this class due to a schedule conflict, but Bill has kindly offered to let me work on the project.  I plan on being as involved as possible with the blog to make up for the missed classtime.  Also, I have a different class with Bill, so he will keep me updated on what happens during class.  I am really excited to make a kick ass short.

Strengths:

-Inorganic modelling, such as environments (I need some more practice at character modelling). 

-Animation.  I'd be comfortable with animating whatever.

-Storyboarding/cinematography.  I've done some short live action films for fun in the past, so I have a modest bit of experience with the elements involved.

Weaknesses:

-Organic modelling and texturing (need more practice)

-As Ruben said, macro level deadlines.  

Interests:

-Concept art/Storyboard

-Animation

-Rigging.  If we end up using original models, I would like to take a stab at rigging one.

-Basically, anything that needs to be done.  Since I will be missing out on a lot of interaction during class, I won't be picky.

Story:

Not a fully fleshed out idea but:

This short would be about a lab rat in a sort of cliche experiment (think mazes).  This particular rat would perform amazing feats in pursuit of a reward of cheese, even despite his very heavy stature.  He would even withstand severe electrical stimulus (cartoonishly exhibited, of course) to open the door to his cheezy prize.  Here's a quick job at a concept:

While we would most likely have to create our own fat rat model, the astonished scientists could be Alfred/Andy rigs.  We could also have some nice reflections and effects appear in the sterile, labaratory environment.

EDIT:  I just now watched "One Rat Short" which Erica posted a few days ago, a very impressive video.  Didn't mean to post such a similar story.  If only we could use the rat model from that, haha...though I don't think this idea could quite hold a candle to that one.

Totally Awesome Stories

Story 1:

Dwight lives in the Mojave desert by himself, very far away from civilization or other people, and he likes it that way. But he needs something to care for. He is trying to grow a plant, but it is not going well and it is making him sad. He waters it and gives it good soil, he even pets it, but it still looks wilted and depressed. One day, an alien craft visits his tiny shack and drops off three orbs. They look to be made of dark green glass. These orbs appear to be very much alive and each have their own personality, and when they see that Dwight is sad, they instantly make the plant grow big and strong, and Dwight is happy. But when the orbs leave when their ship comes to pick them up, the plant goes back to the way it was.

***Key parts of this would be an overly small shack that Dwight lives in (too small for even him to git in), a simple desert environment, and the orbs looking mysterious, but very much alive and with individuality.

Story 2:

A boy sits in his dark room with his face right up against his bright computer screen (or watching TV). The only visible lights are the streaks coming off of the screen around his head making him a silhouette, like he is in front of a projector, and the blue moonlight coming in through the window. As he seems to be enthralled by his virtual world, the power goes out. There is just moonlight for a few seconds, then power comes back on. This happens a few more times, and he is frustrated, so he investigates. He finds a mischievous raccoon on the roof plugging in and unplugging the power to the house. The raccoon jumps on his face, he struggles and falls off the roof, and then he wakes up, realizing the whole thing was a dream.


***I am very interested in how the lighting could be done for this since most of it would be at night. Also because the computer screen would need some unique effects to make it look as intense as I image it.
I was originally thinking that rather than making the whole thing the result of a raccoon and also a dream, I would just have him deal with the power outage by building a generator and making his own power.

EDIT: A brief concept render of what I envision the screen and boy looking like (this would be in his room). The lighting would be flickering and changing color in streaks (as if he was playing a game or watching a movie). The idea is for it to be dream-like. Game/movie content is irrelevant:

And here is a representation of what I see the desert scene and the three glass orbs of the first story looking like:

Snow Day

So, I'm guessing you all checked your email before coming to class today, unlike me. Since we won't be meeting until next week, lets try to get some story ideas refined. If you haven't posted story ideas, get that done! Once you've done that, comment/discuss the story ideas of at least 2 other people. We can open a new thread if it looks like the discussions are getting too fractured.

Story Ideas

Some general overviews of ideas I have been playing with include:

1.) Opening with a shot of a museum, a shady character surveys the area, and then offers to walk an elderly woman/man. Next scene shows the character at their home, in a setting eating breakfast, and reading a newspaper they happen to see a photo of the museum. Next scene is nighttime, and they are dressed in some sort of makeshift thief getup. They then are shown sneaking into the museum and go to the room shown in the picture; a scepter-like rod, which looks quite old and somewhat ornate, but not particularly jewel encrusted, is the target, laying about with some other objects of an aged quality.
Depending on timing, there will be a conflict with the security, unsure of whether it should be the night watchman, a security system, or potentially other artifacts near the other displays "animate" and attempt to apprehend the intruder.
Regardless the conflict, they return home (i.e. the security doesn't catch them). There the coveted item is given to the same elderly person seen earlier; their walking stick has been returned.

2.) A youth wants a balloon, and so their father gets them one. The balloon rises to the ceiling, out of their grasp, and so the father gets it down. Again the string slips and the child wants the balloon. The mother comes over with a basket, and ties the string to the basket. The balloon is yet too powerful, so the youth jumps in and the basket sinks. Smiles by all. The parents return elsewhere, and the basket rises, with the child inside...


3.) A blancmange (gelatinous creature, well, really it's a gelatinous dessert, but for my purposes, it's alive) wants to play tennis to compete in the grand competition. It has no tennis equipment however, so it finds a competitor and consumes them, leaving the racket. They then discover they aren't quite solid enough to get a decent grip on the racket, so they find another competitor and consume them up to the arm, so now they have a racket and an arm still gripping the other racket, so they leave the one they got earlier and stick with the one still in the hand. They now try to compete, but after the first volley, the ball hits, and the blancmange wins the match, but the racket slips out of the hand. The end.

Story splines

These are kind of random and I'm not really experienced with creative writing but perhaps these can start some ideas.

Perhaps we can have a story about this suburban dad who is upkeeping his garden around his house but an evil raccoon is determined to destroy it. The raccoon thinks that this land is his but the dad will protect his sacred garden at all costs. The dad in the end wins as he tricks the raccoon and gives him a drugged hotdog and then calls animal control to take him away.

Susy the camper/hiker went on a trail alone and gets lost along the way. However, she runs into a pack of wolves and realizes that she can understand them. She stays with the pack and tries to survive with them until she can find her trail back home.

The grey alien Merck arrives to Earth and is puzzled by how humans make cakes. He arrives to a house in a suburb and watches the housewife Jane make a cake. After he is spotted, Jane attacks him with all the kitchenware and they have a food fight in the kitchen until Jane scares off Merck with colored sprinkles.

The dog Fifo is hypnotized accidently by his magician master and thinks that he's a squirrel. He runs away from home to the park and tries to climb trees and eat nuts like a squirrel. He has lots of issues as he scares other squirrels away and breaks a lot of tree limbs. He finally snaps out of it when his master takes him out of the trance and takes him home.

The boy Jack went fishing for the first time on a normal sunny day in a lake but suddenly he catches an strange watch that allows him to time travel. After accidently pressing a button he is stuck with strange and scary medieval peasants until he can figure out how to go back to his own time.

Story Ideas

Ok, so these are not well fleshed out and most of them probably aren't manageable for this project (we'd probably need to build all our own rigs and such), but here's the ideas I've thought up. Maybe these will inspire or be so utterly rejected as to give the rest of you ideas.

• Taking a short folk/mythology/traditional story and animating it. A lot of these are fairly short and simple, and it would save having to create our own story completely from scratch. I prefer more obscure mythologies (Norse, Native American, etc), but whatever might be interesting to you all. We could also do a new interpretation or twist on a tale. I will try to bring some in for examples if I can find anything.


• Something about endangered animals. Perhaps a story about a specific creature fighting the odds in it's environment. Specific tales might be: numbats in Australia and how they've been decimated by foxes, the "saving" of species such as Arabian Oryx and Przewalski's Wild Horse by careful breeding and management, or the extinction of the carrier pigeon due mainly to over hunting.


• A "cute" short about an animal that is commonly feared. For example: wolves, bats, pumas, snakes, etc.

Clearly I'm not good with humor, (the only idea there is a musk deer with an identity crisis), so feel free to suggest other options. I also have a thing for animals, so I have a hard time coming up with stories about people. Discuss.

Traits

Pros: brainstorming/planning/refining; I work well with feedback; editing - touch-ups; story and detail work is fun, the connections and relationships is something I like doing, though starting from scratch and building up can take more time, so working from some base point is better for me as far as time is concerned. I feel decent with lighting, audio, and texturing; though I would not claim to be our most valuable aspect in any one of those areas, I feel I can keep up. To that effect, I feel fairly adaptable, and willing to learn given the time, energy, and opportunity.

Cons: Time efficiency with modeling; thinking too much to a point of indecision; macro level deadlines (I work better with smaller, sooner deadlines to break up a project - ones such as Bill provided is better for me); initial inspiration becomes problematic, as I feel like I draw too much from some point of reference, and from that comes distaste and scrapping the idea most of the time.

Interests: When lacking direction I don't do as well because my mind can wander too much for productivity. I would like to work more with environmental elements, lighting, particles, liquids perhaps. I would like to become more familiar with rigging as a minor goal, and more importantly, hope to improve my modeling capabilities. I'm open to new experiences or to refining the skills I have already had some experience with.

Strengths/Weaknesses

Strengths: My strongest point is definitely modeling in Maya, I feel compete enough to make semi-complex structures with accuracy.

Weaknesses: lighting and textures, need more practice in setting up the lights in a scene, especially when I'm trying to convey a mood.

Interests: Getting into particle and special effects, cloth and water simulation look fun too.

Skills

Strengths: I'm fairly organized, good with deadlines, decent at animating rigs, and I don't mind planning and sketching.

Weaknesses: I have modeled in 3D but not with Maya, narrative - haven't done a lot of creative writing, and I haven't worked much on sound in a digital manner.

Interests: I would like to learn more about cinematography, character design and visual appeal, sound - I have a bit of a music background, and more on modeling and lighting so I can be comfortable with it in Maya.

Skillz

Strong Points:
-textures and effects(I want to try to do some "glass" like shaders mixed with cartoony stuff if it fits with our story)
-animating (if we have any odd animations such as unusual objects/characters I'd like to take those on )
-sound design (scoring if possible)

Weak Points:
-I need to work on lighting(come render time, I usually don't leave myself enough time to spend on lighting)
-probably not the best at organizing my project folders haha
-sketches and drawings for pre-planning (I like to think that I can animate straight from video reference, but I need to realize that this is not entirely accurate)

Interests:
I would like to compose the score and I have equipment to record sound effects. I would also like to work with particle/lighting effects if time allows.

Interests/Strengths/Weaknesses

Stuff I'm good at: making deadlines (unless it's one of those things where "right" is more important than "now"), modeling (although never in Maya before), organization (as much as I hate to admit it).

Stuff I'm not good at: scoping a project (I frequently bite off more than I can chew), cinematography (done very little of this), sound (never worked with sound).

Stuff I'm interested in: rigging/movement, textures/maps/visual look of character, narrative/storytelling, aesthetics/visual appeal, solving interesting problems, obscure mammals, probably some other stuff too...

I Lived on the Moon

One Rat Short

Long, but neat.

The Deadline

Not as brilliant as Kiwi, but amusing.

Kiwi!

I'm amused.

Media Testing

12Kb (8Mb max)
It would seem that image posting works.

...and video does as well...

1.2 Mb (100Mb max)

Oblligatory First Post

This blog is for tracking/discussing ideas and progress on a short animation. The animators are all students in Advanced 3D Modeling an Animation, at the University of Denver.