Plan B

I put my battery on charge at about twelve and just looked at it. it seems that I hadn’t properly put it on, so it never charged in the end. So I'm going to have to go to plan B now.

I said that my aim was to do an animation or an anomatic, so I'm going to have to do the latter of the two as I have run out of time to do a animation, no matter how crud, in the time I have left before I have to go back to Plymouth. I'm going to re-evaluate my schedule now. for the rest of the day I’ll do odd bits and try and relax a bit as I'm not in the best of moods as a lot of thing have gone wrong, but that is why I had a backup plan to do an anomatic instead. It will still set out the timing of my film and help me develop camera angles, it just won’t have as much motion. I can do all that in a day too. I will however at some point do a test animation.

Running late

The animation process isn’t going too well. I left my camera at Plymouth, but fortunately do have a video camera that takes stills here. The battery however is taking hours to charge. I also left my tripod behind, so I went out a got another one. I have finished building though, and recording my voice. But I think the animation wont be done for when I hoped for. I wanted to have done at least the first scene by now, only about 30 seconds, but I haven't even started. while the battery is charging though, I'm going over the sound to get the timeing right.

Beginning, Middle & End lines

Beginning

   Brian gets a call on his phone informing him that he needs to save the world.

Middle

   Brian and Monty go to the bar to find a pilot

End
they all end up on the moon where they defeat the evil white rabbit.

Storyboar Two: part two

Here is the second part of the storyboard.

Special effects

I was also set up on a teaching program called Lynda. It will show me some after effects, this will come in handy when I have the space crafts flying through space. For the lasers the guards have though, I'm going to experiment. As it should look a little rubbish in effects, so I’ll have strings showing, I'm going to see what looks better, a laser beam done in after effects, or one made from paper to look like the Dalek beams in the 60s Doctor who.

I'm going to have to look at how much special effects I have as it is meant to be slightly B-Movie.

I have experience of doing that sort of thing too. in high school, me and my friends did a B-Movie trailer using special effects and still having the strings showing. I did a little animation in it.

Reading Week

Yesterday I had another talk with my tutor. We talked about when our next tutorial will be. Next week is reading week and I’ll be on the Isle of Wight with my parents so there will probably not be anything being posted. My plan though is that now I have the basic script done, I will do a ether an animated run through or anomatic. This way I can get an idea of how long the film will be and work on the camera angles.

Closing credits

For my credits I want to have something like the Fireball XL5 end ones. I'm drawing inspiration from it anyway, I like the planets moving across and if you look at the opening credits to my old Brian Film, then you will see I have planets spinning round in that. I just want to update it really.

Film Score

The other day I talked to my Brother about doing the music score for my film. He has been doing my music since 2010 when I entered a film festival and came second in the under 19s category. The theme was “a good day on for the Isle of Wight.” I sent him character drawings and ideas of tunes to take inspiration from, and we will be discussing further about how it will sound.

Post Credits

 

After the credits of the 2008 film Ironman, Samuel L. Jackson turns up as S.H.I.L.D. director, Nick Fury, to talk about the avengers. Not the British soy-fi series from the 60s, which is better, but the superhero team of the same name. When I saw this, being a great Marvel comic fan, I was so exited.

I showed this film to my friend last year, and ever since, every time we watch a film he jokingly asks if Samuel L. Jackson is going to turn up at the end. So I thought I might just parody it in my film. I'm not overly sure though as I didn’t want to directly parody anything, just genres, but it’s another thing I can think about.

 

 

Hat

When I first made Brian he had a different hat. In my film the professor gives him a new hat, so I thought at the start of the film Brian could be wearing his original hat.

Storyboar Two: part one

I have done more storyboarding to part of the script I have done. so far I’ve done a vague script that will need bulking up, but the basic story is there. here is the basic storyboard up to the point where they go to the moon.

Storyboard, script, and editing

I have been working on my script and drawing my characters to try and develop both them and the story. Drawing them has helped come up with new ideas and get to know the way I think they’ll move.

 

I have taken lines out of the script and drawn panels of them, although things I know will change. Once the script is done as a first draft, I will do a more solid storyboard. Then I’ll be doing a crewed read-through and making an animatic to set the timing. This will help for changes to camera angles, and possibly the story as things might not work once on screen. With animation, because it is such a long process, you don’t want to animate things that won’t be used. So the editing starts at the storyboard stage.

Titles

I was thinking over how I should do the opening titles to my film. I wanted to do an epic titles sequence parodying all those action films like star wars, then I noticed something. At the start of the film Brian gets a call on his phone telling him he has to save the world. I watch the 1960s Batman, and at the start of the episode, that is how Batman is called into action before the titles come on. This wasn’t a deliberate thing I had thought of doing, but now I see the resemblance, I think I might do it in that way.

A change of scene

At some point in my animation I want to have something like the spinning bat logo to change scene. It was suggested to me by a friend who noticed that I watch things that change like that. Another one he used as an example was the staccato beat in Captain Scarlet, and the Transformers one,so I thought I’d pay homage to those sort of things.

Any suggestions to what I could use?

 

 

Shorter Synopsis

Brian is a penguin in a hat. One day he gets a phone call informing him that he must once again save England. Along with his friends Monty Man, Professor Henry Kosher and Kasey Kay, he travels to the moon to defeat the evil White Rabbit and his giant laser. The white rabbit escapes, but will be back.

Contextual view on PC: what can I not have in my film?

This year in my contextual studies I am looking at old cartoons and asking how they have changed in terms of what you can and can’t get away with now. I will be covering the issues of race and stereotypes, what rules are laid down, and if this is a good thing or not. Are cartoons not as fun and free now?

We talked in class the other day about what we could and couldn’t put in our animations, so this is quite good that I am doing this. I have a separate blog for this also. I have just reviewed Dumbo for it, and came to the conclusion that things are so strict now, that a innocent little film like this would not be allowed to be made in this day and age.

http://rjdscontextual.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Of course my audience isn’t meant to be exclusively for children, I want it to appeal to a wider audience, although it wouldn’t appeal to everyone. One of the things I need to do is research my audience.

schedule

Last week I came in after being at the pub, and before I went to bed I wrote out a list of things to do the next day, and because of my stubbiness I did it all or it would have been admitting defeat. So I decided, although I have been told to do it many times, to make a schedule. I think it was because I did it myself that it worked. I made one this week and tonight I’ve started next weeks.

After setting times to do my work in, it’s surprising how much free time I get, which is handy as it gives me time to catch up on reading, privet animation, and writing. Batman the 60s series is great for inspiration; it comes out with great lines. Also my housemate likes Jeremy Kyle, and that also comes out with some funny stuff. So I sit with my work and when I hear something funny I write it down.

What I want Brian to look like

So far when drawing Brian, he has been taller then the actual models I’ve made. I don’t want that. I want him to be short and dumpy. In my life drawing class, the tutor said I should draw an observational drawing of him, so that’s what I did, and that’s what I want him to look like.

These are the old models of the main cast

2007

2010

What I have been up to

For the past couple of days I’ve been working on a weekly schedule so I can plan out what I need to do. I’ve also been developing different ideas I can use in my plot, along with writing a script.

I’ve been helped by my friend who will most probably help more in the writing process. He has come up with some of the gadgets and acted out the professor saying how they would be introduced. From this I’ve been able to bounce ideas off him and it’s going well like that. I’ve also been doing a bit more drawing to get to know the look of the characters more so that when I cone to make the final models they will look their best.

They have been made twice before. Once in 2007, and again in 2010 with a better skin colour. But I want to got their look to be slightly updated as I think my style has progressed more since then.

Brian Synopsis

Brian is a penguin in a hat and the most brilliant hero our world has ever seen.

One day he gets a phone call informing him that he must once again save England, which is being held at laser point. He recruits his good friend Monty Man, and the two of them go off to save the country.

Their first stop is that of Professor Henry Kosher, a quite bazaar character with a range of extraordinary inventions and ideas from the landmine mitten, to his boomerang scarf. He gives the two space suites, some fish repellent, and a new improved hat for Brian to help him in any sticky situation he might find himself in.

After they are fully equipped in the latest gadget the professor has to offer, they leave him to run away from his angry neighbour, whose house has just been destroyed by the unstable rocket in the garden.

They go to a café to find a pilot with a ship who would be willing to risk their life to fly them to the moon, as that is where they assume the evil people will be, for a hansom amount of tealeaves. There they find Kasey Kay, a redheaded pilot, with her own space van, and own busyness card. After flying to the moon and finding the well marked secret evil moon base, they are soon captured by the evil White Rabbit and his butler, Butler.

Fortunately the professor suddenly knows that they are in danger so gets his bike out and cycles to the moon to rescue them. He performs several different types of martial arts one the guards from Tai chi to kung-foo.  Then sits down for a cup of ty-phoo tea.

Finally, there is an epic battle where The White Rabbit reveals that he is indeed Brian’s father as an attempt to escape. This ploy does work, and he escapes in his space craft, but not before activating the self-destruct system leaving our four heroes in the greatest of perils. But they too escape just in the nick of time and live to fight another day. They’ll be ready for the White Rabbits return.

Initial Storyboard

This is the initial storyboard in rough sketch.

Cast

This is the main cast. Brian, Montgomery Man, Kasey Kat, Professor Kosher, Butler, and The White Rabbit.

First Ideas

These are the pictures, set out in a sort of storyboard, which I showed to my tutor. The basic plotline being that Brian gets a call saying he has to save the world from a giant laser, so he and Monty Man go to Professor Kosher for some gadgets. Then they go on to a bar to find someone to fly them there where they encounter Kasey Kay. She takes them there in her van, but on arrival they are captured by the White Rabbit and his butler, Butler, and incarcerated. Fortunately the professor just happens to think they have so cycles up there, performs martial arts on the guards and frees them.

Finally there is an epic battle where the evil moon base is destroyed. Everyone escapes, but unfortunately the White Rabbits and Butler get away.

Any ideas you might have to add please do tell.

Poster

This is a first quick draft of a post for my film, just to use to introduce it to my class.

This is a film I made back in 2007 using Brian and Monty. They are established characters and have proven to be popular. People ask when I am going to bring Brian back. The story I want to do this year I have been thinking about for about five years now, but have never got round to doing, like many of my ideas. This is the sort of thing that it would be like, but would have developed since and the new story will be better.

Tutorial

Today I had a tutorial with my tutor regarding my idea for my film this year. These are the notes. You’re working on a script. Have been working on a storyboard. We looked at the highly worked up pictures and you described the story. The characters and the action. You don't want to make direct parody but more the cliché present in a genre of film. Your brother is going to do the music. It's going to be stop frame, plasticine models with an aluminium wire frame. Tutors immediate feedback: Brilliant drawings and some really amusing characters. What stands out for is the drawing of the professor in goldfish bowl and the carrot. That has a sense of originality and depth to the humour. Whilst it's great to see the work involved in the drawings, it would be really good to work in a way that you can explore ideas in a more sketchy way. Get feedback and then work up when you’re at the final stages. Now you have a core of an idea. Write it up. Synopsis beginning, middle and end. What is the story? Target 1: Try and look more critically at images/works, and develop a critical vocabulary Target 2: Reading film/animation journals and magazines will help you to further develop your own writing Target 3: Update your statement of intent to reflect the progress made and more detailed intentions of the production.

Hello

Hello, and welcome to my blog for my BA top up year at Plymouth collage of art where I am studying animation. On here you will see how this year’s film develops, and ideas I have. Any ideas and comment will also be very welcome indeed, and could really help me on my way.