Friday 8 March 2013

Unit 4: The Fantastic Voyage - Online Greenlight Review: Part 1


Below is the animation i mention in my OGR:



2 comments:

  1. OGR 08/03/2013

    Evening Lekti,

    Okay, well, while the idea of having somekind of character go on this journey into the cell-cycle is fine, I'm a bit concerned re. the idea of you taking on a 'cg human character' as protagonist because you lack the skillbase and experience at this stage of the course to attempt this with any real chance of success; by this I mean, yes, you might manage to model a humanlike character - and perhaps a very stylised one - but as any year 2 or 3 student will tell you, rigging and animating etc. is an incredibly long process, and I can imagine the creation of your protagonist might eclipse all your other duties. I know you're up-to-date with your Maya tutorials, but bare in mind the last creative Maya output of yours was the digital set project, which challenged you, so all I'm saying is please be realistic in regard to the actual pipeline inherent in the creation of a human cg animatable character. My experience of year one students and the particular challenges of this project compel me to suggest that a cg human is a 'time sink' you can well do without at this stage.

    Personally, I like the 'faux-naif' style of your thumbnail drawing of the 'portal' and the guy falling into it, so I'm wondering if something much more 'lo-fi' in terms of production design might be explored advantageously? I really like what is charming about what is simple about that drawing - I'm reminded a bit of this (which you may not remember, but I think Jackie will!).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeMMow_Itqw

    I'm also thinking of this when I look at a) that drawing and b) some of your influences:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUcXF6R-IOM

    The idea of some kind of character going on some kind of 'adventure' via the cell-cycle is fine, but you need to think very carefully in regard to the emphasis of the project (i.e. scientific info + engagement), your existing skillset and experience of managing your time, and what is credible in terms of cg and this brief. I certainly don't want to see you sinking all of your time into the creation of a human cg doctor at the expense of the film as a whole. So give your idea some thought and perhaps post some kind of mission statement/clarification re. your precise intentions in terms of character design and Maya.



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  2. Oh dear - I do indeed remember it!
    I agree that trying to create and animate a human character (however simple) to a high enough standard in the time you have left would be a tough challenge...how about going for a 2D intro, maybe comicbook/animatic style? Maybe something like this -
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE7gAEsI0XY

    That way, you could still have your scientist character, and I think the transition from the flat 2D world (maybe monochrome?)into your vividly colourful 3D world will be all the more dramatic...
    Let's see lots of thumbnail ideas up ASAP!

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