CT6APME

Advanced Preproduction Methods

UP736065

2016 - 2017

This project allowed us to develop the entire pre-production phase for our final film, including a final animatic, character and environment designs, and a production

schedule, as well as teaching us about pre-production in industry pipelines.

My initial idea for my final film was to have it be a metaphor for psychological conditions like

depression and anxiety, and have a message that if you think you need help you are probably

right, and should seek it.

We start in an ocean, with a shot of our character (called ‘X’ for now, genderless /androgynous, indeterminate race/ethnicity so it can apply to all people) cleaning the side of their ship – we should get the sense that they value its appearance.

They wave to other people passing by in their own little boats, before getting back on deck and going down into the boat’s interior. We see the boat is leaking

slightly. As the story progresses, less work is completed by the character, they avoid

people, and do very little all day. The boats leaks continue to worsen, and the wood starts to break away. The boat is a metaphor for the character’s mental

state. The boat completely floods and X lays blankly in the water. They almost go for help (which it will be established in the story that they know is available) but

ultimately reject the idea. The ‘natural talent’ chest in the ‘mind’ (boat) is overcome by seaweed or similar growth.

X stands on piece of deck, leaning against mast as another person sails by – still trying to keep up appearances, despite inner state. Deck and mast pieces float

apart and X falls in to the water filled interior below. Eventually builds wheel and sails for boatyard (a metaphor for mental health services – there to help, not to do

the work for you. )

Who are these people on the boats? What do they do all day?Why are they out there?

What is their work?

Perhaps they could ‘manufacture’ sea creatures? Build them by hand from various components, and

‘magically’ bring them to life?

The focus should be on the affected person seeking help for themselves, as someone rescuing them is

actually extremely unlikely, and does not work from a therapy standpoint, but is common in similar animations I have seen. All therapies depend on the patient wanting

change and being prepared to put it into effect themselves. This film should concentrate on the

characters mental journey towards seeking assistance.

Visual Research and inspiration:

Looks like a painting – could I animate with

oil paints?

The boats represent the ‘person’. The self. The psyche, the mind, the mental state of the person – better ship integrity = better mental integrity. Interior of the boat shows the

interior of the mind. X’s boat is falling apart from the inside, but they don’t want anyone to know; on the outside it is clean and polished, and looks structurally sound and well-maintained. X knows help is available (how to tell audience?) but feels unable to ask for

it, however much this is encouraged. The boat decays to such an extent X eventually builds a wheel and steers for help – indecision, almost fails, but does eventually make it.

Is very long idea – to be what I want it to be – 1:30 -> 2 minutes guideline for film; would not be able to animate much more. Need to cut story down, but still have it be readable and meaningful. Use montage of still shots – completely submerged, use glitching effects etc. on After Effects – fade into monochrome, the boatyard brings back colour. Emphasise the power, form, force and overwhelming nature of the sea – is good metaphor for mental

illness.

How to animate? -> don’t want to have to animate too much – am not confident in skills.

The most important element of this film is to fully communicate the mood and the feeling of the

character’s mindspace.

Inspiration for the mood, tone and feeling

inside the boat.

Greyscale colour palettes show the blank, empty despair the character is feeling, and

them being overtaken by the overabundance of natural elements presents a feeling of suffocation or

helplessness.

Media tests:

3rd iteration of idea:

See people on ships. X has shiny ship. All characters releasing creatures over the sides. X’s are perfect, but very few in number. They are all rewarded with a bag thrown up to

them by the sea. It contains more components, other rewards of some kind?, order sheets?, flyers etc. including one for the boatyard. X examines this flyer briefly and we

see the yard over the top from a perspective shot. X bites lip and crumples flyer, stuffing it back into their bag, turning away and heading down inside their boat. Puts bag on

side. Camera stays on bag as X moves quickly out of shot. We see their components and diagrams for manufacture. Maybe an older boatyard flyer with some pen markings on?

Location circled then later crossed out?? The audience needs to know this struggle to get help is an ongoing thing that’s been happening for a while already. They’ll put it together if it’s done right. Through a montage of shots we see the ship’s interior disintegration getting worse – they fall through the deck because it’s so rotted; their boatyard flyer

floats down beside them and they consider, but ultimately ignore, it. Gets up and carries on. We see failed attempts and no attempts at creature construction. Leaking and

disintegration of ship is getting worse. X has nothing to put overboard and orders keep piling up. The usual bag is thrown onboard and just floats down into flooded interior

because the deck is mostly missing. Another flyer floats out and drifts near their face. X closes eyes and turns away. It sinks down to the dark depths and the camera follows it as

all the light fades to black.

In the cool grey dawn X floats; blank and numb. Staring up at stars that become clouds, then beautiful sunlight through ruins of deck – leave some boards – create

lines like cell bars. Next shot – pre-dawn – sitting on deck remnants, staring at nothing. Sun comes up. We see the light on X’s face where it is glinting off of something off screen. X realises after a while and turns slowly, distracted and confused. Sees the boatyard; the sun is shining off of the coloured glass

towers. X considers it slowly, clearly having trouble thinking. Turns to observe the water and slowly picks out instruments. Builds wheel, attaches to boat, and sails

towards the boatyard. The boatyard is now fully lit and colourful. X and their boat are clearly more monochrome that their surroundings. Yard staff help X out of the boat, and we see them teaching X skills and helping them work on their boat to fix it. We see the beginning of this process, as the boat starts to undergo repair, and some colour returns to both X and their boat, but that is where we leave it;

that is where the film ends.

The sea needs to be an explosive,

powerful, overwhelming

force.

Dark and deep and compelling.

Recreating its crashing

movements will be paramount to

capture its spirit and energy. I will film it in different weather conditions

to inform later animation tests.

Sea tests done with eyeshadow. It blended nicely, and gave some good water effects, but was too soft looking to be

suitable for the sea that I need.Perhaps could be used inside the boat for the character’s

foggy mindset when floating and falling apart.

Blending tests for boat colour

I tried some basic concept pieces in Photoshop, but unfortunately they both came out looking rather strange. My digital art skills are still rather lacking, but the lower left picture does capture some of the mood of the film’s

main section.

This was a colour and texture test for the boatyard sequence at the end of the film. It would be around dawn,

so the fog and lower clouds would be lit up with the colours of sunrise. The grey lifting to colour would subtly

echo the grey of X and their boat regaining colours as they begin their journey of healing.

The volume and capacity of

this sea are also important; the depths of a person’s mind

are not constrained by physical space

allocated to the organ.

Textbox

I really like the digital painting lower left. It really conveys the character’s position; slightly detached

from the bubbles – their only connection to the world above, and their head tilted back, accepting their fate

as they feel unable to change it. They continue to sink, completely separated from their boat. The sea is

given depth with an interesting rough texture, and layers of darkening tones. The sea’s shadows,

reaching out to take them.

I want something traditional-looking for my boat. Maybe like a yacht, or fishing vessel, but much larger on the inside/under the waterline.

Boat research:

The boat falling apart and sinking symbolises the character’s feelings that they are breaking as they are

overtaken by their illness. The flooding shows the condition continuing to affect an already

damaged mind; left untreated in that state it is unlikely to repair itself properly or completely.

Wrecked boats:

Boats sunk by their condition:

Could see wrecked ships and boats on the bottom of the ocean – perhaps helps the

character realise the severity of what is happening, and

prompts them to seek support.

For my ‘traditional’ style boat I had visions of it being

panelled. I had a look at both new wood and

reclaimed wood panelling in interior design, as well as in

sailing vessels.

My boat cannot have pristine new wood, as it is falling apart, but I like the idea of it clearly

not being that old, so the rot is not because of age. I also really like the softness and colour of the greyer woods,

especially for later in the story.

Research into boat interiors, and one concept sketch

from the narrative.

This image on the left was very inspiring for the size of

the boat. Above water it looks like a small vessel, but below it is expansive with

several rooms. This is indicative of the mind being

more expansive than the organ in which it appears to operate. Also, as the boat is overtaken by water, it could

appear to think. Psychological conditions

often impair thought, and this would be a nice visual

metaphor for that.

4th iteration of idea:

See people on ships – incorporate the person’s style and characteristics into their boat’s design so we get a real sense of the boat being the person. Are all releasing creatures

overboard. X has far fewer than the others. Rewarded by the sea with bag of stuff including flyers. We see the boatyard – they are fixing a boat. X takes bag into ship interior – puts it on the side, and we see their components and diagrams for creature manufacture. Boat is

already leaking and clearly suffering some damage. X takes order sheet out of bag and pins it on board. Discards previously pinned boatyard flyer.

Montage of shots – leaking gets worse; X has no creatures to release overboard; their ship’s absent and floating far away from the fleet. Orders pile up. All sound becomes muted.

Bag is thrown overboard – deck is mostly missing, so it floats down to X, flyers and components and order sheets spilling out and floating away. Light catches on the

components and X reaches out fingertips to touch them sadly, blankly, like it’s a long-forgotten skill, when really it is simply buried under crustaceans and seaweed. They ignore the overdue orders and boatyard flyer, and the camera follows everything floating down to

the bottom, to the dark, out of sight. Fade to black.

Re-establishing shot – X’s boat, all alone and small and damaged in the vast strong ocean. Inside is all grey now. X is sitting on a portion of the partly destroyed deck. The sun comes up – X ignores it. Sun is glinting

off of something outside of shot. X turns, distracted and confused. Boatyard is visible in distance – coloured glass towers light up as the

sun catches them. X has a rather slow moment of clarity – brain finding it hard to work.

Builds a wheel?? Why? Just make oars and paddle towards salvation. Boat and X are very monochrome compared to their surroundings; this is even more noticeable when pulling into the yard. Light shining on

them starts to give them a little colour. When X is helped off the boat they start to regain more colour, starting from the staff’s touch.

The boards should look old and worn, and slowly flood.

I have this vision of the boat looking almost fine from the outside – a relation to how invisible mental illness can be to

other people – and water pluming up

between the boards of the deck when it

is stepped on.

Texture concepts:

I wanted to keep the traditional theme to match with the worn

panelled boat, so researched traditional fishermen’s clothing.

Character design research:

Boot development, and some colour palette ideas. Yellow is generally a happy colour, so only muted shades would be used for the character. The colours end up grey for quite a

time, so muted shades would signify a that the progression has already started when we meet X at the start of the film.

Another mood concept for the beginning of the dawn scene.The shot is not properly framed to display the hopelessness the character feels, and a different angle could make this a much more evocative, dramatic piece. Mixing small close-ups of details like hands, or the side of the face from ¾ behind with the longer shots would provide a more intimate intimation of the character’s mental state, and

their isolation from the world.

Quick pose study for communicating

feeling

Boatyard: inspiration and ideas

I envisage a group of tall towers, topped with coloured glass, that shine brightly

in the sunlight.

They act as a place-marker and identifier, and I like the idea of them rising out of the seafog to encourage potential visitors, like

in the pictures left and right.

It was suggested in a feedback session that the place of salvation be a lighthouse. This makes sense, as they are supposed to be visible to those in need in rough weather, but I

was still stuck on the idea of it being a small shipyard where boats could begin to be repaired. I eventually arrived at the compromise of combination – the main area is a

boatyard, but as part of the ‘towers’ I was envisioning, there is a lighthouse.

This also helps story-wise, as X can now see,

and ignore, the availability of help in a more natural way than

receiving constant flyers from the sea, which

would be very easy to ignore and not notice, and would get very repetitive for the

audience, and I don’t want them bored. The lighthouse’s presence

would be more obvious and permanent, but

could still be lost sight of if the weather was too rough, or the boat too

far out.Perhaps, when sitting on the remaining deck, X will see the light from the lighthouse before

dawn, and arrive at the boatyard as the sun rises.

This mosaic was really inspiring for the idea of having the characters make the creatures out of material pieces instead of magic, which is a really nice way to tie them to the natural world as they

live in this slightly unnatural environment.

The sea-creatures the characters build:

TextboxTextbox

One of the most important things about this project for me was to achieve visual texture with a real

tactile appeal. I am worried that all my digital art can look very flat and slightly muddy. I have more faith in my traditional art skills, and from experiments I did last year I know

that it can look very interesting , and still be smooth and professional. I

want to keep as much of this project in traditional media as I can, so will

be researching and trying many different techniques and approaches, especially to creating movement, in

these techniques.

Technique research:

One of the techniques I came across was Ebru – the art of painting on water, originally for paper marbling in the Far

East. Instead of marbling paper you could film the paint being moved around on the water and use it as

filmed footage. This is something I’m very keen to try, as it would be a good

solution for animating the sea.I will also try some embroidery for

textures, perhaps for the wood of the boat.

The embroidery did create lovely textures, but I am not sure how it could be incorporated into the film.

The painting was created by mixing oils on the paper with palette knives.

My tests:

This was a fantastic technique for creating a very energetic, wild, overwhelming ocean. The colours mixed beautifully, and the knives made some wonderful textures. Again, however, I

am unsure how I would work this into the film.

Another, unfinished, oil attempt. I had planned to supplement with watercolour for the sky, and perhaps try layering more oils on the

sea part. You can only layer so many in one go before it all starts mixing too much and you lose

definition.

Worked nicely for the sea

again, and also created a nice

effect for wood panelling

or decking.

‘The Old Man & The Sea’ was created by Aleksandr Petrov, a Russian animator who made several films with the same time-consuming technique. With a run-

time of just over 20 minutes, this film took several years to complete.

His technique involved painting oils onto large glass plates, which were all held in layers on a separation device. For each frame the slow-drying paints were

altered slightly, and the composite of layers was photographed.

I animated one layer with oils last year, but after a while the elements mixed and became muddy. Perhaps animating each separately and compositing the

layers in Adobe After Effects would work. Petrov created some wonderful deep textures and natural effects which I am keen to explore further.

Character starts looking away from camera. Suddenly turns to it as if spoken to. Shot of assistant - X refuses flyer and walks away. Greets the other sailors at the dockside. We see a sign for the boatyard, and the buildings in the background. Water bubble up between the deck boards as X boards their ship. Enters interior and drops bag on side. Sighs. We see interior of boat is broken and sluggishly

flooding. See boatyard through porthole? (shape theory – framed by round is likely to be friendly) Pulls square blind over it? (stubbornness) or watch it get further

away and fade out of sight as X casts off.

Not really sure how to construct this narrative.

5th iteration:

This project was a personal endeavour, but I am no longer inspired by it, and have no wish to explore it further. I have no desire to produce

this as my final film, and my attempts at working on it are suffering as a result.

After some thought and a discussion with my tutor, I have decided to change my idea completely.

I want to make a cool film. I want to make something exciting, and fun, and visually interesting. I should also be thinking

about where I want to work in industry, and the type of work they may want to see.

Because I had no initial thoughts on spy narratives, I decided to start with some research into the genre to help me get inspired, and develop my ideas further.

After some thought, I decided to aim for a spy-type film, with science-fiction elements. This would appeal to some of my interests,

and allow me to create a visually and narratively enjoyable film.

Obviously I wont be able to include all of these elements with the time, skills and resources I have, but they serve as a useful set of guidelines to

sculpt my narrative choices into something interesting.I cannot get caught up in details or have any sub-plots or many twists,

as the film must be less than 2 minutes long, but it can still be an interesting piece, with some limited action scenes and some suspense.

I want to make a fun, interesting film, with some great cinematographic shots that audiences will want to watch more than once.

Simple guidelines for spy fiction:

• Stunning opening (often action sequences)• Dynamic protagonist• Make it realistic• Action• Cliffhangers• Startling twists• Setup – 10-20%; Confrontation – 60%; Consequences – 25%

Bourne Trilogy:• Too much shaky cam• Characters lit from side or behind – tension and

suspense – secretive• Cameras pan up characters and follow them – tracking

shots• Quick cuts and auditory overlays of mission control

and agents on the ground – exciting, builds tension• WAY too much shaky cam – please stop• Cut or muffle audio during fight scenes – really good

– makes them rawer and more realistic, and helps you focus just on visuals

Connotations spy films have for me:• Grey/blue colourcast• High contrast• Warm golds for fancy parties/crime

bosses/casinos etc.• Neon lights• Thoughtful lighting• Fancy cars/bikes/boats/planes• Excessive helicopters• Far-reaching locations; several variations per film• Stylish characters, set dressing, and

cinematography• Large action pieces• Fancy gadgets• Fancy clothesCasino Royale:

• Low and Dutch angles of villains• Half-light on agent• Huge encompassing wide panning long shots of

(fancy, foreign) locations• Dramatic reveal shots• High stakes missions• Scene change with time jump can motivate a camera

change/ move character to other side of screen• Poisoned – extreme camera tilts and overexposure of

shot create a brilliant confused and disoriented feel

Isolating elements like these was really helpful to pick out a sort of formula

for a film. Obviously not all will make it in to my

film, but some will likely be carried forward in development.

Some screenshots from ‘The Bourne Identity’, ‘Casino Royale’, ‘John Wick’, and ‘Young Justice’ I isolated in my research for

their compositional strength.

Colour, lighting, and mis-en-scene are used to move

the audiences focus to where the director wants it, to direct them towards the

scene’s action, or an important

detail.

Initial ideas for the narrative went through many ideas and stages of development, before cohering into a more solid state.

I really wanted to do something with a team, because I like inter-team dynamics, and it seems less lonely than one agent alone.

After watching so many spy/ secret agent films, I decided that my film really needed to have a strong fantastical/ sci-fi twist – I didn’t

want to make something serious and concerned with real-world problems, I wanted something fun.

I want a clean and cool straightforward spy/ secret agent film, with sci-fi design elements, and a tight plot, but minimal onscreen action,

and no dialogue, for ease of production.I want the audience to have fun, and not have to take it too seriously,

but still get drawn into the narrative and like the characters.

Agent[s] will carry tasers, tranquilisers etc. – no guns, no killing.Should wear combat suits of some kind?

No excessive property damage – crashing cars into buildings, blowing things up etc.

Team’s agent on the inside observes ‘bad guys’.

Establishing shot over sci-fi city centres in on one building – team HQ. Quick look at room as team members enter for mission briefing – cool,

clean, blue/white/green colours, plant, large windows. Seems like a friendly place.

Mission brief on large (pale blue) holographic screen.

Visual Research:

I started looking at

building design and colour

palettes for my environments

I was particularly inspired by an artist named Jeremy Mann who creates cityscapes in this

slightly relaxed manner, which really brings out the light and the colours.

I found other artists with similar approaches, too.

These paintings have quite a

depressing feeling, which isn’t what I want for my film These are my favourites. The

seem so light and airy, and have a special energy to them. The colours also complement the form, and the light gives the impression of a calm day, but

also maintain clear and extensive depth.

This is the sort of look I want for my team HQ.