Modeling Trouble

As a designer I know the core basics of Maya and 3d animation. As a student, this is an area that I am least familiar with. After spending a week trying to figure out how to do this piece I have found that if at first you don't succeed... find someone else to do it. I have purchase a model from the internet... The rigging part of the piece will probably come easy because the character only needs to be posed, rather than animated. Many of the students at Cada have been very helpful with this portion of my thesis. I have been studying the look of my project, and in my head playing what it will look like when this woman comes out of the wall. The the face needs to be semi accurate to the actual look of my model. Mainly the nose, and the lips need to be a match. However... I think I have found a way to keep my down loaded model with no changes and make her look like my actress. The steps to making Ally look like she's coming out of a wall are simple. I have factored in several ways to escape reality to make it look more real. I decided to texture my model with a design while she is in a wall. Therefore, when she comes out... she will still look like paint, and will transition into a manikin look. I then shot the background plate... so that I can import that into Maya as a texture for the Plane. I will simply push my model through the plane so that it looks like she is bulging out of the wall. I then go to a reaction shot of my actor. From their, I tend to the next shot of her feet which will already be out of the wall... I am thinking about using another 3d shot of her at the very end of the piece. The trick to everything in this project is manipulate the situation. So this weekend has been a sucess... although I feel behind... I am confident that by Friday I will have conquered this portion of my thesis.
Please give me any suggestions or comments.... or questions?

You Have to go through it

The Issue of Time
Shooting live action has its ups and downs. Not just in the pre production phase... but in the time to come after as well. This experience is one that has made more confident in not just my skills as director or designer, but as a professional. Learning to let your work speak for who you are and how you feel, and allowing your actions to always relay the message that you are a professional has been a process worth talking about. Some may ask why is this important... and the answer is simple. It is one of the most important lessons to learn about being in the entertainment industry. The belief that others will help you or do what they say they will is nonsense. People drop out, miss deadlines, and collectively decide that they will not do something because they feel it is not their job, or has no impact on there future. The idea of loyalty, is something that is only understood through the color of green. Not knowing any of this, I set out to make a piece that would be centered around dealing with these core issues. While I spent the majority of the time narrowing down shots, finding costumes, and doing the important things of production, I did not stop to think about the human side of working on a piece like this.

There are stresses that may make you feel overwhelmed. This entire process is about one thing, how well you perform when everything seems to be falling apart. When your actor quits the day before your shoot because they have another gig on the same day, do you go into panic mode... or do you pick up the pieces and keep going. When your sound fx artist is unable to provide you with further assistance because of their on personal troubles... do you change the entire piece or do you look for the alternative. When the person who you are counting on the most lets you down... do you let yourself crumble. Its these questions that determine whether or not the job gets done. Sure they may sound emotional, and as someone once referred to me "too sensitive." However at the end of the day, the human side is what makes you continue to work harder or waste time watching TV because you just don't want to think about thesis.

So how does this relate to the production side of my thesis.... It is simply the factors that have caused me to hit or miss my own deadlines. Fortunately, I have been working overtime to catch up and I am confident that by next Monday. I will be back on schedule. For any students who read this blog to learn more about the thesis process... I encourage you to be wise in setting you production schedule according to life... not animation. Make sure you pencil in all the dates and times that you will need to complain about the things wrong with you, your project, other peoples projects, other people, and anything else that will delay you from working on your piece. Only in doing this will you have an accurate idea as to how much time you will actually be spending on your piece.

ex. (This took me 15 minutes to write...but 4 hours to understand how it was necessary to say).

rotoscoping complete

I have finally completed the dreadful and painful rotoscoping portion of my thesis. Thanks to some advice from Aaron. I tried rotoscoping the images really tight and then feathered the mask this helped deal with the issue of getting the white wall out of her hair. The next step is to start modeling...hopefully I will be able to fall back into schedule within the next couple of weeks.

Rough Edit complete

I finally have completed a rough edit of my footage and will be posting it up online very soon. Right now I am finalizing the decisions on which shots I will keep and which ones I am certain that I will not be including. After showing the footage to my brother, who is in charge of my sound design, he recommended that the footage stay at a normal pace while the hiphop track is playing and then turn into slo mo when the rock track comes on. I tested this idea out and it works magnificently. Some of the problems that I am tackling now are dealing with interlace issues. Trying to get interlacing out of my footage has been a bit of a struggle. However I am confident that I will be able to come across a plugin that accurately deals with this issue.

Another big plus this week was finding out ways to achieve the color correction effects that I want. On Tuesday I showed some of my references to Selena Simmons who has a background in graphic design. She recommended using photoshop, and showed me some awesome effects that will definitely come in handy when I get ready to design the background as well as work on color correction.

My goal this week was to begin on Rotoscoping. My date to begin was Monday, but due to some minor setbacks I had to begin this process today. So far I am doing pretty well. I have been able to rotoscope at the rate of 15 frames per an hour. I have about 20 seconds of footage to rotoscope. Which means I will take me approximately 40 hours to rotoscope this whole thing. So if I dedicate at least 8 hours for 5 days then I should be done by Tuesday. Which allow to me head right into my sound effects and allow more time for the 3d modeling portion of this project. If anyone has any tips or advice I would definitely like to know.

Good News

I was able to digitize my footage last night, thanks to Rob. Apparently, when capturing HD footage the batch capture option is not an appropiate selection. The capture now option however works efficiently. I did a few rough edits last night, and hope to have an official edit by the end of tommorow night.

Color correction references

Over the break, i took sometime to look at the work of designer Patrick Boyer. Here is an idea of the feel and look that I am going to design for my thesis project. For more of his work check out his website. www.urbancowboy.net

Difficulties with HD footage

On friday, I had several difficulties trying to capture my HD footage. This has set me back just a little. Fortunately, after speaking with several cinematographers it is a problem in Final Cut that can be fixed by changing the settings around. I am attending CADA today so I can figure out how to fix it. As soon as the problem is solved I will have a rough edit up within 24 hours. If anyone has any advice about how to capture HD footage in Final Cut, I would love to hear the feedback.

Shoot was a success

Yesterday I shot my thesis in Rego Park(queens). The shoot was a big success. There were many obstacles that came along in shooting. So here is a quick list of the pros and cons of my shoot yesterday. In shooting this project I have learned that there are many difficulties that can arise throught out shooting. Not knowing your shots is probably the most time consuming problem you can occur. I was glad that I was prepared and knew what I wanted. I had each shot listed as well as a clear idea on the different angles I needed as well as wanted to have. The major problems that occurred on the set yesterday were uncontrollable. The day before the shoot, one of my actors called and told me that they would be unable to make it. I immediately had to find a replacement. The next issue was that it was very cold outside, and which became very hard for my actress to handle. The next problem was the weather changed from bright and sunny to somewhat cloudy. Towards the very end of the shoot, we were faced with getting the final shots in the midst of snow flurries. With the uncontrollable issues arising, I was glad that I had spent time, preparing for the shoot. I had tremendous amount of help and friends who gave there support.


Special thanks to Alison, Antonella, Chris, Elaine, Tracey, and Walter for being the best cast, crew, and supporters throughout the shoot.

I look forward to having a rough edit up next week.

New style pics

Links to work

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tpj209/script.rtf
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tpj209/animatic.mov
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tpj209/styledesigns.jpg

Its been a long time

It has a been a long time since my last post, but I have not been neglecting the project. I have been doing test color corrections, style frames, writing scripts, and working on shotlist. Reasking those important questions of what am I trying to say, how am I going to say it, and is this saying it. I 've continued to build onto my research and develop answers to the how questions that were lingering on. So here is some of the stuff I've been working on for the past month in a half.

Storyboards are In!

Thanks to Tyquane, I now have storyboards ready for posting. So here is the revised storyline for seduction.

Style frame

This is a style frame I created this weekend. I have a set style in mind, but I wanted to explore some creative options before my choices are set in stone. Feedback wanted!!!!

Choosing to shoot in DV

Throughout the semester I have been researching the pros and cons on digital video versus film. I have decided to go with DV. After speak to Bobby Yan and Antonella Farruggia , I have found out some of the major issues that may arise with each scenario. Shooting in film will go outside my thesis budget, and may cause difficulities that I do not have time to fix nor can I afford. Though the quality maybe better in film, I have been referenced to several digital camcorders that will produce quality footage.

Thesis changes

I have decided to cut a scene and drop a character from my thesis project. After listening to several classmates, and the critique from Steve Mann, I have come to the conclusion that the scene is unnecessary and takes away from the overall piece. I am now developing another way for the character to enter and exit the fantasy world. Though this cut may cause a minor set back, it is very important that I take out any scenes that will make the scene to long, or take me over my 30 second time slot. Luckily, I have had ideas from several consultants on how to approach the entering and exiting process. I am hoping to have fully developed this idea by tonight. So i can redesign my storyboards and focus on the technical aspects of my thesis.

research paper

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~tpj209/ResearchMidterm.pdf

Images that Influence me

Here are some images that are influencing how I want my thesis to look.

I love how this illustration unites punk rock, exoticism, and yet innocence. The image is japanese influenced

David Bowie video

Pacing is everything in film. The timing of a cut, the speed at which the camera zooms in and out, are all factors in what kind of mood will be captured. The David Bowie video "Im afraid of Americans" is one of my favorites. Though nothing spectacular takes place, the video just seems to capture the fear that one may have when feeling under pressure that someone is chasing or following them. The mood itself is developed by the pacing of the camera zooming out, and then cutting to a close up shot. Below is a link to the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RmHq5EwCH4

Research

This weekend I sat down, and did lots of thinking and analyzing on my thesis project. I started asking myself what is it I am trying to say, do and prove with this project. Have I clearly stated my agenda, do I know any of my history on this subject, and how will I do this?

First let me start by restating what my thesis is all about.

My thesis statement is to use compostiting, painting, and cameras, to turn the real world into a surreal world. Painting and compositing will be the primary focus as cameras will have a minor role.

To showcase these skills I will make a commercial between 30 to 45 seconds long. The story will be based on a fake clothing line called seduction. In the commercial a young man is seduced by a woman who steps out of a graffiti poster.

The Story:
The story begins when 2 young males walk down the street discussing who is the better sportsman. As they approach the corner one of them realizes that they left their cell phone in their apartment. He then turns back to go get it . The other young man waits for im at the corner. While waiting he notices grafitti poster on the wall, advertising the Seduction clothing line. He pulls out his cd player and turns the volume up. The graffiti poster begins to bulge out. He quickly turns the volume down, everything goes back to normal. He turns the volume back up again. The poster again bulges out. He turns the volume back down. The poster returns to its normal state. Suddenly the volume automatically goes back up. He drops the cd player! The poster bulges out, the model steps out of the poster, and the grafitti art comes to life. The woman begins to observe her reality looking around embracing her new surroundings. While she embraces her suroundings butterflies, stars, flowers, and other psychedellic images and designs begin to paint the atmosphere. The young man stares in amazement until his friend taps him on his shoulder. The poster goes back to normal. The young male continues to stare at the poster in amazement. His friend shakes him. He responds "Man... Did you see that?" "See what?" says the friend. "The girl just stepped out of the poster." "So easily seduced. ( in a pathetic tone) . The scene ends with the two of them walking away. The frame is then burnt up with fire, as seduction bulges out in flames. ( a girl whispers seduction)

Who's done this before?

Stepping in and out of worlds has been done numerous times before, in many different ways. One of the major films that comes to mind is Wizard of Oz. In this film, Dorothy enters a false dream to escpe her problems in the real world, only to find that "there is no place like home." This idea known as escapism, was popular in film in the 1930s in Hollywood. Other films today tackle this same idea but in a new way. For example, The Matrix had it lead character awake from a false world that seemed real, only to find that the real world was nothing like that in which he was living in. Rather than enter a new world to escape his problems, he escaped the false world, to fight his problems. The techniques for entering the escapism world is what draws viewers to buy into the idea or to sit in utter shame for purchasing the ticket to the movie in the first place. In the Wizard of Oz, viewers easily buy into the idea because the new world is introduded through a dream. In the Matrix we are taken in and out of the different worlds through tactics like taking a pill, undergoing machines that make your mind operate as if it were a PS2 and different games could be plugged in or out. Or exiting a world by answering phone call. While the Matrix looked for new innovative and somewhat complicated ideas for entering and exiting new worlds, audiences found themselves indulging in the fantasy life of the Matrix. Other movies like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, found less complicated ways. In the scene where Harry Potter is leaving for Hogwarts for the first time, he finds himself confused, on how to board the train at track 9 3/4. The track inside of a brick wall between track 9 and 10, seems a little weary and skeptical to young Harry Potter. After watching 3 other wizards go straight through, he gets enough courage to try it as well. He grabs his cart and runs throught the brick wall where he is surrounded by other young wizards boarding for their first venture to Hogwarts. The transition between worlds in this scene is seamless. The scene is not hard to follow and comes off very realistic. Introducing the idea of making a surreal world seem real. In the Chronicles of Narnia "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," a simple tactic is used again for entering in out of worlds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zBwzsaPPh8
In this novel turned movie, the characters walk into the wardrobe (pushing coats aside) and end up in the world of Narnia. The idea presented seems unreal to even the characters in the movie, until they all find themselves their at the same time. But science fiction and fantasy genres, are not the only ones to tackle this idea. In the movie Beavis and Butthead and do America, there is a scene where both characters digest mushrooms (a hallucinate drug) . After digesting the drug, Beavis and Butthead begin to hallucinate themselves being in another world. This scene is actually very inspiring to my thesis project because of the pychedelic look that it provides. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQuJmPcMYE0&mode=related&search=
A similar idea was used in the Love Rollercoaster music video by Red Hot Chili Peppers (one of the tracks from the Beavis and Butthead do America Soundtrack). Here is link to the video on you tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bmLrQX5u_w