connorcarter32

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Behind the Scenes stills from ‘To the Divide’

Fig1 - Cel Shading Material Test

Fig2 - Outline Style Test on Prototype Interior Design

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Promotional Stills for ‘To the Divide’

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Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding can be used to help cover the costs of distribution.

“Fundraising for the social media age”

Open goal vs closed goal. Open goals guarantee a payout, but patrons are more likely to donate towards a closed goal.

Considering reward tiers. Behind the scenes art, or a shout out, etc.

It’s about creating a community, similar to social media. There has to be incentive for people to be involved and interact.

Stretch goals are a good way to gain patron interest, while also setting budgeting goals for the production.

Integral to develop a sense of scale within crowdfunding. Demonstrate the intricacies of the project.

Consider the extra additions that more funding can provide for the project.

Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, Sponsume, PeopleFund.it

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Making an autobiographical film

Show how you work (Work station, software, etc)

examples of the work that you do (3D work, Rigging, animation, modelling)

Why your work is important to the industry (Pol, eat the rich, terrible animation use)

Show critical reflection of your work (Developing a style, developing a following)

Engage a dialogue with other professionals on who you are as an artist (Character / location design that transcends gender / culture, etc)

Talk about ideas and inspiration. Personal art history (How hobbies effect work)

Production:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yMG77k7kM7dqwPtrsLpMmwWi25uY88hG/view?usp=sharing

Here is a test of 2D puppet animation that I’ve assembled in 3D. It has the capacity to be animated by hand, or with motion capture. I believe that this will be beneficial for the commentary for the film, since it reflects the fantastical elements that I’m trying to present. Since it is animated and colourful it will be more enaging and therefore a more engrossing fantasy. This will also help with the performance of dialogue, since there will be less consideration of how it will seem physically and moreso how I can manipulate the puppet to give a decent performance.

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Eddie Robson Writing Workshop

characters are supported by the story and events happening to them.

A good story is driven by complex characters.

plot story from beginning to end, to get the structure down. (stops you wasting time overwriting. It’s the standard in television as a form of script breakdown.)

A ‘beat sheet’ is good to plan story structure.

Acts or breaks are used in screenwriting from theater. This is good to consider for visual novels, as there is a lot of information and it would be nice to split it up, give the reader breaks.

a story shape with a centeral mid point is used often. Think of an event in the middle of the story and build the screen play around it.

Plot points have to constantly escalate, lest it become boring.

Characters should be presented at their most typical, but have secrets.

Unless you want to pull a switcheroo, the above rule is in use.

You can also subvert expectations on introductions.

Vocalise the issues of the world through characters, otherwise there is a disconnect.

make something as clear as possible with action other than words. (makes the script move quicker)

COLLAB! Get other peoples ideas.

Reference the genre of the piece.

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Where is connor's industry

British studios for 3D:

Rare Ware

Hello Games

Ardman studios

Ubisoft (France)

Network Peers in 3D:

N/A

Social media contacts:

Twitter

Instagram

Tumblr

Youtube

Linkedin

I want to work in 3D art and animation. I have no accessible network outside of social media. I will most likely try to install myself in the UK industries, through apreticships and such. I can potentially make contacts through university on game arts and animation courses. This can also be supported by lecturer references to work commercially, or social media for self employment and commission work.

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Low poly PS1 styled Altaria from #pokemon I gotta say it's pretty great that you can use a style that's so low effort, but looks so nice. #b3d #blenderrender #blender3d #blenderart #pokemonemerald #ps1 #lowpoly #cyclesrender #blue #animalart #lowpolyanimals #artistsoninstagram #artistsofinstagram #altaria #spin https://www.instagram.com/p/CLedJYdHRQq/?igshid=833eg1qk1ut8

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Visual Novel - 5 Elements of Storytelling

Universal Themes and personal experience - 

based on the mundane and forceful teachings from a religiously educated background. Focusing on the lack wonder in such a fantastical concept with gods and spiritualism.

Also how the joint power of church and state are directly harmful to myself. (Allocation of funds, abuse of power)

community: Following beliefs you don't believe in to fit in with the masses.

Individuality: Your opinion of yourself is the only one that matters.

Subtext and environments - 

Environments: A primitive tree based society, perhaps with Madagascan tribes housing as reference. A fantastical, developed underwater society with an abundance of space and resources.

Subtext: All of mans problems are caused by man and not spiritual beings, their is a place in society for religion, but not within governing bodies.

Emotion - 

intrigue

mystery

sadness

hopelessness / hopefulness (transition)

Character and observation -

SAILAS GIRL - Raga 

13-14 YO

Designed around an axolotl, she is feisty and chooses to be more adventurous than her other Sailas counterparts.

Used to present a character from a highly religious background and what such a background restricts in life.

NESTREL BOY - Kenbu

13-14 YO

Designed around a  Kenbu uses his time engrossed in herbalism and curatives. He is frequently seen helping the elderly of his village and he hopes to one day cure the wood rot of the mother tree. Despite this he cowers in the face of danger and lacks athletic ability.

Used to portray the abuse of power being held over him in an abusive heirarchy.

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Nuances of Performance

In visual novels, integral performance related roles include voice performances and pose references. The voice work is integral to present the characters as free thinking and opinionated. It adds another level of depth to them and although the visual novel can be made without it, I think it would suffer greatly. 

Pose references are also important, as visual novels require over-extending, dynamic poses to easily communicate the character's feelings, while the art and language convey other important information. 

Methods of visual novel voice acting:

Animalese: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCuAhVnwCss (poor example, but it’s hard to source)

Coined by the ‘Animal Crossing’ series, this is a cute style that has an uncanny connection to English, so it still sounds natural while technically being a fantasy language. 

My attempt: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wo5S8UfSIUrFsb9-JeMsB-va963BIarJ/view?usp=sharing                                                 Made for an elderly owl character. 

Single Phases:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR4pij6vfro&list=PLn3Wm-3X3v7BeGE9LRc0h6qvyGUXz-DJL&index=11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo8l7rK88WI

Very useful to cut down on the amount of content needed, especially when considering the potential 500 text boxes for a 12 minute piece. It also adds a lot of personality to each character with certain motif sounds and phrases. 

Sound Library:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoH8hZXOifQ

Includes creating a portfolio of single noises and phrases, then having them cycle, or select them randomly. 

Good for filling any silences in the visual novel, but can be considered annoying. It also aids in developing a flow of reading through the novel. 

Pose References:

Poses for visual novels have to be extremely exaggerated to stand out and communicate the emotion of the scene before the dialogue is read. The greater the pose communicates, the more contextualisation and meaning can be imbued into the language. 

Ghost Trick:

The character art in the portraits are a consistent style, but they both convey different emotion with the subtle but bold differences.

Characters have bold outlines for easy visibility, even when not focusing on the image. There’s both a black and white outline so it can be present on any background.

It would help to have a photography session with actors to have such expressions to use for art references. The exasperation in the differences would best come from professional actors who can produce a feeling or emotion under direction.

Actor referencing in ‘Death Stranding’

Hideo Kojima, as a video game director tends to take a filmic approach. He has used real likenesses to ground his characters in more filmic narratives. Although the 3D medium is different in this regard, the method of referencing actors to produce the movement, and emotion is the same. 

Leading from this example it may also be worth using an actors pose reference and their corresponding voice for their character. I find this would make the characters seem more natural as actors can conjure an image of the character they are playing and work towards it. 

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Ethics of making documentary

A great deal of popular documentary films, are not in fact true documentary.  John Grierson coined the term, declaring documentary an observation of life, however it has been adapted and taken on new meaning as preservation of historically valuable images and information. 

Although I personally have little experience making documentary, the format has always seemed valuable to a film career, due to the importance of behind the scenes filming and the formats recent boost in usage from advertising. Not only will this aid me in learning a new filmic practise, but my future college work will be bolstered and when finding a career in film, I will have more professional looking production footage. 

Representation and the right to speak are pressing issues for documentary film. I believe that the necessary experience is required to aptly discuss a controversial topic, however I don’t believe that people should be censored for example making a queer documentary, without being queer. This removes other perspectives from the formula and only presents filmic records of a non-objective stand point. Although it’s fair to judge someone's knowledge of the respective cultures, this persons outlook is just as valuable. This is especially important for documentary, as the success of a documentary is usually when a social or political change occurs. If a taboo subject were bought to light by someone who engrosses in that subject, then it seems biased and invalidated. On the other hand, if an outsiders perspective is presented, it could be considered more reliable. Alternatively, the person who engages in taboo could be deemed the expert of the subject, and therefore more truthful, so it’s a tricky situation to gauge who has the right to speak. 

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Digital Composition

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RHmo70RLcWQZMma1XEyureNHxoWqFkXf/view?usp=sharing

In this video you can see the attempt I’ve made of using Blender’s composition features for the first time. The effect that it creates is rather interesting and I find it will have some utility for film too. The effect also functions with video footage, I just need to add tracking similar to after effects. I could also render all of the composited layers separate and use after effects to pull them together with greater freedom of control. 

I find that digital composition is becoming almost a necessity in film production. Granted there are many ideas surrounding film that won’t call for it, like some briefs for advertisements, or documentary style film, although it can still find a place within these examples. Many high budget nature documentaries make use of 3D compositing to make the footage more consistent. I personally think that it is a very valuable skill to learn, considering the direction of the industry, with only spectacles of films such as Marvel reaching audiences. 

When reviewing the footage I’ve noticed that there’s inconsistencies with lighting, as well as poor cropping. Both of these issues are easily solvable, by either adding an artificial light for shadows and depth to the image and making a better UV map of the image so that there isn’t any strange textures popping into view. 

Personally I’m more experienced with the actual 3D design than composition aspects of film, however it will be an invaluable tool to be able to use, since in many instances recorded footage is much simpler and easier to obtain. Furthermore, commercially film has a more financially secure stigma attached, since it’s been practised for so long in commercial and industrial settings. 

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301: sonic narratives

303 sizzle reel: sorta like a kickstarter video. Trailery, that shows pre production. 'Stylised'. Supercut of grad film.

Grad Project - maximum length 12 minutes. 

Installations and live events require a <12 min documentary explaining your project. 

You can submit as a specialist role working across a few separate projects. 

Sonic Narrative 

Task - 2-6 minute audio piece

Use college resources and save as a 48KH 24BR WAV file.

Casual listening: propose a question to audience, where is the sound coming from, what is it?

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I rigged an animated a little bunny boi! His design is based on Antylomon, but I wanted to make him cyoot. #blenderrender #blender3d #digimon #digimonart #fanart #eeveerender #b3d #3dmodeling #3danimation #animalart #rabbitgram #gameart #animeart #digimonfanart #inktober https://www.instagram.com/p/CGk5h1JHTQE/?igshid=p338s1kt6ixv

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Online Dissertation slides briefing 

Being assigned a dissertation supervisor (mostly self directed).

Follow module learning outcomes.

Keep relevant to film practises and contexts for film.

Detailed subject knowledge. Analysing critical approaches to film.

Appropriate theoretically and cultural contexts. Forming an argument and making it convincing. 

Independent research and exploration.

Using a range of appropriate academic resources. How well own ideas stand amongst scholarship ideas. 

Communication skills which show cultural discourse within filmmaking. 

5000-6000 words. 4000-5000 with an artifact.

Keep a record of a research journal. (Any form you like).

Reflective blog is an option.

The slide counts as a starting point.

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Welcome Back session

Check 'all years info' classroom

301 (research) and 303 (grad project) should combine, 304 is dissertation.

Library resources booked online

Think about paying for aesthetica

Big boy neal new year tutor

'Padlet' software to share ideas within a group.

Next friday talk interview abt disserations 

Dissertation module worth 20 credits

Production module worth 40 credits

Paperpile is useful to compile references material

Can make a digital production for dissertation.

3 sessions of 15 minutes with dissertation tutor/instructor

Stretch yourself - 301 - research and experimentation

Exploring ideas for your grad project

Ditto

Begins with set tasks to generate material for the module 

Definitely ask about a game/visual novella? 

Module guide:

Composition of space, working with deep blue sound students, digital frontiers and composites / synchronising, documentary storytelling.

 Present 2 ideas for a grad project (Failsafe).

Documentary? Da vinky

Sizzle reel for 301 - kind of a moodboard or trailer of the research prepared for the grad film

 1000 word statement is a deliverable

10-20 page production pack

5-10 minute video of short film outputs. Experiments or tests.

Grad project sizzle reel.

Straight 8 horror-

Shoot digital first

Record sound actions while filming.

Elements of horror - claustrophobia in space / time. Melodramatic, parody?

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No more smash bros #blenderrender #eeveerender #fireemblem #fireemblemawakening #supersmashbrosultimate https://www.instagram.com/p/CDheF_VHnE8/?igshid=1t1nnuo4z1e92

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Made Snake in his true form. Wanted to try something less anthropomorphic this time. I'm quite proud of his snek skin.🐍 #blenderrender #blender3d #animation #metalgearsolid #metalgearsolidv #snakes #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #eeveerender https://www.instagram.com/p/CDMiWYrgYF5/?igshid=15r5vjipuup87