Pipeline 2 - Jetpack Jones: Clean up and Detailed Eyes

 Clean Up

  To clean up, we need to move some geometry around. The edges running into the eye are starting to twist, meaning we need to bring in a straighter pattern. Although its not ideal to have too much running into the eye, its better then having geometry that is twisted.

Pre-Clean Up

  We add another edge-loop though the middle of the head, and then cut in to the join around the eye with the multi-cut tool. This allowed up to move geometry over and reduce the twisting into the eye.

  We need to removed the star pattern on the nose and bring it downwards so not to interfere with the brow. Selecting the edges of the star, we delete them and redraw them further down. This extra geometry allows a better sculpt to shape the nose.

  For the corner of the mouth, we work on round it round so to reduce any buckling. We want to have the edges run smoothly into the mouth and not have any tramlines into the corner. Doing this will keep the mouth neutral, and won't cause problems with our Blend-Shapes later on.

Cleaning Up the Inside of the Mouth

Finally, I closed the mouth by bringing the edges together whilst using the relax tool one more time around the back of the head.

Post Clean Up

Detailed Eyes

  We need to removed the temporary eye now and add a more detailed 2 part version, which will contain both the Iris/ Pupil and Cornea. Firstly in cleaning up, we have removed the star pattern from the bridge of the nose and brought it up higher around the middle of the forehead. We then used the average vertices tool around the eye area to reduce the overly lumpy forehead. 

  Selecting the eyeball, we add a key frame. The first is where the eye is positioned in the head model, the second is on the grid. This means we can parent our new eye to to the temporary one and position it correctly using animation. Then we place everything else on a layer so we can concentrate on the eye alone.

  Creating a Polygon sphere, we scale up to the same size of our temp eye, making sure that it is rotated the same way. Polygon spheres are not as perfect as Nurb ones, so we may need to scale in Z to make sure it fits right.

  Once we are happy with the pupil placement of the polygon sphere, we duplicate it for our cornea. Turning off the temporary Nurb eyes, we select all the vertices before our indicated edge and push them backwards so they become inverted.

  We want the inversion to be shallow, placing it too deep will cause problems. With this done, we place a edge loop on either side, creating a more solid shape when we press 3. This now give us the pupil outline, removing the history but not the transformations.

  Bringing back our Cornea, we bring in the edge of the pupil so it doesn't poke out. We working on increasing its size a very small amount with the scale, and then place another edge loop to give our crease for the Cornea edge. We bring the eye into the right place with a parent connection and the placed animation.

Toolkit 2 - Character Design: Further Expressions

  Following the Soldier's expression work (which seemed to work more in the style), I decided to try and do the "Zombie" state version. By trying to keep the lines sketchy and the painting rough, I tried to capture the 1930's German Expressionism.  However, I feel these may need more work to really get the art form.

Toolkit 2 - Character Design: Soldier Expression Work

   The soldier character for my story will have a more comical art style before transforming into his "zombie" state. This is where I will try to introduce the 1930's German Expressionism Art, as with the warping environment. I tried to grab some possible look that would suit his personality. As he is quite serious serious about his job but likes to have a laugh, I aimed mainly happier expressions.

Pre-Zombie State Expressions

  It seems it been a bit of a slow day today, I aim to have more styles and expressions done shortly. Doing these concepts has also helped me solidify the character's appearnce more. 

Pipeline 2 - Jetpack Jones: The Eyes and Nose

 The Eye Lids

  Selecting the geometry around the back of the head, we extract and then place this onto a layer. This allows a better viewing of the face in the front view. Focusing mainly on the corner of the eye, we carefully sculpt to gain a better shape for a future blink. We have to consider the eye lids, even though they are not present in the orthographies.

  Transferring details from cartoon drawings to 3D can cause size issues with the eyes, normally this leads to showing the too much of the eyeball. This means using a bit anatomy understanding to get this shape correct. We still need to try and keep the shape of the characters eye, so moving between the front and perspective views helps.

  Once happy with moving the vertexes around, we add another edge loop and continue to sculpt. Sometime when being placed back into smooth mode, we will need to bring out the volume of the head as it can get lost. We did this for the nose as well, cleaning up as we go is really important.

  Next we add a loop around the eye, and move it backwards to give us a indentation of the eyelids. Going back into non-smooth, we need to avoid any twisting geometry. When all cleaned up, we continue to add loops around the eye and sculpt the lids.

  Selecting the loop around the eye, we extrude together so create the main line of the eyelids. Continuing with the sculpting, we smooth out the eyelids to give them a more defined look. Also, we want to create a small lip at the bottom, this is for the eyelashes and gives more definition. When completed and cleaned up again, we extrude from the inner edge of the lids inwards towards the eye. Selecting the Eyeball (Nurb),  we make it a “live” object. This becomes a target for vertexes to point snap to and assists in giving the desired shape for the lid. 

  To finish off the eyelid, we extrude back in towards the head so to round off the lids. If we have done this right, it should fit perfectly around the eyeball. If there are any gaps, we can just make small adjustments.

The Nose

The next step is the Nose. To help our sculpting, we use the orthographies to place curves as a supportive guide. For the nose, we will build it face by face so to gain the full sculpting capacity. So, the first step is to select all the geometry in the nose area of the front and side view, then delete. This leaves us with a large gap to start sculpting the nose outline and to extrude from.

  Starting with the nostril, we extrude and create the outline shape. The bridge needs to turn inwards so it fits the dynamics of the nose, using the bridge to connect the face and the nostril together. We need to make sure the nostril is rounded out.

  Using the multi-cut tool, we create a loop to act as a support around the bottom of the nose. We have a triangle at present, but this will be removed. Selecting the edges of the nostril, we extrude upwards to build the nose base, using both the front and side views to capture the volume. Creating a vertex to snap to, we continue to extrude upwards in stages to build the shape of the nose. 

  Using the different views, we need to check for any buckling, bringing back the volume where needed. Once we reach the top of the nose and finished extruding (and snapping), we create the last piece of geometry at the tip of the nose and merge together. Although we now have more geometry, we will need more to be able to sculpt correctly and get the right shape. Holding the shift key, we place more edge-loops to soften out the shape, then clean up the vertexes.

  When mirroring the head, we can see that the nose is much too pointed. Using the symmetry setting in the move tool, we bring vertexes out to round out the tip of the nose. We can also use this tool to thin the bridge of the nose and create a bit of definition around the nostrils. To improve the appearance of the nostrils, we cut in a rams horn shape with the edge cut tool. This will help support the crease around the nostril bulb. With the added loops though the center of the heads, we have to keep sculpting to avoid any tramlines.

  For the holes in the nostrils, we bridged the gap and then extrude inwards to create a rolling round effect. We still have to avoid twisting the geometry, so we continue moving and sculpting the vertexes so they are straight. Selecting the main edges of the nostril holes, we bridge the gap, extrude up and rotate so it faces the entrance. Then taking the edges, we can expand them outwards so to cover the entrance. Adding more loops to the nostril interior, this stops texture stretching and warping. 

Pipeline 2 - Jetpack Jones: The Brow and Neck

The Brow

  Moving on from the nose, we are going to concentrate on the brow. The brow will be easier to model with some curves placed as a guide (as we did with the nose), their placements are worked out from the side and front orthographies. In the drawings, the brow is very pointed and large. We need to try and use a bit of personal choice in rounding it out.

  Before diving into the brow, we are going to sort out the geometry around the head first. This is done by cleaning up vertexes and by deleting our history. Keeping history adds unneeded information into the  Maya view port and slows it down (too much history can overload the memory and cause Maya to crash).

  When I mirrored my model, it was quite pointed down the center, so some work was done to smooth this out.

  Firstly we create a cut off point on highest point of the bridge of the nose, then add two edge-loops though the new created space around the head. With these new loops, we was able to go back and re-sculpt the chin to get a better shape. A locator placed around the cheek (validated by the orthographies) will help us model the volume wanted, using the soft selection to gently bring the geometry forward. We don’t want to give him large cheeks as this may give a smiling impression. We need to keep him neutral.

  After a bit of clean up, we bring in the relax tool (placed onto a low setting) to help get a smoother transition in the geometry. However, we have to be careful with this tool, it can reduce volume too much if overused. To have more flexibility with sculpting in the brow, we bring down loops towards the eyes and  create space to insert another one. This extra loop will help with supporting the neck and cheeks also. The brow is quite high in the orthographies, when positioning vertexes we have to make the geometry thinner around the eye so not to create bulges.

  With the front of the head closer to completion, we bring back the back of the head and point snap the corresponding vertices together. Selecting both meshes, we use the combine tool, select all the vertices down the center and merge them together. This now completes the mesh again. Following this, it was a case of continuing to sculpt and checking the drawings to make sure we are keeping the characters features.

The Ears and Neck

  Going to the holes around the ear placement, we select the innermost loop and extrude inwards. The vertices around the hole is very uneven, so we needed to try and level this out a bit. The faces that had been extruded inwards are also very long, selecting the next loop we use the average vertices to gain a mid point. Following this, we do a light painting of the relax tool to help everything move into the correct place.

  Mirroring the head, we move into creating the neck but we need to change the current shape of the opening. Selecting the edges below the back of the skull, we extrude downwards and scale inwards to the vertices keep in alignment. We then removed half the model and merges the end two vertices, this keeps the back of the skull in place. 

  To help make the neck opening more circular, we use a polygon cylinder with the same amount of vertices to snap to. We have to make sure that the cylinder is the correct volume and position to the orthographies, removing the main bulk to leave only a plate. We then extrude down from the neck opening and scale to flatten the edge, then snapping the vertices together. Once we have completed this, we can remove the disk.

  Adding more edge-loops (a total of 3), we mirror again and then use the relax tool to ease out any clinches in our mesh. The back of the head joins the neck should be curved, moving into the skull itself.

Collaboration: Film Lecture 5 - Storytelling and Character Depth

 Plot vs Story

*Do the events cause the characters to respond or do the characters cause the events?*

Speed - A film that is more plot based.

Twelve Angry Men - Based more on the story then plot.

Rambo: First Blood (1982) is a story driven by character depth, bringing up the internal vs external struggles.

Rambo 3 is a story driven by action, losing the character depth.

Generism - Generic characters are not captivating and will not hold a audience. Examples of this is the storm troopers and the crew of Star Trek. Who are the Storm Troopers? 

Character Depth

Backstory - everything we know about the character before we meet them. This can be accent, clothing, etc. does the audience need to know everything about the character?

Origin Story - the events that causes them to evolve to who they are now. 

learning about the inside and outside a character is good for character building. Whats is on the inside can be opposite of what is on the outside. 

The Outside vs The Inside =  The characters is insecure about their weight - baggy clothes on the outside.

Flaws - These can define a character. 

 - Minor flaws such as fears, behaviors and emotional hang ups. 

 - Major flaws can lead to a hero's downfall and a hero has to overcome. 

 - Tragic flaws in a exceptional character that will bring them to their downfall and won't let go.

Characters Wants and Needs:

A want is the goal of the films protagonist, the need is the overcoming of internal struggles.

Characters dropped into worlds will inherit the world rules around them. Batman is a crime fighter to solve the crime problem of Gotham City, but if he wasn't batman who would he be? would he become a criminal to fit into the world dynamics?

The background/environment can also seen as a character, they can take on emotional traits.

Objects can also do the same thing, growing to become a character - Wilson from Cast Away (Wilson is the externalization of his inner monologue).

Protagonist and antagonists should be opposite but equal in status. 

Characters change as they go thought their journeys, leading to character arcs. These arcs lead to all characters of the story to having a emotional growth. Although, they change throughout the film, when they go into a scene they should change though out that scene. No character goes into a scene flat and leaves flat.

To help gain a sense of character, we can take a photo of a person and see where we go in developing them. This can help create unique personas and world building.

Flushed Away

  

  An adventure based animation with equal plot to story, Flushed Away follows the journey of Roddy James and Rita Malone as they make their way though the London sewers. Both starting with their own goals, they end up finding companionship in each other and overcoming the dastardly deeds of Mr Toad and his flunkies.

  Our main protagonist is Roddy the Rat. A pampered pet from a rich home, he has no-one to call his friend or family. Giving us his backstory in the opening scenes, its made obvious that he has been modelled around a love for spy films and a lavish life style. Seen cruising around in his car, its notable that his entourage of doll-like friends do not give him the fulfilment he needs in battling his loneliness. On seeing Rita's large family, he is first flummoxed by their outlandish behaviour and close-knitted relationships, but grows enjoys their company. This means his inner want is to gain companionship and to be accepted.

  In terms of Roddy's origin story, its all starts with the arrival of Syd the sewer rat. Seemingly disgusted by him, Roddy made the fatal error of trying to rid of him by tricking him into the "supposed" Jacuzzi. This lead to our protagonist being flushed away himself. Roddy's longing for company is not enough to forgot about his own personal hang ups against the sewer class, seeing Syd as too much of a ruffian to be his friend. As Roddy changes in his journey, he gives up his lavish lifestyle to become a part of the sewer clan, loosing his posh persona and showing growth in his humility.

  Being the embodiment of his upbringing, Roddy is styled to dress in a suit and combed back hair (replication of James Bond). He speaks in a posh tone but has a cowering personally. In meeting Rita, her street wise personality and courage rubs off on him, helping him to overcome his fears and hang-ups. His way of dressing doesn't change too much over the course of this feature (apart from loosing his jacket), which keeps his connections to his origins.

  Our villain is known as The Frog (called the boss by his minions), is a lot like our protagonist. He has a posh personality and believes himself better then others, this comes down to his seemingly once royal connections. Toad is a show-off, collecting trinkets to extenuate his "riches and class". His hatred comes from being cast away as a young frog by his royal "companion", being replaced by a rat and forming a personal vendetta. His outer desires is to become the ruler of the sewers and replace the rat population with his own spawn. However, like Roddy, Toad's inner wants is nothing more then be loved and to be accepted. 

 Toad comes across as overpowering at first to Roddy. He is the big powerful overlord of the slums that threatens anyone who opposes him and has a small horde of cronies to do his bidding. But, when looking closely at these two characters, we can tell they are on equal grounds. Nether has powers that gives one advantage over the other and both have similar traits in personality/ desires.

  This films secondary character, Rita, is the representation of a street wise adventurer. She is tough, quick witted and will take danger head on to reach her goals. To begin with, she is resentful of Roddy. Being polar opposites, Rita has her own hang ups about the class hierarchy between them, her only agreeing to help him for her own personal gain. As the story evolves, she softens to him. She accepts him for who he is and helps him to grow as a individual. Her outwards want is to gain riches, but her inner want is to find a better life for her family.

Rita's boat, the "Jammy Dodger" has its own personality. It's a chugging fishing boat that seems to reflect Rita's rough and ready upbringing, acting as a extension of her personality. The house of Rita's family is the same, taking on the rocking of the boat she loves so much. The arm that is attached to the "Jammy Dodger" allows a form of communication, bringing a likable connection for the audience. 

Collaboration - Hotel New Storyboards, Animatic and 3D Assets

   As I've now completed the 3D scene for the hotel pre-viz, I felt I couldn't go in blind without having some idea of camera angles and timing. All that I need to do left for the 3D model is to sort out the lighting for the scene, this may need a small discussion with my tutor.

 So firstly, I created the Storyboards from the beats/script and then proceeded to throw together a quick animatic. Once happy with the timing, I made some assets to go with the scene and assist the animation.

 

“The Hotel Bellhop” Skit

 

INTERTILE LEAVES SCREEN.

CCTV STATIC.

INT. HOTEL LOBBY.

 

MOOM JR is in a fancy HOTEL LOBBY. There is a check-in counter behind him with an attendant, stairs to the left and soft chairs on a viewing platform in front of large windows. The doors to the hotel are open due to the hot summer weather. The sounds of distant traffic and chatting is heard.

 

SFX: TRAFFIC, CHATTER and LAUGHTER.

 

MOOM JR is standing by the RECEPTION DESK. Already ANXIOUS, MOOM JR is STARTLED by the BELL telling him he needs to pick up LUGGAGE. MOOM JR puts on his HEADPHONES and grabs a LUGGAGE TROLLEY.

 

SFX: BELL, HEADPHONE MUSIC and TROLLEY ROLLING.

 

MOON SR arrives to check in at the HOTEL. Walking up to the RECEPTION DESK, MOOM SR places his BAGS onto the FLOOR next to him. MOOM SR looks around and notices MOOM JR. Paranoid and looking at his WATCH, MOOM SR continues to check in.

 

MOOM JR starts to get carried away with his DANCING, obliviously picking up BAGS and throwing them onto the TROLLEY. MOOM JR picks up MOOM SR’s BAG by mistake.

 

MOOM JR finishes checking in and notices his BAG has gone. Seeing it on the TROLLEY, MOOM SR rushes over the grab it but MOOM JR continues to pile LUGGAGE haphazardly on top.

 

SFX: LUAGGAGE THUMPING.

 

MOOM SR manages to grab his BAG and tries to pull it free. MOON JR notices the bag slipping and grabs hold of it. BOTH MOOM’s pull on the bag from opposite sides of the TROLLEY. The Luggage trolley twirls as they pull, MOOM still DANCING to his MUSIC while MOOM SR is more franticly holding on.

 

As the TROLLEY gains in speed, LUGGAGE flies off the trolley and falls across the FOYER. MOOM SR loses his grip on his BAG, causing it to SPLIT open and CLOTHES fly everywhere.

 

SFX: CRASHING, THUMPING, HEADPHONE MUSIC and SPLITTING BAG.

 

As the trolley continues to spin, Moom JR jumps off the trolley now dressed in Moom SR’s clothes. Bags land each side of Moom JR. Moon Jr dances away to his hotel room all paid for.

As the Trolley stops, Moom Sr is still holding on, dizzy and now dressed as a Bell Hop. A bell rings and Moom Sr starts to collect bags, clearly confused on how this has happened.

 

STATIC CCTV CAMERA.

SFX: MUSIC.

INTERTILE FLIES ACROSS THE SCREEN – LAUNDROMAT.

Hotel Storyboards

Hotel Animatic - No Sound

Modeled Assets

Collaboration - New Beats, Script and the Hotel Concept

   After a group discussion (and a brief pause due to sickness/isolation), ideas came up about changing the comedy of our CCTV mishaps animation. Although this seems a slight step backwards, its more important to get the concept it right before further development. Created by Saskya Olsen, new scenarios and beats was made up. 

Moom and His Walkman- Plot ... by Kimberley Davis -  (Made by Saskya Olsen)

 

Teams Meeting Beat Sheet by Kimberley Davis - (Made by Saskya Olsen)

  Following these, I wrote up a new script to help with planning the animations. Although we do not currently have any story boards or a animatic for these new sets of scenarios, we have been given the green light to move into Maya, with the hope of using our Pre-Viz to act as our guide.   

Collective Script Ver 4 by Kimberley Davis on Scribd

 

  As our new script has a secondary character (Moom Sr), I was also given the task of creating a few designs and trying to figure out his personality. He is the contrast of Moom jr and Moom Sr always ends up in a bad situations because of him. When thinking about his personality, Basil Fawlty become a large influence.

Moom Sr Personality

- Serious and Grumpy.

-Has common sense, well-read and likes organisation.

- Gets upset when things go wrong.

-Dresses smartly.

-Dislikes Dancing.

Moom Senior

  With the new script/ beats came a reshuffling of the animations. My role has changed from designing the Video Store skit (which has been removed to allow better timing for the other skits) to helping create the Hotel. Looking into 1980's hotels, it seems that shiny marble with pink hued patterns was a firm favorite for this period. Some hotels that have been refashioned like to use a lot of bright neon lights and colours, so I deemed it best to stick to a more high class atheistic as this seems more like a place that Moom Sr would visit. (Marble seem to have a light pink shade as it reflect light, I made sure to capture this in the ceiling).

Mood-board by Jasmine Masters

1980's Hotel Mood-board

Hotel Lobby Concept

  After creating the hotel concept, I jumped into Maya and started making the pre-vis set. There are no textures but block colours, these are to help give the impression of the textures. At present, there is only one CCTV camera and light. I will be revisiting this to add more and see where more modelling is required. 

Maya Hotel Set - Previz

Toolkit 2 - Maya: Arnold Mesh Light

   This tutorial is about getting to know the mesh light capable of being used in the arnold renderer.  These ready made geometries and projections have been provided by the university. Mesh lights are made from polygon geometry rather than being separate objects in the scene, and use a parenting connection to keep the 3D projection node from separating when being moved around.

Sphere to be made in Mesh Lights

     The lines going around the sphere show there is a project node being placed onto them.

 In the Hypershade (texturing menu), middle mouse the projection nodes down into the view port and turn on connections. Hiding the 2D map bu minusing helps to keep the viewport a little cleaner. 

Bringing down the Projection Nodes

Hiding the 2D Texture Map

    Firstly, make sure the nodes are in the correct order by the projections. To make the mesh light, select the polygon and under the shape node (attributes menu) change the Arnold Translator to Mesh Light. This brings up all the normal settings a Arnold light would have. Then selecting the projection node, middle mouse drag into the colour attribute. This will place the ramp in, and finally bring up the exposure to as required. 

  At this point, when using the Arnold Renderer, the light and colour are present but no shape. To bring the shape though, switch on the Light Visible and bring the samples up to 3. 

    Repeat as needed and change the render settings in the Arnold Render to reduce noise. Its important to note that Arnold Mesh lights are resource heavy, and take a long time to render. Also, they don't do well in close proximity of other object, so should be utilized carefully in scenes. 

Finished Render

Toolkit 2 - Character Design: Sidekick

   The sidekick for my main character will lead more to their downfall, this will be a mix between the wife and the environment. I decided to do a little charter building for the wife, although we may not see the whole of her, she will still be present. 

  She needs to be someone the soldier trusts and loves, so I decided to make her kind and supportive. She is quite head strong individual who organised the home and works for the Land Army. 

  She is more a figment tot he soldier as his mental health declines, but chooses to follow her instructions as he trusts her. His mind not able to determine is she is real or not due to his longing to return home.

Toolkit 2 - Character Design Lesson: Facial Expressions

   Sadly due to isolation/ sickness, I was unable to attend this lesson. However, my friends sent me information on what was taught from our tutor. This lesson was focused on facial expressions, in both humans and animals. This also relates to the subject of sidekicks in the character design bible.

  Facial expressions and head movement work together. Getting mannerisms correct is vital in trying to capture emotion and help to give a character the desired personality.

  When creating emotions, we need to understand the anatomy of the facial muscles, the more muscles being worked, the more extreme the emotion. Some examples are laughter, anger and shock. It’s important to note that some expressions causes muscles to become more drawn out and to flatten.

  As I was not in class, I decided to try and draw several emotions in a digital format (Procreate) and get a feel for them. It seems drawing in a digital format is still a little tricky for me.

  Moving on from humans, these practiced emotions can be transferred onto animals. In animal characters, you can cheat and make the mouth a little more flexible. Also in the case of ears, these can empathize emotions by being up or down. Animal faces are more horizontal but although the noses don’t really change, they have a more varied range of movement (twitching and sniffing).

  I decided to try and experiment with a raccoon. I was not able to draw too much as it seemed the more I did, the more exhausted I became. Therefore, I managed only three expressions.

  Continuing onward, the subject of sidekicks came round. Over the next week I aim to work on the secondary character for my design bible. As it is going to be a vision of the soldiers wife, I have to figure out how she was be represented.

Toolkit 2 - Maya: Lesson 4 Anticipation and Following Though

 Continuing on from our previous lesson, the goal was to add a few more keys frames so to have some anticipation and following though actions. The first key frame was around 174. Here we add a small leaning forward before Moom lifts the barbel. The second was around 217 and is to bring in a small bounce where Moom would be catching himself after the lift. 

The hands are now slower when bringing up the Barbell, this  is to give the impression of weight. 

All of these added action can be done using the Graph Editor or by eye. We need to reduce any flatness at the beginning of our arcs so to get better animation, these new arcs work in the opposite directions to our animation main arcs.

Also in term of the Gimble Lock on Moom's right hand, my tutor was able to help me remove it. 

Collaboration: Film Lecture 4 - Time and Storytelling (Non-Linear)

 Linear vs Non-linear

Linear Storytelling = Non-time displacement (Moving from sequence A-B-C)

So, what is Non-Linear Film making?

  Non-Linear stories can have retrospective timing, such as when Forest Grumps is talking. This is book framing of time change throughout the film.

  The Princess Bride is reality framing, we are going into a different time frame/ reality compared to the one we are currently in (The old man telling the story). This is equal to a Story in a Story.

Flashbacks/Forwards 

These can be done is different ways and can have several positives and negatives; 

- Takes the audience out of reality

- Slow place of story telling

- Stops more creatives uses of telling.

- Can be seen as lazy.

+ They can support the core narration or made in a creative or refined manner.

+ They can be used to isolate time.

Some examples of films that use flashbacks;  Stranger Things, Up, Captain america - The winter soldier.

Hooks and Twists - Storytelling Trajectory.

A way of engaging the audience and adding twist in the story.

Hooks - We are lead on to be given more information but it never happens.

Twists - If the audience aware there is a twist, they will look for it.

 *e.g Psycho - Uses a celebrity to draw in the audience, kills her off early to shock the audience into a early twist.*

*From Dusk Til Dawn - starts as a escape movie and then becomes a vampire movie.*

Types of Twists:

  Deux Ex Machina - A story should never just stop or a character that just disappears (unless this is deliberate). This is considered Jarring and can irritate an audience.

  The Unreliable Narrator - Someone who we believe is the narrator that is making us believe in something that isn't true. Examples of films that use this trope are Fight club and Dr Caligari. 

Breaking the Forth wall and the Stream of Consciousness  - The Mind and Boundaries.

Here are some ways that the forth wall can be used in films;

Forth wall - talking to the audience directly via the camera (Ferris Buellers Day Off, Spaceballs, The Wolf of Wolf Street).

 -Characters inner thoughts.

-Explaining the world.

- Hanging the Lantern - Letting the audience know the main character knows.

- Suspension of disbelief.

- letting the audience in on the joke (Wayne's World uses advertising)

- Stretching reality via sets;  Dogville (2003), this films gives a essence of a play so to enhance the emotions of the characters. (The sets are not important, the characters are). Pleasantville (1999) works around bending time on two different perceptions of that world. This film uses the background to extend the narrative.

  Director Charlie Kaufman is know for his meta-narrative films, having made Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York.

Time & Editing

  The Kuleshov Effect - Placing images between ones of a man so to give him his emotion. This was done via editing and how people take the moment. The man's emotion is the same the whole way though, but is perceived differently but what comes before him.

Stranger Things - Thematic groups where everyone is going though the same thing.

  Birdman - A actor who played a superhero in the past is trying to reboot his career. This is done though following a seeming linear sequence of time, when really its non-linear.

  All of the above is partially Non-linear singularly,  but requires a mix to be completely non- linear.

  Non-Linear Storytelling is the rejection of storytelling forms, starting from the 1990' to present. Pulp fiction, Natural Born Killers and Reservoir Dogs ares prime examples of Non-Linear storytelling. 

In Pulp fiction all the story events comes together in the diner at the end, revolving around the narrative of the suitcase.

We are now moving into the Nostalgia and Franchises era, where films are always being re-invented for younger audiences and seeming cash generation. Examples of these are Ghostbusters, Star Trek and Planet of the apes. This can cause films to become nothing more then marketing tactics, upsetting fans and turning people away. 

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

(2004)

  Revolving around the changing relationship between Joel and Clementine, Eternal Sunshine delves into the possibilities of memory altering and the subconscious resistance that comes with it. Seemingly a knee jerk reaction from Clementine having her own mind wiped, Joel opts to undergo the procedure to forget the pain of his deteriorated relationship. However, as he travels though his own memories, he realizes he has made a mistake and tries to save her in his own subconscious so to be able to reach out to her once again.

  Working in a Non-linear format, there are several different narrative styles involved in this film. This includes Analepsis, Achrony and Syllepsis. Analepsis and Achrony in the form of moving between memories. During his procedure, Joel seems to still be aware of what is happening around him in the conscious whilst trapped in the unconscious. This ability gives him some control over moving though his subconscious and how Clementine speaks to him, although this would not have happened in other patients cases. Joel and Clementine are not the only ones to have had their minds tampered. Syllepsis is notable by the other characters in the film, these being Mary, the Dr, Patrick and Rob. Patrick had seeming stolen Joel's identity in a bid to get the new, altered Clementine to fall in with love him. Rob is in love with the once infatuated Mary, and had helped sway her in the decision to have her memory altered. Mary, once discovering her memory lose, chose to return evidence to clients in a act of revenge. In Eternal Sunshine looped workings, Clementine's parcel arrives when herself and Joel are rebuilding their relationship once more (completely unaware that its happened before), causing more uncertainty and pain.

There is framing between the conscious and the subconscious, intertwining the two world and acting a dual stream of consciousness. I enjoyed this film a lot, although it was confusing at times. 

Collaboration: Film Lecture 3 - Structural Theories and Storytelling

 Today's lesson was about understanding linear structure storytelling, this can be done using the 3/5 act layout.

 Syd Field created the modern act structure for visual storytelling, empathizing each act has to be as important as the previous and are of equal balance.

ACT 1 - The Story Set Up (Exposition): This contains the Inciting Incident and the First Plot Point. 

 Inciting Incident - The kick off point, this is where all the characters and events/ environment is introduced.

 First Plot Point - An event in which the hero take son the central problem.

ACT 2 - The Confrontation (Obstacles): Here the main character faces increasing and intense problems

  First Culmination - This is normally about halfway though the film, and is the heros first attempt at solving the issue. However, this never works out.

  Mid Point - Otherwise known as the big gloom, the hero is at their lowest point. Obstacles and problems seem to intense/ overwhelming.

  Plot Point 2 - This is the solution to PP1, and shows a change in direction.

  Climax - Happens just before Act 3, and is the maximum tension point.

ACT 3 - This part has 2 Denouncements and heads toward finalizing the story.

  Denouement 1: Twist - A surprising twist added towards the end.

  Denouement 2: Resolution -  The calmer part of the story heading towards the end.

  Following on from this, we had the 5 act structure where all the beats of the 3 acts can be placed into 5 stages. Storytelling can have more then five act, some films have been know to have 25.

  Linear stories follows one character throughout their journey. Disaster films (common in the 1980's) such as "speed are perfect examples of this. 

  Story structures can have different plot to story ratios, "Perfect" stories will have a 50/50 ratio. A common problem is the "McGuffin", these are useless items that can be used to kick of an adventure. Films such as Transformers are more plot based, where a Radio Days(1987) is more story.

(Those with the highest Story ratio is more character driven,  where as more plot based has a more action feel).

There are 2 other story telling structures; Non-leaner plots and Mini Plots. Mini Plots is when several stories come together, where as Non-Leaner work in the opposite structure to Linear (most often found int he 90's).

When it comes to endings, Robert McKee created a triangle diagram to understand how they can lead to  next film installments. 

Closed Endings: This is when all loose ends are tied up and nothing is left to allow a sequel.

Partial Endings: Gives a small indication that something is left unresolved.

Open Ending: Nothing is solved and the adventure continues.

Dante's peak (1997)

A ticking time bomb film, Dante's Peak follows a Volcanologist (Gary) as he investigates a pending volcanic explosion by the town of Dante's Peak. Traumatized from a previous experience and the lose of his fiance, he is ignored until it too late.

Act 1:

  Meets Gary (main character), running in to save wife from volcano and people running around covered in ash (flash back set up).

Inciting Incident:

  4 years later, given information of volcanic disturbances around Dantes Peck. Goes to investigates.

Plot Point 1:

  Getting the acidity readings of water and finding the two boiled bodies in the hot springs. Stopping the boy from jumping in the boiling spring.

Act 2:

  Volcano starts erupting and the towns people panic. The town starts to fall apart, cars crashing and the main characters struggle to get though the chaos to get the kids. All thr towns folks try to leave and the bridge collapses, blocking off the exit. Kids leave in car up the mountain and they follow, ash covers everything.

First Culmination:

  Stuck on the boat whilst its melts. Engine prop burns away, panic ensues as boat sinks. Grandma jumps in the water and gets covered in acid.

Mid Point:

Grandma succumbs to her burns and passes away.

Plot Point 2:

Army arrives in town and manages evacuate the towns folk as the volcano continues to erupt.

Climax:

  Volcano fully explodes, ash and fire cloud rips though the town, obliterating it. They become trapped in the mine, the collapsing mine trapping Gary in the car.

Act 3:

Denouement: Resolution

Main character's are saved from the mine following activating E.L.F in the car. 

  In terms of ending, this one is partly closed. Although it doesn't give a continuation of the current event, it does carry on with a newly formed relationship and family.