BAF day one

The first day of the Bradford animation festival was quite interesting. The talks were varied and provided a professional viewpoint into the game industry. I was particularly interested in Adrian Hon's talk where he pointed the need for better narratives in gaming and bringing them into different platforms.
One example he suggested was the game 'Zombies, Run!' being developed for the iPhone. 'Zombies, run!' is a game that works around running and jogging in real life.

As you run, you are led through the game's narrative while collecting items to advance in the game. The further you run, the more items you collect. Adrian Hon said
“We want to tap into a fantasy that we think a lot of people have when they’re running or deciding to get fit — that you can be the hero of your own action movie. After all, why does anyone want to run? Probably so we know that if things get bad, we can rely on our bodies to get us out of trouble.”

The game provides motivation for tasks that people tend to shy away from. Maybe this could be applied to mundane tasks such as washing up or cooking, real life 'Cooking Mama', anyone?

BAF felt unprofessional at times due to technology failures. These failures led to a lack of demonstrations and periods of waiting. The first talk was about a piece of software called Faceware. Due to technology failures, half of the time was spent fixing the problem.

Max Payne 3

Rockstar's take on Max Payne 3 looks very promising. The game draws on noir influences, placing Max in familiar noir territory, New York. However, Rockstar plans to take Max to Brazil, possibly the furthest place away from noir. This aspect is what I find so interesting. How does Rockstar plan to bring noir to Brazil? Possibly through atmosphere, gritty storytelling or simply dark alley ways and night scenes. If Rockstar is successful, we would see that film noir isn't restricted to several locations, it is the way you tell the story to create the right atmosphere that makes it.
Rockstar plans to release a design and technology series soon, showing the various features of the game which I am looking forward to.

Moving Image Analysis

'Corporate Cannibal' is a commentary on consumerism and large businesses. The video begins with the unnatural grotesque movement of what is later revealed to be Grace Jones. She takes on this appearance throughout the video, changing form suggesting that she isn't quite human. This is possibly a reference to the large and often cold nature of big businesses that often hide behind a human and almost friendly mask to acquire customers. This form also brings to mind a parasite or leech. This is again suggested by the title 'corporate cannibal'. Corporations often have an outward appearance to the liking of the consumers they are directed at, however this is not always the case. Grace Jones is presenting herself as the true face of business, cold and distant.

This could also be a reference to the consumer as they constantly demand more products. Like Grace Jones in the video, she always seems to be hungry and wanting more. The video often shows only her mouth, disturbing imagery suggesting that this is all she is, a hungry mouth always consuming things. This imagery resembles that of Francis Bacon's Triptych, both are grotesque, animalistic masses with mouths. If the Triptych could move they would move like this.

The lyrics 'Your meat is sweet to me' suggests that she is addicted to products and  reminiscent of programs such as QVC where the consumer is often addicted to buying products. She makes references throughout that showcases this animalistic behaviour. 'Every man, woman and child is a target', she suggests that corporations view their customers as faceless people, she regularly calls them meat on a plate. Perhaps she is suggesting that the real consumers are these corporations that try to lure in everyone to garner profit.

The video is monochrome and showcases hard, sharp lights to highlight the grotesque features and make them ever more present in the video. The heavy, industrial music accentuates these previous themes and further highlights the very mechanical way business is done.

At the end of the video, she begins to gnash her teeth showcasing this animalistic behaviour more than ever revealing her true self and possibly the true faces of corporations and the effects of consumerism.

Context of Practise - Postmodernism

Some people believe that the post modern age does not exist

Modernism is associated with

                - experimentation

                - innovation

                - individualism

                - progress

                - purity

             - seriousness

Post modern condition associated with

                - exhaustion

                - pluralism

                - pessimism

                - disillusionment with the idea of absolute knowledge

Note – Modernism and post modernism may overlap

                Modernism

                                - expression of modern life/ culture/ technology

                Post modernism

                        - reaction to modern life/culture/ technology

Origin of postmodernism

1917 – German writer, Rudolph Pannwitz spoke of ‘nihilistic, amoral, postmodern men’

1960’s – beginning of postmodernism

1970’s – postmodernism is established as a term

1980’s/1990’s – dominant theoretical discourse

today - postmodernism is worn out

Uses of the term postmodernism

- after modernism

- Historical era following modernism

- contra modernism

- equivalent to ‘late capitalism’

- artistic/ stylistic eclecticism

- 'global village', a globalisation of all cultures

Charles Jencks – ‘modernism died at 3.32pm on 5^th of July 1972

Date of the demolition of the Pruitt, Igoe development, St Louis

Demolition of the Pruitt revealed failure of modernism and modernist projects

Modernism reduces human aspect

'utopia' a 'world city', where each city is identical

Postmodernism

- Questions everything

- reaction to modernism rules

- only rule is that there are  no rules

- celebrate what is known as ‘Kitsch’

- starts as a critique of international style

- critique began with architects

Modernist buildings are perfect on paper however unrealistic in reality

e.g. run down flats Park Hill, Sheffield

                                                             

J-F Lyotard

                - ‘the postmodern condition’ 1979

                - ‘incredulity towards meta narratives’

                                - meta narratives – totalising belief systems

             - the result is a crisis in confidence

Instead of modernist ideals we have postmodern aesthetics

                -complexity, chaos

                -high art/ low art divide is beginning to crumble

Robert Venturi – ‘Las Vegas is a postmodern city’ 1972

Modern city – utopia

postmodern city - dystopia

1950’s – pinnacle of modern painting/ formalism

1984 – new depthlessness

advertising is the greatest art form

postmodernism is cynical

Context of Practise - Modernism

Modern – 1600’s meaning

                -contemporary or as good as the classical works

John Ruskin – 1800’s meaning

                -contemporary, pre Raphaelites

Modern – present meaning

                - up to date

Modern is an important part of what has gone before

Fashion/ consumer culture all rely on what is currently modern

1900 Paris – a city of modernity

After Paris is New York

Competition for being modern

This modernity began 1700’s

Some say modernism ended in 1960’s

We live in post modern era?

Industrialisation, urbanisation, communication, new leisure, vice, electricity, new technology

All caused modernism

All centred in city

caused life to speed up

Modernism

– new way of looking at the world

- gives new perspective

Race/competition for modernism

                England – Great Exhibition 1851

                Paris – Paris Exposition 1855

                And so on every five/ten years or so

‘Process of rationality and reason’

Enlightenment – period in late 18^th century when scientific/ philosophical thinking made leaps and bounds

City begins to develop its own identity

Modernism led to world time for ease of use

e.g. train times

modernism increased loneliness/isolation

fashion became key way of expression

shown in paintings of that time

Haussmanisation

Paris 1850’s – new Paris

Old Paris architecture of narrow streets and random housing bulldozed

Haussman redesigns Paris

Large boulevards in favour of narrow streets – (easier to control people?)

Poor/lower class moved to outskirts of Paris

City centre becomes subject to Modernism, to art

Growth of psychology- last boundary – led to critical thinking of art

Society controls art and view of art not other way around

Fashion becomes a way to show of wealth and importance in society

New art forms and techniques

e.g. pointillism

- pointillism due to studies in optical sciences, of light and colour

Degas Painting

Subject drowns sorrows in free time due to hard life

Photography changes the composition of painting as seen in Degas painting]

The Kaiser panorama 1883

People prepared to pay to see things and places in the Kaiser Panorama rather than going out and seeing it for themselves

Max Nordan 1892 – anti modernist

He begins to think about the subjective experience – the experience of an individual in the modern world

We begin to come close to understanding modern art and modernity

art abandoned realism for expression

Modern design – anti historicism

                - never looks back, always looks forward

                - truth to materials

                - form follows function ( although not always)

                - technology

                - internationalism

Adolf Loos, 1908, Ornament’s Crime essay. ----------Read!

Internationalism

                - language of design that could be understood and recognised on an international basis

Technology

                - new materials

                - mass production

                - cheap materials

Conclusion

Modern is not a neutral term, it suggests novelty and improvement

Modernity (1750 – 1960) – a social and cultural experience

Modernism – a range of ideas and styles due to modernity

Importance of modernism

                - a vocabulary of styles

                - art/design educates

                -idea of form follows function

Casablanca

The director Micheal Curtiz has produced some of the most iconic scenes in the film Casablanca. I recently decided to expand my film library and while watching it, I thought it was relevant to the character and environment concepts I am doing.

The film stars Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, a cynical American running a shady

nightclub.

In the film, Rick is a maverick due to his attitude, independence and past experiences. He describes himself as 'never going out of his way to help anyone'. The atmosphere that he possesses gives him a distinct quality that I have only seen in his character.

Rick's Cafe American also has an atmosphere similar to those of film noire. It houses corrupt officials and businessmen on Rick's own will. He doesn't mind that they are there as long as they don't bother him. The only good comes from Victor Lazlo and Illsa Lund who motivate him to do the right thing.

I wanted my character to posses the same cynical attitude as Blaine who is then motivated by an external force to become the hero.

Dave Gibbons

Dave Gibbons is a comic book artist and best known for his work in the graphic novel Watchmen. I have been looking into comics and manga as they ground action poses by using dark, hard lines.

Comic books and storyboards are similar as they both feature a sequence of images that tell a story. Unlike comics, Storyboards are unfinished, they give a general idea of how a sequence plays out. They are usually drawn loose and sketchy rather than using the dark, hard lines that define comic book art.

Instead of portraying movement by blurring the image, movement is based on key action poses and the number of panels on each page. By keeping the number of panels low, fast movement is produced. A high number of panels usually indicates slow movement, such as something fading out.

Environment floorplan and elevation

1CM = 2M

I found it hard to keep all the measurements exact and up to scale.

Character environment

This is the environment my character will inhabit.

I did some experimenting with layers and colours to try reproduce the dirty and smokey bars seen in film noir films. I tried to concentrate on the atmosphere and on the concept as a whole rather than on the details. 

I found that I didn't enjoy working this way as I had trouble keeping track of the layers which made it time consuming.

The final result also turned out to be messy and loose.

Overall, I'm not really happy with it.

The art of L.A Noire

L.A Noire has been a constant source of inspiration in this module. Sadly Rockstar doesn't release any concept art so I have had to use in game images to develop my character concepts.

Richard - Deus ex

Deus Ex has a very blade runner-esque and almost film noire environment. There are great contrasts in lighting and colour which define the composition of each concept. Although the environments are futuristic, there are signs of human degredation and pollution. There is litter on the streets and a very hazy atmosphere which produces a dark and often gloomy environment.

Action poses

Here are some action poses of my character. I tried to choose poses that would show the personality of my character.

Massive Black

The website for the company Massive Black is like gold any concept artist.
What I am particularly interested at the moment are the storyboards they have produced. The composition of the storyboard and key detailed poses give the impression of quick hurried movement.

http://www.massiveblack.com/MBwebolution/index.html

Carlos D'Anda

Carlos D'Anda has done some of the concept art for the new game Batman: Arkham City. He depicts Arkham City as a dark, decrepit and polluted area of Gotham. The hazy atmosphere obscures and dims the cityscape, an effect I want to try and emulate in my environment.
Here are some of his environment concepts.

Ryan Woodward

Ryan Woodward’s animation ‘Thought of You’ captures the essence of movement. The animation is kept as simple as possible to effectively show the flowing movements of the two dancers.

Environment moodboard

I wanted my character to work as a musician in a blues club, so I decided to look into old photographs depicting the shady, smokey and decrepit environment I want my character to inhabit.

Finished character

Flipbook Animations

First animation:

I think that, for my first attempt, I shouldn't have tried to do something too complicated. I was focused on the small details rather than the overall movement and as a result it was too time consuming.

I did not use enough key frames and I also did not take into account the movement of the body.
 
The body leans slightly forward while walking. As I didn't take this into account, I wasn't able to create a walking sequence that looks both natural and smooth.

However, I think I have managed to show the movement of the arms correctly.


Second animation- storyboards and animation

I found my second animation easier as I had grasped the concept of key frames.
By establishing the key movements in my storyboard beforehand I was able to shorten the animating process (this one took me a day) and produce a better and smoother animation.

Unlike my first animation, this one had direction and a story. I found it a lot more enjoyable as I was able to communicate this story.

In my first animation, I had trouble keeping the head constant. I decided to use a simple cross structure to show the movement of the head and eyes.
Instead, I decided to draw attention towards the movement of the hands and their interaction with the clothes and the gun.

360 view of my character's head

After a long time of unnecessary tweaking I have finally finished the 360 view of my character's head.

Character Moodboard

In my first mood-board, I used images that might inspire a likeness for my character.
I began to look at 1950's clothes, film noire and blues musicians to try and capture a face that will suit the personality of my character i.e determined, athletic.

 

In my second moodboard, I wanted to further develop the personality and attitude of my character. I looked at the gritty film noire world of Max Payne, the main character of Public Enemies John Dillinger, more Blues musicians and Harvey Dent who possesses two personalities.

The Concept art of L.D Austin - Brink

Brink's distinctive artistic style is partially due to the concept art of L.D Austin.

In theses character head concepts, Austin concentrates detail to the main features of the head while working loosely in areas where detail is not present such as the cheeks and the forehead. In these areas, lighting is used to define the various curves and lines of the head.
By using this technique, Austin is able to portray characters accurately.
I too want to capture a sense of realism with my character, so I shall experiment with this technique.

Character Head and facial expressions

Here are some sketches of my character. I'm still finding it hard to keep my character constant.



Since I am happy with my last sketch, I shall take into photoshop and apply colour to it.

The Reilly Method

I've found that this method of drawing is extremely useful for quick sketches and for practicing anatomy and lighting.

Manga artist Takeshi Obata

Takeshi Obata is best known for his unique manga style that focuses on detail giving his artwork originality and a sense of realism.

Manga is usually defined by its distinct way of portraying features.

For example, the manga eye is cartoonish and is usually the largest and the most detailed feature on a manga characters face.

Takeshi Obata is unique as he focuses on using detail to portray his characters realistically. By adding detail, Takeshi Obata can bring out subtle features and expressions that usual manga lacks thereof.

The best examples of this can be seen in the expressions of Light Yagami, the main character in the manga Death Note.

Each individual mark provides subtle features that makes the expression more believable and human. As my character also leads a double life, I want to experiment with Takeshi Obata's style to find a facial structure that can easily convey good and bad intentions. 

Photography camera and lighting induction

Last week I finished the camera induction and today I have had the lighting induction.

These are some of the images of the object that I brought in.

Photoshop induction

I recently had my photoshop induction.
Here is my first attempt.

This was my first time using the features of photoshop and it was pretty confusing.
The use of layers and changing onto seperate layers was my biggest problem.
I would tend to forget which layer I was working on,
However I recognise photoshop is a powerful tool and, in time, one that I can use effectively.