Maya #46 - Deformers | Blend Shapes with Inbetweens (Part 2)

Maya #45 - Deformers | Non-Linear Deformers (Part 1)

Life drawings #15

30min Pose

1min Poses

5min Poses

10min Face Study

CG Artists Toolkit : Animation & Character - Lesson 12

Premiere Pro practice #1 | Animated Storyboard

Reference

Character Design Class #3

In todays character design class, we were given a task to make a gadget specialised for one character. My character was minion (Bob) and my item was lantern. I really enjoyed making these!

Reference

Later on in the class, we had to make characters which were from specific environment. My environment was the kitchen.

Life drawings #14

15min Poses

5sec Poses

5-7min Poses

Maya #44 - Shading Networks | Substance Materials

Maya #43 - Shading Networks | Tileable & Layered Textures (Part 1 & Part 2)

Part 1

Part 2

From Script to Screen - OGR (Part 1)

Maya #42 - Shading Networks | Rim Light Shader

Maya #41 - Shading Networks | Reflectivity

Maya #40 - Shading Networks | X-Ray Shader

Maya #39 - Shading Networks | Double Sided Shader

Audition practice #2 | NASA Sounds

"From Script to Screen" | "Like-For-Like" Storyboard - Big Hero 6

"From Script to Screen" | Story Ideas

Character: Artist
Environment: Laboratory
Prop: Kite

Modern (With more advanced technology):

1. The artist was inspired from childhood to make the most beautiful kites, that no one has ever seen it. But as he grows up this idea gets dull. (after some years) Coming back from work he sees a child crying becouse of his broken kite. But he also notices that his mother is dragging him away without any concer of cheering him up. At that moment artist realises how people are blind, not seeing the beauty in simple things and not caring for others. He comes back home, runs into a laboratory to experiment with different kind of kites, trying to make most of what he has. Later on releasing them into the sky so people would notice it and cheerish it. Every kite would have a nice message on it, for people to see when the kites lands.

2. Kite racing! - Child in early age gets inspired by kite racing, but because he is little, he can't attend the race. Without asking parents' permission he still attends the race. But after his kite gets destroyed by opponents, he gives up on races. Too shameful for him to try it again. After 8 years, when he is fully grown up, he makes powerful rocket boosted kite. As the race begins he knows that his opponents are same from before, using all nasty illegal tricks to defeat him in the race. (The race begins, kites fly around tricky obstacles trying to avoid any collision, opponents use illegal tricks) After a while main character wins against them. At the end he wins the reward for 1st place.

Historical (Basic/pre-historical technology):

3. Little kid gets inspired by his father. As his father is an artist and engineer, trying to make flying objects. Because he doesn't have time to spend with his child, the child wander around in his laboratory and makes simple kites. As the father notices that his child made that, he applies the Childs technique to make objects fly in the sky. Nevertheless, seeing his work community gives him a medal for his work.

4. Main character loves birds and the way they can fly. Because he is an artist, he draw many models of wings. The main character can't walk, so he is stuck in a wheelchair. People around him ignore him and call him useless. Everyone in the city is dull and mean to each other, only because of dark magic which is coming from the cursed clouds in the sky. The protagonist, goes to his art laboratory and invents/creates a kite, to save the city. The artist goes on a high hill. He connects the wheelchair to the kite and jumps off the hill. While gliding down, he pulls the lever - it opens bigger kites "wings", making him glide up to the sky and clear the clouds. The curse is cleared and everyone becomes normal, helpful and friendly.

“La Jetée” (1962)

Fig. 1 “La Jetée” Poster

 “La Jetée” is a French science fiction film made by Chris Marker in 1962. Chris Marker is a French writer, photographer, documentary film director and film essayist. He has produced 40 odd films, but best known are: “La Jetée” (1962), “Le Joli Mai” (1963) and “A Grin Without a Cat” (1977). “La Jetée” film is constructed from still black and white photos, which tells a story of a post-nuclear war and aftermath experiments. This film is only 28 minutes long, which consists of many memories from uneasy experiments to travel in the past and future. This narrative story telling film lets viewer fully be involved with the story. As Jonathan Rosenbaum describes it in his film  review: “...A story that is told almost exclusively in still frames.” (Rosenbaum, 2013)

Fig.2 Airport

Watching “La Jetée” for the first time might be confusing as the main protagonist goes through the harsh life experience. Seeing how a person dies in airport, when he was just a child. However, the strongest image from the past was left of a woman, which was close to him when that person passed away. Without further ado, the audience is taken to see same boy all grown up and being a prisoner in the aftermath of World War III. In a post-apocalyptic Paris where survivors live in underground galleries. 

Fig.3 Dynamic lighting

The environment in pictures changes passively. From showing airport and planes, the pictures slowly come to people and the main characters of the film. Moreover, the airport is presented as normal area in medium grey colour.(Fig. 2) This colour mostly dominates in the shots before the apocalypse. But as the war strikes in Paris everything turns dark. The dynamic dark colour showing on building walls and peoples' faces, makes the picture/film more dramatic, as if something worse than war will happen.(Fig. 3) Nevertheless, there are shots with light grey too. The bright grey colour only appears when the protagonist was back in the past with the same exact woman, which he saw in his early childhood.(Fig.4) Also, they developed a romantic relationship between them. That's why bright colours are shown in those images to bring warmness and innocence into the film.

Fig.4

Moreover, “La Jetée” is only made from images so there is a lack of action in it. That’s why sound plays a big part in this film. As the main protagonist goes though rough experiments to travel back in the past, the background sounds become  more clear. For example, as the main character is feeling nervous it is possible to hear the heart beating getting faster. As Andrew describes this in his film review: "The soundtrack's texture is similarly sparse, and the fluid montage leads the viewer into the sensation of watching moving images."(Andrew, 2006). The viewer is directly put to feel and hear what the main character experiences. The connection between images and sound is perfectly coherent making this film unique and interesting.

Fig. 5 Protagonist dies in airport

In conclusion, Chris Marker did amazing work by displaying pictures and making it seem like a film, even though for some people might see it as some kind of diary or just an essay with pictures. However, in short period this film explains a lot more. The infinite loop which never lets us rest, that has the real meaning in this film. As Samuel writes in his review: “... He documented history and built a narrative around what he observed and the results were always profound” (Samuel, 2013).




Bibliography:

Geoff, A. (2006) “La Jetée” review. At: http://www.timeout.com/london/film/la-jetee (Accessed on 21/01/2017)

 Rosenbaum, J. (2013)  "La Jetée" review. At: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/la-jetee/Film?oid=1061951 (Accessed on 21/01/2017)

Samuel, P. (2013) "La Jetée" review. At: http://staticmass.net/world/la-jetee-1962-review/  (Accessed on 21/01/2017)



Illustration List: 

Fig. 1 “La Jetée” Poster. At: http://pre09.deviantart.net/bcb4/th/pre/i/2013/002/5/3/la_jetee_poster_by_meganshircel-d5q61gz.jpg  (Accessed on 21/01/2017)

Fig. 2 Airport (film still) From: “La Jetée” Directed by: Chris Marker Released: France

At: http://chrismarker.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/high-quality-jetee.jpg (Accessed on 21/01/2017)

Fig. 3 Dynamic lighting (film still) From: “La Jetée” Directed by: Chris Marker Released: France

At: https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/images/768-2e403398bc5c72eba2088d15183c173d/LJ_6_large.jpg (Accessed on 21/01/2017)

Fig. 4  (film still) From: “La Jetée” Directed by: Chris Marker Released: France 

At: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltrewwwygG1r5uvyjo1_1280.jpg  (Accessed on 21/01/2017)

Fig.5 Protagonist dies in airport (film still) From: “La Jetée” Directed by: Chris Marker Released: France At: https://cosasquehemosvisto.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/la_jetee_4.png  (Accessed on 21/01/2017)