Production Cinematic: Antagonist Colour Scheme

Since I'll be handling all the 2D aspects of the game, I decided to work on the possible colour schemes and eventually the texture for the NPCs and important characters from the cast. Later on I will also be working on signage for the environment.

Production Cinematic: UI Design

The menu we wanted to go for was a projection that would come out of the protagonist's arms. The character would end up looking down and raising his arm to eye-level, in which the projection would then appear.

Tutor notes & discussed additions:

• Controls & options isn't necessary.
• Could possibly add a compass / map to help guide the player through the level or locate where they are.

Creative Studio: Planning and Concepts

Choreography: ダンドル ECHO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkOfOf3Ih6U
Audio: ryokodesu97 https://www.youtube.com/user/ryokodesu97
Time: 2:04 - 2:52 (in video) 2:10 - 2:58 (in audio)

Animation will be about 48 seconds.
The boldness, stability, and texture of lines will be determined by the amplitude every half-second.
With the default waveform view in audacity, the amplitude will be measured at 0.0 to 1.0
1.0 will be where the lines are at their boldest, most unstable and at their roughest, while at 0.0 the lines will be thinner, calmer and smooth.

As for the actual movement of the lines, this will be determined by the audible beat in the song where I will match both of their timings.

Concepts (Character + Costume)

Production Cinematic: Animated Asset

Game asset moodboard

- Include a featured character

- Bright, fluorescent text

- High-tech features, but simplistic

- Stick to hot, bright colours?

Thumbnails

Polished Concepts

1) Rejuvenating, showing the power of neon

2) More reminiscent of the 80s + neon noir. Could be used for the Redlight District.

Animated Asset

Creative Studio: Journal Entries [Compilation]

Creative Studio: Ideation

Embodied Thinking
- Empathizing
- Kinesthetic

Kinesthetic: 5 senses
Applicable to music?
Changing rhythm, amplification, change in instruments, vocals (possibly lyrics?)

Wavelengths: bars, lines, waves

Apply to:

• Linework (stability)
• Colour palette/theme/scheme  (brightness/saturation)
• Size
• Stylistic approach (how realistic)

Examples of music to be used:

• Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
• ALIEN - Maximum the Hormone
• ECHO - CrusherP
• Toxicity - System of a Down
• Circles - EDEN

__________

Sound = Audio waves

• Frequency/Wavelength
• Amplitude
• Sound pressure/Intensity
• Speed of sound
• Direction

Frequency = number of occurrences (higher frequency, faster rhythm)

Amplitude = measure of change (higher amplitude, louder volume)

Instead of the audio waves literally being the linework, it can instead dictate how smooth/rough the lines, textures, etc. are.

__________

Videos that follow the beat of the song:

Thought of You by Ryan Woodward: 

Duet by Glen Keane:

Notes: 
- Movements only follow the general rhythm but aren't entirely dictated by them. Big, key movements during the peak moments of each song.

- Linework is rough and free; matches both songs' calm and serene nature.

__________

Narrative videos influenced by shapes/patterns (animation process research):

Coda by Alan Holly:

The Junebugs by OddFellow:

https://vimeo.com/181109548

Notes:

- Shapes could morph to the beat, whether it's with size, colour or opacity.

- Using rough textures for each frame could mean wanted/unwanted extra movement

- Stylistic approach could be different for each element in the animation. Eg. Only linework for the environment in the foreground, realistic painting for the background, flat 2D for the characters.

__________

Music video with experimental animation (linework, textures and colours):

Old English by RuffMercy:

Notes:

- Frames are never consistent and always changing. Is rough by nature, multitudes of lines, layers of colours, text. Very wild and free.

- Shapes and patterns transform all around the rappers, matching key moments of the beat.

__________

Examples of rotoscoping with expressive linework:

EXO Dubstep intro animation (KAI ver.) by Chulsu

exo-k kai machine animation by Chulsu

Notes:

- Good minimalistic approach in linework. Uses not online outlines/folds, but also the shading and darker tones' strokes to bring about movement.

- At key moments of the music, the movement is exaggerated with motion blur.

- The costume design and environment in the second video allowed for even more movement through the linework.

Creative Studio: Pokemon

Today we designed our own Pokemon based on our chosen animation process. Considering mine has to do with the wavelengths of sound itself, I decided to create a Pokemon heavily influenced by musical notes and audio files.

Production Interactive: Spritesheets & Animation

Cloud model created on Maya. Used shaders.

Sprite sheet created on Photoshop CC

Animated cloud transported to Unity

Production Interactive: Concept Design

Here are my individual contributions towards the concept design for the game.

For each concept, I tried to go further down the path of adding more robotic features to the protagonist whilst keeping it in the confines of noir (detective-like, mysterious and 'badass').

Character:

As for the envionrment, I decided to design what would be the 'red-light district' of the game. Compressed, clustered, seemingly enclosed and surrounding you. Several neon lights, signs and a hard-contrast look.

Environment:

Talking about the top-down map, we decided to have 3 levels for the hierarchy of the map. The player will start off in an office leading out into a street showing the 'well-off', utopian part of society. As the player heads down to the lower levels, the other districts will be discovered, slowly turning into what is a dystopian society. The lower levels are more clustered, busy with people and are a lot shadier. The obstacles to be encountered are construction in the upper levels, and then gang members and the likes in the lower levels.

Production Interactive: Concepts Preparation

1. Theme & Style:

• "Neon-Noir"
• Level Theme: Futuristic Sci-Fi
• Dystopian
• Stylized 2D character/3D environment
• Western only music
• Synth
• House
• "80's"
• Grungy, high-contrast, chiaroscuro, hard light, saturated
• Eg. references: Tron, Blade Runner, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Kung Fury
• Art Deco for environment
• Cramped, structural, divided city
• Play-type:
• Single-Player
• Puzzle-solver
• Map of Level
• Top-down
• Mood Board


• Character
  
  
  
• Art Style/Setting
  
  
• Colour Palette
  
  

Production Interactive: Reflection Probes & Textures

Production Interactive: Recreation & Lighting

Production Interactive: Lighting and Skyboxes

Procedural Skybox

6-sided Skybox

Cubemap Skybox

Production Interactive: Introduction to Unity

Production Interactive: Environmental Design (Horror) Thumbnails

Production Interactive: Game as a Hypertext

Exercise 1:

Exercise 2:

Exercise 3:

Exercise 4:

Cinematic Production: Reflective Statement

Overall, I would say that Butteam functioned well as a group for the majority of the production pipeline. There were a few issues towards the end of the production of the film, but it was smooth sailing for most of the time.

Everyone contributed towards the concept design area of the production schedule.

http://jcoronadoac.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/cinematic-production-character-concepts.html

http://jcoronadoac.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/cinematic-production-concept-design.html

http://jcoronadoac.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/cinematic-production-turn-arounds.html

In terms of Butter's design, I think we developed it quite well. I wanted something that was simple yet effective that everyone would be able to animate. I did find it odd when others stated that the arms were difficult to work with when they were essentially really bony versions of a stickman's 'noodle arms', but the most important part of this is that having this design allowed for us to work with the animation effectively in correlation to our schedule and to finish on time. Not only that, but it also made the facial transformations more effective as they contrasted well with this simple design.

In terms of my individual contribution, I would say that this is the best that I have done in any given group project. While I was meant to only have the role of Head of 2D, I took up a leadership role without having realized it, as well as taking on any tasks that anyone else in the group was not sure about. As the head of 2D, I managed to efficiently finish all of my shots on time. I also assisted with all of the shots that required 2D animation with Zack, Michelle Z. and Michelle C regarding timing, stylistic approach, expressions, mouth flaps and more of the sort. In terms of sound direction, I mixed the entire track with its sound FX, as well as all of the voice-acting lines done by Nick Stevick and Michelle Z. being directed by myself.

http://jcoronadoac.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/cinematic-production-animatic-remake-vo.html

Although Michelle C. was meant to be the director, I ended up doing all of the major creative decision making as I had a firm idea of what would be most effective for this film and that my immediate decision would help the film move forward on a good pace. During filming, I also directed most of the shots alongside our friend Robby Peters.

http://jcoronadoac.blogspot.co.nz/2016/04/cinematic-production-filming-day.html

Lastly, because of a lot of the absences that were happening around the latter half of the production pipeline, I also handled the editing for the most part to put the entire film together. All in all, I would say I took up a lot of the work on my shoulders and am satisfied with my contribution and its results. Perhaps it would have been better if I did not have so much work to myself, but our circumstances demanded for it (illnesses, hesitant decision-making, etc.) and I would say that I improvised well.

What I learnt along with the others from my group is that finishing clean-up before the placeholder 3D model is a mistake because changes to the placeholder affect the placements of all its 2D features. We had to spend extra time to fix up all of these shots because of this and in the end we barely managed to finish the film.

Cinematic Production: Compositing and completion of film 24/06/16

List of everything finished this week:
- I updated Shot 3 with the production quality render of Butter as well as the model having the appropriate lighting.  I inserted Mikayla's matte painting for the other food products in the fridge behind butter.
- I updated Shot 4 with Mikayla's matte painting, slowly adjusting its size to this shot.
- I have composited and timed out all the shots to fit our film.

For this week I have also:
- Assisted Michelle C. in finalizing the clean-up for Shot 5. The animation is almost all fitting of the style we were going for, but the arm motion swaying back and forth is still a bit odd. We'll update this later on.
- I finished the ending credits for Zach, choosing the appropriate fonts and frame composition to credit everyone accordingly. The Animation College logo was added as well as a blooper right at the very end.

With all that, we have reached the deadline and have completed the film.

Cinematic Production: Clean-Up [Shot 4] 17/06/16

Shot 4 was finished for this week with the corrected, clean-up frames. The model is of production quality and only missing the matte painting for its background.

For this week I have also:
- Assisted Michelle Z. with observing all of the inaccuracies with Butter's mouth flaps for Shot 6, as well as any faults in the animation of the arms regarding Butter's collar.
- Assisted and finalized Shot 2 with Zack where we decided to go for the finger-sliding motion into the slap.

Cinematic Production: Clean-Up [Shot 3] 10/06/16

I finished the Clean-Up for Shot 3 this week with the updated poses for Butter. I will update this again once I have the production quality render with the correct lighting.

For this week I have also:
- Inserted Dane's suggested song for our ending credits 'Quirky Dog'. It is very comedic-sounding and fits really well with how we want the credits to follow up on the punch-line of the short film.
- Helped Zack with updating Shot 2's actions with the 'Butt slap' corresponding with the jiggle of the 3D model.

Cinematic Production: Rough Animation [Shot 4] 03/06/16

This week: I finished the roughs for Shot 4. Again, I am only using a placeholder model for this shot.

Notes:
- Dane pointed out how the small pupils made Butter look sinister rather than my original intent of having him look macho. He suggested that I just make them bigger so that it does not seem this way.
- A lecturer observed that the arm he is leaning on looks like it's coming out of nowhere, and that's most likely because of the collar looking like it is phasing into the plate (which can be adjusted with the blend shapes later on for the model).

For this week I have also:
- Assisted Zack on Shot 2 in terms of the timing with key/in-between frames.
- Assisted Michelle C. on Shot 5 in terms of Butter's actions and how she could make the animation 'snappy' like mine.
- I updated the composited film for this week with everyone's updated shots and fixed all of the timing issues.

Cinematic Production: Rough Animation [Shot 3] 27/05/16

For this week I finished the roughs for Shot 3. The model used is still just a placeholder as the lighting still needs to be adjusted, as well as the production quality model to be rendered out.

Notes:
- Dane liked how the animation was snappy and how it fit Butter's character well.
- Profile shot doesn't work well for the face, it would be better to adjust it to face the front more.
- A lecturer suggested that his arms stay down instead of having it point towards himself. It would give clarity to the face and also give him a more suggestive pose.
- The 3D model needs to look like it sits on the plate more believably than he does now. It looks more so like he is 'floating'.

For this week I have also:
- Done the compositing for the entirety of the film. We now have a rough idea of what the film will play out like.

Cinematic Production: Sound Design [WIP 04]

Sound Design [WIP 04]
Markers for the audio and checking for timing (Sound FX & Music)
After getting some feedback from the group, Michelle Z and I discussed which necessary cuts needed to be made for the final clip.

00:01-00:06 - Intro [Water boiling, chopping]
00:06-00:09 - Turn to fridge [Water boiling, faint fridge noise]
00:09-00:12 - [Fridge opening, fridge noise intensifies. High Heels Footsteps. Acoustic begins.]
00:12-00:16  "Oh, hello." VO Butter
00:16-00:19 Butt shot "We meet again." VO Butter (Cut 1 second here, too long)
00:19-00:22 "Not by choice." VO Michelle Z
00:22-00:31 "Oh? Is that cooking I smell? *Sniff sniff* Hmm...wouldn't it taste better with me?" VO Butter
00:30-00:33 Blank stare by Michelle Z
00:33-00:37 "Hmph, I am the cream of the crop." VO Butter
00:37-00:40 "Well..." VO Michelle Z
00:40-00:42 "S-spread the love!" VO Butter
00:42-00:46 "Look, I'm flattered, but-" VO Michelle Z (Cut 1 second here, before the line. Too delayed. 00:40.80-00:41.70 *note: This cut actually rushed the reaction from Michelle Z too much and made it more awkward. Left it as it was.)
00:46-00:51 "But you can't churn me down! I'm high-end creamy blend!" VO Butter
00:51-00:53 "And I'm lactose intolerant." VO Michelle Z (Line comes in too fast, changed the timing back to the original.)
00:53-00:54 "GASP!" VO Butter (Moved further back because of previous line)

Cinematic Production: Sound Design [16.05.16 Submission]

Sound Design [WIP 02]
Markers for the audio and checking for timing (Sound FX & Music)

00:01-00:06 - Intro [Water boiling, chopping]
00:06-00:09 - Turn to fridge [Water boiling, faint fridge noise]
00:09-00:12 - [Fridge opening, fridge noise intensifies. Acoustic begins.]
00:12-00:16  "Oh, hello." VO Butter
00:16-00:19 Butt shot "We meet again." VO Butter
00:19-00:22 "Not by choice." VO Michelle Z
00:22-00:31 "Oh? Is that cooking I smell? *Sniff sniff* Hmm...wouldn't it taste better with me?" VO Butter
00:30-00:33 Blank stare by Michelle Z
00:33-00:37 "Hmph, I am the cream of the crop." VO Butter
00:37-00:40 "Well..." VO Michelle Z
00:40-00:42 "S-spread the love!" VO Butter
00:42-00:46 "Look, I'm flattered, but-" VO Michelle Z
00:46-00:51 "But you can't churn me down! I'm high-end creamy blend!" VO Butter
00:51-00:53"And I'm lactose intolerant." VO Michelle Z
00:53-00:54 "GASP!" VO Butter

Sound Design [16.05.16 Submission]
In this version, I fixed all of the timing as well as edit some of the clips to better fit the pacing. The audio is now synced with the live action video as well.

Cinematic Production: Final Shot Painting & Sound Design WIP

Final Shot Painting
For this week I finished off the painting for the final shot.

This shot had the wrong lighting, which I only just realized after having completed it. The light source is coming from beneath butter, so the shadows should be more apparent for the northern areas of his face.

This is the shot with the correct lighting. I also added in gradient map and soft brush lighting to enhance the lighting above the lineart and to just cement the idea that the light source is directly underneath him.

Feedback: Everyone in the group was satisfied with the shot. Zack suggested making the lines more 'pencil-like', but everyone else liked the rough crayon/marker combination for the brush strokes.

Sound Design WIP
Markers for the audio and checking for timing (Sound FX & Music)

00:01-00:03 - Intro [Water boiling, chopping]
00:03-00:10 - Turn to fridge [Water boiling, faint fridge noise]
00:10-00:12 - [Fridge opening, fridge noise intensifies. Acoustic begins.]
(Change) 00:12-00:16 Needs to be extended for about a second just give enough time for Butter to realize that the fridge was just opened and to say, "Oh, hello." Noted Michelle Z. to extend this shot.
00:16-00:19 Butt shot "We meet again." VO Butter
00:19-00:22 "Not by choice." VO Michelle Z
(Change) 00:22-00:30 Needs extension of 2 seconds to fit in these lines. "Oh? Is that cooking I smell? *Sniff sniff* Hmm...wouldn't it taste better with me?" VO Butter
00:30-00:32 Blank stare by Michelle Z
00:32-00:36 "Hmph, I am the cream of the crop." VO Butter
00:36-00:40 "Well..." VO Michelle Z
00:40-00:42 "S-spread the love!" VO Butter
00:42-00:46 "Look, I'm flattered, but-" VO Michelle Z
00:46-00:51 "But you can't churn me down! I'm high-end creamy blend!" VO Butter
00:51-00:53"And I'm lactose intolerant." VO Michelle Z
00:53-00:54 "GASP!" VO Butter

Cinematic Production: Butter's VO Lines by Nick "Muggington" & Final Shot Draft

Upon reviewing the test lines that I had received from Nick, I decided to go into a Skype call with him this week to direct him as to how to makes his lines feel more believable, entertaining and to also improve on some of the timing. With the line "Wouldn't it be better with me?", we decided a lot more intonation to both halves of the sentence, as well as a pause for the dramatic turn Butter will make during this shot. Voice Actor: https://twitter.com/muggington Butter's VO Lines:

RAR: http://www.mediafire.com/download/a2ptneun9r299hk/Nick%27s_Lines_-_BUTTER.rar

Main Lines: http://www.mediafire.com/download/i7onymm2njso9ds/Nick_-_Butter_MAIN_LINES.mp3

Better with me: http://www.mediafire.com/download/eoehrmmle2yc2me/Nick_-_Butter_with_me.mp3

GASP: http://www.mediafire.com/download/83fp95bew1nfddw/Nick_-_Butter_GASP.mp3

I also prepared the last shot for Butter.

(draft)

(lineart)

Cinematic Production: Final Wrapper Design

Here's the finished design for the wrapper. The changes were:
- No stripes. Single colour for aluminum material.
- More 'golden' than orange to become a lot less 'chocolatey'
- Top left banner changed to a 'stamp'
- Logo design is now blue with a white outline stroke. Added in sparkles for glamour
- Slogan changed to "Spread the love"
- Added subtext: "Salted Premium Butter" & "No artificial ingredients. Pure milky goodness."
- Placeholders have been replaced. Made my own barcode and nutritional facts.

Here are the separate elements:

I decided to not go with the design including the heart. It didn't work in any other area other than within the stamp, and it still felt like it cluttered the design too much.