Camera shots/Developing Shots/Animation - 03/03/2016

Referring back to my storyboarding stage as reference, I went onto shoot my first animatic. I figured I'd be more comfortable knowing exactly what shots would be in place. I came up with the following animatic:

I wanted to have shots established before continuing but after having compiled this animatic, I knew I had to continue working on my shots. I had to do many shot tests in order to configure which one fitted and looked right. In the end, I came up with the following animatic from which I felt I could move on from. This is shown below:

I thought these shots displayed a more accurate story of what was happening and about to happen. There was less camera movement which was displeasing to the eye and a more straight forward tone. After I had these shots in place, I went onto the UV mapping stage. I had the help of a year 2 student, but unfortunately I had to UV unwrap 90% of the models he had given back to me, as the checkered texture sheet did not sit correctly and many of the models were auto unwrapped which did not give good UVs.

I animated as I set up my camera shots. For the flag movement, I used the FX tab in Maya and applied an ncloth to one flag. I then ncached the animation on the flag from fram 180 till 1500. I had then duplicate special the flag over to its appropriate places. What I had unfortunately not known, was that I could not texture the cloth as it was not UV'd. If I did UV the cloth with the cloth still on the flag, the texture would move incorrectly when the cloth would play.

I also could not transfer the UVs over to the flag with the ncloth, as once I later had UV'd the flag and textured it, I found both flags did not have exactly the same geometry.

Prevention In Continuing Project.. - 23/02/2016

I had aimed by now to have completed the texturing of the first scene but I had been unable to do anything since 13th February. My family have gone over to do a pilgrimage and so I have to be at home to care for my father. I did not feel too stressed at this point though as I felt I had completed a good amount and feel I am on track.

Due to the demands at home, I will most probably be unable to work on my project until the 29th Feb. This may mean I have to try to work faster or perhaps cut down my scene a little in order to get the same message across.

I have begun UV Mapping some of my assets which are in individual files. For the most part, my assets have been combined into one scene and built inside the whole scene as it was easier to position assets and model according to consistency in looks. My computer at home crashes every time I attempt to open my scene and so I guess I will return to work on my project when I am able to come back to university.

In the mean while, I will think about the types of shots I want to include in my film, working off the pre-production material.

Adding detail to the whole scene - 11/02/2016

After having completed the chamber doors and been happy with the outcome of them, I decided I would like to populate the scene some more, attempting to exaggerate the cult theme of the film. I had a look at 'The Hunger Games, Catching Fire' and saw a scene which came across really cult like.

The whole walk of the chariot riding up to the state seems almost all like a ritual. I noticed that the logo and flags were placed almost on every building and with some more flags between the audiences sitting on the side. I decided to take this on board and populate the wall above the chambers with with flags which would further exaggerate the feel of the cult theme. Shown below is my design of the chamber hall .

I thought I could further further add detail in the texturing process of the models. I left the modelling process here and went onto UV Map and prepare my models for texturing.

Modelling the Midwife Drone - 08/02/2016

Having textured the majority of the first initial environment, I went onto modelling the drones that would be a primary part of the film.

My initial thoughts, at the storyboarding stage, was that the midwives would be performing a sort of ritual at the second scene, when the car is to be "welcomed" into the world. As I modelled and the project progressed, I decided there should be sets of midwife drones. Two, which open the gates to this "beast" that is to be welcomed and two that will reveal the "beast".

The drone I knew should be menacing and represent really iconic colours that have been present throughout the whole theme. I kept to the purple, black and gold theme for the drone. My progression images of the midwife drone are shown below:

Modelling Continued... - 05/02/2016

Having followed on from modelling the chamber extension, I blocked in the shape of the chamber pods and worked in each particular part individually. I realised this would come in handy when I came to UV mapping the chamber. It would allow me more flexibility and control and ultimately better UVs so that the textures wouldn't stretch and become distorted as I knew I would have a few close up shots.

I didn't particularly work from many references directly at this point. I let my artistic flare take control for which shape looked like it suited the scene. I did have a look at bank vaults when going into more detail as it began to resemble some of the same characteristics. The images I looked at are shown below:

As a result, I came up with the following model. Progression pictures are shown with the last image being the latest.

For the hinges I looked at one reference for inspiration. What really captivated me about this image was the detail that has gone into every single bit of geometry and texture. I too wanted to make sure my models and the whole outlook captivate my audience, so I thought carefully about how I wanted my  chamber door to maneuver.

I decided to place designs on the chamber door which light up adding a more cultish/magical edge to the model, allowing it to be more than just a sci-fi type model. I initially thought that these engravings could light up as the wheel spins so the audience is aware which chamber has been 'chosen'. The colour of the engravings is purple, in order to keep towards the theme of black/gold/purple. My inspiration for these engravings came from the door of Durin from Lords of the Rings:

Below is the image I used for inspiration of the chamber hinges:

Having completed the chamber door, I felt something was missing from the top of the chamber and thought I should perhaps place something there which really accentuated the theme and what this vault lead to and hid inside. i first tried to place the logo I had created at the top but felt it was too repetitive, as i have placed it in a few places around the film.

I though that perhaps some kind of plaques could be placed above the chamber marking significant dates. As I had research a little into the formation of freemasonry, I decided to cross reference that against the plaques I modeled. The first plaque date is the formation of the Freemasons, the second plaque being the establishment of the grand lodge in England and the last plaque is the current time in the film, which relates to the grand reveal of the car inside the chamber.

As the door was going to open slightly in the shot, I decided to model the inside of the chamber too, created a space and a timing lock of some sort. I did not render it out as, in the film, I would like to create fog which would escape the chamber as soon as it opens anyway.

Continued Modelling with research/references - 29/01/2016

As I continued to collect images and references I began to develop the chamber hall where all the birthing pods would be placed. I used my initial pillars as charging generators in the hallway and created a chamber extension. As I was modelling, I was looking at a variety of references at once and sometimes just designing within the programme. I felt more at ease this way and more freedom as I didn't have a concept set in stone to follow. I wanted my ideas to flow as I modelled and for me it was a bit of a seamless process. At times I would sketch out little parts if I really didn't have an idea as to how to start modelling that particular thing but for the most part, my ideas flowed straight within Maya.

Some references I looked at whilst I was modelling the chamber extension are shown below along with the outcome of my model:

At the time, I wanted to model three more pipes inserting into the generator etc but it proved quite difficult as I was using the EP curve tool and then extruding a cylinder mesh, to the curve. I did not know then, that I could manipulate using the control vertex option and rebuild the curve if I needed. Hence why the spaces are there as the first pipe took a while. The pipes on the actual extension were a lot more manageable.

Modelling Beginning and Research - 27/01/2016

I had decided that I need to sit down and start modelling as I knew my ideas would evolve one after the next once sat infant of my screen, along with my previous materials to guide me. Before I did though, I made sure to collect enough and as many references of anything I liked the look of and that I felt was relevant to my topic. I looked at lots of technological things and gathered references from there along with many religious institutions, to see if I could gather any inspiration from there. I had began with modelling a pillar for my entrance gate to the compound of 'birthing pods'. I won't show all the references, but the one I used are shown below:

The first image and the third image are what really shaped the look of my entrance doors. The first image is actually a picture of a Lodge based in Italy. But I had a look at all of these, including 3 more, to constantly shape my ideas. The pillars is what I decided to build first as part of the doors as I thought of them to be iconic to not only lodges, but churches and other religious institutions. To me, they screamed orthodox, so I made traditional like pillars encapsulated in a tank like shell, acting as some sort of generator. I used the last picture as inspiration for this. Below is shown how I first started off, to my production stages and finally to how I finished the model. I wanted to texture at the end after I had mapped out an environment which is why only a plain lambert material is assigned to the mesh.

To get this model right was absolutely vital as it was going to be the first object anyone watching the film would see. So it was important for me to get the right shape and feel, showcasing a religious cult like mechanical kind of sci fi door. 

I also proceeded to make a floor using the following reference: 

I wanted a sci fi looking floor to match the chamber pods I was going to build later. I looked at small sections of the image and adapted how it looked to the floor I recreated. This is shown below. I added a glass sheet on the floor which covered a section where pipes ran through the floor.