NC: Narrative: Thumbnails Environment.

NC: Narrative : Child Circus act's Influence.

I was tasked with looking at designing the son for our project. I have begun looking at child circus acts and found that most of them are young children reaching to early-mid teens. We've discussed that Oliver will be around the age of 13-14.

NC: Narrative Project Character notes.

Notes on narrative that I made last week.

We have decided to not make him older - instead make the animation go over a couple of days therefore he wont be ageing that much, 

NC: Character Workshop With Justin 24/10/2015.

Today's workshop notes as follows: 

NC: Narrative : Character Statement

After the tutorial with Alan, I was tasked with giving a summary to our characters to better understand them. I have drafted a statement for each.

Oliver Caro.

Oliver is our protagonist for this animation. He starts of showing himself as a child speaking with his father. He is thin, brown-haired and blue eyed. He has skills with the knife even at his age which in the first instance would be around 10 years old. His only goals are to impress his father and make sure he doesn't screw up. But he always seems to make a mistake somewhere along the line. Always around food too. 

Frederick Caro.

Frederick is father to Oliver, is a typical run of the mill father who wants only the best, love and respect of his son. He has the same brown hair  but green eyes. After the death of his wife, Frederick had to raise Oliver by himself through the circus life. His wife's death devestated him and he has not been the ver happy type since. With Oliver's growth he gets more and more concerned that his son is not as passionate about his job like he is or rather was. 

These are just a little outline of the characters and in draft form as something to work with when beginning our designing stage. 

NC: Narractive and Character Review

Character & Hollywood

Without being tempted to go for the ‘’Top of the head’’ choice for this task, i.e. someone like Batman & Joker, I have chosen two opposing character’s from the well-loved Disney movie Peter Pan. These two being Hook and Peter Pan himself.

As Peter Pan is a fictional movie the characters both have the same birth date, May 9^th 1860, and place, Scotland. This is because the original story of Peter Pan was written by J.M. Barrie. The novel was published in 1911, and Disney’s classic take on the tale appeared on our screens in 1953. Pan is depicted as the ‘’Boy who never Grows’’ up, even though he was introduced to his new world when he was baby at seven days old, he seems to be around 12-15 years old. In other depictions he seems to be in the 14-15 range as he understands the concept of a kiss, love and having a family. Walt Disney describes him as ‘’ He is twelve years old forever simply because he refuses to grow up beyond that comfortable age.’’- (Walt Disney, 1958.).  His world view is that no child should need to grow up and that adults are just getting in the way. When he was just a baby, the faires took him to Neverland, it is here that he inherited his own world, creating the Lost Boys and his goal is to bring Wendy Darling and her brothers to Neverland so that he could hear stories from Wendy all the time and forever. His other goals or wants are that he wants to insure that he gives Captain Hook hell as he and his crew are the only adults in Neverland that do not belong. Pan does not have that many needs, his needs are the same as his goals in this sense. He does want to make sure that all children are happy. Which brings us to his Internal Vs External Traits. His internal is that his parents wanted him to be this big success and all he wanted to be is a child, external being that he now saves children from their adult life – the Once Upon a Time Version puts a really grim twist on this story as it tells that Peter Pan is a shadow that takes children who die in their sleep so that they do not return to their bodies – or be saved – are eternal on Neverland. Pan has many flaws mainly that he is too caring towards Wendy and almost loses to Hook. As well as the fact that he is cocky and impulsive – even though he is immortal that can still cause others harm.  Overall his Story Arc consists of him wanted to take Wendy and her brothers away and keep them in Neverland, after their battle with Hook and Tinker bell saving him he changes his mind and lets Wendy return home. His conflicts being Hook and the Pirates and his choice to let Wendy go and the value changes display in the scene is when Wendy give Peter a Thimble (a real kiss) causing him to regain his strength and fight Hook.

Captain’s James Hook, the villain of the story and enemy to Peter Pan is my second choice of character. With the same birth date and history as Pan except that he’s around 30 years old and runs a crew of hardy pirates. Hook has sailed the seven seas including Neverland and only wishes to be rid of Peter and Neverland and get back to the real world. Instead of getting his revenge on Pan for cutting of his hand and throwing it to the crocodiles, he ends up being chased away by it, unsuccessfully getting his revenge. He starts out by kidnapping Princess Tiger lily and forces Pan to rescue her, then takes Wendy on his ship converting her to pirate story teller and tricks her into showing the location of Pan’s lair, taking the lost boys and the brother’s he challenges Pan and almost wins. Hook has a few flaws other than being a pirate, he’s a ‘coward’ and a ‘cod-fish’. His internal vs External triats are that he came to Neverland by accident and ends up being forced to leave as he is chased by the crocodile to the ends of the earth so to speak. Pan has taken his ship so he no longer captain it and he lost without a cause. His crew follow him however so at least that’s a little bit of comfort. 

Maya: Full set of Poses.

I have finished the character homework task showing the original image and the model I made with the character as close as I could with added restrictions and limits to my own ability.

Maya: Poses So far.

These are my custom poses so far the other two will be arriving shortly and a collection of them with the corresponding images.

NC: Narrative: Structure in Marvel's Avenger's

The Avenger's 

Three Act-Structure

My chosen film for the Narrative Structure review is Joss Wheadon's Avenger's. I choose this film as it sits nicely within the Three-Act Structure. Beginning with
Act One, this is before the Helicarrier Takes Off, it is here where the film goes into setup mode, introducing a roll call in The Avengers, the Roll Call is the series of scenes which establish the main characters, locations, items, and relationships that will come into play later on. Act Two comes into play when they are on the Helicarrier. This act takes place largely on the Helicarrier and the hero begin multiple efforts to stop Loki in Germany. Thor tries to bring Loki back to Asgard but fails and Black Widow manipulates Loki into revealing his plans but they are unable to defeat him. They also begin to confront other obstacles to their success, such as the hostility between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, Nick Fury’s deception about the use of the Tessaract, Bruce Banner’s control of the Hulk, and Hawkeye attacking the helicarrier. By the end, the heroes have begun to fully appreciate how much of a threat Loki is, and they are forced to come together and redouble their efforts to stop him. And Act Three
is after the Avengers Leave the Helicarrier having figured out Loki’s plan. There is a short dialogue scene between Tony Stark and Loki, but then the rest of the act is dominated by the Battle of New York. The tension continues to build over the course of the battle until it reaches a crisis point when the nuke is launched toward Manhattan, and then the climax comes and the heroes win the day. A final sequence wraps up the loose ends, and the film is concluded.

NC: Character Workshop Part 1

Today's character workshop was very interesting as we were tasked with turning a video game character into something that associates with the three cards that we got, changing their look but still keeping the elements of their respective game. I received Ezio Auditore from the Assassin's Creed Franchise. I mainly focussed on the works construction and under the vehicles word I had invention also. So I give you a mechanic assassin, his wrist has a multi-purpose tool on it as he lost his hand while fixing cars. His other wrist has the typical knife-blade.

NC: Narrative rough Script for tutorial

Knife Thrower(1)(1)

NC: Character Archetypes

Archetypes in Film:

The Lord of the Rings: Fellow Ship of the Ring.

One of the most iconic movies to display typical character Archetypes. The Lord of the Rings, Directed by Peter Jackson has a range of different archetypes. The main characters being the Hobbits Frodo Baggins and his companion Samwise Gamgee, travel with a band of characters from all races to take the dreaded One Ring of power to destroy it. However the archetypes can be interpreted differently, it’s more of a personal preference.

The Hero, Aragon or ‘’Strider’’ is a hero because he rescues the hobbits from certain death when they first travel through Middle-Earth and becomes their traveling companion within the ‘’fellowship’’. He tributes his sword to Frodo and protects him as far as he can before they get split up from each other and we follow his personal story in the remaining two films. Frodo Baggins can also be seen as the hero as he is carrying the ring and enduring his burden. The Sidekick,  Sam being Frodo’s Gardener and friend is the sidekick of the story.

The Villain, this archetype can be assigned to selection of characters in this film. The Witch King Sauron or ‘’The Eye of Sauron’’ is the enemy of all the characters as he is trying to gain back his power ring and rule over Middle-Earth. The One Ring is actually a character by itself as it is the main focus of the franchise. However, the Ring can actually be seen as both a support and a Villain as it can aid in the use of making the bear invisible but also is too powerful in the wrong hands. It belongs to Sauron and that makes it the subject of Villainy as well as substance as a Character. Saruman the White, reveals his evil intentions towards the end of this film also, changing his archetype from support to Villain.

The Father Figure, these father figures help the companions through their journey, guiding them and giving them wisdom. The main characters that fit this archetype are Gandalf the Grey, Elrond the elf Lord and for part of the film Saruman the White plays a part in guidance when he assists Gandalf in his decisions. Gandalf the Grey is a strong candidate for this archetype because of his compassion towards the Hobbits and his wisdom that he shares. Elrond is part of the council that help decided the One Ring’s fate, he provides wisdom as well. The Mother Figure, Galadriel the Lady of Light, acts as the mothering figure in this film as she guides Frodo on his path.

The Maiden, Arwen the daughter of Elrond. She is the maiden because Aragon, although attempts not to be tempted by her ends up being with her at the end of his story.

The Child, Meriadock Brandybuck and Perrigrin Took are the children because of the way they act in the story and how are always getting into trouble and causing the company trouble as they get captured by the Urukai and Aragon, Legolas and Gimli have to go and rescue them.

The Trickster, Sméagol is the trickster as he is suffering long term effects of owning the One Ring which has caused to develop and alter-ego known as Gollum. 

NC: Character : Further character designs.

So I was playing around a bit more with clothing styles as well as a new pose for my character. I am getting used to drawing figures with shapes too. It seems a lot less complicated that I thought. Still not keen on faces as I can't seem to master intricate detail with a tablet pen as of yet. But practise makes progress!

New character creation concept sketch.

one of my character's is going to be part animal so I pre-cured a quick  sketch of a possible concept. she holds a spanner to add to the idea of invention and construction. Her clothes resemble a Steam punk theme with her ears and tail. The customisation will take place in terms of being able to change the colour and style of the character's hair and ears and tail. 

Review: Games Night Tuesday

As part of our course, we were offered a chance to play some games with each other to understand the mechanics and the way the game is played. In our group we played three games. These three games consisted of two card games and one board game.

The first game is called Guillotine, this is a very mathematical based card game that takes artistic cards and a pop up guillotine into a level of game play for all the family. The idea behind the game is to save the Nobles from having their heads cut off. To do this, you can use action cards to aid you or another player or make their point gathering a nightmare. You also have to take the noble which is at the top of the line or closest to the guillotine at the end of your round regardless of its number. At the end of the ''day'' when all the cards are gone you count up your points and the person with the highest points wins.

Secondly, we played a gamble based game of probability called Camel Up. We have to bet on who will come first. However as the race goes on the camels can stack up, changing the leader. If a dice is rolled and the coloured camel is on the bottom but has a camel on its back, it moves forward either 1,2 or 3 spaces with the camel still on its back. The camel on the top becomes first and the character below becomes 2nd. Its a little complication and its designed to teach children maths, probability and problem solving - with a gambling issue thrown in. Its a very well designed piece and as much as I enjoyed it I wouldn't want my children to learn how to gamble.

Finally, we played a multi-game card set called Dobble. Dobble is a fairly frustrating game that requires you to have good identification skills with multiply objects in different sizes. There are a few different games you can play with this game. We played the basic ones where you had to match a card to its pair causing the card that goes on top to be the next card you had to match, if you won it you can keep the card and the person with the most card wins. Then we did the reverse were you had to try and get the lest cards, and thirdly we had to try and get rid of our cards. Its a fun fast placed game that really tests your ability to be able to pay attention.

Out of all three I think that Dobble and Guillotine are my favourites and I have a history with card games they are the most appealing to me.

NC: Character: Post Character Lesson feedback.

The character session with Justin ran smoothly, I rather enjoyed trying to make a game concept with the map and tokens he provided as well as thinking of ways to turn Bethesda's Studios Fallout 3 into a board game.

Once we were tasked with this Justin came round and talked to me about my idea for my Character project, I explained my initial ideas and he said he is looking forward to seeing that. He also helped me base a narrative for my game and it full ''steam'' ahead from now on.

My Idea has been altered since I last typed it up but I now have a definite concept to publish. I have yet to think of a title, but here is the new information.

The Game:
The game's genre is racing, taken from the base concept of the race the player will need to play to win to unlock more things as they level up and progress. The rules are slightly different however. The player gets to build their car pre-race in what ever way they think will suit for the terrain they are to face, the rule is that they have to remember that the more things that they customize their car with makes their car heavier - therefore making them slower in the race.

The Characters:
The game will consist of three playable characters. Each character has a bonus ''perk'' to give the player who chooses them. Males have extra weight allowance, females glimmer power that slows other racers and the animals are faster. Customization of the character will be simple, for example changing of hair style and colour, eye colour and skin colour. For the third selection character the player can choose what type of ears and tail to have on their character. As they progress they will unlock outfits for their character and new hairstyles/hats. The characters start as basic male, female and human-animal hybrid.

Maya: Lip Syncing Part 2: Jaw Bounce

After fighting with the new settings on Maya and being able to hear the tutorials I have completed the jaw bounce for the Lip syncing tutorial.

NC: Character Project: Starting Thumbnails.

Hunting Photoshop brushes took a little more time than I imagined, but I found enjoyment in experimentation and have started to work on some thumbnails for some examples of levels in my racing game. Without thinking to deeply as to what it is going to actually be called or how the levels all looked I am rather liking these two even if the second one is not yet in colour. 

NC: Character Story/Game concept/Idea

Over the past couple of days I was going over some ideas in my head on how my Character project would be directed. As I have three very idealistic distinct cards I related them to games like Mario Kart and Wacky Racers. I also had a talk with a few class mates and got a very broad scope of how to approach this.

So, my plan for this game is for it to be a multi platform do-it-yourself style creation. Where the player chose first a male or female character with a limited customisation choice and then they get to build or ''construct'' or ''invent'' their car. This would then implement my third card of weight - the more things they put on their car increases its weight and this affects the race. The rules of my game would follow that of your average racing game.

Figure 1. Animal Crossing Characters.

In terms of designs concept I'll be looking at family friendly designs that are great for all the family to play. Some design influences include Animal Crossing figures (see Figure 1), with their slightly out of proportion bodies and adorable features. Also the backgrounds would feature bright friendly colours with stylized levels to increase the difficulty of the race and the players mind for invention.

NC: Narrative Group - Story Idea

After our tutorial meet with Alan, we sat down as a group and talked about getting our story away from the concept of fate to die. Fate in itself is a complex word and can be easily associated with Destiny and death. As asked we looked more deeply into the word fate and try not to go too in the typical direction.

Our first idea, which branched from this Death concept, we first thought what could happen was that we would have had the character have continuous encounters with Death and the character would intervene or miss the opportunity, eventually leading to his final fate in dying. After the tutorial, we have been pushed as far away from death as a concept as possible.

Our second idea arrived when we were talking about what kind of animation we would make. We were thinking about the ''circus'' and that that is a broad subject to animate from. We brought ideas of typical circus theatrics, for example puppetry, bringing this to concept of a child. This child would be told that he was going to be something, part of the circus, when he doesn't want to do this he goes away and tries different things - like dentistry, doctoring, etc - until one day he returns to the circus and ends up going into the circus life. This sparked a flow of ideas.

Our third idea was that the character starts as a child, his father would tell him that he would be part of the circus, as specific act, like him and his father before him. But the child wanted to follow his own path and did not go down his father's path. We played an example out with the Father being a Trapeze artist and the child beginning to work with the knife throwers. As he grows up his Father tries to get the child to go into Trapeze and eventually the child(now adult) has to take to replacing his Father as he undergoes a accident or becomes too old to perform. Meeting his Fate by performing and realising this event was what he should do.

We spoke again and we have begun piecing together this idea and how we would convey the concept of Fate to the audience as well as not giving to much away. So far we have the A - B points we just need to work out the middle.