Ethan Clements

Major Project Proposal...

2012-02-13T01:59:00.000-08:00

Laser Gun Concept Development...

2012-02-12T01:15:00.000-08:00

So i've been watching a fair few Bond films over the past few days, trying to get some ideas and inspiration for the design of my hideout. One of the cliche Bond and spy genre elements is the laser gun. Here i've taken images of gumball machines and pieced them together in a rather sloppy, but quite effective way, before using them to dderive a bold coloured concept. I still need to try out some more designs, and improve the quality of the designs, but here's the development of the gun concept so far.

Morethan.Art Sweet Themed Logo Development..

2012-02-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick logo design for my latest project based on the American candy theme i've gone with.

Wonda Sweets...

2012-02-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

Following the concept that the evil "witch", is actually the CEO of a major corporation making sweets that lure and entice children, i decided to come up with a company name and logo. Possibly the most famous sweet company, inventor and manufacturer, Wonka, has inspired my designs for both a company name and logo, which pays an obvious homage to the sweets company and film. Paying homage to companies is something that Dreamworks has been known to do, and i thought this would be a nice opportunity to continue the tradition. Below are some of the designs i came up with, incorporating the elements that portray the CEO as a witch.

Replacing the traditional witches broomstick seemed like an obvious choice, although it might be an idea to create a more child-friendly candy-cane inspired witch, instead of the traditional halloween witch.

I also tried out an Apple inspired logo...

Major Project Commission Brief...

2012-02-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

Dreamworks have commissioned me to produce a full pre-production to post-production pipeline for an environment design for their latest animated featurette, with a twist. Their latest featurette takes the traditional Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel, and transforms into a modern age story in which the witch is now a bond villain-esque CEO of a major corporation that manufactures sweets created to entice children.

My Task:

I am required to create a 2 minute environment design animation that showcases the headquarters for Dreamworks' latest animated featurette.

Major Project Final Idea... Sweet + City Theme...

2012-02-06T02:07:00.000-08:00

So i've finally decided to "commission" myself with the sweet themed city idea. I think there's a lot of room for some nice a creative designs, and i feel like the strong and bold shapes and colours would work well with my silhouette and slightly graphical design approach. I feel like a fairytale-style sweet city/kingdom could be quite magical, and i'm particularly interested in the possibility of creating a "good" and "evil" contrast within the city, much like a fairytale, by creating a more haunted themed section of the city, using dark and halloween themed sweets. My aim will be to create a series of different shots and camera movements within the environment in oppose to creating a "scaled model" of my city, which totals roughly 2 minutes in length.

Major Project... Hansel and Gretel...

2012-02-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

Hansel and Gretel is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a cannibalistic hag living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children save their lives by outwitting her. My idea for an environment design inspired by the story, comes from an interesting piece of concept art by Donglu Yu. Donglu Yu takes the traditional concept of a gingerbread-style house and has created the concept for a vast enviroment hidden in the woods. Therefore, my idea would be to create an almost willy wonka-style, factory-like "kingdom" hidden in the woods that is used to entice the children to the wicked witch. I think it would only be right to stick to the traditional concept of sweets and food designs for the buildings and environment (however this could change after some more in-depth research), and this would give me a chance to get stuck in with some creative and quirky designs.

Morethan.Art Facebook Page...

2012-02-05T03:31:00.000-08:00

http://www.facebook.com/ethan.clements#!/pages/MorethanArt/221446651279382?sk=wall

I recently created a Morethan.Art Facebook page to showcase some of the work i've been doing these past few years, feel free to check it out and like it. The link to the page is just above...

Major Project... Mise en Abyme Idea...

2012-02-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

Mise en Abyme is something i touched upon when i was doing my soundscape project during the summer of 2010. Mise en in the realm of the creative arts and literary theory is a formal technique in which an image contains a smaller copy of itself, the sequence appearing to recur infinitely. This idea would see me design a seemingly perfect environment, in which the camera moves through and around the town/city. The fact that this seemingly perfect environment is abandoned and empty will create an uncanny feeling in the audience, as everything seems so quite and desolate. At the end of the animation, the camera would pull out of the environment to reveal it is actually an antique/souvenir hidden amongst rubble and dust of a destroyed version of the environment we've just seen. I imagine the souvenir/antique still being bright and in colour, whilst the surrounding destroyed environment is monotone and dull. My main concern for this idea is that it would hard to portray the sky as i wouldn't want to reveal that this is actually an environment within an environment until the very end.

Major Project... Levitating fishing village...

2012-02-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

This concept involves an environment design for a levitating fishing village, in which the inhabitants literally catch flying fish. in a high altitude environment, surrounded by clouds, the levitating platform is built up from traditional fishing village huts, with wooden planked harbours, in which the fisherman use fishing rods to fish over the edge. The boats could possibly float through the clouds, propelled by some kind of airship style device. There's also an opportunity here to combine some of the windmill design features from my previous idea to the design of the fishing village, and the features of the windmill could also be the reason the island is able to levitate in the sky. I could also look into designing the flying fish which i imagine to have quite a magical and fantastical look to them. Here are some reference images i've gathered together to give a visual representation how the levitating fishing village might look...

Major Project... City Environment Ideas Cntd...

2012-02-03T08:14:00.000-08:00

Whilst the first few ideas i've had utilise organic elements or environments to create my city, these next two ideas come from man-made structures. The first idea is a clockwork city in which the whole city runs based on a clockwork-based system. This is a self running town, with flying transport based on turning keys and conveyor beltors, and moving wires, and flying buildings almost like a giant factory all connected to one intricate clockwork system. This would be quite a wacky and surreal environment. below are some reference images to give an idea of the direction i would take this project in...

My second idea is a windmill city/town based on the designs of windmills. The location could be either a levitated platform due to the windmills keeping the city in the air, or an open plain maybe near a clifftop. Similar to the idea for a pirate town made from pirate ships and boats, each of the houses, shops and buildings in this environment will be based on the design of the windmill or match the kinds of materials used for the windmill. It would also make sense if the main energy source for the town came from the windmill. Below are some references images to give an idea of the direction i would take this project in...

Major Project... City Environment Ideas...

2012-02-03T03:54:00.000-08:00

So i've been doing some research into a subject that i could splice together with my city, to create a distinct environment. Phil suggested a city suspended by hot air balloons or an insect city derived from organic sources like leaves. I like this idea as it gives me the opportunity to further develop my creative design skills, which is one of my main goals in this project to have a stronger pre-production pipeline.This will be the first thing any potential employer would see in my making of book, and therefore it must be bold and distinct, to create a good impression. Below are some of the ideas i've thought of so far...

My first idea is a city suspended by floating jellyfish. This idea would have a heavy sci-fi influence, and the mood and atmosphere would come from the depths of the sea and the use of fluorescent blues and purples within the vast city. The city would be built into and around the jellyfish, with the possibility of the jellyfish being used as an energy source to keep the city running, or even using the jellyfish as a protective shield/force. Here are some concepts that give a visual idea of the direction i could take this project in...

My second idea contemplates a city built around and amongst a giant spider's web. What intrigues me the most about this idea is creating some beautifully cinematic shots of the camera running along the strings of the web, with the possibility of modes of transport running along these wire-like lines into the city. I feel like this city would derive from an elegant style kingdom, much like Minas Tirith from the Lord of the Rings, utilising whites, greys and silvers as a colour palette to match the silk spider's web. I imagine the web to be suspended in the air amongst some rocks, but the location would obviously have to be further researched and developed. Here are some visual concepts that provide an insight into the direction i could take this porject in...

My third idea is based around a Mushroom City, in which the buildings and modes of transport are within the construct of vast giant mushrooms. There would be a hierarchy of living conditions, with the working class living amongst a swamp environment that surrounds the mushrooms, whilst the middleclass citizens would live in pods built up the stem of the mushrooms as houses, and within the "dome" of the mushrooms, there would be built-in structures where the upper class citizens would remain to oversee the whole city. Similar to the spider web idea, there would be intereconnecting wires between each of the mushrooms and bridge-like structures to pass from one to the other. Here are some concepts that demonstrate the kind of look and feel i might go for...

Major Project... Pirate Town Idea...

2012-02-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

This idea would probably derive from a transcribed piece of text describing a pirate village or town. The final piece would be an environment design animation to compliment my Transcription and Minor project work in my DVD showreel, and it would undergo an extensive pre-production to post-production pipeline. I think there is a lovely opportunity for some bold concepts and designs deriving from pirate ships, and i feel that a night time scene could create a very moody atmosphere. It would be a slightly stylised environment design, and i would look to capitalise on some cinematic shots and compositions. I feel that this kind of project would also benefit the development of my pre-production skills further. There is also the possibility of this being a ghost town or abandoned pirate town/village. Below are some reference images that give a good idea of the direction i could take this project...

Major Project... Idea #2...

2012-01-31T15:26:00.000-08:00

After considering my experimental idea further, i feel that it could possibly be too much of a risky move for my major project, and i find myself questioning its purpose and what i might gain from the experience. So instead, i've looked to an environment design idea to further develop my skillset from the Transcription and Minor project. My new idea is based around chinese celebration/tradition, considering events like the Chinese New Year and the Chinese Lantern Festival. The piece would be an environment design that uses cinematic camerawork with atmospheric build up of tension, based in a town that would be set at night and presented as mysterious and abandoned as the audience is lead through the environment. The finale would end in a fantastical and magical scene encompassed by a wide shot of the sea as lanterns are flying in the sky and boats float on the water. This animation would take the skillset i've developed from my Transcription and Minor projects, and aim to develop them further, enforcing higher levels of professionalism; continuing to look into the importance of set design, cinematography, and lighting etc.

Below are some of the kinds of reference images i'd be using to create my environment design...

Major Project... Life-Cycle Installation Piece...

2012-01-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

After a chat with Phil today, we discussed my idea of an installation piece that splits experimental visuals and audio across multiple screens. After discussing the idea of some themes, Phil showed me some examples of abstract CG pieces, that experimented with bold abstract visuals and enticing soundscapes. Whilst my original idea was to create a piece that was based on an aesthetical theme like oriental art, Phil suggested that the theme should have a purpose; dealing with themes like fear, time and space. After a bit of research and thinking, i've considered the theme of "birth, life and death", with a possible transition that could be looped. The soundscape would begin with sound derived from heartbeats, amniotic fluid, and babies crying, which would then transition into more organic and natural sound representing life, before the final transition into death, resembled by pain and suffering, making the viewer feel uneasy. Below are a couple of interesting abstract examples which have some lovely visual and audio combinations.

DVD and DVD Case Designs...

2012-01-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

Art of... The Pied Piper of Hamelin...

2012-01-20T08:49:00.001-08:00

Morethan Art Presents... The Pied Piper of Hamelin...

2012-01-20T06:44:00.001-08:00

Shot 05 Update...

2012-01-19T06:02:00.000-08:00

Shot 07 Update...

2012-01-18T06:03:00.000-08:00

Shot 03 and 04 Update...

2012-01-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

Shot 06 Update...

2012-01-16T09:10:00.000-08:00

Shot 04 Update...

2012-01-13T07:19:00.000-08:00

Shot 04 and 05 Update...

2012-01-12T10:03:00.000-08:00

Shot 06 Update...

2012-01-11T11:33:00.000-08:00

Opening Shot Update...

2012-01-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

A quick update on the progress of my opening scene... I still need to animate some smoke and the curtain movement...

Rooftops Shot Progress Continued...

2011-12-29T06:08:00.000-08:00

Rooftops Shot Progress...

2011-12-27T10:52:00.000-08:00

Personal Branding Development...

2011-12-23T11:32:00.000-08:00

Header Design:

Business Cards Design Progress (Double-Sided):

Further Production Progress...

2011-12-22T16:09:00.000-08:00

Production Update...

2011-12-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit out of the loop in the Bloggersphere recently, so here's an update on my progression so far...

Tavern Texture Test WIP 02...

2011-11-23T06:05:00.001-08:00

Tavern Texture Test WIP 01...

2011-11-21T14:27:00.000-08:00

I've been off the radar the past few days due to finishing up my dissertation draft, but thus, the texturing and lighting tests must contiue and with the dissertation out the way for a week, i'm hoping to really crack on and make up for lost time. Expect a lot more updated texture tests during this next week...

Technical Queries List...

2011-11-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

- Texturing (How would i achieve a style similar to my designs without it looking like simple shaders?)
- Lighting (What's the best light setup for the texture tests? How would i create light coming from the street lights and wall lights?)
- Snow (What's the best and most efficient way of creating snow? Would it be possible to animate snow falling off rooftops/objects?)
- Cobble Path (What's the best way of creating a cobbled path?)
- Icy River/steam (How would i achieve this?)
- What are the best Mental Ray settings for high quality renders?
- What Render Layers should i use? (ie Ambient Occlusion, Z Depth etc).
- Street Lamp Reference( Correct Time Period).

Texture Test Scene... WIP 02...

2011-11-17T06:18:00.000-08:00

Texture Test Scene... WIP 01...

2011-11-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick look into the texture test scene i'm putting together. It's based on my Tavern design, and i will be looking to integrate the style of my design into this 3D world as Alan has suggested...

Market Stall and Butchers Designs...

2011-11-12T02:39:00.000-08:00

Tavern and Blacksmith Designs...

2011-11-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

Fishmongers and Bakery Design...

2011-11-10T07:01:00.000-08:00

Shop Design WIP 01...

2011-11-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

Here's some of the stuff i've been working on to develop some designs for the shops in my adaptation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin...

Pied Piper of Hamelin... Pre-Vis Test v02...

2011-11-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

Here's an updated version of my pre-vis with a couple of extra scenes included...

Pied Piper of Hamelin... Pre-vis Test v01...

2011-11-06T07:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick test export of the pre-vis scenes i've put together so far...

Poem Voiceover Auditions...

2011-11-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

After speaking to Phil on Monday, it was decided i should get a voiceover artist to narrate the whole poem and then condense it down to a reasonable length for my animation. After receiving a good response from the people i sent my emails to, i decided to ask them to each recite the 2nd verse of the poem with their own interpretation, before deciding on who's voice will best suit my animation. Here are the voiceovers i've received so far...

Voiceover 01...

Voiceover 02...

Voiceover 03...

Voiceover 04...

House Designs WIP 02...

2011-10-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

House Designs WIP 01...

2011-10-31T03:21:00.000-07:00

Street Texture Test Setup...

2011-10-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

Here's the street scene i've put together ready to do some texture tests to see how to convert my world from the 2D storyboard panels to 3D environments.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning... Choosing an Excerpt for my Narration...

2011-10-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Hamelin Town's in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover city;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side;
A pleasanter spot you never spied;
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the townsfolk suffer so
From vermin, was a pity.

Rats!
They fought the dogs, and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats,
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.

At last the people in a body
To the Town Hall came flocking:
"'Tis clear," cried they, "our Mayor's a noddy;
And as for our Corporation—shocking
To think we buy gowns lined with ermine
For dolts that can't or won't determine
What's best to rid us of our vermin!
You hope, because you're old and obese,
To find in the furry civic robe ease?
Rouse up, Sirs! Give your brains a racking
To find the remedy we're lacking,
Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!"
At this the Mayor and Corporation
Quaked with a mighty consternation.

An hour they sate in council,
At length the Mayor broke silence:
"For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell;
I wish I were a mile hence!
It's easy to bid one rack one's brain—
I'm sure my poor head aches again
I've scratched it so, and all in vain.
Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap!"
Just as he said this, what should hap
At the chamber door but a gentle tap?
"Bless us," cried the Mayor, "what's that?"
(With the Corporation as he sat,
Looking little though wondrous fat;
Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister
Than a too-long-opened oyster,
Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous
For a plate of turtle green and glutinous)
"Only a scraping of shoes on the mat?
Anything like the sound of a rat
Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!"

"Come in!"—the Mayor cried, looking bigger:
And in did come the strangest figure!
His queer long coat from heel to head
Was half of yellow and half of red;
And he himself was tall and thin,
With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin,
And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin,
No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin,
But lips where smiles went out and in—
There was no guessing his kith and kin!
And nobody could enough admire
The tall man and his quaint attire:
Quoth one: "It's as my great-grandsire,
Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone,
Had walked this way from his painted tombstone!"

He advanced to the council-table:
And, "Please your honours," said he, "I'm able,
By means of a secret charm, to draw
All creatures living beneath the sun,
That creep or swim or fly or run,
After me so as you never saw!
And I chiefly use my charm
On creatures that do people harm,
The mole and toad and newt and viper;
And people call me the Pied Piper."
(And here they noticed round his neck
A scarf of red and yellow stripe,
To match with his coat of the selfsame cheque;
And at the scarf's end hung a pipe;
And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying
As if impatient to be playing
Upon this pipe, as low it dangled
Over his vesture so old-fangled.)
"Yet," said he, "poor piper as I am,
In Tartary I freed the Cham,
Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats;
I eased in Asia the Nizam
Of a monstrous brood of vampire-bats;
And, as for what your brain bewilders,
If I can rid your town of rats
Will you give me a thousand guilders?"
"One? fifty thousand!"—was the exclamation
Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation.

Into the street the Piper stepped,
Smiling first a little smile,
As if he knew what magic slept
In his quiet pipe the while;
Then, like a musical adept,
To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled,
And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled
Like a candle flame where salt is sprinkled;
And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,
You heard as if an army muttered;
And the muttering grew to a grumbling;
And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling;
And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.
Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,
Brown rats, black rats, grey rats, tawny rats,
Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,
Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,
Cocking tails and pricking whiskers,
Families by tens and dozens,
Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives—
Followed the Piper for their lives.
From street to street he piped advancing,
And step for step they followed dancing,
Until they came to the river Weser,
Wherein all plunged and perished!
- Save one who, stout a Julius Caesar,
Swam across and lived to carry
(As he, the manuscript he cherished)
To Rat-land home his commentary:
Which was, "At the first shrill notes of the pipe
I heard a sound as of scraping tripe,
And putting apples, wondrous ripe,
Into a cider-press's gripe:
And a moving away of pickle-tub-boards,
And a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards,
And a drawing the corks of train-oil-flasks,
And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks;
And it seemed as if a voice
(Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery
Is breathed) called out 'Oh, rats, rejoice!
The world is grown to one vast drysaltery!
So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,
Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!'
And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon,
All ready staved, like a great sun shone
Glorious scarce and inch before me,
Just as methought it said 'Come, bore me!'
- I found the Weser rolling o'er me."

You should have heard the Hamelin people
Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple.
"Go," cried the Mayor, "and get long poles!
Poke out the nests and block up the holes!
Consult with carpenters and builders,
And leave in our town not even a trace
Of the rats!"—when suddenly, up the face
Of the Piper perked in the market-place,
With a, "First, if you please, my thousand guilders!"

A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue;
So did the Corporation too.
For council dinners made rare havoc
With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock;
And half the money would replenish
Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish.
To pay this sum to a wandering fellow
With a gypsy coat of red and yellow!
"Beside," quoth the Mayor with a knowing wink,
"Our business was done at the river's brink;
We saw with our eyes the vermin sink,
And what's dead can't come to life, I think.
So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink
From the duty of giving you something for drink,
And a matter of money to put in your poke;
But, as for the guilders, what we spoke
Of them, as you very well know, was in joke.
Beside, our losses have made us thrifty.
A thousand guilders! Come, take fifty!"

The Piper's face fell, and he cried
"No trifling! I can't wait, beside!
I've promised to visit by dinner-time
Bagdat, and accept the prime
Of the Head Cook's pottage, all he's rich in,
For having left, in the Calip's kitchen,
Of a nest of scorpions no survivor—
With him I proved no bargain-driver,
With you, don't think I'll bate a stiver!
And folks who put me in a passion
May find me pipe to another fashion."

"How?" cried the Mayor, "d'ye think I'll brook
Being worse treated than a Cook?
Insulted by a lazy ribald
With idle pipe and vesture piebald?
You threaten us, fellow? Do your worst,
Blow your pipe there till you burst!"

Once more he stepped into the street;
And to his lips again
Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane;
And ere he blew three notes (such sweet
Soft notes as yet musician's cunning
Never gave the enraptured air)
There was a rustling, that seemed like a bustling
Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling,
Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,
Little hands clapping and little tongues chattering,
And, like fowls in a farmyard when barley is scattering,
Out came the children running.
All the little boys and girls,
With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,
And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,
Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after
The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.

The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood
As if they were changed into blocks of wood,
Unable to move a step, or cry
To the children merrily skipping by—
And could only follow with the eye
That joyous crowd at the Piper's back.
But how the Mayor was on the rack,
And the wretched Council's bosoms beat,
As the Piper turned from the High Street
To where the Weser rolled its waters
Right in the way of their sons and daughters!
However he turned from South to West,
And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed,
And after him the children pressed;
Great was the joy in every breast.
"He never can cross that mighty top!
He's forced to let the piping drop,
And we shall see our children stop!"
When, lo, as they reached the mountain's side,
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed;
And the Piper advanced and the children followed,
And when all were in to the very last,
The door in the mountain-side shut fast.
Did I say, all? No! One was lame,
And could not dance the whole of the way;
And in after years, if you would blame
His sadness, he was used to say,—
"It's dull in our town since my playmates left!
I can't forget that I'm bereft
Of all the pleasant sights they see,
Which the Piper also promised me:
For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,
Joining the town and just at hand,
Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew,
And flowers put forth a fairer hue,
And everything was strange and new;
The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here,
And their dogs outran our fallow deer,
And honey-bees had lost their stings,
And horses were born with eagles' wings:
And just as I became assured
My lame foot would be speedily cured,
The music stopped and I stood still,
And found myself outside the Hill,
Left alone against my will,
To go now limping as before,
And never hear of that country more!"

Alas, alas for Hamelin!
There came into many a burgher's pate
A text which says, that Heaven's Gate
Opes to the Rich at as easy rate
As the needle's eye takes a camel in!
The Mayor sent East, West, North, and South,
To offer the Piper, by word of mouth,
Wherever it was men's lot to find him,
Silver and gold to his heart's content,
If he'd only return the way he went,
And bring the children behind him.
But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavour,
And Piper and dancers were gone for ever,
They made a decree that lawyers never
Should think their records dated duly
If, after the day of the month and year,
These words did not as well appear,
"And so long after what happened here
On the Twenty-second of July,
Thirteen hundred and seventy-six":
And the better in memory to fix
The place of the children's last retreat,
They called it, the Pied Piper's Street—
Where any one playing on pipe or tabor
Was sure for the future to lose his labour.
Nor suffered they hostelry or tavern
To shock with mirth a street so solemn;
But opposite the place of the cavern
They wrote the story on a column,
And on the great Church-Window painted
The same, to make the world acquainted
How their children were stolen away;
And there it stands to this very day.
And I must not omit to say
That in Transylvania there's a tribe
Of alien people that ascribe
The outlandish ways and dress
On which their neighbours lay such stress,
To their fathers and mothers having risen
Out of some subterraneous prison
Into which they were trepanned
Long time ago in a mighty band
Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick land,
But how or why, they don't understand.

So, Willy, let you and me be wipers
Of scores out with all men—especially pipers:
And, whether they pipe us free, from rats or from mice,
If we've promised them aught, let us keep our promise.

RED = Possible Excerpts

The Pied Piper of Hamelin Animatic v02...

2011-10-23T15:56:00.000-07:00

Here's the second version of my animation, taking on board the feedback from Alan and Phil during the week. It was evident after the first version, that the animatic was a bit 'aimless' and lacked any progression or build-up. Alan suggested the best way to tackle this problem is to break down the narration into an opening shot, middle shot, and end shot; filling in the gaps after i've established these three key sections. We also discussed how i don't want this to just feel like i'm presenting a modelled environment, but an environment that clearly derives from an adaptation of the story. To tackle this problem Alan has suggested using foreground, midground and brackground elements/objects as metaphors, linking to the themes portrayed in the Pied Piper. The examples that Alan has suggested were a doll on the window ledge of the opening shot to suggest it's a child's bedroom, as well as the crutches in the end shot leading up to the cave, which represent the lame boy who gets left behind. We also discussed 'dressing' my environments with objects/elements that represent the aftermath of the rat infestation, these will fill the street scenes of my animation. In essence, i would like the animation to feel like it's leaving a breadcrumbs for the audience to follow, that not only presents my environment but also enables you to connect it to the story of The Pied Piper.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin... Opening Title Sequence Test v01...

2011-10-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

Whilst working on my animatic, i decided it would be nice to work on an opening title sequence instead of using a boring black background with some text. Here's the title sequence i've produced so far, i aiming to develop it some more during the production stage to make it look better visually.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin Animatic v01...

2011-10-17T04:26:00.000-07:00

Here's the first rough version of my animatic for my environment design adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The music is only temporary as i will be producing the sound in Soundtrack Pro, as well as using a voiceover of an appropriate excerpt from the poem during the opening shot. I already feel that the pacing is off, and i'm going to need more variety in the shots and compositions, but i'm beginning to imagine the eerie atmosphere of the piece and wanting create an uncomfortable feeling as though you are being watched, or shouldn't be there.

Just a quick note for Phil, sorry i can't make it to have a chat today, but i've picked up a virus and i don't think anybody would appreciate me sharing it with them...

Concept/Storyboard Development Continued...

2011-10-14T00:38:00.000-07:00

Concept Art/Storyboard Panels Development 01...

2011-10-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

After speaking with Phil on Monday, we decided it was full steam ahead and my target is to produce an animatic by Monday. In preparation for developing my animatic, i sought after plenty of reference images for cinematic and photographic compositions i could use in the narrative of my environment design. Using these images, my silhouettes, and other reference images, i am layering everything in Photoshop to begin to consider how my town/world might look, thinking particularly about the types of shots i will be using in the piece. Here's some early progress images of the work i've produced so far...

The first panel represents a lovely shot i've seen in the trailer for 'One Night in One City', a Czech animation by Jan Balej. This shot begins with a window open in the distance with curtains flailing from the wind. The camera would slowly zoom in and begin to reveal the environment outside of the window as we get closer. The second panel focuses on perspective and will capitalise on the long and narrow street scenes i aim to model. Panel three represents a rooftop shot and the camera will pass through foreground elements like the chimneys, to create a filmic effect. These are just ways of visualising the shots i have in my head, contemplating what works and what doesn't, before i start to produce my animatic...

Pied Piper of Hamelin... WIP Concept Art 01...

2011-10-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

So here's some WIP pictures for the development of my first concept for the environment design of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. So far i have combined my extracted shapes of Bavarian houses with a matte paiting i found in my reference images and some of the more intricate shapes i produced in Alchemy...

I aim to have a few various compositions for concepts that i can take into Photoshop Phil's lesson on Friday and develop into more refined and resolved pieces...

Bavarian-Style House Silhouettes...

2011-10-11T03:08:00.000-07:00

After having a discussion with Phil yesterday, we decided i need to step up a gear with the pace of my work and start pushing forward. I decided to extract the shapes from Bavarian style houses and buildings to start to look into the buildings that will fill my town and streets. Here's the results...

Minor Project Individual Tutorial... Week 3...

2011-10-08T02:21:00.000-07:00

So after my discussion with Alan yesterday, he feels that it's best if i go back to the spotlight silhouettes to get some sharper and more rigid shapes, as the Alchemy silhouettes have become quite 'blobby'. Once i have got some more silhouettes from the spotlight technique, i will begin to combine the more organic silhouettes from Alchemy with the spotlight silhouettes to form the buildings of my town. This will then enable me to take the silhouettes and paint onto them in Photoshop, beginning to consider how the would convert into a 3D environment and where they would be situated in my town. The town is something i need to go back and consider as i've lost the street elements in a lot of the silhouettes i've produced. To enable me to develop the silhouettes as concepts and coloured thumbnails, i'm hoping to start attending Photoshop Phil's lessons, to pick up some tips and techniques.

Experimentation... Alchemy #3...

2011-10-08T02:02:00.000-07:00

Whilst listening to a recitation of the Pied Piper on YouTube as well as listening to some flute music, here's a selection of the silhouettes i produced using mic-shapes in Alchemy...

Experimentation... Alchemy #2...

2011-10-01T04:18:00.000-07:00

So i've got stuck into Alchemy again today, this time looking to create clusters or groups of shapes for the town, almost like a skyline silhouette. Again, i was using mic shapes to create the scenes, this time using flute music as an influence. Already, i can see certain shapes standing out amongst the silhouettes. I'm also going to doing a video recording of the process, so that you can physically see how the music and sound is influencing my designs. Keep an eye out for that soon, but for now, here's the results from today so far...

Minor Project Individual Tutorial... Week 2...

2011-10-01T00:19:00.000-07:00

So i had my second individual tutorial with Alan yesterday, and it was a great insight into the progress of the project and in what direction i should take it. Alan and Phil are both keen on the idea of using the poem itself to create the expressionistic shapes in Alchemy, with Alan suggesting to recite the poem to create the shapes for the town/city, and using flute music for the design of the hills and natural enviroment. Looking at the work i have already produced Alan suggested seeing three different elements within the shapes; shapes that can be used to produce street plans, shapes that can already form expressionistic buildings, and shapes that can be combined to form expressionistic buildings. The next step after forming more shapes, will be to take them into photoshop and begin to create concepts for the town and buildings.

I also took the opportunity to ask Alan if he could recommend any films or sources that i could research into for my dissertation on screen violence. He introduced me to a documentary called 'Snuff: a documentary about killing on camera' which has some really interesting stuff on the subject matter of Snuff films and this idea of pushing the boundaries of reality in screen violence. It looks into controversial films like 'Cannibal Holocaust (1980)' and 'Flowers of flesh and blood (1985)', and how people have believed they were snuff films because the violence was so convinving; so photorealistic. He also suggested looking into Ronin, for its high bodycount in the background of the scenes, Death Race 2000, for the concept of the film in which the characters earn points for hitting pedestrians in their races, and A Clockwork Orange for its use of ultraviolence.

An Adaptation of Cats the Musical...

2011-09-30T05:04:00.000-07:00

Below are some wonderful design ideas and reference images for an Adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats. There's a lot of expressionistic influence going on in some of these, and some of the camera angles in the thumbnails are extremely cinematic and theatrical. The black and white images that look like woodcut, are actually done by 'painting' onto black cardboard with white tippex...

'1884' by Terry Gilliam... An Animation Test...

2011-09-29T06:54:00.000-07:00

I love the style and camera movement of the opening shot in this clip. The buildings look very flat and heavily stylised, and the layers work really well alongside the camera movement. I think it's the camera angle and movement that makes this shot really work though, and this is something i will be looking to capitalise on in my own environment design...

Experimentation... Extracting Shapes from Silhouettes #2

2011-09-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

Here's some more shapes i've extracted from this evenings set of silhouettes...

Experimentation... Silhouettes #2

2011-09-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the second round of experimenting with silhouettes, from this evening...

Experimentation... Alchemy

2011-09-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

I decided to get stuck into Alchemy today, in particular using mic shapes to see what kind of shapes it would produce based on the amplitude of my voice. Whilst using the graphics tablet to draw, i was whistling into the microphone of my laptop to see what kind of an effect it would have. These are the results of this technique...

Next on the agenda is to try reciting sections of the poem from the Pied Piper, as well as repeating and emphasising on certain words to see what the results are...

Experimentation... Extracting Shapes from Silhouettes...

2011-09-28T01:46:00.000-07:00

So i've taken last night's silhouettes and extracted the shapes, putting them onto a white background, and here's the results...

I'm going to continue producing some silhouettes tonight and i'll also look into combining some of these shapes together...

Experimentation... Silhouettes

2011-09-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

So i decided to have a go at making some silhouettes today. Using a spotlight and some boxes, i was able to start experimenting with different shapes and silhouettes. I've selected a few of the better shapes, and i'm going to gather some more boxes and objects tomorrow so i can continue with this process...

As you can see, the setup isn't too high-tech either...

Expressionist Reference Images...

2011-09-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some more beautifully cinematic and theatrical examples of expressionism...

Drop-in Tutorial... Week 2...

2011-09-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

After a long discussion about my environment design for the Pied Piper with Phil today, i had a lot to take in, but very exciting times are ahead indeed. We've already established that this set should be heavily influenced by expressionism's strong style and bold shapes, and Phil has suggested getting hands-on and stuck in by being extremely experimental and slightly 'bonkers!'. This next two weeks will be about documenting these experiments which will include using a spotlight and sharp objects to create expressionistic silhouettes, using sound in alchemy see what fascinating shapes can be produced, and experimenting with all kinds of organic and natural textures to play with. I'm looking to document the work i produce in the form of a series of video diary entries which will give a first hand view of what i'm doing and the results that i'm producing. Alongside this creative development of ideas, we also discussed the possible of giving the environment design more meaning; more purpose and Phil has suggested setting the piece after the children have been kidnapped.The audience can therefore accept that the town is desolate for a reason, instead of wondering where all the people are. Some eerie and creepy music can be used to emphasise this idea of a desolate town, the soundtrack can possibly be produced in Soundtrack Pro similar to what i produced for the transcription project.

Apart from my minor project, we also discussed some areas of research for my dissertation. Some keywords and films cropped up as well as some suggested reading sources and articles. I'm particularly interested in the controversy surrounding the Human Centipede 2 and its predecessor, as well as Flowers of Flesh and Blood, part of the Guinea Pig film series, in which it has been believed that the film was depicting a real murder, it was so photorealistic. A new category of films have been introduced to me as well, in the form of mondo films and snuff films.

Raskolnikow (1923)...

2011-09-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

I came across some screenshots from this film whilst look at some examples of expressionism. The director of the film is the famous German silent cinema director, Robert Wiene, who also directed The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which is evident in the expressionistic style of the screenshots. I love how theatrical and cinematic some of these shots are (despite their low quality) and the elements of expressionism serve as a strong and bold artistic style. Raskolnikow is a 1923 drama film based on the novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Here are some other expressionistic images i've found from other films and sources which also present a similarly bold artistic style, including some Dr. Caligari screenshots of course...

Minor Project Individual Tutorial... Week 1...

2011-09-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

So today was my first meeting with Alan discussing my ideas for my minor project and what i'm hoping to do after the course. I presented my two ideas for my adaptation of the Pied Piper, one for a character design, and one for environment design. The latter of the two ideas getting the thumbs up and greenlight from Alan. For next week, Alan has recommended getting to grips with the original dark fairytales and understanding the dark tones and meanings behind them, looking at books that breakdown the 'anatomy' of original fairytale stories. I'll also need to look into art direction, with a particular focus on expressionism and expressionist architecure.

Self Initiated Project - Proposal Pitch...

2011-09-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

Here's the proposal pitch i've put together for my tutorial with Alan, in a bid to get a greenlight on one of my ideas...

Pied Piper Character Influence Maps...

2011-08-09T05:14:00.000-07:00

The main inspiration for the character design of the Pied Piper for my adaptation will come from folk art and child-friendly drawings of the character. However, my adaptation focuses on the dark tone of the orinigal story, which means i will combine these elements with the surrounding topic of Death and puppet/marionette elements which will fit in with the theatrical style sets. A lot of the existing drawings of the Pied Piper use a red and yellow colour palette for the clothing, whereas, the darker designs seem to use grey, black and green, whilst still keeping to the associated clothing of the character.

Art Direction Influence Maps...

2011-08-09T04:56:00.000-07:00

The inspiration for the environment design of my adaptation comes from stop-motion sets, theatre sets, and cinematic sets. I will use my research and developed knowledge of Hamelin and Germany in the Middle Ages, to develop a set-based environment, that integrates my chosen art direction. I feel that bold expressionistic shapes work well in these kind of set designs, with a number of different techniques that can be used to create backgrounds; including silhouettes and matte paintings. The colour palette has a strong influence on the mood and tone of these sets; with greys, blues and greens creating the darkest mood and tone.

Pied Piper of Hamelin... Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens...

2011-07-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre, is an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one's station in life, the Dance of Death unites all. The Danse Macabre consists of the dead or personified Death summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child, and labourer. They were produced to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life.

According to legend, "Death" appears at midnight every year on Halloween. Death calls forth the dead from their graves to dance their dance of death for him while he plays his fiddle represented by a solo violin with its E-string tuned to an E-flat in an example of scordatura tuning. His skeletons dance for him until the rooster crows at dawn, when they must return to their graves until the next year.

Danse macabre, Op. 40, is a tone poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, which is based in an old French superstition. In 1874, the composer expanded and reworked the piece into a tone poem, replacing the vocal line with a solo violin.

The piece opens with a harp playing a single note, D, twelve times (the twelve strokes of midnight) which is accompanied by soft chords from the string section. This then leads to the E flat and A chords also known as a tritone or the "Devil's chord", and the solo violin's E string is tuned a half step lower to create this effect played by a solo violinist, which represents death. After which the main theme is heard on a solo flute and is followed by a descending scale on the solo violin which is accompanied by soft chords from the string section, particularly the lower instruments of the string section, followed by the full orchestra who then joins in on the descending scale. The main theme and the scale is then heard throughout the various sections of the orchestra until it breaks to the solo violin and the harp playing the scale. The piece becomes more energetic and climaxes with the full orchestra playing very strong dynamics. Towards the end of the piece, there is another violin solo, now in modulation, which is then joined by the rest of the orchestra. The final section represents the dawn breaking (a cockerel's crow, represented by the oboe) and the skeletons returning to their graves.

The piece makes particular use of the xylophone to imitate the sounds of rattling bones. Saint-Saëns uses a similar motif in the Fossils movement of The Carnival of the Animals.

Krysar (The Pied Piper of Hamelin) By Jiri Barta (1986)...

2011-07-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

The Pied Piper is a 1986 Czechoslovak animated film directed by Jiří Barta. Its original Czech title is Krysař, which means "The rat catcher". The story is an adaptation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a fairy tale originated in medieval Germany. The film was one of Czechoslovakia's most ambitious animation projects of the 1980s, notable for its unusual dark art direction, innovative animation techniques and use of a fictitious language. The art design was heavily inspired by German Expressionism and medieval art.

Jiri Barta's adaptation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin has a beautiful handmade feel, that helps to create a creepy and expressionistic art style. The element of surrealism adds to the dark and twisted mood of this animation which plays to the dark version of the original folktale, in oppose to the more child-friendly modern version. The unusual use of sound and music creates a lot of tension in the animation, which are essential in creating a creepy/eerie atmosphere. I was particular interested in the style Jiri Barta uses for the environment of the town, often using different mediums, including wood carvings and paintings. The characters follow a similar art style, taking shape from wood carvings, and this along with stiff animation helps add to the success of the creepiness the animation achieves. This animation will definitely pose some influence in the decisions i make for my own animation, however i feel it's important for me to distance myself from this as i want to achieve my own unique art style and direction, that could take influence from this version, but doesn't bear too much of a resemblance.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin Research...

2011-07-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the subject of a legend concerning the departure or death of a great many children from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Germany, in the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in pied (multicolored) clothing, leading the children away from the town never to return. In the 16th century the story was expanded into a full narrative, in which the piper is a rat-catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe. When the citizenry refuses to pay for this service, he retaliates by turning his magic on their children, leading them away as he had the rats.

The story may reflect a historical event in which Hamelin lost its children. Theories have been proposed suggesting that the Pied Piper is a symbol of the children's death by plague or catastrophe. Other theories liken him to figures like Nicholas of Cologne, who lured away a great number of children on a disastrous Children's Crusade. A recent theory ties the departure of Hamelin's children to the Ostsiedlung, in which a number of Germans left their homes to colonize Eastern Europe.

A number of theories suggest that children died of some natural causes and that the Piper was a symbolic figure of Death. Death is often portrayed dressed in motley, or "pied" clothing. Analogous themes which are associated with this theory include the Dance of Death, Totentanz or Danse Macabre, a common medieval type. Some of the scenarios that have been suggested as fitting this theory include that the children drowned in the river Weser, were killed in a landslide, or contracted some disease during an epidemic.

Others have suggested that the children left the city to be part of a pilgrimage, a military campaign, or even a new Children's crusade (which is said to have occurred in 1212, not long before) but never returned to their parents. These theories see the unnamed Piper as their leader or a recruiting agent.

William Manchester's A World Lit Only by Fire proposes that the Pied Piper was a psychopathic pedophile.

Minor Project Research... The Pied Piper...

2011-07-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

In the tale of the Pied Piper, we have a village overrun with rats. A man arrives dressed in clothes of pied (a patchwork of colors) and offers to rid the town of the vermin. The villagers agree to pay a vast sum of money if the piper can do it – and he does. He plays music on his pipe which draws all the rats out of the town. When he returns for payment – the villagers won’t cough up so the Pied Piper decides to rid the town of children too! In most modern variants, the piper draws the children to a cave out of the town and when the townsfolk finally agree to pay up, he sends them back. In the darker original, the piper leads the children to a river where they all drown (except a lame boy who couldn’t keep up). Some modern scholars say that there are connotations of pedophilia in this fairy tale.

I'm interested in the characters in this story, particularly the Pied Piper and the rats, as i feel they would work well being turned into puppet-like characters. The story as a whole would work nicely theatrically, and could be quite dark and sinister if i was to go with the dark version of the story. I'd love to use some quite textured patterns for the Pied Piper's clothing, possibly using some Brother's Quay characters as an influence for the design. Some rag-like patterns could be used to create the rats, making them look quite hand-made and organic. The environment would be set-based, similar to a theatrical set, using surreal and bold shapes.

Here's a quick concept i put together to give an idea of how textures could be used to create both the Pied Piper and the rats in this animation. I imagined the rats to be made of cloth, rags, and material-based textures.

Minor Project Research... Props and Sets ...

2011-06-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

For my minor project, I'm aiming to produce some strong character designs, props and sets to push the boundaries of all the areas of my creative development. Below are a few images that i really liked the style and design of. I really like the idea of producing puppet-like characters and creating a dark and expressionistic animation, probably based on an adaptation of a story. I would like the piece to be quite theatrical and surreal, similar to a lot of the images i've chosen below. My particular influences are taken from stop motion puppet artists like Tim Burton and Brothers Quay, as well as expressionistic sets in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. At the moment, this is just a possibility and needs some more thorough research, but i think it allows for a lot of creativity and a strong artistic style...

Maya Tutorials... Rigid and Soft Bodies...

2011-05-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

Maya Tutorials... Matchmoving...

2011-05-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

The static match mover tutorial has proven to be a bit trickier due to its need for accuracy in replicating the objects around the scene. My aim is to take my time with this tutorial over the next few days instead of rushing to complete it for tomorrow morning, as i feel this would be more beneficial in helping me complete it without any further problems...

Maya Tutorials... Hi Res Character Modelling...

2011-05-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

Work Placement... Evaluation...

2011-05-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

My work placement at Butch Auntie involved producing audio/visual animations for projections at live events including a wedding, champagne promotional event, club rebranding and a gig. During my 7 week period working for Butch Auntie, I was required to work from home, and using the relevant software and the usual production pipeline, I was provided with briefs in which I would be required to hit regular deadlines with high quality work that would entertain their client’s wishes.

Working from home may seem like a dream job, but in fact, it requires much discipline in resisting the temptations that surround you. In a normal working environment such as an office, you are surrounded by work colleagues and a controlled working environment that only allows for one break in a day, working your normal office/shift hours, however when working from home, the controlled environment is jeopardised by possible distractions. This became an issue during my second week of the work placement in which I went home for Easter. Trying to juggle my time between seeing my family and hitting my deadlines with high quality work was a struggle, especially when you live by the sea. But, in the end, I decided to come home early, learning that working from home requires focus and discipline to stay on task and stick to the working hours and breaks that I would maintain in an office environment.

Working from home meant that the main forms of contact were email and phone. Since the main form of communication has been email, I have learned about the importance of communicating with your colleagues, asking questions and regularly checking up on the progression of projects and the work produced. At the beginning of my work placement, I really struggled to grasp using email to communicate with my colleagues as I’m often used to communicating verbally and I believe it helps bring a better social connection between your workmates. In the end, however, I learned to often leave my Hotmail account open in a tab so i could regularly check for emails, and if I didn’t I knew I’d have an inbox full of emails waiting for me to reply to.

Time management was a skill I needed to quickly grasp working for Butch Auntie as regular deadlines for feedback meant I would need to work quickly to produce better quality work. The importance of time management became clear after the first week in which, I managed to miss my first deadline by a few hours and the second deadline I missed completely due to travelling home. This wasn’t exactly the best start to my work placement, and helped me to quickly establish an expectation of regular deadlines and make sure I was hitting them. As I got better with time management and hitting regular deadlines, the next step was to produce high quality work at a quicker pace. On the projects that had less technical constraints, I was able to produce more work of a higher quality, however this is something that wasn’t always achievable as some projects required more technical skills, meaning I had less time to spend on the quality and creativity.

The technical side of this work placement often proved a challenge, as I had to get to grips with a new piece of software, After Effects, as well as do whatever possible to achieve the visual elements their clients required. This often meant doing a lot of research into technical tutorials for both after effects and Maya. I often found video co-pilot to be extremely useful, teaching me the core skills of After Effects. I also began to learn more about the technical side of file formats, often being asked to produce specific file types, so that Pete could adapt the files for screening himself. These technical skills are essential for my growth and development coming into the third year, and have taught me to go out of my own way to solve technical challenges instead of relying on Alan to provide the answers.

Overall, my experience at Butch Auntie has been a crucial opportunity for me to gain knowledge and experience of the media industry that I wouldn’t be able to achieve working on a university project. I have been introduced to new complexities of working to a brief, for clients, by meeting regular deadlines for live events and I tried to make the most of this opportunity in my own personal development. I will be continuing to work for Butch Auntie over the next week or two, following a project we have already begun right through to its completion. From this I hope to work for the company further, not only to expand my portfolio of work, but to gain further experience and skills that future employees would value when I leave university.

Work Placement... Week 6...

2011-05-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

This week, whilst awaiting to hear about the feedback of our Mayfair event work, we were asked to return to the rebranding project for the company in Ibiza. In doing so, Pete asked me to look into producing more complicated particle effects with Maya, involving animating the particles to move around the shot before creating elegant objects. In particular, my concern was to figure out the best way of animating the particles to move along a path elegantly. Despite searching the internet thoroughly and referring back to Alan's Maya tutorials, i struggled to produce anything, spending a lot of time on technical issues which sacrificed the creativity, and in the end, i handed in a pitiful animation with some particles moving about, much to my own disappointment. After my unsuccessful attempt at tackling more complex particle work in Maya, Pete asked me to produce five glowing animated tattoos, that would be projected onto real dancers using motion tracking. I was allowed to use 2 flourish designs, and asked to incorporate the logo of the company into the designs. At first this seemed like a really fun and interesting project, but on the back of my unsuccessful particle work, i really struggled to produce anything of any real quality or creativeness. These first few days were a real dissapointment, and i really needed to step up the work flow and quality. Over the weekend, we we've been asked to return to the Mayfair work, taking onboard the feedback from our clients, who seem to want more of a tron influenced theme with glowing animated lines. Taking on board the feedback of my own work and possible new pieces of work, i'm going to crack on and really push myself in this last week, to compensate for a disappointing few days...

The History of Butch Auntie...

2011-05-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

VJ Specialists "Butch Auntie" are a creative outfit comprised of two film and television animators with many years experience in providing bespoke visual content for live events. In Mixing client-led content to live music, they've blown away countless major venues and festivals with their original spark, humour and bombastic video library. Butch Auntie comprises of two directors Steve Brown and Pete Wallace who have a long history in Visual Media and Animation. Before founding the company, both worked on major feature films and TV commercials for some of the best companies around. Steve's vast experience in the worlds of CG animation, Stop-frame and 2D animation have made him Butch Auntie's 'irreplaceable Quality Control and Ideas-Man.' Butch Auntie is also run by Pete Wallace, a Designer, VJ and Video Artist based in London, who explains, 'It was started with music events in mind, but has become an Audio Visual company with a variety of live event and installation setups in it's armoury. As a team of creatives and performers we take on projects from performance-based visuals through to large-scale projections for private and commercial clients.'

The kind of work Butch Auntie produces for its clients includes:

- Performance Visuals and Video Projection
- VJ set with DJ
- Architectural Projections

- Bespoke Mapping for large Buildings

- Video content for Private / Corporate Events

Some of the projects and events they have produced work for include:

- Carry On Doctor! - Private Themed Party, Leicestershire:

'A client with a passion for the Carry On movies gave us an unusual brief for this private, fun themed event. In keeping with the fantastic decor, we entertained the dancefloor with Ealing Mashups alongside DJ Matt Braddock.' (Butch Auntie).

- 1950's Argentine Buenos Aires Tango Birthday Party

'Wilton’s Music Hall is the last surviving and oldest grand music hall in the world. From 1859 - for close on 30 years – Wilton’s was alive with the magic of classical overtures, opera, choral, folk, dance, burlesque, circus acts, comedy and contemporary songs. 1500 people used to cram into the music hall to hear the top acts of the day. Auntie's visit to Wilton's Music Hall was a 70th Birthday Party for the recently deceased Christian Wolffer, millionaire wine-grower. The party was themed around 1950s Buenos Aires Tango, with other Argentinean influences. We accompanied live performances, act as a backdrop to some hired Tango-dancers - and a fab disco at the end of the night.' (Butch Auntie).

- 'Poetry City', Canterbury Festival:

Canterbury Festival managed to surpass itself this year, with all kinds of events all around the city. One of it's most engaging features was the construction of a Poem written specially in the weeks running up to the Festival period. Poet John Siddique and the Workers of Art commisioned us to map his work onto the ancient Westgate Towers at the of the Main Street. The work was entitled 'Poetry City'. Butch Auntie, her sister Clever Projections, and Artist Marc Chazot were pleased to have the chance to use written copy more formally within an AV artwork. This literally gave the building something to say, charging the company's designers with finding the best way to display an often delicate area of literature, without disturbing the flow or meaning behind each line.

'It was important that we used our technical skills to make the installation of this artwork as flexible as possible, so that changes could be made on site and everyone's expectations could be met. We had not used Poetry as a graphic element until now, and so we needed to make sure that we configured our software to maximise control over the separate foreground and background layers. It was thrilling to see local people's reaction and we've been humbled by the grand feedback' (Pete Wallace).

- Arcadia Stage - Glastonbury Festival:

‘The Team enjoyed a rapid-fire setup and Visuals set for the wierdest stage on earth!...

The Glastonbury Festival's Arcadia Stage was a spectacle in itself, our cherry on their Cake was the rapidly deployed projection setup we created for Electronic Funk band, The Egg.’ (Butch Auntie).

- The Tabernacle, South Kensington, London:

'As the sun fell on South Kensington, we turned its architectural jewel into an animated, living creature! On behalf of The Rainbow Collections Children's Foundation, Sophie Barker organised a Charity Auction inside The Tabernacle. Our task was to attract anyone and everyone to this fantastic building, inside which a large sum was raised to benefit school children in Africa.' (Butch Auntie).

- Warehouse Funhouse, Architectural Mapping:

'The client could have asked for something normal. The client could have asked for something which would have looked delicate and ornate. But on this occasion we were happy to supply some of the oddest and most bombastic designs we've produced so far. This launch party in Islington gave the guests the chance to discover Alan Parker's new Design & Fabrication space while getting to know his friends and other associates. As they partied, we choregraphed animations and photography to coincide with the evening's events. With a live link to the DJ, we decorated with live sound to keep everyone dancing well into the night.' (Butch Auntie).
Contact Details:

☎ +44 7759 039 167
✉ info@butchauntie.com

Visit:

Website: http://www.butchauntie.com/
Behance: http://www.behance.net/ButchAuntie
Twitter: www.twitter.com/butchauntie
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/channels/butchauntievj
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Butch-Auntie/11799343410?ref=ts

Work Placement... Week 5....

2011-05-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

Week 5 began with a new brief for a company rebranding in Ibiza. There were a list of different effects that the team were looking for, but the most relevant to me was the use of particles after the recent maya tutorials we've done. I mainly used Alan's coke can tutorial to make objects disappear. The first object being a cream teapot which was an image shown in the actual brief as an example. The feedback i got from this suggested using the same effect on human body parts. Instead of modelling a human body from scratch, Pete suggested getting some free models off the internet and using those. They were quite hard to come by, but i found a few models on creativecrash in the end and decided to use those. I produced three animations to be sent off to show the client, two of which made it into the video showreel that was actually sent off. The most successful was a human model falling from the sky with particles falling off causing the model to disappear. I then took this into after effects using the recommended colour palette of light blue, which worked nicely in producing what seemingly looks like an underwater scene, with the particles coming from the body looking like bubbles. At the moment, i am unable to show any of this work as it is an on going project, but as soon as i get the green light i'll pop up some stills and videos.

The second half of this week involved another new brief, for an event in Mayfair for a large champagne champagne. This unusual corporate event involves a DJ playing from an altar, with pete projecting onto the back altar wall of the image above. We were asked to produce three animations for the event, by friday evening so that pete coould give us the feedback for changes that would need to be applied by sunday evening. My first piece using the idea of the inside of a champagne bottle with the water rising and bubbles flowing. I used the unique glowing shield shape of the branding for the new champagne to form the shape of fish swimming through the champagne before revealing the shield logo as though the bottle had been twisted round. I continued the theme of transforming the shape of the logo into an animal, by using two of them together to form wings of a butterfly, which accompanied another flourish design courtesy of the work i produced in the Cotton Club project. My final animation was specifically intended to accompany the music the dj was playing, as i animated glowing green, yellow and red blocks to look like an equaliser. Animating it to the music is something i'm yet to do, but i will be intrigued to find out how it works. I'll leave you with an image of a previous event at the venue to give you an idea of what this kind of project could look like on the day...

The Cotton Club Compilation Video....

2011-05-10T23:20:00.000-07:00

Here's the compilation of footage I produced for the Cotton Club brief...

Work Placement... Week 4 and Easter Holiday...

2011-05-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

During the two weeks of easter, i continued to produce work for Butch Auntie aiming to get as much experience from the opportunity as possible. During the first week and a half, we continued producing work for the Funkagenda project, developing our ideas to produce as much content as possible for the set. These consisted of a bold and graphical style using surface shaders in Maya that consisted mainly of a red, black and white colour palette. Its possible that we will be coming back to this project further into the work placement, but for now i am unable to present any of the content i have produced just yet...

The Cotton Cub Project

The Cotton Club project consisted of producing really slow animations that were projected onto a J-shaped sheet (3072x768, Shown above) based on the them of 1930's/40's New York, specifically focusing on dance, jazz and music of the time period. Despite the musical focus, i decided to work on some growing flourish patterns in After Effects, as this was an Art Nouveau style that Pete was also looking for. I've been getting more used to using After Effects now, and i was able to produce some flourish patterns in photoshop before taking them into after effects and using a video tutorial to learn how to animate them growing. This then lead the way for several design ideas i produced for Pete, the first being a duplication of the growing flourish design layered with different colours to fill up the screen. Then, after watching a videocopilot tutorial on flourish designs, i learned of the kaliedascope effect in After Effects, which produces really effective symmetrical patterns that can easily be animated and looped. These became the first preliminary tests, in which Pete gave me feedback, which mainly concerned the jittery pace of the growing animation, due to being such a slow speed. I then moved onto the concept of chandeliers being slow lowered into the frame before the flourish patterns grew around them. This was probably my most successful piece of work so far and the last version seemed to work the best both in pacing and as an overall composition. After this Pete asked me to edit together some slow stills based on the theme of the night and use steel girders to produce some abstract stills. The slow fading in of the feathered stills for the diting piece seemed to work nicely with its soft pacing, however the abstract stills i produced based on steel structures weren't quite fitting with the rest of the work, as they feel to futuristic and Sci-Fi like. After the event on Friday evening, Pete sent me two pictures and a video of my work being projected during the event, these being the chandeliers and the kaleidascope effect. It's a great feeling knowing that your work is being showcased out there to people and in such an impressive fashion. Below are some stills of the work i've produced for the Cotton Club event, and i will be uploading the videos from Vimeo soon, so keep an eye out for those...

Work Placement... Week One...

2011-04-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

So week one has been and gone and probably remains a week well worth forgetting, but an experience that shares a few home truths about the difference between university life and working life. Our first interim deadline was Wednesday which gave me 3 days to do my research and put together a few preliminary test clips to help develop our ideas further. Due to computer problems and poor time management i managed to miss the deadline by a few hours, not making the best start. Come Friday and another interim deadline was set to keep an update on the progress we were making. Unfortunately, I was travelling back home to Norfolk that day which made it difficult for me to upload my work in time for the deadline, with Pete allowing me the weekend to further develop my work and upload it on Monday. Commence the issues and problems of working from home. I've found that working from home, despite sounding like the perfect job, to be more of a hinderence that a benefit. Distractions can easily get in the way of your work, especially when going to visit the family for a week during the holidays. I find that you have to be very disciplined to work office hours from home. Another problem it poses is communication, as i find working in an office environment among other work collegues, often adds for better social connection as well as better discussion and feedback when compared to emails and phonecalls. Overall, the first week was quite hard to take, with a lot of lessons learned already and hopefully many more to come.

Work Placement: Day One to Day Three...

2011-04-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

So straight after completing my Maya tutorials over the weekend, i was into a new brief, not supplied by Phil or Alan this time, but from the guys over at Butch Auntie as i had the opportunity to work on my first live project. I can't say what it is that we are doing, for obvious reasons, but we were given quite a lot of freedom and a really strong style to run with. I took advantage of the library to get a better knowledge and understanding of this style, making notes of key and interesting pieces that represented the style well. From this list i began to to develop some concepts using the images as reference points. This worked fairly well, producing some bold graphical images, particular focusing on a red, black and white colour palette. However, it wasn't until the morning of day two that i really began to get more hands on with the particular style we were given, as i delved further into my research, i began to uncover some more interesting reference images. As i became more comfortable with the direction of some of my concepts, i began to do some tests, firstly in Maya creating models and using surface shaders to apply the strong red, black and white colour pallette to the interesting shapes i had gathered from my references. Come the end of today, and i really had to push myself to reach our first deadline, adapting the Maya models and using after effects to composite all the work i had done. Unfortunately, despite it only being a draft deadline, i did come in with the work late and therefore i wasn't too happy myself. This was due to a nightmare problem with computers not running properly and exporting problems. Eventually i churned out my work and was able to send the files over to Pete, after having my first experience what the deadlines in the industry can be like, despite being a nightmaric one. Even though it's only been a few days, i've already felt the pressures of quick interim deadlines and having to churn out work at a much faster pace as i'm working for someone else. Hopefully i can learn from these past few days and develop an ability to produce high quality work at a much quicker speed for efficiency and time management in my projects.

Maya Tutorials Week 7... Mental Ray...

2011-04-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Maya Tutorials Week 8... Mental Ray...

2011-04-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

Maya Tutorials Week 4... Games Character...

2011-04-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

The bits you never saw...

2011-04-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

Here's some bits and pieces from the development of my 'The City in the Sea' animation that never got posted on my blog... Until now...

Fish:

Texturing:

Modelling:

The City in the Sea Final Animation...

2011-04-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

Transcription DVD Showreel...

2011-04-08T07:17:00.001-07:00

Transcription DVD Showreel from Ethan Clements on Vimeo.

Underwater Particulate Matter Technical Paper...

2011-04-08T06:07:00.001-07:00

Underwater Particulate Matter Technical Paper

Making Of... The City in the Sea...

2011-04-08T05:59:00.001-07:00

The City in the Sea - Making of...

Maya Tutorials Week 6... Mental Ray...

2011-04-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

Maya Tutorials Week 4... Normal Maps...

2011-04-02T09:17:00.001-07:00

Maya Tutorials Week 8... Dynamics...

2011-04-02T09:00:00.001-07:00

Maya Tutorials Week 7... Dynamics...

2011-04-02T08:57:00.000-07:00