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| Valve's Team Fortress II: Meet The Pyro. A Cine That Works! |
We Have 22 Awesome Cinematic Teams!
- Animator + Modeller = ideal combination
- Each get to focus + develop area of specialization
- Each responsible for key parts of final deliverable
- End up with complete package, portfolio-ready
Deliverables
(Cinematics 1) Sept-Dec
DUE
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ANIMATORS
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TOGETHER
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MODELLERS
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Week 3
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Story Concept
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Week 6
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Script
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Week 9
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Storyboard
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Week 11
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Rough Models
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Week 12
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Audio Assets
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Week 15
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Animatic
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Deliverables
(Cinematics 2) Jan-Apr
DUE
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AMIMATORS
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TOGETHER
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MODELLERS
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Week 3
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Style Frames
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Week 4
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Final Model
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Week 5
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Rigged Models
(untextured)
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Week 7
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Textured Models
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Week 10
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Final Animations
(Character + Objects)
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Week 11
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Final Playblast
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Week 15
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Final Cut-Scene
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Teamwork:
Each team member ends up being responsible for an equal amount of the final project mark.
The following is a worthwhile read on finding ideas:
Finding Ideas:
Adapted
from “Animation Writing and Development”by J. A. Wright, Focal Press,
2005
Where?
Anywhere! Be open to possibilities
- Keep a notebook (or heck, an iPad) with you to keep track of the best ideas
- Writers keep notebooks, pencils and flashlights by their beds and let their subconscious do the work
- Write from your own experiences! Write what you know!
- Would anyone you know make a good character? What makes you happy? Angry? What’s important to you? Are there sounds (or sights...or smells) that frighten you? That make you remember something? What do you like to touch?
Use
your emotions and ALL your senses
- Go back to your childhood. What do you remember most? Why? What problems did you have? What made you proud? Cry? What did you LOVE to do? Who were your best friends? How did you spend your summers? What trouble did you get into and why? Any interesting family stories / myths? What did you care about? What did you wish for? So...like, what were your hopes and dreams?
People
watching is FUN (and totally legal)!
- Find a crowd and a place to sit. Choose a Park, a Playground (just ditch the trench coat and dark glasses), a Mall, a Zoo or just the TTC.
- Make up stories about the people you see.
- Some places are more charged with opportunity (read: full of CRAZIES) than others: hospitals, police stations, juvenile court, weddings, funerals.
- Maybe a stranger you see reminds you of someone else you know.
- Give your subject a personality based on what you see. Judge attitude, body language and dress... How should they talk? Whom is he/she with and what is their relationship?
 | ||
| What terrible or funny thing just happened? What’s going to happen next? |
Photos and Drawings
- Look at photos in magazines. What’s the story there? Tell a tale.
- What happened JUST before that photograph was taken? Who are those men? Why is that girl crying? What’s in those boxes?...
- Start ideas flowing by drawing / doodling
- Draw a character, or a situation, or a joke.
- Combine unrelated things. Mix and Match!
Research
- Save articles from the news, blogs etc that stimulate ideas, make you think
- What are the current trends?
- What’s popular with kids these days? (#JBeibs)
- Save ads, photographs or graphics in certain styles or designs you like
- Classified ads provide stories on their own (Missed Connections, anyone?!)Why did the previous employee leave? Why is that diamond ring for sale? Why is someone moving?
- Make up endings to new stories, place your characters in these stories
- Surf the web (FYI leave safe search ON at school!)
- Let one interesting site / news story / blog lead you to another. What kinds of characters would be in the stories you find?
- Research facts about things that are new to you
- Take a spam / joke / junk email. What back story could you develop from them?(A rich, African prince has left me ALL his money and ALL I have to do is send my Amex number?!)
- Subscribe to magazines (or just read them for free in bookstores)...does Chapters still sell books?
- Read about technology and the future. What’s new? What do scientists, planners, politicians predict?What are the social implications of each new technology and scientific discovery of today? How might they be used? Misused?Can you take that technology one step further?
- Attend lectures and expos and listen to respected scientists and planners. These are the things that drive the Sci-Fi genre and generate high-concept ideas
Organizing your Ideas
- Remember that notebook you had? Use it!
- When it gets full, transfer the sheets to folders(while it may seem easier to do this all digitally, there really is no replacing good ol’ pencil and paper)
- Keep separate folders for characters, plots, idea starters, themes, people and animals, places, props used by characters and of course, clichés.
- Keep a dream journal! (I’m sure you all have weird and wonderful ones)
Brainstorm
- Genres and categories come up over and over again in all stories
- Make lists of things that centre around a conceptSchool > teacher, student, desk, pencil, eraser, dry-erase board, markers, lunch, homework
- Pay close attention for things you could use as props
- Generate ideas about a location / settingWhat’s funny about it? What has happened here? Make up stories about the objects there. Who else has written on that chalkboard?
Ask
“What would happen if...?”
·
Make
up stories for inanimate objects (hey, it worked for Pixar!)
·
Make
up an entire fantasy world with fantasy creatures and technology.
·
Make
up rules for how the world operates and stay true to them
·
NEVER
EDIT! Write down everything as fast as you can. Editing as you go can destroy
some good ideas along with the bad.
·
Be
generative! The more ideas, the more unique, the more impractical the better.
·
Come
up with variations on a theme. Combine ideas.
·
Old-school
cartoonists used to make 3 columns –People (or animals), Places and Things
·
They
would pick one at random from each column to juxtapose and combine totally different
ideas.
·
This
way, you place the unexpected in an expected environment and the obvious where
it’s least expected! Create surprising relationships
·
“What
is the green rabbit doing in the desert with a pound of cheese?”
·
You
can also use different categories + combinations
o
2
characters + an adverb + a place... Or a theme +3 characters + a verb...
PEOPLE
|
PLACES
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THINGS
|
Abraham Lincoln
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North Pole
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Stick of licorice
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Bald baby
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Downtown
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computer
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Nanny
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Circus
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pencil box
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Troll
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Volcano
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cell phone
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Queen Victoria
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Timbuktu
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puff of smoke
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Headless Horseman
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School
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scotsman's kilt
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Fairy Princess
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Deserted Swamp
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ostrich feather
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7 Spotted Sea lions
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Near a Goat
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jack-in-the-box
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Police Detective
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On a Boat
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a pickle
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your name
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In a Moat
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pound of cheese
|
(Brain) ExcerciseBreak!
- Pick one word each from the People, Places and Things columns in the earlier slide
- Write a short story desciption. One sentence is fine
- Something like “The Headless Horseman lost his cell phone in the Moat, but that's not why he didn't return your call".
- You have 60 seconds...GO!!!!
Plots
Find a list
of classic plots
·
“It’s
all been done before” means there are only so many basic plots and all stories
are based on these few.
·
Some
say all plots can be broken down into 3 cateogries:
·
Human
vs. Nature (or God if you feel so inclined)
·
Human
vs. Human
·
Human
vs. Him/Herself
·
Human
vs. Machine!
Update old
stories
·
Substitute
your own characters (new characters can make it an entirely new story)
·
Place
your story in a different time period and location
·
Avatar
was BASICALLY “Pocahontas in Space”
·
Make
it a spoof!
Evaluation
your ideas
·
We’re
told to write what we’re passionate about, hoping that we’ll write with more
conviction and emotion that way, creating a personal and honest experience for
the viewer.
·
Those
that are interesting to you might be the best to pursue and investigate
·
After
brainstorming, it’s time to edit and evaluate.
·
Some
will climb a mountain just because it’s there... Don’t use an idea just because
it’s there!
·
Some
ideas haven’t been used because hundreds of others have tried it and decided it
was no good.
“Sellable”
ideas have to fit the current marketplace
·
Pushing
the envelope can be a good thing...
But some envelopes
are better left sealed... With superglue! Human Development
Know
your audience!
·
Animation
is increasingly popular with a wide demographic, but children are still primary
target
·
Games
are different, demographics are skewing more and more towards adult, but
children and youth are still a large part of the market.
·
Look
for characters and situations that provide an immediate connection for the
people who play / watch
·
Studios
and governing bodies expect media for kids to meet children’s developmental
needs
·
No 2
people are the same, so we can’t assume the same reaction or experience from an
audience, especially when it comes to a target demographic
·
There
are several areas that have been studies though to give us an idea of where
people are at any given age:Physical, emotional, social, cognitive, creative,
moral, ethical development are all used as markers
Age 6
They’re thinking about playing
Brash and aggressive age, see things as black/white, good/bad etc
Age 7
More withdrawn, introverted, calming down
Unlimited fantasy of earlier years is being replaced by more logical fantasy
Age 8
Beginning of “Tween” stage (shudder!)
More social, active and looking for role models
Age 9
Another more introverted age
Start to want independence, self-consciousness starts to creep in
Age 10
Respect for authority
Behaviours and attitudes start to differ more greatly between genders
Age 11
Emotions and hormones start to run wild
Midbrain (emotional development) and imagination are almost completely evolved now
Age 12
The group rules the individual
Special abilities and talents are becoming apparent
Age 13
Another time of withdrawal and worry
Many identify as fully mature by this age
Age 14
Want and expect everything
Take criticism badly and “Parents don’t understand!”
Age 15
Continuing drive to be independent
Tendency to rebel against authority, less emotive and expressive
Age 16
More self-sufficient
Mature sense of humour (debatable) and wider range of interests
Age 17-21
Transition into adulthood
Capable of advanced abstract reasoning, sci-fi and fantasy genres are popular
Age 18-45 Young Adulthood
Life experience grows, begin to relate to/understand their parents
“Am I fulfilling my potential? How successful have I been?”
Age 45-65 Midlife
Increased confidence, stability, affluence (if all went well)
May be periods of crisis, may feel pushed out the door by younger colleagues at work
Age 65-80 Late Adulthood
Reassessment of life lived. A time of wisdom and reflection
Decision to enjoy remaining years or make use of remaining time to find meaning/purpose
Age 80+ Old Age
Illness becomes more of a problem, scope of life grows smaller
Involvement with self becomes more complete.
Other developmental issues
- More than ½ of children multitask as they watch TV
- Increased population in cities and multiculturalism around the world changes the way we think, so does our exposure to international cultures via the web
- There is much controversy about differences between the sexes
- Discussion around gaming and gender is a hot topic of research and discussion
- The differences in developmental influences between families are also factors
- As you write and develop projects, try to see the world from different points of view!
- Consider what you’ve learned, keep your sense of humor and keep being creative!
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