Research on music

When researching blues music I learnt a lot about the other genres that the blues influences like Jazz and Rhythm and blues. The blues refers to the blue devils referring to a melancholy feeling. The videos below are both associated the blues the first one is Bessie Smith a Blues singer from the 1920's although it has the blues feel it sounds a bit too depressing for the sound i'm looking for to influence my animation. The second video is rhythm and blues and its very lively and upbeat and my character isn't extremely cheerful so I want something that's a mixture of both.  I think that the third video is a mixture of both with this leading female singer who's very petite with a large voice. The song isn't sad the music gives it that blues feel and she's also so petite but has a large  voice that I'm interested in that for my animation. The last video is Etta James with a jazz and blues song, its such a beautiful song but has a upbeat vibe while having that blues feel.

Video 1


Video 2


Video 3


Video 4

Target market research

The target market for this project is 16-18 year old's and they are always tuned into music channels and listening to their ipods mp3s or mobile phones. I think that making a animation that has a music  as its main focus to push the educational aspect of learning will attract the attention of this demographic. My aim is to create a catchy song that will be embedded into the minds of my audience so that they are unaware that they are learning but to enjoy the visual performance of the cell dancing on screen and to leave the room remembering the information in the song.

Research: Blues music and animation influences

After speaking to Tutor Phil about the fantastic voyage project we discussed the many musical directions the project could go in. We decided that the musical direction would be determined by the characterisation of the Eukaryotic cell whether it's a proud character who wants to show off then a  swing soundtrack would go well to push the character and create that atmosphere. But I really like the idea of the Eukaryotic cell being sad  and melancholic that it's not loved by others because they think that it's boring and it is singing the blues to explain how amazing his structure is and the functions of his structure.

Below is an example of the what  I imagine  the music for this project will be like. 

I want the song Eukaryotic cell's song to have an educational tone like songs like dumb ways to die,  that teach you about safety while having a comedic approach but still sending the message across of safety. My message will be a teaching device I want to generate a song that will be catchy helping students to remember the structure of the Eukaryotic cell.

Characterisation of the Eukaryotic cell

The Eukaryotic cell is a blues singer, singing about how sad he is that everyone thinks that he's boring. He's trying to push across the message that he's very interesting and that his structure is very remarkable.

Storytelling and Commission Fantastic Voyage

Storytelling and Commission: Fantastic voyage

We have been commissioned to create a 2 minute animation that describes either, the cell cycle or structure of the Eukaryotic cell or the Prokaryotic cell.

I have decided to focus on explaining the structure of the Eukaryotic cell through a song that would sing the information in a catchy way while still giving the target audience the information they need about the song. I want the animation to be humorous and something that a teacher could show to their class to break the ice on the topic of the Prokaryotic cell. The animation that would accompany the music would feature the cell dancing and wiggling parts of its structure as the song points it out.

After speaking to one of my creative partners Emily we were in mid conversation when I remembered that we should record what we were saying.

This is one of the sheets that Emily emailed me highlighting the the functions of the structures found inside of the cell this really broke everything down for me and has allowed me to understand the cell structure a lot better. 

Art of from script to screen

From Script to Screen presentation by Peta-gaye Brown 

Camera Rig

Cam control creating a camera rig
Here is a screen shot of the final shot of everything created for the camera rig

Surgical machine

I liked the silhouettes of these machine and wanted to work into them to make them feel more man made. Figure 3 was my favourite so I developed it to a state of completion I liked the organic form and it reminded me of the venus fly trap a plant that on the out side seems harmless but when an insect touches the tiny hairs inside of it closes and traps them. And my character is enticed by this machine and the fact that it's suppose to make her beautiful.  I used the colours from venus fly trap which has a green outer colour and a red inner colour , I want the inside of the machine to be red because the bounce light that it would produce when my character is inside will be a great indicator of the danger that she's in. I was also influenced by cars for these structures because I wanted to look at man made machines to adapted segments from them and to transform them on to my surgical machine.

Image 1-3 from left to right 

Reservoir Dogs Film review

Reservoir Dogs Film Review by Peta-gaye Brown 

Life drawing

Walk cycle: Animation

Toolkit Maya spot check link

http://peta-gayebrown.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Maya

Maya tutorials

Contra zoom 

Camera Shake 

Camera shake 2

Distance tracking close

Distance tracking mid

Distance tracking long

                            

Car crash

Panning shot

Online greenlight review part 2

Online Greenlight review part 2 by

Possible plastic surgery machines

These four are the machines that I want to develop further 

Surgeon Character silhouettes

I decided to base the surgeon on vegetables he's more grounded as a character and I wanted him to be the polar opposite of his wife and I thought that vegetables would be a good base for him. 

life drawing

Character development: The wife before surgery

After feedback from my peers about the silhouettes they liked for the female character before she goes to surgery. I decided to put the chosen images together and I picked out the three that I thought would be best for the character and developed them further. 

From left to right A-F 

From left to right  1-3

Animation walk cycle

This is the first test for my walk cycle I need to fix the arm in the background giving it an elbow and then repeat everything so that he actually walks instead of just taking a step.

Jaws Film Review

Jaws Film review by Peta-gaye Brown 

Storyboard for Storytelling and commission

This is just a rough storyboard to see if my script is working, I think I need a stronger way of introducing that the husband is also a surgeon other than showing a picture of him that has the words Dr Harvey Nichols. 

Maya:Crane shot

Maya: Dolly Shot

Maya: Pitch Shot

Maya: Roll shot

Camera rolls from 180,360 and 580 

Anticipation and follow-through: Can snatch

Toadstool maya tutorial

I had done this one before but something went wrong with the previous loop so i redid the tutorial.

Character development for the wife before surgery

I decided that I wanted the wife to remind the viewer of food when you initially meet her, after looking at the site a cup o'doodle I was inspired to use the silhouettes of pastries for her head and body shape. I thought pastries were perfect for my character because she's a sweet person who's a little chubby.



I looked up patisseries and sweet treats that could be found in a bakery or a sweet shop then choose the shapes that were most interesting for me to use as the inspiration for the head shape of the wife before she goes through a series of plastic surgery.




From left to right A-I




From left to right J-R




From left to right S-Y



Updated Script 5

Updated Script 5 by Peta-gaye Brown 

I've made a few changes to incorporate the feeling that the girl has body issues and that the machine is the last straw that kills her.

Rewritten Script

Script rewrite by Peta-gaye Brown 

In this script i'm trying to establish that the girl has weight issues and that the boy grows up to be surgeon in a subtle way. It's getting a bit long so I need to figure out the parts that are not needed in the script to tell the story.