Monday 31 October 2011

London MCM Expo- Post Modern Experience

Once again one has had a Post Modern experience by going to the MCM Expo in London. Not only have I killed the Author by dressing up as a character I’ve also been a part of a hyper realistic setting. To the second years who read this, this could be a good subject for your Postmodernism essays. I’ve killed the author because I’ve taken the character and placed them in a setting which the original Author never intended (the Excel centre). As for hyper reality, some people take the costume seriously; therefore they see the world differently and hyper reality is where different worlds appear to be real for one person but not real for another. This year my costume was a lot better :). I went as Bloom in her Enchantix outfit from the TV series WINX.







My friend Eleanor as Kairi from Kingdom Hearts



Esmeralda and Belle



The new Just Dance 3



Gandelf and I'm not sure who the other person is.



R2D2



The cast of the Torchwood crew came and answered questions for an hour or so.



The Lady Lady Amalthea from The Last Unicorn



Ren Tao and Faust from Shaman King



Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew



Ariel from The Little Mermaid

Mario

Final Fantasy 13 character

Portal

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Animatic Sections 4



Another scene for my animatic. I'm also working on an experiment scene in maya to try and understand how my world will look and work.

Saturday 22 October 2011

@ Alan: Refined Story

Hi Alan

I've (hopefully) refined my story of the knight going to Judgment Day. I've decided the ending. The knight will go to hell but will at first appear to be going to heaven.

The edited story is as follows:

  • Starts off with the end of a battle

  • Tattered flags and swords in the ground everywhere, bodies in the background, crows flying around as well

  • See the knight lying dead on the ground with servant

  • Knight's spirit rises above and gets on his horse

  • Holds his sword in front of him as a symbol of praising God

  • Looks around to his servant who tells him to 'go forth'

  • As he travels to Judgment Day goes to show that the battle was in the City of Jerusalem represented by the crucifixion (as 3 crosses)

  • Spirit goes through the clouds

  • Gets to Judgment Day

  • The book of judgment rises up and opens and flips through pages

  • This is to show that the knight must be in the book to get into heaven
  • The Knight meanwhile has started towards heaven

  • Gates open to reveal what could be behind (my house scene) etc




  • Suddenly the knight's sword shatters as he and his horse are pulled back down to hell

  • This is to show that God does not approve of war no matter who it is fighting


Am I on the right track now or does it still need anything else?

Friday 21 October 2011

Animatic Sections 3

Animatic Sections 2





I'm not sure why it's cutting the bottom of the clip off. Everything seems to be ok in After Effects. I'll replace them with better versions, these are just going up so it's easier to show them to Alan.

Thursday 20 October 2011

Animatic Sections

As Phil sugested I've used After Effects to make my world 'feel' more 3D.



Creating Space





Welcome to the entrance of Judgment Day. The first one is the first attempt at getting a spacial feel. The second one is where I went back and evened out the tone a little more. The back of the image now has more white to show it is further back.



This is the scene depicting heaven. I cheated a little with the building and used the image below with filter on it. This was so I could get a better idea of what the structure would look like. Though I think I've gone a bit far by placing it in the image.



These have been transferred into After Effects where I'm putting together an animatic which will hopefully show movement through a 3D environment.

Monday 17 October 2011

Mappa Mundi Animatic Version 2



A slightly edited version of the privious animatic. Not a bug difference. The main difference is the beginign is shorter. Also after talking to Phil I now have a long list of things to focus on during this week

  • Need to make shots more 3D

  • Move further back to get idea of space

  • Motivated shots (i.e. the view of the gibbet should be presented from the height/angle of the huntsman so relationship of shot-to-shot makes sense).

  • Real world modelling for open scene?

  • Views of castles/structures etc. consider lower pov and tracking shots

  • How small details- flowers etc will look

  • Music

  • Gibbet- crows cawing etc

  • Put and create in AE

  • Textures? Scan in fabric textures etc
  • Mappa Mundi Animatic Version 1

    Mappa Mundi Animatic Version 1 from Levalin on Vimeo.



    First draft of an animatic. Not that pleased with this for I can see and hear so many mistakes and where things can be improved greatly.

    Judgment Day: Story Board Second Half



    The second half of my storyboards, tidied up and now ready to be put into Premiere to join the first lot.

    Saturday 15 October 2011

    Story Board Update




    An update on my storyboards. I've got a little further than this in terms of having them ready to tidy up ready for the animatic. The animatic has already been started. I just need to add in these images and some sound effects etc.

    Wednesday 12 October 2011

    Judgment Day: Updated Sketches



    A tidier version of the previous sketches I did yesterday. Rather pleased with how these turned out. Also it was a help to make them more presentable as I came up with more ideas with which to not only improve the intro but also of what to draw for the second half of the storyboards.

    Tuesday 11 October 2011

    Judgment Day: Rough Sketches



    Just some sketches I whipped up today. I've been trying to get down any ideas I could about what my world could look like as well as trying to get a feel for the camera angles to. These need a lot of work as not only are they not in order but also I need to add in the end where the Huntsman arrives at Judgment Day and what he sees there.

    Monday 10 October 2011

    What a Day in London

    After Jackie pointed out the exhibition for 'Treasures of Heaven' which was held at the British museum I managed to rope Tom into accompanying me to it on Friday. The exhibition contains relics from medieval time period.

    More info here

    Treasures of Heaven



    The exhibition was pretty interesting; however it wasn't relevant to my work. Although it contained religious items, they were too focused to be used in my project.

    Despite the fact the exhibition was unhelpful; the entire trip wasn't a waste of time. I also went to Victoria and Albert Museum to look at the tapestries and medieval display there. This proved to be far more helpful and useful. There were building structures which would be helpful should I need to model one. Also I found a tapestry with horse on which (as Jackie pointed out) I can use with stylizing the Huntsman's horse.

    Medievil Structures and Objects

    Sunday 9 October 2011

    Refined Research

    After narrowing down my ideas, I was advised to research more on the areas I'm doing. More importantly, I had to decide what they were teaching. The paragraph below is form a book called 'The Hereford World Map: Medieval World Maps and Their Context '



    With this information I am now able to form a narrative in which to base my animation. Next week will be experimenting with painting techniques etc to gain the rules which will govern my world.

    Tuesday 4 October 2011

    @ Phil: Knowing the 13th Century

    Ok, to 13th Century I go. After speaking to Alan on Friday, he said I needed to get together a 'recipe' for my animation. Combining this with research I hope I've got it now, or am getting closer.

    To gather thing together:

  • I'm doing Judgment Day, which will include the Huntsman who can be found in the bottom right hand corner.

  • There are different types of medieval art, mainly wood cut, stained glass windows, Tapestry and metal work. However after returning to viewing the map, I can see Tapestry would be the best type of 13th century art which would fit into the theme of the Mappa Mundi


  • Phil, below is a sort of collage of things which represent the 13th Century. I’ve even discovered that, although people associate the word ‘Gothic’ with the Victorian era, it was actually created in the 13th century.



  • As the 13th Century started religious buildings etc took on a ‘Gothic theme’

  • The word Gothic came from France and was adapted in England.

  • Hammer beamed roofs was a new style for building.

  • Ribbed Vaulted ceilings

  • As well as coarse lime stone, red stone and dark green Purbeck

  • Flying buttress was also new and a popular feature on any respectable building

  • There was very little glass, only the rich had it and even then it was used only for the bedrooms.

  • Yellow was seen as the colour represented one betraying God. It also was associated with a dead corpse, mainly the colour of the skin.

  • Red- sacrificial represents Christ’s sacrifice.

  • Blue-Represents the spiritual world.

  • The images were a way of telling stories for very few people could read and write.

  • Images aren’t in correct scale. Buildings are out of perspective

  • Ivy- represents eternal life because of how it grows on dead pieces of wood etc. Also represents resurrection.




  • I also have some key points which will help me understand what was happening in the world at such a time.


  • Edward I on the throne at the time

  • Lots of battles in France

  • Barons made him give up a number of rights, enforcing the Magna Carta
  • Lords has castle

  • Most by this time had glass in windows- though not as lot, still pretty expensive
  • Living mostly carried out in the Great Hall

  • Generally bedrooms divided by hanging curtains

  • Church – by this time the Archbishop had stopped King from allocating Bishoprics to favourites (there was a lot of money in being a Bishop)

  • Priest were generally commoners or second / third sons of Lords etc

  • Serfs had to work the land and could not become priests

  • Monasteries were attached to monasteries where they led a simple life in church like buildings – or in theory

  • In reality they were thought to be lazy and the idle rich

  • They were one of the few sets of people who could read and write and were producers and readers of books

  • Friars were roving monks who mixed with the common people and begged to survive.

  • These were far more popular as priests and monks were seen as the idle rich

  • About 3 % of the population were Nobles

  • Clergy about 7%

  • Remaining 90% commoners

  • Not all poor as there were merchants and the like that were almost as rich as Lords

  • 25% were serfs – one step up from slaves

  • Remainder were free – to one extent or another

  • During the 13 Century weather had been good and the harvest was good

  • Entertainment was storytelling and gossip

  • Lived in villages and hamlets of between 100 – 1000 people and seldom left

  • Few compasses at this time and dry compass only invented 1300 – at the time of Mapa Mundi

  • At this time the world was thought by most to be flat – people like Drake who navigated the world wouldn’t be there for hundreds of years

  • Only educated people ‘knew’ the world was round

  • Believed no one existed on the other side of the world

  • This was because God did not come to the southern hemisphere.

  • Navigated using stars – hugging to coastlines and occasionally floating compasses

  • Had no real idea as to where countries were

  • Because of the religious significance in the Mapa Mundi Jerusalem in the centre of the world

  • This was created in a monastery, where books and learning played an important part in everyday life

  • This would have been a scholarly work – the map being created through reading and even maybe 1st hand accounts of travellers

  • The people who created this map are unlikely to have travelled far from their town / village to produce this map

  • They would have accounts from Crusade and because we were conquered by Normans – would have known all about France and Europe

  • Suspect lot based on great conquerors like Romans and Alexander the Great

  • Factual mixed with myth – biblical and Greek / Roman myths

  • Also some seven wonders of world – Pillars of Hercules, Lighthouse at Alexandria
    Intellectual exercise and scholarly work – no real bearing on reality or of use to the traveller