"The Goonies" and the Map

I was lucky to give Wilbert Plijnaar a ride to Woodbury for a critique. Wilbert has worked in the story department for Warner Bros., Dreamworks, Blue Sky and Disney. Looks like he worked on Despicable Me as well. (I didn't know it at the time.)

Since he was a captive audience in my beat up Cavalier, I told him my story for this project. He seemed to like the story overall, but his concern was with the hero having the map on his cell phone. Now I thought since cell phones are so common, that it made sense for the hero to have a copy of the map on his phone. But Wilbert pointed out that anyone can put any kind of art on a phone, and could be confused with a video game, or some other contrived piece of art. Long story short, the hero should have a real map.

At first I was resistant, a bit. But now it makes sense since information is so cheap, so available, and can be manipulated in so many way, having an authentic, one of a kind treasure map gives the story more credibility. Credibility is Wilbert's focal point: If a story has no credibility, no matter what leap of faith it requires, then it's not going to work.

Wilbert also suggested a much more clearer, and super magical climax. And think about the hero's back story. How did he get the map? I jotted this all down, and crashed for the night. 

Then, this morning, I pulled out my copy of "The Goonies" to see how those darn kids found their map. Of course, they find it in a forbidden attic. They enter when they feel like they've got nothing left to lose. I'm trying to keep the story simple, so I don't have time to reveal how the hero found the map. My joke is the intentional mis-direction of the hero thinking he's going to find a conventional treasure of gold and jewels, but gets something better instead: a reconnection with nature.

                                   (Art copyright Warner Bros./Amblin Entertainment)

Wilbert also pointed out that the story is mostly clear in my mind, and I can gloss over the story points that don't work. But I have to make it clear to my audience. And to top it off, Wilbert mentioned that wilderness existed long before big cities. That's another assumption I took for granted. That's why the map has to be ancient. It would be a treasure in itself. Oops! Unless Mankind has become out of touch so much that a map like that would be overlooked.

The whole point is living in a modern, unhappy city that's squatting on Nature. And we need to take that weight off it a.s.a.p.

Let's hear it for Sloth: "Hey you guys!"

Look development for city set

These are my photos, with my cardboard set in the foreground.
Tweaked in Photoshop. Thinking of getting giant poster printed from Colorimages as the backdrop.

Colorimages has done great work at reasonable prices

https://www.colorimages.com/

Storyboard!

I finally have my story. Toon Boom Storyboard Pro helped me brainstorm, once I sat down and typed up my outline. I tried to use Final Draft, but I could not bring their files into Toon Boom. Probably because it was in demo mode. 14 pages, 39 shots.

Hero lights torch - stop motion exercise

More of my beginning stop motion work. The limit of the armature is helping me to determine my story more clearly. The hero has to escape a relentlessly inhuman city, and return to nature to save his soul. If not his sanity. I'll see how many hurdles I can throw in his way to make a good film.

Please check out the video here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPzNOXURp8M&feature=youtu.be

Stop Motion Armature

Here is my most successful armature to date, still working on fleshing out the body.

Bad pun.

I'm starting out with a basic armature made from aluminum wire. Not ready for a ball and socket armature yet. I still test the movements of the armature the way I would test a Maya rig.

Here are some of the improvements I have made today:

I added more wire to reinforce the upper legs, but it's not working the way I planned. I also added a basic head made from Sculpy, but it seems a bit too large now.

Here's a clip of my first test with the armature -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nePR5yBfWuc&feature=youtu.be

Water stop motion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT8at0cpB1I&feature=youtu.be

Water becomes fire - After effects test

It's not stop motion, but this is a test to keep set pieces in registration. My set is up on a platform. The water is replaced by the fire circle from underneath. I couldn't resist using the ripple effect from After Effects to create the cross dissolve.

You can see the test video here-
https://vimeo.com/71214002

Mesa Verde Kivas

Kiva: I kept thinking of my trip to Mesa Verde, and the cliff dwellings there. I'm lucky I can play "20 questions" with Google to jog my memory. At Mesa Verde, I was struck by the circular, ceremonial rooms underneath the cliff dwellings. In these rooms, the Hopi would gather to conduct rituals of emergence. The story tells of a few chosen people showing their gratitude leaving a previously destroyed world to settle in the present one.

http://www.nps.gov/meve/forteachers/artifactgallery_kiva.htm

I subconsciously created a high tech version of the kiva as my set. The story takes place in the future where the hero has to rediscover the past.

Freeware

Starting out with Monkeyjam animation freeware for my first shots. So far so good.
You can find their software here

http://monkeyjam.org/

Basic gear

I'm starting small with inexpensive equipment:

Microsoft "Lifecam" HD-3000 webcam,
Panavise as miniature tripod, and my battered, but dear old HP Pavilion dv9000 notebook.

Animated flame characters built

Finally got the carousel for the fire characters built. Will start some tests with stop-motion tonight.

My goal is to have the flames dance in a circle with the hero in celebration.

Spoiler Alert

The hero (or villain) has found the treasure/secret.

Or has he?

This is my rough scale model for the innermost chamber of the final goal.

M.C. Escher

And, the work of M.C. Escher as inspiration will come in handy as well.

(Artwork copyright  M.C. Escher)

http://www.mcescher.com/

http://library.thinkquest.org/16661/escher/trends.4.html

Film reference and inspriation: THX-1138

THX 1138 was George Lucas directorial debut about a complete dystopian future of mankind living underground, and society's behavior controlled by video surveillance and narcotic drugs. The designs and art direction of THX 1138 is essential to the look of my project. (All material copyright Warner Brothers entertainment.)

My theme is about a hero trying to save a future utopia, but the hero has to re-learn the lessons that brought his utopia about. Personally, I am tired of all the apocalyptic films recently, and currently being produced. Instead, my focus is on ancient rituals of reverence and gratitude that I picked up at summer camp.

http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/2011/02/cult-movie-review-thx-1138-1971.html

http://www.thx1138movie.com/

And here comes the spam

Good article here from Andres Tirado -

http://www.tecnoxps.com/2012/08/how-much-spam-visit-your-blog-some.html

Back ye demons! You crawlers, you malware and all techno-vermin! Back to the pit with you!

Good night!

BG test render

Rough design for the story's climax.

Theme - background as character

I'm still searching for a theme. So far it looks like Man vs. Technology. Maybe a non-narrative of how the characters are overwhelmed by the subterranean world they are exploring.

I'm also measuring what I can model and render on my own in Maya. I need to see how much help I really need, and how I am going to finance it.

"Cube" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth" - Film references and inspiration

"Cube" was a dark, violent science fiction thriller from 1997. The characters ability to work together to escape from a futuristic and deadly prison is put to the test.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/

While "Journey to the Center of the Earth" from 1959 was much more lighthearted. Most of the characters worked together to complete the mission.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052948/?ref_=sr_5

Mandelbulber

Quick look at creating high tech or alien backgrounds... Not comfortable with this w/o knowing how to control patterns, lighting, and color. Still very interesting.

 Here's their website if anyone would like to try their freeware:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mandelbulber/?source=dlp

Thesis - "The Grand Nucleus"

Welcome to my new blog. My goal here is to maintain professional growth and personal satisfaction through development and creation of thesis animated film project.

Will use Turing pattern generator Texrd, with Photoshop, Maya and After Effects to create the Grand Nucleus:  a future world where mankind blends itself directly with the environment to avoid global cataclysm.

Use turing pattern Maginu (source: K.Maginu, Math.Biosci.27, 1975)

3D models will go from mechanical world, to organic world, to a synthesis of both worlds.

May use traditional hand drawn animated characters to act in scenes, but undecided at this point.

http://www.texrd.com/