layout designs

So here are some concepts for the first part of the animation.

Craig thinks it would be good if we did a combination of mine and Min's layouts.

Meeting this weekend

Hey guys,

So were going to all meet up Sunday at 1 PM and have some small group meetings for story boarders, Layout artists and character designers.  This is just a reminder im putting on the blog, I will try and shoot you all a personal email.  If you got an Email, that means you are needed. 

I hope you all can make it,

Adrian.

Aaron's characters

I'm posting these up for Aaron who added these to the facebook group. I really like the direction he is going for the humans.

Character line up

Rough guide line for character heights drawing by your lovely director and assistant. These are guides for height only but if you want to take ideas from these feel free.


We will need generic characters for the whistler and his friend but as they don't play a big role they can be whatever height the designers decide. If this is too much freedom for you then just make them 5 foot... Each line represents a foot tall so all these are approximate.


If you have concerns or ideas comment please.

DUE DATES

Character Designs (including props):
Aaron: Scientist and Monkey
Salehin: Hot Dog Vendor, customer, and Hot Dog Stand
Sonya: The two women, the baby, and and the baby carriage
Chewy: Vultures, Nuns, and Nun Angels (one of the angels need to be a panda)
Cat: The two Random Dudes, and the Rickshaw
Roughs Due Friday Feb 17th

Layout/Storyboard Partners:
Adam and Elena
Gemal and Alice
Anna and Sonya
Laura and Mikki

Contact each other about the scenes you're doing and talk to each other about how the backgrounds are going to look.

Scene 1: Adam
Beginning --> "From the street you hear a cat-whistle call".

Scene 2: Laura
"Its a Monkey!" --> Norman "looking defeated".

Scene 3: Min
Monkey falls on Rickshaw --> Nuns explode and turn into angels

Scene 4: Gemal
Monkey landing on the Rickshaw wheel -->Norman says "darn"

Scene 5: Anna
Falling monkey --> End

Look for the "Edited Script" post. The beginning and end of the scenes I took from the script itself, so just look for the lines that I put in quotations and you'll know where you start and end.
Storyboard Finals Due Monday Feb 21st (have something to show for meeting over this weekend) Sound to be done by the 22nd.
Layout Finals Due Friday Feb 25th (have something to show for the meeting over this weekend)

Adrian will be posting the day of the meeting tomorrow.

Freddy:
Starts clean up of the characters/layouts etc. on Monday night (the 21st), Due Wednesday Feb 23

Character Building:
All of reading week

Leica Reel:
Due Wednesday of reading week (March 2nd)

As of right now the due dates a firm. Depending on the meeting over the long holiday adjustments will be made accordingly, but do what you can.

Facebook!

We now have a Facebook group! I've added everyone I had to the group and friended anyone I didn't have on my list so I can add you to the group later. Please use it and if it isn't too much trouble please post on both this blog and the group, we don't want anyone out of the loop so the more venues we have the better.

rough BG

we have not yet decided what style we are going to use so I just randomly did houses...- -

The hot dog vender

I think that the hot dog vender and the customer should contrast, as well as the two mothers

hot dog customer

scienctist and monkey

the monkey designs right now are really terrible... I'm just posting them to keep continuity

the mothers

Vultures, nuns and winged pandas

ROUGH ROUGH ROUGH over head view.

This is a basic over head view of where things need to be situated. If there are any questions ask away.

-Start in the circle( science lab)
-out the window to the awning
-through the alley of clothes lines
-into the baby carriage on the street
-then to the hot dog vendor
-into the rickshaw
-down a hill into the nuns
-unicycle up and down little hills into a curb
-spin around a lamp post back into the science lab through an opposite window than the original.

It is a city block but with the hills and crazy buildings like we discussed.

Hope this helps.

UPA backgrounds inspiration (art direction)

this guy Miroslav Sasek makes these "This is..." childrens books and they have awesome simplified buildings. check out this flickr pool for examples

http://www.flickr.com/groups/sasek/pool/show/with/3990874710/

Regarding art direction//IMPORTANT

Hi friends,
here are some visual references:

CHARACTER DESIGN:
http://jackomtablet.blogspot.com/
http://sushixav.blogspot.com/ (there are lots of girls, but just try and find some other designs for shape ideas. He also has a short little character design tutorial.)

LINK FOR CHARACTER DESIGN TUTORIALS:
http://sushixav.blogspot.com/2010/02/tutorials.html

LAYOUT:
look at buildings from barcelona, and here are some pictures from an architect named Jujol. Try to render these in a simple, UPA inspired style.

Things to remember:

Acute angles and tilted horizon line = danger and unease
Rounded shapes and a flat horizon line = calm
etc... just keep this in mind when you do your layouts!

The script is very clear about what emotion each section is, so be sure to convey that in your layout sketches, and your final layouts!



//// Freddy, can you give some feedback on this by blog, and also at our next meeting? Your understanding of putting stuff together and rendering is really good, and even from that little conversation on the bridge I thought your instructions were clear and incredibly helpful.

Sound Recording

Hey guys, sound recording tomorrow at 10 am in the Seneca building, room 2038. Gotta go through 2037 to get to it.

Starting directions for art direction

Layout team:
Here's a very rough layout of the scientists lab. Play around with the Idea.  We also need a rough simulation of where the scientists lab building, with the cafe on lower level, will be placed.  It should be on top of a hill of a residential neighborhood, with clothes lines hanging over the street, or possibly in an alley way.

 Layout, designers, directors, anyone:
 Here's a kind of wonky but original style for flat houses that may be passed on the street. I don't think we should loop the houses when the monkey starts going faster (because the originality of each design would look too obvious). So layout artists, Story boarders, art directors, anyone who wants to in put some designs or styles is welcome. Let's all have fun creating some funny houses once the style is picked! (this is simply an example of the direction were going) Try to start playing with colour themes too.

Story boarders: Pick one scene from inside, and one outside movement each.  Plan a way we can do the movement and make a concept for the interior shot.  Here's just some concepts of interior apartment shots (before the apartment layout was made).
I see the interior of the apartment having its own theme aside from the rest of the outside world, use heavy silhouettes, Shadows on characters, and Dull colours. Its a depressing place for a monkey before the world tries to kill it.
I will post an example of a movement shortly.

Character Designers: We need a character design sheet of the monkey from everyone on the character design team.  Show a few extreme emotions,  and a size comparison between the monkey and the wheelchair so we can start story boarding.  I like where my monkey with the spiky hair is going, make him simple enough so we can either rig him, or classically animate him during certain movements.  We need this design soon so you guys can start basing the other characters off it.     

This should take us off to a good start.

Thanks Guys,

-Adrian

Regarding scientist

Can we keep his robotic voice at least?

I liked that he was in a large part, machine.

There's this song called God Monkey Robot that goes like "first came god, then came the monkey, then came the robot!" (ie. monkeys=humans; robots= machines/computers,etc)

..Or maybe the scientist is fully robot/computer, his attitude is the same as in the script, human-like, almost developing feelings for the monkey in the end. (He still fires him.)

Just an idea.

Some Reference.

I think the style of Jacob Two Two is simple and messy, and could be suiting to our film in both character design and layout. 

Look at this one for backgrounds, its stylized and wonky with no  hard outlines.

 

And this one, not for style, but its a crazy reaction video, to give a sense for cool angles and timing.

Hope this is helpful in any way.

Edited Script

 Hey guys, for Hawking's replacement, I'm seeing a frail old man in a wheel chair, he can move his arms (though he has trouble raising them, and picking up heavy-ish objects.... like a mug of tea). Hes a bit shakey, maybe huge glasses that magnify his eyes, scraggly crazy hair. Kinda the robot chicken scientist but helpless and not as crazy. Harold, Arthur, Walter, Norman, whatever old person name people want to call him. I'll go with Norman for now, edits in yellow.

Start on long shot of Norman in wheelchair. There’s a monkey at the blackboard..writing out an immensely complicated series of equations. Window is open behind Norman. They are on the 4th floor in a busy city.

Norman shakes his head as the monkey writes on the board looking disappointed at the monkeys mistake.

monkey screeches

He points angerly at the board, gesturing where his mistake was made, to keep this mainly silent we can have him grunt, and smacks the monkey on the back of his head.

monkey screeches again but louder and throws chalk

Norman has had enough of the monkeys bad attitude, shoots him a glare as he wheels himself away.

Monkey freaks out, leaps out the window.

Norman- Wait...Monkey where have you gone? What have I done?

The monkey bounces off an awning...flies through a clothes line, comes out dressed as a woman smoking a pipe. From the street you hear a cat-call whistle.

(Guy on street (off camera) - It’s a monkey!

Another guy (off camera)- I know...) Can show these two as the monkey goes by, they look at each other confused and shrug

Monkey dressed as a woman lands in a baby carriage. A woman leans over and looks into the carriage. I didn’t know you had twins Mikki. Cut to inside of carriage to show two monkeys sucking their thumbs. Lady, I don’t! Takes fake monkey out, and kicks him off screen.

Cut to hot dog vendor. He’s just put a new weenie in a bun and hands it over to a guy in a ball cap. The guy squirts some ketchup on it, then turns to pay the hot dog vendor. Just then when the guys head is turned the monkey zips into the hot dog bun, and knocks the weenie out. The guy turns back to take a bite, but the monkey notices, kisses him on the lips, and jumps off screen.

Cut back to Norman trying to write on the board, he can stretch but he cant reach the top of the board, his arms shake as he reaches. As he stretches too far, he can't support himself and topples over into the wall, and pushes himself back upright, looking defeated.

-Cut back to monkey-
Monkey falls in the back seat of a rickshaw. Monkey is relieved, wipes sweat off his brow, but then is shocked at the driver/puller of the rickshaw. Cut to the front of the rickshaw, and it’s himself, Universe the monkey pulling it. Pull out wider to reveal the monkey pulling the cart with no one in the back. Cut to monkeys point of view to show a bunch of nuns crossing the street slowly. Monkey tries to stop but there’s no breaks and he’s running too fast.

Big explosion, nuns become angels and/or winged pandas and start floating up to heaven.

Cut back to monkey and he comes back down landing on one of the wheels from the cart and rides it like a unicycle. rotate camera 180 degrees and stop following monkey as he bombs a series of hills screaming.

Cut to interior of Norman's house...Norman is wheeling across a room..

Norman goes to the fridge and starts to pull on the door with all his might using both hands, he struggles, and finally the door swings open sending him backwards and flipping his wheelchair on it's side. He looks grumpy and snaps his finger as if to say "darn"


Cut back to screaming monkey as he charges camera and we enter his mouth. The unicycle hits a curb and Universe is tossed up into the air, collides with a streetlight, spins around the pole with the streetlight, and is flung back the way he came through the sky.

Cut back to Norman’s room
Wheel chair is on it’s side. Norman is being pecked by many vultures, he tries to shield his face, looking scared and in pain.

Monkey flies in through the window, lands, and scares all the vultures away.

The monkey helps Norman up in his chair, dusts him off, looking happy to be home again.

Monkey screeches!

Norman praises the monkey, pats his head, and all those nice general gestures people do once they've been saved. He is apologetic to the monkey for his earlier actions.

Monkey screeches..runs to blackboard..rewrites equation..looks to Norman for approval.

Norman - You’re fired.

END

Keeping the two lines of dialogue since the punch of the cartoon is the last line, and one before hand wont make it seem so out of no where. I didn't change much since people said that their main beef was that the character was Steven Hawking and no one new. Hope this works for everyone. 

Also just a bit of suggestions for script- the mad scientist - we can make him really intimidating - to the point where it's funny. For a closely related example- if we take Freddy's character designs of gangsters/ thugs, they are not just badass; they are so over the top badass that they are funny. Anyways the reason why I say this is because we don't really feel for the monkey- the scientist was not really that rude or mean to the monkey. We don't have a sense for the karma. I'm not saying to change anything major. However let's just say for the intro of the scientist; he comes out of the shadow slowly with a squeaky wheel chair- and the shadow is still covers his face-he says something in a really menacing tone like - hello monkey (or whatever his name is) and does like a icy/ crazy - but not diabolical- laugh. - and does the mr. burns finger tip thing- (excellent?) - Anyway just suggesting that we make a villain out of the crazy scientist so we feel for the monkey and the audience feels good when the scientist gets covered with the vultures and what not.
-Another thing if people find the robot voice offensive- you can just use an untraceable accent? maybe?
-Lastly instead of a everyday science monkey- is it possible to change it to a baboon? Because every show/ movie did something with a monkey and science- baboon is still a monkey - but looks far more interesting -maybe just a new layer on a pile of unoriginality?
-To summarize add a bit of dark humour to the otherwise just plain goofy scientist?
-accent over robot voice?
-Science Baboon over Science Monkey?

If it's too late, or the suggestions aren't that constructive, then don't worry about it- I'm just thinking on the top of my head...

Salehin Nobi

Hey guys just posting the design links-http://colin-jack-interview.blogspot.com/ - scroll down to see the designs, and also- this is his blog- http://jackomtablet.blogspot.com/search?updated-3A00&max-results=7

-as you can see it's not that it has no lines it's just that the lines are just a bit darker whatever it's outlining.

-Salehin Nobi

Re-Cap Part 2

Storyboard, layout and character design people start drawing. Everything can be rough, but you need to show something on Thursday for class.

Storyboard artists:
Focus on the staging more than on actually getting an actual clean drawing. The drawing still needs to be legible, but just enough detail to make out whats going on.

Also I would like to bring up the class animation we did for Barney last semester. We had all the characters move to the left for consistency, if you can try to implement that (left or right, which ever you like) to keep the film conistant and easier in the animating stages that would be great. Obviously when the monkey flings back to the apartment it would be moving in the opposite direction to show visually that hes going back to the appartment.

Character Desginers:
The style is going to be with no outlines, so keep that in mind when you design. Think 6Teen in terms of the outlines of the characters, there will be no dark outlines on them. Salehin will also be posting up the pictures that he showed us today.

A recap of the characters that you need to design:
Main Characters:
- The Monkey (or "Universe"). Try to give him a visual look showing that he was created by the scientist. Something subtle, like a wrist band, or a big brain. Just something to show that hes different, and smarter than the average monkeys. You also need to design the monkey in women wear because he goes through a clothes line, and comes out looking like one.

- Mad scientist (replacing Steven Hawking). Also note that the scientist needs to be old, and incapable in order to show his reliance on the monkey, so some suggestions were to keep the wheel chair or to just give him a crutch.

Side Characters (these don't need to be as detailed as the first two):
- 2 Mothers with baby carriges, and a baby inside (the babies can look the same)
- A hot dog vendor, and a guy buying the hot dog (design the hot dog stand as well)
- Nuns, and their Winged-Panda angel variants (I say Nun(s), but they can all look the same. Just something generic cause we're killing them off anyway)
- A rickshaw, I know its not a character, but its a prop and if you guys can design that too that'd be great.
- A vulture. Instead of having vultures, rats, and owls, im thinking just have one vulture design and we'll just make copies of them when we animate. That way we only have to build one character, but duplicate it if need be.

Layout/BG Artist:
Location, location, location. Go through the script a couple times, and see if you can picture where everything may be and draw a birds eye view of the entire layout. If time is of the essence, and it is too hard to figure out just draw out concepts (or research, and show pictures on Thursday) of:

- Scientist's apartment interior, and exterior
- The street of where the hot dog stand, rickshaw, hill, nuns crossing, and traffic light, all will be.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think thats everything? I hope I didn't miss anything, but post as much as you can people. Please. We need to get this thing rolling.

DEADLINE FOR ROUGHS IN ON THURSDAY, FEBRURARY 17 in class.

If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask. Ill be in the studio all week, and if you need an immediate response, my cell phone number is 647-271-9848. Email: jasonslwong@hotmail.com

Hope this helps.

SCRIPT!!!

Chain Reaction Monkey

Steven Hawking as Steven Hawking
Monkey's Name: Universe
Location: Hawkings Apartment

Start on long shot of Hawking in wheelchair. There’s a monkey at the blackboard..writing out an immensely complicated series of equations. Window is open behind Hawking. You could hear robot voice from Hawking. They are on the 4th floor in a busy city.

Hawking - No, no, no....are u even listening, Universe? I don’t understand... You came highly recommended...

monkey screeches

Hawking - Who forgets to carry the one? Oh I remember.... a monkey!

monkey screeches again but louder and throws chalk

Hawking - That’s it. I’m sending you back to Michael J. Fox.

Monkey freaks out, leaps out the window.

Hawking - Wait...Universe where have you gone? What have I done?

The monkey bounces off an awning...flies through a clothes line, comes out dressed as a woman smoking a pipe. From the street you hear a cat-call whistle.

Guy on street (off camera) - It’s a monkey!

Another guy (off camera)- I know...

Monkey dressed as a woman lands in a baby carriage. A woman leans over and looks into the carriage. I didn’t know you had twins Mikki. Cut to inside of carriage to show two monkeys sucking their thumbs. Lady, I don’t! Takes fake monkey out, and kicks him off screen.

Cut to hot dog vendor. He’s just put a new weenie in a bun and hands it over to a guy in a ball cap. The guy squirts some ketchup on it, then turns to pay the hot dog vendor. Just then when the guys head is turned the monkey zips into the hot dog bun, and knocks the weenie out. The guy turns back to take a bite, but the monkey notices, kisses him on the lips, and jumps off screen.

Cut back to Stephen Hawking trying to write on the board with a makeshift broom and chalk attached to his wheel chair. It’s moving back and fourth and making a scribble on the board.

Hawking- Ah crap, my body is a prison.

-Cut back to monkey-
Monkey falls in the back seat of a rickshaw. Monkey is relieved, wipes sweat off his brow, but then is shocked at the driver/puller of the rickshaw. Cut to the front of the rickshaw, and it’s himself, Universe the monkey pulling it. Pull out wider to reveal the monkey pulling the cart with no one in the back. Cut to monkeys point of view to show a bunch of nuns crossing the street slowly. Monkey tries to stop but there’s no breaks and he’s running too fast.

Big explosion, nuns become angels and/or winged pandas and start floating up to heaven.

Cut back to monkey and he comes back down landing on one of the wheels from the cart and rides it like a unicycle. rotate camera 180 degrees and stop following monkey as he bombs a series of hills screaming.

Cut to interior of Steven Hawkings’ house...Hawking is wheeling across a room..

Hawking- So hungry...wheelchair!! Throw a burger in the blender!
Wheel chair flips over.
Hawking - Dern!

Cut back to screaming monkey as he charges camera and we enter his mouth. The unicycle hits a curb and Universe is tossed up into the air, collides with a streetlight, spins around the pole with the streetlight, and is flung back the way he came through the sky.

Cut back to Hawking’s room
Wheel chair is on it’s side. Hawking is laying on his back covered in vultures and owls and rats. They are picking him to pieces. Hawking says owe, owe, owe, every time a vulture pecks him.

Monkey flies in through the window, lands, and scares all the vultures, rats, and owls away.

Hawking- Universe.....you....you saved me?! I was so helpless and scared without you.

Monkey screeches!

Hawking- I’ll be more patient with you from now on.

Monkey screeches..runs to blackboard..rewrites equation..looks to Hawking for approval.

Hawking - You’re fired.

END