Film shots 01

http://ccavisualstory.blogspot.com/2012/10/film-compositions-1.html

line and shape

Line and Shape

edge, contour, closure, intersection of planes, imita- tion through distance, axis, and track.

Edge - edge of a 2d surface creates the line. Only visible if there is tonal or color contrast to pop it out.

examples: sheet of white paper against black, shadows cast on wall

Contour - the apparent line around the border of a 3d object

Closure - connect the dots, etc. Viewers create lines through connecting dots on screen

Intersection of planes - When two planes meet, they appear to form a line

Imitation through distance - complex objects recede into lines at a distance

Axis - invisible axis that runs through people, objects, etc

Track - the path an object makes as it moves across the screen

Linear motif - any pic can be reduced to simple lines. A pic's linear motif can be circular, straight, horiz, vert, or diagonal, or any combination of.

Horizontal - calming, least intense of all line motifs

Verticial - authoritarian, more intense

Diagonal - dynamic, most intense of all line motifs

Straight lines:

• direct

• aggressive

• bland

• honest

• industrial

• ordered

• strong

• unnatural

• adult

• rigid

Curved lines:

• indirect

• passive

• natural

• childlike

• romantic

• soft

• organic

• safe

• flexible

• Actors - when reduced to silhouette, what are the basic shapes?

• Scenery

• Set dressing - furniture, etc

• Simplify

Shapes:

2D:

3 basic shapes - circle, square, equilateral triangle

3D:

3 basic shapes - sphere, cube, 3 sided pyramid

All objects/shapes can be reduced to these basic shapes

Circle - benign, innocent, cute

Square - less cute than circle, rigid

Triangle - most dynamic of the shapes, because:

1. contains diagonal

2. Can be used to POINT in a direction - it's an arrow!

triangles often are described as bold, aggressive, dynamic, angry, menacing, scary, chaotic, disorienting, and unorganized

Contrast and affinity - circle and triangle have maximum contrast

Creating a linear motif storyboard to help discover/plan contrast/affinity in your shots

The 180 degree rule

Ways to safely cross 180:

1. Camera crosses the line
2. Actor crosses the line
3. New actor enters the scene and establishes new line

Creating and re-establishing new 180 lines:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTIc6y5mojw&feature=share&list=PL8F3444EC493C0C85


180 degree triangle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFgCZDRkacU&feature=share&list=PL8F3444EC493C0C85

180 degree rule CAN be broken intentionally...

The Matrix subway fight (0:00 - 1:50)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMx-Az5Da4M

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/180-degree_rule

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/video/articles/60379.aspx

Paprika explains the 180 degree rule:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9xD_YYZrbA&feature=share&list=PLIxpDLIQpXvN5tJaBijnngE25u305l-hU

finding tone in your drawings

http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2010/09/quick-primer-on-values.html

http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2012/01/tones-values-and-using-them-and-your.html

http://evanerichards.com/2012/2794

http://evanerichards.com/2012/2789

http://evanerichards.com/2012/2736

Space in film

SPACE

• Deep
  • offers illusion of 3d depth on a 2d screen
  • no real depth in screen space, illusion is conveyed through depth cues
    • perspective - 1, 2, and 3 point (draw buildings)
      • perspective creates VANISHING POINTS and LONGITUDINAL PLANES
      • Audience's eye will be usually drawn to and on-screen vanishing point (
        • draw railroad tracks)
        • draw two vanishing planes, with actor on outside, then actor on inside, at VP. Compare the two.
    • size difference
      • separating objects/actors into FG, MG and BG helps create depth
    • movement
      • moving parallel to the picture plane:
        • objects further away will appear to move slower across screen
        • objects closer will appear to move faster
        • draw track runners to demonstrate
      • moving perpendicular to picture plane
        • objects appear to move faster the closer they are to the camera
    • camera movement
      • dolly in/out = moving camera closer or farther from the subject
      • draw scene with FG actor and two BG actors, then dolly in
      • FG actor will get larger faster
      • tracking shot - camera dollies left/right
      • with one FG and three BG actors, FG actor appears to move faster horizontally in screen space.
      • crane shot - camera is moved vertically up or down.
      • same FG/BG actor combo - FG actor will drop out of frame faster than BG guys
    • Textural diffusion
      • objects that are closer to the camera will have more visible texture
    • Arial diffusion
      • fog
      • must have objects affected and unaffected in both the same shot in order to be an effective depth cue
    • Tonal separation
      • light objects generally appear closer, dark objects generally recede
      • can also be reverse, depending on lighting and arial diffusion
    • Color seperation
      • warm colors generally appear to be closer
      • cool colors generally appear to be further away
    • Up/Down position
      • objects lower in the frame appear to be closer than objects higher in the frame (maybe because they appear more accessible?)
    • Overlap
      • overlapping objects in the frame create depth
    • Focus
      • blur vs sharp
• Flat
  • emphasizes the 2d aspects of the screen space
  • flat cues:
    • frontal planes and NO LONGITUDINAL PLANES
    • size consistency
    • movement
      • movement parallel to picture plane = good
    • camera movement - pans, tilts and zooms
      • help emphasize flat space because the relative distance between/size of objects does not change in the shot.
    • textural affinity
      • same amount of textural detail
    • reduced tonal seperation
    • reduced color separation (affinity of color)
    • reduced overlapping shapes
    • inverted depth cues
      • inverting or reversing depth cues can help flatten deep space
        • tone: placing brighter obis in the BG and darker ones in the FG
        • color: warm BG, cool FG
        • textural diffusion: make BG obis have more texture and FG ones have less
        • size difference: place larger objs farther away, and small ones closer.
• Limited
  • combo of deep and flat space cues
• Ambiguous
  • occurs when viewer is unable to understand the actual size/spatial relationships between objects in the frame
    • lack of movement -
    • objects of unknown size or shape
    • tonal and textural camouflage
    • mirrors and reflections
    • disorienting camera angles

• DEEP SPACE
  • dramatic
  • exciting
  • edgy
  • can be used to release tension
• FLAT SPACE
  • calming
  • comedic
  • disarming
  • can be used to build tension/claustrophobia and awkwardness
  • wes anderson!
• LIMITED
  • combo of both
• AMBIGOUS
  • mysterious
  • disorienting
  • chaotic

Project 1, due next week

Project 1 – Story,Visual Research and concept art - 10% of final grade- due week 2

Story:
Create a story that you will tell through animation. This story will become the project you work on for the duration of the semester in both CA500 and CA505. Pick something you will enjoy working on, but keep it simple - your total animation time should be 0:30 - 1:00 (30 seconds to 1 minute). 

The story should have at least one character. Good stories are about characters solving problems. 

Visual Research: 
Find 20 - 30 images that you think will inspire the look of your short film, and post them on your blog. 

Keeping the look and style of your film simple will benefit you tremendously through production.

Concept Art:
Create 10+ conceptual sketches of the characters, props and sets of your short film. This should be a fun exercise, and it should be focused on exploration of style, form, etc. 


One of the sketches should be a model sheet, which is a front and side view of your character(s) standing in a symmetrical pose. We will bring this sketch into Maya and model on top of it in CA505.. 

Model sheet images 

Character design tips

20 character design tips @ computerArtsUK

Thundercake's character design tips <---highly recommended!http://characterdesign.blogspot.com/

How to draw in Illustrator (great for creating character layout sheets)

Last but not least....John K, creator of Ren and Stimpy, shares character design ideas in his blogs below. The bottom link is a collection of principles developed by Disney Animators to give extra appeal to characters.


http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/

http://johnkcurriculum.blogspot.com/2009/12/disney-principles.html