4.1 project 1 – Page 3 – Yuting Yan’s Blog

Previs class note:

This week we learned more about what goes into building a worldview and learned more about split-screening. For me, the worldview I had designed was lacking and had shortcomings, so I added more elements and wrote out my IDEA to choose the story I wanted to do more.

Elements for forming a world view

History:

• What time period is your story set in?

• How does said time period effect your story?

• What event lead up to your story?

• Global catastrophes? Or Periods of peace?

Geography:

• Where is your story taking place?

• How advanced or primitive is this nation?

• What events lead up to or effect the nation geologically/architecturally?

• Has a history/religion made an impact on said architecture?

Ecology:

• What type of animals live in these rural/ advanced places?

• How has nature been effected or has effected the rest of your world.

• Is it post-apocalyptic with an abundance of nature overflowing abandoned places or is it a barren wasteland with no sign of wildlife in sig

SETS AND PROPS

• Once you have an idea and have fleshed out your world for your story it’s now time to create your sets and props that could be used in your scenes to further push the readability of your world and shots. Barrells in a western, computers in sci-fi, cogs and pipes for steampunk, tropical biomes/abandoned building for a jungle etc.

Building on my previous ideas, I will be improving on my undergraduate design and trying to create a new short story.
Idea1：
Word view：
This is a magical world filled with different kinds of orcs because of the bloodlines passed down from the ancient combination of humans and animals. The Harpy clan occupies the highlands and the cliffs, and among the Harpy clan, there are three religions, and our protagonist is in one of them. This religion is harmonious and friendly and is the postman of the world. They live in groups in the forest with their people, building houses in huge banyan trees. Usually, one tree will house a group.

Idea2：
World view:
The story is happening in a parallel world that has a similar civilization like earth, but the supernatural powers can be used by humans in this world. Humans who can use supernatural powers are called Wizards. They can summon creatures from different dimensions through rituals, and by paying a certain price, the appeared creature will achieve their wishes.
Story line:
After being seriously injured by the enemy, osmin escape into the mountain and met Collatina. Collatina has recognized osmin ’s identity by the necklace with blue ore, therefore gave his heart to osmin , for survive and continue to protect the mountains and forests, but this also determined that Collatina could never leave osmin again. After osmin woke up, Collatina told him everything happened include who he is and the secret of blue ore. osmin was very grateful for the help of Collatina, but he had to avenge the dead villagers. So, after discussion, they decided that osmin could leave the mountain for ten days a month to find the information he need for revenge, and for all the rest of the time he needed to stay in the mountain to help Collatina take care of creatures in the mountain, and use the magic power given to him by the god of mountain when necessary to repel evil creatures. With the consent of both parties, Collatina and osmin entered into a contract. Their adventure story is about to begin here.

Idea3：

This is the mermaid character that I designed last term, and I did come up with some exciting ideas for this character, which is the story of a mermaid meeting a small octopus:

Mermaid is looking for something in the monument
Two or three renderings of the monument
It found jewels in one place
A pile of rusty treasures includes a crown that glows
The mermaid is puzzled and wonders why the crown is glowing and reaches out to pick it up when the crown dodges it
Underneath the dome was a small glowing octopus, running away with the height.
The mermaid chased the crown, occasionally hitting different pillars and walls.
The mermaid cracked a corner of the ruins, and a piece of the ceiling collapsed. The mermaid did not want the crown to be crushed and grabbed it and swam away.
The mermaid did not want the crown to be crushed and grabbed it and swam away. The mermaid saved the little octopus, and although the mermaid didn’t mean it, it was still happy and followed the mermaid on its journey.

CREATING SIMPLE SCENE AND PROPS

• There are a ton of resources online at your disposal. YouTube is your best friend. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=create+simple+sets+and+props+maya

• Learn as you go start out small and work your way up creating sets and props can be daunting for some.

• With pre vis we will mainly be focusing on making basic shapes that are readable and are able to get our point across. Keep it simple!

• For those that struggle and want to find already made sets/props for free or for a fee you can check out these websites below:

• https://www.turbosquid.com/

• https://www.highend3d.com/

• https://www.cgtrader.com/

Mechanical arm class note:

This week our teacher showed us how to make a movable robot hand. Although it was only the finger part, it was still exciting to me, and I have never made a severe movable mechanical model before, so I am looking forward to making the arm afterward.
Our teacher asked us to gather information to design our robotic arm. I did have a lot of designs that I wanted to do in terms of the exterior and found some referees. Still, the internal movable design was not so good to add, so these need to be studied further, and it is easier to learn with a 3D model than to sketch directly.

Design draft:

This is my attempt at sketching, but I think it’s easier to see what’s going on in 3D modeling when it comes to this kind of spatial mechanical design, so I made two sketches and then went to watch the teacher’s process, trying to get inspiration directly from the 3D model.

Many tedious and repetitive processes have gone into the making of this robot arm. Because there are so many redundant and simple processes, I will show less of the process and more of what I think and feel about it.
I saw what our teacher tried to do when he got this step. This straightforward structure was beyond my knowledge of robotic arms. I thought we were going to make something very complex, but in reality, if we just need it to look complex, why do we need to care too much about the actual logic of the structure?

This is the knuckle of a finger. We use a disc for the movable joint, plus a shell wrapped around the knuckle, with three shafts in between

It is worth mentioning the mirroring function. I know very lack about this function. It is relatively new to me. This is also the first time I know the model can be fused after mirroring. And I have an understanding of the excellent use of the function. This is why technical sessions are essential. Although I am already can in using most of Maya’s features, there are still some details that I rarely use, and watching teacher modeling allows me to review and also learn about some of the time-saving features

This is a finger made by copying and pasting, using multiple elements overlapping, a structure that I find interesting because it is possible to make a mechanical-looking finger using only simple geometric shapes.

This is done by creating groups of models in order and placing them in the appropriate groups so that the fingers are movable. It’s very important that the center of each group is right in the middle of the joint. Once created, you can set keyframes on the group level to animate the finger.

Next copy the other four different fingers. The joint length and angle can then be adjusted according to the different fingers, which can be changed when the fingers are clenched in a fist. I also lightened the finger and put some colour and material on it to see how it would look.

Special duplicate tool allows animations to be copied as well.

Adjusting the difference between each finger.

Then you get five very flexible fingers!

This is the final result:

Shot composition.

Elements of nine-pattern composition.

When an image is divided into thirds, the human eye is naturally drawn to the points of intersection.

Make the character include as many points as possible in the nine-panel frame.

The horizon should be two-thirds of the way from the top of the frame or two-thirds from the bottom.

Fibonacci sequence：

Basic shot:

EXTREME LONG SHOT

EXTREME CLOSE UP

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP

MEDIUM LONG SHOT

MEDIUM SHOT

LONG SHOT

CUT-IN

ICLOSE UP

The concept of Previs:

Previs is the process of visualizing a scene before it is created.

Previs usually takes the form of a 3D animation, i.e., a rough version of one or more scenes. They typically start with a 2D storyboard. Draft versions of different moving image sequences are created and put together using their compositing and editing skills.

The visual preview process is used to plan shots, calculate scale and timing and give a rough indication of where the character will move. It is used to plan how visual effects (VFX) will fit into other live-action scenes. Creating previews saves films and TV series and shows valuable time and money on set or post-production.

The ideas
Idea1
Set in a fantasy world
At a time when human civilization was not so advanced, and to survive in nature, they combined with monsters and left their offspring. The main characters are the offspring of birds and humans.
Reference to the ancient East
The world is dominated by gods and religion
The protagonist is the son of a divine bird
A rival force destroys the clan, and the protagonist escapes and is saved by a hunter in the mountains.
Three subplots are envisaged.
The protagonist escapes from the overthrown religion
Being rescued by the hunter and lying in the house
Watching the hunter chopping wood
Idea2
Set in a fantasy world
In a time when human civilization was not very advanced and the world was full of different kinds of monsters, the story takes place on a mountain with magical ores and a village at its foot.
The village people live off the mountain gods but are killed by greedy humans because they won’t let the merchants mine the ore recklessly, and the only protagonist who survives escapes into the mountain.
The mountain has a mountain god that looks like a white wolf, born out of the villagers’ faith, who is about to disappear because the village at the bottom of the mountain was slaughtered. As he disappears, he sees the protagonist who escapes into the mountain. The mountain god saves the protagonist and fuses with him.
Three images: the protagonist walks into the cave.
The protagonist sits down against the stone wall and closes his eyes to rest.
He hears a sound and opens his eyes to look in one direction.

In this class, we were exposed to the most basic camera language. This was the first time I had studied something like this, so this knowledge was new to me.
I was not too fond of the human story, so I decided to develop a story using previously designed characters, and if I get the chance, I’d like to make the scenes and make a rough model of the characters.

Knowledge points in the video screen：

THE DOMINANT FEATURE

The dominant feature is the object that our eyes are immediatelyattracted to and can be created by any number of techniques

SIZE: The size of an object may draw our attention to it.

In colour films, the dominant is often achieved byhaving once colour stand out from the other.Placing one object in sharper focus than the rest ofFOCUS:the shot can also create a dominant.

COLOUR:

The dominant feature in this shot is Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

THE LIGHTING KEY

Features bright, even illumination and fewHIGH KEY:conspicuous shadows. High key lighting is oftenused in musicals and comedies.

Features diffused shadows and atmospheric pools ofLOW KEY: light. Low key lighting is often use in mysteries andthrillers.

HIGHCONTRAST:

Features harsh shafts of light and dramatic streaksof blackness. High contrast is often used in tragediesand melodramas.

SHOTIANGLEIPROXIMITY

BIRD’S-EYE This shot type can be disorienting and makeVIEW: the object seem very insignificant.

This angle reduces the size of the objectHIGH ANGLE:it can make the object seem harmless andinsignificant.

EYE-LEVELSHOT:

ls the clearest view of a object.

This angle increases the size of the objectLOW ANGLE:giving a sense of power and respect.

OBLIQUEShot on an angle, suggests tension orANGLE: transition This angle is used in the example.

COLOUR VALUES

DOMINANT The dominant colour is the colour most seen onCOLOUR: the screen.

SUBSIDIARY What other colours are found on screen? DoCOLOURS: they contrast with the Dominant Colour?

COLOURSYMBOLISM:

Are the colours used because of theirsymbolism? Do they reflect the characterspersonalities or traits?

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES

After taking in the dominant feature, where does the eye go next?

The Subsidiary Feature in this shot is the Bad Guy’ in theforeground of the shot, he is slightly out of focus with his back to thecamera.

The Colour Value of his costume blend with the set design whichhelps us to focus on the main character of the scene, who’s costumecontrasts against these colours helping to make him theDominant Feature of the scene.

SCREEN DENSITY

How much visual information is packed into the image? ls the sceneSTARK,MODERATE or HIGHLY DETAILED?

Whilst there are a significant number of items or objects in thebackground of this scene, the image is not very dense because thefocus limits the viewer to taking in only two main objects:Arthur and the Bad Guy

The density of this shot is also helped by the Colour Values used, thedull room helps also us to focus on the two main objects.

COMPOSITION

How is the two dimensional space of the screen segmented andorganised? What is the underlying design? Objects in the frame canbe placed to help the audience to connect.

HORIZONTAL:

Horizontal compositions seem visually at rest andsuggest placidity or peacefulness.

Vertical compositions seem visually at rest andVERTICAL:suggest strength.

Diagonal (or Oblique) compositions seemDIAGONAL:dynamic and suggest tension or anxiety. Thiscomposition is used in the example.

DEPTH OF FIELD

On how many planes is the image composed? How much’ is in

focus?

DEEP FOCUS: Allows all planes to be in focus at the same time.

SHALLOW More commonly, shallow focus allows only one orFOCUS: two planes are in focus.

The example has a relatively Deep Focus with the majority of thescene in focus. The foreground is only slightly out of focus, whichdraws our eyes to the back of the room to The Dominant Feature.

CHARACTER PLACEMENT

What part of the framed space do the characters occupy?

The area near the top of the frame can suggest power,TOP:authority and aspiration.

BOTTOM:

SIDES:

The areas near the bottom of the frame tend to suggestsubservience, vulnerability, and powerlessnessThe left and right edges of the frame tend to suggestinsignificance as these areas are farthest from the centre

The example has our protagonist towards the top of the frameimplying power and authority. The antagonist closer to the bottomimplying vulnerability or powerlessness.

SHOT FRAMING

ls the framing TIGHT or LOOSE? Do the characters have no room tomove around, or can they move freely without impediments?

Shots where the characters are places on the edges ofTIGHT: the frame and have little room to move around within theframe are considered tight.

Longer shots, in which the characters have room to moveLOOSE:around within the frame, are considered loose and tendto suggest freedom.

The example has Loose Framing, the characters have the ability tomove around within the frame without going outside the shot.

DIEGETIC AUDIO

Diegetic Audio is a sound whose source is visible on the screen orwhose source is implied to be present by the action of the film.

Character voices, sounds made by objects in the story, music comingfrom instruments in the story space are all examples of DiegeticAudio.

it is important to note that Diegetic Audio can be either on screenor off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frameor outside of the frame (radio playing, family member playing aninstrument, thunder clap)

NON-DIEGETIC AUDIO

Non-Diegetic Audio is a sound whose source is neither visible on thescreen nor has been implied to be present in the action.

Narrators commentary, sounds effects which are added for thedramatic effect mood music / sound tracks are all examples of Non-Diegetic Audio.

It is important to note that just because you cannot see the source ofthe sound, that doesn’t make it Non-Diegetic Audio. lf the sound fitswithin the environment (birds squawking in a forest scene, car hornsnear a busy road), it should be considered Diegetic Audio.