Major Project Pre-Production - Animatic

Our third year major project has begun. Me and my friend Aled have decided to work together on a VFX action sequence. We were inspired alot by the Halo Reach Advert 'Deliver Hope' and wanted to create a piece with a similar focus on atmosphere and mood. We want it to be epic and want to have a strong soundtrack to it, as this seems very important. We have spent the last couple of weeks developing a story to the piece. Although we are focusing alot on the mood and feel of the piece, we still need a narrative to give meaning to the visuals. We have made an animatic of our first draft of storyboards which I think gives a pretty good idea of what we are going for. We have chosen a piece of music that has inspired us but we will not use this in our final piece but I think it helps to set the scene. Bare in mind that no character designs have been done yet.

Major Project Animatic 02 from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

Environment Turnarounds

Here is some turnarounds of my environment project to show in more detail what I have done. Bare with it as its quite long.

Environment Project Turnarounds from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

Third Year Begins - Environment Project

Our first brief of the year was to design and create an environment for a game or film. This project was also a way of introducing us to Maya. I decided to create a space scene involving a cluster of asteriods with a small factory and observatory on top of one of them. I feel the project went well even though using Maya was a huge obstacle to overcome. I learnt quite alot about texturing, specifically tiling and how Maya works. Here are a few designs, Previsualisations, and Final stills of my environment.

My Vehicle

Since completing the E4 advert to the best of my ability I have focused on my vehicle. Which I have added more detail and high poly projections as well as additional normal maps and a specular. I'm fairly pleased with the turn out.
Now, I just need to render out the turnaround as well as do a fly through to get all the detail in. I also need to find a way to show the scale of my vehicle. I am thinking about using biped as a source of scale or maybe a tree. Unfortunately I do not have enough time to make a environment plinth in which to put my vehicle. If I did it would be a desert scene. Here is a preview of my texture maps...

E4 Advert Progress

Recently I have managed to render out my shots and have composited them together on After Effects. I am now waiting for them to render out to put them onto Premiere to export the final product. I am fairly happy with the result. There are a few changes that I would like to make if I have time but I now have to put my focus onto finishing my vehicle which I'm half way through texturing but have not touched in a long time. Hopefully I should get it done quickly. I also want to put sound to my E4 advert and so I need to find time to work with my friend to make a soundtrack and SFX. So far my friend Keith has been working on the soundtrack which started out as quite orchestral but has changed it to a more electronic sound to suit the style of E4 more. I need to give Keith a final edit so the music and SFX can be properly applied.

Tv on...

I used after effects to create a tv turning on to perhaps use as a transition in my advert.

After Effects Turning on the TV from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

Animation WIP

I recently began animating my robot for my project. Here is a work in progress.
I have not animated in almost a year so it was refreshing to do some.

Animation WIP from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

My Vehicle

I have not managed to show any of my vehicle eventhough I am currently halfway through texturing it. here are some images of my pre production work and the development of modelling the vehicle. I am creating a huge vehicle that is capable of carrying and sustaining life in its belly in harsh environments.

Lighting

I've had a go at lighting my project. Here are some stills of how im lighting the some of the shots. I'm going for a surreal intense lighting for a magical atmosphere.

Collaborative Work

Although I have been working on Aled's Bee character on and off over the major project period, I have also taken up some work for Danie who is also doing a short film involving a lollipop. Im really pleased with the style and the finished texture of the lollipop. I've also done texture for danie's monster in her short film which was a nice change from my work.

Texturing Humbug from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

Final Footage

a couple of weeks ago i reshot my footage using better markers and lighting. although i have found that my markers are too big and my lighting could of been brighter. However i'm going to stick with what I got due to time issues.

Second and Final Film Footage from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

First Footage

This is my first try of filming my live action footage for my film. Unfortunatley it wasn't the best quality as we filmed it too dark and i was unsure on the placement and quantity of markers so I will have to reshoot.

First Footage from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

Tracking Test

Tracking Test from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

My first test of Bou Jou for practice for my film

Acted Pre-Viz

Acted Pre-Viz from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

Here is me acting out my thirty second film for animation reference.

Model Pre-Viz

Model Pre-viz from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

Robot Pre-Viz

Robot Pre-Viz from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

The E4 Effect

I created a flickering E4 symbol to go on the TV screen while the robot watches it. I will put it onto DVD and use it when I film the piece. It was my first time using after effects and I wanted to go for a pirate channel feel.

E4 Effect from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

Robot

This is the Robot for my project.

Robot Turnaround from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

Animatic

E4 Project Animatic from Joe O'Connor on Vimeo.

E-e-e-e-e4

For my compositing project I decided to develop an idea about a robot that comes out at night and explores. This then became the form of an E4 advert to give my idea context. My advert is about a little robot that comes out at night into a living room and realises he is running out of battery so quickly turns on the Tv and looks at the screen in awe as it charges him up again. It is about 30 seconds long.
Here is some pre-production work...