Ronnie Leah, BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester.

  I now want to design the clothes the magicians assistant will be wearing. I firstly got a selection of images as inspiration.  Like before I drew three versions so I am able to pick out the elements I like the most. 

 Today I experimented with drawing different types of briefcase drawings. I think I will end up going with a simple looking briefcase, their no need to overcomplicate its design.

 Today I completed the final design for the magician. I took the cape from my first design and the hat and suit jacket from the third design. I liked the second design the least and so didn't take any elements from it.  I really like how the final design turned out and it feels good that all the elements are finally coming together and I have an actual character now. I also completed a picture of the magician as a patient in the hospital. I used the reference pictures gathered previously to influence his outfit. This wasn't as important as he wouldn't be seen like this for as long. 

 Today I drew the character wearing different outfits in order to find one I liked the most. I will then take all the elements I like the most and create the final design. I drew the character in two perspectives in order to give different references. I also changed the colours to see which I liked the most for the final design. 

 Today I decided to draw the sickly version of the character and compare it to the original healthy version. I want the character to slowly transition into this form of himself throughout the performance as apart of building up to the twist. I firstly gathered reference drawings online who traits commonly associated with patients in care. Normally they are their as they are unable to look after themselves and need help from others.  By doing this it allowed me to pick a favourite among the three magicians. I decided on the more traditional looking magician. I really like his moustache and felt he looked the best in the outfit. I also like his crazed slender form the most out of all three. I now want to investigate the outfit he wears in further detail. 

 This week we were tasked with providing sound effects to one of Charlie Chaplin's silent films. We were provided with sound effects to use and then had to got frame by frame, inserting the appropriate sound in the best place. I found this lesson really useful as I don't have much exprience in audition and helped me to understand how audio it connected to video. 

 Today I began drawing the face of my character. I started with the base character on the top left which I drew from a Marvel comic book. I did this as I wanted my character to seem over-the-top and the most masculine version of himself he can be. Theirs nothing more masculine then a superhero, which I feel my character will believe he is. I then copied the drawing, each time adding different variations to experiment with different looks. I could then combine all my favourite elements together to create the character I wanted.  After I had drawn all of the faces I then pick my three favourite's and put them in a separate document. I decided to then draw three different suits, using the research I gathered previously. I wasn't certain what sort of suit I wanted so I tried different ones. I did this to see which character I like most in the magicians uniform. I learnt that I didn't really like the middle characters hair with the hat and so was less keen about his design now. ...

 This week I took part in a kitbash to make a robot. A kitbash is basically done by taking pre-existing assets and ripping them apart to make something new. This is done in the industry when working against a deadline with limited resources. It is also a cheap way of making something new. The robot I made is below. 

 I started by googling the word magician to see what sort of thing popped up. The main things I saw were dark clothes, usually black, a suit jacket, trousers, a bowtie - either black or red, a top hat, a wand, a cape and white gloves. When comparing this to the real life magician's I researched I got very different results. Most of them wore casual clothes. This may be a part of their act to have a man on the street type of casual look. This gives the illusion that there is nothing particularly special about them, so when they start preforming magic it seems more incredible. The look I have found shows the magician in a higher standing to the average person. They want to be seen above the average man as they are giving off the illusion that they are. They have their magic to seem more compelling than the average man. They also use their clothes such as their cape and top hat, to aid in their performance. Whether used in misdirection or to cause an effect such as pulling a rabbit ou...

 I now want to compare each of the characters from Shutter Island, Joker and Fight club in order to see how they are each written. Shutter Island Set: 1950s Name: Teddy Daniels (Andrew Laeddis) Mental Disorder(s) Delusional Disorder - Creates a fake persona to escape the truth about his life.believes that patient has escaped (Rachel Solando) and it is his job to find her. Also believes Andrew Laeddis is on the loose, the man who killed his wife.  He acts as if a tape is being played over and over Reason For Disorder(s) Brought on from guilt of killing soldiers in war as well as the death of his children and murder of his wife. Wife is bipolar. She set the apartment on fire and then drowned her children. Andrew kills her because of this. He feels guilty as he ignored his wife and did not seek professional help for her, which resulted in the death of his children. Joker (2019) Set: 1981 Name: Arthur Fleck Mental Disorder(s) Depression, PTSD, social anxiety, schizophrenia, narcis...

 Another film which I thought would help to trick the audience is Fight Club. Fight Club is one of my favourite films as it does this effect so well. I re-watched the film in order to get a fresh idea of what its about and to pay closer attention since I now knew what the twist would be. Fight club is centred around the character Tyler Durden (known as The Narrator as he is never specifically named) and his desire to leave his endlessly boring life. The Narrator has extremely bad insomnia, meaning he spends most of his nights awake and lives his day like a zombie. He describes himself as feeling numb. To counter this he begins going to daily recovery circles for life threatening illnesses he doesn't have as he likes the feeling of being around other lost souls. This is where he meets the character Marla. The two go back and forth with The Narrator saying they cant both go to the support circles at the same time as they are both liar, so they decide to split days.  As part of T...

 After watching Shutter Island, I wanted to further investigate films which trick the audience in order to see how different directors execute the idea. This lead me to investigate the 2019 film Joker, based on the famous DC Comics supervillain. I wanted to investigate this film as it is a full character study. There are only really 3 main actors throughout the film, with the primary character Arthur Fleck (played by Joaquin Phoenix) being in every single scene. This is important to the plot because of what type of film it is.  The film Joker is Todd Philips depiction of the origin story of the comic book character The Joker. This itself was very controversial as one of the key points about The Joker is the fact that he has no origin. He is just the unstoppable force which rises up to counter Batman's force of justice.  The film is set in a 1981 Gotham city. Based on what is seen throughout the film you learn that this city is under major stress from the battle betwe...

 This week we continued to do the tutorials teaching us how to keyframe and animate objects.  Settle And Rest (Part 2) Maya MEL Animation Animation 1 Overlap Secondary Intro To Animation Dynamics

 In order to understand how to portray my character in a more believable way, I decided to look at similar stories in which the character is an unreliable narrator. A prime example of this is the film Shutter Island.  Shutter Island Plot Summary The film is centred around detective Teddy Daniels as he investigates the mysterious Shutter Island in order to locate a missing patient, Rachel Solando. Teddy is trying to deal with the murder of his wife and has reason to believe Andrew Ladus is on the island as well, the man who murdered her. As the film progresses so does the mystery of not only the missing patient but also the island itself. As Teddy continues his investigation he becomes more and more suspicious of those around him, to the point in which he turns out of control in an attempt to escape their capture. The film ends with the realization that Teddy and Andrew are one in the same and Teddy was submitted to the institute after murdering his wife. The guilt from his tim...

 To understand mental illness, I first want to understand what it takes to be sent to a mental institution From my research I learnt that in most cases it is up to the patient themselves to seek medical help at an institute. This may be because they cannot trust themselves (could bring harm to themselves or others), they need help from others or they simply want to escape the life which may be causing them stress. For a patient to be put in an institute against their will they need to be a clear and present danger to themselves and the others. A patient can also be checked in by a family or friend depending on the situation. Any form of mental illness could result in a person needing assistance from a mental health institution. I have listed some examples below: Anxiety Bipolar Body dysmorphic disorder Borderline personality disorder Anger issues Depression Dissociative disorders Obsessive compulsive disorder Paranoia Post traumatic stress disorder Schizoaffective disorder In media...

 

 I recently talked to one of my tutors about my story: Story presents itself as being supernatural however the entire plot is taking place in a mental patients head at a mental hospital. The briefcase could represent the characters closed mind and the doctors are trying to find the key to opening it. At the beginning of the story it would appear that the magician can wield real magic and will show this off to the audience through a selection of tricks.  This story idea was very rough however I liked how I used all three of the objects (Magician, briefcase and hospital). My favourite part was the twist reveal at the end that the entire plot is taking place within the characters head rather than the real world. My tutor liked my idea however they explained that there were a lot of themes which takes the audience away from the main plot. The ideas were there they just weren't focused enough. They suggested that I try to ground the story more into reality. Make all the elements fi...

 Out of all the stories I have thought up for my three objects so far, I really like the idea of the story taking place inside of the head of a patient at a mental institution. I feel like there is a lot of potential to build up a story which offers and interesting start with the magician appearing to have god-like powers to a satisfying ending with the realisation that nothing is real and is taking place inside of the characters head. I still need to come up with a obstacle for the middle part of the story, but feel I can link it in some way to the characters trauma which has left him with the illness he has. This is the same for the magician, I hope by researching and understanding mental illnesses more I will be able to create a solid backstory which links to the obsession of be a magician. I need to investigate the different aspects of the stories world to help build upon the ideas I have so far. This will help to strengthen my understanding of the character. From the presentat...

 I have previously looked at different types of magicians, I now want to look at Hospitals and briefcases in more detail. This is so I don't limit my understanding of the two based on what immediately pops up in my mind. I can use the knowledge gained to add additional information to my story and influence which direction it takes.  Below I have listed the many different types of hospitals Acute Care Hospital - This is the basic hospital which takes care of acute injury and illnesses. This is the type of hospital which immediately comes to mind. Acute hospitals are usually very large as they are open to the public. Their is 24 hour care meaning its always very active and full of people. Because of the range of different reasons to go to a hospital, its environment has to be kept very clean. This means constant cleaning and sterilization to ensure its as safe a place as possible. The colour scheme is very plain, with the walls almost always being white. After doing some researc...

 Today we watched Alfred Hitchcock's, Rope, to help with our understanding of storytelling and camerawork. The story is centred around two friends who want to experience the thrill of killing another human and getting away with it.  The film starts directly throwing the viewer into the murder. This follows the rules of good story telling by capturing the attention of the viewer and introducing the problem within the first act. This instantly caught my attention while simultaneously telling me a lot about both the characters. Based on the two characters conversation directly after the murder you can tell that Brandon is clearly in charge and has orchestrated the whole plan. He is cool and collective and more that anything confident in his plan. From his clothes to the way he holds himself you can make a clear judgement of what sort of person he is, his place in society and his background. This was greatly needed to push the plot along as the film is only 1 hour. My animation ha...

 With the information provided, Briefcase, Magician, hospital, I need to come up with a scenario which catches the attention of the audience and introduces a problem. The examples in the slideshow from todays lecture, provided examples of the type of conflicts which could occur, along with examples which use them. I went through each possible conflict and tried to apply it to my three objects. Character VS Character To use this example I will need to provide additional characters to the narrative such as a magicians assistant or a doctor who could be working at the hospital. They will need their own motive to go against the magicians goals in order to create the conflict. Maybe the magician could have an assistant who he taught all his tricks to. The assistant feels they are being overshadowed by their teacher and eventually betrays them as a way to gain their attention and respect.  An idea like this might be a bit ambitious for only two minuets, however the additional inform...

 Today we finished off the remaining camera tutorials from last week. The pitch shot was very simple as it just required you to follow the flying character. Dolly shot Crane shot