Introduction To Premise: Forming Initial Ideas

 Premise

What it is you’re seeking to put into pre-production and how you expect to produce it? 

I want to create an animation which focuses on character design and movement. For this reason I have been investigating the idea of a gun/sword fight. This would take place between 2 or more people (however I'll probably stick with 2 in order to make sure I complete the project). I like this idea as it is full of action and allow me to focus on character design, world design, animation and camera movement. I want to create something which is visually appealing and stylish, which will allow me to focus on bringing a character to life. I also want to improve on my animation skills and so picked a fight scene as my theme as I want to investigate the human form in order to create fluid moving animation. 

In addition to your individual proposals, you are required to research job roles, departments, and specialisms within computer animation and associated careers.

I will need to investigate, modelling, rigging, concept art, animation (the human form), Camera movement, script writing and  character design. I will also need to look deeply into the culture of the world I am trying to create, creating a solid lore for the world and backstories for the characters, establishing their motivation for the the plot. 

It is important that the animation is fluid and conveys the action the character is trying to preform. 

• To develop a creative, cogent premise for an original computer generated animated short and pre-production to an industry standard.
•  To identify appropriate creative and technical methodologies by which to realise a computer generated animated short and foster awareness of career progression and specialism.

To help develop your ‘premise’ concept you will need to create a written proposal. This will form a starting point for your first one-to-one tutorial with your tutor. It is likely that you will start out unsure and with a ‘list’ of potential ideas and creative territories

Fight scene

I need to identify why the two characters are fighting and what the outcome of that battle will be. By identifying the place in which the conflict will take place, I can then begin developing the characters within the narrative. Once I know the characters I can then find out what their backstory is, as well as influences such at their origins which would determine their fighting style. 

Two bounty hunters - In the future we suffer from mass overpopulation due to the integration of alien life as well as robots in our society. For this reason people will offer pay for assassinations as the government has become less concerned about sustaining human life. Two bounty hunters are assigned the same target and will fight at the vantage point to take out the target. Their motivations is both money and as they are assassins they are really good at what they do. I could also add a twist that the bounty who wins is in fact the target and the other target was just a decoy. 

I like this idea as I will be able to show off the world and how the characters are effected by it. If they fight at the vantage point their will also be a really good shot of the city in the background which has molded them into the people they are today. 

Post apocalyptic world -  2 scavengers from different factions, fighting for supplies. The world is collapsing and it is essential to get the medical supplies in order to survive the harsh winter. Two 

Man who has unlimited luck - I feel like this would be an interesting idea for a fight as everything surrounding the main character would perfectly fall around him in order to guarantee his victory. For this reason the man has become bored of his life as a bounty hunter as their is no longer any challenge. It would be interesting visually to show all of this chaos appearing around the character while he does the bare minimum to win. 

Similarly to this idea, the man could instead have a healing factor and so nothing that happens within the fight will effect him long term. 

Vial characters cant break it - I like an idea of a focus to the fight, so that the characters not only have a clear motivation, but also so that I can use camera work to track the object in question. I feel like this would be an interesting element to the fight, with both people not only fighting with each other, but also trying the prevent the item itself from breaking. 

The type of project: Premise / as discussed

The idea: The creative idea you wish to discuss with your tutor

An Outcome: What the outcome of the project may be.

The Goals: What you would like to achieve from undertaking this creative project (e.g., personally, creatively, career aspirations, academically).

• Technical pipeline/processes: What technical steps are implied by this idea?

“Publishing Context”: Where would this belong/fit in the world? (Where would you publish this?)

I really like the aesthetic of the Cyberpunk world "Cyberpunk - a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting. It tends to show off technological and scientific achievements, such as AI and cybernetics, juxtaposed with societal collapse or decay." I feel like by creating a harsh life such as this, I will be able to develop interesting characters which will have a strong incentive within the narrative. 

The Cyberpunk genre borrows many influences from Asian culture, particularly Japanese. From my research I leant that this is mainly due to the wests beliefs at the time of the earliest Cyberpunk creations, that Japan would takeover in terms of economic power post war. This was due to the boom of technological advances which happened around the 1980's, the same sort of time creative influences of the genre such as Blade Runner and Cyberpunk (The Board game) were being produced. Japan also has the elements such as neon lights as well as huge corporation towers, which are a strong factor in the Cyberpunk genre.

After identifying this fact I then decided to research further into the idea of using Japan as the location for my animation to take place. This way I could use Japan as a influence much like the works of others in the genre. 

I really like the contrast between traditional Japanese architecture against the cyberpunk aesthetic. I think its really interesting how one culture was built with honor and tradition in mind (Japanese), where as the other tears that apart and shows the greed of humanity (Cyberpunk). I think it would be interesting to develop a narrative with this idea in mind which shows the clash in cultures. 

Story Idea

Set in a future Japan. The world has become reliant on technology (cyberpunk) and uses it to enhance the human form. Japan has moved away from its traditional ways of living, however there is a tribe who stay loyal to their beliefs and have banished the use of technology from their village. As Japan is dealing with an overpopulation due to people living longer than they should from technology, it has started building in any available space. This means the once countryside, is now city, where the tribe residence. Their is a peace agreement between the two factions, as long as no one breaks any of the rules, the two live side by side. Their is rumour of a chip which will grant the user immorality. This would be the downfall of man as no one would ever die, in an already overpopulated world. A secret unit forms within the tribe, who go against the peace treaty to locate and destroy the chip. The plan is a success, however the news quickly spreads to the higher-ups of Japan. They send a special unit out to retrieve the chip at all costs... 

I want to look deeper into traditional Japanese culture in order to gain a better understanding to influence my work. 

There were still elements from ideas I had previously that I liked, for example the character that has unlimited luck. I thought of a way to incorporate it into the world to ensure that I have explored every option for my animation. The character who is on the side of the corporation, has upgraded his body so much, its to the point where the machine does everything for him. Due to this fact he always wins fights. This has caused him to lose his human side, acting more like a robot carrying his commands. This displays the negative effect of modifying your body, rather than the corporations positive spin that it improves your life for the better. 

To vizualize my idea, I took two concept art images and photobashed them together (on right). This shows the sort of idea I am thinking of, having a peaceful temple contrasted against an intense city.