Evaluation

Evaluation
Following up from my original rationale I decided I would take up the subject of advertising undertaking to school leavers.. As I want to specialize in character design I wanted to continue focusing around this area. My very first ideas for this task were to make the job out to be a mockery. From the group ideas at the beginning of the unit I was set on pursuing the zombie idea. Here I thought i could have some fun drawing up the characters and be as creative as I wanted. I first drew up a storyboard to show what the personalities of the characters were going to be like. After sketching a few images, I then began to research more into the actual job looking at the different types of work an undertaker does. To gain further detailed research I was advised to ring up arrange an interview with an actual funeral director. This proved to be more difficult than I thought as a lot of the companies were family owned businesses and were constantly busy. I also felt quite aw quad and insensitive when talking to them as they were busy taking care of families deceased member. So I decided to ring up a bigger corporation. Finally I was able to have an over the phone interview where I got my questions answered. After acknowledging more information about the job and what person you have to be, I decided to drop my original zombie idea as it did’t feel that it would fit well with the characters I wanted to design. I quickly drew up another storyboard where I would used the style of a black and white 1950’s announcement video to show the personality of the characters. I decided that I was going to continue using the designing undertaker’s character but instead of continuing with the zombie idea I was going to replace it with a corpse character. This way any drawings I designed before I could still use them as further development. when it came to designing the both characters i focused mainly around the head area as I feel that more personality is shown through the face. I drew them to scale making sure that the lining on both views of the drawing were equal. Like the usual process I added colour to them on photo shop which I always enjoy. This is mainly because I like to see my drawings at their best. Here I created two versions of the characters where one in colour and the other is tinted black and white. I used this effect to make them look old and more in the style of my storyboard. I especially looked forward to the next stage when it came to importing these designs into Maya which is a program I am quite interested. Although it was not long until I realized how difficult and time consuming it is modelling a character truly was. I was able to shape a basic looking head of the undertaker where had to continuously alter the vertex points to make the cheekbones and jaw structure. I also halved the model so there were less points to move about. As I have not really attempted anything this big in Maya I soon felt out of my league and got stuck at times. Finding it frustrating instead of keeping it simple I kept creating more vertex points and ended up getting to complicated and mixed up. Instead I was advised to build my characters as an avatar in second life where I felt more familiar. Although I have never built a customized avatar properly which was also new to me. After looking at a few tutorials it seemed to be quite basic to understand. This was to simply add my original character designs over the second life templates, where they had to fit perfectly. This was a trail and error process and I had to alter a lot from my original designs. mainly because the scale I drew them at was either too big or small. Each part of the clothing had to attach in line with each other. Eventually I managed to fit everything together quite accurately but because the shape of my actual characters the clothing looked a little distorted and stretched. Never the less I found the process very interesting to do and would like to continue creating second life characters maybe as another project. I continued to work mainly in second life throughout the rest of the brief. where i created my own funeral home including an objects that relate to an undertakers job. These included coffins, gravestones etc. i also created my own hearse as it features as a main prop in my storyboard. to make the hearse more eye catching i tried to make it similar to the hot rod hearse from the programme the Munsters. As i was a bit limited with the textures, the overall model looked a little plain looking, making it very similar to a toy car. overall i still think it looked similar to a toy as i was a bit limited with textures the colours came off a little plain looking. To make the place look a little more professional work place i included tables and filing cabinets. What really worried me at this late stage was that i found out that I had to document the models and characters on second life as a moving image. With the lack of movements and gestures I was unsure what to actually film and with the mixed advice I started to worry. Eventually I decided to just take screen shots of the scenes which featured in my storyboard making them as a slider. To refer back to my original style of how i wanted my storyboard i made to versions. one slide is with colours from second life and the other has a tint over the top so it creates a 1950's feel to it. although i came across many complications over this unit i would still like to continue doing this sort of work in the future. I especially like to design more characters using second life but i will also like to learn more about the gestures and how i can create them.

Building an Undertaker Home

As i fell fairly confident, building in second life i decided to build a miniature Funeral Directors workplace. This way i could advertise the job over the Internet instead of in sequence. Here i built coffins, gravestones and i scanned in my original leaflet and posters and planted them around. Although it is basic it is more of a educational centre for anyone interested.

Second LIfe

As things didn't go to plan in maya i decided to make the character in second life as avatar creations. As i have not really created a custom second life character before it was quite new to me. These were made on photoshop using actual second life templates and by covering them over with my original designs. This is a very time consuming process and before importing it properly into the 3D world i had to be preveiw it and check it carefully to see that all of patterning on the parts fitted together accuratly.

Leaflet and Posters

With the designs that i had done and the information that i collected before i created a leaflet, advertiseing whats needed in becoming a funeral director and the stages of different jobs they take on. I also designed a few posters advertising the job itself, making them look like propagana designs.

Maya failure

Character Design stage 2

As i want to specilize in 3D character design my next step is to import the images as planes into maya and try and model round them.

Character Design stage one

After trying to draw the characters to perfect scale, i decided to change as i found this process to be difficult and limited. Especially when drawing the facial features they just looked crushed up and not very noticeable. so i drew in my own style with big heads and smaller bodies.

The undertaker

Trying to keep the undertaker character as a role model for teenagers i decided to give him a young look too, as if he had just left high school as well. Giving him big eyes and stylish hair.
Here are a few ideas.

The Corpse

Although i dropped the zombie idea i did not want to completey discard it all. So i used the original drawings and developed them into a corpse character, where i made him less grusome and more human looking. still keeping him expressionless.

Moodboard

This is my earlier research moodboard.

Style

Although i am designing the characters the style of the whole animation is very important to know. the reaon is because it gives me more ideas of the actual personality of the character. I especillay like the old corny stle of the old educational videos and the 1950's announcement videos.
These are some examples that i found.

storyboard 2

After learning more about undertaking i decided to alter my idea slightly still keeping the same style of it being humorous but educational as well.

Interview with the undertaker

After researching undertaking i was advised to have a talk to a real funeral director to gain further knowledge about the job itself. So i wrote out a few questions and tried to arrange an interview. Although it proved to be quite difficult finding someone who could help me as i went after smaller family businesses. Eventually i managed to get an over the phone interview with a larger company which proved to be very helpful.
These are the questions i asked
­­­

What are the presage’s when organising a funeral and who are the different staff involved?

Stage 1 Death-
The doctor pronounces the person to be deceased
The embalmer is called, who takes the body away.
Stage 2 Embalming-
The embalming has to be requested by a loved one or if it's really necessary
The body is disinfected and massaged so if rigamortis sets in the body is easier to move.
Body is shaved.
The body is then injected with a large amount of fluid which pushes the blood out.
Body organs are punctured letting any gas fluid out.
Cuts and bruises are covered with make up to make the body more presentable at funeral.
The body is then suited up, then put in the coffin

Stage 3-LAST RESPECTS
The body is returned to the family of the deceased for last respects
On the day of the funeral the body is then loaded into a Hurst and and driven by the undertaker to the church.

stage 4-FUNERAL
To make things less painful for the family the undertaker arranges the ceremonial service times, writes the obituary's and sorts out whether the body is to be buried or cremated.


What are the requirements and do you need any experience to be a funeral director?

No real legal training requirements needed , tend to be a family business which own their own funeral home.
Some funeral directors want a diploma or some sort of education experience.
Some Undertakers learn embalming as well.
No education is required for embalmers and can actually get work experience at a funeral homes.
Embalming licence is required after a completion science training program.

What type of clothing do you wear?

Depending on the deceased families religion
Undertakers wear a white shirt, black trousers, black waist coat, black blazer coat, top hats.
Mainly to be respectful to the mourning family and the deceased.
The tradition began when Prince Albert died and queen Victoria went through a stage of mourning wearing nothing but black.

What sort of person do you have to be to be a funeral director?

Strong hearted but sociable, Caring
Have to be empathetic and be highly respectful.
Has to be able to work on a 24 hour basis.

My first scaled up character

Using a ruler i managed to keep the main points of the character scaled accurantly(head),(arms),(torso)etc from front to side.

First zombie ideas

To show more of an idea of the personality of the zombie character, the first parts i sketched and focused on was the stance and then the main facal features making them as graphic as much as possible.

storyboard 1

My first ideas towards this breif was to advertise undertaker as a humourous joke. As the subject was to interest teenagers leaving high school i thought the idea of zombies would be a good catch towards them.

Unreal Tournament 3 Bio Rifle

Before playing a game I search through the website looking at characters and features. I especially like the designs of the weapons used in the game. What really caught my eye was the design of the Bio rifle. Mainly because it looks so complicated to model and the features look so animalistic, making it look perfect for a game set in the future. The colors and detailing really make more of an impact on the shape I think making it look more powerful and heavy.

les triplettes de belleville

I love the designs of the characters as they remind me of the style of caricatures. The bikers features are completely out of scale especially his nose and the bum shaped leg carves really make him look quite mutated and a lot older. the mother is also blown out of proportion making her look like the grumpy, bossy dwarf like character. the design of her is a striking similarity to the landlady character from the Mr Bean animated series.

Task 4

Swot Analysis
Freelance
Jim manning

Strengths

Working in Hampshire Jim Manning is a 2D, 3D freelance character designer. He is skilled in 3D modelling including rigging, texture creation, editing, postproduction, animation and web design. He is also skilled with many other film editing software such as after effects and premiere pro. Manning has had 11 years of experience working in this type of field where he has worked for a computer games company for 6 years. At the moment as well as solo freelancing he is the head artist at a 3d animatics company in London.

A lot of his work that he has produced is featured like a portfolio on his website at http://www.giembi.com/Home.php
The website serves its purpose and advertises his range of work. The font used on his website is highly visible to the naked eye, with the white font over the black background, all information is very clear. Manning is featured on other freelance websites, to attract more business, he advertises his own website link.

Weaknesses

His website is very basic and apart from his work it has no real attraction. There are no interactive features or onscreen animations and it looks very similar to many sites. As he works for a 3D animatic company his time spent on his freelance job is limited and may take longer to finish the job.

Company
EA Games

Strengths

Electronic arts, is a global online and in game corporation with multiple development locatons ranging from America, Canada, Germany, Britan, China and Austraila. Each office has the latest design software with a massive team of highly skilled staff for each spercific Job. The characters they design for are used by playstation 3, X box 360, PSP, Nintendo Wii, DS and many other computer consoles. There are numorous types of character design which are focused around four different types of games that EA Develop. These are Action games, Sports such as Madden, The Simms and Casual entertainment. With other multiple competitors, EA is constantly researching and updating characters from each of the four topics, keeping on top and createing newer interestes that will encourage a wider type of audience.

With the high popularity of some of tbe games EA are permanatly being advertised. The main Characters from a game are featured, on posters, Television adverts and in magezines such as PSM3. As well as being advertised on other various websites, EA also have there own fully fuctional website at http://www.ea.com/. It is a brightly coloured, visible informational website with various pictures of game charaters. It markets all of the games with the use trailers, screenshots, previews etc. It can be easily used and it features a search engine to help.

Weaknesses
When working for a large team problems can still accure where studios have to be shut down and large amounts of jobs can be cut are all at once. Although character design is not a problem, many of the EA games are platform games and are dependent on other game companies to design them. leading to limitations in design capabilities, graphics and game performance

When the Character design process has ended there are still other parts of the game that are need to be finished, dilaying the distribution time for the entire team. When fully completed the game has to be released around certain times of the year like christamas. During the sales the costs lower making the games less profitable.

Opportunities

Newer and more realistic army games can be made to recreate a simulation for a solider in training, featuring voice commands and instructional coaching. These simulation games can also be used in other important government fields such as medical and educational training

Threats

When creating a game and selling it it is mandatory to make a profit for the gaming console process to continue.

Task 3

Promoting myself.
There are a several ways in which I could promote myself so my work can be seen by a wide range of people. As I specialize in 3D character design a lot of my final work would be computer based. A good way of advertising my work is by using the world wide web as it is scouted every day. Here I can create a website or blog where I can show a series of pictures of my work. using other popular media sites such as you tube can be useful where I create slide shows. I can also make links for people to click on where they would be redirected to more of features.
Another advantage of character design is that they are all still images and can be printed off. This way my work could be shown by poster, pictoplasma books and any other flat surfaced objects. I can also include some of my final 2D development designs as well as the 3D. Gallery exhibitions are also a good way of promoting my work as interests accrue, I can talk one on one to the client. Business cards can also be given out to potentional customers at animex and game festivals, leading on to further jobs in the future.
My work can be used both in gaming and film. If they are made as motion and sold my design will be continually advertised.

Task 2

As I specize in character design I would want to work at a games or animation company. The reasoning for this is because both of them are wide ranged media industries and I think my work would be best suited around these areas. Companies like these are usually worked by a team of people which I think would suit me better as I like to have ideas thrown at me so I can develop them further.
I would preffer to emigrate and work abroad especially in Canada or America where a lot of studios are based and are continully growing. Some of the companies which interest me at the moment are ubisoft and radical enterainment. Edios have also opened a new facily in montreal.
I have looked at the different websites where jobs are needed throughout the uk and internationally. The two best websites that I have found to be quite useful are

http://www.gamesrecruit.co.uk/GameDesignerJobs.aspx
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/

Although a lot of jobs that I have looked at require some sort of experience.

POLITICAL
As in any job I have to start somewhere and sell myself. If I was to work in England I would like to remain in Yorkshire area, as I am more familiar with it. Media industries are not just set down south any more and are growing everyday throughout the rest England. Video games companies are getting bigger, and more branches are being opened all over. Rockstar games are good example as they have recently opened a studio in Leeds. What I would really like to do is to work abroad where games and animation companies are more common creating a wider range of jobs. This could prove to be more difficult as I would need a visa and the correct documentation

Economics
As I said before I would like to work in a team, I would also have to make business cards to get myself known and attend interviews starting off from a lower position in a company chain. Eventually work my way up through industry. By doing this I will gain more experience and knowledge.

Society.
I would most defiantly want emigrate to either Canada of America as a lot of the popular games companies today are based there. I have visited Toronto twice and deeply enjoyed being there as I found the people to be warm and friendly. I also have close friends of the family living there. For better reasons it would be a lot easier to get to grips people by working in an English speaking society.

Technology
As I want to model 3D objects the technology that I use would have be at the latest standard of software, which could prove to be very expensive for me to buy myself. Some companies use very similar but different programs from others. So if I were to work for them I would think they would have there own facilities. Otherwise if any other 2D design work is requires I would simply use pen a paper and a Photoshop program.

Task 1

My name is Rob Smith

Pros

Maya
Photoshop
Illustrator
Second life
Draw be hand

Cons

Flash
Scripting
Video
Motion graphics and Effects

Conclusion
3D Character and environment designer.

I like to start off by hand sketching several basic images mainly character designs. These consist off drawing it from different views usually front, back and sides of the image. After then develop them more on Photoshop. This includes adding color, shading and touching up any other marks and details. I then continue with Photoshop and line up the edges of the image using the ruler tool so that every part is the same size and then I cut the out. Each image is then imported into a 3D program such as Maya, where I use polygons and modify and extrude them to fit the outlines around the original drawings. Different hyper shades and textures are then added to the object to give color. Finally the whole character is rigged with pipes and joints and is then prepped for movement for animation sequence.

My main influences are brought on from watching films and playing various computer games. I have always had a wide and varied imagination, and like to design 3D objects and character's to be used for short films, games and animations.

rota scope shading

To give the snow border more realism and shape i decided to go through the frames again and add some light and darkness on the sides. i also chose to add the shading on every two slides so it would make a flickering effect when in motion making it look more like it had been filmed.

After effects process

Snow board Footage

After searching through YouTube looking for a camera shot from the front of the snowboard i finally was able to find some footage. As the camera is attached to the front of the board it captures the all of the snowboarders body and every agile movement he makes when coming down the hill. The only problem is that i cant see much of the actual front of the snowboard so after the major rota scoping is done ill have to create my own shape and add it near the tip of the feet.

Exposure Fonts

After looking through different books and websites at typography trying to find a perfect style for my title i narrowed it to these nine fonts. Thinking more about it i just need a simple style that would be a suitable match for the shows topics and tone of voice. To me the first three fonts stood out more as the others tended to give off to much bold and in your face action look.

silhouette 1

This was my first attempt at trying the block colored silhouette idea. Drawn by hand on after effects this was a frame shot from a previous video and in motion i think would prove to be very effective. In future because the color tools in after effects are more limited with a low variety instead i will import the original video footage to photoshop or flash.

ipod advert

As well as the scribble rotoscoping i also like the silhouette cover. like the ipod trailer and the previous catch me if you can trailer the silhouette effect again i feel it is quick way to add color but i like it as blanks out any unneeded background of clothing and it keeps the one color on the important features that create a lot of movement.

rotoscoping style

I like scribble style as it cheap but yet shows continuous movement making it more like a cartoon effect.

main footage

My original idea was to create the snow boarder as a model in Maya. As I am not that familiar with the rigging process to create the animation I decided to simplify things by looking at recorded footage of other extreme sports e.g. snowboard, skateboarding and create a rota scope effect for each selected slide making it in my own style. The footage between 1.01 to 1.26 of this film is a good example of what kind of view i would like to record from.

zoom

morph

Lightning

Exposure Storyboard

Although the snowboarding seemed like a good idea i would still have to incorporate other parts of shows that are broadcasted on the Exposure Channel. This includes gadgets and media and wildlife from the discovery programmes, etc.

Similar to the work of the Marvel introduction sequence where multiple parts of comic strips are flipped forward like a book. I would like to add these in as quick flash images as well throughout the main video.

snowboard idea

My Second idea was for the Exposure brief, as this channel is based on capturing of action through a lens it gives of the subject a wider range of possibilities. I got my main idea from watching the fast paced down hill snow boarding scene from the film triple x. As Exposure documents extreme sports i thought that i decided to consider this highly and maybe recreate my own clip maybe as a 3D animation.

My first choice from the breif was to pick the UFO idea as i felt i could be more creative with the alien and spaceship designs. This way i could also focus using maya as well as aftereffects for the modeling side.

Catch Me If You Can

I found this Fringe video sequence to be interesting as it starts from an example of a small piece of microscopic forensic evidence and then it leads of to something else connected to it. This quickly gives the viewers the first ideas of what the show is about.

First Ideas

What i like about this video is the block color silhouette style of the characters and would possibly like to reuse the idea myself.

Digital Media Year TWO

Second Life Final Shots

These are the most recent shots of our second life project. New Objects, sounds and basic facts have been added and scripted catching the users eye. When any chosen appliance is clicked it then redirects you to websites containing more detailed energy saving information about that item.
Bedroom shot 2

Bedroom Shot 1

Bathroom Shot 2

Bathroom shot 1

Small Bedroom

Landing

Kitchen

Lounge Shot 2

Lounge Shot 1

Solar Panels

Wind Turbine

Outside the House

Second Life Update Development Shots

Bathroom

Large Bedroom

Small Bedroom

Stairs

Front Room

Kitchen

Front House