MDDN 241, Project 2B, Progress

I have had to make a couple changed to my animation for this project.

1. I have gotten rid of my characters eye lids because they wouldn't go the way i wanted them to go after I added the blend shapes in his eyes.

2. Because I have gotten rid of his eye lids he cant close his eyes when the mail man comes by. So what I am going to do is to make my character look down at the ground and not looking at the mail man.

3. Because my screen isn't going black because he isnt closing his eyes I have had to animate a bike so it can go in front of my character. I have only modeled the wheels and the frame because that is all the is going to be in view of the camera

DSDN 144, Project 3, Reflection

I really liked this project for photography. I had a lot more fun with taking these photos. Mainly because of the anticipation on waiting to see what the photos would come out like, and the amazing feeling I got
when the photos come out the way I wanted. I decided to go with the green and white lights for a couple reasons. 1, by the time I took my third shoot the red and blue lights started to run out of battery. 2, The red and blue ones kind of mixed together in the image to form a third colour where this didn't happen with the green and white.
I think that I managed to show the idea of light giving us direction because you can see the curves of the light path in my photos. There isn't much more that I would do differently if I were to do this project again. I think that my photos came out really well. The only thing i could think of to make them look better would be if i were about to keep the pole which i used to travel in a perfect horizontal line, which would be quite hard to do. But overall I am happy with the outcome of this project.

DSDN 144, Project 3 Finals

I have chosen to use the four images from my third shoot as my finals. I think that these four show the idea of direction the most and the colours of the lights come out much better than the other colours.

MDDN 241, Project 2B

I have now fully finished rigging, parenting and using blend shapes for my character for this project
The rigging and parenting turned out to the one of the hardest parts of this project so far. I have also put my character into the scene.

Here are 3 of the emotions which I am using

Sad

Surprised

Angry

DSDN 144, Project 3, Third Shoot

For my third shoot I went back to the same place as my second because I thought I got some really nice photos there last time.

I also used two more colours for my light drawings which I actually believe came out much better than the red and blue

Open publication - Free publishing - More light

I really like these four photos because I think these ones show what I am trying to get across the most. And I think that the White and Green look much better than the red and blue.

DSDN 144, Project 3, Light

Proposal

From my first shoot I have decided to slightly change my proposal because the photos which i got didn't really show what I wanted it to show.

So here is my new proposal for this project

For my third photography project I have decided to go with the pure study of light choice. I am thinking about focusing on working with the idea of light to be used to show direction. I am mainly thinking about how in airplanes in a emergency that there will be lights on the ground which will turned on and be used to direct people to the exits. My idea is to attach about 10 small lights to a rod. I am thinking about using a contrast of colours, so I was thinking either red and blue or white and green, and to get someone to talk along the edge of the pathway so what when I take a photos with a slow shutter speed it should show an image kind of like a wall which will follow the pathway. I am thinking about shooting at Aotea Lagoon like I did for my first shoot for project 1. There are many curved walkways there which will help me show different directions instead of keeping it with a straight walkway.

DSDN 144, Weekly Task

HDR image

For this weekly task I took an HDR image of my back garden, i chose it because it has a a lot of bright colours and good depth.

I really like how this image turned out and I think that it could be a good tool to use in the future

DSDN 144, Project 3, Second shoot

Here is my second photo shoot for project 3

Open publication - Free publishing - More light

I like some of the photos which came out of this shoot. There are some photos which I haven't put the light trails in because I was trying to get good lighting for the photos. I had to stop taking photos there because it started to rain. I want to go back to the place where I took these photos because there are some other spots there where I think that I may be able to get some other good photos. 

DSDN 144, Project 3, Progress

For when I do my photo shoots I have made something which I am calling a light stick. I have gotten 4 different coloured lights and have attached them all to the wooden stick. I have put two colours on each side so that I can get a good contrast of colours

MDDN 241, Project 2B, Progress

I have almost finished with modeling my environment. For my environment  I am just modeling plain suburban street. To make this I have just modeled a house which I am modeling it off this image.

When I have modeled the house i am going to duplicate it several times to make it look like a street. And then i am duplicating my character the same amounts as the house and just changing the main colour. I am also put in some trees to give it a more street look.

DSDN 144, Weekly assignment

Here is my weekly assignment. The light drawing. I wrote the word Dirty and was going to do a star but ran out of time. Dirty is in reference to my favorite clothing like called Dirty Couture

DSDN 144, First Shoot

Here is my first shoot for DSDN 144, There are some photos here that i really like. I have a couple ideas from this photo shoot. I had 2 ideas in this photo shoot. Some of my photos are following my proposal and the other one i saw some lights in the scene that matched the lights which i have so i decided to draw lines from that light source to kind of show light going away from the source. I really like how it looked and I am thinking that i maybe able to expand on that

Open publication - Free publishing - More design

DSDN 144, Project 3, Precedents

Something which I found which I really liked was images where people used light to show where the difference in Wifi Strengths are. They were created by Timo Arnall, Jorn Knutsen and Einar Sneve  Martinussen.

I like how in these photos in some way show direction and are somehow making a barrier of light where you might not want to walk through if you actually knew they were there. This is something which I could try and reproduce in my own way to show direction. Maybe like having the height of the light to increase the more distance away from the camera 

They also documented their process of making these images in this video

DSDN 144, Project 3, Light

For my third project I am thinking about focusing on working with the idea of light to be used to show direction. I am mainly thinking about how in airplanes in a emergency that there will be lights on the ground which will com up and be used to direct people to the exits. For this i am thinking about taking photos on the side of streets and get a couple people to help me and for them to each hold a blue and a red light. I want them to walk on the footpath and use the blue light to draw lines on the side which people are meant to be able to walk on and then use the red to draw a line on the road to show that they aren't meant to be able to walk there.

DSDN 144, Project 3, Precedents

My Third artist model for this project is Grzegorz Rogala. He does quite a bit of light drawings with cars and uses their headlights to show the light in the images. I found these images at a site called www.shutterexperiments.com.

Using cars to help show direction could be something which I could try and do. The only problem I would think of for this project is that i have no way to secure my camera while I am driving in the car. There will be some way which I could do it but I will sort that out if i decide to do this idea.

DSDN 144, Project 3, Precedents

Another artist that I have looked at for this project is Eric Staller. He made light drawings in the 70's at night time in New York. Some of this work kind of relates to how I want my project to turn out because some of this work looks like he had the idea of direction in mind when he took these.

I really like theses photos but would take a while to set up. Getting some images that show what these photos are trying to show could be pretty cool. I am going to have to get someone to help me with taking photos like this because I don't think that i could do it all by myself

DSDN 144, Project 3, Light

Brainstorm

CCDN 271, Assignment 3 Hand In

CCDN 271, Assignment 3

Substantiating Claims

For my Research assignment I am asking the question, why are people attached to their mobile phones? In this day and age most people in the first world have a mobile phone. They have become such a major aspect of people’s everyday lives that they have become an integral part of us.  People have become so attached to their mobile phone that it has become a sort of obsession.  I believe the reason why people have become so attached to their mobile phones is because phones can now do almost anything in a convenient, portable compact unit. With the IPhone for example, you can not only call and text, but also surf the web, check emails, and socialize with other people while on the move.

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald written by Barry Park (2012) on the 19^th of March this year, titled ‘Smartphones and tablets lead dashboard revolution’ talks about how Geneva Motors are starting to incorporate smart phones and tablets into their new car models. They ask the question ‘why do we have a greater attachment to the phone than the car’. I think that is because most people do have a mobile phone, where as not many people have a car so they haven’t become a part of many peoples everyday life. In the article, Associate Professor Frank Vetere from the University of Melbourne’s department of computing and information systems, says the reason why people are so attached to their mobile phones is because ‘of our inherent need to communicate’ He goes on to say that the role of a mobile phone is really important in peoples lives, especially in younger people, and that they use their phones to control a lot of their personal life. Vetere states that ‘Once people start expressing themselves through their phones, they're going to form an attachment, so [for younger people] there's an attachment with a phone’

I think article is extremely relevant to my research topic. As is does give one answer to my question. The answer Vetere gives in the article isn’t the only answer to my research question but it gives a very good one. A mobile phone is something that people can personalize to reflect who they are, whether it is the case they use or the background picture, it is a way of communicating and expressing themselves to the world.  I agree with what Vetere says about our need to communicate- that we want to be able to keep in touch with people.

If everyone had the exact same phone, there would be nothing special to distinguish one from another, so I think  people wouldn’t care about it as much and it would just become an object that everybody has. If that were the case, people wouldn’t be able to show off what they have or express to the world who they are. The ability to express ourselves with an object is one of the reasons I believe that people get attached to their objects, no matter what they are. So I think that what Vetere says provides good evidence to explain why people are attached to their cellphones.

Reference:

Park, B. (2012, March 19). Smartphones and tablets lead dashboard revolution. Stuff.co.nz. From http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/motoring/6598982/Smartphones-and-tablets-lead-dashboard-revolution

MDDN 241, Project 2B development

I have started to use rigging on my character. This was quite a hard thing to get around. This has also made me think about a few changes in my characters design which i am going to change.

For the Rigging I have given my character a few main bones for his body. The main joint in his body though is in his post. I have made a joint close to the middle of his pole and made it that everything bellow  the joint wont be effected by his movement and everything above will be effected

I have decided to get rid of his arms because it is become to hard to  get to stay in the same place on the body of my character when I have weighted it.

DSDN 144, Project 2, Reflection

I think that the 6 images which I chose to use for my finals are quite good and do tell that there is a difference at the 2 spots even though they are only approximately 24 hours apart of each other. I wish I could have used images from my fourth shoot because I believe that those ones had more strong photos but I could use any because they weren't as close to the other images from the other two shoots. I had to use a lot more slow shutter speeds for this project, especially in the first shoot where it was a very cloudy day and didn't’t get much light. It was also quite hard to take photos from the exact same spot each day, so I decided that there are some place which I am going to shoot from and get them as close to the other shoots as possible. I am lucky that the weather permitted me to be able to take photos and still show what I was trying to show, because if it were raining I wouldn't’t be able to take photos. By the end of my second shoot it did start to rain though. But overall I think I did a really good job at taking these photos.

DSDN 144, Project 2, Hand in

Here are my Final image which I have chosen to use for Project 2
They are meant to be compared with the image with the same image number but on the other day

Day 1 Image 1

Day 2 Image 1

 Day 1 Image 2

 Day 2 Image 2

Day 1 Image 3

Day 2 Image 3

MDDN 241, Project 2A, Storyboard

Here is my story board for project 2A. Some things may change between now and the final animation but will be very close to the original story

Open publication - Free publishing - More animation

MDDN 241, Project 2A, Maya Design

Here are four pictures of my character for this project. I have done a few changes from my original concept. Like I have made his eyes 0's and made his number 100 so he can have two eyes and makes it look even more like a letterbox. For this mouth I have given him a mail slot. This will be able to move because of this facial expressions.

MDDN 241, Project 2A, Character Description

My Character for the second project is Larry the Letterbox. My idea for a letterbox came from Lebbeus Woods. One of his designs made me think of a locker, which was one of my other ideas, and then the letter box came from that idea.

If I were a letterbox I would imagine that all I would think about each day is getting mail. That his whole entire life and purpose in life is to just wait for mail. So that is what Larry does, he just stands around and waits for mail. So I started to think that if a mail box didn’t have any mail in it but all the ones around him does, then it would start to feel quite sad and depressed. But when he gets mail he would then feel amazing and overjoyed. I want Larry to be one of those letterboxes which have a flag on him so he and everyone else knows that he has mail. I decided to give him arms so that he can play with his flag and try to give himself mail just to cheer him up. He will only be able to move using his stand which is secured to the ground so he can’t just get up and move.

His personality all depends on whether he has mail or not. When he has mail he will be really happy and feel like he has filled his purpose in life. But when he doesn’t have mail he will be all grumpy and quite depressed. His Flaws are that he is very quick to change his emotions, and gets very angry easily

Larry will fit into it just like a normal letter box would. Because he is a letter box his environment is outside a house. I want my house to be in a somewhat American Suburban street so that every house, tree, letterboxes are all the same and in the exact same pattern.

MDDN 241, Project 2A, Script

Here is the Script for my MDDN 241 Project 2B animation

MDDN 241

Project 2A Pre-Production

Written Script

Characters:

Larry the Letterbox

Scene 1

Scene starts pitch black

Camera view from just inside Larry

Larry Opens His eyes as though he is waking up

Viewers only see through his eyes the rest stays black.

Fades to black

Fades In

Camera showing a front on view of Larry

Larry wakes up to start his day of collecting mail

Starts off happy

Larry moves his left hand up to reach for his flag

Realizes that his flag is down

Gives a shocked/surprised facial expression

Camera moves around to show the left side of Larry’s body where his flag is

Larry Twists to his right to see the house next to his

Camera follows Larry’s view and looks up the street

Sees the letterbox for the next house has its flag up

Turns back to original position

Sad facial expression on Larry’s face

Twists to his left to see the other letterbox next to him

Camera follows Larry’s view and looks down the street

Sees other letterbox has its flag down.

Turns back to original position

A relieved Expression on Larry’s face

Exhales in a way which shows that he is relieved that he isn’t the only one

Hear Bicycle bell sound to tell that the mailman is arriving.

Excited expression

Larry closes his eyes in anticipation to get mail

Fades to Black

End of Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene Fades back into front view of Larry

Excited Larry opens his eyes expecting to have mail

Excited with anticipation

Reaches up to touch his flag but once again the flag isn’t up.

Disappointed expression

Twist to his left to see house down the road

Camera follows Larry’s view and looks down the street

Sees house down the street now has its flag up

Returns to original position

Sad expression on Larry’s face

Larry starts to get angry

Starts to hit his head onto the ground in front of him

Larry gets an idea

Grabs flag and try to twist it to upwards position

Flag Stays in place

Larry has a sense of accomplishment on his face

Flag Stays for a little bit but then falls back down

Gets interrupted by the sound of the bicycle bell again

Larry fed up with not getting mail reluctantly closes his eyes

Fades to Black

End of Scene 2

Scene 3

Fades back to front view of Larry

The expression on his face shows that he isn’t really bothered with this anymore

Larry being fed up reaches up to try and feel flag

Larry touches standing up flag

Surprised expression

Larry starts to get excited and swings from side to side

Has a sense of accomplishment on his face

Reluctantly touches flag just incase it falls back down

Flag stays still

Has a relieved expression

Gets interrupted sound of door opening

Closes his eyes

Huge grin on his face just like how he starts scene 1

Fades to black

End of scene 3

Scene 4

Fades In

Camera showing a front on view of Larry

Larry wakes up to start his day of collecting mail

Still with Grin on his face

Larry moves his left hand up to reach for his flag

Fades to Black

End of Scene 4

End of animation

MDDN 241, Project 2A, Character in Motion

Because my Character is going to be attached to the ground by a pole it doesn't give him much or a range in motion. But i want to show that the pole is a part of him and moves with him. So in my images i wanted to show that he can bend his pole and also twist it into a position which is possible.

For emotion my Character is also going to be using a lot of movement to show his emotion, like in the image bellow when he is swinging from side to side it shows that he is happy, and when he is hitting his head on the ground he will be angry. There will be some facial expressions which will go with this but that is the main ideas.

MDDN 241, Project 2A, environment

Because my Character is a letterbox the environment for him will be outside a house. But i also want him to look up and down the street he is in so i want to environment to be a suburban street where most of the houses where they all have the same layout. I want to do this because it will be easier when I make the scene, so instead of making 3+ different houses all i need to do is make 1 and then I can duplicate them as many times as i need.
I found this photo which is really close to what I want my environment to look like when I have built it on maya.

I took a Photo of my house which is going to be the base for my houses in my animation and also took a photo from up and down the street which is the other 2 main camera angles which i am going to have in my animation.

MDDN 241, Project 2A, Orthographic image

I have chosen that I am going to go with my third idea which was the letter box idea. Because i want to give him a bit more life I have decided that i am going to name him Larry the Letter box. I have done a front and side on sketch of him. Both of the images have the same size so that is the scale I would like him to have.