Project 8-bit

What happened afterwards

2009-07-03T22:50:00.005+01:00

hello guys, it's been a very long time since I posted something. Ok here is some of the updates.
I've got a first for my film and I've won the best moving image award in my year.

Anyway the main highlight is that G.U.4 has been accept by bitfilm 2009. and you can view it by the following link:

Please support it guys!!!

Character Design

2009-05-29T01:56:00.001+01:00

Here is one of my character I've drawn out in Photoshop.

It was one of the beginning point towards this design.

Airbrushing painting

2009-05-29T01:43:00.003+01:00

If you seen the preview then you seen this drawing below:

This is the photoshop painting I've quickly speed painted. It was fun to draw

To make the image looks 8 bit pixel, I just used mosaic filter to add the effects and it works.

DVD casing

2009-05-29T01:21:00.009+01:00

I finally finish my short film, yah. Though it lacks sound for now, I'm going to add them later.

Anyway here is the DVD case along with my DVDs. I really like it as it looks really old school video game cover.

Based on my promotional poster post:

http://retro-8bit.blogspot.com/2009/05/promotional-poster.html

http://retro-8bit.blogspot.com/2009/04/game-covers.html

Now I'm making the special features for my DVD.

I feel as though I really pushed myself towards to the standard of a professional level and I'm really pleased with myself with that. However I wish I could of been more careful with the narration.

1 day countdown - rendering some good sh*t

2009-05-28T09:21:00.004+01:00

I'm feeling tired after working these last couple of days but it's going to pay off once I finish the film, yeah. Right now I'm rendering and I'm fixing up some of my work at the time being. So expect the film to be finish quite soon today. The rendering is a b*tch and it's taking me forever so I have to reduce the action/animation abit.

At the mean time I can work on my RVJ.

CGI craze

2009-05-28T01:04:00.006+01:00

With my final scene in 3d, all I can say is that I'm almost there

Ok I barely fixed my character rig, I'm working on the blend shape of my character facial such as eyes and mouth. They're not going to be complex expression. The paint cluster is done and now I'm doing abit of facial animation:

I think I can finish my film tommorow though I'm not really happy with it at the moment but I think I can touch it up after uni finishes.

3Ding some stuff

2009-05-27T23:30:00.005+01:00

Ok rigging it wasn't much of a difficult job but the paint weight cluster can be annoyance, shown below:

The head and neck movement is ok but it's the lower body, I'm concerning about at the moment.

So the 3d scene shouldn't involve with too much movement because my model has flaws with it at the moment until I fix it.

2 Days Left!!!

2009-05-27T18:05:00.006+01:00

I've finally finish the 2d scenes, all is left is the transition to 3d scene and this is going to be fun.

I've shown some people about my film, they said that they can see alot of effort in making the film however there rooms for improvement:

The text sequence needs abit slower.

The deja vu scene - might need to show the repetitive of the game play scene.

Sound is needed.

Other than that things are looking positive for now, now I need to end the conclusion of my film and it's finish. Hopefully I get it done by tonight.

Expect G.U.4 finish by tommorow.

A little preview

2009-05-27T00:02:00.001+01:00

I've uploaded abit of my film onto vimeo, feel free to check it out:

3 Days Countdown!!

2009-05-26T19:55:00.005+01:00

Here is an update of my short film, I fixed the problem with my computer crashing while using the Digieffects plugin for After effects. Basically I had to render the glitch scenes in jpeg sequence and re-import them in my composition. It's a hassle but I've got it done.

Check out the screen shot below:

Scenes that I need to do:

Paranoid Scene
Running away from screen
The button scene
The 3d transition

The 2d scenes are almost finish, the other scenes aren't that difficult to animate comapred to the gameplay scene. The thing with 8-bit, because of the limitation of the technology they're had to make everything in it's simplistic form including animation, music and visual. With animation, the limitation of 8-bit only allowed most game in the early generation 3 frames to move.

Funny thing is that I had self doubt about me finishing the whole film but now that I've done most scenes, I feel rather confident in finishing everything.

Damn you AE plugin

2009-05-26T11:57:00.002+01:00

The worst thing there can be is that when rendering files, the program crashed!!!

I spent an hour figuring out whats going wrong and I've found out it's the DE Plugin Skew behind it all. So I had to render it in low quality which comes in to my advantage because it's distorted the footage and it's blurry.

4 DAYS LEFT!!!

2009-05-25T17:44:00.006+01:00

Well my aim to finish everything by tommorow seems very unlikely with the progression I've made, however I think my film has many unnecessary part and this would effect my whole narration. So I'm going to keep it short and simple for now.

So I'm getting rid of the running away from the screen bit besides from the controller port 1 scene.

The action sequence is finally done!!! I'm not going to touch it because it was a headache.

Anyway the walk cycle is done but looks rather funny when setting in 24fps so I had to change to 30fps. Now I'm working on the beginning glitch, I don't think it's going to be difficult but rather time consuming.

New colour scheme

2009-05-25T08:59:00.007+01:00

Here is what my character going to be, with the new colour scheme it's looking much better and more eye catching.

Vector render:

Render in mental ray:

Here in Flash, I'm tracing over the top of the place holder. It's so time cinsuming but it will worth it in the end.

3D stuff

2009-05-24T17:21:00.006+01:00

Here is the new update of the hero character:

More render testing the lighting/shadow along with vector render:

Sidescroller camera with mental ray and Vector render: Now I need to rig it and the skin cluster paint is going to be quite time consuming, but now I'm happy with the 3d stuff for now. Well things are looking quite positive for now and I'm hoping I can make it by Tuesday...

Not much update

2009-05-23T22:04:00.007+01:00

The first scene where there is crazy actions is done, all that needs to be done is replacing my character. But it looks really convincing as a game.

What can I say, the gameplay sequence is the most time consuming

Here is the corrupted /glitch scene:

I'm making the character in 3d first so I have the right adjustments when transitioning between the 2d and 3d sequence. I'm going to use blend shape to animate the eyes and mouth for the facial bits.

Animating in progress

2009-05-22T22:44:00.007+01:00

With a week left, my aim is to get my animation done by Tuesday so I have to get this done as soon as possible and also meaning I won't be getting any much sleep.

The game play intro scene is probably the most tedious and has to be tweeked alot. But I actually enjoyed making it. I had to use alot motion tweening, motion guide, movie clips etc.

As you can see I'm using existing game character for now as I can easily trace on top of it.

Here is the scene where the hero goes off screen away from the viewers:

The thing I'm annoyed with After Effects is that with swf files, after effects can't read the movie clips so I have to export it as quicktime and this means that it reduces the quality but luckually my old tv vfx covers it up.

The text narration scene in the beginning is completed and I had to set the timing alot so that people can read it. But I couldn't found the sfx for the dotting sound when text is playing out.

Here is the sound I'm looking for when text is rolled out:

I've found this application that produces 8-bit video game sfx:

What if Street Fighter II was released in 1982?

2009-05-22T14:50:00.002+01:00

I've just checked out this clip and what if Street Fighter was released for the atari and here is the results:

Anyway this just proves that people back in the days has to use imagination to think whats happening.

Arm Rig test

2009-05-21T13:17:00.005+01:00

I wasn't sure whether a square object in maya can be animated probably.

But after looking at people's work such as mcbess and cgi lego animation, it became more clear about how it works.

So I've done a quick rig test on the arm to see how the bending went and it went pretty well. I've added the IK handle to the bones.

As you can see below, the arms is has low polygon count and the bending works fairly well.

Here is a rig plan I've drawn out for the polygon and bone structure:

Character Design

2009-05-20T08:15:00.008+01:00

My art direction is early 8 bit pixel grpahics so the graphics should be somewhere between the Artai and the NES. Colour Scheme should be like White, red and Blue (like sonic, Mario, Dig Dug and Bomber Man).

Here are some of the character sketches I've done:

I've approach to character design in a different way and I've played with lego:

The character I've created in Flash below looks like Earthbound/pokemon/ Link character:

Here are some websites I've checked out for character design research:
Computer Arts - 20 character design tips
Digital Arts - Games Character
Digital Arts - How to create commercial characters

Short animated test

2009-05-19T00:02:00.004+01:00

Here is a short test I've done, one of my concern is that I think the character is took small so I'll have to rescale it. But in a way it kind of explains that my character in the story is small and vulnerable.

I've used this character to do this short test. Anyway it turned out pretty sweet because the animation walk cycle isn't that difficult based on the file I've got.

What I liked about 8 bit is the style of cycling pattern/texture and this becomes rather repitive and easier for me to make.

Check out the low quality:

I've rendered a new clip with the old tv look and it looks really nice.

Some design stuff

2009-05-18T00:14:00.005+01:00

Here are some of the design of the background such as the clouds, sky, trees etc which will be linked to the game level.

One of the aim in design that it has to be simple and blocky so that I can easily reproduce them in 3d.

Here is a place holder to see how the camera: Anyway this is a preview on making the level.

3D preparation

2009-05-17T00:12:00.005+01:00

I have only 2 weeks to finish everything, argh (Panic level raising)!! But I reckon I can complete everthing by then.

Anyway I've been preparing the 3d stuff, for example colours which will be important when changing from 2d to 3d because it would be obvious and I want it to be a seemingless transition.

Sorting out the colour by changing the RGB.

The sky and ground:

Lastly a quick render and yes this is actually 3d:

It would lead to Tibori reto style scene.

Vector and Mental Ray blend test

2009-05-16T00:52:00.003+01:00

A while ago, I had people commenting which render is better with the vector or the mental ray.
I found a solution, I'm going to use both, here is a short test I've done to blend the two render together:

This will be used in the scene where the character goes 3d.
I think it goes really well for this particular scene because the whole imagery goes quite darker because of the lighting setting I've made.

Look at the pretty clouds

2009-05-15T00:40:00.002+01:00

One of the new scenes I've added is the panning down shot from the space to the sky. I've decided to add this mainly because I want the film to be more outside the small video game world rather than restricting it.

Here is a preview of the shot:

This scene is a combination of Flash and Photoshop. The gradient was done in Photoshop and mosaic to create the stripe toning effect. The other rest are done in Flash.

Corrupted Data

2009-05-14T00:10:00.004+01:00

If you remember some time ago, I've researched on glitch/corrupted games.

So I tried to find a way to recreate this certain look and check out below:

After this scene, it leads to the red screen of death.

I'm happy with the blocks of corrupted data but I couldn't found the size to change them but at least I've made it look like corrupted.

Here are two video clips I've looked at, in attempt to recreate a freeze/glitch moment:

The background scenery progress

2009-05-13T01:06:00.003+01:00

Based on my previous post on the design of the level. I've used Flash to make the background because flash is vector and when you size them, it's still keeps its smoothness:

I've tried importing the swf file to After Effects whether it works. But as you can see below, when I resize the image it becomes blurry so I guess I have to animate the background in Flash:

I've been looking at existing old games to see how to make more old school 8-bit and below are two NES games, someone manage to create a wide image of the games level:
Noah's ark:
Milon's Secret Castle:

Game level Design

2009-05-12T14:04:00.004+01:00

With my film, there would be no cuts. It would be a single camera shot until the 3d stage.

Here is the design of the stages that the Hero would overcome:

The Red box are the scenes of the storyboards.

Now I have to make the scenery, but it looks like a game now.

Game Level

2009-05-11T11:38:00.005+01:00

I've followed the principles of Parallax scrolling (Note: this is not the final level image, this is only a temporary placement):

I'm liking the clouds so far, before it was rather boring to look at. But now it gave an atmosphere.

I'm going to use flash to create the level.

Here is the Start screen test, I've done:

Text based narration

2009-05-10T12:56:00.006+01:00

Here is a quick update status on my short film. I've used the same model cartridge.

And I've made a quick sticky label in photoshop:

Here is a mental ray render of the cartidge:The pixelation of the image:

Lastly putting it in the composition:

This is the style of text narrations plays out:

Promotional Poster

2009-05-07T23:17:00.008+01:00

I went to print out some stuff today because the next couple of week are going to be crazy with Graphics students going to fight over the printers.

Anyway this is my promotional poster I've made: It is inspired by Olly Moss for his Penguin classic book design that made the cover look really classy. You can look for more details here. The font I've used is Gill Sans and now it looks really cool. The artwork is kept similar to my original idea.

I've used a combination of Photoshop, Illustrator and Maya to make this.

I'm also making an Eboy style poster with my sprite character sheet.

Whats happening so far in Project 8-bit

2009-05-06T16:29:00.005+01:00

Yesterday I went to print some postcards and they look sweet.

I've finalised my idea, my original idea was to have visuals of different video game generation but after realizing that it is going to be impossible to do everyone of them, I've decided to stick with the 2d 8-bit look. Mostly because I'm listening to Kelvin advice to keep the quirky 8-bit style.
However I will keep the 3d elements where they will be a seemingless transition between the 2d and 3d.
I'm using the theory of showing something closeup then slowly revealing the whole which will cause an emotional response of awe. This theory was based on the Flatpacked Festival in the Unpacked - Reverse Engineering with Jim Le Fevre and Nic Rawling.

Narration wise, I've changed it abit but it still have the original story where the hero of the game tries to get away from the user. But I've improve areas such as the interactive between the user and the character.

Animatics

2009-05-05T19:01:00.013+01:00

My first animatic:

The problem with it is that it was confusing and it wasn't interesting to watch so I had to go back to the drawing board and redo most of the scenes.

My final Animatic:
Uploading in progress...

The ending is a bit niff, What I had in mind is that after it has the 3d element. The character tries to reach the exit but fails. Therefore it rolls back to the beginning of Game Over sequence.

1-up image

2009-05-04T12:02:00.002+01:00

A quick promotional image I've quickly made:

Enjoy!!!

How to animate 8-bit

2009-05-02T11:56:00.012+01:00

I've been looking how creators of 2d game developers of creating their games, here are two useful information I've found:

Sprite (computer graphics)
Sprites in video games are usually the character itself. Eboy done a Sprite sheet poster which made it very unique design.

Sprite sheets:

So it's sort of like flash movie clips symbols.

For more information for Sprite please check out the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(computer_graphics)

Parallax scrolling:
This is how they composited the layers of the game to create an indepth perspective:

For more information for Parallax scrolling please check out the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_scrolling

Tutorial & The Angry Video Game Nerd (Sounds like Beauty & the Beast)

2009-05-01T13:53:00.015+01:00

Eh yesterday tutorial was somewhat OK, however one of the attentions that was brought up was can my film appeal to other audience? It's hard to say when many people don't play games much. One of my notes was that it had potential for comedy and was to always reflect on my aims and learning outcome.
But the success of my tutorial is that my work so far looks very technical, I mean one of the issues was that people's work was too vector/too cleaned and my old television effect clearly worked.

Below is the Angry Video Game Nerd. He is a fouled mouth game reviewer who reviews only old classic games.

It brought to my attention that early video game requires you to use your imagination because of the blocky graphics while today everything has to be photo realistic.

Whats useful is how he discuss how terrible and how nostalgic are these games in a humorous way.

Also games in the 80's don't have spell check so there are many problems with the spelling.

The glitch scene in production

2009-04-30T09:20:00.018+01:00

It's the end of April, just thinking back that this project started like February/March and now it's coming to the end. But luckally the deadline is pusheed back a week but it doesn't mean I can relax but I have to hasten myself.

Without spoiling too much, the glitch scene will have a Red screen of death. Something that anybody experience from games and computers.

I used Fractual noise effects to create a TV noise.

I also downloaded this cool plugin called digieffects damage. It is an After Effects Plugin that allows you to create damage/corrupted clips. I've also looked at Hex Editor, that allows you reduce the bytes of files and giving them a corrupted file look. I gave it a go but I couldn't figure out how to use it.

I have to mention Metal Gear Solid because the battle with Pyscho Mantis (Boss of the level) was just beyond words. When it was released alot of people thought how to defeat him when he knows the player's control. Simply switch the controller port and the screen screen changes to below:

It reveals Hideo in an AV channel mode which I thought to myself at that time, the game switched off. You can watch the battle clip below:

Also from Metal Gear Solid series, in the second game there is a bit where Snake has to load up the old computer:

Eboy

2009-04-29T13:22:00.008+01:00

Yesterday I was at the illustration department and I've found this cool pixelated illustrator called Eboy, his work can be purchase at 1973:

http://www.nineteenseventythree.com/index.html

Eboy
Graphics collective eBoy is Steffen Sauerteig, Svend Smital and Kai Vermehr who have been collaborating on cards and wrap with NineteenSeventyThree since 2004. Their highly recognisable unique form of artwork features a complex world of pixellated cityscapes and characters. Most recently they have designed the cover artwork for Groove Armada’s new album Soundboy Rock and single Get Down. eBoy has previously teamed up with a host of famous brands such as Adidas, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Computer Arts Magazine, DaimlerChrysler, Diesel, DKNY, Egg, Honda, Kellogs, Levi’s, Microsoft, MTV, Nestle, Nike, Paul Smith, Pepsi, Renault, The Face, The Guardian and The New York Times Magazine. To find out more about eBoy click on this link: hello.eboy.com

So when I have the time after making the film, I could made posters like these to promote my film perhaps...

Some stuff I looked at

2009-04-27T23:33:00.006+01:00

Oh boy we have have 4 weeks till the deadline that is scary stuff. Anyway the process of my animation is going so and so, I've finally animated some parts and animated about 30 seconds.

Killer 7:

Goichi Suda is the mastermind behind this crazy game, I like the ending credits of the animation (shown above).

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtle Game:

Man this man is so in the 80's, it was released on the NES and I found the ending cutscene where it is a text base narration. When the text rolls out, the music in the background is like a typewriter.

Vector render

2009-04-26T15:09:00.007+01:00

OK guys check this out, does this look like flash/MS Paint crappy block drawing? And yes it's a self-portrait of myself.

Actually this is from Maya with the vector render and yes I tried again and played around with the setting. This time I've changed the vector renderer to one colour fill and it looks like flash animation now. And with this new setting the render is very quick and accessible.

The print screen evidence to show that it's not made in Flash/MS Paint.

David OReilly animation that has fluid seemingless transition between 2d and 3d animation:

Vocational Study

2009-04-25T10:40:00.003+01:00

Here is my 8-bit animation for Vocational Study:

It's a simple animation I've quickly made, you could say it's a test on 8-bit animation test.

G.U.4 logo

2009-04-24T12:33:00.012+01:00

Hello folks, Nixon here. Keeping you guys updated, I'm working on the logo and I have to say it's very gold bling.

Here are some research I've made while looking at video game logos:

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-visual-evolution-of-game-logos/a-20090219123030500042

The retrospective of Megaman:
http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-ultimate-mega-man-retrospective/a-2008062794557758069/p-3

Captain Planet game in the 80's:

The logo of 8-bit games I've looked at have several things in common such as:

Gradient colour
Big bold lettering/typeface
Dynamic look
Shadow

I don't like it at the moment but I think I'll increase the size of the pixel to look more pixalated.

Back from Easter

2009-04-20T21:14:00.010+01:00

It's really hard to get back in gear after the Easter Holidays but I'm trying really hard to work.

First of all I've asked a couple of people to look at my intro of my film and the comments are really positive.
I asked Duncan who said "It feels really nostalgic because I grew up with that era of games." So my aim was already archieved within the first 30 seconds of my short film and I'm happy with it.
He really helped by saying that the scanline effect wasn't too stood out and it blended in very well or it made eye strain.

Oh yeah I decided to name my film G.U.4, when you pronounce G.U. (Jiyuu) it means freedom in Japanese "自由", the 4 number is just a parody of sequels of game leading to 4 and up.

My thoughts of of name consist of:

Generation-up 4
Glitch-up 4
Game-Up 4
Game-unlockable 4
Ghost-User 4

I pretty much almost finish the menu interface besides from the name.

Maya Vector

2009-04-19T20:10:00.005+01:00

Hello fellow bloggers and reader, it's been ages since I've posted something partly because I'm working and it's the Easter Holiday.

One of the things I've done is trying Maya's Vector render. Because there will be a transition of flash and 3d.

After testing it out, the rendering takes longer compared to my previous render so I think I should abandon the vector render. Although I do like the outline shaded look but it is a very time consuming process.

Production Stage

2009-04-06T21:28:00.006+01:00

I've started the production today.

The intro for my film:

Some of the print-screens I've taken while making:

I've used Flash to create some of the menu interface.

I've used after effects to composited the clips together.

Animatic in progress

2009-04-05T21:23:00.008+01:00

I haven't posted up my progress of my film and I feel really ahamed because the whole pre-production because I'm a slow worker and now I feel pressured.

Anyway this is my animatic for the beginning:

I will going to finish this by today for sure but I'm not really feeling motivated. But the positive side is that the story is completed and all needs to do is the storyboard and animatic and the making should starts in a hafty.

But after looking at my schedule I have to really kick myself to do the uni work because time really flies by.

Glitch

2009-04-04T17:36:00.008+01:00

In my short film, the glitch is the cause/cataylst of making my character feel self aware of his surrounding. I imagine it to be some crazy visual effects.

The visual will be something like this:

The Pokemon glitch in the Game Boy.

I also like the pixelating of this corrupted image:

The rainbow colour glitch:

Here is a tutorial on how to make a Digital glitch effects which I found in Computer Arts.

Game Covers

2009-04-03T23:35:00.012+01:00

I've noticed that when I hand in work it's always a last minute burn DVD so I don't go for the extra mile. But this time will be different. For example I am going to make a DVD cover for my final thing.

I've looked at Kotaku website and found this interesting article that someone is making classical covers of modern games:

The person who started this creative repackaging is Olly Moss.
http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Hellforge/Classic-Covers-for-Video-Games

I really like the texture of the game covers and also the simplicity of design, colour and layout.

Here are some real classic Artari Game covers, so I can have a reference:
http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2008/04/21/fun-from-yesterday/

I also looked at another article about making fake atari games:

And finally a tutorial on how to make a artari game cartridge on photoshop:
http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/super-retro-game-cartridge-design/

Game Boy-inspired screenshots of recent video games

2009-04-02T17:52:00.005+01:00

Recently (and by “recently” I mean “over two years ago“) Pixelation ran a little contest on their forum to see who could create Game Boy-inspired screenshots of more recent video games.

I've taken 3 images and made a comparison to it's original game. The games are Bioshock, Final Fantasy XII and Ico.

I think the whole Gameboy style visual is pretty nice expecially the lighting is green which gives a mood. For example in the Matrix, the lighting is green because it represents Matrix world while in the real world it is filtered blue.

Demade with 8-bit graphics

2009-03-29T22:30:00.007+01:00

I've read an interesting topic about modern games been demakes into 8-bit games.

Healthy Wave:

Check out the video below, they used Anamanaguichi music:

Silent Hill: GTA IV:
Team Fortress 2:
I think with these visual, I think it fixes the issue of adding 3d animation in my 8-bit animation. I just like the contrast of the differences in the two style.

I think it would work because my character in the fim would be more self-aware when he journeys and progresses within the story.

Work Check in week 7

2009-03-28T21:47:00.008Z

I had my work check yesterday with my tutor Kelvin and I have to say it went OK besides from the lack of visual development of my storyboard.

One of the concern was adding the 3d animaton, what purpose does it give? Does it represent the game character self-aware.

I've also shown my mood board samples and the reaction was pretty good, people said they liked "Quirky style", "The old television scanline."

I've shown people my opening credits.

The reaction was very surprising, people actually wanted to watch it more than once! I mean it only shows the uni logo and my name and people liked it.

My theory is that the sound and image right at the beginning created an emotional response, it created a nostalgic response.

So overall I need to finish the concept such as the storyboard and animatic asap so I can get started on the production side.

My main concern whether people would get my story but I need get it sorted.

More Storyboard

2009-03-27T08:20:00.004Z

I've done alot more compared to my previous post process.

I'm still drawing it up at the moment.

Anyway what happens in the story is that a normal 8-bit game plays out but a glitch/bug occurs. The screen freeze until the game character starts to move on it's own and becomes more self-aware. He journeys to a way out away from the player's clutch, the visual will be transition from 2d to 3d. So you'll see game mechanic such as loading screen, change disc etc.

Check out the post-its on the wall:

Expect an animatic by the end of the week and the production will commence next week.

MGS4 - Revived Trailer

2009-03-26T17:52:00.006Z

First of all, I didn't post anything yesterday because of a certain party I had to attend. So I pretty much broke the cycle...

Hideo Kojima is a genius when it comes to making video game. He is well known for his creation Metal Gear Solid series. I remember when I first watched this trailer, they first shown the history of Metal Gear Solid from the playstation era to the newest form in Smash Bros: Brawl.

And yes Kojima, I did like it.

Watch it below:

It created an emotional response when I watched it, I remembered when I first played the playstation game and the Gamecube Version until they shown the new videos of the PS3 MGS4. I was amazed and speechless and so many memories resurfaced.

I really liked the transition of the Playstation Snake to the old Snake near the end. I looked framed by framed to see how they done it and I've found out that it was a quick fade away so the transition looks natural.

And yes Hideo Kojima knows how to tease the fans.

Moodboard Sheet

2009-03-24T16:17:00.005Z

I've made a quick moodboard on my short film:

Let me confirm that this screenshot is not the final thing but the feel of how the aesthetic feels.

I've used Old television scanline and TV border to have an old TV feel.

The pause screen.

Player P.O.V

2009-03-23T19:58:00.005Z

One of the main issue I had in my storyboard is whether to include the scenes of the player point of view.

I like the scene where the player would blow out the dust of the cartridge because this is what everybody would do in the past and would bring an emotional response of nostalgic.

Chris said to me that he doesn't think it's necessary to put them in.

I think he has a point because a) I think filming this in live action will be time consuming. B) I don't think it would make any difference if I put it in as the plot would be the same.

But Who knows I'll probably need to play about with it when I have time this week.

Week 6 update

2009-03-22T21:20:00.008Z

It's the end of week 6 and how scary is it. First of all I finalized the story, Chris really helped me to pushed this idea to it's simplest form and I'm grateful.

Short Summary:
"An old 8-Bit game is played out but while it plays, a glitch/bug occurs and the game character is aware of the situation so he decides to journey to found a way to stop being manipulated."

Visual:
The Short film will be shown in the early 8-bit era to the current generation. My only concern is that because I have about 6 weeks in production, will I'll be able to make it? This is a big issue but I would like to include it or perhaps I can add something like these:
http://retro-8bit.blogspot.com/2009/03/camera-test.html
http://retro-8bit.blogspot.com/2009/03/3d-pseudo-8-bit-test.html

Something that looks 2d but is actually 3d?

At the moment, I'm still drawing out the storyboard in it's roughest form.

I've contacted Tao (the creative sound designer), he said he's interested and wants to be involve in it but because of his job, the time might be an issue... So I told him I send an animatic by next week and the production should start by then.

My Updated Schedule:

Resident Evil 5 - Chris Redfield Character Evolution

2009-03-21T18:23:00.004Z

I've found an interesting video of Resident Evil. It a compliation of the series of the character Chris Redfield.

What I found interesting is that there is a highly difference in each generation. For example the first game, the character animation is really stiff and the voice acting for the character is really bad and unconvincing.

So the point is that I might include a 3d character in my short film and this would be a good visual reference on the style.

Project 8-bit Title Sequence

2009-03-20T19:14:00.003Z

I've made this some time ago but you get a feel of how the short films starts in the beginning.

Anyway I've added a static noise because it has the old televison feel which I intended because I want to bring in nostalgic feeling when they see an 8-bit pixel.

But from what I've shown to people, they said they do sense a old gam intro which I was intended to do.

I will improve when I finalized everything.

Storyboarding

2009-03-19T20:53:00.009Z

I'm about to start on drawing after realizing vocational studies is going to eat my time on my Major Negotiated Project.

Here is a preview of the Storyboarding/preproduction stage, I've been using Post-its because it seems alot more convinent to use when I post them on wall and the colour is alot more cheerful and happier:

Here are the title sequence and the credits sequence:

So it's a working in progress but it's better than nothing.

The final week with Chris Shepherd

2009-03-18T18:06:00.019Z

I have the Flu at the moment so I couldn't do much work so I might blog some crazy stuff because because I'm very dizzy and headache.

Anyway back to the main point, I had a tutorial with Chris Shepherd today.

Basically I've told him about my story and planning, he said that I've done enough research and need to move on to the preproduction.

He shown me two animation and told me that if I can figure out the structure/logic, I will have a solid film.

Right now I guess the theme will be the interaction between the Player and the Game character. Even though it's not what I had in mind but I guess it's simplistic enough for a short film.

Manipulation

Director - Daniel Greaves

Manipulation is an animation about a animator drawing a character who tries to get away from the animator. The character interacts with it's environment such as the red paint and the cartoon character think of uses on how to use it.

The main obstacle for the cartoon character is the main animator who often stops the cartoon character from escaping till the end. I liked the way, the 2d character turns into a 3d to escape into the real world.

What makes the film funny is the anticipation and the sense of the unexpected, and the way in which it playfully comments on the animation process.

What I can apply to my film is the structure such as the character introduction (how it is made, it's personality), it encounters the animator, several attempts, it was thought it was destoryed when it was crumbled, form into the real world and finally escaping.

Looney Tunes - Duck Amuck

Director - Chuck Jones

What I liked about Looney Tunes Duck Amuck, it was surreal and was fun to watch because of it's dramatic irony.

At first it shows the Daffy being tricked by the animator because he keeps changing the environment when Daffy is about to adapt to it's environment therefore we know whats happening before the character and that makes us feel absorb into it.

The unexpecting funny part was when Daffy plays the guitar but it makes an unexpecting sound, this leads Daffy building up anger and constant struggle between the animator and Daffy.
In the end it revealed Bugs Bunny who was the animator which makes it even funny because these characters has been constantly arguing.

To conclude:
So in the end I have to add a series of challenge for the game character who wants to stops the manipulation.

Cheers for Chris who has been coming into our university and giving us guidance.

Need to do storyboard/animatic asap.

Retro Game Challenge

2009-03-17T09:10:00.004Z

I've looked at sample of classic 8-Bit games and I've found this game for the Nintendo DS where it has most of the old forgotten game all in one. Check it out:

I've just watched the sequel trailer for the next game "Retro Game Challenge 2":

I really liked the short scene where it shows two player in the living room playing the Famicon (NES), it really does make me feel very nostalgic.

But I think it's very useful for getting the 8-bit feel as a visual reference.

Camera Test

2009-03-16T10:07:00.002Z

Hello my blog readers, I've done something productive for a change. Week 5 wasn't the best productive week I have because of the flatpack festival.

Anyway after looking at David O'Reilly, I thought I should try out some stuff out.

Here is something I've made quickly and tested:

I have to stay I'm pretty happy with the results but one of the concerns I have is the rendering took some time so I'll probably need to think more about getting good speed rendering and lighting/shader.

I've also looked at a tutorial on how to make a 3/4 perspective camera in Maya:
http://drawlogic.com/2007/05/06/howto-setup-orthographic-camera-in-maya/

Flatpack Festival 09 - Unpacked with David O'Reilly

2009-03-15T14:29:00.011Z

I'm finished going to the Flatpack Festivals and it is amazing. The last event I went was Shorts of Wall because I worked on a film Momster which was shown and it's great because alot of people said it was good and the good news is that it was nominated in the BAFTA Awards, how cool is that!!

Anyway back to the main topic, in the Unpacked event. The first and best talk featured with David O'Reilly. I've seen his feature short film in Futureshorts and I liked it for it's unique style. Once I've heard the person himself is coming, I've decided to go even when I'm not a morning person.

Please say Something is his film which won a Berlinale award:

"Set in the distant future, this is the story of a troubled relationship between an abusive Mouse and his wife, an intensely emotional cat. "

I didn't know the animator was 23 and he already archeived a film award. Also he already contributed to films Son of Rambow and Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, films I've already seen. It was an honour to meet the person himself and what surprised me is that he is actually a college drop-out and look at his success.

His presentation talk was very interesting and I couldn't help myself writing notes. He was very passionate with film/animation theory and gave some of his thoughts within the industry.
I think one of the messages he made was very useful and that is "Authenticity".
Oh yeah the time lapse print screening seems really cool when he showed the process of Please Say Something.

I've spoke to him after his talk and man was it cool. I've asked whether the 3/4 perspective camera was inspired by video games but he replied saying that Jason (John Arne Sæterøy) and Chris Ware known for their comic book are the inspiration.

Some of the things he made me thought about is the rendering for the film in 3d application. For example, Aliased Pixel is where it has no smooth mesh, no motion blur, no raytracing or complex shading.

You can read his interview from the Berlinale Awards:
http://jotta.com/jotta/article?no=2575

Website:
http://www.davidoreilly.com/

Vocational Studies - week 1

2009-03-14T13:10:00.013Z

Vocational Studies just started this week, the live brief is basically animating Birmingham City University Employer Engagement.

Apparently the script isn't ready but the second year of Viscom are working on it with the professional Script writer.

They're expecting a motion graphics video to promote our university, but I reckon I can make something more to their expectation.

The good thing is that, we're be in groups and I'll be working in the CGI group.

One of our task is to think of making visuals of the work Creative Community.
And We've have to come up with 15 frames for the visual animation.
My concept:

And here are stuff I've made in Maya for the last couple of days:

I've made the mind bubble from Illustrator and imported it into Maya. The background is a nurb plane with paper texture.
Raytracing shadows are amazing but takes ages to render. The idea comes from the art direction of paper mesh or traditional materials and Little Big planet.

Cavell Ord Shrimpton (one of the new motion graphics tutor) suggested me to change the mind bubble texture into more cardboard based so I later did and it looks sweet. She also suggest the background have some creative stuff in it such as finger painting or face paint.

At the moment, my ideas are little black stickmans all gather (therefore community) would all mind bubble of the same thing and a lightbulb appears (An idea/creativity) and it rotates revealing the text Creative community.

Dookie Poo - What You've Become

2009-03-13T20:32:00.004Z

I've came back from Flatpack Festival Unpacked, which I will eventually write about.

While I was looking at Kings of Power 4 Billion %, I've encounter this music video and I thought it was neat:

An independent music video featuring DOOKIE-POO and CHOROCCO TOFU with music by THE MONTAUK PROJECT. Watch as Dookie travels through some of the greatest, classic arcade games of all time to save the girl.

What I like about is that it uses so many classic old 8-bit video game references especially it used Super Mario like saving the girl and the level set up. It really does bring nostalgic when I watch Dookie-Poo travels throughout the classic game.

The introduction was really fun with the arcade leading into the game with it's statistics.
And the credits of the film with the high score is ingenius but who made what?

Check out the website at:
http://www.dookie-poo.com/

We are the strange

2009-03-12T10:29:00.011Z

You can watch the whole film on youtube:

Directed by M. dot Strange

Synopsis
"We Are the Strange focuses on "two diametrically opposed outcasts" as they "fight for survival in a sinister fantasy world." These two outcasts are an abused woman named Blue who has a mysterious degenerative disease and a living doll named eMMM.
The two meet in the Forest of Still Life, where Blue follows eMMM to Stopmo City on a search for his ideal ice cream parlor. Upon arriving in Stopmo City, they are caught in the middle of a fierce battle between bizarre monsters, making their progress difficult. Thankfully, a hero named Rain appears and easily destroys every monster that faces him. Blue meets Rain before he partakes in an "impossible battle against the source of all that is evil in Stopmo City." During the battle, Rain, along with Ori are crushed by Him after Rain states he wants to avenge his son. When the outlook seems grim, a fist made of aluminum foil breaks through the ground and starts the final showdown between good and evil.

Six alternate soundtracks and author's commentary, including soundtrack by Noise Inc. are available on the DVD. The music used in We Are the Strange Trailer has been made by chiptune artist YERZMYEY/AY-RIDERS (a cover of t.A.T.u.'s "30 minut") using ZX Spectrum computer."

Apparently it took 3 years to complete this film all made my M. dot Strange himself besides from the music. personally it Very inspirational when it was shown first on youtube then got enlisted in festivals.
It uses a combination of Stop motion, CGI and green screen effect to create this film.

Probably the most weirdest abstract film I've ever seen, I'm not sure whether Kings of Power 4 Billion % or We are the strange is weirder but they're pretty much at the same wavelength.

But in narrative, it's so hard to absorb the story and reaction. I really tried watching the whole film but ended up skipping alot and in the end I really tried to like it but...

I'm starting to lose the point it gets to be too much and is weak in the area of getting the viewer involved with the characters and story. Very little of the story is explained, so you can get lost in a hurry and never recover. After a while, I found myself not caring what was happening and just attempted to enjoy the strange visuals and sound- effects.

I really like the intro of the film, introducing all the cast of the character defining who is evil or good and the cameraman is defined as netural representing us.

Websites:
http://www.wearethestrange.com/
http://wearethestrange.blogspot.com/

Haré+Guu

2009-03-11T08:29:00.008Z

Original Author - Renjuro Kindaichi
Do not be decieved by the drawing style animation. You may think it aims for kids but trust me it's not!

Haré+Guu is basically like a japanese version of Family Guy but more stranger.There is an episode that was so funny with all the RPG (Role Playing Game) references.

You can watch the full episode below:
Haré+Guu Final - illusion: IX RPG Test Version & illusion: x RPG Pirate Version:

I laughed when Haré said narrates the opening title for the game "why does it have number3." Haré is the Straightman comedian with his normal view of the unrealistic situation.

The idea is simply entering a video game world in order to save your baby brother but heres a little twist Haré is the villian.

The glitch idea was fantastic, switching into different games. I might include it to my film...

It's a great animation because the audiences gets so much involved watching the episode.

Websites:

http://www.hareguu.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Har%C3%A9%2BGuu

Trapped in an environment

2009-03-10T00:12:00.015Z

So far I'm not progressing as well as I thought. I seriously need to concentrate with the pen & paper!!
Anyway I've looked at some of the animation that was recommended to me.

Knick Knack

Directed by John Lasseter

Knick Knack is one of Pixar's earlier short animation piece.
What makes this a great animation is that it has simplicity in it. The character snowman has an objective to be set free (Sounds familiar to my idea) from the globe so he can reach to the babes.

Along the way there is obstacles, his method of escape is unsuccessully such as a blowtorch and high explosives.

He almost succeeds in the end until the globe falls on top of him which caused a dramatic emotional response.

Animator vs. Animation

Directed and Animated - Alan Becker

Animator vs. Animation is an animation made entirely out of Flash. It uses basic stickman, it struggles with its surrounding and creator. I like how the ending ended, with the creator ended the application.

Paul Robertson

2009-03-09T09:05:00.013Z

I've promise to write about Paul Robertson who I've wrote about briefly.
Paul Robertson is an animator who works in 16 bit video game style.
From what I can tell, I think he animated his work in flash but I'm not exactly sure on how he got the pixelated look. Probably something like mosaic effect but I'll look into it later.
You know what, I'm not sure whether I should call Paul a genius or an idiot. I mean he made a great publicity by putting his work online but you can download the actual clip is something I wouldn't do.

Kings of Power 4 Billion %

It's quite hard to tell what exactly is going with this animation because there is so much going on and very fast pace.

But from what I understood, there are a few good characters who tried to stop a strong enemy/boss and thats it!

Something like a typical game where they would try to triumph evil.

But I read that "Kings of Power 4 Billion %, a 16-bit animated reflection on the struggle between life and death in a world war between a strobing pantheon of gods, whipping ribbons of motile flesh, and ultra-kawaii heroes."

It's very hard to understand the characters when there are so many of them but I did understand what they're doing. The only interesting characters are the evil bosses.

The aesthetic of the animation is a hybrid between anime and 8 bit animation.

It uses video game reference such as RPG, side scrolling platforming, reviving and boss battle.

My only concern is that the animation has so many bright colour especially the combination of red & blue flashes that I feel that people might get seizures after watching this.

My eyes were straining after watching the whole film, I think I'll end up like those poor children who ended up watching the banned Pokemon episode.

Other than that, it was some crazy sh*t (in a good way) experience with it's Confusing, graphical, and loud that you don't get in Hollywood film.

Here are some of his other works:

Architecture in Helsinki - Do the Whirlwind:

Architecture in Helsinki's animated video for Do the Whirlwind

http://www.architectureinhelsinki.com/

The Magic Touch:

Go another cadbury commercial:

Pirate Baby's Cabana Street Fight - pt.1:

Pirate Baby's Cabana Street Fight - pt.2:

Website:

http://probertson.livejournal.com/

http://www.blog.lessrain.com/pixel/

http://visublog.mechafetus.com/archives/556

Week 5 starting & progress

2009-03-08T12:37:00.020Z

Well to start off with, I've haven't done much for my storyboard but will do it after this post.

My second current Schedule:

At the moment I'm trying to at least get a rough storyboard by today and improve it by the end of Week 5. So my intentions is to end the preproduction stage by week 5 and start the production of animation at week 6 but I have a feeling that the preproduction will go longer...

Basically what happened in week 4 is that I've been playing around with my idea of my film.
I need to clarify this information: " I am making a short film told in a video game style."

Chris Shepherd has been coming in and helping out the 3rd Year Animation & Live Action people. He reviewed my work and said that he likes the idea but he said I need to establish my character's psychology/personality and recommended me watching Pixar's short film Knick Knack and the flash Animator vs Animation. Also the character needs to be at odds of the landscape.

I have several ideas of my story:

Addiction to gaming. (The irony is that it's told in 8 bit style)
Game character desires to be free from manipulation from the player. (Sounds abit like the Matrix...)

One of the things we discussed was how I can have a muscular character who was designed as a war machine game character but he prefers to be a gentler person like flowering and this would be a "Dramatic Irony." One of the visual we said was how the bullets could be seed and it grows out of the level bring the character to a different world.

I've also researched Digital cinematography/layout based on video game so I can get the best results in portraying the film. I looked at side view camera, 3/4 perspective, overhead view, top perspective and 1st person view.

I'll keep you guys posted.

181 stuff

2009-03-08T00:05:00.005Z

Hi guys, here is some update on the 181 stuff I'm doing:

181 promo:

I've played around with after effects to create it, I really liked the stencil alpha effects but the animation of the stripes needs to be better.

The 181 awards ident:

I've animated it and the feedback I've got from people were positive. People thought the glow of the golden trophy was a pretty touch-up.
I've talked to people and they said that if I use the 3d file such as object file, I'll be able to make a replicate trophy from the product design group.

Gametrailers Review

2009-03-07T13:42:00.008Z

The good people of Gametrailer made review videos of recent new games.
I've edited out the game review so you get to see the actual footage, you can view it here:

I like the visual transition of the 8 bit generation blowing out towards the screen in 3d cel-shaded style. I think I might use this as a visual reference for my short film.

It communicates very well in each chapter covering the Story, Design, gameplay and presentation.

Retro 3D

2009-03-06T08:53:00.016Z

I was looking at some work and I found this amazing 3d artist: http://dotter.exblog.jp/
dotter_dotter is the username and his real name is Tibori who makes old video games into retro 3d style.

For example, here we have a LCD handheld "FIREMAN FIREMAN" with Mr Game & Watch as the main mascot:

Closeup view of the gameplay.
And here is the sample of Game & Watch in 3D. This is one of my favourite images he done. Here's my guess on how he made it:

The character is created in Adobe Illustrator and was imported in 3d applications as a polygon or curve.

The buildings obviously modelled from scratched from reference from the old game.

He also used depth of field trick on the camera so that we're focusing on Mr Game & Watch while the character below are blurred.

He also used Mental Ray render with setting of ray tracing.

Here's another favourite image I like, he made a retro version of Donkey Kong. If you don't know the history behind of Donkey Kong I highly recommend you looking at this: A little history behind videogame.

I really liked the way how the camera view of it. It really does make Mario look small and vunerable.

Here is a character I've looked through Flicker, quite cute I say.

If you remember my previous work in testing 3D pseudo-8-BIT Test.

Anyway I was playing around in Maya and created my 8-Bit character in retro 3d style. I played around with the lighting I only used a Directional Light, Mental Ray and Raytraced options. The lighting is amazing with it's soft shadow touch, however it took me about 5 minutes to render a single frame in HD size even though the polygons are just single face cube. I'm still not sure on how I got the results but hopefully I'll found the reason.

Now I need to concentrate on my storyboard and preproduction for now...

Renew Aims, Learning Outcome & Video Pitch

2009-03-05T00:04:00.008Z

I know this should of been done ages ago but I finally got it sorted:

My Aims:
I aim is to create a short animation film. In the end I want the film to be used for my portfolio/show reel and hopefully would be shown in film festivals.
My primary objective is to show my visual narrative skills in story telling because I’ve feel that a lot of student work tend to focus more about the visual rather than the narration.
My secondary objective is to make the finish piece look professionally made. I want show my technical skills in applications such as Flash and 3d applications so I can show my abilities in animating, modelling and visual effects.

Quick concept:
My inspiration comes from early video game culture such as the 8 bit era because I’ve grew up playing game and it’s a world I know and became a crucial part of my childhood.
To explore the relationship between the gamer and the game character.

The world is seen through as a video game, from the 8bit to the current generation of gaming.
My target audience would be mature teenager to adult because I feel that people who grew up playing video game would feel nostalgic and reminisce the past.

Learning Outcome:
Here are some of my learning outcome:

My principle is keep things simple so that my narrative/storytelling skills will be well received, in other words to successfully communicate to the audiences.
I hope to achieve to a simple story that is told in a unique way that can entertain and possibly.
To show my 3 years worth of study in Visual Communication.

Here's my finalized Video pitch:

Your Friend the Rat and Alberta

2009-03-04T19:11:00.009Z

I was watching "Your Friend the Rat and Alberta" DVD special edition of Ratatouille. Pixar has done an outstanding job on telling the facts of a brown rat in a fun way with it's many style it uses. Here's the short clip that I feel quite inspirational:

It used a 8-bit style game to visually portray the story behind the competition between Canada and the Rats. I mean it is very clear that it was able to communcate the idea of challenging and competition and I think using an 8-bit visual is perhaps the most amusing way of telling the story.

8 Bit Music

2009-03-03T00:07:00.007Z

If you recall back in one of my topic about the documentary about 8 bit culture. Anyway as I watched 8 Bit: A Documentary About Art And Videogames, there is a topic on how artist would use 8 bit game to create music.

How it works?
Well they connect an old 8 bit console such as the gameboy to recreate the midi file sound.

The band I would like to say is a UK band called Anamanaguchi.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/anamanaguchi

I heard their mini album called Power Supply and it doesn't sound as annoying as I thought. It was actually quite cool to listen, basically they plug their instruments to an 8 bit console and program them to sound like a midi sound.

Check out their live:

So hopefully my film have that kind of sound. I will be working with Tao Lin who I worked with before in my Rehash - ReSketch video:

3D pseudo-8-BIT Test

2009-03-02T20:58:00.007Z

Holy crap, we're already at week 4. It's insane how time goes by so quickly when things just started to pick up the pace. Oh how I am alreadydreading this.

I've been inspired by the game Fez by the developer Polytron, Fez won the "Excellence in Visual Art" award at the Independent Games Festival in 2008heres a trailer:

What I liked about it is the way it used optical illusions to create a Escher effect.

Check out the website in: http://polytroncorporation.com/

I've made my character in flash and exported it as a png file.

Here I've started to place some 3d stuff like floor and buildings in Maya. I used Maya because it is more animation friendly compared it 3d studio max. The reason I used png file to export because Maya can detect the transparent background automatically.
Why is alpha mapping such a pain in the ass in Maya!? I have no idea to solve the whole lighting ray tracing issue here.

And finally I've tested in 3d studio max, here is the side view camera. I think it captured the right view of a side platformer game.

And finally I've done a perspective view of the above image.

Random Idea 3

2009-03-01T00:08:00.008Z

One of my crazy ideas was to explore the relationship between the different generation of gaming. For example, the 8 bit generation is 2d flat and isn't capable of speaking but it speaks as a dialogue box. The genre would be comedy.

A quick drawing:

Gates vs Jobs vs C64:

My idea would be something like this, the relationship between two different people and how it used computer reference from Mac and Window to make some jokes.

Eat Lead - Hazard vs. JRPG Hero Gameplay

Eat Lead is an upcoming current generation game that is still under development but it is another example of how the joke works.

Nexus Productions Coca-Cola

2009-02-28T18:09:00.014Z

The guys at Nexus Productions have done it again! I was reading this article here: http://www.cghub.com/blog/view/for-the-geek-in-all-of-us and was amazed on the effects and the visual on making the short commerical.

I remember I first seen their work, they've done a parody to Grand Theft Auto series for a Coke commercial which was later used for the promotional release for GTA IV when it came out. Check the video below:

GTA Coca-Cola:

It used GTA reference like the driving car and map navigation system in the beginning. Later it used the 3rd person camera view following the main character around the block doing good deeds.

It first started resembling GTA game until the main character grabs a Coca-Cola which makes the audience feel confused and surprised.
The whole environment changes to a brighter and happier mood with it's cheerful musical. Obviously the whole commercial is made in 3d animation. It used techniques like matt painting to reduce the rendering and it recycled using the side characters.

Coca-Cola-avatar:

"The most meaningful peer-to-peer connections happen face to face. "

I think this would be my second favourite Nexus production commercial they've done (First goes the GTA one). They've really captured how technology becomes so important in our life in communication and how we secretly want to be.
when people look at a cell phone or computer, they turn into an avatar (a digital charactiature of themselves). they also become unaware of the outside world. personal communication shows your personality while digital communication just hides it. But it also comes to my attention whether technology suppress how we express our true emotions and sincerity towards people.

And I think what the Coca-Cola trying to say that by giving Coca-Cola, we can physically able to express our feelings, perhaps?

The sound track is “Stranger in the Crowd” performed by Cee-Lo Green of Gnarls Barkley (and originally made famous by Elvis Presley).

Quite Random but still kewl

2009-02-28T00:24:00.011Z

Once again looking at visual references or inspirations for my own project.

Syke makes life like a videogame!

Director & Animated by Paul Robertson

I've actually seen some of Paul works and he used 16 bit graphics video game for his animation piece. Though there isn't a narrative storytelling that I can really follow but there is so many video game references for his work.

He also done a short film called Kings of Power 4 Billion % but I will write a post about it soon.

It brings me to another attention when I watched the Mario & Bowser from "Syke makes life like a videogame!" Seth MacFarlane (Family guy creator) made a parody to the Mario franchise:

Super Mario Rescues The Princess: Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade:

I just laughed so hard when I first watched this because it took a more realistic approach to the game with it's dark humour. It makes us think why Princess Peach gets kidnapped so many times.

And the classic Mario Cartoon series:

Children shouldn't even watch the above clip when this aims for children. It also makes me wonder whether playing video games for ages would make us hallucinate and distort our view of reality?

The Meth Minute 8-Bit

"Episode 33 of the Meth Minute asks the question "What if the entire cartoon series so far had been a 1980's video game?". We asked 8-Bit specialists Ben Ross (visuals) and Niko Anesti (music) to step in and explore this scenario. Every single Meth Minute character appears in arcade-vision and the result is an all-time high score."

I also seen these guys work and they are so funny and it was good to see all their work displayed as a 8 bit video game.

181 Grad Show

2009-02-27T18:00:00.009Z

Hello followers of my blog. I like to mention that my Course grad show is called 181. So we're pretty much organizing the show right now.

Here is something I'm working on at the moment, I'm making an ident of the 181 awards:

It's obviously inspired by the Oscar and the baftas Awards.
Some Visual references:

From the feedback I've got, they like it but they're expecting more of a edgy cabaret feel to the grad show - sort of burlesque.

Check out the blog site at: http://1-8-1.blogspot.com/

Some Video Game Console Ad

2009-02-27T00:23:00.020Z

Once again I was looking through the Internet and I found an interesting article WTF commercials. I've picked some of the funny ones and how ridiculous it looks when we look back.

Atari 2600 - Centipede

From what I've been told, this ad has no relation or connection to the game itself. Heck if I watched it back in the 80s I would of thought this was some horror flick. Giant Atari anthropod attacks the 80s and tricks woman into bed for steamy insect love.

Atari 2600 Advert

Song with sinister sexual subtext? Check. Retarded static images? Check. Breakout screen replica created using fuzzy felt?

Odysee 1973 Magnavox

The graphics looks really awful on these console.
Final Note: Geography is a game!?

Sega Mega Drive ad in 1992

I found it funny when it says it's the "most advance machine" because that is a contridiction. It done a good job of transporting the scientist to the virtual game world in terms of visual and it does sell the idea of how advance it was back in the 90's.

NES Advert

"Real pictures that come out and hit you in the face!" I had one of these and I don't really recall being hit by it in the face or maybe it has which explains why I have no recollection of memories and why my parents gave it away...

XBOX First Advert:

I remember this ad back around 2000. It got banned because the slogan is "Life is too short, play more." I mean it tries to promote XBOX but it gave the wrong communication to the audience and this is why it got banned. Nothing sells consoles like a rapidly aging man flying through the stratosphere.

Fanmade "Wii Transform" Commercial:

This fanmade made video is trying to sellout the Nintendo Wii. It shows the evolution of nintendo home console because the project of Wii was originally called "Project revolution". I liked how the animation played out when it transfrom into different console. I'm wondering if they used keyframe vertex?

Video game movies

2009-02-26T09:46:00.011Z

It comes to my attention that all video game based films sucks, I think the reason is that the audience has expection to meet it's standard. You can check out the list here.

I've been reading some Internet article: When A Video Game Movie Isn’t. It comes to my attention that there is a fair share of flicks that feature everything from gimmicky camera styles to plotlines.

The Shining Computer Game (1982)

"The poorly pitched Shining computer game from 1982. This family party game was released for the holiday season on the Atari 2600, but failed to sell due to scenes of gratuitous violence and a nausa inducing atmosphere. Within half an hour of playing, children were reported to start shaking and hallucinating. Talk of the game being re-released on the 3DO system never came to fruitition. However, Stanley Kubrick was said to be a great fan of the title and held the high score for level 6 (the infamous axe/door speed test) for 5 years. this footage was recovered from an old Betamax tape I purchased from a car boot sale."

Now that I looked at this video pitch for the game, it looks quite contemporary 8 bit. But other then that I would love to see it made now with all the technology we have.

And don't forget about my previous post about the Dark knight:

Project status & Schedule

2009-02-25T22:06:00.011Z

I haven't talked much about my project so this blog post will do for now.

One of my ideas was telling daily routine in a 8bit video game. There we will have options to "What if" situations and the next thing leads to a split screen showing different scenerios but it all ends with the same linear ending.
One of my inspiration comes from The Black Dog's Progress:

Director – Stephen Irwin

"A series of flipbooks tell the sad story of the Black Dog."
What I liked about it is that the story builds up and it connects to a bigger piece. It uses the technique where the audience would try and put the narrative of different flipbooks linking together.

My other inspiration comes from Consoul:Director – Lasse Gjertsen

"A man's life told in 8-bit video game graphics"

When the split screen comes in, the screen will split into 4 screens (reference to multiplayer gaming) and three other screens will be in three different style from 16bit, 32/64 bit and the current generation of gaming. However the current generation screen will be loading throughout the split screen (reference to the large amount of data of todays gaming), it was planned so that the only when the three screens finishes their scenario it would lead to the current gen screen revealing the ending.

A quick moodboard on how the split screen is going to work (Mario by Nintendo):

I quite like the idea but this is only personal opinion but I have to be realistic here. First of all, I feel that doing 4 different styles will be very time consuming after looking at the schedule and it would be impossible since I'm going to design and animating them all. Secondly do these different style serve a purpose.

I also need to think of a simple story and what am I trying to communicate exactly. Now I'm scratching my head.

Here's my rough schedule of my gant chart. Just shows how time is precious is right now so I better get cranking.

8 BIT Stuff

2009-02-25T10:53:00.011Z

I mentioned in my previous post about what is 8 bit film. Well I'm going to talk 8 bit documentary films I've found.

8 Bit: A Documentary About Art And VideogamesDirector - Marcin Ramocki

"8 BIT is a hybrid documentary examining the influence of video games on contemporary culture. A mélange of a rocumentary, art expose and a culture-critical investigation, 8 BIT ties together seemingly disconnected phenomena like the 80’s demo scene, chiptune music and contemporary artists using machinima and modified games. Produced in NYC, LA, Paris and Tokyo, 8 BIT brings a global perspective on the new artistic approaches of the DIY generation which grew up playing Atari and Commodore 64."

Here is the main website of the Documentary film 8 BIT:
http://www.8bitmovie.com/index.html

The trailer can be seen here:

One of the quotes I definitely agree is how "Growing up playing Video Game is important to our childhood."
"If you grow up of something you make art out of it."
"For a certain generation people would evoke childhood, when a artist uses that. Now it has many meanings invested in it."
What I thought was amazing is that artist uses the old gameboy system to create an 8-bit midi sound.

I am 8 bit I am 8 bit is an art exhibition festival The shows theme involves over 100 artists reinterpreting their favorite old-school video game characters in a variety of mediums, including paintings, plush, sculpture, and even interactive pieces. You can check what it is like in the event:

I've posted one of their work in my previous post, they're made the A Really Really Brief History Of Donkey Kong (King of Kong).

I purchased the artbook of I am 8 bit and I'm loving it. This is what inspired me to make an 8 bit animation because I've grown up playing the early generation of video game and it became a part of my life and why I'm doing Visual Communication in Birmingham City University. Frogger Michael Leavitt Mixed Media Frogger (arcade)

Mario's Lament Reuben Rude Collage and Acrylic on Board Donkey Kong (arcade)

Donkey See Donkey Do Dave Wasson Mixed Media Donkey Kong (arcade)

Check out their website:
http://www.iam8bit.net/
http://www.whatisblik.com/iam8bit.html

Other ways of recreating 8 bit style

2009-02-24T23:19:00.000Z

I've been randomly looking at video/films that are inspired by 8 bit video game culture. I've found an interesting piece, most 8 bit video are replica of the older generation graphics but this one is made in stop motion which I found it inspiring.

Neotericz - Ositos

Director: Marina Spinelli
Music: Buenos Aires chipster

This was clearly done in stop motion and the message towards the audience is so clear. The objective is to help protect the endangered whales and fishes. The character design is very cute that it ranges from all ages.

"Neotericz made using gameboy, midiNES (8-bit nintendo and some vst technology)"

I've posted this image in my previous post and I think the idea of stopmotion is really inspirational but for my final film I want to show my skills in 3d and flash.

A little history behind videogame

2009-02-23T21:38:00.001Z

I think researching the history of video game will benefit my final film. So I looked up several videos online and I thought they were pretty interesting and useful:

A Short Visual History of Videogames

Directed and animated by Kyle Downes
Voiced by Josh Molenkamp

"Software used: Maya 8.5, After Effects, Premiere, Illustrator, Photoshop and Flash"

This is a 3rd year graduate work I've looked at and I thought wow this was really fun to watch and I learnt something. Anyway Kyle used a combination of motion graphics technique along with some maya 3d animation which blended in so well.
Not only that the voice narrator was so amusing, it sounded like 1970's educational videos which maybe is intentional because the first ever video game console was released in the 70's.

Check out his work at:
http://ultra-awesome.com/

A Really Really Brief History Of Donkey Kong (King of Kong)

Directed by Gabe Swara

It was made part of the famous 8 bit festival (Note: I might put up a post about 8bit)
Clearly it was made in flash with it's vector style animation but the animation was fun to watch.

The animatic version, drawn on little yellow post-its:

He also done an ident for the I Am 8-Bit. Though it's more like the 4 bit atari not the 8 bit NES :

Final Edition History of Video Games (114 games)
Here is a collected clips of the history of gaming:

Student Short Films

2009-02-22T22:53:00.001Z

I've been recently looking at student short films that involves with any video game and I've found two so far.

Frustrating Nostalgia

Directed and animated by Warren Dunlop.

From this 2 minute film, I can tell that the theme of the film is frustration just as the title calls itself. What I liked about it is that the whole experience of the Game cartridge doesn't work on the NES is absolutely true. I had this experience and had to blow out the dusk many times in order to play game back in the days. Now I feel old because I said that. lol.
However watching this short animation film wasn't really exciting, I mean it follows the theory of many attempts and fails in the end. But it does communicate the idea of nostalgic and I did reminisce as I watched it through so I give credit to Warren who did archieve empathy.
There were times when I was confused while watching like the edited scene of the character and the screen.

The CGI animation was created in 3d application, the modelling of the NES AND game cartridge are very well built. I didn't really liked the character design.
The animation was stiff at most time especially there were close up on the hand, the hand wasn't rigged properly.

Decompressed

Directed by Samuel Lopez De Victoria III.

This short film is just wierd, I didn't really get whats exactly going on with the story but I guess it's trying to portray the mind of a video game addict.

The character went inside the 8 bit world didn't look that good, I mean the world is bright and colourful and it's good but the whole green screen put me off.

Speaking of live action and 8bit combinaton I like to mentioned about this street artwork I've found, it looks visually pleasing with the pixel water.

It just shows that you don't really need to use a computer t0 produce 8 bit effect. For example you can, produce a stop motion animation. The 8 bit effect can be created by blocks of lego to give a video game effect.

Hero

I like to note that Samuel also done another 8 bit project about a knight trying to climb up the castle.

8 bit music video

2009-02-21T22:21:00.004Z

Here are a few music videos, I've been looking at with inspiration of 8 bit video game style.

The Lost Levels - The Early Sheets

"The video took four months to complete, with much of that taken up rendering the 'real world' sequence. The whole thing was created on a single PC, using Nevercenter Silo for modelling and Maya for animation, texturing and rendering. The video was then edited together in Sony Vegas."

I really like this music video because it brings a nostaglic feeling with the basic visual graphics of a video. It later uses different camera angle rather than the generic side view, it captures a great mood and went in synch with the beats of the 8bit music.
I can tell that when the game character enters the vector world, it was inspired by Tron for the neon glow.

Check out the bands myspace account:
www.myspace.com/thelostlevels

Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

Quite an old music video made in 2003 but it has a unique style back then. It uses very bright colour to simulate the brain to think that the blocky imagery looks pretty. I'm not sure which applications it was used but I'm guessing it used Flash.

Wintergreen - When I Wake Up

Director: Keith Schofield

"Music video tells story of Atari's E.T. game debacle. An indie band has made a music video featuring the story of the misbegotten Atari E.T. game cartridge. The game stank on ice and millions of copies were buried in a landfill."

Keith Schofield used the back story of ET game, the game wasn't entertaining so Atari decided to bury them in the desert. The band goes digging for these poorly designed game.

http://www.wintergreenmusic.com/
http://www.keithschofield.com/

YMCK: Aesthetics For The 8bit Generation
I read an internet on Pingmag about a band who uses 8bit visual:
http://pingmag.jp/2008/03/24/ymck-aesthetics-for-the-8bit-generation/

Basically YMCK is a Japanese band who uses 80's video game as an inspiration.
Starlight:

Go YMCK, Go:

A bit of research

2009-02-19T23:04:00.000Z

Here are some inspiration videos I've looked up.

Jetmoto 2 commercial

Jetmoto 2 is a playstation game but the idea of the relationship between the gamer and the game character is unique. The theme is waiting and frustration, the gamer is an old lady who doesn't respond or move while the other characters are experiencing fast speed adrenaline . Until the game character comes out and complains to the gamer who reveals to be a old lady which makes the audience laugh when she just doesn't want to move.

Gaming Face

Photograper Robbie Cooper shows us all just how focused young gamers can be while playing with actual clips of kids of various ages while they're playing games.I can tell that VF5, GTA:IV, Call of Duty 4, Fallout 3, Star Wars: Battlefront and Gears of War are being played.

This makes us wondering what are the side effects of exposing violence games to children. Now I'm wondering what is my gaming face.

The Dark Knight for 8-bit Nintendo

This is what if The Dark Knight was made for Nintendo Entertainment System in 8 bit style. Animation produced by Macbee. Original Music by Vic Sagerquist. Batman and all related characters are trademarks of DC Comics

My Aims & Video Pitch

2009-02-18T21:18:00.002Z

Hi, I haven't posted at all because partly because I'm not really sure I'm doing, Bad start already!! Simplicity is the way to go!!! Also I should stick with a working schedule this time because last time was a disaster.

However I learnt that my research and analysis was one of my strong point so I've got to keep that flowing but I have to change the way I work.

Ok Straight to the main topic.
Here is my Video Pitch but I'm still re-editing it:

My Aims:
I aim is to create a short animation film.
My primary objective is to show my visual narrative skills in story telling because I’ve feel that a lot of student work tend to focus more about the visual rather than the narration.
My secondary objective is to make the finish piece look professionally made.
My inspiration comes from early video game culture such as the 8 bit era.
My target audience would be mature teenager to adult because I feel that people who grew up playing video game would feel nostalgic and would feel reminisce.

Learning Outcome:

To successfully communicate to the audiences.
To show my 2 years worth of study in Visual Communication.
Characterization

1st post introduction

2009-02-10T19:52:00.000Z

Hello and welcome to my blog Project 8-bit. I am Nixon the blogger and this blog is part of my Major negotiated Project.
I will try and regularly post on my project such as experiments, ideas etc.

Currently in my thoughts, I have the theme of early video game as a concept, therefore the title has 8bit in it.
I grew up playing video games so I have a broad knowledge about them from the N.E.S (Nintendo Entertainment System) generation to the Current Sony PS3 (Playstation).

Project 8-bit

What happened afterwards

Character Design

Airbrushing painting

DVD casing

1 day countdown - rendering some good sh*t

CGI craze

3Ding some stuff

2 Days Left!!!

A little preview

3 Days Countdown!!

Damn you AE plugin

4 DAYS LEFT!!!

New colour scheme

3D stuff

Not much update

Animating in progress

What if Street Fighter II was released in 1982?

Arm Rig test

Character Design

Short animated test

Some design stuff

3D preparation

Vector and Mental Ray blend test

Look at the pretty clouds

Corrupted Data

The background scenery progress

Game level Design

Game Level

Text based narration

Promotional Poster

Whats happening so far in Project 8-bit

Animatics

More 8-bit crazed Music Video

1-up image

How to animate 8-bit

Tutorial & The Angry Video Game Nerd (Sounds like Beauty & the Beast)

The glitch scene in production

Eboy

Some stuff I looked at

Vector render

Vocational Study

G.U.4 logo

Back from Easter

Maya Vector

Production Stage

Animatic in progress

Glitch

Game Covers

Game Boy-inspired screenshots of recent video games

Demade with 8-bit graphics

Work Check in week 7

More Storyboard

MGS4 - Revived Trailer

Moodboard Sheet

Player P.O.V

Week 6 update

Resident Evil 5 - Chris Redfield Character Evolution

Project 8-bit Title Sequence

Storyboarding

The final week with Chris Shepherd

Retro Game Challenge

Camera Test

Flatpack Festival 09 - Unpacked with David O'Reilly

Vocational Studies - week 1

Dookie Poo - What You've Become

We are the strange

Haré+Guu

Trapped in an environment

Paul Robertson

Week 5 starting & progress

181 stuff

Gametrailers Review

Retro 3D

Renew Aims, Learning Outcome & Video Pitch

Your Friend the Rat and Alberta

8 Bit Music

3D pseudo-8-BIT Test

Random Idea 3

Nexus Productions Coca-Cola