DVD casing

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

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.

2 Days Left!!!

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:

1. The text sequence needs abit slower.


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


3. 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.

3 Days Countdown!!

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:

1. Paranoid Scene
2. Running away from screen
3. The button scene
4. 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.

4 DAYS LEFT!!!

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.

Not much update

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

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:

Whats happening so far in Project 8-bit

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.

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

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.

Some stuff I looked at

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.

Back from Easter

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.

Demade with 8-bit graphics

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

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.

Player P.O.V

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

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:

The final week with Chris Shepherd

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.

Week 5 starting & progress

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.

Retro 3D

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

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:

8 Bit Music

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: