Esme Duncan – Page 9 – Esme’s Blog

Week 4: Research Into German Expressionism

While my key reference for aesthetics and design derive from the the 1929 Disneys Silly Symphony the skeleton dance, I think it is important to consider further areas of which black and white cinema has influence on film culture, and aspects of this I can apply to my own work going forward.

German Expressionism

As described by Ian Roberts, German Expressionism do not just represent a particular era and country but “ the very essence of the early film Industry” (2008, p.1) . I think this underscores a very key movement for film in its entirety and helps state its prevalence as an art form which inherently feeds into the representational importance of animation as artistic expression. A strong point Roberts expands on is the idea that German expressionism was “ articulating a sense of existential angst before psychoanalysis had reached the popular consciousness” (2008, p.39) . The exemplification of psychoanalytic expression through film accentuates different aesthetic points which I feel are improved by the black and white medium. For example the use of dark elongated shadows which are ultimately ‘Unhemlich’ (Uncanny) in quality associate with the horrors created solely by the mind (Freud, 2003). I believe the grainy and lower quality aspects of the camera also allow more room for a more anonymous and incomprehensible figure to be formed that ultimately assists in the dissociative and uncomfortable uncanny creativity of ones mind.

In the famous expressionist film Nosferatu: a Symphony of horror (1922), a technique in which the negative of the scene is used to dramatically unsettle the viewer (2008). In application to modern day 3D computer generated imagery this can be achieved by rendering through alpha channels and switching this in post production, and provides interesting points of reference that I could potentially inhibit in my own film as a direct reference to this piece of early 20s cinema. Another important technique mentioned in the inclusion of this film is the of a lighting technique that is shot in a “half-light which renders the edge of the frame almost totally black” that accentuates the centre (Roberts, 2008, P. 45). There are also many scenes in which landscapes are unnaturally exposed to light, causing the time of day to be confusing and difficult to place, ultimately accentuating its supernatural representation (Roberts, 2008).

I think considering these aspects of lighting will be important to understanding how to incorporate important historical and cultural films within my own work. Replicating older technology within modern technology such as Maya may be achieve with a better overall quality within post production. I also feel asset texturing may benefit my aesthetic goals as, while the old fashioned camera inherently draws attention to itself in use, I feel in animation an impression of human craftsmanship will also aid placing its contextual era. In this, I could potentially hand draw textures to show impressions of line work and hand shading onto my models to give them a direct relationship to the old fashioned.

Over exaggerated set design in Genuine (1920)

As seen in the Expressionist film Genuine (1920) the background shows direct and heavy line work that gives away its ingenuity, which creates a sense of irony given its name. This could be something I consider stylistically replicating in my own film.

German Expressionist films to reference-

The Hand of Orlac

Genuine

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

References

Roberts, I. 2008. German Expressionist Cinema: The World of Light and Shadow. Wallflower Press: Great Britain

Workshop: Collaborative Seminar

Summary

What is it? A VR Comic adaptation of artist ‘False Knees’
What is its purpose? To entertain audiences with blunt and existential humour.
What are the key features? A player is interacting with two seagulls differing in personality and follows them as they converse through a day at the seaside.
Role assignments and group responsibilities? Yiran, Callum and Lin are all working on the Virtual reality and unity scriptwriting elements of the project, me and Marianna are doing modelling and character animation.

Achievement

Concept- what is its novelty? It provides a relatively unexplored area of virtual reality experience that is not inherently related to games/ gameplay and provides a more accessible way to experience using VR.
What is driving the narrative? The comic-inspired dialogue and interchanging environments.
What is the Development Process? Developing a relationship between comic art and virtual 3D space in relation to experiences
What is the practical scope? Due to the 3D nature of Virtual reality and 3D animation, there is a pre-existing understanding of workflows and pipelines that require both animation, modelling, and game engine scripting in order to be a finished piece. This collaboration exists in industry-standard practice.

Target Audience

Who is the work aimed at? Young adults who enjoy comic humour
What aspects of the work have been chosen due to this? There are elements of language that targeted an older audience, however, contain elements of culture more likely to be understood by a more recent generation.
Why have you chosen this target audience demographic? it is much easier to gain access to and converse Ideas with people within the 18-25 age bracket due to the nature of the university experience. This also means that our group has a shared understanding of the humour involved, and cultural references.

Technical

What techniques are you and your collaborators employing to achieve your goal? We are trying to integrate as much use of virtual reality technology as we can, which includes changing narrative planning such as storyboarding in 3D space. We have also been modelling and animating with more game-like thought processes, keeping things lower poly and animating in loop cycles.

Plans and Timelines

What is your timeline for the finalization of your project?

How will you test aspects of your project as you progress? Every week we have been having group meetings, in which the VR students bring their own headsets and equipment for us to preview the progress of collating all the scene files together.

Friday Workshop Week 4: Useless Machine Animation

Looking at mechanical animation, which focuses on four key elements rotation, positing, framing and timing. Due to its mechanical nature, the modelling will also be very smooth and man-made in presentation. The youtube link below highlights the main functions of the useless machine box which I used as a ground basis to develop this model and animated sequence.

(29) Useless Box Kit from ThinkGeek – YouTube

Modelling of the useless Machine and instigator

imitating a finger and a switch, the primary idea of the useless machine is to turn the switch back off after it has been pressed. In the first version, I created a mechanical arm that rises from the box in time with the switch. Being mechanically orientated in motion, the timing has to have a very perfect and controlled feel to it that lacks the unpredictableness of natural motion.

Useless Machine mechanical arm

Taking this idea a step further, and using a rig to add a more enticing and performed character animation to the shot concept. For this, I tried to use an unconventional rig, a fish, and try to create its motion in a certain way to create a comedic effect in both timing and restricted movement. In this sense, I ‘broke’ the rig by overstretching the arm in a way that exemplifies the ridiculousness of the fish, an organic creature, appearing out of a box to cause mayhem. This was difficult in the sense of trying to make the fish appear and move ‘mechanically’ which contrasts with its biological nature. In order to improve this going forward, I think that the animation is stripped back far too much, it does not truly give life to the fish, or display much of his character and emotional state other than the brief smile presented before pressing the switch. To push myself further with this exercise in future, I intend to use new techniques much like those displayed in the class workshop, where I could potentially use animation paths to create polygons that form as the box opens and closes to add the comedic effect of something larger being inside the box that it appears to be able to psychically contain.

Useless machine with added character animation

Week 4: Collaborative Project

Group Meeting and Notes:

The VR students showcased their midterm critical PowerPoint they intended to show their lectures with all or progress to date on it. The Unity environments have been developed and showed us their city/ beach developments. The storyboard script was also adapted to a finalised point.

Personal Goals this Week:

. VR Storyboarding

. Adjusting any models

VR Storyboarding

Following on from Week 2’s research, in order to effectively plan our gameplay sequence in 3D space, the members of the MA VR course set up a tilt brush for our use again to draw the characters in key elements of gameplay interaction. During this process, both I and Marianna (alongside Cal from MA VR) effectively utilised the 3D space in order to plan spatially and aesthetically the character interaction which not only gave us a clear outline of how the VR headset works but also gave us a more up-close insight into how the characters will look and move which will help with the animation process later on in the project.

While in the context of non-linear narrative storytelling tools, when approaching the storyboarding for this project, we went in with the mindset of an unconventionally structural plot, in which “effects are the direct result of causality” (Bucher, 2018, P.84). This engaged us and challenged us in a different way as it meant that the key elements, while able to follow a chain of differing triggers which allow space for narrative structure, ultimately have to make each sequence make sense on its own. As stated by Bucher, as many VR experiences rely on this non-linear narrative experience, they often include elements of traditional storytelling such as the introduction of empathetic characters (Bucher, 2018, P.84). This element in itself helped Marianna and myself translate our own storyboarding experiences based on a character-driven plot into several, broken down sections that build an overall narrative arc. The viewer engagement with these interactions, reward or cultivate the incentive to continue following the narrative, rather than gameplay elements, adding a uniqueness to the project’s artistic form.

Researching more into the world of games to get a better understanding of how this is multisided, there are several examples of non-linear narrative-heavy games that depend on player engagement such as the Life is Strange (Square Enix) series and TellTale comic adapted games. A key example of this is the recent Life is Strange: True Colours (Square Enix, 2019) which gives the player multiple options that change the overacting narrative of its very narrative-heavy story, which gives a strong implication of the intensive story development that went into it that is perhaps even more thought out than an entire animated film. Elements of this game is particularly brought to attention the different ways narrative can be explored in a more option, non-linear fashion such as interacting with objects in the worlds such as journals, letters, text messages and even NPC characters which help add depth and development to the world in a way that is entirely dependant on the individual’s personal engagement. Taking this into consideration for gameplay aspects for future projects, as a computer animation artist I think is important to think about all the different ways experience and story can be created in the realms of 3D.

Player Engegment through Non-linear Choice Based Gameplay

Drawing in 3D Space

Taking traditional artistic elements into three-dimensional space has proved to be something very educational and thought-provoking in the technological progression. As stated by Schkolne incoperating the “unfiltered physicality” of sponatiously hand drawn art, into a traditionally indirect and mathmathtically enveloped world add a human element and create a more artistic impression in technology (2002, P.1). This particular element of the VR world particularly drew my interest and has helped me engage more with the medium.

The capture of Final Storyboard

Below is the final VR storyboard, and its progression of different narrative segments that build up the overall story, depending on player engagement and triggers. This includes the integration of key objects such as beachballs, sticks, fries and ice cream, which are all created with the intention of being interactable for the player.

References

Bucher, J 2017, Storytelling for Virtual Reality: Methods and Principles for Crafting Immersive Narratives, Taylor & Francis Group, Oxford. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [5 April 2022].

Schkolne, S. (2002) ‘Drawing with the Hand in Free Space: Creating 3D Shapes with Gesture in a Semi-Immersive Environment’, Leonardo, 35(4), pp. 371–375. doi: 10.1162/002409402760181132.

The Relationship Between Experimental Animation and Sound Exploration

In order to gain a better understanding of more abstract and less structured conceptual creation in 3D space, I Intend to explore visuals inspired by the geometric stylisation of cubist movements such as artists Jean Metzinger and Sonia Delaunay to see how they would move in relation to sound. The 70s and 80s inspired experimental synth-pop bands such as ’Cluster’, ’Brian Eno’ and ’Tangerine Dream’ Use music that evokes the epitome of electronics, which in my own mind seems to perfectly fit aesthetically with abstractly formed computer-generated imagery.

Cubist inspiration and Reference

When reflecting on Cubism as an artistic movement it makes statements about the modernism movement that help speculate on how arts perception is progressing.

Music Inspiration and Development

An interesting quotation to consider looking into the Functions of experimental and electronic music that stimulates visual ideas of movement is from Pauline Oliveros stating:

“I think of the delay system as a time machine, because first, you have to be present to make a sound and play it. Then it’s recorded and played back in the future so what the future is essentially dealing with is really the past. So it sort of expands your sense of time” (Pauline in Holmes, 2016, p.169)

Going forward with experimentation in this aspect, I think audio delay systems present in the late 60s and 70s synth-pop provide interesting associations with the sci-fi and the extraterrestrial, and I could play on these widely accepted associations to create ‘alien’ or ‘otherwordly’ insinuations that evoke a sense of mystery without the need of extensively defined visuals. In reference to Holmes Seven fundamental traits of electronic music, one of the points he discusses is electronic music as the ability to expand the perception of tonality (2016). Highlighting the fact that electronic music can ”stretch the concept of the pitch into the opposite direction, toward a less defined tonality into the realm of noise” (Holmes, 2016, Pp.171). Taking this concept in a literal visual sense, I could adapt a 3D perception using influences from aspects such as sound waves to perceive music.

Here is an example of electronic music by Cluster, which I will use as inspiration when writing different music pieces that could compliment my visuals.

Something that experimental provides aesthetically visuals for in terms of creating aesthetic computerised animation is a variation in the shapes of soundwaves

Experimental Music Test 1

Taking this into garage band, and using instruments reminiscent to that of those typically used in an experimental synth-pop formation, I tried to replicate interesting sounds and patterns which will be a basis for further experimentation later on.

Experimental Song 2

Bibliography

. Holmes, Thom, 2016. Electronic and Experimental Music. Fifth Edition. New York: Routledge

Thesis Idea- Viewer engagement with Animated Documentary

Going forward with a thesis topic for this coming year, the area of research around viewer engagement with the animated documentary is something I wish to pursue. This is due to the fact that not only will its finding benefit my final major project, but could potentially benefit the area of animated documentary in my findings of with method of animation best accentuates the portrayal of personal experiences in the most visually engaging ways. Key areas I wish to look into include the emotional response of facial expression and scientific areas such as the mirror neuron system which take into considerations aspects of human empathy. I also wish to delve into areas that look at anonymity provided by animation, and confessional and therapeutic aspects of creating personal documentation through animation.

Previous/ Similar Studies Found-

Animated documentary: Viewer engagement, emotion, and performativity – AUBREI – Arts University Bournemouth Research Excellence and Impact (Emotion in Animated film)

Some Research References-

Hill, Annette. “Documentary Modes of Engagement.” In: Austen, Thomas and Wilma De Jong (Eds.). Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives, New Practices . New York: Open University Press, 2008: 217– 231.
Emotion in Animated Films, edited by Meike Uhrig, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=5548779.
Created from ual on 2022-02-11 13:13:12.]

Canet, Fernando and Héctor Perez. “Character Engagement as Central to the Filmmaker– Subject Relationship: En Construcción (José Luis Guerin, 2001) as a Case Study.” Studies in Documentary Film , 10(3), 2016: 215– 232.
Emotion in Animated Films, edited by Meike Uhrig, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=5548779.
Created from ual on 2022-02-11 13:14:05.

Fore, Steve. “Reenacting Ryan: The Fantasmatic and the Animated Documentary.” animation: an interdisciplinary journal , 6(3) 2011: 277– 292.
Emotion in Animated Films, edited by Meike Uhrig, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=5548779.
Created from ual on 2022-02-11 13:15:10.

Week 3: Concept Art and Research

For my project I wanted to look into aesthetic considerations that explored the dynamic movement and environment of my characters and how the lighting might be developed later on in 3D space.

I thought the most appropriate setting would be a theatre stage, perhaps reminiscent of that in ‘Vaudeville’ theatre. A stated by Crafton “Although `Vaudeville was nearly defunct at the time, cartoons from the 1930s through the 1960s riffed on its memory” (2013, pp.7).

In regards to Vaudeville’s English context the term describes ” a catch fall for musical comedy” (Cullen, 2006 pp.12), which suits aesthetically the genre in which I intend to make my film. This is particularly prevalent in my plans to incorporate ‘trap doors’ and value comedy over morals. While this may be unachievable for my current modelling abilities, I feel the heavy felt curtains and the grandiose atmosphere created by the French influence is a great place to start building references. I do feel that perhaps the elaborate-ness of the vaudeville stage may not be befitting of my overall film aesthetic due to my simplistic character designs, and may take away viewer focus from my animated performance.

Vaudeville Stage Examples

Below I have drawn and environmental concept work which indicates the rough style and lighting I would like to incorporate into my work going into the modelling and pre-visualisation stage. This piece also helps me gain a clearer understanding of the differing character personalities of the two skeletons while utilising only the movements of their eyebrows. The main thing I wish to take into consideration is the heavy use of spotlights, which potentially, will behave like their own characters within the piece, which I intend to explore more in the storyboard and animatic of my film. These lights, as well as concepts of the ‘trap door’ which will seemingly have a mind of its own. One of the key things I wish to conceptualise is the absence of visual audience within the scene. The use of sound will be the main and only implication of audience engagement as I feel this separates the scene further from the ‘real world’ and allows more for modelling time. I also believe the disembodied voice adds a ‘ghostly’ effect which strengthens the uncanny implications of the dead.

An important step when creating computer animation is to create a character turnaround sheet so you can begin to gain a rough understanding of all angles of your future model. I will utilise this going forward into my character modelling stage, and also make more reference to the real anatomical skeleton to get a further level of accuracy than that provided in these drawings.

References

.Crafton, D. (2013). Shadow of a Mouse: Performance, Belief, and World-Making in Animation. United States: University of California Press.

.Cullen F. (2006). Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopaedia of Variety Performers. Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Workshop: Camera Sequencer

Considering cinematography and camera work in 3D space is imperative to creating effective and well-considered motion pictures. Learning and adapting Ideas for the below video, I intended to create two establishing shots utilising the camera sequencer feature in Maya.

(17) How to Speak Movie Part 1: The Camera – YouTube

Sequence 1

For this first test, I used this mountain terrain environment to consider a larger environmental establishing shot that eventually draws the viewer to a small ‘cabin’ in by the central lake. This goes from a wide shot to a slow pan down, to a zoom shot that focuses on the central point where a potential plot will be developed.

The cameras used in this workshop imitate the functions of those in real life, being restricted to a ‘dolly’ track which in real life only allows the camera to go from side to side attached to a track. Using this method in 3D space makes more authentical and life-like camera motions in a ‘fake’ and forcibly intentional space.

See the source image — Dolly Controlled Camera

The camera sequencer works in the way multiple separate playblasts from the separate cameras would once be edited in video software but takes away the additional step so it is simple to preview in Maya. This will prove effective for shot planning and production efforts later on in my work so that cinematography can be planned later on without the requirement of additional software.

The Final Shot Compilation Using the Camera Sequencer

Sequence 2

Contrary to the previous shot which was slower and more relaxed in pace, for the next sequence I wanted to test a faster paced and more ‘tense’ environment through shot creation that will help build a story in 4 shots. A fast pan shot to establish the speed of the cars, a pan shot to establish the number of people, hinting towards and city environment, and two close-ups to establish a potential interaction.

Camera Sequence 2

Week 3: Collaborative Project

Group Meeting and Notes:

We discussed our progression with being inducted and understanding how to use the VR oculus rift. We showed our progress with our Google Tilt Brush development and discussed how we intend to develop the storyboards created in the previous week into VR space. The VR team began implementing and testing the modelled assets and their potential functions in VR

VR Induction and Testing

Following on from last week’s research into storyboard creation in tilt brush for VR, myself and Mariana got inducted into using the virtual reality headsets provided at the university to practice and get used to using the equipment. During this process, we were able to better understand how 3D space works in immersive engagement which can later help us better understand how to create 3D assets and animations utilizing the very personal and up-close experience that is inherently coupled with putting on the headset.

Learning to Draw in 3D Virtual Reality Space

Models

Progressing from last week’s models, this week I created the ice cream cart that the two seagulls will interact with, and the ‘Ice Cream’ Mini game will take place. This means that the model required surface area and interactable ice cream cones that are separated from the original mesh. In order to heighten the level of realism, I learned how to create an N Cloth material so that the roof of the cart would be able to realistically interact with elements such as wind in the unity engine.

N Cloth/ Cloth Simulation in Unity

Importing this model into unity proved to not effectively retain the baked simulation information, so I researched alternative solutions and there proved to be an efficient Cloth simulation very reminiscent of Mayas, within Unity programming. This can be controlled by both collision and elemental effects such as wind, which may prove useful at later stages of the project.

Following a youtube tutorial, I began to understand that by attaching a Cloth node to a specified object it functions very similarly to the Ncloth function in Maya, and began to translate my understanding of simulation friction, dampness and weight to the cloth in unity.

In this light, I imagined that the use of passive colliders, similarly to Maya, would be required for object collision. However, I came across several issues during this process that differed from Maya. Unity’s colliders seem to be created into specific shapes (Spherical, Cylindrical and Box), none of which accurately made the polygonal structure of the cart, which caused the shape of the cloth to fall in an unnatural and asymmetrical manner.

Following on from this, It created the cloth simulation to fall off the object as if it was attached to a cylinder, rather than the shape of the cart and fell off in a very fast and unnatural way that would not work for our game. After looking into several tutorials, I contacted a team member from the VR group to help me analyse exactly what the issue was and engage my learning and understanding of unity to a higher standard.

Cylindrical/ Spherical and Box Colliders Having Non-realistic Effects on Cloth

After consultation and working with our VR team member, Cal, he was able to assist me in further understanding the different functions of colliders. His initial exploration involved shaping the different spherical, cylindrical and box colliders into a shape that appeared reminiscent of the box cart mesh, in order to create the illusion of the cloth falling into the correct place. However, this proved ineffective and only created more issues in the unrealistic cloth formation.

With the both of us looking deeper into cloth simulation, the use of ‘cloth particles, is used to create greater accuracy as you can use a brush tool in order to indicate which aspects of the cloth you want to directly affect and bind to different elements of the mesh. Using this Method, Cal was able to demonstrate how to effectively get the cloth to be stabilised and attached to the mesh, and also have realistic object and simulation reactivity.

Effective Cloth Simulation by Cal

Critically reflecting on this process, I feel that when working in unity it will be extremely beneficial to understand in further depth the controls of cloth simulation as working and exporting in Maya cannot always be fully reliable. Taking this into consideration, however, I feel as a 3D artist predominately using Maya it will be very beneficial to further explore Ncloth’s relationship with different software and how to properly export a simulation for better industry standard practice.

Tutorials for Cloth Simulation Learning Reference

(38) Maya 2016 tutorial : How to export an nCloth object ( FBX ) – YouTube

CLOTH SYSTEM in Unity 2018 | Beginner’s Guide – Bing video

Experimental Animation Example Task

It can be argued that Fantasmagoire by Emile Cohl (19dhdhd) is entirely experimental animation, as it represents animation in one of its earliest rudimentary ‘modern’ forms. It experiments with character movement, expression and emotions in ways that, while being a source of entertainment, provide a foundation for the basis of character animation as we have become to know it. While it has a narrative foundation, I feel there is a deeper element at play that could arguably define it further as experimentation.

Making reference to Paul Wells Understanding Animation, Wells states that experimental animation heavily involves abstraction that “redefines ‘the body’ or resists using it as an illustrative image” (1998, p.43). While Phantasmagoria clearly represents characterised human bodies, there is a metamorphic element that explores the ‘interpretive form’ of the characters that “reconstruct a different conception of narrative” that arguably “prioritises abstract forms in motion” over conventional and linear storytelling (Wells, 1998 pp. 43-44). I think its key explorative elements and its founding ideas of assisting in the definition of animation as an art form over entertainment in conception, are what stands out as an experimental piece of work. Wells expansion of the ‘presence of the artist’ is also prevalent in this piece of work, narratively and also psychically as he demonstrates at the start the direct relationship between craft and craftsman, showing Cohls hand directly influencing the draw figure (1998, p.45). I think what separates the work from more conventional animation in its formation is the ‘dream-like’ non-linear narrative provided in the piece that distances itself from relation and has its “ own abstract logic” such as decapitation and defiance of the laws of gravity (Wells, 1998, p.45). I feel this is also accentuated in its titles direct name ‘A fantasy’.

As a piece that is also argued as the first animated cartoon, it is created with intention to create and discover drawn motion and characterisation that distinctly gives it a purpose other than purely entertainment factor, which associates well with the ideaology of experimentation within film and the animated medium.

References

Wells, P. 1998. Understanding Animation. Routledge: Oxon, United Kingdom.