I also did a lot of rotoscoping, I started with a hand drawn animation onto tracing paper but that proved to be very time consuming. I wasn't particularly happy with the result either, here it is:
So after that attempt I decided to go digital for the rest, it proved to be much quicker. I apologize for the horrible green backgrounds but they were necessary for editing!
There are a few pieces of mine that didn't make the final cut but I'll show them anyway:
This little animation didn't make it because it would have made the background work in the editing fairly awkward so we scrapped it and went for the still image instead.
This quick fade and page turn just didn't fit the final idea so it too was scrapped.
We have chosen to represent the film gladiator using busts
reminiscent of the time to portray the main characters in an heroic style. We
will combine this with the writings and drawings of a sketch book from a
sculptor at the time. We want to create a slow and atmospheric feel to the
sequence.
Technique and approach:
For the busts we will use 3D modelling software, both Mudbox and
Cinema. We will animate these with as series of sweeping, dramatic shots. We
will create the sketchbook using use ink and watercolour for the drawing and
animations which be created using stop motion, and calligraphy for the
writings. We will merge these together along with old paper made using teabags
in Photoshop.
We will cut and wipe between the two using After Effects.
MoodBoard:
1. Leather bound with engravings which we hope our book at the end
of the sequence will resemble.
2. Another example of the book. This is the style we want for the
interior of it.
3. This is the style of bust we have modelled ours on using similar
poses and textures.
4. This is a similar image to what we want to start off the sequence
with.
5. This is a more detailed image of the bust similar to those that
we want to create. The orange tint to the marble matches our colour scheme.
6. this is an arrangement similar to the one we want for the busts
in our project.
7-9. The images by Rodin found in his sketchbooks are along the kind
of style we want to create in ours.
10. This is an experimental mock-up of our roman museum.
11.The outro. to Sherlock Holmes boasts the same colour scheme and a
similar style to what we want in our intro.
Music:
the music we have chosen for it is calm, atmospheric and anthemic
produced using orchestral instruments. It has a good flow and should work well with
the overall feel of the sequence.
Sequence:
Shot 1:
slightly oblique shot of an old book sitting on a table.angle
narrows and book opens. a page with a drawing of an old museum opens and the
camera slowly zooms towards it.
Shot 2:
The drawing becomes the modelled, realistic museum portrayed while
the page disappears (fades) around it. a slow zoom continues.
Shot 3:
The camera slowly pans towards the left till it reaches a head-on
view of Maximus (Russell Crowe).
It stops briefly then continues until it shows the right hand side
of the bust.
Shot 4:
A drawing forms around the sculpture , it then turns into part of
the image whilst a page from the sketchbook forms.
Shot 5:
Page flips, animated scenes of maximus fighting and praying form with
small analytical sketches scattered around the rest of the page.
Shot 6:
A stream of red ink runs down the page and falls off the edge of the
book. This drop falls, hits off of a bust and scatters to reveal old Ceasars
bust.
Shot 7:
Camera looks up towards the statue at an oblique lower angle. It
slowly moves up until it is level with the centre of his face.
Shot 8:
Another drop of ink falls from this scene as it melts and splashes
as it hits another page.
Shot 9:
An animation of him speaking to Maximus appears from the ink. Page
flips to a drawing of the king.
Shot 10:
A page peals/falls out of the book. It flows downwards and flies
past the screen, covering it. The page leaves the scene and the bust of Lucilla
is revealed.
Shot 11:
A head on shot slowly zooms in and focuses on her brooch.
Shot 12:
The brooch turns into a drawing whilst a page builds up around it.
Shot 13:
Key scenes become animated and analytical drawings appear on the
next couple of pages.
Shot 14:
A page turns over and reveals a zoomed in part of Juba. Slowly it
zooms out so the camera is looking up towards him.
Shot 15:
A drop of ink hits the bust and runs down it until it drips off and
splashes on the camera. The camera zooms out of the black fill which is some
typography.
Shot 16:
Images and animations of Juba occur on the next couple of pages.
Shot 17:
The page burns out from the bottom right corner to reveal a poorly
lit bust of commodus at the back of the museum.
Shot 18:
The lighting increases as smoke enters the screen from the bottom
and fills the screen.
Shot 19:
Smoke clears to reveal the last page with an animation of him with
his thumb down.
Shot 20:
Book closes to reveal the word 'Gladiator' on the originally blank
cover.
Those videos have more to do with our orignal idea of stencils and ink drops. Also links to Vimeo wont automaticall come up ike the youtube ones so you'll have to click into it.
These have a bit more to do with the direction that we're going in now.
After a week of experimenting and collecting material its time to start focusing our project and finding some direction. We decided to watch Gladiator, as a group, on Tuesday morning. From watching the movie and taking notes more ideas started flowing, one of which is now our method of introducing our main characters. We have decided to use marble busts to introduce them. I saw some busts in the background of the movie and felt that they would be very interesting to work with. Now that we had a new sense of direction we got straight to work! We began by making clay models of busts just as a starting point, here is an example of one:
Not exactly ground breaking stuff but it was a start! We have now moved onto digitally producing the busts and are working between Mudbox and Cinema 4D.
Another exciting idea came to me today! As we found a way of introducing the main characters of the movie we needed a way to bring the directors, producers and editors etc. in. What I suggested was that since we are using sculpture based works we should use a sculptors notebook as a way of introducing our other names and also telling a little bit of a story as well.
We hope to begin work on the notebook side of things as soon as possible but will continue working on out bust in the meantime. Will have examples of our digital work as soon as it is ready.
We received our brief over the Easter holidays which gave us time to think about what we wanted to do. The brief is to create an opening title sequence for one movie from a list of about 15. Even though I didn't know my group partners at the time I decided to pick a few of my favourites from the list. My three main choices were; Pulp Fiction, Gladiator and The Green Mile. I knew that I would narrow this list down to one with my group so I left it at that.
The first Monday back we were assigned our group partners and given a quick rundown of what we should do for the next couple of weeks. We were told to research and experiment to find as much material and footage as possible. After that we were shown a lot of title sequences from some well known movies. I loved the sequences from 'Rock N' Rolla' and 'Sherlock Holmes'.
I have to admit I got lucky with my group partners, Jack and Clodagh, Jack is a good friend of mine and Clodagh, who I don't know all that well yet, seems nice and is good to work with. As soon as we got sorted into our groups we got to work on deciding what movie to use. It was a quick decision and we went with Gladiator due to the massive amount of possibilities for materials and textures that we could use. From there we started brainstorming idea's for our week of 'experimentation'. We didn't put much thought into the final product and kept it very broad so we would have a lot to choose from when it came time to narrow our idea down.
On day two we got stuck into it right away. We began taking pictures of every interesting texture and surface we could find, here are a few examples:
After looking for surfaces and textures we stared making some of our own out of anything we could find. Here are some examples of how we used tea staining and inks to make interesting textures
:
We also looked at stenciling as a way to introduce main characters. We made a stencil of Maximus, the main character in the movie and shot a video of us spraying it. Here are some pictures:
This is the video we made:
When we had the video camera we decided to make the most of it and tried to get as much footage as possible. I made a Roman villa styled house which we decided to burn, this idea came from a scene in the movie in which Maximus returns home to find his house burned down. This is the video:
We also looked at ink dripping for some background footage, this proved to be hard to control but gave us some more interesting footage. Here it is:
We rounded off our week with a life drawing class on Friday, which I found very useful as all of our characters are human so it will be good to be able to draw the human form.
