Infographics - Brooklyn Nine-Nine Opening Credits - First Storyboards

The show I have chosen to create my opening credit sequence for is the American police sitcom 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'. I chose this show as it has characters that can be very easily defined in one image. 

"Captain Ray Holt takes over Brooklyn's 99th precinct, which includes Detective Jake Peralta, a talented but carefree detective who's used to doing whatever he wants. The other employees of the 99th precinct include Detective Amy Santiago, Jake's over achieving and competitive partner; Detective Rosa Diaz, a tough and kept to herself coworker; Detective Charles Boyle, Jake's best friend who also has crush on Rosa; Detective Sergeant Terry Jeffords, who was recently taken off the field after the birth of his twin girls; and Gina Linetti, the precinct's sarcastic administrator." -IMDb

These are just rough storyboards at the moment. I used blue and yellow as these are the colours that I associate with the police force, as well as the colours on the characters uniform. I also used a sketchy blueprint style to match the police force aesthetic. I also wanted to look making the credits look like they are on a crime board. I'm struggling a little with thinking of how to make the transitions look okay, and also, the space looks a little too flat and 2D, I think I could be more adventurous with using space and perspective.

@Phil Thesis Proposal Notes

Diverse Racial Representation in Hollywood  (Or Western Cinema); Why is White-washing Harmful (Or how important proper racial representation impacts culture), What Caused Change, Comparing Early and New Cinema.

In my dissertation, I would like to discuss diverse Racial representation in Hollywood Cinema in regards to how POC are represented in film, especially during the Golden age of Hollywood. I would like to analyze why certain cultures and races were presented in a certain way. What were the public’s reactions to these representations? How was the media influencing society’s views on other races and vice versa, how was society influencing the media and film? Who were the studios and the people working behind the films that inaccurately portrayed specific races? I would also like to look into how society’s views on POC changed over time. What caused the change? Who or what influenced this change. I will also be discussing the American film industry’s use of black facing, yellowfacing, and whitewashing, and how this practice is extremely harmful to POC, and how the public reacted to this subject from the early age of cinema to today. I will also be discussing themes of Orientalism, Racism, Censorship, The Gaze (PUT OTHER THEORIES HERE)

Chapter 1: What is Whitewashing? How does this relate to Hollywood? 

-Define Whitewashing, look at “whitewashing race” book

-Hollywood’s history with whitewashing, Blackface and Yellowface, and Hollywood’s Racism.

- Why/how it is problematic

-Misrepresenting cultures, perpetuating stereotypes e.g Hollywood treating Africa as wild, exotic, tribal savages (King Kong, 1993)

-Racist subtext

Early examples:

- Birth of Nation (1915) its portrayal of black men (many played by white actors in blackface) as unintelligent and sexually aggressive towards white women, and the portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as a heroic force.

-The King and I (1956) Whitewashing the cast and strong orientalism, casting Teddy Tahu Rhodes, a white New Zealander, as the Thai King Mongkut. 

- Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) Whitewashing and Yellowface, Mr. Yunioshi, as portrayed by Mickey Rooney, that has been the subject of extensive critical commentary.

-White actors were praised for roles in which they put on blackface, whereas black people are not even considered for roles that fit their race.

-Where did blackface originate? Look into the Civil War and books that portrayed racist caricatures e.g Jim Crow.

- Disney’s representation, Racism in Dumbo, Whitewashing in Princess and the frog and whitewashing in upcoming live-action films.

- How do films nowadays address this issue when creating films that are set in the past? 

(Shape of Water and any other examples I find) Does the context of the film make the racism okay? E.g in the past, racism was not as controversial as it is now, so to show racist acts in films that were set in the past, is this racist?

“The history of American cinema is also the history of American Racism.”- Manohla Dargis.

-How were these films received at the time of their release? Were there protests? Were the film’s that are viewed as controversial today a problem at the time they were released? Did the films influence society’s views on POC? Did the public’s reaction influence the film industry at all? 

- Racism today, current issues in America: Mass incarceration, police violence, diversity arguments, African enslavement and forms of white supremacy remain present. 

-Social Media and its influence on the American industry, #OscarsSoWhite 2016 Oscars Diversity Controversy.

-White actors being given roles for Japanese characters e.g Kubo and the Two strings.

- censorship, we have a voice and a means of research because of the internet and social media but the media still has influence and control over what we see.

-What is sparking change? Social media, laws that were put in place, technology. People born in the 90s are in a grey area where they were only just being introduced to advanced technology.

-steps in the right direction, Black Panther, compare this to Aladdin. Although black panther is a huge improvement in racial representation, what were the issues with this film? 

-Spider-man: Into The Spiderverse, explain how this film impacted societies and cultures across the world, and how important proper representation is for.

-Possibly discuss colorism in film and animation.

Chapter 2: Theorists

Theories I want to look into:

Orientalism

The Gaze

Pastiche

Censorship

(look back at postmodernism to find more theories)

Chapter 3: Case study - King Kong

I would like to analyze all the King Kong films that have been created, focusing on how each of them represented different races, and what the difference was with each film, how these films were received to the public and apply the theories I look into in chapter 2 to these films. Or I could compare some of the earliest examples of POC representation, and compare these with one of the most recent examples e.g Get Out, Into the Spiderverse (find more examples) to compare how much society is evolving.

Conclusion

Discuss why whitewashing is harmful, why incorrect/stereotypical/misinformed “representation is harmful to western society and how these films have impacted cultures around the world. What influenced change in the way Hollywood/Western cinema represents different races. How much has Western society progressed?

Graphic Grids - Five Cover Pages

Mudbox - Session 3

In today's session I think I figured out the problem with my stencil, the brush I was using to sculpt with was too small. When I resized the brush it seemed to work okay. I also changed the design as the design that I had chosen looked too sharp and crispy. The design I chose instead is still a little pixel-y but it'll do for now, I can always change it later.

Top View of Bowl

Current Bowl Model

 We then experimented with posing a model in Mudbox. It was extremely easy to deform the poor model's body, and rather difficult to make the body look normal. You can't choose a pose that's too dramatic as that just won't work. Even when I tried to create a rather simple pose, as you can see below, there were still parts of the model's body that were slightly distorted like the ankle and the elbow.  I think I'll definitely stick to Maya when it comes to posing models. 

I then carried on modelling fruit for my fruit bowl, I used different stamps to create different textures. However when I finished modelling the banana model and brought it into Mudbox, all of my sculpting tools stopped working. I'm not sure if this was because of something I did or Mudbox just gave up on me. I painted on a texture for it anyway and I'll see if i can fix it at a later date.

Orange Model

Pear Model

Banana Model

Mudbox - Session 2

I was absent for the last Mudbox session so I have tried to catch up. I'm struggling a little though as when I went to sculpt my chosen design stencil into my bowl, it worked the first time, but then when I resized the stencil and tried again, none of the tools in Mudbox would work, despite restarting the software. I 'll try to get this fixed in tomorrows session. Here's the progress on the fruit bowl I modelled today.

Simple Bowl Model and UVs

Painted Bowl Model in Mudbox

Stencil Over the Model

Chosen Stencil

Film Review - Mary and Max (2009)

Fig 1. Mary and Max (2009)

Mary and Max is an indie/drama film about an overseas friendship between two characters with very different lives. An eight-year-old girl from Melbourne named Mary Dinkle, who is picked on for having a birthmark on her forehead, and Max Horovitz; a 44-year-old overweight Jewish man with Asperger’s syndrome. The film shows the two characters friendship develop through the letters they write to each other over the span of 20 years. The film explores themes of friendship, mental health, and autism, but also covers some dark and mature themes such as; anxiety, sexual differences, alcoholism, religious differences, past trauma, agoraphobia, obesity, neglect, bullying, and suicide. The film also has its comedic moments, which when mixed with the dark themes, creates some morbidly funny situations.

The film was made using claymation/stop motion animation. It has a more handmade quality and gives the characters movements a more quirky style, which in this case supports the dark and sometimes off-putting themes. With stop motion, and especially with Mary and Max, the characters look more puppet-like, rather than people, which can be quite unsettling when paired with dark themes, but in a way that fascinates the audience, rather than putting them off.

The story of Mary and Max could definitely have been portrayed through live action rather than animation, however, it is the animation itself paired with the story that really makes the narrative work. There are some things that cannot be captured by live action films. For example, each character is designed so uniquely and are so over exaggerated that you can tell exactly what the characters are like without even hearing them speak, the film also has a very interesting use of colour.  When showing Mount Waverly; the place where Mary lives, the only colours used are sepia tones, except for the Mary’s Mother’s red lipstick, and later on, Mary’s red lipstick and red shoes. The choice of these colours aids the melancholy feeling of the film. When showing New York; the city that Max lives in, it is only shown in black and white which makes Mount Waverley suddenly look rather simple and peaceful compared to the chaotic, polluted city. The abstract characters and quirky animation mixed with the dull colour palettes make the film slightly difficult to watch, especially with the challenging themes it shows, however, there is a good balance of rather blunt humour and darker moments. If the narrative was told using live action, the story may have felt a little too drawn out, and also dulled downed some dramatic scenes such as the scene where Mary almost commits suicide where pictures of her friends and family are seen floating around her. If this was done using live action it wouldn’t look as interesting, and the characters would lose a lot of their creepy charms.

Fig 2. Mary and Max (2009)

The film was directed and written by Adam Elliot, an independent Australian stop-motion animation writer, director and producer based in Melbourne, Australia. Adam refers to a lot of his work as “Clayography” which means clay animated biographies. He views every character and prop and set as a tangible object, so that the audience can see that very little detail has been hand crafted. He decided to create Mary and Max because he always focused on one character in his previous short films, and thought it was time to explore multiple characters. The film became a feature length film unintentionally during the writing process as Elliot doesn’t usually plan how long the film will be. Adam also designed just over 200 characters himself, he also had to create a style bible to give to the sculptors so that they could accurately portray his style. Elliot’s stories focus on characters that are seen as outsiders or marginalized ed. He wants to educate the audience on issues that not everyone would know about, or should tease someone for. He wants the audience to be able to empathize with his characters.

The reception of Mary and Max was very positive. It received a 95% (57 of 60) of the critics at a film review aggregator rotten tomatoes rate Mary and Max fresh, with eleven of the fourteen top critic reviews agreeing. It grossed $1,444,617 at the Australian box office and although it received no general theatrical release in the United States, it was shown at several American film festivals and was briefly shown in the Laemmle Theatre in Los Angeles. The film was released in France and Germany and received significant box office success. It also won many awards such as; Best Animated Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Best Director in a Feature Film at the Australian Director Guild, Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, as well as being nominated for 9 other awards.

Bibliography:

Hailey, J. s.d. Mary and Max (2009) At: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978762/ (Accessed on 17.01.19)

Mary and Max, Official Trailer [online] AMBI Distribution (2014) 2:03 mins At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2GbYu010a0&feature=youtu.be

(Accessed on 17.01.19)

Mary and Max: The Exhibition - interview with Adam Elliot [online] Pres. Adam Elliot. ACMI (2015) 15 mins At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUVzPaBANkw&feature=youtu.be (Accessed on 17.01.19)

Pulver, A. (2010) Mary and Max Review. At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/21/mary-and-max-review (Accessed on 17.01.19)

Rotten Tomatoes. S.d. Mary and Max (2009) At: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1209767_mary_and_max (Accessed on 17.01.19)

Images:

Figure 1. Mary and Max. (2009) From: Mary and Max. Directed by Adam Elliot [Poster] Australia: Gaumont. At: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978762/mediaviewer/rm1312167936  (Accessed on 17.01.19)

Figure 2. Mary and Max. (2009) From: Mary and Max. Directed by Adam Elliot [Film still] Australia: Gaumont. At: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978762/mediaviewer/rm3229040640 (Accessed on 17.01.19)

Jet Pack Jones - Part 4

Character Design Bible - Fantôme Art Of

Toolkit 2 Check in Submission

Animation:

Moom poses
Weight lifting exercise using Moom
Charlie Chaplin animation

Drawing:

Life Drawing
Character Design and Weekly Tasks

Maya:

Pipeline 1: Head Modelling

Life Drawing - Perspectives

Warmup sketches of an easel and a personified easel

5-minute Poses 

15 Minute Pose

15 Minute Pose

20 Minute Pose

15 Minute Pose

20 Minute Pose

20 Minute Pose

Character Design - Moulin Rouge Background

Character Design - Updated Final Concepts

Character Design - Filter and Colour Tests

Character Design - Ghost Final Design

Character Design - Love Interest Final Design

Character Design - Expression Sheet

Ghost Expression Sheet

Love Interest - Expression Sheet

Character Design - Love Interest and Ghost Final Concept Line Art

Love Interest

Ghost

Character Design - Developed Ghost Concepts

These are some cleaned up concepts for my Ghost and Human characters, I will be writing up detailed descriptions about them later either with my final concepts or in my character design bible.

Mudbox - First Session

In our first Mudbox session, we modeled a bowl, tabletop, and the basic shape of an apple. We did this in Maya and then sent the models to Mudbox where we could sculpt the fruit in more detail.

Block Models in Maya

After setting up the UVs we sent the models to Maya, after sculpting, Simon showed us how to paint textures and colors onto our models. This is what my Apple Model looks like so far.

Current Apple Model

It's A-Live! - Live One Day Challenge

In this character design session, we were split into teams and given a children's TV show. Each of us had to create new characters to be introduced to the show; a mentor, a sidekick, and a villain. The show my team was given was 'Trollhunters; Tales of Arcadia". I was responsible for creating the mentor character. when thinking about our characters, my team wanted all of our characters to be connected somehow, so that they could all be introduced to the show in the same episode. The concept for the episode is that the mentor character is kidnapped by the villain, when the heroes become lost, the new sidekick helps them out in an unexpected way.  This meant we had to somewhat think thoroughly about our character's backstory. The character I created is called Aaliyah Hana, or Miss Hana. She is a new teacher working at the heroes school. She gains the main heroes trust and gives him advice and guidance. Below is a scan of the final turnaround of Miss Hana in her work attire. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to also draw a turnaround of her past self, Guinevere.

Miss Hana Turnaround

However, Miss Hana has a secret. Her real name is Guinevere, and she used to be a knight of Camelot. The show 'Troll Hunters' features a few characters from Arthurian Legends, such as 'Merlin' and 'Arthur Pendragon'  That were essentially the original Troll Hunters. I thought it would be interesting to add this twist as some of the feedback I got from Justin was that the teacher character was a little boring and wouldn't translate well into merchandising. Below is a scan of the first concepts I drew of Miss Hana, as well as some rough notes about her character.

Early Concepts

We had to think about how to make merchandise suited for children from these new characters, so I Sketched up a couple concepts. For Miss Hana, her journal, which is filled with activities to do with the show, and some glasses that when you wear them, the lenses are blue and when you look into the light, you see the villain's face. This is a reference to when Miss Hana is captured by the villain. The Guinevere toy is slightly more exciting, It's her glowing sword which also features a hidden compartment in the gem on the hilt of the sword.

Toy Designs - Miss Hana's Journal and Glasses, and Guinevere's Sword

Next on the 'Clients', (a.k.a Justin) list was concepts for a playset. My concept was a set that you can flip over so it becomes another set. This double-sided set would show Miss Hana's Classroom, and Guinevere's study, for when she was still a knight of Camelot. We were also asked for some action poses, so I drew her as both Miss Hana and Guinevere, to show how drastic her transformation from a knight to a teacher is.

Guinevere Action Pose and Playset Concept - Miss Hana's Classroom

Play Set - Guinevere's Side

Action Poses

Lastly, there are a couple of experimental sketches where I tried to recreate the 'TrollHunter' style and apply it to my character, But I didn't really like how the turned out. I think they took a bit of personality away from the character. I'm happy with how my character turned out though, and I enjoyed presenting all of our characters with my team to Justin and my year group.

Experimental Style Sketches