3D Animatic - Aztec Escape Production

This week Me and Rob have been working on the new 3D Animatic, spending considerable time focusing on camera angles, movement within the sets and cuts, therefore ensure that the camera and filmic language tells the Aztec Escape story. We tried to produce more dramatic shots and highten the action adventure atmosphere. We want the camera to emphasise the action and energy within the film, we could add more cuts to produce this effect. There are still a few camera shots and compositions that dont feel right and need a bit of work, but the timing of the animation and scenes is nearly precise. This should give the Composer, Foley Artist and Lead Animator the correct timing of the film. We have contacted a 3rd year Broadcasting student to review our animatic and give further advice of camera composition, timing and movement (tracking, depth of field, banking, dolly in and out, etc).

3D Animatic - Produced By Rob and Myself

At the moment the films stands as 3mins 30secs including title sequence and credits, we hope to refine this in the next couple of weeks as Dan begins the Jungle animation sequences. We will produce another animatic as these sequences are finalised. The animation Dan has given me so far has been of a high quality and I am pleased with his progress, he has given me his personal animation schedule so that I know when to expect the work to review it and sign it off ready for rendering.

Meanwhile... Jenny is UVing and Texturing, I am Modelling the new Temple Interior Sets, Rob is UVing the Main Chamber, Giles is UVing and rigging for other groups, Ben is modelling the mouse for the lounge.

More Blockout Modelling...

Following the reworking of the story, we decided that a 3D animatic was needed so that we could fully visualise the film, rob had already been modelling the main chamber so that was enough for the blockout. I decided to design and blockout the new sets: Enterance Corridoor, Rock Chamber and Trap Corridoor ready for the 3D animatic. I could get a good idea of style and size so that i would be easier to fully model these sets after. To keep style consistancy i used the same pillars that rob modelled for the main altar chamber, when I come to model the sets for the final edit, I will intergrate them fully into the walls, change some of the designs and add cracks and extra rocks.

Scene 3 Shot 1 - Enterance to Temple. Large stone blocks and tree roots
will create the doorway and continue throughout the corridoor.

Scene 3 Shot 3 - Ornate Stone Slab. Triggers traps and falling rocks, i will model the skull design into the stone surface, as well as the add foliage and vines hanging from the ceiling.

Scene 3 Shot 5 - Main corridoor with falling rocks.

Scene 4 Set - The rock chamber that I designed with blocked out rope and ledge, the room will be dark and lit along the central platform, the room will be collapsing as the explorer moves through the environment and rope swings to safety. Again foliage and tree roots will inhabit the set.

Scene 5 - Trap corridoor Set -Features spikes and swinging axe, maybe changed to stone hammer to keep with the crumbled stone Aztec Temple style.
This corridoor leads straight to the main altar chamber.

A Few Shot Compositions

After the major film rework we will continue to assess and edit all areas of the film, thus producing a tigher, flowing and well timed storyline. This will greatly help animation timing, and reduce time spent on production by not modelling and texturing unnessecerily. The images below show some of the story revisions and notes created by me and rob, ensuring successful planning of cameras and shot compositions for the next animatic edit.

The image above details the main transition set designed by me and rob, includes motion path of explorer within the set, plus possible camera angle.

The image above details some of the main camera compositions within the real world house set. These will be continually refined thoughout production for the final film edit.

New Production Schedule! Final Term!

Well we are a week into our last term and we have loads to do! As already mentioned last week was spent reworking the film so that we could deligate work more effeciently this week. We fell quite a bit behind due to our dissertations last term, me and rob have been working on the project over the whole Easter break and we feel we have nearly caught up, all modelling should be done by the end of next week, we've set an ambitous target and everyone is up for completing it. Rob and myself decided it was best to check off was work we've completed already and schedule in detial this final term. The Production schedule below shows the group scheduled work, deadlines and details the tasks needed to be completed by each member. As director i will continue to have a direct creative input in all areas of the production, directing changes, and revising and signing off all completed work.

Revised Production Schedule created by Myself and Rob

Aztec Escape - Story Reworking!

Looks like these weeks seem to get crazier and crazier as the term progresses! As previously stated there were alot of areas in the story that i was starting to dislike, scenes didnt flow, camera compositions and timings seemed drawn out and undramatic and many shots that left the viewer confused and disorientated. Even some of the planned gags werent producing any of the desired responses. So.... a major story rework needed to be carried out. For the past few days me (director) and rob (producer) sat down and combed through every shot, discarding irrelevant material and tightening up shots and cuts. We spent some considerable time with Cinematographer Gareth Munden, taking onboard his advice about shot composition, filmic language, how the camera could tell the story rather than solely relying on the character. After plenty of hours deliberating and script writing, it all really came down to a number of factors... time left untill completion date and what we personally wanted out of this project. The removal of the gags from the story structure meant that we could spend greater time on the visual elements of the film, modelling, texturing, lighting, rendering and most importantly the camera work. Aztec Escape has now moved into a more action packed adventure rather than a comedy. Me and Rob both agree that with the gags gone the film does seem slightly bland, but the end result has meant the storyline works and all the confusion has gone. I feel that the blandness can be removed if we play on the tension, mystery and drama of an explorers' journey into the jungle and more importantly, into his dreams.

The main change - the first have to be the transitions from the dream to the real world, the original animatic edit incorporated alot of cuts and chopping from the one world to the other, this was one of the main factors contributing to the confusion and disorientation. There is now really only one main transition change, me and rob designed it while working on the story, it makes the transition very clear for the audience and flows alot nicer than all the others, the flow of the story doesnt seem interupted or disjointed. (Transition set shown in the next post).

The next large changes was the creation and revision of alot of the environments so that i would best suit the new style of the film, me and rob spent time editing map layouts and set design. The jungle was slightly altared due to the new introduction of the film. The removal of the trap chamber with the ledge along the wall was tricky as a new set needed to be designed, i decieded to create a small chamber (not large enough to take anything away from the main chamber) but enough to incorporate a central crumbled stone walkway, steep and deadly drops and a rope swing to safety, the collapsing room idea was still kept, but overall it meant we could have more creative room to play with cameras and lighting.

Im starting to like what this short film has turned into, im a huge fan of Indiana Jones and have always wanted to produce this genre of film.

Another Quick Month!

Wel a month has past on the project, it was the Easter holidays for most of it and the absence of lectures and formatives meant that we could all easily work with no interuptions! lol! It kinda of felt as though we didnt have an Easter break as most of the days were spent modelling, set layouts, production schedules and a 3-D Animatic! The first week of the holiday i spent carrying on with the layout designs for the jungle environment, the second jungle area (scene 2 - explorer running towards temple) is now relatively complete, the only elements missing are extra vines, a broken wooden bridge, canopy alpha planes and brackground environment plates.

The images below give an overview of the layout of the main path of the second jungle environment, it took me about a week and a half to model the terrain and plan and build this environment. I was also experimenting with the main camera movement for this environment, the camera produced for the 3d animatic is a rough out version, the timing is precise but the angles and following motion needs to be made alot smoother and much more dramatic.

Second Jungle Environment - shot showing merge from
first environment into jungle path of scene 2
(35mm Widescreen, Focal Length 28)

Second Jungle Environment - shot showing environment half way down
the jungle path, broken bridge to be placed between gap, note the curved trees above
will be mostly covered by hanging vines and the start of the alpha canopy
(35mm Widescreen, Focal Length 28)

Second Jungle Environment - explorer completes large jump over broken bridge here, i designed the terrain to slope downwards so that the distance that the explorer runs is emphasised, i feel it gives a more dramatic feel to the shot, giving a feeling of not knowing what lies ahead.
(35mm Widescreen, Focal Length 28)

Second Jungle Environment Side View - Detailing valley gradient
(35mm Widescreen, Focal Length 28)