Entertainment Design - Week 2

15/1/19 & 17/1/19 (Week 2)
Seoh Yi Zhen (0328497)
Entertainment Design
Assignment 1 Progression

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LECTURE NOTES

Lecture 3 (15/1/19)

Concept Art

In the entertainment industry, the role of concept art is extremely important, to the point where companies are willing to pay big money for a single piece of artwork. This is because the concept art serves as a guide for other people (investors, especially) to envision the final outcome of the movie or game. It tells the story visually and distills the entire plot into a single picture. Usually, concept art is needed during the pre-production stage for pitching, the production stage so that the crew knows how to shoot certain scenes, and the post-production stage for movie posters.

Mise en Scène

Mise en scène – literally “placing on stage” in French – refers to what we see onscreen in a film. It’s the film’s visuals; meaning, all of the elements that appear on camera and their arrangement. Mise en scène helps create a sense of place, a sense of character, a mood. It communicates a lot to the viewer, often without them consciously realizing it.

Elements of mise en scène:

• Rule of thirds
• Depth
• Setting and props
• Costume, hair and makeup
• Facial expression and body language
• Positioning of characters within the frame
• Lighting and colour

Fig. 1.1: Depth of space in Citizen Kane (1941).

Fig. 1.2: Costume and makeup in Black Swan (2010).

Visual Effects (VFX)

Visual effects is the term used to describe any imagery created, altered, or enhanced for a film or other moving media that cannot be accomplished during live-action shooting. In other words, much of the art of visual effects takes place in post-production, after primary image capture is complete. Visual effects can be added to live-action, captured through techniques such as matte painting; rear- and front-screen projection; miniature or forced perspective sets; computer graphic objects, characters, and environments; and compositing of images recorded in any number of ways.

The use of visual effects in Life of Pi (2012).

Question

Filmmaking is a craft, what are the stages involved from beginning till end and how does it differ between live action and animated films?

For live action films, the filmmaking process typically consists of 3 main stages: pre-production, production and post-production.

Pre-production is the first stage in which the ideas for the film are created, rights to books/plays are bought etc., and the screenplay is written. After the financing is secured, arrangements and preparations are made for the shoot, such as hiring cast and film crew, selecting locations and constructing sets. In filmmaking, this stage is arguably the most crucial as it is the foundation upon which the entire movie is built.

Next, the production stage is where the actual filming takes place. More crew will be recruited at this stage, such as the property master, script supervisor, assistant directors, stills photographer, picture editor, and sound editors. Hence, the production process is usually the most expensive stage in traditional filmmaking.

Post-production refers to the last part of filmmaking, where the images, sound, and visual effects of the recorded film are edited and combined into a finished product. Once completed, the final cut is ready to be released to cinemas or, occasionally, directly to consumer media or direct download from a digital media provider.

On the other hand, the process of creating animated films is much more complex, consisting of up to 16 stages:

1. Story (script and storyboard)
2. Editorial (rough animated sequence with voice and sound effects)
3. Art (characters, props and environment)
4. Modeling
5. Rigging
6. Surfacing (colours and textures)
7. Rough layout
8. Final layout
9. Animation
10. Crowds (extras of the film)
11. Character FX (clothing simulation, swooshes, etc.)
12. FX (footprints, rustling leaves, fire, smoke, etc.)
13. Matte painting (background)
14. Lighting
15. Image finaling
16. Sound design

Although there are many differences between creating live action and animated films, both of their end goals are still the same: to tell a story that engages and captivates the audience.

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ASSIGNMENT 1

Idea

Based on last week's feedback, I did more research on adventure games and their storylines. I also looked at various indigenous tribes around the world in order to get more ideas for my game. After quite a bit of research, I decided to base my game on tattoos and folklore from the Alaskan Yup'ik tribe.

Fig. 2.1: Yu'pik folklore.

Fig. 2.2: One example of Yu'pik tattoos.

Inspired by these two elements, I came up with some preliminary ideas:

1. A random girl wakes up one day and discovers that the world was destroyed by a blizzard, leaving her the only survivor of the human race. She notices a small tattoo on her face and finds out that she's a descendant of the Yu'pik tribe. As she travels to her homeland in order to uncover her purpose, the number of tattoos on her body increases, each giving her a special ability that will help her along the journey.
2. A Yu'pik girl finds a strange fairy-like creature outside her house at night. The fairy claims to be the sun, and was hiding from her brother, the moon, who was chasing after her and wants her dead. In order to restore the light, the girl must help the sun get back to the sky.

Mr Mike liked the idea of the tribal tattoos, and suggested that I combine both ideas for the plot. With that, I amended the storyline again and finally had it approved.

Finalized Plot

A random girl wakes up in the city to find that the world was wiped out in a terrible blizzard. She also notices a tiny tattoo on her face which leads her to discover that she's a descendant of the Alaskan Yu'pik tribe. As she travels towards her homeland, she learns that the blizzard was caused by the moon turning evil and wanting to rule the entire sky, which ultimately made the sun grow weaker. In order to restore the sun's power, she has to complete a number of tasks which increases the number of tattoos on her face. Each tattoo gives her a special ability that will help her along her journey.

Sketches

Before I began sketching, I looked for visual references from existing video game posters. From the references that I found, I realized that most posters for adventure games feature the main character in the open world where the game takes place. As for the placement of text, it is usually at the top or bottom of the poster where it won't distract from the main illustration. 

Fig. 2.3: Child of Light (2014) poster.

Fig. 2.4: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) poster.

Fig. 2.5: Ori and the Blind Forest (2015) poster.

However, if the game is narrative-driven, then the main character will take up most of the space on the poster.

Fig. 2.6: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) poster.

Fig. 2.7: Death Stranding poster.

I also looked up traditional Yu'pik clothes so that I could get some ideas for my character design.

Fig. 2.8: Traditional Yu'pik clothing.

Fig. 2.9: Atkuk (parka).

After doing all this research, I finally began sketching.

Fig. 2.10: Character design (1).

Fig. 2.11: Character design (2).

Fig. 2.12: Character design (3).

Fig. 2.13: Poster layouts.

Fig. 2.14: Poster layouts and title design.

Mr Mike said that the concept for the second poster layout was interesting and asked me to explore with more variations of poses. He also mentioned that the sketches don't have to be so detailed as long as they're understandable. As much as I would love to spend more time ideating, our deadline is coming up pretty soon so I probably just have to go for it and get it completed.

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REFLECTION

Experience

Compared to last week, I finally feel like I accomplished something (even though I know it's nothing much). Doing research is usually my forte, so it felt good that I was able to sit down and really think about what I wanted to do for this assignment. That being said, I've never played a lot of games, so coming up with new ideas and sketches was hard because I didn't know what had already been done before.

Observation
As I was looking for visual references, I noticed that a lot of game posters have similar compositions. Although there's a part of me that understands how easy it is to stick with a design that is known to work, there's also another part that feels kind of disappointed with the lack of originality. I'm talking big now but I doubt I'll be able to think of something new for my own poster design.

Findings
Doing preliminary research is quite crucial before beginning any work. This is because we need to know what's already out there in the market for us to come up with something unique. However, the entertainment industry is so heavily saturated that it's become common to find games and movies that are shockingly similar.

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REFERENCES

Reference List

CGI Dreamworks Animation Studio Pipeline | CGMeetup. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru0tQRJ4qKs

EXCLUSIVE: Life of Pi's Stunning Effects. (2012). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BrD_v5Vt70

Filmmaking. (2019). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmmaking

McGrail, L. 5 Essential Elements of Successful Mise en Scène in Film | Lights Film School. Retrieved from https://www.lightsfilmschool.com/blog/mise-en-scene-in-film-afk

What is visual effects?. (2012). Retrieved from https://vfxforfilm.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/whats-visual-effects/

Photo Credits

Fig. 1.1: https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/a-viewers-companion-to-citizen-kane

Fig. 1.2: https://www.lightsfilmschool.com/blog/mise-en-scene-in-film-afk

Fig. 2.1: http://zeluna.net/yupik-folktales-ravensunmoonandstars.html

Fig. 2.2: https://www.larskrutak.com/tattoos-of-the-hunter-gatherers-of-the-arctic/

Fig. 2.3: https://www.lifewire.com/child-of-light-ps4-2717215

Fig. 2.4: https://trynotlaughs.us/galleries/zelda-breath-wild-cover.html

Fig. 2.5: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4550698/
Fig. 2.6: http://wallpaperhd.online/upload/images/1527819365518/skyrim-7base-skyrim-7000-steps-skyrim-8-rings-mod-sword-dark-1668x2224.jpg
Fig. 2.7: https://img.gta5-mods.com/q90/avatars/607195/02a20a-foocfjzkhw2y.jpg
Fig. 2.8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yup%27ik_clothing

Fig. 2.9: http://thinkingimages.tumblr.com/post/132923525376/parka-atkuk-parka-culture-yupik-the/amp