To coincide with Natal Attraction's acceptance into London's Raindance Film Festival 2009, I have posted a new trailer for all to view - no password required.
I will be posting the screening date(s) as soon as I hear back from the officials.
10.9.09
27.6.09
Postnatal Updates
A quick little update on Natal Attraction. Currently, it is being sent out to film festivals (hence the password protection above) and is in consideration for Raindance 2009 and more to come.
I've also found today that my course leader Adam Comiskey has kindly nominated NA for the RTS Royal Television Society Awards 2010(?) where the folk of Southampton Solent University go up against the talent at Bournemouth University. They put up a damn good fight each year, so it's fingers crossed once again that one our lot may prevail!
I've also found today that my course leader Adam Comiskey has kindly nominated NA for the RTS Royal Television Society Awards 2010(?) where the folk of Southampton Solent University go up against the talent at Bournemouth University. They put up a damn good fight each year, so it's fingers crossed once again that one our lot may prevail!
20.5.09
Postnatal Production... Harbour Lights, done!
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The Southampton Harbour Lights Cinema. Four years ago, I remember looking ahead to this time starry eyed wondering what film it was that I would produce and screen in my third year vowing that I would strive to work to the best of my ability and hope to inject a minute or two of enjoyment, and with a bit of luck, laughter into an unsuspecting audience member's day.Well, with the rapid flow of time, I'm now looking back on the event beaming as through some sort of freak miscalculation of the powers that be and audience (!), Natal Attraction takes home its first two awards - Best Film 2009 and Audience Choice 2009.
"What the hell is wrong with you people!?" I said.
Apparently, an abundance of sexual innuendo, genitalia, blood and cumshots sit well with a British audience, much to my immense surprise. I suppose one of the things I've learnt from today is that taking a risk with a wild and raunchy script isn't an inherently bad thing.
Further to this, and something I've been saying all along - the production of a film, nay, art in general, is that in order to achieve success, having the support and passionate input of your peers [friends, family, tutors, etc] pays huge dividends in your ability to be creative and desire to do the very best you can. I would find it hard to understand how one could produce to the best of their ability within a purely internalised production process.
In a nutshell, what I am trying to say is that every artist who contributed their talents, every person who took a figment of interest in this film was invaluable to me. Natal Attraction would simply not exist in its current form without all these folk and, chances are if you are reading this, you are one of them too - so thank you!
I've loved every minute of it.
18.5.09
Postnatal Production... Development Retrospective
As a means to scratch beneath the surface a little prior to Wednesday's screening, I thought I'd display some of the forms Natal Attraction has taken since its conception [pun unintended, maybe?] last November, for those few with much curiosity behind them. I'll be using a shot that has remained very much a constant throughout the development and therefore works well as an example demonstrate the sorts of changes that have occurred during production and why.
First off, the ol' storyboard image which technically came first in the development cycle, intended as the final shot where the full scale [and error] of Nancy's surgery is made apparent to the couple and poor Mrs. Wright gets it full on in the face.
Following on from this is the aesthetic mock-up which was finalised in January for the animatic hand-in. Things are a little more vague this time in terms of exactly what is happening/what is going to happen. It was at this point I began to re-consider the final shot, especially as the professional voice-work and score began to roll in and put a slightly different spin on the narrative.
In the final version, I had firmly decided to use this shot as a means to build tension and place more focus afterwards on the horror of the situation - firstly, on the act committed on Dr. Wright's manhood, and then on both his and Mrs. Wright's face after the squirting has taken place.
First off, the ol' storyboard image which technically came first in the development cycle, intended as the final shot where the full scale [and error] of Nancy's surgery is made apparent to the couple and poor Mrs. Wright gets it full on in the face.
Following on from this is the aesthetic mock-up which was finalised in January for the animatic hand-in. Things are a little more vague this time in terms of exactly what is happening/what is going to happen. It was at this point I began to re-consider the final shot, especially as the professional voice-work and score began to roll in and put a slightly different spin on the narrative.
In the final version, I had firmly decided to use this shot as a means to build tension and place more focus afterwards on the horror of the situation - firstly, on the act committed on Dr. Wright's manhood, and then on both his and Mrs. Wright's face after the squirting has taken place.
Another day, another few nuggets of info for the eager. The first bit of 'merchandise' [in the form of a theatrical poster for Southampton Harbour Lights] was sent off to the printers today and I will reveal the artwork on this space soon after Wednesday.
14.5.09
Postnatal Production... Afterbirth
Although this whole blog dealie was always intended as a way for the powers that be to assess our progress, I have nonetheless become attached to the whole project and feel that it serves a secondary purpose of being a time capsule for one of the busiest periods of my life and one that I will reminisce upon fondly - it's a great joy to work towards your career doing something you truly enjoy.
As a partial way to mark the occasion for handing in the film, the blog header has now been switched to the official logo for the film and thus, the old one is relegated to the dumping ground.
There are more things I plan to do in relation to the film and I will continue to use the blog to keep those that care up to date with its goings on, including posting the Southampton Harbour Lights edit after its... um, well debut I guess - though that word sounds incredibly grandiose for what the product actually is. Very much looking forward to a screening of what has been a passionate year of film-making from everyone.
As a partial way to mark the occasion for handing in the film, the blog header has now been switched to the official logo for the film and thus, the old one is relegated to the dumping ground.
There are more things I plan to do in relation to the film and I will continue to use the blog to keep those that care up to date with its goings on, including posting the Southampton Harbour Lights edit after its... um, well debut I guess - though that word sounds incredibly grandiose for what the product actually is. Very much looking forward to a screening of what has been a passionate year of film-making from everyone.
25.4.09
Lusts... Of the Logo
As a little break from animation, I decided to harness the residual creative juices flowing through the channels and had a bash at a proper logo for Natal Attraction that could ultimately be used in the film itself and for any additional paraphernalia I choose to produce post-production. It's early days for the logo and it's merely a rough mock-up but I've aimed to include what would be the key aspects that make the design unique to the film.
The colour scheme is a mix of deep red [duh] and pale blue [not-so-duh] whilst the Wright-styled embryo is indeed white [my eyedropper tool reads F's all the way up the ya-ya!]. The colour scheme is simple really - the red represents Nancy's dress and the pale blue is Wright's shirt. It's rather subtle however so I may look to something a little more obvious - possibly the tan colour of his jacket or the dark green of his eyes. Further to this, something of an accidental discovery is the 't' in 'natal' made to look like a first aid cross which of course links to the whole surgery/surgeon thing. Mmm, graphics... More on this one soon with any luck in the animation department.
The colour scheme is a mix of deep red [duh] and pale blue [not-so-duh] whilst the Wright-styled embryo is indeed white [my eyedropper tool reads F's all the way up the ya-ya!]. The colour scheme is simple really - the red represents Nancy's dress and the pale blue is Wright's shirt. It's rather subtle however so I may look to something a little more obvious - possibly the tan colour of his jacket or the dark green of his eyes. Further to this, something of an accidental discovery is the 't' in 'natal' made to look like a first aid cross which of course links to the whole surgery/surgeon thing. Mmm, graphics... More on this one soon with any luck in the animation department.
13.3.09
Layout Progress 2
For those that aren't aware and are thinking "Hey! You crazy!? He still doin' layouts, whaaa!!", I'm completing all work shot-by-shot, so that means a list to describe in monotonous detail exactly how I does it:
So there you have it - a basic run down of how I've been going about animating Natal Attraction. And now for the meat of the post - do you remember the layouts posted a couple of months back? I do. I remember how I was less than satisfied with a couple of them and now I've re-visited those damn trees and given them a good hiding. As a reminder, here's the old layout:
To re-iterate my previous ramblings - I stated how primarily I wasn't pleased with the state of the trees and the jaggediness - partially as a result of being too rigid with the standards put forth by my aesthetic. Since then I've loosened up a bit and am experimenting a bit more. Here's the result of looseness:
Much happier with the trees now - and though it can't be seen so clearly here, they are constructed of more segments so I can animate them swaying as Dr. Wright drives past. A blood-red sign has been added as well to help tie the composition together a bit better and divulge a little more info as to where Nancy lives and plant an extra seed or two as to the foreboding that lies ahead.
- Take one existing line-art of a layout and colour it in Photoshop with a mixture of vector shapes and dry brushes. Extra dusting of effects (glows, bloom, shadow, etc) as needed.
- Import the finished .tiff into Flash and start animating the rough keys using the graphics tablet.
- In between as per the usual proceedure.
- Make a new layer and clean up each frame by tracing v-e-r-y carefully.
- Paint bucket/floodfill each frame with the pre-selected colours for each character.
- Colour in the line-art using the brush tool set to 'paint inside' mode.
- Add shadows and lighting over the top with a pre-selected shadow colour on new layer(s).
- Export .png sequence and composite on After Effects.
- Scene for Natal Attraction. Done!
So there you have it - a basic run down of how I've been going about animating Natal Attraction. And now for the meat of the post - do you remember the layouts posted a couple of months back? I do. I remember how I was less than satisfied with a couple of them and now I've re-visited those damn trees and given them a good hiding. As a reminder, here's the old layout:
To re-iterate my previous ramblings - I stated how primarily I wasn't pleased with the state of the trees and the jaggediness - partially as a result of being too rigid with the standards put forth by my aesthetic. Since then I've loosened up a bit and am experimenting a bit more. Here's the result of looseness:
Much happier with the trees now - and though it can't be seen so clearly here, they are constructed of more segments so I can animate them swaying as Dr. Wright drives past. A blood-red sign has been added as well to help tie the composition together a bit better and divulge a little more info as to where Nancy lives and plant an extra seed or two as to the foreboding that lies ahead.
7.2.09
Rushes Reprisal 05.02
For ummm... Historical purposes [?], the most recent animatic of Natal Attraction, shown on 5th February. Got about 20 seconds of finished animation in there, which I guess is progress.
1.2.09
Layout Progress
Some more stuff that ought to have gone on a while ago, here are some of the [more-or-less] finalised backgrounds for a few shots across the film. The backgrounds are predominantly comprised of vectors with a bit of gritty texture added on top using a chalky brush - it's an aesthetic that has been derived from the UPA style seen in Gerald McBoing-Boing and other such works from a bygone era. First, the shot of Dr. Wright's study looking into the lounge:
Initially, I wanted something pretty minimalistic, like UPA's work, but found that things looked a tad bland, probably due to my relative lack of understanding working in that discipline. So, more detail has been added and things are a little more straight forward and, with a little help from the pro's in class, have hopefully produced something that is at least readable. Next, the great outdoors:
What's a bit tricky here is getting the organic stuff to look 'right'. At the moment I've simply gone for spiky leaves on the trees - I'm trying to add extra texture with brushes again, but that hasn't resolved the issue as of yet, mainly because it looks too messy, breaking the standards set by the aesthetic - geometric interiors are alot more straight forward. Another one:
This now needs more work, after having developed a more coherent aesthetic with the first two layouts highlighted above. First seen in my little 'Chasin' Skirt' test from a couple of weeks ago, it's lost its lustre somewhat - more texture and stronger lighting is a must.
Initially, I wanted something pretty minimalistic, like UPA's work, but found that things looked a tad bland, probably due to my relative lack of understanding working in that discipline. So, more detail has been added and things are a little more straight forward and, with a little help from the pro's in class, have hopefully produced something that is at least readable. Next, the great outdoors:
What's a bit tricky here is getting the organic stuff to look 'right'. At the moment I've simply gone for spiky leaves on the trees - I'm trying to add extra texture with brushes again, but that hasn't resolved the issue as of yet, mainly because it looks too messy, breaking the standards set by the aesthetic - geometric interiors are alot more straight forward. Another one:
This now needs more work, after having developed a more coherent aesthetic with the first two layouts highlighted above. First seen in my little 'Chasin' Skirt' test from a couple of weeks ago, it's lost its lustre somewhat - more texture and stronger lighting is a must.
Dr. Wright... Teaser
As a brief update on my progress, I've taken the time to compose a fully finished shot from the film which is representative of the visual quality I'm after:
Lip-synced in full, what you see here is the first line spoken by Dr. Wright, courtesy of those talented folk at VoiceToons [the actor's name of which is yet to be revealed to me by the powers that be].
Hold the phone! Geek alert...
As a side note regarding visuals, I'm planning to produce Natal Attraction in high-definition. 1080p is an enticing prospect, but I'm playing it safe at 720p for two reasons - one it's less than half the amount of pixels being rendered, so less of a strain on the memory front and two, I don't want too many mistakes to be made visible with the increase in resolution. 720p at least allows some future proofing with the increasing proliferation of HD-content in the home, and is still a significant jump over NTSC or PAL standard-definition as it is, so I feel it's worthwhile.
Lip-synced in full, what you see here is the first line spoken by Dr. Wright, courtesy of those talented folk at VoiceToons [the actor's name of which is yet to be revealed to me by the powers that be].
Hold the phone! Geek alert...
As a side note regarding visuals, I'm planning to produce Natal Attraction in high-definition. 1080p is an enticing prospect, but I'm playing it safe at 720p for two reasons - one it's less than half the amount of pixels being rendered, so less of a strain on the memory front and two, I don't want too many mistakes to be made visible with the increase in resolution. 720p at least allows some future proofing with the increasing proliferation of HD-content in the home, and is still a significant jump over NTSC or PAL standard-definition as it is, so I feel it's worthwhile.
26.1.09
Financial Aid
Yes, I gave in, I felt the need to contact two important establishments - findmyfling.com and Sexhance! to appeal for financial aid by directing some attention their way with a little advertising here and there on the blog.
Both of these are key ingredients to Dr. Wright's search for a more upbeat sex life, and you can try them too! You buy now!
Both of these are key ingredients to Dr. Wright's search for a more upbeat sex life, and you can try them too! You buy now!
19.1.09
Test... Chasing Skirt
With the layouts being worked on last week, this week I wanted to finally get cracking with some genuine, solid animation so, today I set to work on getting used to animating in Flash for the production phase. I'd laid out with my previous aesthetic blog posts that I was considering going down the 'line-less' route for the animation - a tall order considering I'd never tried it before, further to which, I'm not hugely well versed in Flash. Nonetheless, I set myself a target with the following image, created exclusively in Flash using the old tablet:
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It wasn't too painful to pull off, but alas, that was only one image. I attempted some processes and then set to work on a test animation, all created within Flash [no paper used - green, man!] and then composited it with a freshly Photoshopped layout in After Effects. The result is a somewhat literal portrayal of Dr. Wright's favourite night time activity - chasing skirt.
Ah, the old carrot on a stick jig, only this time with 294.5% more backside. Though it did take the best part of a day to fully complete, I'm largely satisfied with the results as it abides fairly closely to the original proposal. I believe this will be a workable aesthetic for use in production of the film.
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It wasn't too painful to pull off, but alas, that was only one image. I attempted some processes and then set to work on a test animation, all created within Flash [no paper used - green, man!] and then composited it with a freshly Photoshopped layout in After Effects. The result is a somewhat literal portrayal of Dr. Wright's favourite night time activity - chasing skirt.
Ah, the old carrot on a stick jig, only this time with 294.5% more backside. Though it did take the best part of a day to fully complete, I'm largely satisfied with the results as it abides fairly closely to the original proposal. I believe this will be a workable aesthetic for use in production of the film.
4.1.09
Nancy Heart... Done!
So, without further ado - Nancy Heart in developmental sketch-o-rama:
I've moved away from my initial 'shark-hair' idea seen in the first sketches - I felt it was a little far-fetched and ultimately unattractive so I went down the Brooke Shields hairstyle road instead... it's a good road! Eye width is notably larger than either of the Wrights, and we have the sexy half-mast eyes รก la Jessica Rabbit.
And let us not forget those Lovely Women of Bret Blevin's - those perfectly formed bodies have been squirted through the processing plant to form a Ferrari chassis for Nancy. And there we have it, the femme fatale is ready for surgical action!
I've moved away from my initial 'shark-hair' idea seen in the first sketches - I felt it was a little far-fetched and ultimately unattractive so I went down the Brooke Shields hairstyle road instead... it's a good road! Eye width is notably larger than either of the Wrights, and we have the sexy half-mast eyes รก la Jessica Rabbit.
And let us not forget those Lovely Women of Bret Blevin's - those perfectly formed bodies have been squirted through the processing plant to form a Ferrari chassis for Nancy. And there we have it, the femme fatale is ready for surgical action!
Nancy Heart... Inspirations
After the last post relating to Nancy Heart, I really hadn't given her much further thought, mainly because at the time I felt as though I'd more or less settle with what I'd created then. After a much needed mull, I've determined this is not the case, especially with the final character aesthetic nailed thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Wright.
To rewind for a second, I want to share [as I did a couple of months ago with Dr. Wright] some images of some female celebrities and characters whom I wanted to inform the look of Nancy. Firstly, Brooke Shields... a much younger Brooke Shields:
I'll be honest. The only thing that springs to mind when I see Ms. Shields is the bizarre character of Erika Ford she plays in an episode during the second season of Friends... Mainly because that's the only thing I'd care to watch with her in, nonetheless I feel that particular character is relevant in that she is beautiful, yet detrimentally marred by a screwed up perception of the world.
Secondly, Uma Thurman:
Probably no surprise to some, as many are aware she ranks highly on my list of 'tappable' women. She has a unique, yet clean facial structure, and there's a marked width between her eyes - something which adds to her attractiveness in my opinion, and so it was something I considered for Nancy.
And, undoubtedly, there will be those who draw parallels to Jessica Rabbit, and as such an iconic figure, it was hard not to draw inspiration on a general scale. So here she is, just because:
Beauu-dif-ful! Now on with the next post.
To rewind for a second, I want to share [as I did a couple of months ago with Dr. Wright] some images of some female celebrities and characters whom I wanted to inform the look of Nancy. Firstly, Brooke Shields... a much younger Brooke Shields:
I'll be honest. The only thing that springs to mind when I see Ms. Shields is the bizarre character of Erika Ford she plays in an episode during the second season of Friends... Mainly because that's the only thing I'd care to watch with her in, nonetheless I feel that particular character is relevant in that she is beautiful, yet detrimentally marred by a screwed up perception of the world.
Secondly, Uma Thurman:
Probably no surprise to some, as many are aware she ranks highly on my list of 'tappable' women. She has a unique, yet clean facial structure, and there's a marked width between her eyes - something which adds to her attractiveness in my opinion, and so it was something I considered for Nancy.
And, undoubtedly, there will be those who draw parallels to Jessica Rabbit, and as such an iconic figure, it was hard not to draw inspiration on a general scale. So here she is, just because:
Beauu-dif-ful! Now on with the next post.
2.1.09
Mrs. Wright... Revealed
First off, in my best pigeon French for no particular reason - bon annay, sivooplay. Moving on, some insightful scans of Dr. Wright's long suffering other half in sketch-o-rama.
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Mrs. Wright is in her mid-late forties, and showing all the usual signs of middle age - a bit of weight around the mid-riff area, growing behind, facial sagging and a dated hairstyle - a visit from Gok Wan wouldn't go amiss. However, it has been imperative that she holds the potential to look quite attractive, if not a tad sexy [final scene considered] so hopefully, I haven't drawn her here in her everyday-form to look completely repellent.
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Beneath the thick wooly polo-neck, she's simply a warm-hearted and trusting individual who doesn't wish to impose herself on her husband and is sadly quite oblivious to what he's been up to behind the scenes. It's a shame she has the news delivered to her in such a gruesome manner.
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Mrs. Wright is in her mid-late forties, and showing all the usual signs of middle age - a bit of weight around the mid-riff area, growing behind, facial sagging and a dated hairstyle - a visit from Gok Wan wouldn't go amiss. However, it has been imperative that she holds the potential to look quite attractive, if not a tad sexy [final scene considered] so hopefully, I haven't drawn her here in her everyday-form to look completely repellent.
.png)
Beneath the thick wooly polo-neck, she's simply a warm-hearted and trusting individual who doesn't wish to impose herself on her husband and is sadly quite oblivious to what he's been up to behind the scenes. It's a shame she has the news delivered to her in such a gruesome manner.
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