Referance Images find by Amo

For the first lab in our animation, Ghandi find most of the images for reference and I find images of X-Men 2: Wolverines Revenge the video game. Ghandi told me who was going to talk about which references or something like that and then he asked me think of anything that is close to the influence close to the camera man animation set whether it’s from a TV show, movie, cartoon, comic, video game etc. While thinking of what I write about in the blog, the only thing that came into my mind was a video game called X-Men 2: Wolverines Revenge.





The following image above is a halfway somewhere inside the Weapon X facility stage, from looking at the location in the image now is kind of how I imagine the group’s hallway set to look like something kind of like this but with white foam boards and I’m guessing we will probably make it look more like the hallway from Resident Evil which we have image on our group blog posted by Ghandi but we don’t know how it’s going to look yet and even though we can’t see the whole hallway, but from where the soldier is standing, to me it could be outside the door of the lab that camera man wakes up in and escapes from and where Wolverine (Weapon X) is standing could look sort of like the hallway set which our group has not made yet because we are still in the middle of filming the first part.

I was watching a walkthrough video of X-Men 2: Wolverines Revenge on youtube which was divided into parts making it take a little long to find the right one which has the certain location in that I will use for reference of the last room that camera man reaches at the end of the animation film. While looking through the walkthrough, I finally find the scene that I was after so I paused it, maximize it, print screen shot it and put it into this blog and can be seen above this text. If the last room that camera enters is going to have machinery, consoles etc, then this image could be reference for it and I can imagine the groups set of the last room to look kind of like this and the colour is really bright and white which is the colour of the foam boards that we are going to use to build it.

Monday 28th February Objectives

Complete 1st Scene of the Animation
Complete Set Construction Blog
Complete Reference/Inspiration Blog

First Room Scene

For the first scene, our groups creative leader, Owen decided that he wants to add more to this scene by having Camera Man do more in the room rather than just coming out of the machine then leaving the room and I agreed I on this idea so right now I'm going to throw in some idea's for it. The idea of Camera Man tapping the screen is still retained, so basically in the scene, Camera Man awakens from the machine, looks and notices the screen in front of him and walks up to it and taps it and after that, he…

Idea 1
Turns his head to the left and notices the set shelves on the wall so he walks up slowly to them and slowly runs his hand slowly onto the surface to check either what it feels like, what it's made out of or if it's anything that he has seen before. Camera then turns around and notices the chair and desk and walks up to them too, he then does the same of what he did to the shelves. Camera Man looks up after and spots a door, he walks up to it and it automatically slides open allowing him to escape from the room.

Idea 2

He looks at his finger after tapping the glass to see if a mark was left, he then turns around and notices the machine he came out of and looks at it for a short amount of time and then he turns his head too the left and notices the table and chair set, he walks up to it, pulls out the chair and sits on it for a couple/few seconds to think of what is going on. After the seconds of thinking, he then decides to leave by walking through the automatic slide door.

Idea 3

After tapping the glass, he jumps in sigh thinking that the glass will shatter into pieces but really, it stays intact. He relaxes after the feeling about the glass and then he walks around the room thinking of what to do but no clue comes into his mind so then decides to exits the room. N

Idea 4

He is confused and doesn’t know where he is so he breaks out into rage and starts punching, kicking, elbowing, kneeing and shoulder attacking the walls and then he goes to pick up the chair and throw it at the machine he came out of. Camera Man then drops on the floor down too his knees and then runs through the door still in anger. *

Idea 5

He dances around the room and then moon walks out the door. *

Idea 6

(This scene takes place straight after he comes out of the machine) He attempts to walk but he trips over, he gets back up on his feet and heads to the screen and then taps it. N/*

* - refers to my random silly ideas that came into my head.

N – refers to neutral idea.

The ideas written in bold are the nominated ones that could be possible to expand on but only one of them can be selected.

From the looks of it, I think that we might go with either idea 2 or 3

Expanded Ideas

Below are the two ideas from the previous post but only this time, both the ideas have been expanded on but me and my group still haven't decided which one to practically expand on.

Idea 2

The corridor scene has now been shot followed by a first person fro where Camera Man is standing and a view of the corridor down to the end. He starts to walk down the corridor with camera shots from a variety of different angles that could go well with the anticipation in this scene and the viewers could give away what is on his mind as of this moment. He has no clue why it’s so quiet and while he’s walking down, he’s looking around turning his head side to side and when he reaches the end, he comes across a window right in front of him.

Camera Man takes about a two minute peek through the glass and on the other side is another laboratory that has different layout to the one that he escaped from but the laboratory that witnessing is ruined and filled with damaged machinery which leaves him in shock and he’s wondering on his mind, “What has happened to this place?”

Idea 3

The corridor scene has now been shot and Camera Man is walking down the corridor with anticipation on his mind and the different camera views from different angles are still retained within this idea. Camera Man still has no clue why the whole place is filled with silence and still continues to walk but as he reaches the middle of the hallway, he looks to the up left side like a big question has popped into his mind and causes him to stop his movements and it turns out be a CCTV camera that is stuck to the wall and which we get a whole view of from about where Camera Man is standing. The CCTV camera is staring at Camera Man and he’s thinking “Why is this camera staring at me?” Camera Man starts to get closer and closer to the camera and looks directly into it, in this moment there is atmosphere in the air to what is Camera Man going to do to the CCTV camera.

Corridor Scene (Ideas)

Yesterday, I was the only one in the camera man group to come into college and I wasn't sure what to do so I thought I'd just throw in some ideas for the corridor scene because none of us came up with any at the start, sorry that I'm blogging about it now because I forgot to blog on it yesterday even though I came up with the ideas then.

Start of scene:

As Camera Man escapes from the laboratory-like room, he walks into an empty corridor filled with silence and then…

Idea 1

He walks down the corridor and looking around it.

Idea 2

He spots another laboratory with a broken machine inside.

Idea 3

He spots a CCTV camera stuck to the wall staring at him.

Idea 4

He trips over and accidentally smashes his face. *

Idea 5

He self-destructs. *

Idea 6

He notices blood on the walls. N

* - refers to my random silly ideas that came into my head.

N – refers to neutral idea in other words, half serious and half silly.

The ideas written in bold are the nominated ones that could be possible to expand on but only one of them can be selected.

Cameraman set test

Ignore the fact that this is posted by cameraman, I (Owen) cant seem to log in.

Set Constuction begins...

List off items needed for first scene.

5 - A2 Foam Boards - To use as walls, support and to build props from.
Box of small pins - So the character can remain upright but also to stick pieces of furniture together.
4 LED lights - To light the scene from above.
4 Blue LED Lights - As mentioned in the previous post coloured lighting is a must for our set.
4 Shelves made from A2 foam board.
Table and Chair made from foam boards.
Mechanical Door made from foam board also.
Kebab Stick - To operate the door from the other side without being in shot.
Laminate - Clear piece for our observation window.
1 Large light with stand - This light will be needed so that the light source is constant and no matter what time of day we shoot, the lighting should not change in the animation.  Not sure if this will work but we will see.
Camera and a Macbook Pro to shoot the scene.



 
We decided on Tables as they are normally found in labs, the color scheme is plain white, for the best results i looked for some reference.  The table above is perfect for our theme, with the added bonus of it being extremly easy to construct.  In addition we will add several shelves into the scene, sticking to the plain white laborotory theme.


 
Bracketless white shelves that are placed in a uniform manner will add to the scene and further enhance this creepy organised atmosphere that is created by the color scheme and character.


We have also decided to add a observation room, the wall will include a mirror that will reflect the contents of the set.  The reason behind this is to further back up the idea of everything constantly being watched. 

After browsing the net for suitable reference images we had narrowed it down to two images, the first picture is the one we have chosen simply due to it being easiest to add into the scene.  The second image was in our opinion the better idea, but as we had to purchase Reflective window film which would be a problem as it would take time to arrive and would put us behind track as we plan to begin filming by Wednesday the latest.


To record the scene a constant light source is needed, so as a group we decided to duplicate the spotlights in the classroom. The light source will consist of three LED lights which will act as spotlights for the scene.  Not only do the lights add to our theme, it is a light source which will not change.

The image above is almost identical to the type of lighting we had in mind, it is a added bonus now that we have a reference to work from.  The group has begun creating the lighting rig which will consisit of white and black foam board with added holes for the LED lights to slot through.

We have decided to add Hazzard tape to the set not only just to cover up cracks, cthe cracks being where the boards connect, however it also adds to the decoration of the set.  It suits this experimental environment well as hazzard tape is commonly seen in films where disasters have happened or experiments are being conducted.

After briefly running through our first potential scene, we have begun building our set.  We as a group have began brain storming on furniture best suited for our environment.  It is important that our props suit the visual style we are trying to portray.  We have ideas in mind that were helped along with research into other IP's that had similar themes both visually and narratively.





The shelves were created with the reference image in mind, when designing our set we are cautious when considering designs due to time restricitons  and availability of resources needed.  We are happy with the result as we feel the shelves suit the scene well and were constructed easily and exactly how we wanted them.  Clean and uniformed, the shelves are also the right scale against the set and character.  A possible movement for Camera Man will be to walk over to the shelves and maybe pick something up and walk away to his desk  where he could examine the object. 

We are trying to create a room which could be classed as a holding chamber.  A chair and table that would be placed in the corner of the room would be used to simply fill some of the empty space, in comparison to certain props we are creating to try and make this room feel like and send a message to the viewer. In addition to create a chamber where someone is held for long periods of times, under heavy surveillance. 

Owen had this briliant idea of creating some sort of holding pod for the character, Amo had drummed up some brilliant concepts, but as usual we were restricted when it came to materials being available but also the time needed to create something so complex.  However Owen being the quick thinker he is came up with this simple yet very clean and cool looking pod.  I immediatley jumped on the bandwagon and was excited about this design due to how we could use it and sync it with sound effects,  Each door could pop followed by a slow mechanical swoosh.
Here is the underside of the LED spotlights that will be stuck to the celing of the room.  The Circuit will consist of four white LED lights powered by two 9V batteries.  These lights should add sufficient lighting to the scene but also add to the aesthetics of the set.  We will have other means of lighting.  I recently watched Terminator 2 Judgment Day for the upteenth time and was actually surprised i overlooked this film for reference.  There are several scenes in the movie where special robotic pieces are behing held in a clean clinical lab environment., in addition to a Mental institution that held the protagonists mother.  The type of room she was being held in should be brilliant for our set, as it also was under heavy surveillance. It gave me a few ideas on what other props we could add to the set, but above the most important aspect i picked up from both scenes was the special type of coloured lighting that really sets the mood and atmosphere for the environment.

A prop we saw in most if not all of our reference and research images were beds.  The use of the bed would be dependant on the type of genre the film or game was.   In the resident evil images the bed was used to carry out experiments on Alice.  As a result the positioning and placing of the prop was in the center of the room with heavy lighting above it.  In Terminater 2 Sarah Conners bed is placed in the corner of a room as it used for sleeping and resting purposes.  We are not to sure when it comes to what use the bed has for our character, and have thus placed it in the corner. 

After long debates about what should be behind the see through film that would be the window, we finally began to construct the observation window.  This is probably the most important prop in the whole scene as i feel it gives off the strongest sense of surveillance to the viewer.  The reference images at this point have become even more helpfull after analyzing them further.  Something we didn't consider as a group when laying out blueprints for the set was the positioning of everything and what type of message it would send to the the viewer.  I will expand on this in the next paragraph.

A special type of door is found in testing areas, and Laboratories.  The  type of door we have added to the set is a wide sliding door.  I am pleased with this design as it has a lot of possibilities to add some cool stuff when it comes to the post production stage of the design process.  The door has a hinge attatched to the top rim and bottom rim of the door, so as it slide it doesn't fall out of place and most importantly looks smooth when opening.  

Lastly our addition of coloured lighting completes the set.   When watching Terminater 2 i saw how effective the lights could be when trying to create a certain them and type of atmosphere.  Luckily for our group Owen had  a set of four very slick looking blue lights.  As there were four we had extra props to not just fill the space but also create a small but effective lit scene.  The LED lights for now have been taken down for several reasons.

 

Inspiration and research for Camera Man Set

We have decided to use reference from specific mediums to help with our construction and decoration.  We will research the visual style of Portal, and look into films such as Resident Evil, Logan's Run, and 28 days later.  In addition to reference images of laboratories, cameras and science labs.  We feel all of the above can help us achieve our theme of a clinical, surreal, surveillance heavy environment. 

Tom bought this image to our attention and persuaded us to use the ending of the first Resident Evil film as reference.  As Owen had already planned out the set and had told us about his idea to emulate a clean clinical style like portal, the last few scenes of this film we as a group felt were perfect for our set design.   The clean white colour scheme, alongside the direct lighting and large empty spaces really give the impression of Alice is constantly being watched.  As the core theme of our project is Surveillance we felt this reference is ideal for our project.

Another important addition we will try to make is to add an observation window into the set.  It further concretes this idea of constant surveillance.  Our observation will be made using a sheet of acetate that will be held in place by a thick foam banner around the room.  To further decorate the scene we will also apply strips of hazard tape around the set.

After the first scene has been shot, our storyboard takes us into a corridor after the character has escaped.  We had our own designs in mind before we came across this video, but to see it already done allows for pre-visualisation of the scene but also gives us a few new ideas as to what new additions we could make to this type of scene.

As i have mentioned previously we are including hazzard tape that has been scaled down to fit into our set, the use of in this image gives us a clear idea on how to use it in our set and by adding it what type of impression we are trying to give the viewer about the character and his environment.



 
I recently watched Terminater 2 and all sorts of ideas and themes came to mind.  There are several scenes in the movie which could help with the construsction of out set.  The screenshot of the the left is a short scene that can be watched here ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW2ocEymF8o&feature=channel_video_title ) The scene icludes several great references.  It includes holding rooms for mental patients which of course is helpfull as we have a character that will be held in s imilar type of room.  From the scene we can take design ideas such as layout of the room, color schemes and types of furniture that we can add.  

The screen shot to left is another scene that is shown later in the video. After seeing this blue color scheme in a Lab, i think we will try to implement something along these lines.  Another thing i picked up on which i had asked the groups thoughts on was a wall texture for our second scene after the character leaves his chambers.  The wall in the screengrab is similar but not exact.  


http://www.littlecraftybugs.co.uk/images/SX%2057031.jpg  The image on that site is what i will purchase to stick onto corridor walls. 

 

 

Ghandi Terminater 2

Portal - Owen

28 days Later - Tom

...... - Amo

 

 

The Set.

The set is going to be made from foam board, with foam board peices to accent the walls and parts of hallways or rooms. Foam board will give the clinical, laboratory feel to the enviroment with ease since it is already white and can be shaped to whatever is needed. With the character potentially exploring several different rooms, these features will make it easier to build several different enviroments for him to investigate.