Location Decision

Yesterday, Me and Dan did a scout of the locations he has shortlisted for his creature. While Kirkstall Abbey does provide some interesting visuals and opportunity for creative shot types, it would be logistically much more complex to film there. It also doesn't provide any height difference for high angle shots. There are also signs everywhere with history information, which take away from any mystical atmosphere. 

We decided that the woods would be the location that would likely offer the most variety and freedom in shooting, while also being much easier to film there; with it being close to our house and not needing permission. Now I know where the scene will take place, I will finalise the script ready to shoot as soon as possible. 

Practical Development Update

I have decided to drop the idea of a practical version of the scene since it doesn't actually add all that much to my argument and it would be hardest version to film and create. As I've done more research, I've refined the idea to be more about the impact of digital visual effects, rather than any other method of tricking the audience.
There are many more ways to trick an audience but I just want to explore the digital visual effects side of things.
Dan is currently shortlisting locations for his creature to exist in, and once he has decided, I will finalise the script and film all footage I need to. 

Digital Storytelling - Uses of Visual Effects Research

In reading 'Digital Storytelling' by Shilo t. McClean, I have been informed on the categories of visual effects usage. This has made me think about how I am going to go about my practical scenes a bit more.

• Invisible (everything within the shot could be done for real, must be doable. Maybe it's just easier, cheaper or safer to do with visual effects)
• Seamless (audience can’t tell that it is vfx, however, they know it must be. The example the book gives is 1945 Warsaw, the audience knows that they obviously couldn't have filmed there, however it looks convincing.)
• Exaggerated (between real world and extraordinary, often used with comedy and action as pace ramps up. Used to push the boundaries of what is possible)
• Fantastical (something that simply couldn’t be real but made to look it. Alien creatures, magical effects, ect.)

So there may be less of an argument to be made there about if effects are really needed because some elements of the story simply couldn't be shown at all without effects. This means that for my scene without effects, I would have to film it in a very different way altogether.

A solution to this dilemma could be to have a few different effects (the creature being fantastical, other shots having seamless effects that people genuinely could believe are real). This adds a bit more variety to my argument since some effects might not even be noticed so we can see if they actually do change the impact of the story at all.

COP3 Proposal

Visual Effects and the audience's perception of story in contemporary TV drama.

In my project, I want to explore the power of how a story is delivered. Most people would agree that in TV and film entertainment, the story is paramount. However in modern content, you’d struggle to find a show or film that does not utilize visual effects in some shape or form. Whether it is used to establish a scene in a matte painting or to have a full on CG character/creature, it is used usually used to aid the story.

Popular opinion is that visual effects are being overused in movies to the point where it is actually a hindrance to the story, that the filmmakers are being lazy in telling their stories because they know they still have visual effects to make it look interesting.

I wish to learn and evidence that it is not so simple as that. If visual effects are used well to the service of the story they should be seamless in an effort to immerse you further into the story.

For my practical, I am planning to create a scene three separate times. The first without any visual effects (filming around the need for visual effects). The next version will be done with simple practical effects to at least tell the story in a more visual manner. Then the final version will be that same scene but with visual effects to the best of my ability. They should all fundamentally tell the same story, however the delivery of the story could also make an impact on which version people prefer and which they feel communicates the information needed more effectively. This should hopefully help me learn about the differences needed to tell a story and also how to work around the tools we have at our disposal.

At this moment in time, I am still in search of what scene I am going to make into my three clips. I will choose based on how much information is communicated in the scene and how complex of an effect it would be.

For case studies I will be selecting drama that involves good story and less so effects, and then something else with a rather lackluster story but with stunning visual effects. I can find a few examples of both and compare how they sit with popular opinion.

Some books I am using to aid in my research are:

• Story - Robert Mckee
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
• Digital Storytelling: The Narrative Power of Visual Effects in Film - Shilo T. McClean
• Digital Visual Effects in Cinema: The Seduction of Reality - Stephen Prince

RocketJump Video Essay

This is a video essay from the YouTube channel RocketJump which I felt was pretty relevant to my research. RocketJump started out as a YouTube channel making silly skits and shorts involving many visual effects, however in the last few years they have started to branch out into much more long form storytelling with shows of theirs getting onto Netflix and HuluPlus.
Some key quotes mentioned within are:

‘Great visual effects serve story and character, and in doing so are, by their very definition, invisible’

‘Even classics, with practical effects that might look dated to our modern sensibilities, we don’t really seem to mind those and audiences certainly didn’t at the time. Maybe it’s because we don’t have much to complain about when it comes to great movies, the craft and storytelling so enchants us that we’re not in the back of our heads looking for an easy scapegoat’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL6hp8BKB24

Study Task 8: Reflective Writing

For my practical response to this theme, I have tried to visualise the concept of character development. The main way this is possible is through physical appearances. These are the external attributes that are visible to any outsiders. This mostly has included things like; hair, beards, clothing, posture, attitude, demeanor, cleanliness and injuries (scars, missing body parts). Most of the images show the contrast of beginning and end, or polar opposites as much as possible to get as much difference as possible.

I came to find that many characters who go on negative character arcs (in which they become typically less morally sound throughout) they tend to grow more facial hair. I thought this could have something to do with hiding their inner selves as well as it looking more menacing. It’s less about the growing of the beard, but being clean shaven is often associated with being pure and clean, which these characters no longer are. There is also the trend of characters shaving their heads when going rogue or off the rails slightly. While Walter White had cancer which instigated the shaving of the head, it also worked with the same reasons as Captain Flint in Black Sails and Shane Walsh in The Walking Dead. In contrast to growing out a beard, they shaved their heads to mark a kind of clean slate and that they are ready to rebel.

It was hard to find ways to illustrate the aspects of character development without simply showing the physical changes in their appearance. I couldn’t really show the internal development in the way the characters make their choices. I did manage to illustrate a few of the ideas from quotes I had gathered. The quote about intention and obstacle was illustrated with the idea of someone reaching out for something (their intention) but they are being held back from it (the obstacle).

I feel that the visual research helped me further understand all aspects of character development. Though it is harder to show internal development, the external appearances are all relevant and complement it. For example, Long John Silver plays into the legend that is created around him as a fearsome and deadly pirate. His colour pallet gets much darker and his hair and beard engulf his profile to create a more imposing figure. I developed this into blending faces together from different periods of the characters story when they are at complete opposites. I started doing this by getting photos or screenshots and crossfading them over each other. This created a interesting effect that made me think about animating this kind of transition which ended up being my final piece.

I had been struggling to think of an idea for the final piece, debating whether to just do a character design or something like that. However, I am happy with what I did in animating Long John Silver’s character change. I drew the inbetweens so it has a good passage of the character throughout the seasons of the show. Admittedly, if I had decided on doing this earlier, I would have been able to go more in depth with more inbetweens and maybe even doing a full body transition.

I would have liked to have done more sketching and illustrating of the ideas in my essay. I am not much of a sketcher and so I found it difficult to always try to add pages into the sketchbook. I would like to improve my time management to allow me to get more done in my visual part of cop next year as I feel I could have done more in order to aid my project as a whole.

Study Test 7: Practical Planning

So far I haven't got as much in my sketchbook as I'd have hoped to. I think I am struggling for ideas since there isn't many other ways to show character development visually other than the physical appearances of them changing.  

As for where my practical work is going, I'm still not quite certain on the final outcome. It was suggested earlier that I could look into decide your own destiny style stories in which you turn to the page of whatever decision you want to make. These could be interesting because it lets the reader develop the story and character how they choose. It could have a certain amount of endings that reveal and create a different type of end character by the end of the story. This sort of idea really excites me however it is simply too much to do for the time remaining.

Through the process of gathering photos of characters changing through their respective stories, I have thought I could make an animation of a character morphing between the start and end of the story. This would be interesting to show, as their mood and expression can change too. I'm not sure if this is what I will actually end up doing but it is probably the most realistic idea at this point.

Primary Research:

I have looked at books and video essays to gather my primary research. These include Robert McKee's Story, Aaron Sorkin's Masterclass on Screenwriting and K.M Weiland's Creating character arcs to name a few

Secondary Research:

This includes searching for images/screenshots of characters throughout their stories to show the physical development. I have then also drawn using these sorts of photos for reference. 

Media and Processes:

I have and will continue to use pencils for most of my sketches. I will keep using photoshop to make digital pieces. I also want to try communicate the idea of true inner character using tracing paper to be able to reveal the underneath layers of a characters person. 

Context:

Robert McKee's quote saying 'True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure - the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation.' is really useful to understanding the fundamentals mechanics of character development.