Thursday 31 December 2015

Character - Alien Character Colour Completed

The colour scheme for this character took much longer to get right than the plant characters. I am however very happy with the result.

Wednesday 30 December 2015

Tuesday 29 December 2015

Character - Plant Character 1 Colour completed

I have completed the colour and detail for my first plant character. All that is left to do to complete him now is to neaten up all of the details and perhaps tweak some of the colours. The face will need more work in order to make it a more emotive character.



Tuesday 22 December 2015

Character - Approximate Size Chart

I made this size chart for my three characters mostly for my benefit as I work on the colour concepts of these characters. I will likely include this in my final 'character bible' however, as it provides a useful insight into the size differences and how they would interact with each other.


Monday 21 December 2015

Character - Final Alien Character Concept Silhouette

I have finally completed the silhouette for my alien character. Using a black silhouette as a base for this character has helped a lot, as I want this alien to be laden with random pieces of machinery/enhancements. Using an eraser and brush to keep adding and taking away from the shape has helped greatly to create unique and uneven shapes on this character. Let me know what you think.


Thursday 17 December 2015

Character - Final Plant Character Concept Silhouettes

These are the rough silhouettes for the final concepts of my two plant characters. As I struggle with posing characters I felt that working up from a silhouette would be the best way to do it. Let me know if you think they could be improved.

The character above is my first plant character. He is supposed to be agile and smart.

This is my second plant character, he is supposed to be strong and sluggish.

Wednesday 9 December 2015

Narrative - Fish Scales

After receiving the file from mark, I implemented the scales onto the fish character I had skinned. Working with the scales as they grow/shrink for the animation will be somewhat slow as each scale will have to be altered individually . It is quite quick work to alter each scale though so it shouldn't be too bad. I think this fish is looking really good so far and I look forward to seeing it textured.
 

Narrative - Skinned Fish Character

After many issues and restarts, the fish character is now completely skinned and setup with the basic controls. If necessary, I may add more controls for the fins and tail. Overall, I am very happy with the outcome here.
 
Character Setup 

Character Setup (moved joints and mouth control)

Tuesday 8 December 2015

Narrative - Fish Skinning Progress

The fish character is steadily progressing and the skinning is working out so far. The basic movement of the mouth and tail have been done but small tweaks and cleanups will likely need to be made.
 
Fish Mouth Movement

 

Fish Tail Movement

Wednesday 2 December 2015

Film Review (Adaptation) - The Hunger Games (Gary Ross, 2012)


Fig 1. The Hunger Games Poster.

The Hunger Games was originally a trilogy of books written by the author Suzanne Collins. The film 'The Hunger Games' was released in 2012 and is an adaptation of the first book in the trilogy. When it was first released it was incredibly successful and set a record for the opening day of a non-sequel. When comparing the film to the book, it appears as though very little has been lost and no key pieces of dialogue have been left out. Overall the film seems to have been made very closely to the narrative in the book. This makes sense as the author of the books, Suzanne Collins was part of the team that wrote the screenplay for the film.

As the film appears very close to the original book, there are no notable or significant changes. Nothing specific has been added either. In terms of bringing the book to a more visual medium and the risks of such a move, the film appears to have captured the mood and look that the book portrays. As a result nothing has been lost in giving the world a specific look.

What is perhaps the most important part of the book are the themes and messages it sends to the reader. It speaks prominently about the problems and exploitation in reality television. The book also has a strong female protagonist which is a rarity in significant works of fiction. The film doesn't lose any of these traits, there are key pieces of dialogue in the books that speak to the audience about reality television. Those are still prominent in the film. The film also keeps a strong female protagonist.

Overall, this film is a rather successful adaptation of the book and there are no notable issues with its representation of the key aspects that are important in the book.

Illustration List

Ross, G (2012) Figure 1. The Hunger Games Poster. http://www.hungergamesdwtc.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/The-Hunger-Games-Poster.jpg (Accessed on 01/12/15)