06/10/15 Game Night - Thoughts

As our character project is focused around designing a game, last night after our character project class we stayed afterwards to play some games. We were organised into groups of four and shown the games we were to play.

The first game our group decided to play was called 'Smash Up'. It is a card game that consists of a large variety of decks of cards, each deck has an overarching theme. These themes range from vampires to dinosaurs, to wizards, to geeks and so on. You choose (or are randomly assigned) two of these themed decks and you shuffle them together. You use these decks to battle with your opponents in order to earn victory points. Once a player has fifteen victory points, they win and the game is over.

I found this game to be really unique and I was surprised that I hadn't heard of it before. It was a really fun experience and in the end Ryan won the game through a cunning use of his 'aliens' and 'secret agents' deck.

After finishing there we moved onto a much quicker card game. We played a game of 'Fluxx', or more specifically 'Zombie Fluxx'. This game turned out to be just as unique and interesting as the first. What struck me the most about this game was its core mechanics. It starts out with only one core rule, 'Draw one, Play one'. The main idea behind this game is that as the game progresses, the rules change. New rules replace the old ones as cards are drawn. The goal of the game also changes as you play. Overall it was clear to see just how easy the game was to play.

As the rules are introduced one by one to the players, it is incredibly simple to play even for new players. Of the two games this one definitely interested me the most, its simple play style and wacky mechanics made it a joy to play.

Revised Narrative Story Idea

BEGINNING
-Everything is colourful, lots of puffer fish are making patterns in the sand to attract females. Eventually we focus on a puffer fish who is struggling to make any kind of pattern.

- He looks at the other puffer fish and then at his own, he is frustrated and gives up and swims away.

- As he swims his surroundings become duller around him (reflection of how he feels).

- Dwelling on his failure to attract a mate, he becomes stressed and inflates.

- He (and maybe other puffer fish) notice that he has beautiful patterns on him when he inflates, normal puffer fish don't have this.

- He discovers that he can attract females with the patterns on his body instead of making patterns on the sea floor.

- The puffer fish is comfortable with the other fish and his surroundings, he is happy and content about being different. The surroundings change from dull to bright and colourful (a reflection of how he feels). END

This plot still seems quite rough around the edges. As a whole though, this seems to be how the story should flow.

Initial Narrative Story Ideas

Below I have listed the ideas I have worked on so far for the story for our group project.

The 2 themes and camera type we got were:

Under the Sea
Freedom
Parallel Narrative

I have not yet worked on ideas thinking of the parallel narrative, that will most likely be my next course of action.

Main Ideas:

These 3 are the ones I found to be the most interesting and unique.

-A storm/shark (or other) traps a diver inside a WW2 submarine.

-An old or modern diving suit, a fish gets trapped inside it (or a school of fish) and it/they have to maneuver the diving suit somewhere to escape it.

-Non-aquatic animal (insect, snail, cricket) is lured into a food jar discarded on a beach (or cliff) and the jar closes and is washed out to sea.

Simpler/ Less worked on ideas:

These are very basic ideas and may or may not have potential, I feel they are worth noting down at least.

-Crab trapped in a crab fishing cage.

-Storm traps a diver at the bottom of a seabed.

-Ship sinks, trapped passenger or crew member.

-Fish and a submarine.

-Escape from an aquarium.

-Fish caught by a boy on a fishing boat.

-Diver in old weighted diving suit, catches a fish.

-Modern exploration sub, octopus trapped inside, has to find a way out of the sub.

Film Review (The Hero's Journey) - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Chris Columbus, 2001)

Fig 1. Harry Potter Poster.

The majority of the Harry Potter film franchise seems to follow 'The Hero's Journey' framework. At the very least, they use many of the key steps.

The 'call to adventure' and the 'refusal of the call' are intertwined and take place during the majority of the departure/ordinary world stage. Shortly after a teenage Harry is introduced and is living with the Dursleys, he receives a letter from Hogwarts. This is the 'call to adventure'. Uncle Vernon takes the letter from Harry and as a result Harry is sent more letters. A cycle of letters arriving and Uncle Vernon destroying them escalates until he is driven to take the entire family far away where the letters won't find them. Both the burning of the letters and the family moving clearly represent the 'refusal of the call'. The refusal is, curiously enough, not done by the hero himself but by Uncle Vernon instead.


Fig 2. Letters Scene Still.

The 'crossing the threshold' step is particularly intriguing in this film. This is because there are two separate scenes in the film that associate with 'crossing the threshold'. The first happens when Hagrid opens the way into Diagon Alley. The threshold being the divide between our world and the wizarding world.

While this is the first scene that shows this divide, it is by no means the most memorable. Not long after this moment, after Harry has picked up all of his school supplies, he makes his way to a train station in London. This is where one of the biggest scenes in the film takes place. After the audience is introduced to one of the secondary characters, Harry Potter crosses another threshold. He runs at the wall between platforms 9 and 10 and is transported from an ordinary London station to Platform 9 and 3/4. This scene has a real sense of 'crossing the threshold' and it further cements the foundation of this magical world that he is entering.

The rest of the film seems to become a little more complex in terms of finding specific stages and their relevant scenes. There are a few specific scenes that seem to correlate with the steps. The 'belly of the whale' seems like the moment when Harry is being sorted into a house by the sorting hat. He is confronted by the hat, saying that he would do well in slytherin when Harry wants to go anywhere else but slytherin.


Fig 3. Catching the Snitch Scene Still.

The apotheosis step appears to be the moment when Harry catches the snitch and wins the quidditch match for his team. There is a powerful pan-shot that centers around Harry and shows his team and the stands cheering for him. This definitely seems like the moment when Harry is in his element and when he feels god-like.

Overall the film certainly follows many of the key steps in 'The Hero's Journey' but some steps like 'meeting the goddess' and 'woman as temptress' seem without a place in this film.

Illustration List

Columbus, C (2001) Figure 1. Harry Potter Poster. https://kgrantsaboutmovies.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/philostone.jpg (Accessed on 27/09/15)

Columbus, C (2001) Figure 2. Letters Scene Still. http://ulpt0otl4a2om5i54altgpkmw.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/daniel_radcliffe_richard_griffiths_fiona_shaw_harry_melling_harry_potter_and_the_sorcerers_stone_001.jpg (Accessed on 28/09/15)

Columbus, C (2001) Figure 3. Catching the Snitch Scene Still. http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/c/c5/H.P.Snitch.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110529110920 (Accessed on 28/09/15)

Character Brief

At the briefing today we had to choose 3 cards which would decide what themes we had to work with. The cards I chose were:

- Fantasy (Mythology / Non-Factual)

- Mutation (Evolution / Variation)

- Light (Dark & Shadow / Visibility)

Fantasy and Mutation should work quite well together and light seems like an interesting concept to work with. It struck me initially as an obstacle compared to the other two but after thinking about it, it could still work well as long as I find a strong link between them.

Blog Redesign

As I will be starting my second year on the course soon, I thought my blog could do with a more professional design. I was quite pleased with these simple renders from my final animation last year, so I thought I would put them to use.
If you think it could be improved in any way, please let me know.

CAA Speed Paint Challenge: The Lair Of The White Worm

I finally found some time to join in on the speed painting. It's a good excuse to improve on my Illustrator skills and much of this took a lot longer to create than I expected. Happy with the result though.