Tuesday, April 28, 2009

MODEL BODy


This is a cursary body. I will probably tweak it and put real textures on it after pre-vis. Sadly I did not have enough time to fully model or animate my person. I will have a full model within the summer. I am not apologetic about this. I would rather do something right and be slow...then do something I am unhappy with... of course... I am not satisfied with my animatic...but that's another story... Suffice to say that I want a certain level of quality for my Thesis so I amtaking advantage of the summer so I can fullfill that.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

STyle AIm


This is the type of style and feel I am trying to aim for, for my character Tracy: I like her overall feel and design. I particularly like the shape and the texturing job. Since I am doing my character in NURBS I hope to aim for a character with a similar feel.

Character sheet



Here is my character sheet on Tracy.. it has my chicken scratches as well as a bunch of notes...facial expressions, scribbles etc. I have a really clear lock of what Tracy looks like...even in SD mode(super deformed). I actually enjoy drawing her. I picture Tracy as a bit like me...except far more gruff and with different interests. She has a cat named Gordo who is exceptionally obese. I want to model him and throw him on her couch..ONLY if I have time.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

COLOR SCHEME CHARACTER TRACY




Here Tracy is with her color swatches and codes. I like what I see up here...but when I go to print it...it doesn't look snoopy cool. I wanted her to have a clear silhouette. I figured these colors would pop a little. I may change these in production

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Start of Paper

Okay Here is the start of my paper I still have to fill in major details and continue to elaborate. I don't know how I feel about adding images to my thesis. To be honest it feels very 8th grade.


So here it is sans images.

Introduction

Fitness is a part of cultural and social expectations for the embodiment of physical perfection. A body that can perform at its peak under extreme conditions is considered to be healthy and strong. While countries promote physical fitness, most people have become less and less fit due to the advances made in technology to make life more convenient. There are fewer jobs that require physical prowess and more that trap an individual behind a desk all day. (Dishman,Rod, Physical Activity Epidemiology, Pg 260-263) A sedentary lifestyle is becoming more normal. With the distractions of television, video games and the computer, people are becoming more and more lax in their lifestyle. Instead of going out, more people are inclined to stay in for their entertainment.

The decision to become fit is a rough one. It is hard to stick with a physical program and even tougher to make the first step. The point of this thesis is to identify with that feeling and make fun of it by exaggerating the problems one faces when first stepping into any new environment. The equipment can seem daunting and when an inexperienced user first walks on, they may experience a surprising number of mishaps through trial and error. The angle of this thesis will be on a slapstick manner where the main character’s bad luck and ineptness seems to get in her way. The comedic approach will try to adhere to the general rules of physical comedy while taking from classical examples from Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. It will hopefully immolate the classical animated approach from the old Disney cartoons.

HISTORICAL OVER VIEW

A. Research on fitness.

The relevance of fitness within our society has been traced back as far as 10,000 bc.(Dalleck Lance, Kravits Len, The History of Fitness, http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/history.html) The early nomadic tribes needed to be in top shape in order to survive long hunting excursions. Frequent physical activity was a vital part of their lives. In early China, the teachings of Confuscius encouraged fitness. The Chinese linked health problems to physical inactivity and prescribed exercise programs to keep the body in peak physical condition. Of course in the ancient Grecian society, physical fitness was held with much esteem. Throughout the timeline of human existence physical fitness has been encouraged to the masses. Physical activity has been critical to survival.

As advancements have been made to make survival easier, the physical component to surviving has become smaller. The problem became very evident when recruitment for the Army came post WWII. More people had to be turned away due to lack of physical fitness. John F Kennedy became an advocate for physical fitness. He was concerned with the phenomen and dubbed it ‘the soft American’…the American that has become too soft due to lack of physical exercise. He urged Americans to get into shape. “Physical fitness is the basis for all other forms of excellence”. ( Kennedy, J.F. (1962). The vigor we need. Sports Illustrated. 17:12-15)

One of the biggest advancement to exercise and fitness came from Jack Lalanne. Jack Lalanne is single-handedly responsible for creating health clubs and incorporating resistance training into a regular exercise program. He also encouraged females to work out, which back then was considered taboo. His health clubs are spread throughout America and are now known as Bally’s Health Clubs. Jack Lalanne was a pioneer in shaping the American consciousness on the importance of fitness. He was able to identify key exercises to aid in cardiovascular health as well as weight loss. He pushed the concept of living healthy without having to go without. He created a myriad of machines to help aid in exercise. Jack Lalanne is over 90 and still encourages physical fitness.

While the treadmill was invented in 1875, it wasn’t used as a part of human exercise. The first treadmill was used as a way to harness animal power. It wasn’t until 1952 that a doctor named Robert Bruce used it as a tool for stress diagnostics for people. The treadmill was used to diagnose and target different heart problems. The treadmill eventually evolved into a tool for human fitness. Its popularity soared in the 1960s and treadmills became an important staple in the army, at gyms and even in NASA space stations. Treadmills are considered important tools in combating the lack of gravity astronauts face. (http://technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=2238)
Treadmills are basic staples at the gym. They provide a solid workout that one can do inside regardless of weather conditions and provide cardiovascular training and a variety of different programs a user can chose from. Treadmills keep advancing in options and monitor the heart rate. Older treadmills do not have motorized engines.
A treadmill consists of the following parts: A treadmill motor, treadmill belt, rollers, deck, frame, console and electronics.

The treadmill motor is an electrically powered device. It turns the treadbelt. It includes a flywheel, motor drive belt and front roller. The power by the motor is transferred through the drive belt which runs around the flywheel to the front roller, which turns the treadbelt. Most treadmills power runs between 1 horsepower to 3.5 Horsepower. 1-2 horsepower is good for walking 3.0 and higher is used for serious running athletes. Treadmill belts are what the runner runs on. The type of belt that the runner uses can define the runner. Runners and taller individuals tend to have a longer wider belt. It is advisable that the treadmill belt be no smaller than 52” x 18”.

Treadbelts are composed of numerous composite materials that are up to 4 ply. The layers strengthen the belts and are stretch-resistance to compensate for the friction, which is a major cause of wear and tear in treadmills. The degradation of treadmill belts can be dangerous as stretching causes the belt to slip as it moves. The rollers support the belt, and create the surface over the running belt. The frame of the treadmill is made of steel or aluminum. Aluminum is light strong and resistance to rust and corrosion. The console, is the least important part of the treadmill. It contains detailed information on the progress of the workout, including your heart rate the length of the work out, the course and other options. These interfaces can be cumbersome and are often unneeded. A treadmill can provide resistance to a runner by creating an incline. The incline allows for a good calf workout as well as extra cardiovascular exercise.

Physical Comedy

In this thesis however, the treadmill and the concept of fitness will be a medium for the physical comedy. Physical comedy is the comedic approach to induce laughter through pratfalls, absurd body movements and facial takes. This is also known as slapstick comedy. Physical comedy does not rely on words. It relied on the body to tell the joke and the story. A good physical comedian can engage the audience through physical play and often rely on falls to be the punch line. While physical comedy seems easy, it is extremely difficult to accomplish. A good physical comedian has a great sense of timing and knows exactly how and when to go for the laugh.

When one thinks of physical comedy, one naturally goes to the old banana peel gag or the pie in the face. Physical comedy goes beyond the trite connotations associated with it. Physical comedy isn’t an antiquated form of comedy. Many comedians rely on physical comedy today. Comedians such as Jim Carrey, Jackie Chan and Leslie Nielson still use this form of comedy to get the biggest laughs. Silent film comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton defined the genre with precise timing and physical mastery. Buster Keaton was born into vaudeville and has been practicing pratfalls since the age of four and he still had numerous injuries(Buster Keaton, Charles Samuels, My wonderful World of Slapstick, pg 11-13). Charles Chaplin would redo the same scene over and over and over until he was satisfied with the take. He would often go way out of budget and would risk his health to get the right take. Comedy isn’t something that is done in one take. It is often harder to film than any other genre. Comedy is the hardest to accomplish, but the least respected.
“Dying is easy, Comedy is hard.” (Sir Donald Wolfit, British actor and director)

There are many different forms and gags to physical comedy. The most well known is the pratfall. The pratfall is a type of fall where you usually land on your butt. Buster Keaton was best known for them. The pratfall is a dangerous practice and it is considered one of the essential parts of physical comedy. The pratfall is the basics of harming your body to make comedy. If the timing is off or the stunt looks too forced the whole bit falls apart. A pratfall needs to be seamless. There are different types of pratfalls, which include the Scissor kick fall, head slams, the backward fall the forward fall and the corkscrew.

The take is another important weapon of the arsenal of the physical comedian. Comedy is often felt in the pauses. Pauses allow the performer to show the audience that he is thinking. It builds the character of the comedian and it keeps the audience in cue with the performer. The audience is able to almost empathize with the character. Being able to get into the psychology of a character is crucial for the audience to get into the performance. Pauses can build a scene and give a time out to the action.

The law of three in comedy is usually the right amount of repetition in a joke before it gets stale. Three is a power number and it goes for comedy as well. If a joke is repeated once…they expect it to be repeated again. However 4 or more times and the joke just drags and the audience loses interest. In newer comedy skits the jokes seem to be grounded to death. Saturday Night Live and even the Family Guy often fall victim to ignoring the rule of three and the jokes fall flat.

The Secret of Good Comedy is ---- Timing.

Timing devices are invaluable to making comedy. Takes, stops, deciding the natural flow and rhythm to a routine are what can build the audience’s laughter. Building suspense in a joke, Timing the fall just so, makes the joke more believable. Too fast and the audience might miss it. Too slow and it may seem to be too forced.

Animated physical comedy has an advantage that no live action comedian can replicate. The advantage is of course that the rules of physics need not apply. Cartoon characters can take more abuse and can move, squash and stretch easier than their live action counterparts.. GIVE EXAMPLES HERE

RESEARCH ON MOTION

RESEARCH ON ANIMATION TECHNIQUES

THE NITTY GRITTY or the APPROACH

Putting it all together

So how does one take the elements from the topics and create something enjoyable? Hopefully by trying to take a character that is empathetic, it will draw the audience in. The biggest obstacle is mastering the timing so that no gag is too long, or wasted. The hope here is to create something that the audience can enjoy. By understanding the subject of fitness and physical comedy better it will hopefully give an understanding to the approach that will be made.

The premise of the thesis is that the main character, Tracy is lethargic and out of shape. In the first scene the audience sees her on the couch. She is sloppy and barely moving. She is shamed by a television commercial who chides her lack of energy. It encourages her to get to the gym and get back into shape. In the next scene the audience sees her nervously approach the treadmill at the gym. It is a seeming normal treadmill, but Tracy can’t seem to be able to have any luck operating it. Everything within her environment becomes an obstacle at her becoming fit. Even her own headphones tie her up. She keeps falling and to her perspective, it feels like the treadmill, which is an inanimate object is out to get her.

The piece will be animated in a 3 dimensional environment. There will be three simple sets. The first set is her home, which will consist of minor items such as a remote, a bag of chips a wall, floor, and a couch. The second set will be nothing more than a windowed wall and a floor. The third set will be a couple of treadmills, a wall which may possibly be mirrored, the windowed wall in the front, a ceiling and a floor with a rug on it. The character, Tracy will be modeled in NURBS and then converted to polygons. She will be rigged. Her hair will either be a polygon mesh or actual Hair nodes. She will be wearing a pair of baggy pants and a t-shirt. The animation approach will be done through





Bibliography



Physical Activity Epidemiology, Rod K. Dishman, Richard A. Washburn, Gregory Heath, 1999

The History of Fitness: Lance C. Dalleck, M.S. and Len Kravitz, Ph.D.
http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/history.html

The History of Treadmill, http://www.treadmilllife.com/history.htm

My Wonderful World of Slapstick, Bustor Keaton, Da Capo Press, 1960

Why’s that So Funny? John Wright, Limelight Editions, 2007

The Physical Comedy Handbook , Davis Rider Robinson, Heinemann, 1999

Jack lalanne

Here's a guy from the 1950s who was a pioneer of fitness. He was instrumental in creating the health club. He is responsible for Ballys. He invented numerous weight machines. He was definately a pioneer of his time. On a side note My Grandmother-in-law watched his show religiously and followed his suggestions. She is 103 years old... So maybe he's on to something. JAck Lalane also swam a iver in handcuffs at the age of 70. That guy is INSANE!

Another cartoon physical comedy

This is a relatively new series called Phineas and Ferb. What i like about this clip is that it is short...funny and very physical. The song just emphasizes how ridiculous her situation is.

SOme chaplin and Buster Keaton linkies

Okay..SO I am studying physical comedy. I thought I would post a few from what I have been studying...







Friday, April 3, 2009

Color Swatches GYM


Here is the color swatches for the gym.

COLOR swatches


This is my living room swatch for scene 1 in the living room

Script REvise 3

I had to take a while to really figure out how I was going to fix my thesis. I knew I had to redo my entire script. I hate posting on blogs btw. I can never post the stuff I really want to.
I got rid of the narrator and I tried to concentrate on making it more slapstick. This means I have about 45 new drawings to do. (lucky me) This I will do over the weekend. I have a friend who is going to pose them out for me so I can draw them this weekend. I'll post the final storyboard this week...if I am not too exhausted!



Scene I
INT. Home- late night- Dimly lit room.

[ Tracy is sitting in front of the TV on her oversized couch. Tracy is a young female in her late 20’s. She is of medium build. She has a slightly poochy belly. She is wearing loose pants and an old t-shirt. Her hair is down and slightly messy. It is shoulder length. She is alone with a bag of chips, a soda between her legs and a Tv remote. She is very lethargic, bored, and switching channels. ]

Close up of Tracy slumped in the couch, watching TV. It pans back as she starts switching channels. She stops on an ad that catches her attention.

TV
Tired of always being tired?

Tracy nods

TV
Unfit?

Tracy looks at her belly.

TV
Barely have the energy to change the channel?

Tracy lifts up the channel changer and stops.

TV
Then get off your ass and get to AWESOME FITNESS GYM.

Tracy sits up.

TV
What are you waiting for do it now!!

Tracy Turns of the TV

Fade to Black

INT. Workout Gym – Daytime

[Tracy is wearing work-out clothes and an old t-shirt. Her hair is but in a ponytail. She has a MP3 player on her arm and is wearing headphones. In one hand she has a water bottle and in the other she has a hand towel. Behind her are glass doors that say: Awesome Fitness Gym.]

Tracy looks very nervous as she starts to look around.
Tracy walks to the treadmill and slowly steps on to the treadmill.
She nervously pokes it and then proceeds to start to turn it on.

Tracy turns it on and the machine asks for her weight. Tracy types in 111.
On the display readout the word Liar flashes.

Tracy looks freaked and looks again, but the display simply reads begin workout.

The treadmill starts to go very fast and the start up cause Tracy to stumble forward.
As she starts running Tracy starts to get the hang of it and she smiles.

Tracy’s headphones get tangled in the arms of the treadmill.
Her face hits the face of the treadmill.
Tracy attempts to pull her head forward, but the headphones pull her head down.

Tarcy tries to run with her head stuck on the face of the treadmill.

She pulls her head free, but now her hands are stuck.
She struggles with her hands for a while.
She pulls back, but gets pulled forward.
She pulls back again and she goes flinging backwards with her head phone firmly wrapped around the treadmill.

Tracy pats her now headphone-less mp3 player and sighs.

She tries to go for her headphones, but accidentally hits the speed up button, which causes her to fling backwards.

She falls with her hands on the back of the treadmill.
She starts to run with her hands as she tries to get back up.

She finally gets back up and she starts running again when the treadmill finally stops.
She slams her body hard into the treadmill and she regains composure. She looks at the treadmill with confusion and starts poking buttons when it starts to move backwards and she is sent flying onto her face and her body slides off the treadmill.

There is a loud thud off camera and Tracy gets back on.

She continues to try and run, but the treadmill slows down to a crawl. She stops and the treadmill slides back and forth.
She looks at the camera confused.

She goes to get off, but the treadmill starts up again and her left leg goes flying off to the side.

She grabs on to the rails and the treadmill stops.
She tries to get off when it starts up again. When she puts both feet on the treadmill it stops again. She goes back and forth with this game for a while, when se falls on her butt.

She looks defeated as it slides her towards the front of the treadmill. She stands up and the treadmill goes full force again. She barely reaches the front as she swears she sees it mocking her on the digital read out.

She turns red and starts beating it and pounding on it. Everything fades to white.

She is on the floor next to the treadmill huffing and puffing.

The Gym intercom goes off

Intercom
Attention Gym members… remember a fit body is a happy one!

She sinks to the ground and throws a towel at the camera.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Character Sketches.



I have numerous sketches, but I just want to for now post the headshots of the girl and a body shot. I will post a model turn as soon as I can.

Thesis Out line

Outline of Thesis

Introduction
a. This introduction will entail the concept of my thesis and its historical and social approach in entertainment
b. It will briefly entail what I hope to accomplish with my thesis and the reasoning behind the choice

HISTORICAL OVER VIEW

A. Research on fitness.
a. When did it first become prominent in society?
b. What advances have been made over the years?
c. Why cardiovascular fitness is important to an exercise regimen.
d. Who discovered the importance of cardiovascular exercise.
e. History of the treadmill:
a. Who invented it?
b. Why is the treadmill a basic staple at the gym?
c. Designs of older treadmills
d. Design of current treadmills.
e. How a treadmill works
f. Settings of Treadmills.
g. Motion of treadmills.
f. Social culture of the Gym
a. Personal Trainers.
b. People who want to lose weight
c. Cougars
d. Athletes.
g. Gym layouts
h. Other types of exercise.

B. Research of Physical comedy.
a. Look at Classic examples such as Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Abbot and Costello for cues on timing.
b. Study the animated approach from Classic Cartoons.
c. Compare and contrast the animated approach to the Live action approach.

C. Research on motion
a. Study examples of motion and movement
b. The mechanics of running.
c. The female run vs the male run.
d. Running with resistance. Running on smooth surfaces. Running on a moving surface.
e. The motion of the treadmill.

D. Research on animation approaches.
a. The basics of timing it out.
b. The approaches of traditional versus 3D.
c. The history of animation.
d. The basics of the approach.

E. The Nitty Gritty or the approach
a. Putting all the research together so that we can discuss approach.
b. How the piece will be done.
c. Story and script breakdown
d. The mechanics of the execution.
e. The lighting Design.
f. The models and set.
g. Rigging approach
h. The breakdown of the storyboards.
i. The Breakdown of the timing.
j. The approaches I will take to be a member of KISS (Keep it simple stupid)
k. The design and color scheme.
l. The title sequence.
m. Sound
n. Logistics.
o. Project breakdown and management of personal time.

F. Concluding Arguments.
a. Cross referencing Research to prove the approach methodology
b. Briefly concluding the overall idea and its easy identifiable subject matter.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Reference Photos































































































So what have I been up to this week for my thesis? I have been gathering reference photos.. I have also been going to the gym to take pictures and play on the treadmill. BTW I hate the treadmill because it hurts my calves. I basically took pictures of different gym equipment, the treadmill at different angles and different types of people that go to the gym(part of the culture). All these pictures further emphasize to me that I have NO business behind a camera. I will be going back there to continue shooting references until I am satisfied.

Suffice to say I am not posting all my photos... as they well frankly are too many and are repeats..
I have also finished my revise of the script... we'll see how it goes.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

RESEARCH

SO I am going to throw a few video images on here for research.

I'll start with treadmills and go to animation ones.










STYLE
HEre are a few videos that I want the feel of my Thesis to pay homage to:







I'll post all my scraps of character design later.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Starting the thesis Process

Okay here is my blog site for my thesis and I have to say I am nervous as all get out. I will say I am nervous. I will also say eeeeeep!

So here is my rough draft of my ideas of late:

The concept I would like my thesis to entail is: fitness.

Fitness is the activity of trying to obtain or maintain a healthy body through the means of exercise, weights and cardio-vascular workouts.


The thesis will be entitled Tracy versus the Treadmill (because I cannot resist alliteration). It will be 3-d project that will focus on my skills as a generalist. It will be animated. There will be two characters that will be focused on, a girl and a treadmill. The set will be very simple. There will be one shot of a full gym, but the rest will be a simple set of a treadmill, a floor, the mirror in front of her and other unused treadmills beside her. The camera focus will be on her and the treadmill.

Synopsis

Tracy is new to the gym, but she wants to get in shape. She nervously enters the gym and decides to start her workout with a fairly innocuous looking treadmill. The second she jumps on it, it comes to life and the LED readout begins to mock her as she tries to use. It goes too fast and switches speeds and even direction. It calls her loser and as Tracy begins to become frustrated it only heightens its mockery. Tracey tries to shut the machine off, but she cannot seem to reach the stop button. Every time she seems to get close the button almost shifts away from her fingers. As she becomes more determined to beat the machine, she becomes almost frenetic in her movement and breathing. The machine eventually stops and she falls to the floor, breathing heavily, angry, but ready to come back tomorrow for round two. I want this to be a cross between the old Goofy How to cartoons and a Donald Duck cartoon where technology seems to be at odds with the main character to a boiling point.

OUTLINE

Tracy vs. the Treadmill

I. Tracy enters the gym
a. Tracy looks around almost with fear and shyness to the new world around
her.
b. Tracy almost bolts through the door, when a narrative voice reminds her why
she is here:
1. She wants to get in Cougar shape.
2. Picture of three older ridiculously in-shape females and the sound effect of a mountain cat roar.
c. Tracy looks determined and looks around at her fitness options.
d. A voice declares that the first part of a work-out is to do cardio-cascular work out, such as running, spinning, calesthetics… etc
e. Tracy looks at different options, the elliptical, the bike and settles on the treadmill.

II. Tracy starts her battle with the treadmill
a. Tracy approaches the treadmill, which seems almost heavenly lit.
b. Tracy starts to get on nervously and slowly, looking at it with caution.
c. The machine starts up immediately and asks her to enter her weight.
d. Tracy enters her weight and the machine defiantly screams: LIAR
e. The machine starts to move faster, all the while calling her wimpy and out of shape.
f. Tracy goes for the Stop button.
g. The treadmill tells her no-no and starts to run backwards to keep her from reaching the button.
h. Tracy starts to get mad and starts moving faster to try to out wit the machine.
i. The treadmill keeps switching speeds and resistance.
j. Tracy keeps going determined to shut it off

III. Tracy reaches her Boiling point
a. Tracy is angry and panting as she frantically keeps trying to shut it off.
b. Every time she gets close the button seems to move and the machine mocks her more.
c. Tracy starts to really get livid and every time she reaches the machine she slaps it in the “mouth” and starts beating on it in rage.
d. The machine finally stops and Tracy is still jumping n it and hit it.
e. Tracy finally falls to the ground tired and out of energy.
f. As she catches her breath the Narrator tells her that now that her heart rate is up, she can start using weights. She sinks to the ground and throws the towel at the camera.