At first, I tied the skeleton of the turtle as a whole, and then the effect was not very good, and I thought I could remove the shell and tie the skeleton.
7. Turtle rig
Author: Haomin Lyu
6. Turtle texture
I used substance painter for material mapping. This is the first time I have used it, which is very convenient and useful. It’s also realistic to draw a big scar on the back of the shell.
5. Turtle modeling
When modeling the turtle in Maya, I initially had trouble with the shell and couldn’t find the right way to wire it, but decided to simplify the shell and later do more details in ZBrush.
At first, I thought that this animation would not involve the mouth expression, so I did not do the teeth and tongue parts. It turned out that the upper and lower mouths of my turtle’s design were not aligned, so the teeth should also need to be modeled.
Then I refined the model in ZBrush to make it more vivid.
4. Storyboard
The first shot is in the water, where only the legs of the turtle and the plastic waste in the water are visible.
The second lens came out of the water to see the scars on the turtle’s shell.
The third shot goes around in front of the turtle.
The fourth shot is a close-up of the turtle’s footsteps.
The fifth shot is a close-up of the turtle’s head, and the turtle looks left and right.
The sixth and seventh shots are the tortoise’s view of the island.
3. Scene design
Since the turtle is designed to walk upright, I wanted to design the scene as an island submerged by the sea. There is some plastic waste on the island.
2. Turtle character design
Because I wanted to express something about Marine pollution and harm to Marine life through this project, the original role was set to be a sea turtle. But the sea turtle’s limbs are not designed for a character that walks upright.
So I designed the turtle’s feet to stand well and its hands to have four fingers. This is the reference I found when designing a turtle. This reference has the limbs of a turtle that I like, but the head and neck of this turtle have some elements of a snake. I hope my turtle will be more cute.
This is my turtle design.
Week 8: Critical thinking for research topics
Topic 1
Potential Topics and questions:
Different concerns of female and male animation directors in animation creation
Advantages and disadvantages of female animation directors in the production of animation
Whether the works of female animation directors have promoted the development of female consciousness
Research reasons:
Due to my personal concern for women, I find that female directors generally have some differences from male directors in animation creation, such as obvious differences in subject matter selection, story arrangement, and role characterization. Therefore, I would like to analyze the reasons that lead to the different tendencies of female and male directors in animation creation. Whether the animation created by female directors has positive significance in promoting the process of contemporary female consciousness and analyzes the advantages and limitations of female animation directors in creation.
Keywords:
Female animation director, Female consciousness, Gender, animation Character creation, Animation story creation
Examples：
Jennifer Lee – Frozen
Jennifer Yuh – Kung Fu Panda 2
Domee Shi – Turning Red, Bao
Week 5: An animated work about diversity- Weird
“Weird” from animation Studio Lobster Studio, is a monologue about diversity, narrated by a girl who is seen as different and doesn’t understand why others always see her as a freak, whether it’s because of her looks or because of the helmet she wears out of fear when she sleeps. Or was it that marshmallow she took with her cold drink? These seemingly insignificant personal habits have made her a target and become an anomaly in the eyes of others, so she wants to correct this weird concept, the weirdness in the eyes of others is just a personal opinion, she is not new, nor sensationalist, just want to be herself.
The animation short film connects the whole animation content through the monologue of the protagonist. The style of my animation can reflect the changes of “Weird Girl”. The narration has a mysterious sense, and the soundtrack is also very mysterious.
The animator expresses that people always judge a person to be weird because of some trivial things. Some people who are considered weird are just being themselves all the time without hiding themselves. The so-called normal people may also hide their true selves just to be like others.
Week 4: Analyze the auteur of Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
His unique imagination makes his plays very distinctive
Delicate painting style
The story focuses on conservation, people and nature, growth and self-discovery
Miyazaki’s all-around animator talent is revealed in “The Panda Family,” which has a lot in common with the later “My Neighbor Totoro,” in that one person did the original work, the script, the scene setting, the original painting, and the art setting.
Miyazaki Hayao introduced the layout design system into animation for the first time, that is, the split production system of storyboard, design draft, original drawing, and animation. Improve the efficiency and accuracy of animation production.
Miyazaki likes to use emotion to unfold the story, regardless of logic, so that the audience can identify with the story emotionally, rich in romance, and give the audience great pleasure in sensibility.
Through “Conan the Future Boy”, it can be seen that Miyazaki as a director does not have the ability to produce a close and excellent story of an animated series, which may be one of the reasons why he later turned to animated films.
The Valley of the Wind is the famous work of Miyazaki Hayao. In order to make the animation he wants to do, Miyazaki Hayao can achieve success in the market at the same time. It uses elements like machinery, war, science fiction, beautiful girls, and so on, and the propaganda policy at that time is also different. This is also an ability to be a good director – to balance personal artistic pursuits with market demands.
To sum up, Miyazaki Hayao is good at completing the movement performance of the space environment in movement, so he is very good at constructing the worldview. In color design, he also has Ghibli’s unique color system. Good at the use of human actions and natural performance, the characteristics of the story, and the creation of easy-to-understand, low threshold.
Week 3: Experimental short film analysis – Atraksion(2001) Raoul Servais
The barren wilderness, near and far without a trace of life. Countless men in tight black and white striped prison uniforms, dragging heavy shackles and shot puts, wandered aimlessly across the wilderness. The man tried to light a cigarette for a companion, and he raised his arm as hard as he could, only to fall short and hurt his foot with a shot put. The wounded prisoner sat down to rest, and suddenly he was attracted by the light above him. Looking for the light, the man climbed up a mysterious building. Perhaps driven by human curiosity, the man tried to climb to the end of the building where he could not see the top. The sun was hot and blinding, but he wouldn’t give up. In the middle of the climb, the two shot putts seemed to lose weight and float like balloons, and the stripes on his body seemed to float away from him.
Gravity changes, the man finds the blinding light bulb, he gets burned and falls to the other world, and the people of the other world also start to pursue the light, the men interrupt them because they know the consequences of pursuing the light bulb, he breaks the wall with his shackles, and finally finds himself in the giant shackles, at that moment, the man takes off the hood on his head, He understood that he would never reach the light.
The film is surrealistic, using live action and background composition, silent film effects, and eerie rhythm, this film shows resistance, hope, unity, the yearning for light and freedom, and human insignificance. Full of philosophy and inspiration.
People are always bound, from the outside world or the self, sometimes in search of a sudden hope, but hope is ultimately an illusion the world is bound and full of resistance but no resistance can escape the world itself.