Leanne Stone
Year1 FMP
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iron man (VFX)
My first thought when first thinking about my FMP was Iron Man. This is due to my idea of someone being able to see into the future. The reason this gives me inspiration for that is due to all the blue holographic information that he can use as a sort of data bank. I thought this would be a good approach for presenting how my character can see into the future. This will be something I want to design my own interface for, and will be good for practicing more about the 3D environment and how to design my own footage with tools within after effects and the adobe cloud. I like the way he is able to use this as a phone like asset to store anything and everything he needs to know. I want to see if I can use this as something only my character can see.
portal 2 game (portal vfx)
When thinking about what kind of portal I wanted, Portal 2 came to mind. This is because of the double ended portal, I want this aspect of running through the portal effortlessly and appearing the other side. I also like what you can see within the portal, the mirror of what is actually happening in the scene. I want this simple portal effect of the ring, I feel this rather than an over exaggerated portal will sit better with the other visual effects that are although unrealistic are embedded properly into the film and that are well lit into the environment. My next step here is to practice a portal to see what it will look like but if this doesn't work out, looking at more portals and how these could work better in my film.
teens in the pandemic article
I wanted to work on character development and therefore started exploring more current events that could be relatable from an outsider point of view. Whilst looking into the current global pandemic I came across this interesting article about my teenagers.
Reading this article has given me more inspiration behind the emotion of my film. I have been trying to find an emotional tie which can feel relatable to the audience. This article speaks about how teenagers have been effected in the pandemic, focusing on how we have had to be taking on more mature responsibilities such as helping with younger siblings, helping out with jobs more and parent responsibilities, which in turn is putting a lot of pressure on teens. This article has been beneficial as my target audience is older teens and young adults who are suffering with this sudden jump in responsibility due to the pandemic. Despite feeling overwhelmed by this we now have a natural instinct for these jobs and to care for these people, if something were to happen to them we would feel emotional hurt despite this being an overwhelming time.
In my film I want portray this pressure that has been put onto teens during the pandemic, I feel this will be away to instantly connect teens to the responsibility they have been given. My idea is to put a parent in danger, therefore the protective instinct of the teen takes over and after discovering this new found ability, they abuse it to make sure their parent is definitely safe. Forgetting about they themselves might be affected or what it looks like from an outside perspective. I feel this will relatable for teens and be a good Segway into my story.
"A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late March found that people ages 18 to 29 were more likely than any other age group to experience high psychological distress when thinking about the outbreak."
will carmack short films (tutorials)
One of biggest inspirations for not only my FMP but my VFX journey overall is Will Carmack's work. Being the first visuals artist I followed and work I enjoy he naturally became a big influence to me due to his star wars short films. I then discovered he does tutorials and this is where most of my After effects experiments have come from. Will has always been a big inspiration but the thing I am most taking inspiration from in this FMP is his masking skill. When looking at how he does his saber fights, each frame and each swing seem spot on, with him even creating delay in the light source as he swings. I will also be looking at how he uses light on the environment to create a realistic glow from the sabers, as on his socials I have seen him talking about ways he has been improving his light sources, this has inspired to look more into lighting as he has filmed a lot in darker locations. I will also be using the glow effect he taught me to create a glow on the mystery object. Below are some of my favourite of his short films and tutorials as examples of what pieces of his work I find inspiring.
deadpool (superhero landing)
Deadpool is an action film that I admire for it's well done visuals and attention to detail as of the time. The reason I am looking into Deadpool is due to the superhero landing that they have created, in this particular scene with Gina Carano. I like the fast camera movement as it creates for not only a smoother more realistic transition but also when hitting the ground, the slight bounce up of the camera creates for an impactful landing. Furthermore, the use of the dust from the ground makes this more realistic. Another thing I like in this is the landing of the actor, it is confident and portrays the idea she really is strong enough to be undamaged by this and have such an impact. I also like the movement of those in the background, as it shows the power of the hit affects what is around her. I want to make sure I create an environmental effect in the back.
ant-man (character)
Character development is very important for me. This is something I feel is critical but I haven't had much experience with as of yet. On top of this I am not working with a lot of time to develop my character. One simple story that came to mind when thinking about this was Scott's from Ant-man. He wanted to correct the wrong he had done before, to get back into his daughters life, however that drive meant he went out of his way to do something he shouldn't have, therefore getting himself into trouble and then leading him to have no other option but to help Hank. I want this simple connection between two people to become a trait for my character. This is because this is a quick way to make an emotional tie to a character and could serve purpose to my character. I'll be using this for reference for character development.
The Disney book (character)
After looking at Ant-man and thinking more about my characters relatable story connection, I decided to keep exploring the character area. I got out some film books and found some interesting and inspiring information in 'The Disney Book' on page 100 (Characters with Heart). This page lists some of the key elements that makes a good character, from the individuality to the storyline. An example from WALLE on this page interests me, as they say "animators were able to evoke different emotions using his eyes", having such a short amount of time to connect my character I feel this will be a big part in creating an emotional attachment between my characters but also the audience, this encourages me to focus on the emotion in the eyes. Furthermore, this insight suggests real-life experiences help connect characters to audience which gives me more encouragement in doing my film about the effects of covid. The other important quote I read here was about the importance of the "truth in emotion". Doing something truthful to how it would feel in the situation can push our audience to believe and imagine being in that environment. Without truth in what my characters are feeling there is no genuine emotion. My character's must be truthful.
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"When you have characters with big obstacles to overcome, that's really juicy stuff for animators"
steve and bucky's friendship (character)
In my survey, I asked about character and a name that came up most commonly was Bucky. I found this interesting as Bucky's journey didn't start as a standalone character but as a strong connection to Steve. Therefore instead of just exploring Bucky himself, I watched the video essay to the left about Bucky and Steve's story and why we as an audience become so connected to Bucky through this. This helped me to understand more about what connects two characters. Why this may not massively benefit visually it is useful for me to understand the relationship two characters have so I can build one between my own.
Unlike any other friendship Steve comes to have, the one with Bucky is from knowing each other as boys, before anything had happened to make their lives unordinary or begin the path to a hero like life. The important thing about these two characters is that they know each other without the responsibilities. The reason we connect to Bucky so well is because he is consistently pointing Steve in the right moral direction, reminding him consistently of not who he should be according to the position he has been put in now but who he was. Bucky is the character to show the small scope in something so big that has happened to the two of them. It is the loyalty between them that makes them so connected, knowing who someone was is bigger than knowing who someone is in this situation. Whilst all of Steve's other relationships are changing in the present, Bucky keeps a sense of the past as he'll always know him deep down, Bucky and Steve both help each other to keep hold of their identity. It is only when their identity is lost in a mix they fight and inevitably when Bucky tries to be like Captain America (the version of Steve he doesn't always see) is his downfall. Even when they are fighting they still comment how they will be there till the end. Although this is a deep narrative, it will help with me connecting my characters to one another, especially when the relative see's the other character attack an innocent person, when usually it is out of nature.
"I'm with you till the end of the line"
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the force awakens (rey- luke/anakins saber)
Determining the details of my film during this research was very important for me, I knew the general idea here but was searching for the specifics as I like to have a picture in my head before I go forward with planning and thinking about the logistics of my idea. However after thinking about what films inspire me, finding this clip expanded the detail I had of my film a lot. It has connect a lot of my film together for me. In this clip Rey approaches the saber that Luke and Anakin had both wielded, when grabbing it she has visons, seeing things she hadn't been present in before. Firstly, I like the cinematics, for when Rey is approaching the chest, I feel this would be an effective way to build tension as my character walks through the house, especially with lower lighting. Furthermore I now aspire when my character grabs the glowing item to create flash forwards to see the relative getting hurt by these people, which then they wake up, receiving a text from their relative stating they have gone on a walk. My character begins to panic, and then they go to save their relative, where the fight response kicks in and they get into trouble. I will be coming back to the cinematography in this clip when planning my shots.
Revenge of the sith (Palpatine's force lightning)
The next thing I wanted to explore as I now have a better understanding of the start of my film was what would happen towards the end of my film when my character finally gets to the location where they have the fight. I felt they should develop a long distance power to fit with the theme of staying away from people as the film is based in the time of covid. Therefore I looked at the force lightning in Revenge of the Sith, as this felt appropriate with the theme of being hurt and then developing these superpowers because it has a sense of something going through a persons blood. I like this effect as I have practiced with this sort of thing before, it means I can look at the environmental effects on the people it's effecting as well as the world around them. This would be an interesting effect to do with the glow, movement and environmental effect. I want to look more into the potential of doing this and how I can use the effect on people in the scene. To continue looking into this further, I will try and experiment and make this effect as a practice.
fight, flight or freeze response
The main element of the second part of my film is the actions my character takes towards the threat to the family member. I thought more about why they would adopt these actions, in the way of human response. Maybe it is, that in this situation, my character wouldn't actually put up a fight. I decided that I would do more research into the brains response when going into a emotional situation, so I decided to look up more about the flight or fight response and found this article. This article helped me understand more about what actually triggers the response we give and also helped me to realise there is another freeze natural response, if the body becomes too stressed. The biggest point I got out of this particular article is that your body's fight-flight-freeze response is triggered by psychological fears. So if you have a history of trauma or anxiety, you might overreact to nonthreatening situations. When linking this to how if think my character feels in this situation, I think they have somewhat of a trauma in this situation. Due to the effects of covid they are naturally driven to protect and therefore if there are any dangers towards someone you have been looking after for the past year, this is especially if covid has had a negative impact on health or they have had to go through this before, having some threat to this is going to frighten the carer. Therefore I don't believe the freeze response would be right here, as I think there is not enough trauma in this person. Maybe they would have a freeze moment, however I feel the natural instinct to attack what is causing the threat seems more logical in the moment then running due to the instinct to keep them safe over anything. Another thing this article has helped me with is looking at physical effects this has on the body, the shaking, sweating and pupil dilution. This will be a useful detail to look out for and make sure I am including when filming, I could even exaggerate these physical effects with close-ups and practical exaggeration.
Physical symptoms
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Heart rate. Your heart beats faster to bring oxygen to your major muscles. During freezing, your heart rate might increase or decrease.
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Lungs. Your breathing speeds up to deliver more oxygen to your blood. In the freeze response, you might hold your breath or restrict breathing.
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Eyes. Your peripheral vision increases so you can notice your surroundings. Your pupils dilate and let in more light, which helps you see better.
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Ears. Your ears “perk up” and your hearing becomes sharper.
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Blood. Blood thickens, which increases clotting factors. This prepares your body for injury.
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Skin. Your skin might produce more sweat or get cold. You may look pale or have goosebumps.
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Hands and feet. As blood flow increases to your major muscles, your hands and feet might get cold.
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Pain perception. Fight-or-flight temporarily reduces your perception of pain.
mis-fits (telepathy)
The main power I want to try and portray here that I feel will be most difficult is the telepathy. Therefore I have been looking at shows that look at some form of this. There are two characters with abilities I was interested in. The first one was a girl called Kelly who could mind-read. I enjoyed this power however felt it wasn't developed at all in a way that made it more interesting. This was a common opinion when looking at reviews on the show, as I was reading suggestions people were writing about how to make this a more interesting character. In conclusion I was also not overly inspired on how they portrayed this superpower, as it was quite a simply way to portray this and not the style I want to thrive to have when doing my film. I would like a more cinematic approach to this power whereas here their thoughts were just said out loud.
"If she was able to understand animals and babies thoughts then she could be able to understand every single person in the world, no matter what language they speak. That would be awesome"
"This power should've evolved, otherwise it'd JUST be mind reading, into also the following:
Telepathic mind control - Control thoughts or actions by directly pushing thoughts into someone's mind without having to speak Projecting illusions Reaching into someone's mind to stun, inflict pain, or kill Mind possession to take over someone's body / Mind swapping / Consciousness transferral (like the coma girl) Shutting off powers Emitting psychic energy to stun, inflict pain, or kill Seeing through someone's eyes (like Alisha) Control sexual arousal (like Alisha) Freezing people's minds and bodies (like the blonde girl) Putting people to sleep Downloading and uploading knowledge / skills Altering memories an personalities
Kelly'd be the most powerful"
The other character I looked at in this show was Curtis, someone who could see into future events and prevent things from happening by changing the outcome. I really liked how this flash-forward was presented and want to see if this is a possible way I could present the telepathic nature in my film. I like the way we actually get to see what could've happened and I feel like doing this in my film could create a more emotional attachment with my audience seeing the pain that could have been caused. Despite me enjoying this power some did feel quite confused by this, therefore I would have to be more careful when portraying this power so that it doesn't over complicate the power my character has.
"I don't understand how Curtis can rewind and replay past events to affect outcome. He can rewind and replay events but only present events rather than past events. So rewind and replay past events is moving his conscious?"
star wars year by year book (costuming)
Looking into Star Wars concepts and inspirations was very important to me, this is because Star Wars is my favourite movie franchise, although not the biggest inspiration for this particular short film I will be making, I still care greatly about the elements that make this franchise so big, and the complex storylines. Therefore I have been looking into the costume design and concepts for some of the biggest costumes in Star Wars. In this book there are multiple concepts for some of the biggest characters and background characters. The attention to detail here makes me realise, maybe I should be paying more attention to details such as these. Therefore I will be looking into costumes from films such as mine, seeing how much these fit in and what would be good for my film. I will be creating concepts such as these, thinking thoroughly about all the emotions that will effect the costume choices. I also need to identify makeup choices, to present my characters as exhausted if needed, and to resemble the effect the blast after becoming telepathic has on them, does this effect their clothing? Asking questions like these will be essential to my films professional look. Seeing these concept designs have thoroughly made me re-consider my attention to detail that could greatly benefit my film. Although it's a modern day set film, these are still important considerations for my film. Below are some inspiring examples of costume designs I need to think about.
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jurassic park (sound design)
One of the films I re-watched for inspiration for my FMP was Jurassic Park. The visuals were very inspiring to see however not exactly the effects I was wanting to portray. It was the sound effects in this film that set the bar high for me. The ability to create and emulate non-existing animals so well intrigued me. It was this along with the atmosphere of the park that intrigued me to look further into how all these sounds were created.
I watched this video about how the soundtrack for Jurassic Park was created and it gave me a new outlook on how to find my audio. I have been stuck in the idea that I should know what to record and know what sounds right. However watching this has allowed me to enter the area where I can just experiment with sound effects. Whenever I go out and here an interesting sound I should record. This will be my next step in sound, experimenting by recording things I wouldn't have ever thought of. This will be useful for the sounds of lightning and the blast etc.
recording foley article
After watching the video on Jurassic Park and how they got their sound effects, I thought now I know that you don't always know what to look for when getting sound effects so therefore you should just be recording anything interesting, I decided to look up some technical, about how we should be recording and the best ways once I find the perfect sound for my effects. This article here runs through the basics of foley through to what professionals studios look like when they record. This article has taught to look at not only the sound effect itself by how the microphone is being used. I now know to think about the distance of the mic from the sound (If the sound happens further away from the camera on screen should this be the same for the microphone). I have also got new knowledge on the purpose and best times to use a wind filter on a condenser microphone. I found this to be a very useful article as I have not done much sound recording before therefore never fully knew how to use my microphone to it's full potential. Not only this but it gave a list of common things used for visuals which I will want to experiment with when finding my sounds.
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Thin sticks and dowel rods produce excellent whooshing SFX
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Old chairs and stools are perfect for controlled creaking
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Heavy-duty stapleguns serve for excellent gun noises
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Roll up a large phonebook for realistic body punches
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Twist and snap sticks of celery for convincing bone breaks
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Corn starch inside a leather pouch makes the sound of snow crunching
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Cut a coconut in half and line them with a soft material for a horse walking
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Ball up and walk over old audio tape for the sound of grass footsteps
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Locate an old car door or fender to produce metal and car crash sounds
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Flap a pair of cleaning gloves for the sound of realistic bird wings