A little compositing and effects inspiration

It's the little things that make a big difference :)

One of the main things to consider with the fire here is the light it gives off and how that falls on the hand and fades out in a natural way. The fire being so close means the light on the hand is quite bright and how the light almost penetrates the fingertips of the hand is a final touch which emphasises the feeling of realism.

One thing that appeals to me greatly here is light. Lighting will play a major role in our film for setting the mood. Of course with water, reflections will have to be considered also.

This as a still image would still be lovely. However, the movement creates a whole new depth.
The spectrum of light here with the light snow flowing through is an ideal scene. The way the light reflects the colours, and the flakes glimmer as they glide by, with of course, the blackground out of focus and also the blurring particles, we kind of get a gentle and subtle effect that makes a gigantic impression.

A simple combination of light and camera focus too gives this image so much more depth and feeling.

MORE WATER REFERENCES?!

                                              Giant waves and splashes - when storm's at its worst.
                                                   Kelpies attacking.

the combination of the mist and splashes is a huge inspiration

                                  The rain and lightning in this scene definitely helps to highlight the chaos. The rain drops are long and tilted at a strong angle helping to show the force of  the winds and the over-all power of the storm                                                       

animation research

I was just doing a little more research and came across some Tangled gifs.





The fluid and natural movement of expression portrays so much information about the character. Her body movement, the way she uses her hands to communicate and emphasise her emotions. I just figured it was something to take note of.

This here, although very short, puts an image of Murdo setting off in his boat and beginning his journey. The display of curiosity and joy from Rapunzel are definitely emotions I can picture Murdo feeling as he begins his journey, unaware of the dangers to come.  

Water and Fire

Time's running away from us a little bit, and we have to begin looking more closely into and studying the movement of water and fire.

So here's a few inspirational images to get us started:




Calcifer from Howls Moving Castle

We'll need to start studing the wave shapes and splashes to firstly understand the movement of the water and secondly to understand how to animate the splashes to give the 3D water a more 2D textured feel.

Ellie's Monster line test

This is an incomplete line test of Ellie's Monster climbing out of the paper:

I took much of my inspiration from the Gobelins animation:

Nuit Blanche





And Daniel Greaves' Manipulation:

Ok so Murdo's not only a tricky guy to draw, he's actually a little hard to get to know.

So i'm trying to get inside Murdo's head and understand well..who he is really.
What better way to do that than with...yes, more inspirations.

Obviously he's very adventurous, that's kind of the main characteristic we were trying to portray of him. He's naive but that could also be to his age (only being 11 and all).

For me, adventure and youth is never far away in a Studio Ghibli film. The character's in Ponyo portray childhood innocence with a bit of youthful determination. I see Murdo to be very much like that. It's Sosuke that reminds me more of  Murdo though with his more inquisitive but thoughtful nature.

Spiderwick Chronicles: young kids about Murdo's age who come across magical characters both good and bad. It's the protagonist in this that reminds me of Murdo the most due to his determination and almost need for adventure.

Again, as far as age goes, Ben 10's pretty close. He's another character that comes across unusual and inhuman characters and is never short of an adventure. However, Murdo's journey is a little more tragic.

Another Brave inspiration. Merida is undeniably adventurous, but it is as though she cannot resist the temptation to discover new places, to the point where she's a little blind sighted by it and ignores the danger. This is a characteristic which is important to be seen in Murdo. The reason he'd go out in the boat without concern and even as the weather changes, there's no consideration from him to go back until it is too late.

Elliott being around the same age as murdo and the fact he has an encounter with an inhuman character (albeit the out come of Elliott's encounter is actually good instead of Murdo's unfortunate encounter with the kelpies) reminded me of the kind of relationship in our film. 

Who love adventure more than Tin Tin? However, it's Tin Tin's relationship with his pet that reminds me of Murdo. At first, Murdo's almost in awe rather than shock when he first see's the Kelpies. It's his inquisitiveness and naivety that inevitably become his downfall however in his back story, Murdo's quite an animal lover and we wanted him to have a pet. It's this trust instead of fear of animals that allows him to have that moment of awe before the reality sinks in. It's this that mainly links the characters for me here.

Apres La Pluie by Gobelins. This character seems to be of the same age as murdo, and his water-filled adventure certainly sparked a resemblance to our story. Again he too has an encounter with a water spirit.

                                             Coraline: another young adventurer and this time the story has a dark tone,                         which definitely is a factor in our film.

                             The golden Compass: Again another film with a young adventurer who has many     encounters with dangerous and powerful creatures.                                        

                                         Kevin Mcallister from Home Alone 2: One of the few young characters who would end up in a huge city all by himself and embrace the adventure.

                                          This boy from The Pagemaster reminds me of Murdo in his good nature and innocence.

Christopher Robin is very much like Murdo. A little young, but the innocence and kindness in this character is almost unrealistically exaggerated. Murdo tends to have the same qualities.

Similarly to Christopher Robin, this character is like Murdo in his youthful naivety and kindness. He's a gentle character which too is mirrored in Murdo.

                                                  This character sums up Murdo for me in many ways. If our film had a happy ending, I could see it turning out a little like this. Murdo is definitely the type of character to embrace the unknown and try to understand it.

So after the Peer Review it was discussed that the extra additions that the kids add to the kids would appear to be drawn on.

I found a tutorial on Video Co-pilot which talked me through how to unveil lines using a kind of mask which follows the original image line. This way I could create the idea that the image was being created as the kids were thinking it; mirroring the concept of the features being drawn on as the kids compete with each other.

Of course only using the 2D character images we have, the test looks a bit flat. A test with a 3D rendered image would be more useful. I also need to find some PS brushes that have a more crayon-like appearance.

line boiling test in After Effects

I read online that you can simulate line boiling using after effects:

The team and I agreed that a hand-drawn boil would add to the aesthetic more, giving it a more loose and free feel. However this is yet to be tested.

More water inspiration.

A Trow Price ad by Psyop called 'ink'.

http://vimeo.com/2936069

Personally I adore the animation in this. The inky feel of the water was an Idea for how the kelpies could move and interact when in the water and not above the surface. We felt that perhaps when the kelpies are below the surface they could almost become the water, and this piece definitely confirmed that this could be approached in some very creative ways. Also how the lines move, flow through the water and  eventually merge into the waves and fading out also allowed us to consider using line as a way to connect the kelpies to the water, and additionally adding a 2D feel to the piece.