Snauzer environment designs

Improvements are soon to be made... thanks for all your thoughts on Friday guys! I can't remember what everyone said, though--if you wanted to comment again here it would be much appreciated!

The Blizzard Touch

A few of us are hot on the idea of doing a hyper-real cinematic short for our Senior Film. We could do all assets in 3D (with maybe some matte paintings), in a style not yet seen at BYU. We've got the talent. We've got the time. If you haven't seen Blizzard's latest game cinematics, then check these out:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/38881.html

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/19777.html


We could do something like these, only on a smaller scale. In the end, we'll have a piece so impressive that cartoon, live action, and game studios will take interest. Here's a breakdown of what might go into the film:

One amazingly-modeled and textured hero character--realistic hair, cloth, skin, the works.
One menacing and impressively designed and rigged villain.
One breathtaking environment, with killer lighting and particle effects for atmosphere.
Some side characters that provide character acting opportunities, and/or comedy.


As for story, I'm thinking it ought to be an excerpt of a larger story, as with the Blizzard shorts. As story tellers, we can show everything we need, rather than tell the viewer exactly what's happening. The whole thing could be no more than 1 minute if we focus on "showing" storytelling, rather than "telling" storytelling.


Here's an example:

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A weary man in ragged clothes and scars on his face enters a large, ornate hall. Orange torch lights cast an eerie feeling on the black walls and ceiling. Odd-shaped goblin creatures are seated along each wall in stadium seating. They're laughing at and mocking the tired man as he walks down the center of the room.

He approaches the opposite end of the hall. We see a menacing monster, with long mangled horns seated on a throne. It is garbed in a complex array of rusted plates, leather straps, and steel spikes. The beast reveals his long razor teeth in a devilish grin at the traveler.

Then, the man pulls a book out from his cloak, and opens the pages. The laughter in the room stops, and the large beast's expression changes to fear. The man holds the book higher as it begins to glow. Soft music begins to play. Rays of light stream out of the pages of the book, weaving and forming long tendrils. The rays begin to pierce the demonic beasts as their shrill cries are drowned out as the sound of an unseen orchestra and choir grows. The room grows brighter until the whole scene fades to white. Roll credits.
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The sooner we can start real discussions about this, the more smoothly the development will go. What do you guys think? Zug zug!

sample of shorts

hey team, I figured a good thing for us to start doing is to know what kinds of animated shorts are already out there and what is possible, i'm just posting a few of my faves, comment or make a post with some of your own if you want! for the horde!


A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

Two Ideas

Here's two of my ideas:

1. "Play Time"
In a bright, happy daycare center, there are two little boys drawing as they sit on the floor. The one boy draws a monster, and the other boy draws a robot hitting the monster. The first boy gets angry, and draws a new picture of something more menacing. This continues until two of the boys' drawings come to life and start fighting right there in the daycare, destroying everything. Then, in the middle of the action, we cut back to the two angry boys sitting across from each other on the floor. One boy has his arm raised with a small wood block in his hand. He throws it and pegs the other boy in the forehead. Just as the boy begins to cry, we cut to credits.

2. "Sticks and Stones"
Scene opens on a cliff, where there's a small little sprig of a tree. We see that it's alive when its eyes open. It has little twiggy arms and legs. It gets knocked loose, falls, and lands on a large boulder. Rocks fall down from the cliff, and the twig jumps off the boulder to dodge them. Turns out, the boulder is alive too, and he's pissed that the twig woke him up. Boulder chases twig through the forest in an exciting chase scene. Boulder trips and crumbles. Twig timidly approaches boulder. Camera fades. New scene opens on closeup of mossy rocks, which turn out to be the boulder with a large tree grown on top of it, which is... you guess it, our little twig.

Sophomores Untie! (or Unite)

This is (or could be, if you guys choose) the blog we'll use as an entire class to develop our ideas for our senior film. Since we don't have any one class with all of us together, I figured we might all like to share one common blog, to at least keep us all on the same page over the next few years, if nothing else. If you don't like the idea, then don't sign up, don't post, and don't ever come here again. Otherwise, let's start bouncing around ideas, my fellow sophomores!

Hello, World

Time will tell if we use the blog
Or if it gets shot like a lame dog.
I suppose we'll just wait and see
What this little blog will be.