Lyrics

        At the heart of the character & narrative module are the chosen lyrics. They will inform and influence the movements and gestures of our character, the pace, the tone, the facial expressions, the characterisation; the entire performance will be based around these lyrics. So it was important to chose them relatively early on, to allow time to focus and develop the animation to suit the lyrics.

        Another point to note is that although we will be working with existing lyrics, we are not constrained by how musicians have previously been performed. We are in fact free to perform them however we wish; giving a Shakespearean rendition of some Rage Against the Machine for comedic effect, for example. Anything that will assist us in building a dynamic and appealing performance.

        I considered a number of different options:

• "Shyness is nice and shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to...Coyness is nice and coyness can stop you from saying all the things in life you'd like to" - The Smiths (These lyrics seem quite pertinent to me, as I am very introverted. It may be cathartic to depict a character escaping the confines of their own shyness).
• "This is where I'll be, so heavenly, so come and dance with me Michael...I'm all that you see, you want to see, come and dance with me Michael" - Franz Ferdinand (An opportunity to experiment with some extreme body language. Moom would need some seductive and alluring dance moves to persuade Michael to dance with him).
• "At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side" - Gloria Gaynor.
• "I've seen your frown and it's like looking down the barrel of a gun, and it goes off and out come all these words" - Arctic Monkeys (Anger and frustration, or perhaps apathy and exasperation?)
• "I'll be your liqour, bathing your soul, juice that's pure. And I'll be your anchor, you'll never leave shores that cure" - Placebo.
• And a number of Tiger Lillies lyrics.

        Some of these were too abstract, and didn't really give enough inspiration for me to build a performance around. The Tiger Lillies, although many of their lyrics are very entertaining, are very literal, like pre written stories and rhymes, not offering much room for further characterisation or plot development. Others were just too solemn.

        Then I found these lyrics: 

• "I turned around and it was gone. Did I leave it in your car? On a table in a bar? Or in your bed between the sheets? The places where we used to meet? Wherever love has gone I need to know" - Pulp.

        These seemed perfect to me. They clearly suggest certain (searching) actions that the character should undertake, yet there is room to manoeuvre in the tone and delivery. As Jarvis Cocker sings them, they form a love sick and melancholy (even bitter) tune. But read aloud, the first five sentences at least could be quite different; someone puzzling over where they could have lost/mislaid something. 

        Oddly, reading these to myself, rather than picturing a person lamenting their loveless life, I see a cherubic Cupid character who has lost his arrow (physical embodiment of love?). Perhaps Moom could play Cupid.

Maya: Modelling

        After familiarising ourselves with Maya's work space and basic functions, the next step in this module was to learn some modelling skills. With a lot of help from a set of written instructions I was able to produce a digital model of a small wooden truck, using polygons which were then snapped together, beveled and extruded.

        At first, watching our tutor demonstrate how to construct the model (it took him just a few minutes), it seemed like a daunting task. However, approaching it step by step, one shape at a time made the impossible manageable.  

        I could really have done with a little more time to let these skills sink in before taking on any more information, but we were also introduced to hypershades, textures and lights. I found this onslaught of information quite overwhelming, and am not sure that I completely understand everything we were told. What is important though, is that I am aware that these functions and tools exist, and am free to further explore them later in the project. At the very least, I managed to colour and light my truck.

        To consolidate what we had learned in this session, we were tasked with creating another model, based on a simple object of our own choosing. I chose a wooden chair; an object with a number of clear components and no particularly complex shapes. Yet it also offered the opportunity to practice beveling edges and snapping polygons together.

        The modelling stage went quite seamlessly. The problems started once I started adding textures and lighting. For some unfathomable reason (despite ensuring I had turned on ray tracing shadows) there were no shadows or reflections in my rendered images, but when I returned to the scene later they suddenly appeared. Slightly less easy to fix was the lighting. We had been told that in order to make the lighting more natural it should be set to quadratic decay (so the light fades further away from the source), yet when I followed these instructions the lights went out entirely. It is small issues like this, with no logical solution which can be highly frustrating (and also why the lighting in my rendered images is a bit harsh).

        While these images are by no means perfect, as a first attempt and a confidence building exercise I am quite pleased with them. Hopefully. with the knowledge I have acquired during these two tasks, I will be able to go onto model more complex shapes and work on constructing more realistic scenes. 

CG Animation in Children's TV

        I recently came across a number of articles on social media protesting the fact the toy giant Mattel has seen fit to change the appearance of much loved children's TV character Bob the Builder. Bob's makeover will see him transform from the familiar Mackinnon and Saunders puppet character into a barely recognisable younger and svelter chap. Although I have no great affection for the builder, as I never really watched, it is sad to see another in a string of characters receive an unnecessary CG upgrade.

        I am not suggesting that CG is inherently unsuitable for this demographic (Strange Hill High uses an effective compination of puppetry, stop motion and digital imagery, while Little Charley Bear and Mike the Knight are both appealing CG creations), nor am I clinging to my own childhood memories of these programmes. Update the storylines by all means and make them relevant to the current generation of children, but does that have to mean replacing the puppets with technology? It's a shame to bring established and successful characters into the computer age just because we can, especially if it means sacrificing some of their charm along the way. 

        What has been contributed to the likes of Thomas the Tank Engine, Postman Pat and Fireman Sam by this transition? There has been a considerable amount of backlash, and at least to my mind these programmes have lost some of their tactile appeal. In puppet form, these characters seemed to inhabit their own miniature but nonetheless real worlds, which children could replicate in the world of play. The computer generated versions seem a little more false, more sterile and featureless.

        Even more confusingly, it is not as though CG has become the go to medium for children's programmes. Looking at CBBC's listings, there are a number of shows (Rastamouse, Little Robots, Raa Raa the Noisy Lion and Shaun the Sheep) which continue to use stop motion animation, raising the question why change the classics? What is the reasoning behind such a move? Oddly, I could't find any reasoning or justification for Bob's transformation in any of the news articles I read.

Maya: First Impressions

        While some of my classmates seemed to take to Maya relatively easily, I struggled a great deal to get to grips with the numerous functions and controls which allow us to manipulate and animate the 'Moom' character we will be working with for this module. Consequently, while some people chose to immediately begin piecing together simple animations, I felt I needed a little time to practice working with the Maya.

        One of my main problems was that at first I didn't realise that I needed to change the transformation selection (w = translate, e = rotate etc.) before each movement of a joint. It was also not always clear which joint needed manipulating in order to achieve certain poses, while, frustratingly, some transformations do not always seem to work for all joints.

        In spite of these teething issues, I am looking forward to building my skills with Maya, while the fact that we have been provided with a ready made character alleviates the pressure of having to come to terms with modelling at the same time as animating using this program. It also allows us to more closely focus on building our animation skills without being distracted by character deign. The fact that the entire group is using the same character with minimal features means that we must work hard on building a strong performance to imbue 'Moom' with appeal and personality. 

Character & Narrative

        For the Character & Narrative module we are required to select and self record a short (15-20 second) song lyric to use as a framework for animating a basic character in Maya. Although I was disappointed that this module doesn't offer the opportunity to develop and design our own characters, it does provide a welcome opportunity to develop our performance skills (important, as animators are essentially actors who perform through their creations). While a character's appearance can provide clues as to their role in a narrative, their performance and body language is equally, if not more, important.

        Character & narrative are intrinsically linked, not just in animation but across all areas of film. An interesting character that appeals to the viewer enables them to invest in the narrative, which a character's behaviour can drive the narrative. For example, hesitating before an action could be a powerful tool for heightening tension; behaving shiftily could create suspicion around a character. It is the job of the animator to pick up on subtle body language that the audience can pick up on and interpret. 

        Once we have decided on our lyrics, in order to imbue our generic character with an individual personality we will need to study how people move in everyday life to covey a sense of realism that the viewer will recognise and identify with. How do people move? How does this movement change depending on mood and emotion? Although we will be creating a simple prop for our character to interact with, and including a level of facial animation, the majority of the communication will fall on the character's performance. It will be interesting to see at the end of this module the diversity of characters created, despite the fact we will all be using the same CG model.