Dear Alan

I tried setting up the script you shown me from the comet-cartoon website, but I couldn't understand on how to do it.
When you get the time maybe you can explain it to me in detail, we could talk about it through Skype.

Narrative Lecture part 11: The Mist

The next film we watched for our Narrative lecture is The Mist (2007)



The film began with our protagonist David Drayton going to the nearest supermarket, with his son and neighbour, to get some supplies and tools to repair his house that was wrecked in the storm that hit his area. All of a sudden a man came rushing in telling everyone to lock the doors and don't go outside because there's something in the mist. At first the public looked in confusion but when they saw the people outside the super market disappearing and screaming. The store manager then asked his staff to lock the doors and told everyone to stay in until we know what's happening.
However this was no easy task since everyone in the store are losing their minds, some wants to leave while others believe this is the work of god.

The main focus of the film is not on the mystery of the mist but on the public's reaction to something that is unknown to them. It reveals the public's true colours that they are weak and they need something to give them meaning and a purpose. However looking for such a thing can be quite dangerous and will make you a treat. An example would be the antagonist of the film Ms Carmody, she is a very religious person who believe in a vengeful god who punishes those who steps in his territory. She points out that the events that are happening to them is what is mentioned in the bible and they need to make blood sacrifices to please god.
This makes her very dangerous because the public became vulnerable and will listen to anyone who would make sense, even if the person the public is listening to is crazy. She uses this to the full effect and started to gain followers which she can control. Carmody became their leader and she makes the decisions for them.
I felt this film really explore the human nature of finding meaning and purpose in the world, showing they will find comfort in the most unlikely places. Which is why I like this film for exploring the public losing hold on reality and on their hunt for a purpose in the world.

Maya Tutorial part 7: Cartoon Character Complete

Yesturday I have finished making the head of my cartoon character. The only things I have added is eyebrows and make his eye's more eye by spereating certain parts on the eye like the iris and cornea and colour them. As well adding an extra sphere which is meant to give the eye an shiny appearance.
Cartoon Character's Head Complete


Once I have finished making the head I them added the head to the body and my character is complete, all thats left is to make a UV map of the character, place the bones, skin the model and rig it.
Cartoon Character Complete

Maya Tutorial part 6: The Cartoon Character Head

For the past few weeks I was finishing most of the Head tutorials for my Maya Cartoon Character.

Head Stage one

On stage one I have to make the general shape of the head. This is meant to show the main spots of the head like the eyes, ears, nose and mouth, and getting it prepared to be improved in the future.

Head Stage two

Stage two is about improving the head of the character by adding details to the eyes' by making an eyelid. Defining the lips of the character, shaping out the nose and adding the ears and shaping them out two. Also cleaning up the head a bit more.

Head Stage two and a half

The third stage is about adding hair to the character. This was quite difficult to do because I had to make sure the hair is connected to the head as well giving it it's own shape. The last bit of the model to make is his eyebrows and add the head to the body.

Maya Tutorial part 5: Army General and Generic Male finished models

Here are the finished models of the Army General and the Generic Male. These two characters are made for mine, Ruben, Ethan and Chris' short trailer called The Invisible Cannibals From Beyond the STARS! I followed the Maya Cartoon Character tutorial to help me in building the two characters from making their bodies part to building their heads. Of course I had to make them slightly different from what the tutorial was showing me because I was using different turnarounds. The longest model to make was the Generic Male because he has more accessories than the General, mostly his jacket was the difficult part to make because it was long. The only hard bits on the General was his trousers and his hat. His trousers was difficult to make because I had to make them baggy and not too tight on the general. While his hat I had to make it resemble more of a general's hat because the first hat I made for him look like a block, but once I finally got them done I was very please of the outcome. Of course there are some bad geometry on the general but I will get back to it and fix it.
Here are the characters, starting with the Army General and ending with the Generic Male.

Army General












Generic Male











The reason the Generic Male has no hands is because I had to give him the Ethan so he can add them in, I could of done it but we are trying to find ways to help us work better and faster so we can get the trailer done.

Narrative Lecture part 10: Tremors (1990)

The next movie we watched for our Narrative lecture is Tremors.



The plot of the film is about two handymen who are planning to leave their home to find a better job, but while on their way out the two of them saw a lot of weird things. A woman looking at tremors that never appeared in the first place, a drunk who die of dehydration and mysterious murders. The two handymen soon found out it was a monster who was causing all of these events and it is up to them to stop it.
We watched this film as an example of another type of monster budget movie with an actual monster as the villain.
The main idea of the film is about survival, trying to stay alive from a dangerous monster who gets smarter every time.
This film is very different from what I am used to because not many of the cast died and they all stand their ground against a monster and win. The film also shows that if you have the greatest plan ever it doesn't go as smoothly as you hope it would. If you are trying to distract the monster or set up a deadly trap, the plan won't work the second time because the monster becomes aware of the plan. The animatronics really help in bringing the monster to life because of it's texture and movements as well as the overall design of the monster that you can actually believe that this can be real. That's why I enjoyed this films because of the little blocks to the characters' plans and showing how deadly a monster can be when it gets smart, as well as the effectiveness of the animatronic on the monster.

Narrative Lecture part 9: Arachnophobia (1990)

The next film we watched for our Narrative lecture is Arachnophobia


The story of Arachnophobia is about a group of scientist lead by an entomologist going to the Amazon jungle looking for a new type of bug. While on their search they end up finding a new breed of spider, which they decided to examine it when they return home to see what makes the spider unique. While on their return they unknowingly brought with them a live spider which made it's way to a small town where it will start a new colony of spiders.
We watched this film to see an example of a horror budget film which uses a creator as a monster. This films plays on the public's fear of spiders and to me it did it with great success because of how the spiders move and the way the music is used to describe the action of the spiders.
The way it plays is like a murder mystery but instead of a person, the public where looking for the illness that was killing everyone which turns out to be poison from a spider. Some of things they mentioned in the film was very questionable on the spider for example they move like an ant colony and are organised and their poison acts very fast, but then again the public are dealing with a new breed of spider so of course the spiders won't work like an ordinary spider.

Transcription part 1: For Phil the music I chosed

The name of our next unit is Transcription and we have to create an animation based on an exsiting media, for example music, poem, narrtive. For me I decided to make a music animation.
The music I chose is Carl Orff's O Fortuna, when I heard this music I imagine a wizard or alchemist working in his tower mixing his potions.
Here is the music sorry if the quality is bad.
Orff's O Fortuna(O Fortune)


When I read the translation to this music I could imagine my wizard/alchemist working on a spell in saving his worlds since the music ios about the sorrows and evil in the world. Aleast thats what I think.

Also Phil what is the name of the music you gave me over the summer holidays?
here's the link
soundscape 30

Maya Tutorial part 4: Head Model

Yesterday I have followed the Maya head tutorial to help me sculpt one of my groups characters the Army General. It really help a lot on shaping the basic shape of the head(first image) and improving it. I have also followed the tutorials that shows how to make a nose, eyelid, mouth and hair. I made the mustache and eyebrows by myself. The only only thing left to make is the neck, but other than that I am more or less done on the general's head.

Postmodernism part 10: Shaun of the Dead

The final film we watched for our Postmodernism lecture is Shaun of the Dead(2004)



The film is about the world being infected by Zombies and our hero Shaun has to save the people he cares about and take them to the pub for safety until the whole zombie situation calms down.
This film is considered postmodern for taking a complete twist on the Zombie genre, instead of having cool looking characters we have an average man who works at a electronic shop and his freeloading buddy who's a slob going their way to save the people they care about. The main characters even planned on how the two of them will pull off the big rescue and take everyone to a safe place, but it all blew up in their faces. The people slowly died one by one and they had to destroy the pub which they thought was safe, and all of this happened in one day.
This movie is also a pastiche of classic Zombie horror films by referencing quotes from past Zombie films to how the the Zombies act and how to kill them. However even though there was a lot of chaos in the movie, the main characters still had fun with it, like killing the zombies, running them over to actually acting like them.
Funnily enough this movie is considered a romantic comedy even though there weren't many elements of romance, there were a lot of comedy and horror, I guess you can see Shaun saving his girl friend as part of the romance side but not much.
This movie is a complete parody of Zombie movies and a good one, has all the stuff a parody of the genre would have and much more.

Narrative Lecture part 8: Mars Attacks (1996)

The film we watched for our narrative lecture is Tim Burton's 'Mars Attacks'



The plot of Mars Attack is that Earth is invaded by Martians, who the humans thought were peaceful, but it turns out they want to take over the world.
This film is an adaptation of a card game that was based on the sci-fi films of the 1950's. With crazy over acting people and budget like clothes for the Martians. I believe this film really captured the 1950's feel with it's story and setting but also added some recent technology to it to show that the film your watching is dated but recent at the same time. With the use of camera movement by actually going close to the actors as well as the actions that were taking place in the film. It is also a very daring film by killing off big named actors at the time who you would think that they will survive at the end of the movie. However where it really shines is it's use of CG, the visual effects is stunning. Actually believing that some of the events that happened in the film could be possible, that there could be aliens with big heads, lazer guns that can incinerate people to their bones and giant robots that rampage across the city. Even though the CG at the time was dated it is still impressive and it also help delivering a satisfying 1950's sci-fi film.

Character design part 20: Scenery

For the final lesson of Character design we had to make a scenery based on the theme that was given to us, mine was hazardous forest.
I first made some small rough drafts of my own image of a hazardous forest and then I made bigger versions of them.



The first image is a forest with Ivy's that act like tentacles with a wastlandic appearance. I don't know what I was going for in this picture but I like how it has an uncanny feel of something familiar and unknown at the same time like you are on a different planet.


The second image resembles more of a hunted forest look, I had talk to some of my class mates and they said I should of put more dangerous stuff in it like bear traps, bumps broken logs and such, but I like how unwelcome it looks.

Character Design part 19: Ulysses(Sidekick) Finished Design

Here is the last character Ulysses the sidekick, like the rest of the other characters he has a main outfit and an alternate one.
His alternate outfit is his alien space clothes I think this works for him because it gives him an out-worldly feel.



His main outfit is his Victorian clothes which is meant to help him to be hard find for Mordecai(Villain).


I have made his body construction as well to show the type of shapes used to make him.


Finally I have made all of Ulysses' expression sheets ranging from him being happy to sad to pulling a puppy dog face to get what he wants when Felix(Hero )said no.

Character Design part 18: Mordecai(Villain) Finish Design

Last week I have finished making the final design for my Villain Mordecai.
I wanted to give him a very high sophisticated appearance but still look evil and scary. In his Turnaround sheet I have also made the back of his head without the ponytail to show where all the tubes are connected.


I have made the construction sheet for Mordecai to show the type of shapes used in creating him.


The last sheet I have made is his expression sheet, showing his main expressions he will use most of the time. I am pleased on how his angry and rage expressions came out especially when it changes from sparks flying from the eye to electricity violently moving.

Character Design part 17: Mordecai's Armour Design

The next part I was designing was the rest of my Villain's Armour, the purpose of the armour is to give the villain, Mordecai, an increase to his power. Designing the arms gave me the most trouble because I gave it a lot of detail for a more steampunk appearance by adding bolts, tube, a support to help the Villain to lift his arms, adding a circle in the palm and finger details. It was all worth it in the end though an I think it really brings out a sense of fear or coolness to the armour.
I was also design the power pack which is the main source of the armour's energy, at first I was going to merge it to the armour but I thought that was not interesting so I decided to make it a separate piece of the main armour that just get fitted to the suit and it works.

Postmodernism part 9: Psycho 1998 Remake

The next film we watched for Postmodernism is the 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho staring Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates.



The story is about a murder mystery of Marion Craine, who embezzled the company she was working for and was on the run. The police, a detective and even her sister and Marion's lover is looking for her with the leads pointing towards the Bates Motel as her last known location.

This film is considered postmodern for being a shot by shot remake of the 1960's classic. It had some changes here and there to show times has changed but the majority shots are the same from opening credits to the end. A lot of the public did not like this film because it is a copy of the old film with not many new ideas of its own. However there are many ways to interpret this film, one can see this as tribute to the old film for being true to it's source or a coloured version of the old film. As for me I see it as a true remake for being unoriginal and shouldn't be shunned for that but in fact it should be praised for being a proper remake.

Character Design part 16: Mordecai's(Villain) Equipments part 1

For the past week I was designing my villain Mordecai's equipments. The first image is his eye patch, this was pretty fun because I started with a generic eye patch and develop it further by adding tubes, wires, riverts and screws. The main body of the eye patch is meant to be made out of leather. The final design of my villain's eye patch can be seen at the bottom left corner.



The second image has an example of what my villain looks like with his patch on as well some designs for his helmet of his armour. I wanted to give Mordecai a scary appearance for his armour so when he is in battle he can scare his enemies as well intimidate them. I used insects as a reference for his armour to give Mordecai the extra fear I was going for.


The last image shows Mordecai's final helmet design, some how it resembles the Shredder's helmet from the turtles. I chose this design as his final design for his helmet because to me it carries the bug like feel I needed. I purposely made the left side of his face different because Mordecai's eye patch is big and takes a lot of room on his face so I thought the unevenness on his helmet works well for him.


If Justin is reading this or anyone else please please leave some feedback on Mordecai's final Eye Patch design and Helmet design.

Character Design part 15: Felix(Hero) Finished Design

Here are my final designs for my Hero Felix.
The first image shows how he is constructed, it starts with the guide bones first starting with the circle for the the head then placing the guides and markers for the arms, elbow, legs and knee and finally adding the mass for the amount of thickness for Felix's body. For his shirt there should be six buttons two at the top should be unbutton and the stitching on the right leg of the trouser should be halfway below the knee with four stitching marks.


The second image shows how Felix's head is constructed, starting with a circle then adding the jaw. Then add some guide lines for the face, be sure to polace one guide line near the top of the head since which should then resemble a cross, this will be Felix's third eye. The ear should be place near the eyeline and the nose line. He should have three lines on his head the first line should stop atleast halfway of Felix's right ear while the last two should be short and placed on the his left side. Once the set up is done fill eveything in, the two eye's should be ovals that are slanted the nose should sit near the middle of the two eye's, the third eye can be done by following the cross but don't make it too big or there won't be any room for his eyebrows. His hair should all follow the hair guide lines exept the hair at the bottom of Felix's head, from starting near the head make a zig zag line going downwards ending at the chin, there should be three zig zags. Finally just add some details to him, lines to show his hair, a line for his ear and add some eyebrows, he should have only two of them the third eye dosn't have any.
I have also made some of his facil features to show the type of character he is, I think the represent him quite well.


I have designed his alternate outfit, He should wear this if he is in a hot place or if he is indoors.


Here is Felix main outfit, he wears this most of the time when he is going on his journey with his sidekick, Like mentioned in a past post he lives in the slums so his clothes are quite tattered and I know he can see the future but that does not mean his clothes will be alright.


Please leave feedback.

Character Design part 14

Here are my old designs of my Hero and Villain characters. The reason they are old is because they are just rough drafts of my characters, I even did the characters rough drawing construction guides as well.


I have shown them to Colin and he likes them and he also gave me some tips and incite to make my characters look better. As a bonus he gave me his autograph and drew two characters that my sister likes from one of he favorite films Watership Down, Big Wig and Hazel, if only I remembered that my sister also likes Jessica Rabit I would of asked Colin to make a quick sketch of her.


Finally I have also made the height differences of all three of my characters. To help me with this I made a model so I can roughly figure out where should the head start and the feet ends. The height range goes as followed, the Sidekick is the smallest, the Hero in the middle and the Villain the tallest.