Semester 2 - Victory

Planning

 As soon as I was given the brief for this project, I set about planning my workload for each week. I left every week quite rough so I would have some flexibility.

Unfortunately, I lagged behind with the planning and research stage, so my work suffered because of this.

During a mentor meeting, my mentor suggested I research not only pictures of the time period, but contextual research as well - how theatrical projection had been done before for different projects.

Moodboards 

 For my research into the two scenes I was allocated, I put together these moodboards. The images were collected from the internet, and helped give me a feel for each scene.

I was also lucky enough to be given the opportunity to participate in a trip to Glamis Castle purely for research reasons. I spent my time taking photographs and learning about the time period that the play is set in so that my project would be believable for the audience.

Contextual Research

As I had no previous experience in working with projection for theatre, I researched other, similar projects, such as the stage production of Warhorse. I also looked at a previous production that the college had put on: For A Second I Stood. 

Concept Sketches

Early on in our development of ideas, the actors invited us to their workspace so we could view their performance so far. I managed to take notes for Scene 2, Bradshaw's House, one of the scenes I had been given.

During a meeting between our Animation class and the actors who were performing in the production, I recieved many positive comments about my concepts for the two scenes I was working on. I would have preferred some more constructive criticism and maybe even some ideas from the actors themselves, but it was very encouraging to hear that they enjoyed my work.

Viewport References

 

.

Thumbnails and Storyboards

Transition Animatics

 Development 

The development stage has been filled with problems and challenges. I have communicated well with my classmates to create my scenes and solve issues that came up. For example, I created a stained glass window for scene 2, whilst David worked on the fireplace. The same window was needed for the transition from scene 1 to scene 2, so I then made my file available on the class dropbox for easy access. 

 

An early version of Scene 3 - the boards would eventually be cut from the final model, and a painting would hang on the back wall. I originally experimented with making each wall a specific shape to achieve the illusion of depth, but soon found the FFD2x2x2 modifier, which made it a lot easier to scale everything to achieve my vision.

The transition present in the animatics is not the same as the final transition, which has been the biggest challenge in my project. At first, I misread the brief, believing that the floorboards simply needed to obscure the scene. I made it some way into development of my transition on 3DS Max (pictured above) before I reread the brief and realised the floorboards had to snake into the walls.

Eventually, the new transition I had created, with the floorboards doing their snake-like movement, ended up causing me a great deal of stress since no matter what I tried, they wouldn't start at their original places when it came to animating. After a discussion with my mentor, we agreed to change the brief to fit whatever transition I came up with next. I was allowed a few hours for coming up with some other ideas, and eventually settled upon a transition that made the scene appear to be manipulated by stagehands. This is what appears in the final render.

Working with 3DS Max has also provided its fair share of challenges to overcome. Whilst working on this project, I have learned how to use certain modifiers within the program to help create effects quickly and with as little hassle as possible. I have expanded upon my previous knowledge of the program and experimented with a handful of features - most of which have been beneficial even if they haven't made it into the final result.

 Final Renders

 

Scene 2 - Bradshaw's House

My work: Walls, Window, Lighting, Window texture, Wall texture, Ceiling and ceiling texture.

This scene was a collaboration of 3 students: myself, David and Ross. David created the fireplace with the shelves and their objects, whilst Ross made the floorboards.

 Scene 3 - King's Chamber

Everything pictured in this scene is my work.

 

The final transition - Scene 2 to Scene 3

Bottom screen above, Back screen below