Interest Meeting- Friday February 19

Story Notes/ Suggestions

Some notes from Nick Allred on the story:

Opening shot:
Another possible opening shot could be Cam tightening his instrument, adjusting his accordian.. This would be before the track starts, to ease into the story and also because at this point he's sitting. The characters are making music because they are strongly motivated to- they would probably not be sitting for the entire song. Also, if they stand, it adds to the action/tenseness of the quick cuts that will be used. The characters are not bored. Sitting lowers activity....
Would Cameron be sitting- if he's doing what he thinks he's made to do? Probably not.

How to introduce Boiko:
Boiko could come from a doorway somewhere, maybe a curtain draped archway or something, pulling a big box behind him. That is when he hears the thunder and turns around looking worried.

First raindrops:
We need to be able to see the first raindrops very clearly when they fall. Where do they hit and how do they work in the composition? Maybe the rain could hit a character on the head.

Boiko's actions:
Boiko is playing a brass instrument. But what about his body language and acting is telling us that he's nervous about the rainstorm? He suggested that Boiko could be inching towards shelter under an awning in the background

Cameron's actions:
Should Cameron be dancing around the middle of the song and before Dalia comes out? He's enjoying what he's doing...

Dalia's entrance:
How does Dalia come in? Does she stand there and look at the scene before she comes in, or does she run up to Cam, nearly crashing into him.

Now would be the part for the spinny set tricks. (See Tais toi Mon Coeur- very last shots)

A cat!:
Cats are neat! After the rain starts(and while they are appreciating what they just did) , maybe a cat jumps down and Dalia bends down to pet it. It's a scraggily wet gypsy cat of course.



Character faces-
We were talking about the porous (blistery looking) foam skin textures that most SCAD stop motion films have. Perhaps I should consider asking Andy or Nate or Janelle to model the faces in Maya and then rapid prototype replacement faces. I don't think we'd need a whole lot.....



Layout:

He scribbled out an idea for the last shot- it's completely different than the layout I was thinking of. (which is good because now we're bouncing new ideas around) I am posting it out of silliness and not wanting to lose it in all of my yucky file disorganization in my Concept class folder.

Animation Inspiration

Is this kind of smoothness (in animation and in the characters' skin textures) possible in Senior Thesis animation? Or is it only the product of funds and research from studios buying expensive armatures and better skin molds? I am hoping to have this quality (or as close to it as possible)of animation, textures, sets and clothing.



Check out the environment when they're in the street. Specifically the second clip at the 1 minute mark.









These sets are really cool, and so is the idea.. but I'm not fond of the puppets. at. all...
How did they get such smooth camera movements? Does anybody know??!!




This deserves to be looked at.. if only for the animation. It has nothing to do with gypsyfilm.



This is well done- the character animation is very good.

Referencing Jewels!

Great accordian reference!





Attitude reference! See 00:43, the bearded guy






More reference of their timing and attitudes-
-look at how they feed off of each other starting at 1:20
-also, around 1:39 watch the trumpet player breathing, he is pushing all of his air into it and his entire body has to recover when he takes in air.
2:09- check out his change of expression, very nice







With this next one-see 0:47. These references are great these clips that (1. The songs directly match the one we are using- expressions before a chorus or a big intake of air are consistent, and (2. Getting movement ideas from these shows can help us from being cliche. Their movements are very spur of the moment and unplanned. Whether or not they are perfect notes on stage, their attitudes are of performers, not storyboarded and pre-planned animated "cariacatures"- which are often so stereotyped or exaggerated that they lack a thought process.






This is interesting:





And another:





Lastly, this one has nothing to do with reference, it's just a really great cover of Mount Wroclai:

On making music...

"Mostly, no matter how inadequate my playing, the music is all that matters: I am outside time, outside self, in play, in joy. When we can play with the unself-conscious concentration of a child, this is: art: prayer: love."
- Madeleine L'Engle, A Circle of Quiet