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.

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

Building Tension

I found an article about the Action Sequences of Bolt. The section on the Quick Cut Mini-Montage especially applies to Band of Gypsies because we've got a story that would benefit from as much tension as we can fit in between 1:04 and 1:35.




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Here's a clip from The Incredibles




And here's a Britney Spears perfume commercial





In both of these clips there are calm, long camera moves (putting the viewer at "rest"- I think it's a false calm, but that's only because of the track paired with it) and a climax- where the audience is bombarded with images quickly and one after another, followed by a release. I am hoping to incorporate this into Band of Gypsies during the climax when Dalia comes out with the tambourine. I've made a quick list of cuts we can make for this montage:
-ECU's (extreme close-ups) of the characters eyes
-ECU of Dalia's tambourine
-Clouds moving maniacally (!) (How the heck are we going to do this in Maya..)
- Street singers with very open mouths. Think carolers. Rain dripping in front/behind them
-Feet tapping on ground surrounded by puddles
-flickering lights
-water streaming down side of something (brass instrument?)
-lightning


I want this to be a time where our audience is holding their breath!!

Any comments, suggestions? Add some cuts to the list if you can think of any. Thanks!

Story Thoughts

I've been working on a very rough (very ugly) initial animatic to work out the timing and here are some notes I've been making:

Transitions from one shot to another:
1. How to introduce characters (other than Cameron who is introduced right off)
-The big guy may walk into the courtyard from a doorway or he may already be sitting there. Is he on a chair or the ground? What is his attitude?
-The singers on the street: were they just standing around already or do they appear first when they begin to sing "Ohhhhhh"
2. The sheet music. We are totally going to run with Tyler's suggestion on this one.
But how will we introduce the sheet music before cutting to a whole frame of lined music flying by? Should it be on a stand in front of the musicians or should we have an OTS (Over the shoulder) shot and zoom it in. I don't want the audience to say, "What? Where did that come from?!", so we may have to subtly introduce it in the first establishing shot. Just how, I am not sure.

The Ticking Bomb

WHAT DRIVES THIS STORY ???
The Gypsies' goal is to finish the song before the rain begins to pour. They need to finish the song before their sheet music gets drenched. Finishing their song is imperative!
They don't care about getting wet. These gypsies are dedicated artists and creators (the big guy is questionable) Think of the musicians who continued to play their music on board the Titanic as it was sinking.
That leads me to these questions:

- What will happen if they don't finish the song in time?
- What happens if they do?
- How does rain prevent them from finishing? Is the ink melting down the page and becoming unreadable? (Is that even possible in 3d?!) (Can we cheat it with different sheet music textures or black smudgy fingers?)
- How does the sheet music determine how much time is left? How can we use the sheet music as if it were a clock counting down how many seconds we have left? (Yes, I'm thinking about High School Musical. Don't judge.) We should think of the sheet music as if it were a character as well.