Project 8: Preproduction

Class Meetings and Due Dates:

Project Assignment: December 3, 11:30am

Review of Schedule/First Draft: December 4

Interim Class Review: December 8, 11:30am

Final Project Due: December 10, at midnight

Description:

For your final assignment in cse458 you will be working on the pre-production for your film! You will have only one week to work on the final project so use your time wisely and coordinate efficiently with the other members of the class. The class has been divided into three groups. Each person in the class has been assigned to a project to support our story. Two staff members have been assigned to each project and they have the expertise to help you through so contact them in a pinch. They are happy to help you. They will provide you with the overall production steps that you’ll need to follow in order to be prepared for check in meetings and your final turn in.

The whole class will be provided with a few preliminary production tools at the outset. You will have a storyreel/animatic, the current 7 steps and beatsheet, the armature, block models and stand in models and the current character design -- all of these will serve as a “jumping off point” from which you will be asked to visualize what you are given and in many cases improve on what you are given. All of the character models are preliminary models and are stand-ins for the final versions of the models you will be using in your completed film.

Three Groups

We have divided the production groups into three sections. Each group should communicate with the others but the pipeline and work completed should be independent of the others. Don’t wait for anyone to complete their work for you to continue the work on your own. Be proactive and move ahead. Your deadline won’t allow for any delay. We would like to see a calendar of what you plan to accomplish, a contract stating your intent to finish this work, a statement about how you plan to approach this assignment, and a preliminary first draft of what will be completed next week on Friday, December 4th.

Use our armature and beatsheet as reference while you work.

Story Group

The story group will be creating our Story Bible, our Acting Reel, and pursuing visual story alternative solutions to what exists in your current story animatic. The following people have been assigned to these tasks.

Acting Reel

Staff: Mikey, Theo

Students: Owen, Kyung, Niki

Story Bible, Beatsheet

Staff: Ashley, Ezzy

Students: Quinn, Mara

Alternative Storyboards

Staff: Ezzy, Ben

Students: Kristina, Valerie

Here’s a list of the story issues that we want you to consider:

• How do you show the passage of time across Act 2?
• How do we build the relationship of Grace and Noodle, so that it starts out with the two of them loving and bonded, but transitions to becoming too dangerous for Grace to handle resulting in Grace’s realization that the Otter is now in the wrong place and needs to be freed?
• How do you show/visualize/build the suspense of Grace letting go of Noodle (our otter)?
• How can we actually show Grace in pain, visually?
• How do we represent the critical juncture where it is clear that Noodle is in danger? How do we show that Noodle is not in the right place?
• What is the role of the photo?
• How do we best show the ending so that there’s a bittersweet moment between Grace and the Otter – have we given it enough time?
• Have we most convincingly connected the ending to the armature?
• How can we show that the goodbye is restoring the natural order of things, and that Grace has evolved emotionally and is able to move on, having resolved her feelings of abandonment?
• Have we provided enough time to the audience for them to understand that Grace needs to encourage the otter go back into the world and will miss the otter so there’s a loss and a gain?
• Have we most effectively shown Grace dancing in a bittersweet way, after encouraging the otter to leave?
• What gags can be added or what gags can be enhanced or replaced with better ones that will serve to enhance the entertainment value and provide a better sense of the bonding between Grace and the otter?
• How you can connect baby otter to grown otter seamlessly while supporting our story?

DUE TUESDAY 12/8:

Acting Reel: First pass at the acting reel

Story Bible, Beatsheet: First pass at a revised beatsheet and a story bible

Alternative Storyboards: First pass at addressing the story issues listed above in alternative storyboards

Animatic Group

This group will be completing the 3D animatic based on the storyreel provided to them. Below are the specific assignments for this group.

Editing

Staff: Jenna, Mikey, Theo

Students: Jenn (Backup: Xavier)

Layout & Props

Staff: Ben, Amanda, Erin, Robert

Students: Robin, Xavier

Motion

Staff: Robert, Erin, Ashley

Students: Ting, Brian, Kevin, Cheryl, Gloria

DUE TUESDAY 12/8:

Editing: Work with the Story Bible team and the rest of the Animatic team to put together a preliminary edit of the animatic

Layout & Props: First pass at a 3D set and simple props, Set up file hierarchies for each shot

Motion: Create simple blocked poses for stand-in characters in each shot, make sure there is a playblast for each shot, no matter how simple, for the editors to work with

Research and Development Group

The research and development group will pursue the look and feel of the film and pursue technical tests so that we can move ahead on the style of our film. They will be working on several reference reels and use the current pre-production tools as reference with the mission of improving the quality of the film as we move forward. They will provide the results of their experimental approach.

Style Reel

Staff: Amanda, Ezzy, Andrew

Student: Nick

Visual Effects Reference Reel

Staff: Ben, Jenna

Student: Jes

Effects Tech Tests

Staff: Ashley, Theo, Robert

Fur: Jes

Stuck in Net: Corie

Lighting Reference Reel/Color Scripts

Staff: Amanda, Andrew

Student: Jade, Paripa

Mood Reel

Staff: Ezzy, Erin, Mikey

Student: Jenny, Migley

DUE TUESDAY 12/8:

Style Reel: First pass at a style reel

Visual Effects Reference Reel: First pass at a visual effects reference reel

Effects Tech Tests: Preliminary tests for each effects challenge

Lighting Reference Reel/Color Scripts: First pass at a lighting reel and color scripts

Mood Reel: First pass at a mood reel