Project 8: Preproduction

Class Meetings and Due Dates:

Project Assignment: December 1, 11:30am

Review of Schedule/First Draft: December 6

Interim Class Review: December 8, 11:30am

Final Project Due: December 9, at 10:30am

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 two groups. Each person in the class has been assigned to a project to support our story. 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, the current 7 steps, the armature, and stand in models -- 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.


Two Groups

We have divided the production groups into two 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 2nd.

Use our story packet as reference while you work.

Armature

What we think is right may be wrong for others.

Story Seven Steps

  1. Once upon a time there was a headstrong little girl who would imagine herself as a superhero and the toys as villains and a shy little boy who kept to himself in a daycare.
  2. And every day the girl would go around the daycare, defeating and capturing the toys she imagined as villains.
  3. Until one day the last villain left was a toy the shy boy was playing with.
  4. And because of this the girl feels that she has to protect the boy by capturing the last villainous toy.
  5. And because of this the boy is shocked and distressed and sad, having nothing left to play with.
  6. Until the girl sees that what she thinks will liberate the boy is actually hurting him because her imagination is different from reality so she releases his toy and all of the rest of the toys so show the boy that she’s sorry.
  7. And ever since that day the boy and the girl played happily together.

Story Suggestions: You must do what you've been assigned to first. We will entertain story suggestions when we see the completed version of our story reel.


Student Producer Group

The student producer group will be creating our shot list, sequence names, beatsheet, story bible, story story reel, facial expressions reel, and finding reference for our characters based on their adjectives and animals. The Story Bible should include: a title, a student contact information list, a beatsheet, sequence names, shot numbers, and character references. Use previous years story bibles as reference.The following people have been assigned to these tasks.

Assisting Staff: Barbara, Ezzy

Student Assignments

Natalie: Story Bible, Story Story Reel

Duncan: Story Bible, Story Story Reel

Bindita: Facial Expressions Reel


DUE FRIDAY 12/2:

Shot List, Sequences: A complete shot list, including sequence names and shot numbers (to be given to animatic group).

Beatsheet: A first pass at a complete beatsheet.

DUE TUESDAY 12/6:

Reference: Reference for each character based on their adjectives and animals.

DUE THURSDAY 12/8:

Story Story Reel: First pass at the story story reel.

Story Bible: First pass at a completed story bible.

Facial Expressions Reel: First pass at a completed facial expressions reel.


Animatic Group

This group will be completing the 3D animatic based on the storyreel provided to them. How we make the animatic succeed in proving your armature: strengthening the ending, exaggeration, and clarifying the girl's character arc. Below are the specific assignments for this group.

Assisting Staff:

Erin (modeling for layout)

Xavier (motion)

Jenna (editing)

Kevin (layout)

Brian (layout)

Andrew (story story reel)


Initial Asset List:

Little Girl

Little Boy

Wheelchair

Stuffed Toy

Stuffed Snake

Bulletin Board

Basket

Set (walls, floor, ceiling)


Group 1 (Sequence 1, Andrew)

Group 2(Sequence 2, Kevin)

Group 3 (Sequence 3, Jenna)

Group 4 (Sequence 4, Brian)

Group 5 (Sequence 5, Xavier)


DUE TUESDAY 12/6:

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: Make sure there is a playblast for each shot, no matter how simple, for the editors to work with.

Fantasy Visualization: We will review any ideas for how to represent the difference between fantasy and reality in the animatic.

Reality and Fantasy Transitions: We will review any ideas for how to represent the transition between reality and fantasy.

DUE THURSDAY 12/8:

Animatic: All teams work together to address feedback and produce a revised version of the animatic.