Typography Update

The original idea that I had for the typography project turned out to be pretty impossible given my skill limitation and the fact that what I had envisioned required completely different software. My new idea deals with my characters of Fontland. I am still trying to decide where the story goes beyond the introduction of the hero of the piece and his love. The are so many places I want to take the characters. One scenario is of the hero's girlfriend being stolen away by the fontmonster, a despicable character that spews out fiery breaths of hated fonts. So far, my approach is simple and I am liking the results as I progress. What I am trying to primarily accomplish is to give personality to extremely simplistic characters since I usually go about creating complex pieces. Hopefully I get this done with great success.

Typogyaphy Project Idea

The idea of my next project is relatively simple in conception. I want to do something more abstracted with my next project. My idea consists starts with texts falling in a black void. The text would resemble water droplets as they create ripples in the void, which are made up of glowing letters. These glowing letters will begin to cluster and rise, eventually exploding. This idea may require me to use the 3d tool in after effects. So depending on the level of difficulty this project may present, it may be subject to change.

Video Examples

I have been hit with the realization that the lot of typography work that I have seen so far is very literal/commercial and have very little to do with my idea. But I did find this one. Here, it shows what I want to do with camera work. This is what the 3d tool may come in.

Midterm Afterthought

Well, I am going to be honest. I did not enjoy this project at all. I was once excited about bringing this vision I had to fruition, and putting it in my portfolio as a piece that I was proud of. Unfortunately as time went on, I began to lose all passion for it. Not only did I have to make massive compromises to my story but I had to rush it just to meet an extremely short deadline. I have no problem at all with compromises but I have a MAJOR problem with doing rush jobs. I guess part of the blame falls on me for thinking that I would have time to do a full length narrative. Had I known that I was on such limited time then I would not have invested all that I did into this particular story. I have no desire at all to revisit this project but I will try to press on to get a decent grade, finished or not. All I can do with this midterm project is take it as a lesson learned and try not a make a project that cannot be finished and of desired quality.

Midterm Update

Midterm Development

Theme and Story

The theme that of my project is technology's negative affect on man. My story draws parallels with the philosophy of Primitivism, the belief that with technology came the loss of mankind's humanity. Though the ability to advance is one of our greatest strengths, it is also has the potential to being the key to our downfall. As with the Romans and the Babylonians, I want to tell the tale of man's great folly when given the gift progression.

The story start with a colossal vessel soaring hauntingly in the sky. The brilliance of this craft lies with its creators, a highly intelligent civilization that inhabits it. This was society of luxurious, peaceful beings that managed

to bring about incredible technological advancements. The flying craft happens upon a city populated by individuals of seemingly lesser intelligence than they. The beings become intrigued by what they see and desire to know more. So, they charge an adventurous individual known as the Traveler with the task of exploring the land of the Primitives. What he finds made a shocking impression on him. This is a society of great builders. But unlike the Traveler’s people, the primitives functions do not go beyond the necessity of survival. They are living in very harsh environments where the air is filthy and water is scarce. After seeing enough, he decides to make his way back to his home. He brings news to people about what he saw. Feeling sympathy for the primitives, the beings decide to share some of their technological secrets with the hard-lucked people. The Traveler makes his way back to the darken city and share with it people the means by which they can advance. Looking down from their great metropolis, the Traveler and his people observe as the primitive begin to make great strides of progression in their society. Everything was improving for the people. No longer did they have to suffer the conditions nature burdened them with. But as time goes on, the once primitive civilization start to exhibit radical changes in personality. More ambitious they became, more greedy and arrogant. Eventually they set their sights on the beings that gave them to key to advancement. Before the gentile beings in the sky know it, they are attacked by the once docile primitives. Angered by the destruction of their city, the beings strips away all power from the primitives. Every and all things that made up the primitives' utopian society were taken away forever.

Character Breakdowns

“They who touch the heavens”

• Advanced civilization that is of supreme intellect
• Origins are unknown
• Are a tranquil and humble society of technologically advanced beings
• Believe in the potential of all sentient life forms
• Like to observe other life without interfering with the natural course of things

“The Traveler”

• Is part of advanced civilization
• Very intrigued by the unknown
• Is a great inventor
• Likes to explore existence beyond the boundaries of his home
• Feels it is the purpose of his people to enlighten and aid in the progression of lesser life forms
• Greatly enjoys the luxury of his home but likes to take part in culture of other civilizations

“The Primitives”

• Lesser advanced society
• Have great ingenuity
• Are hard workers who struggle to survive
• Is oblivious to what exists beyond them
• More withdrawn socially
• Are very docile, most likely due to their condition

Outline

Act I (setup)

The setting is introduced (highly advanced technological city in the sky).

The Traveler is seen looking down upon a ruined civilization. He has been charged with the task to explore this world by the council of his people.

He travels to the city. He finds a mass population that seems to be keeping themselves from extinction with backbreaking labor. The Traveler takes notice of the extremely poor conditions of the environment and reports back to his home. After giving the news of what he saw to the counsel, his is told to give the people some of the secrets to their technology.

Act II (confrontation)

After receiving the secrets to advance technology, the primitive civilization begin to progress. After a while, they are all living a more luxurious life. The primitives start to grow arrogance at their achievements and are no longer content with living in the shadow of the people in the sky. After building ships and weaponry, they stage an all-out war on the people in the sky.

Act III

The primitives cause great destruction to their would be saviors, in an attempt to overthrow them. Angered by the audacity of the primitive, the gentile beings take away the gift of their people. All the technology that helped the primitives flourish has been stripped away. The advance civilization in the sky turn their backs on the primitives and set course for a new destination

Storyboards

Midterm Project

For my midterm, I decided to tell a story that revolves around my prevailing interests in the class so far. Most of my research dealt with much of sci-fi and mythological lore. I have always been a huge fan of both genres of fantasy and aim to create a story that involves and/or is inspired by classical mythology and science fiction films. The story revolves around the hero who is loosely based off of Hermes. Hermes was known as the fleet-footed and mischievous god of Greek mythology. Mostly seen as a messenger, Hermes was given the ability to travel places freely that would be otherwise problematic or fatal to anyone else. The main character is seen in the middle of an invasion. As the invading fleet makes its way through the city, the hero takes it upon himself to protect his people by attempting to defeat them using deceit.

For the look of my animation, I want it to have an art deco feel. Much of the sci-fi elements are going to be reminiscent of old 30's and 40's science fiction movies. The story itself should not be no more than 3 minutes as the story would already taking place near the climax. Also, I think that most of what I am trying to achieve will be done majorly on the 2d place as done in my exercised throughout the semester.

Proposal

My proposal for the semester is to create a fast-paced narrative. The concept that I thought of dealt with the character that I had built earlier in the year. This character will find himself in the middle of a war in which he has to try and put an end to. Though his purpose in the war is liable to change, the main aspect of his character is to show the viewer the intensity of battle from his perspective. My idea was inspired by greek mythology's own god, Hermes. His character was one of harmless, mischief and great speed. I was always interested in combining sci fi with mythology in some form or fashion. So, my concept this semester is going to serve as possibly a small introduction to a bigger story

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