Justin Wyatts after class task

Justin set us an after class task to produce some structure character designs. In class i struggled with characters who had clothes that hide their body shapes. So with these drawings i went back to basics and tried to keep them simple and make sure that i had all of the forms correct.

I still feel that with some practice i can improve greatly, as some of these drawings are still no quite right.

Group Project: High School Revenge

As our trailer is about a horror in a school, i thought about what the school might look like. After completing this image i realised that the school may not look this creepy. However after the main characters terror begins it could possibly leave the school deserted and possibly abandoned.

Maybe when the first scene opens, the camera can pan round looking at the entrance to the school and then closes in on the crowd to the main character.

Character Design With Justin Wyatt: Lesson 3

Today's class covered a wide range of helpful tips to go towards my overall drawing skills. I especially enjoyed gaining Justins experience with regards to the form and shape of my characters.

We were given a choice of famous cartoon characters, and had the task of drawing them in their simplest shapes, without putting in too much detail. The first character i picked was Mr. Incredible. He is a pretty standard, superman type character, however after trying to draw him just on his basic shapes i have realised that getting the basic shapes down for any character is essential.

The first drawing i did was far too quick and i didn't really pay attention to his form or stance, hence why the muscle shapes are in the wrong place and the actual core shapes needed aren't there. The second sketch in my opinion was a lot better, it had all of the key circles and lines, and this helped me to get the body shape a lot more accurate.



The second character i had a go at was Penfold from Dangermouse. Now with this character i had a lot more trouble. I'm not sure if it was due to his clothing, body shape or just his stance. But after both sketches i still felt i could have done better. Especially with his legs, i couldn't get them quite right. However with Justin setting us the task of sketching some structures of our own, im hoping that my drawings will improve.

The Final Script for 'Mythological Arabian Nights'

After speaking with Justin in the third installment of his classes, i have come away knowing the core of my story, all i need to do now is smooth out some of the finer details, which shouldn't be too difficult.

Mythological Arabian Nights

The story follows Nadir, an Arabian thief from the city of Petra. Who has the worst luck in his thieving attempts, until one night he hits the jackpot of finding a hidden passage inside the cities temple. It leads him to a lost city underneath Petra. There he finds a room full of treasure, as he is wading through the gold, jewels and armour, he spots a gleaming bracelet sitting just above the surface of all the gold coins. The bracelet is about the size of his forearm, encrusted with brilliant gems and finished with blinding silver.

As he lifts it up to his face, the light from the passage shines onto the gems and luminates the room, showing all of the wonders. He fills his sack with armour, weapons, coins and jewelry and sneaks back to his slums. There he pulls out the bracelet, his eyes fixated on the amazing object glistening in the light. He unlocks the claps and puts it around his arm, as he closes the lock a bright flash of light fills the area. Standing just before him is a figure dressed in white, unable to see their face as the light is so bright.

The figure tells Nadir that because he is the finder of the bracelet and has put it on, it is he who must embark on a quest to return the bracelet to its true home, at the top of Mount Penglai in China. However he also tells Nadir of the dangers that come with this journey, telling Nadir that Hades himself wants the bracelet, which is Zeus' lost through the war of the God's long ago. If it gets into the hands of Hades, then he could control all of the worlds, above and below.

Before releasing him to the quest he also tells Nadir to go to the top of Tiahuanaco, Bolivia to find his guide, who is an old wise centaur. But when Nadir does get to Bolivia, he finds not such a wise centaur, but an overweight, geriatric lazy one. As they commence the quest over sea, sand, mountain, forest, they are visited by the messenger who they find out is Hermes. Telling them that Hades has sent numerous monsters and beings to stop them and retrieve the bracelet. He also tells them that when worn the bracelet will give Nadir greater size strength and skill, making him almost godlike.

Nadir dressed in his armour found from the treasure along with his centaur guide begin their quest to return the bracelet to the mountains of Penglai.

Sidekick Character Design: First Ideas

The sidekick for 'Mythological Arabian Nights' is going to be a centaur, but with a slightly different look to the ones seen in films and books in the past. Very similar to the sidekick in hercules, he is going to be an overweight slob. Who takes a while to get into the role assigned to him by the gods of being the guide for Nadir.





During the next week i will hopefully have the facial expressions and actual body shape complete. Then i can start with colour schemes and texture.

Villain Character Design: First Ideas

At the moment i have only sketched an idea for one villain. However there are many villains throughout the story, so i am yet to decide fully on which character i want to use. The ideas i have so far are that of a minotaur, cyclops and hades himself. Obviously if its not hades then they are monsters under his command, being evil and wanting to gain the bracelet. The difference between hades and his monsters would be that hades is the one in charge and is the brains, whereas the monsters dont really have much of a brain and only really take orders. So their characteristics would be clumsy, oafish and just cause havoc.

Villain Idea 1



Villain Idea 2

Hero Character Design: First Ideas

The hero for my story is an Arabian thief from Petra. He is fairly muscular, with rags for clothes. He lives in the slums of the city and struggles to ever find anything worth any value. Until he finds the treasure. This forms a change in him. He finds the set of armour and weapons, along with his bracelet. Also when the magical bracelet is worn it increases Nadir's size in muscles and height, along with power and strength.

Name: Nadir
Height Without Bracelet: 5,9
Height With Bracelet: 6,3
Sex: Male
Hair Colour: Black
Weapons: Dagger, Sword, Magical Bracelet
Armour: Wrist, arm and leg guards. Chest Armour
Clothing Before Bracelet: Tatty Harem pants, vest, keffiyeh (head scarf), sandals, cloak
Clothing After Bracelet: Harem pants, leather boots, keffiyeh, long vest, jacket type cloak, armour and weapons.





During the beginning of the story, Nadir is mistrusting and sly and at the same time a bit of a coward. But when he has the bracelet, he builds from strength to strength and fights his way past his cowardliness and weaknesses. He isn't the smartest, but the bracelet gives him the extra pwers of the gods.

Mythological Arabian Nights Story Ideas

Story Idea 1:

When an arabian thief steals treasure from an ancient room in the lost city, he thinks he has hit the jackpot with all the riches he desires. However there is one item in the treasure that is more valuable than the rest. A mystical sword which when held becomes more than just an ordinary sword. As he lifts it into the light he is sent into trance where he is spoken to by a ghostly spirit stating that as he has taken something that does not belong to him, he must return the favor to the Gods by taking a quest where he will come across many obstacles to do their dead of returning the sword to its home, which is high upon a mountain top.

As the young thief goes on his quest he makes the unfortunate acquaintance of an old animal (yet to be decided) who does not shut up and just gets in the way. But they somehow form a great friendship. As the two of the carry on the quest across land and sea, the thief gets premonitions of what will happen on the journey had as well as being visited by the ghostly figure in his mind.

Along with his new companion the thief also discovers the sword has given him godlike powers and fighting skills. As the story unravels the audience learn more information behind the swords mystical powers.

Story Idea 2:

On a cold arabian night the king's soldiers have just arrived back from their last attack on a neighboring kingdom where they also retrieved all of its ancient treasure. As the King inspects their findings he comes across a golden shawl, as he examines it, it comes alive and wraps itself around him, pushing deep into his skin and killing him. As the head soldier stands over his body with bewilderment along with the other soldiers and elderly's, the kingdoms sorcerer steps forward claiming that the garment has been cursed.

With this news the soldiers then depart back to their newly controlled city. When they arrive they come across celebration in the streets leading up to the palace. As they confusingly enter into the palace, they head straight for the prince and his advisors to demand an answer of what seems to be the murder of their king.

However it is not the city that have killed the king but in fact its a Gods curse put upon whoever owns the garment. As the prince explains that their curse has been lifted and passed over to them, he states that they must travel far and wide to return the cloth to its home. But the Gods do not want this as they will no longer have any control. So during the quest they will come across all sorts of monsters and dangers.

The head soldier takes up the challenge along with his trusty sidekick. Fighting their way to the garments home.

Character Design For Group Project: High School Revenge

After the first meetings of the group, we have got a firm idea of where we are at and where we should be. The drawings below are just a beginning idea of what the main character from our project should look like, pretty evil looking, slightly disturbed. However at the start of the story i think she may want to look a little less spooky, but still creepy. Just a lot more innocent.

As you can see from my inspiration sheets there are hints from such characters as the one from 'The Ring' and 'Children of the Corn'. The details such as the girl having an overlly large jumper that is a little torn and chewed at the cuffs, possibly knee high sicks, along with dead straight hair.

Mythological Arabian Nights Research

Having had a few basic story ideas down before the second character design lesson with Justin, he really gave me that extra push towards where i should focus the story on and where i could take influences from. With that in mind, i have widened my research as well as get a firm foot holding with the core of the story.

Influence Map for Hero

Influence Map for Sidekicks

Influence Map for Villain



Influence Map for Sidekick



Influence Map for Environment

Character Design With Justin Wyatt: Lesson 2

During todays lesson with Justin we learnt the importance of using character structures, they are useful if anyone is to duplicate the charcter. For example triangles are a shape associated with villains, the reason being that in our minds anything with a point is seen as a threat, so automatically we look at a character such as Jafar from Aladdin and know he is evil.

Also we looked at how to draw in different styles, so in my case i was given bugs bunny and the incredible hulk. Turning the hulk fat and trying to change the style of bugs.

The Incredible Hulk Fat



Bugs Bunny Restyled 1



Bugs Bunny Restyled 2



Bugs Bunny Restyled 3

Postmodernism Lecture 2: Inception

Inception is a thoroughly enjoyable film, even if it does make your head feel like its about to burst at the end. Because the audience is so taken up in a film, when one comes along that really makes you think about your own reality, you know the film is a winner.

What tags this film under the postmodernism sublime, work that breaks the fourth wall and just for a moment makes you think and ask questions. The film has many thrills and action scenes, but at the same time everything about it is trying to make you believe this is reality and it could happen.

Mythic Arabian Nights

From the cards that Justin picked, i have Mythic Arabian Nights. This will be hard but with a decent amount of research i will be able to quickly get a footing on where i want to go with this project. Hopefully in a weeks time i will have a strong story to base my characters on.

I have done some preliminary research but will use influence maps in the next week to get a stronger idea of where i want to go with this.

Arabian Mythology: This is the ancient, pre-islamic beliefs of the Arabs. Prior to Islam the Kabba of Mecca (cuboid shape in Mecca) was covered in symbols representing the myriad demons, djnn (supernatural creatures), demigods, or simply tribal gods and other assorted deities which represented the polytheistic culture of pre-islamic Arabia.

The Three Goddesses Of Arabia: Allat, Al-Uzza, Manat

High School Revenge Synopsis (Group Project)

At todays meeting we have decided to both attempt a rough synopsis of the show. Now we haven't got any concrete ideas down yet, but hopefully both doing this, we will be able to put the two together and pick out the better parts from each.

High School Revenge Synopsis (1st Draft)

Ever thought the girl at the back of class, that nobody notices could be leading a double life? Well for Stacey Long this was all about to happen.

The shy, quiet, clumsy girl of Westhill High School was the brunt of many pranks and jokes from Jake Dunham (The school bully) and his gang, often humiliating her in front of the whole school. That was all about to change, after that fateful night of 14th October 1948.

Because from then on Stacey was no longer the same helpless, innocent troubled teenager at the back of the class. After four days of absence she returns to school, this time looking a lot stranger and with a very odd washed over look in her eyes. This time when the bullies go to work on her, strange and terrible things start to happen. Starting with one of Jakes cronies jumping in front of a school bus.

At first people assume it to be an accident, but these so called accidents become more frequent. Leading to Jimmy Brian the school newspaper editor investigating the deaths, where he eventually stumbles across Staceys secret!

As more and more deaths occur Jimmy looks to the help of Professor Donald to stop Staceys rampage. After the two men capture Stacey a fight pursues leading to the death of Donald. With Jimmy left can he find a way to stop Stacey?

Influence Maps For Freemind

So after todays meeting which went very well, we have managed a good brainstorming session in regards to the main ideas surrounding the project. Below are three inspiration sheets that i think will help us narrow down our ideas. Along with Daves sheets i think it will be even better to wittle down the main facts about the story.

Inspiration Sheet 1:


Inspiration Sheet 2:


Inspiration Sheet 3:

Narrative film 1: Ed Wood (1994)

Ed Wood is the work of Tim Burton paying tribute to another Hollywood legend, albeit a slightly less successful one. The film follows Wood (played by Johnny Depp) through his struggles of making terrible film after terrible film, trying to break that duct and produce a classic. However the film actually focuses on Wood's friendship with the king of horror Bela Lugosi (Martin Landua), who he tries to help make a comeback.

After watching this film, i looked back to see what Lugosi's acting was like, and the acting Landua did for this role was spectacular, making it that more of a believable showing. What i enjoyed about the film was how even though it was an up to date take on the lives of these people, it still gave you that feeling that you may well have been watching one of Wood's own films, at the same time holding a strong artistic composition on screen. One scene in particular stands out for this, when Lugosi spends the night of detox in rehab.

Ed Wood is unlike any other films i have seen before, it had everything from laugh out loud moments to tragic and frightening making it such a unique spectacle. Also in many ways it is a tribute to the love of movies, whether they are good, bad or utterly horrific.

Postmodernism Lecture 1: Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)

Having watched Kill Bill many times and been a big fan of Tarantino for a long while now and have come to understand how he works and where he takes his inspiration from. With Kill Bill for example you can clearly see the use of the old martial arts films of the 70's where there was lots of blood and limbs going missing. Also spaghetti westerns are another big influence on Tarantino's work, which can also be seen in Kill Bill.

The great thing about his films is that he can take complete different genres, mix them together and make something completely new and fresh that he can call his own. With many of his films he fills them with so many exaggerated stereotypes making that much more a great piece of film making.

Character Design with Justin Wyatt: Lesson 1

Today we were introduced to Justin and given the names of our show is going to be. The characters i will have to design will have to come from 'Mythological Arabian Nights'. Having already done much of this project i know that it is a lot of work, but all of Justin's advice is crucial to the success of this project. His vast experience and knowledge of character design is amazing and i will try to take in as much as i can.

During the class we were asked to produce characters from two sets of words, the two words Justin pulled out for me was Geriatric Ninja. At first i struggled with this, but after some advice from Justin i managed to produce much stronger drawings. Unfortunately i couldn't scan my first drawings so i can only show the outcome after Justin's advice.

Top 10 High School Horror Movies

So after receiving our brief and the name of our movie. I have taken the time to look for any high school horrors that offer similarities to what our group are looking into producing. These are the top 10 high school horror trailers in my personal opinion.

10: The Faculty (1998) - Directed by Robert Rodriguez, this high school horror follows a group of students who believe that their teachers are aliens and that they are intent on making the students their victims. Starring Elijah Wood and Josh Hartnett.



9: Disturbing Behaviour (1998) (Dir. David Nutter)



8: Zombie High (1987) (Dir. Ron Link) - A teenage girl gains a scholarship to an all-male boarding school, but soon discovers that her fellow classmates are becoming personality-less drones. As she investigates the school, she discovers the faculty may be experimenting on students



7: Sorority Row (2009) (Dir. Stewart Hendler)



6: Urban Legend (1998) (Dir. Jamie Blanks)



5: Battle Royale (2000) (Dir. Kinji Fukasaku) - This isn't really your usual high school horror, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act. So slightly a bit more farfetched, it still has a lot of relevance to our group project.



4: Prom Night (2008) (Nelson McCormick)

tormented

3: Return To Horror High (1987) (Bill Froehlich)



2: Tormented (2009) (Dir. Jon Wright) - A bullied teenager returns from the dead to kill all who drove him to suicide. I personally like this idea and hopefully we could use some of the ideas in our own project.



1: Scream (1996) ( Wes Craven) - One of the most significant horror films to date, Ghostface terrorizes a school and with the bodycount rising, one student and her friends find themselves contemplating the rules of horror films as they find themselves in a real horror film of their own. Not only will this film contribute towards our group work, but also for the study of postmodernism.

Back To Uni: Retrofest brief

Today was the first day back to university, commencing my second year on the course... The first unit is the group project where we have to produce a movie trailer for the Retrofest.. I'm looking forward to getting started on this already and have many ideas to share with the group..



The group consisting of myself David and Chris have been given the task of producing a trailer from the title 'High School Revenge' . After a short meeting after the brief to set up the group blog and discuss some of our ideas, i am feeling confident that we wont take too long in deciding the story lines and background to the trailer.

This evening will be fully focused on research around high school horrors and other similar topics, as well as brainstorming ideas for the studio ident and name.