Concept Develpoment Log For Honours Project - Concept Art & Sketches

First attempt with colour: Painted over a photograph in Photoshop to create a street in the morning, sun had just risen, giving a slight orange to the ground and buildings. Rays of lights shining through building on the left and background buildings. Could be better - right side of image should be a bit darker, red traffic light could have rays coming from it and background buildings should be darker to create more of a silhouette with them.

Sketch of the corner of my room to practice to plan with lighting an indoor scene and using different materials in maya.

 Small spider diagram of idea's i had for the final project and what to create, thinking about the story and the visuals. Idea's came from watching films, looking at the environments and also an event that recently happened in Carnoustie, a fire which burnt down three shops. The real street told the story of what happened which gave m the idea to do a street scene. 

Damaged shop for run down / destroyed street/town

Another broken into shop, item used to break in still on ground, smashed window and door. shop has an alarm. 

Derelict building, broken windows, tiles missing from roof, windows boarded up, cracked windows. Do not enter sign, fenced off indicates it is dangerous. No life here. Abandoned or vandalized. 

Old house, no ones lives here, smashed and cracked windows, weeds growing out the gutter, building been shot at, slates falling off roof, ladder left on roof, plants growing out the wall, bricks missing

Old factory, dirty walls, no windows, weeds growing out roof 

Some idea's for windows in the buildings

Sketch of a big house, wealthier family would live here, balcony and big rooms

New blocks of flats, modern shape to them, balconies, big glass windows, kept clean. Young people, working people would live here. 

Building ideas for run down environment, graffiti, slates missing from roof, windows smashed or boarded up, dirty walls

Aim and Objectives Of Honours Project

Final Research Question: How can a production designer visually communicate character and theme of a narrative in environment design?

Objectives:
1) Investigate environments in films and photographs to look for the type of characters that belong there or any themes the environment has

2) Case studies to compare environments to find out if different studios convey character and theme in different ways

3)  Media tests working with criteria to experiment with creating an environment to show theme

4) Examine media tests to find out if they show any theme or type of character within the environment

Revised Research Question Again: How can an environment tell a story and what can it show about a character and their personality?

Aim: find out what factors contribute to tell a story in an environment and show what kind of character belongs in that environment, show a character's personality.

Objectives: 

1)  Investigate environments in films & photographs to think about the factors that make up the environment and if they contribute to the story

2) Case studies to compare environments in films by different companies to find out how they tell a story to show whats going on and what / if they say anything about a character.

3) Media tests working with different factors that change how an environment looks to find out how to create an environment that connects to a characters personality. 

4) Examine media tests to find out how they put across a story and if they give any clues about the type of character that would belong there

Revised Research Question: How can an environment tell a story and what can atmosphere do to contribute to the story?

Objectives:
1) Investigate environements in films & games and examine them to think about the things that make up the environment and if they contribute to the story at all

2) Case study to compare bright colourful environments with dark environments then look at atmosphere they have and investigate how one environment can change to support a story

3) Create some small enviroments for media tests working with different factors that change how the environment looks to add to the atmosphere/mood of the environment.

4) Examine media tests to find out if an environment can out across a story and what effect the atmopshere makes to tell the story



Question: How can an environment put across a story point?

Objectives:
1) Investigate environements in films & games and examine them to think about the things that make up the environment and if they contribute to the story at all, what's happening in the environment?

2) Case study to compare bright colourful environments with dark environments and investigate how an enviroment can change to support a story

3) Create some small enviroments for media tests working with different things that change how he environment looks

4) Examine media tests to find out if an environment can out across a story point and what makes it tell the story

Honours Project Diary

I am interested in environments for films but also interested in storytelling so decided my project would focus on both. In week one i started doing some reading to find out about layout and environments from a book i was recommended called 'Setting The Scene' which was useful and i took some notes on what i thought was interesting and what i thought might be helpful in my project.

In week two i made a spider diagram on environments and what makes the environment. From reading books and watching films i found that lighting, shadows and colour are a huge part of the environment and also where objects are placed in the environment. I also wrote down some questions i wanted to ask about environments and storytelling so i knew what i was to find out.

In week four i had a meeting with a lecturer to tak about my project as i felt it was still quite broad and wasn't sure on what i should be doing to progress. Decided on a researcquestion which is "How can an environment put across a story point?" The meeting was a great help as i was then able to make some plans on what i could do to develop my research. I took a photograph of a small part of an environment for practical work to do media tests and work with lighting in 3D because iv'e not had much practice with lights in Maya so would like to start developing skills in lighting to be able to light an environment. I will model this then change the colours and look at how colours can set a mood and if they have an effect on an environment.

This was also pitch week, i didn't have alot to show but i did say what my research question was and what i had been reading and that taking notes and making the spider diagram was useful. I explained what this photograph was for and that i will be rough modelling it to experiment with colours and practice setting up lights. the feedback i got was helpful and motivating, it was suggested that i look at games environments as well as film and do somecase studies to find out how lighting and colour is used to support a story and how an evironment can change to support a story. It was also suggested that i look at architectural buiildings as i mentioned that i saw Gaudi's building that was never finished in Barcelona and i was amazed by it as it is so detiled and the building itself tells a story about Jesus.

In week 5 i got the 3D World magazine and cut out some images of environments, stuck them into my sketch book and mde bulletpoints on what i thought was good and what i thought made up the environment such as fog, the lights and textures, noted what i didnt like and also where i thought the environment was or who would be in it. I also watched a small part of 'Finding Nemo" and
wrote down what i noticed about the detail, colours, lighting and what they say about the scene whether its bright and welcoming or dark and depressing. I also noted what the camera focuses on and why and thuought about if the camera was at a differtent angle would the audience still know where they are what is happening. Sarted modelling the image above and using colour.

Week six, i started to read more about lighting and taking notes to help me light my scene which i will be creating. I got information from a book called 'Digital space-Designing Virtual Environments' and also used a couple of websites to get information on different light types and 3 point lighting as i haven't have much practice with lighting, '3D total.com and Digital tutors.com.

Week 7, i met with Robin to discuss my aim and objectives as i was concerned the aim is a bit basic and short. I got some feedback on developing the aim so this week i will focus on devolping it to think more mood or atmosphere in an environment and how this contributes to tellings a story. I done 2 media tests in which i played with colour and used basic 3 point  lighting to practice with it. The first one has duller colours and the lighting is not bright but still casts a shadow. i was trying to get the effect of a dull day and thought about what the colours and light would be like on the building. The second test, i used the same model but used brighter colours and the lighting was brighter with a hitnt of yellow in it to get the effect of a sunny day, also thinking about the colours and lighting. I feel they are not the best but was good to get practice with lighting.



Week 8 - Ctrit week. did some sketchbook work, wrote out types of environments i'd like to create and did some doodles for ideas. Thought how i could atmosphere in the environment to help tell the story.

Types of environment:

• Futuristic (floating cities, underwater, hovering vehicles, brightly coloured & lit)
• City/town (present day, dull with rays of light shining through clouds maybe, destroyed, raining)
• Broken into house/shop ( broken glass, objects scattered about floor, alarm light flashing, lights flickering)
• Urban street (vandalised from riots, spraypainted buildings, damaged buildings, fire, smoke, broken windows, cars smashed, billboards advertising)

Floating city & cities held by tree roots

Town - rays of light, spraypainted & broken buildings (top

-Town - rain, puddles, dull day (bottom)



Broken into shop - shamshed window from brick thrown, broken door, baseball bat on ground 

Also read more on lighting from the book "Digital Lighting & Rendering" by Jeremy Birn



Crit feedback -

• to save work on writing my own story i could use a story thats already about and create an environment for it and think about what inspires me to create the environment.
• concentrate on doing more practical work, could pick apart films, get screen shots and in photoshop circle what i like and find interesting and use the blur or mosaic filter and note down what i  notice about the colours used and what they are saying and doing for the story to support it.
• I dont have enough of my own work because i am doing work without the knowledge, eg. colour and lighting work in maya but i don't have enough information on these to create it so i need to go to other sources to learn and create my own work.
• could get someone else to play a game and i could then watch and take notes on the environment to see more of it instead of concentrating on playing the game.
• If i want to work with creating atmosphere then think about its purpose and what it says about the environment.
• watch films and think about the purpose of the lights and colour used.
• get out dvd's from the library on picking apart films & games as i am not sure on where to start and what to wrtie and whats relevant and not relevant
• was said that its good that im doing practical work and making things in maya and good that i am picking apart other people's work from film, games and magazines4
• use what i learn from the books and media tests to improve and develop my work
• a book i was recommended was "Cinematic Storytelling"

3D work i did with a cube and sphere to experiment with lights and shadows

Week 9 - got more information from 'Digital Lighting and Rendering' and quotes that might be useful in the proposal. Also started a case study on Finding Nemo, found interesting information online but found it difficult to find information on the environments if this film.

Week 10 - Started the proposal and got the introduction done. Also wrote down questions on meeting diary that i wanted to ask my supervisor to clarify things on the proposal and research. Emailed Robin to arrange a meeting for the following week.

Week 11 - Met with my supervisor on Monday to discuss my work, and got my questions answered and help on the proposal because i wasn't sure about writing about the theory part and where to put this in the proposal. Also found out it is ok to only do case studies if it will help and i don't have to do questionaires or interviews etc. Borrowed a book called 'The Filmmakers Guide To Production Design' which was very useful to get information and notes from on colour, lighting and atmosphere but i know i still need to look more into these. Started a glossary of terms to start making my own kind of dictionary to improve my vocabulary for the proposal and dissertation.

Week 12 - Worked on Proposal and re-wrote parts of it to improve and explain the project in the introduction. Took notes on lighting and composition from 'Inspired 3D Lighting and Compositing' by David Parrish. Finished research proposal. Revised research question.

Week 13 - Took notes on colour from 'Color and Light' by James Gurney, this helped improve my knowledge of colour and light and add to the notes for further research. Took photo of street early morning when sun had just risen to draw or paint to use colour and look at the colour scheme of it.

Week 14 - Painted over photograph in Photoshop to look at colour and noticed how the colours in the image are all similar colour and how the sun rays  affected it the colour. Posted to blog.

Week 15 - Took photographs of street at night to model to practice with lighting a night scene. Did a sketch of the photograph in my sketchbook and rubbed out where the light was coming from and coloured where the light should come from in the scene - lamposts and house windows. Was useful to look at the photograph to see how light bounces off the ground and surrounding objects. Watched 'Monsters vs Aliens' and took notes on what i noticed about the environments and thought about where i think the lights would be in the scene and where the light is coming from.

Week 16 - Modelled and textured a night scene which turned out to be completely different from the photo and sketch  but was useful to practice withh colour and light. Only used basic colours, no texures to make anything stand out. Used light from the moon and lamp posts. After looking at it finished i realised i wasn't happy with it and it could be better, the lighting from the lasmposts was too circular from the spot lights and only light a small area under each lamp post and i felt the scene wasn't dark enough for it being at night so looked like the light from street lights weren't even lighting much so i went back to it and changed the light attributes to make the scene darker and the lamp posts give out more scattered light, now illuminating the lamp post itself and more of the ground.

Week 17 - After getting feedback on research proposal i decided that the case study i was going to do  as stated in the proposal (Finding Nemo) is not relevant to my project as most of it is under water so colour and lighting would not be relevant to what i am doing. I then watched 'The Incredibles' and took notes on the sets and watched it again with the commentery on. I liked the street scenes where a lot of the action is happening as it gave me some ideas and i think the environment alone does help tell the story, the use of colour is interesting it is dull and de saturated at the start and gets more colourful as the story goes on. It tells us about the characters feelings about his job and life, that it is boring and he is not happy. I would still like to look into this film more and continue the case study to learn more about their set designs. Also did a sketch of a corner of my room to model which took more time than i thought as i tried to use different materials (blinn, lambets and phong) to create highlights and reflections. Only modelled a few objects, enough to get shadows from the lights but i could have made it a bit messier and used more textures instead of basic colours, it looks too tidy and doesn't say much about anyone who would live in it. I did manage to get the highlights in it though. It is meant to be lit as if the main source is a light bulb and not natural light from a window.

Week 18 - Re lit the same scene but as if light is shining through the door from another room. Found this a bit harder as i had to do it a few times to get the right look and create shadows, had to move and change the lights to different places in the room. However i am not happy with the look of the bed post and drums ad they look flat and the drums are in silhouette when the light should have been slightly affecting them and creating more of a shadow. Quite happy with the look of the drawers with t.v and the bear shadows though. After reading over notes from The Incredibles i had idea's to create my own city or town environment but wasn't sure about the atmosphere or what it could say about the place and people of that town. Recently there were three buildings on fire in Carnoustie which it thought to be arson, each building is badly affected, i walked past days later at night and could still smell the smoke, it had kind of an eerie and scary feeling that this could happen in a small town, i saw it again in the day light which gave me the idea to create a destroyed or run down town with burnt, old or derelect buildings. which i also have photo's of from driving past old derelect buildings. I thought about what it could say about the space and people and wrote down notes in sketch book of idea's i have for the final environment. Also took photographs of buildings for inspiration. Been working some more on my case study, got The Art of The Incredibles from the library and took notes on it.

Week 19 - Uni started back, I met with my supervisor to discuss my project as i felt i was a bit lost with it and unsure where i should be with it. It was suggested i do a few more media tests before launching into the project and my question was answered about doing more than one environment, but they must be highly polished. Also spoke about showing character's personality through and environment. Tasks for the next week were set: identify environments and characters to create story for, think about dissertation content and make a weekly plan for what i aim to do every week and make a list of what i need to draw to plan to be able to model. I sketched out some buildings and windows for the derelect building ideas.

Week 20 - Spoke about critical framework at the meeting and discovered that the theories and criteria are the colour, light, composition and texture which i spoke about in the proposal. I was a bit worried that my chosen films for case studies were too similar (the incredibles and monsters vs aliens)  but i found they are alright and i can compare them and that i can talk about the studio that made them then talk about the film itself. Dates were set for having drafts of the dissertation ready for feedback. I had to flesh out my weekly plan and realized it is very tight so need to do a lot more work on the project! Also looked at my aim and objectives to refine them and see if this is still what i want to do as i was unsure. In sketch book wrote down some ideas for environment and the groups of people i could have shown through the space but still very broad. I managed to narrow this down and come up with an idea for two environments, one would be a run down town, neglected with gangs causing trouble and crime with de-saturated colours and the second would be the outskirts of town which is a nicer area with wealthier working people, a happy place to attract people and brighter colours. From a distance the place would look nice but as the viewer gets closer it becomes clear the town isn't so nice, this would show two different sides to a story and how people live and thier personalities.

Week 21 - I changed my research question and aim this week and did my learning contract. old question was 'How can an environment tell a story and what can atmosphere do to contribute to the story?' and it is now 'How can an environment tell a story and what can it show about a character and their personality?' The aim is to find out what factors contribute to tell a story in an environment and show what kind of character belongs in that environment, show their  personality through their space. The objectives remain the same though. Did some sketches and doodles of buildings, identified the environment to get to know it better. Was recommended a book to get out from the library. I am slightly behind on the plan. I did a draft introduction of the dissertation and got feedback on it. Went to the library and got out production design books to help with the dissertation. for the next week i aim to have thumbnails to plan the environment. 

Week 22 - Pitch week. No meeting this week. Put my work together in a Power Point presentation for my pitch. Feedback: Good i am taking my own photo's for research but i should concentrate on one environment instead of two, gives more time to polish it and complete it. I need to show more theory in my work (light, colour, composition and texture) I should do an environment that i have been to so it is familiar. There is no story for my project but i may not even need a story. It was also said i need to pick out a character now that i have groups of people, choose a character and personality. Think about reasons for the story, damaged buildings. I need more detail in environment for final project than in media tests and for crit i should have models and textures to show. I was fairly pleased with my pitch but i do think it could have went better, i feel a bit lost in my project because i am off track with the research question. 

Week 23 -  Now decided to have one environment, instead of two as to would be too much for the time i have left. Decided on derelict building because i'm not sure what i could do with a suburban building and i think the older damaged house would be more interesting and fun to work with. Not doing a town anymore, just one building which will be a house in a street. The environment will have to themes, one negative and one positive in the same set. Negative building will have broken windows, weeks/moss growing out building, broken door,distorted building with broken fence around house, not a well looked after place and the positive house will be the same building but without the broken windows and door, the walls will be clean and the fence is not broke.  The colour, light, texture and composition will change the environment to support the themes and compare the not so well off family to the family who look after their house and the kids with their toys left in the garden. I no longer need a story as the project has slightly changed. Took notes from 'Production Design Architects Of The Screen'. Also did Thumbnails of the deprived/neglected building and thumbnails for the more looked after building. I made a floor plan as well so i know what needs modeled and to get an idea for composition. 

Week 24 - In meeting spoke about case study and what to study within the film and how to start it. Decided to change one of the films i chose (Monsters vs Aliens) to another because i need to study something with more adult themes in it. Realized i need to look at balanced reviews - positive and negative views. Blocked out environment with rough shapes to get an idea of it will look. Drafted out lit review and methodology for dissertation. 

Week 25 - Sketched out camera angle ideas of house, thought about the best angle to use to get the most detail in the shot. Worked on case study. Blocked out rough environment with blocks to see how it would look. Started modelling the house for the final environment  - main object in scene. 

Week 26 - finished the house for 2 different themes, one being a neglected house, deprived family and the other being well looked after and respected. Also got 2 doors modelled for each house. Got a colour palette done for the deprivation and neglected theme. No meeting this week as it is crit week. Crit feedback: 

• i need to pay attention to scale, the door of the house is too big
• i need to show more work on the theories i'm looking at
• would be a good idea to take photographs of houses of the 2 themes i am looking at to get an idea of scale and the setting
• It's goo there is now more focus on my project, i know it better and know what i'm doing
• the workload is an issue - need to be working full time on the project to make sure the work gets done in time - there is still a lot to do
• aesthetics is not shown in my work
• need to round off the corners in objects
• neglected theme ideas: how are they happy? toys/teddys/paddling pool in garden - kids have taken over the house - it might be a tip but the family is still happy
• respected theme ideas: kids not so happy even though house is spotless, how does the family use the space? foutain/gnomes/garden ornaments?
• i need to develop my visual style more

Week 27 - Got models finished for envionment:  windows which will be duplicated once unwrapped in maya and textured in photoshop. a deflated ball, a scooter, 2 dolls - one in good condition and one with one leg and one eye and no clothes, created grass for both themes- one looking like its slightly overgrown and needs cut and a dead and the other looking more green and alive and a bit shorter, the fence which will be duplicated for the neglected environment once textured so i can break it up to have a broken fence. The background buildings are also modelled in basic shapes just to be textures, not much detail in them as the main focus on on the house and garden. 

Week 28 - To make the models a bit rounder and more realistic i beveled the edges on some models such as the house, the back ground buildings, doors and the fence. I started unwrapping models but came across problems - the textures were appearing on the models upside down, stretched or squashed and in the wrong places. I looked at tutorials and when i had a meeting with my supervisor i realized i hadn't unwrapped them properly as i had not applied a checker texture or something similar to have a look at how stretched or distorted the textures would appear on the model. Submitted a draft of the dissertation as i had done a case study on 'The Incredibles'

Week 29 - I went back over the models to unwrap them properly and fix any stretched checkers on the models. I also had a few problems here such as the checker texture not being affected when i scaled or moved the uv's in the uv texture editor and i didn't know that i could have several uv sets for one model. got feedback on case study and advice on what to change or amend in my dissertation so far. 

Week 30 - got my technical problem sorted with uv mapping, my textures weren't appearing on the models properly and i could not find an answer to my problem of why they were going on upside down and on the wrong parts of the model but got this sorted out at my meeting and realized i had been missing something out which was the uv shells had to be in the squares in the uv texture editor (i had them overlapping causing textures to overlap) and i was also using one texture when i should have been using several for the multiple objects on the one model. I am happier now i was shown what to do to fix this and spend the rest of the week re texturing my models. Also ran into another problem which was one of my files was corrupted and couldn't be read so had to re do part of the work that had already been finished. To prevent this happening again i have been backing up files after every model finished. 

Week 31 - Carried on texturing models and worked on dissertation to hand in a draft for feedback. 

Week 32 - Had a meeting to get feedback on art work, realized my two buildings looked too similar to added moss and dirt to the neglected house and on the fence. 

Week 33 - Finished texturing models and started to composite models into one scene for the neglected environment. Looked up how to make a sky and lighting tutorials. 

Week 34 -  Made a sky dome for the environment, and the clouds texture. Composited all of the models for the respected theme into one scene. Lit both of the scenes, and as expected ran into issues with the lighting and the grass. Worked on the end of the dissertation. Ordered business cards. Completed the two environments to show how character and theme is communicated through environment design. 

Week 35 - Submission week. submitted the final draft of the dissertation to get feedback on and addressed the feedback then sent it to be printed. worked on a poster for the showcase and the presentation.