Conveyor Belt Styles

After showing the rest of my group the interior i had created there were some issues regarding the conveyor belt leading to the machinery at the back of the scene. Some people felt it wasn't in keeping with the rest of the barn and said it looked like something from 'Alien' the movie. I decided to do another design for the conveyor belt which i feel is more suited to the barn.

Shaping Exterior Environment(Intro)

Refering back to the intro in the animatic i have started to blockout the scene to look like the concept i created(view post Tuesday 4thDec).

Shaping inside of the barn

With Reywel Hylands keen enthusiasm for 3d modelling a lot of the assets in the scene were already created for me. My task was to shape the interior to the ideas i had for it. I changed the layout Rey sent me and added various other elements to it such as the big machinery consuming the eggs at the back, the conveyor belt mechanism, the coop area where our chicken is kept and various other assets.

I have finished uv mapping the coop area where our chicken is kept. It was initially modelled by Rey but i had to tweak certain areas(scale,poly count) to fit the look i had in mind

Veteren Chicken Ready for Texturing

I have now completed the uv mapping of the veteran chicken i modelled. The next process with will now be to texture the main and the veteran chicken. Due to the demanding nature of this project i have decided on the investing more time in the interior and exterior of the barn therefore leaving Raywel Hyland to texture the chickens. Due to some members of the group not pulling there weight i have had to focus on areas that don't interest me as much but for the sake of the overall project i have sacrificed the areas i enjoy to fulfil ones that need to be achieve for this project to be completed on time.

Finished UV Mapping 2 Characters

Here is the finshed uv maps for the main and veteran chicken. At last done. Texturing can now begin.

Also Modelling Veteran Chicken

UV Mapping of Main Chicken

After working on the establishing concept i have continued to model and started to uv map the main chicken in the story.

Concept piece for Establishing shot

I created this concept with the help of Philip Straub and his artwork. I manipulated his work to fit in with the shot i wanted to create rearranging the composition and adding other elements. I really like this piece and feel it would look good for the introduction of our story. I will continue to play around with it and find other looks.

Concept for Opening Shot

Having decided the intro for the animatic is sorted.I decide we needed some concept for what will be in the scene. Ian and myself will be doing some concept for the look of the shot when the truck is comming down the hill. I have taken some images from the internet which i think will help.

Redraft of Animatic

This is the introduction re-done with the farmer now being use dto scare the chickens at the beginning. I like this version alot better. Produced by Gary Butler and I.

Farmer Concepts

I have done some concept for the farmer as he will now feature more in the story than before and may need to be modelled in 3d. I have gone for the traditional farmer look of dungarees, check shirt and flat cap.

Exterior Environment Concept

Our film starts from dusk and finishes at dawn when our chicken realises he is a cockerel and cries a cock a do doddle do. This barn was 3d modelled and textrued by Reywel Hyland and composited and lit by myself.













These are references images found off the internet. To help with my dusk time concept.

Updates on Main Chicken(Hero){Modelling}

The model for the animatic raised some issues. I have played around with the model further elongating certain limbs and change the proportions of the chicken. However when presenting it to the group, people felt it lacked any character and that he was now too slim(First picture). I have played around again with the proportions and with fatter thighs i feel it now has more character.

Names for Film

For some light relief after some disappointing news about the animatic. I thought i could try come up for a name for our film and the farm. I brainstormed words relating to farms, chicken anything i could think of. Here are a few names i came up for the name of the film:
Sunny Side Up, Get Laid, Hard Boiled, Shell Shocked, Couped Up, Oeuf, Chicken Scare,Labour Day, Baron. Not great im afraid

Updates

I have been helping with doing storyboard and animatics. We have done a 3d blockout but after having a look at it completed it was obvious some issues need to be addressed. The film i felt lacked decent pace and any dramatic effect we were after. The robbery scene lack any build u pof suspense.I felt at this point we should go back to the drawing board and work on changing certain shots and cut the fat.It is a brave decision so far into the animatic but i feel it will benefit us and our story to work on getting it right now We decided we should bring the farmer more into the story. As we could have more of conflict between our chicken and the farmer. Iv been working on the building the robbery scene up and drawn up some rough storyboards. Also i have sketched a few designs of our farmer.

Animatic and Storyboard

Here is our rough animatic. I am quite disappointed with the way its tells our story. Mike Hirsch reviewed it and said it lack the tension he was expecting and he suggested we bring the farmer into the story and try rearranging certain camera angles which will flow the shots better into each other.With the farmer more prominent in the story we could use him to build up more dramatic effect when our hero is trying to steal the egg.

Modelling Main Character

My expertise lies mainly in modelling so i decided i wanted to model the main character. Samir and Gary had requested a basic model which they could rig to start some rough poses for the animation blockout. I gave them a rough model and it was obvious there was some issues with the scale of certain limbs that were making certain hard to achieve certain animation. I have been playing around with the character still not the finsih article but the smaller more slimer chicken prefered.







An issue was raised about how we are going to make our main charcter look more femine because the twist in the story is she is actually a cockerel. So i dont want his cox comb to be too big

Concept

These concept pieces i created for our main chickens coup in the story. My main aim was to work out the lighting over the course of the animation. The whole story happens over the course of an evening so i changed the lighting to fit in with the moon falling and the sunrising. The lighting goes from being a purple overtone to a more redder tone this also emphasizes the anxiety he will be going through whe nnot being able to lay an egg.

The purple tone will be used at the beginning of the story.

Once the realisation hits our chicken that he cant lay an egg a red overtone will soon develop. The more golden lighting is when he realises in a golden halo moment he is actually a cockerel.
I feel this type of lighting will give our animation more depth.

Storyboarding

The storyboarding process took longer than anticipated.We decided to blockout the scenes in 3d and layer it with 2d drawings of the characters animated for individual scenes. We didnt achieve the look we were quite after in the storyboard but it helped us find out what camera angles would work in 3d and which wouldnt.
Reywell produced the exterior look of the barn and the animation of the truck pulling up to the barn. Samir and I work on the internal shots of the barn. With Gray and myself doing the drawings for the scenes.

Formative Assessment

We had our group assessment with Mike Smith and Mike Hirsch and they were impressed with the amount of work we had done but it was made clear by them that we need a production plan to structure our project efficiently. I produced a production plan up till January breaking down the tasks we needed to do and assigning to people whos expertise falls into that category.

Updates on pre production

During the storyboard process we needed to sketch out particular poses for the various characters in terms of working out the story. I created the character designs for the cockerel our chicken turns into in the story. Also drawing the veteran chicken who has laid so many eggs in the years, seen by our hen during the early part of the story. Original Sketches by myself with Reywel Hyland texturing and colouring the veteran chicken .

Updates on pre production

This is a drawing of our main character once he becomes a cockerel. When he realises he is a cockerel his whole persona will change his chest will expand, wattle and coxs comb will increase in size. He will become a cockerel equivalent of Hugh Hefner.




























These drawings are of our chicken when he is making a last few attempts to lay an egg. These will quick cuts leading up to his last attempt to lay an egg. The final strain will reveal he is actually a cockerel.
The first drawing is him trying to use a hoover to suck an egg out.

These drawings are of her trying to use a broom and some laxative to lay an egg.

In the bottom left corner is a drawing of her checking her temperature and using a calender to check when she is due. This cuts will last longer than the others and will be a nice change of pace from the other quick cuts of her trying to lay an egg

Tasks

This is a concept piece for the machinery at the end of the barn. The conveyor belt takes the eggs to this machine for processing into egg boxes

As the pre- production intensifies we have split the tasks between the group. Samir, Gary and I are doing the storyboard layouts with Ian and Reywell working on concepts designs. We have decided we are not just constrained to these tasks and we will be able to cross over if one feels they have a contribution to make other tasks. I have begin with doing some concept work for inside the hutch.

StoryTimeLine and Breakdown

After going over the story repeatedly we have decided we want to completely focus on the struggle of the chicken trying to lay an egg. So we have completely scraped the beginning of the story of the chciekn being taken in the truck to the farm. We felt this was irrelvant to the story and ate into the 2mins of story time we have. We now feel we have more time for the build up of our characters emotions whe the time gets closer to when he has to lay an egg.

Story TimeLine/Breakdown

0-6 sec. Establishing shot outside of Farmhouse.
6-24sec. We are then introduced to our chicken character. He looks around the farmhouse seeing other chickens laying eggs. We have shots of the various farmhouse machinery taking eggs away emphasizing the fact other chickens are laying eggs.
24-34sec. Our chicken’s 1st attempt at laying an egg. He will;
-Stretches muscles (limbers up)
-Strains (to lay egg) No success!
-Becomes a little anxious now.
39sec. He looks up at a veteran chicken who points to a sign that reads. Chicken - eggs = roast dinner
39-48sec. Our chicken becomes more worried and nervous.
-show him thinking about what he’s gonna do.
Maybe rubbing his chin, eyes darting left & right.
48- 120sec. He then thinks of an elaborate plan. He sees a vulnerable egg, with a halo of light over it.
-Goes behind the haystack and jumps back out wearing
Splintercell -type gear.
-Steals egg but looses it on the way back
-Jumps around in frustration (10 secs).

120- 132sec.Goes into quick cuts of him trying different things in an attempt
to lay an egg.
1. Pushing a broom down his throat
2. Taking laxative.
3. Use a machine to suck the egg out.
132- 150sec. Final Stage -Becomes more and more desperate.
-Begins straining really hard.
-Goes into a series of close up cuts on the chicken, muscles
bulging, eyes watering, vies on his neck etc….
-Finally his wattle and cox’s comb pops up and he realises then
hes’s actually cockerel.
-Other chickens give him a surprised look, and then start eyeing
him up seductively.
-Our character now a cockerel turns his head to the camera and
raises his eyebrows and smiles.
Fades to credits, showing pictures of the chicken with the other hens enjoying himself (being pampered)

This is a quick concept piece for the inside of the hutch. I quickly built the set in Alias Maya then took it into Photoshop to add some textures. It was a quick way to get an idea of scale inside the chicken coup.

The images here are some reference material for the inside of the hutch. we want a blend of natural wood with mechanical equipment.

Early Assets designs of Barn and Truck

Whilst we have been talking about the story we have been doing some sketches to help visualize our story. I produced the original sketch of this barn and Reywel Hyland textured it.

I designed and textured this truck

I have gone for a old looking truck/vehicle which is carrying(exporting) the chicken in this story. I have hopefully achieved this with a mixture of metal and wood texture for an element of contrast

Early Character Designs and concept

Character Sheet


I created this rough sketch for the main chicken in the story. Fellow group member Reywell Hyland textured and coloured it. In the story our chicken actually happens to be a cockerel so we need him to look slightly different from the rest chickens. This texture will help us experiment with the right colour for our main character









Character Expression Sheet

I done some quick drawings to gauge the expressions the chicken will go through during the story. i have drawn the expression of the chicken leaning out of the truck. This is one of the first scenes in the story as my first draft but iam not sure if it will be used as we are still working on the scenes in the story as a group.