Lilliput and Production Diary - 18.10.11

Just a quick update!

Decided that we should really be posting a full production diary saying what we've done and when, rather than just the work that we've done. Since the work we've been doing today isn't quite ready for upload I'll just tell you what we've been up to!

We went to uni today, and now that we've got our shots and camera work sorted out we decided on shot timings for the whole film.

We were pleasantly surprised that we were only 7 seconds over our 3 minute allowance, a LOT less than we expected we might be. We're hoping that those seconds will get trimmed down when we get to the animatic, but if not... It is at least only a little trimming that needs doing.

Other than that we also discussed a few other things about the film overall aswell as some set design.

After a little discussion we have finally settled on what the 2D side style will be:

This is a village called 'Lilliput' from the game Kingdom Hearts 2. It is based on the style of Steamboat Willie. What we are aiming for is a combination of the 2D style of Steamboat Willie integrated into an essentially 3D world... It sounds complicated but we're sure it'll look awesome!

The other things that we discussed were a few camera shots that needed tweaking and also the method we intend to use to composite the whole film together... This is more an issue for the 2D side since it will involve a lot of layering. 

Set design is the goal of this week, next week I start the storyboard and Rob starts modelling! Should be fun!

Shooting Script (HUGE POST)!

Ok a full day at it yesterday and Rob and I managed to get our shooting scriptS finished!

Since during our discussions of the film we both clearly had envisioned very different things in terms of shots we both decided that it would be best to do a completely separate shooting script each, and then pick and choose between the shots we liked best. 

Though it would have been faster and much less work for us to both collaborate on a single shooting script, I think we got a much better idea of what we each had envisioned for the film and had a lot of choice between the 2.

In fact our choice of shots from the scripts it pretty closely split, and in my opinion the result is going to be a much better film overall.

Now we just need to compile the chosen shots from each together, and amend the script where necessary (while reading through the script so many times, certain problems were noticed that we had previously overlooked).

Here are the 2 shooting scripts, the first also contains a list of sounds we will be needing (pencil camera directions and SFX by me, pen edits (red) by Rob):

And here is the other one (pencil is Rob's and edits in pen are by me):

And here is a page we were using to describe camera movements to each other, though you wont be able to make much sense of it, you can at least get an idea of where most of the shots will be, and it certainly seems like relevant development:

Now is the task of compiling the 2 scripts, but it should only be a few hours work! And finally, FINALLY onto the storyboarding part, I am so exciting to start visualising the film!

And the award for world's largest ever blog post goes to! Probably someone else... But I bet I came close! 

Matty out!

Script Development - Draft 3 (Final)

Here it is! Draft 3 in yo' face:

Scene 1. EXT. Town Square (Day)

It is a cool sunny morning in an old cobbled town square.

A canal runs through the middle of the town square, splitting it in half.

Half is 2D and half is CG. The two sides are mirrored over the canal.

Small cafes with tables, chairs and parasols surround the square.

Fenced in by tall buildings with pale walls and red roofs that are casting pale shadows over the cobbles.

Between some buildings are side streets, leading away from the square.

The sun shines through gaps in the buildings and roofs and illuminates the square in a hazy glow.

A stone bridge with metal railings connects the two sides.

On the 2D side of the bridge OLDIE arrives from a side street and sets up.

Oldie is a classic mime actor, he has been in this job for many years in the same square.

He carries some excess weight on his stomach and is balding in his old age.

Oldie takes off his hat and places it on the floor, then takes off an imaginary coat and hangs it up.

A small crowd forms around him with intrigue. They speak quietly amongst themselves.

Oldie lethargically starts his mime act and slowly places his hands on an invisible wall.

The crowd mutter amongst themselves, seemingly unimpressed.

On the CG side of the canal ROOKIE is also setting up.

He struggles to manage all of the items he has with him, clumsily handling them.

The crowd look over to him from Oldie's 2D side of the canal.

Rookie places a stereo on the ground, along with a kit bag and a stool.

He takes off his coat and places it on the stool, and pulls a bottle of water out of the kit bag then places it on the ground.

Rookie takes a deep breath of the fresh morning air.

Rookie stretches up and out for a short while. He reaches into the air and bends over touching his toes.

A couple in the crowd around Oldie chat to each other and begin to walk over the bridge to Rookie's CG side of the canal.

He turns on his stereo and begins his act.

Rookie begins to walk against the wind.

The rest of the small crowd that Oldie earlier attracted begin to disperse; one-by-one walking across the bridge to watch Rookie's act.

Oldie notices that the crowd have almost all left.

He looks around to see the crowd aren't paying much attention to his act.

Looking worried and disappointed; Oldie tries to mimic some of Rookie's more energetic moves in an effort to regain the crowd's interest.

Oldie walks against the wind and climbs a ladder, but hurts his back so has to slow down.

Frustrated, Oldie screws up his face and looks down.

He notices something on the floor.

He looks up and glares at Rookie.

He picks up an imaginary rock from the floor and lobs it across the canal towards Rookie.

The rock strikes Rookie on the head, he falls over, stunned.

Dazed, Rookie stands back up.

He rubs his head and glares back at Oldie.

Oldie is trying to look nonchalant.

He leans with his elbow on a low invisible wall, moving his lips as if whistling.

The crowd think that this is all part of his act, and laugh.

Rookie reaches into his pocket and pulls out an invisible balloon.

He blows it up and angrily starts to bend it into something while still glaring at Oldie.

Oldie sees him doing this, he pulls out a bow and arrow, and fires it across the canal at Rookie.

The balloon pops in Rookie's face before he can finish modeling it.

Rookie jumps back in shock.

The crowd laugh, much to Rookie's dismay.

Rookie throws his arms down in anger and quickly turns to Oldie.

Oldie is bent over laughing and slapping his knee.

Rookie stomps across the bridge to Oldie's side of the canal (crossing into the 2D world) with his chest and chin held high.

More people start to add to the crowd as they see the commotion.

The crowd follow to the edge of the canal and look across to the 2D side from the CG side.

Rookie reaches Oldie and stands right in front of him.

Oldie glances up but barely notices Rookie is there.

Rookie pretends to pull off his gloves one finger at a time, grasps the fake glove and slaps Oldie across the face.

Oldie immediately stops laughing and stands stunned for a moment, staring at Rookie with a bewildered look on his face.

Oldie shakes it off and screws up his eyebrows with anger.

Oldie slowly raises his hand, holding something in his fist.

He holds it in front of Rookie's face.

Rookie looks closely at Oldie's fist.

Then all of a sudden Oldie opens up his hand and blows (invisible) dust in Rookie's face, blinding him.

Oldie breaks into a run (on the spot) away from Rookie.

The crowd on the opposite side of the river laugh in uproar.

Rookie throws his hands up to his eyes and bends over in pain.

He rubs the dust out of his eyes and begins to chase after Oldie (also on the spot).

Oldie stops and sits, pretending to read a newspaper.

Rookie continues to run for a few more seconds (catching up to Oldie).

He taps Oldie and gestures with his arms and shoulders as if asking a question.

Oldie points towards the 2D cafe.

Rookie turns and begins to walk in that direction (actually moving this time).

Rookie stops still with a shocked expression.

He realises that he has been tricked by Oldie.

Rookie turns and looks around for Oldie.

Rookie sees Oldie miming to the now larger crowd on Rookie's spot (on the 3D side of the canal).

Rookie quickly becomes angry and begins to cross the bridge while swinging an invisible rope over his head.

He stops at the center of the bridge.

He throws his lasso at Oldie; roping Oldie around his arms and waist, and pulls him towards himself.

They are now standing face to face in the center of the bridge, at the dividing line of the 2D and 3D sides.

The crowd run up and follow to the opening of the bridge to get a closer look.

Oldie and Rookie erupt into an argument, throwing wild gestures, pointing at the ground and pointing to each others patch, both very visibly angry.

The crowd is now laughing and has grown considerably in size.

After a while they stop arguing and realise that they are now surrounded by the large cheering and clapping crowd.

Slightly confused; they look at each other, and bow together to the audience.

As the CREDITS roll, stills are shown of Oldie and Rookie working together.

The two play tug of war with an invisible rope.

Oldie and Rookie are sitting in a mime car. Oldie is driving and Rookie is laughing in the passenger seat.

The final still shows Oldie and Rookie together, both smiling and presenting to the crowd.

They realise that they both work better as a team than they ever did apart.

As you can see (if you read the whole thing) you can see we jiggled a few lines around and changed a few things for various reasons; continuity, practicality being 2... But mostly it was just Rob and I being fussy! We want this film to be good... We're spending a year of our lives making the thing after all!

We had started to think about the individual shots at this stage because, well... That's what we have to do next, so a few things were changed just based on the fact that it would make more sense given how it's going to be shot.

Other things that needed changing for this final stage was more reference to what the crowd was doing throughout the film, and also what happens during the credits, as it kind of closes off the story.

We're currently writing the shooting script, so that should be up in a day or 2. I'll also get the synopsis development up soon!

Matty out.

Script Development - Draft 2

I'm back!

Ok so here is our second draft, for this script very little was really changed except the format of it. It's written in a line-by-line kind of way, which is the way our teachers want it to be presented:

Scene 1. EXT. Town Square (Day)

It is a cool sunny morning in an old cobbled town square.

A canal runs through the middle of the town square, splitting it in half.

Half is 2D and half is CG. The two sides are mirrored over the canal.

Small cafes with tables, chairs and parasols surround the square.

Fenced in by tall buildings with pale walls and red roofs that are casting pale shadows over the cobbles.

Between some buildings are side streets, leading away from the square.

The sun shines through gaps in the buildings and roofs and illuminates the square in a hazy glow.

A stone bridge with metal railings connects the two sides.

On the 2D side of the bridge OLDIE arrives from a side street and sets up.

Oldie is a classic mime actor, he has been in this job for many years in the same square.

He carries some excess weight on his stomach and is balding in his old age.

Oldie takes off his hat and places it on the floor, then takes off an imaginary coat and hangs it up.

A small crowd forms around him with intrigue. They speak quietly amongst themselves.

Oldie lethargically starts his mime act and slowly places his hands on an invisible wall.

The crowd mutter amongst themselves, seemingly unimpressed.

On the CG side of the canal ROOKIE is also setting up.

He struggles to manage all of the items he has with him, clumsily handling them.

The crowd look over to him from Oldie's 2D side of the canal.

Rookie places a stereo on the ground, along with a kit bag and a stool.

He takes off his coat and places it on the stool, and pulls a bottle of water out of the kit bag then places it on the ground.

Rookie takes a deep breathe of the fresh morning air.

Rookie stretches up and out for a short while. He reaches into the air and bends over touching his toes.

A couple in the crowd around Oldie chat to each other and begin to walk over the bridge to Rookie's CG side of the canal.

He turns on his stereo and begins his act.

Rookie begins to walk against the wind.

The rest of the small crowd that Oldie earlier attracted begin to disperse; one-by-one walking across the bridge to watch Rookie's act.

Oldie notices that the crowd have almost all left.

Oldie tries to mimic some of Rookie's more energetic moves in an effort to regain the crowd's interest.

Oldie walks against the wind and climbs a ladder, but hurts his back so has to slow down.

Frustrated, Oldie screws up his face and looks down.

He notices something on the floor.

He looks up and glares at Rookie.

He picks up an imaginary rock from the floor and lobs it across the canal towards Rookie.

The rock strikes Rookie on the head, he falls over, stunned.

Dazed, Rookie stands back up.

He rubs his head and glares back at Oldie.

Oldie is trying to look nonchalant.

He leans with his elbow on a low invisible wall, moving his lips as if whistling.

The crowd think that this is all part of his act, and laugh.

Rookie reaches into his pocket and pulls out an invisible balloon.

He blows it up and angrily starts to bend it into something while still glaring at Oldie.

Oldie sees him doing this, he pulls out a bow and arrow, and fires it across the canal at Rookie.

The balloon pops in Rookie's face before he can finish modeling it.

Rookie jumps back in shock.

The crowd laugh, much to Rookie's dismay.

Rookie throws his arms down in anger and quickly turns to Oldie.

Oldie is bent over laughing and slapping his knee.

Rookie stomps across the bridge to Oldie's side of the canal (crossing into the 2D world) with his chest and chin held high.

More people start to add to the crowd as they see the commotion.

The crowd follow to the edge of the canal and look across to the 2D side from the CG side.

Rookie reaches Oldie and stands right in front of him.

Oldie glances up but barely notices Rookie is there.

Rookie pretends to pull off his gloves one finger at a time, grasps the fake glove and slaps Oldie across the face.

Oldie immediately stops laughing and stands stunned for a moment, staring at Rookie with a bewildered look on his face.

Oldie shakes it off and screws up his eyebrows with anger.

Oldie slowly raises his hand, holding something in his fist.

He holds it in front of Rookie's face.

Rookie looks closely at Oldie's fist.

Then all of a sudden Oldie opens up his hand and blows (invisible) dust in Rookie's face, blinding him.

Oldie breaks into a run (on the spot) away from Rookie.

The crowd on the opposite side of the river laugh in uproar.

Rookie throws his hands up to his eyes and bends over in pain.

He rubs the dust out of his eyes and begins to chase after Oldie (also on the spot).

Oldie stops and sits, pretending to read a newspaper.

Rookie continues to run for a few more seconds (catching up to Oldie).

He taps Oldie and gestures with his arms and shoulders as if asking a question.

Oldie points towards the 2D cafe.

Rookie turns and begins to walk in that direction (actually moving this time).

Rookie stops still with a shocked expression.

He realises that he has been tricked by Oldie.

Rookie turns and looks around for Oldie.

Rookie sees Oldie miming to the now larger crowd on Rookie's spot (on the 3D side of the canal).

Rookie quickly becomes angry and begins to cross the bridge while swinging an invisible rope over his head.

He stops at the center of the bridge.

He throws his lasso at Oldie; roping Oldie around his arms and waist, and pulls him towards himself.

They are now standing face to face in the center of the bridge, at the dividing line of the 2D and 3D sides.

The crowd run up and follow to the opening of the bridge to get a closer look.

Oldie and Rookie erupt into an argument, throwing wild gestures, pointing at the ground and pointing to each others patch, both very visibly angry.

The crowd is now laughing and has grown considerably in size.

After a while they stop arguing and realise that they are now surrounded by the large cheering and clapping crowd.

Slightly confused; they look at each other, and bow together to the audience.

Well, it certainly fills up more space now! The whole thing being set in one scene makes it quite difficult to get reference for where in the story you are... But until the shooting script that's just the way it's got to be if we're doing it right! 

Final draft (3) coming right up!

Script Development - Draft 1

Realising that we still haven't posted our scripts we thought that we'd better get it done sooner than later. We're fairly confident that our script writing is done now... That may change once we have a firmer idea of the shot timings with the animatic / storyboard, but for now we're done with the script! 

Here is our first draft:

Scene 1. EXT. City (Daytime)

On the 2D side of the bridge Oldie is setting up. He takes off his hat and places it on the floor, and then takes off an imaginary coat and hangs it up.

He lethargically starts his mime act; slowly placing his hands on an invisible wall.

The crowd mutter amongst themselves, seemingly unimpressed.

On the 3D side of the river Rookie is also setting up.

He is struggling to manage all of the items he has with him, clumsily handling them.

He places a stereo on the ground, along with a kit bag and a stool. He takes off his coat and places it on the stool, and pulls a bottle of water out of the kit bag then places it on the ground next to the stool.

He stretches for a while; reaching into the air and bending over and touching his toes.

He turns on his stereo and begins his act. Starting out walking against the wind.

The small crowd that Oldie has attracted begin to disperse; one-by-one walking across the bridge to watch Rookie's act.

Noticing that he is losing his crowd, Oldie tries to mimic some of Rookie's more energetic moves, walking against the wind and climbing a ladder, but hurts his back and has to slow down.

Frustrated, he looks down and notices something on the floor, looks up glaring at Rookie. He then picks up the imaginary rock on the floor and lobs it across the river towards Rookie.

Striking Rookie on the head, he falls over, stunned. After a short while he stands back up, rubbing his head while glaring back at Oldie, who is trying to look nonchalant.

The crowd think that this is all part of his act, and laugh.

Rookie pulls an invisible balloon out of his pocket and blows it up, he frantically starts to bend it into something while still glaring at Oldie.

Oldie sees him doing this, he pulls out a bow and arrow, and fires it across the river at Rookie.

The balloon pops in Rookie's face before he can finish it.

His retaliation plan foiled; Rookie strides across the bridge to Oldie's side of the river (crossing into the 2D world) with his chest and chin held high.

When he reaches Oldie, he stands right in front of him and pretends to pull off his gloves one finger at a time, grasping the fake glove he slaps Oldie across the face; challenging him to a duel.

Oldie stands stunned for a moment, eventually raising his hand, holding something in his fist. He opens up his hand, and blows (invisible) dust in Rookie's face, blinding him.

Oldie breaks into a run (on the spot) away from Rookie.

Rubbing the dust out of his eyes Rookie begins to chase after Oldie (also on the spot).

Oldie stops and sits, pretending to read a newspaper.

Rookie continues to run for a few more seconds (catching up to Oldie) taps Oldie and gestures as if asking a question. Oldie points away in a direction, and Rookie turns and begins to walk in that direction (actually moving this time).

Realising that he has been tricked by Oldie, Rookie turns and looks around for Oldie. He sees him miming to the now larger crowd on his spot (on the 3D side of the river).

Rookie begins to walk across the bridge while swinging an invisible rope over his head.

Just before he reaches the dividing line on the bridge he throws the lasso at Oldie, and pulls him towards him on the bridge. Bringing them face to face across the dividing line (standing on each others sides).

They erupt into an argument, throwing very wild gestures, pointing at the ground and pointing to each others patch, both very visibly angry.

After a while they stop arguing and realize that they are now surrounded by a very large cheering and clapping crowd. Slightly confused they look at each other, and bow together to the audience.

As you can see, we used a lot of paragraphs, which our teachers didn't really care for. They asked us to break the paragraphs down into sentences. I'll post that separately... Back in a minute!

Robot Dance Battle!

Because it is quite similar to what our actual idea is I thought I'd quickly post this video I found on youtube. It's a clip from a film called 'Eurotrip' (2004) and in it a robot dance performer is upstaged by a character, a hilarious 'robot off' follows... Very funny!

Now I really must away!

Mime Act Research

Something that Rob and I were looking at the other day was a few mime acts. We wanted to get an idea of what kind of thing mimes (well-known mimes in particular) do apart from the stereotypical mime act that you instantly recall when you think the word "mime"; things like being stuck in a box, pulling a rope etc. We were also trying to get some idea of the variety between the more famous mimes, and what it is that distinguishes them.

The latter point is quite an important part, because in our story one mime has to be noticeably better, or at least exciting in order to draw the crowd away from the other.

Rob showed me one such famous mime in a few videos on youtube who is indeed very talented, and caters to a modern audience... Something that we could draw a lot of influence from for our younger mime, who is supposed to do the same.

This is Tyson Eberly, his mime acts are quite energetic and they remind me very much of a children's presenter or of slap-stick comedy similar to Charlie Chaplin (who I should also look at!).

Interestingly, in both of the acts above he actually does make quite a bit of noise... No dialogue though, which seems to be a fairly common thing amongst modern mimes. Who make a lot of comedic noises to add to their act and get bigger laughs (and probably drawing more attention).

I do like the robot dance that he does for his second act, it seems like a great way of bringing miming to a modern audience, though it could possibly be considered closer to dance than miming... A line which we should try to stay away from I think, our mimes are quite traditional!

None-the-less it could be an interesting way of differentiating between the 2 mimes, and makes for a decent avenue of research. Should we need to beef out our mime duel it could make for some good additional content. Here's a few more examples of the robot dance that I like:

This film, shot at some kind of talent show called 'Kollaboration' went viral and shot him into fame. I found out that the boy is called David 'Elsewhere' Bernal, and he has some insane moves:

Slightly off topic I followed some links on the video and found out that David Elsewhere is actually the dancer in a lot of adverts that I see regularly on TV, usually not as himself, but with other people's heads super imposed onto his body. Really famous adverts like the 'singing in the rain' remix advert, heineken and loads of others are infact all him! Here's the video, you can skip close to the end to see the ads:

And some more great body popper videos here from well known shows like Americas got talent and Indias got talent:

Enough of robot dancing and pop locking for now... I'll post some more mime examples tomorrow, as I must away now!