Week 9 - Actor Blocking

We will take two different approaches to film the battle scene. Based on the film script, we will stage a battle with 8 characters at our custom set. This is our blocking design and set prototype. We still need to work out camera blocking.

Sassy: Show reel

Presentatiion file_Shaolin_Snowwhite

Shaolin_Snowwhite_Presentatioin file
Demo_reel_Shaolin
Demo_reel_SnowWhite

Week 9 - Machinima Film Festival 2008

This year's Machinima Film Festival is hosted at Eyebeam on November 1st. The one-day event features a series of presentations and discussions and screening of machinima film award nominees.
program schedule
recommending: Machinima 101, Interfacing Virtual Actors, Machinima and Art, and Game vs. Filmmaker.

Week 8 - Audition (Character Portfolio)

We invited Annie OK to be our guest critic. She is a multimedia artist and machinima filmmaker of the documentary short "10 Simple Steps" to your own Virtual Sweatshop, commercial for Iron Man and MTV vLES. She shared with us her Second Life expertise and virtual filmmaking techniques - advanced settings for camera control, display graphics, character animations, and environment rendering.
http://annieok.com/tangent/?p=1827

Director Beth Coleman joined us remotely in Second Life for a virtual audition.

Week 8 - Scripted Avatar Behaviors II

Cute Robot Army at our 2nd virtual Scripting Workshop with LSL mentor GC Continental. Today's seminar topics focused on how to apply force to avatars, particles, and scripting issues related to networked environment (server and viewer).

Lawrence's Storyboards

Posting because Lawrence doesn't have access to post on the blog yet.

Here's the badge

Aerial Fight Storyboard - Renewed

Week 7 - Peripetics (Animation)

http://www.zeitguised.com/film/Peripetics.mov

The first half of the semester, we were learning the rules of animation and game narrative and practicing our skills of navigating the virtual space, modeling, animating, and scripting avatars.

What it means to reverse the thoughts and break the rules. "Peripetics or The Installation of an Irreversible Axis on a Dynamic Timeline" is surreal (Dali is still up at MoMA). To be precise, here is a short quote from the design group's statement: "blends complex geometries, surreal subjects, artificial behaviors, and the recycling of digital readymades into their distinct hallucinatory narration style."

Last week, each of us took turn to read the film script line by line, reopening up our scope and relating our individual MMO characters back to the larger narrative world. Many topics came up - camera shot, required character animations, scripted behaviors, plot and resolution, comical points, what's in a shot, why a white dove appears suddenly, etc.

We watched a fraction of Fat Chow and Tony Leung's Hard Boiled today. Hung Kong action movies emphasize artificial elements in their narrative and ways of making each scene intense, unlike typical American film's realistic style. We tried to approach machinima from the perspectives of game development, 3D animation pipeline, filmmaking, and theater performance. As we moved along with our process, different technical challenges unvailed. How can we keep our work away from conventional? How can our work adapt compelling conventions? But what's missing?

[Snoopy] More Character Design Sketches

Polished up some of Snoopy's design again.

This is practically what our prototype is aiming for.

The ear-transmitters remained the charm point.

"Did someone said 'rumor'?"


"Look what I got today!"
I can somehow imagine him bringing all sorts of stuff in to share with the other robots. Gadgets, food, magazines....

Another alternative....

FIGHT

Week 6 - Additional Note

Character Reel/Fight Scene:

Week 6 - Scripted Avatar Behaviors I

Avatar design in virtual environment has several layers to it - skeleton, geometry, attachments, and non-linear animations. The next level is for us to use LSL (Linden Scripting Language) to alter its physical behavior and default attributes and to design its interactions with other avatars, 3D objects, and the simulated environment.




At virtual Scripting Workshop with GC Continental in Second Life, learning LSL (Linden Scripting Language) basics, including data types and states, functions, avatar permissions, push script, & sensor.

Week 5 - Virtuality

MMO Character

Ghost in the Shell (film, 1995)
MASAMUNE SHIROW, PRODUCTION I.G., INC. POSTER©1996
source: Internet Poster Awards Gallery
link: http://www.impawards.com/1996/ghost_in_the_shell.html

How does the changing representation of MMO character's body (a symbolic presence in cyberspace, game, & metaverse) affect the mind of player?

Virtual Camera
(invisible dummy object)
(sight to the virtual world)

Call of Duty
ACTIVISION PUBLISHING, INC. ©2008
source: Freewebs
link: http://www.freewebs.com/666md666/screenshots.htm


Tomb Raider
EDIOS INTERACTIVE LIMITED ©2008
source: Freewebs
link: http://www.freewebs.com/tombraiderway/tombraiderlegend.htm


Age of Empires II: Age of Kings
MICROSOFT CORPORATION ©1999
source: Download Free Games
link: http://memysoftware.blogspot.com/2008/02/age-of-empire-2.html
permission: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/developer/rules.htm


Little Big Planet (1:20)
-> Paradigm Shift of View Points
-> Mix of Real & Virtual World Representations

How can our virtual actor (a MMO character) conceive the qualities of aura and convince the qualities of "realness" in a virtual environment?

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Multitudes of Perspective

Perspectives of the Multitude

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Storyboard - Aerial Attack

Storyboard Shaolin - Martial Arts