Black Knight Diaries – Equipment

Looking at some of the equipment and techniques used in shooting Her Romeo

Original Music!

When we set out to make this project, we wanted to build this project completely from the ground up; models, game mechanics, engine coding – and of course the music. While I’ve penned a few tuenso n the guitar, and all of us had dabbled with Apples “Garage Band”, none of us were capable of producing the right kind of music for the game. To this end, I approached my old school pal, and musician extraordinaire Chris Birkett.

Chris (who works under the title “Enceladus Productions” http://www.youtube.com/EnceladusProductions) is in his 3rd Year at High Wycombe University, studying soundtrack production. Knowing him as a fierce bassist and guitarist, I asked him if he’d be able to assist on the project, and luckily for us, he was more than happy to help us.

Working with Chris, we knocked up a cue sheet of sound effects needed for the game (which he provided). We also used the following pieces (among others) as inspiration for an original piece of music that was atmospheric, minimalist yet still highly evocative; conjuring notes of fear, melancholy, romance and lost grandeur in equal measures:

The game Thief: Deadly Shadows was a big inspiration for our game inits use of lighting, atmosphere, tension and a focus on stealth rather than combat. It’s music was also highly effective in setting the tone, and enriching the settings you foudn yourself in; Thief DS was a game I personally invested a lot of time into, and I believe the music was a key to that immersion.

“Polymorphia” by Avant-Garde composer Krzysztof Penderecki, was a piece I had heard several years ago. His eerie, minimalist approach yielded music that was genuinely frightening, and highly evocative (indeed, six of his pieces including Polymorphia were included in the soundtrack of famous horror film “The Shining”).

After discussing the sound we wanted, we agreed on a piece that would be menacing, but not overtly frightening, incorporating the melancholy notes of music form the Baroque, Classical and Romantic Musical Eras. A few weeks before deadline, Chris delivered his masterpiece, which he affectionately labeled “A Spooky Waltz” (and it does indeed match a Waltz’s tempo and structure. Believe me, I’ve tried it).

MCM Expo October 2012!

A Selection of photos from MCM’s comic con at the ExCel centre in London.

I’m Back B*tches! 2ND YEAR

*Sound of shuffling papers*

I swear I left that book around here somewhere

*Drawer opens*

Good grief! A blog! I’d forgotten I had one of those!

WHAT’S UP!

Hello again to all 3 of my followers, it’s been much too long. I haven’t posted in MONTHS, so it’s high time I updated my log.

How was your summer? MIne was PACKED! Placement work was….long, is really all I can say. Design on the site progressed fairly well, until it fizzled out at the end when our client lost his hosting rights, which led to our project being mothballed. A great pity, but that’s life.

So, what to talk about. I made a Sailing Ship in Maya2013 to try and enhance my skills with vertex manipulation and curved surfaces; most of my work has been with straight lines and industrial, factory-stamped looking machines, and while that’s great, ignoring objects with natural/hand-tooled curvature would leave a gaping hole in my skill set…

As it is, the (not yet) finished result is far from perfect, but through use of Mirrored  objects, it was possible to produce a symmetrical, nearly smooth hull and decking features. Have a gander:

I’ve also got my first paid freelance filming project coming up….tomorrow, as it happens; filming a series of interviews for a wedding DVD, courtesy of .5 Lecturer Elliot Trent. Perhaps not the most creatively open brief, but everything’s got to start somewhere, and being paid to do something course related is a big morale booster.

That’s all for now, plenty to be getting on with, as we’ve received our new Briefs for Level 5 (2nd year), so I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about that soon!

See you around and about!

Placement! Hurray!

From iPods to MechWarrior…

After seeing Pixar’s “Junior” animation, I was struck by how effective a simple animation could be. Without any humanoid, or organic components, the animators had imbued their characters (for that is what they are) with humanoid characteristics that belie their form

Animation Update!

 

Aaaah Animation! The domain of people with imagination, technical know-how and a good eye for detail, or a mix of all three! Two days (or shall I say, one) til the deadline, it’s all been getting pretty hairy. However, it’s been an exciting time! 😀 With tutelage form Messrs Brewer, Doobery and Wright of the 3rd Team Maya Maestro’s, my technical knowledge has developed as a ridiculous rate; mainly because I’m LOVING IT!

Durign this module, I have learned how to:

Rig, Texture, Planar Map, Boolean, Parent, Command line render, Skin, Adjust transparency and glow, tell between material types, the list goes on! 😀

That’s the great thign about MAYA 2012: There’s so much to do and learn ,if you’re willing to; and being able to make guns, tanks, walkers, castles – I was DEFINITELY up for the challenge 😀

 

MAYA has been a real joy to work with; not only in the program itself, but the atmosphere it creates; it represents at its heart Pure Creativity, where anything is possible if you have the drive to try. The on-line community is also incredibly strong; there probably isn’t a single problem that can’;t be fixed by Google-ing and searching through websites like CGSociety or YouTube tutorials. Unlike the comparatively fickle, protective and sometimes overtly hostile realms of Programming forums, 3D forums and their members seem more than willing to lend a helping hand to newcomers trying to navigate through the endless hot-keys, sub-menus and different settings. And you don’t find that kind of attitude everywhere.

Well, following this first update, the final film should be up soon, as well as the long-time-in the making Episode 2 of the VODCAST! 😀 Expect more graphics, some tutorials and plenty of rambling! but in the meantime, have a gander at the test renders and little things I’ve worked on over the months! 😀

Test for a scene from the final animation:

Lighthouse Beacon:

Anti-Aircraft Gun:

 

Well It’s About Time!…

…you know what? Why read when you can watch!

First episode of the regular Vodcast 😀 If youtube brought you here, welcome!

 

Bricks: laying the foundations of society since 7,000 BC…

Bricks: to the layman, they’re a resource. To a home-owner, they stand for stability and safety. For…ermm, brick builders (?), they are a product.

LONDON BABY!!

Friday 28th October saw the groups first education trip (unless you count the epic -beer-and-beach trip to Studland back in the induction week) to London. The Victoria and Albert Museum had an exhibition on Post-Modernism, and in his zeal to justify the “Art” in “Arts Univerity College at Bournemouth”, Phil booked us to see it :P.

I personally am not a fan of Modernism, almost as much as I’m not a fan of Modernism: although I laud the ideals of being against the Meta-narrative, and breaking down the stark cultural divisions and classifications of society, I find the whole aesthetic of Post-Modernism visually jarring, and the idea of a “Post” movement abhorrent: a area of art that picks over the corpse of a movement that came before.

As ever, exhibition road was heaving, especially with the half term influx of screaming children and exhausted parents. The V&A exudes an aura of old world class and modern practicality, much like British Museum and the Tate Gallery. In addition to the Post Modernism exhibition, there was a small but exciting exhibition on the Power of Making:

Power of Making from Victoria and Albert Museum on Vimeo.

It is a testament to the curators that the displays of French, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese artwork were so enthralling: the 30 minutes before we entered the Post Modernism exhibit were filled with artistic enrichment that interested everyone: gone are the days of dusty, boring old museums.

The exhibition itself was well structured, informative and well designed; but. Just like the movement it documented, it left me puzzled and a little cold. After reading all of the information, sometimes twice, I was constantly left with a small part of me asking: why?

For me, artistic reasoning is mostly about aesthetics: “I used more darkness and contrast to bring out the vibrance and radiance of the lights on the Christmas tree” etc. I understand, and as a practitioner, have to use theory based justifications for my work, but when it came to Post Modernism, that justification seemed to completely escape me 😦

That said, I’m still glad for the opportunity to have explored deeper into that most controversial of artistic movements, and although I have come away only slightly less puzzled or hostile towards it, as they say, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. And I plan on keeping Post-Modernism very close indeed, lest it come back from the grave to haunt us once again (;

So, despite having lost my wallet (which I have, as we speak, just reclaimed from a hilariously stereotypical Metropolitan Police Station) it was a thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile trip 😀 Thanks Phil!