RESEARCH: WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005)

RESEARCH: SHREK 2 (2004)

RESEARCH: THE IRON GIANT (1999)

RESEARCH: JURASSIC PARK (1993)

RESEARCH: HOW TO MAKE SOMETHING LOOK BIG

During the process of creating the storyboards, a question came up: How to make something look big on screen? How to shoot it, light it, compose the shot, so that the 25-foot toy I'm trying to depict does look larger than life? I looked at some films that succeeded in doing that, regardless of being a dinosaur, a robot, or a 25-foot gingerbread monster. Overall, thay all seem to agree in a couple of things: keep the camera at a humanly possible possition and angle and try to have objects in the foreground and background, to establish relationship. Here's clip showing how 1993's milestone in VFX, Jurassic Park did it:
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~rd888/jpc_002.avi

STORYBOARDS

This is my first attempt at visually representing my story with some basic blocking and composition. I will use this to create my script and a more refined and acurate storyboard:
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~rd888/storyboards.pdf

THE INSPIRATION

One thing that I want to be clear about from the beginning is that I am not a character animator and I don’t want the “acting” of this giant toy to be the focus of my piece; I’m not trying to re-create Toy Story here. Also, even though I consider myself to be fairly decent at 3-D modeling, I want to keep the toy as simple as I can, because I think it will be more effective in conveying the message that a simple toy can be better for a child than any of the technologically complex toys of today.
In fact, the inspiration for this piece is a toy that was one of my childhood favorites: Playmobil (picture). Back in the day, it was much simpler that it is today. It was made out of 6 pieces: legs, torso, two arms, head, and hair. It had moving joints at the shoulders, neck and waist, with very limited movement. It always struck of how simple it was, yet so functional. When I start working on the design of my toy, these are the two characteristics I want to carry over.

SYNOPSIS OF THE STORY/CONCEPT

A boy plays with his toys; a dinosaur and an action figure. As the dinosaur is about to eat the action figure, an earth shaking stomp is heard. Aghast, the boy first thinks that the sound was made by his toy dinosaur, but when he hears it again, he is convinced that it is coming from some place else. He stands up and, as an enormous shadow launches over him, drops his toys on the ground. He looks up, but with the sun impairing his eyes, all he can see is an ominous 25-foot tall humanoid silhouette. The gigantic shape takes one step further and, without interference from the sun, the boy can now see that it is in fact a gigantic version of his action figure. The monstrous toy leans down and offers his hand to the boy. The boy willingly jumps inside of it and the toy raises him up. Now, with the boy sitting on his shoulder, the gigantic toy walks off into the sunset.

PRELIMINARY THESIS STATEMENT

Through a combination of live action plates and CG elements I will tell the story of a boy and a 25-foot tall toy. The primary focus of the project will be on compositing to seamlessly integrate 3-D elements and live action.

The First Post

Hi! This blog will be dedicated to my thesis project at NYU Masters Program in Digital Imaging and Design. I will be posting here all my progress, trials and errors throughout the next 2 semesters. This semester is called the thesis previs, when I'll be doing all the praparation, tests and important conceptual decision. So, stay tunned!