Final DVD case and disk.

Infinitus Artificium DVD case and disk design

 

Here are the desings for Infinitus Artificium's DVD and DVD case.

 

I wanted quite a simple yet effective look to it. In using two of the origional concept drawings i made for the animatic, I decided to blow them up and place them to one side of the cover/DVD to give it a sort of tease as to what this short is about.

I also wanted to show that it was based on the use of dance and art aswell as mentioning that there is a string quartet playing the piece.

 

 

DVD leaflette

DVD print

Motion Capture - Falmouth University, January 2013

A behind the scenes sneak preview of the motion capture work for Infinitus Artificium.

With this session we did a whole day in the studio getting all of the footage done.
We did hit a few moments were the balls were not being scanned with the cameras if the figures were laying down or being lifted by the other. But we sorted a few of these problems by just re-adjusting a few of the balls so that they would be visible. If that failed Jens had to go through afterwards and do a cleaning session with the footage.

Within the next two days or so I shall post a few of the footage/clips from the motion capture session so you can see what its starting to form into!

Project document for pitch (Infinitus Artificium)

Infinitus Artificium

Life drawing

Motion Capture - Infinitus Artificium.

My project will be done digitally but using both digital forms. I will be using 2D for its classical form and for the finale i shall be using the 3D aspect as if its a evolution towards modern art.

It has been discussed that we shall be using motion capture for this stage and animate from that.
As an example here are two videos which show what we would want from this process.

http://lauren-jansons.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/sound-sculpture.html

http://lauren-jansons.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/infinitus-artificium-animation-research.html

The way we would make the 3D look organic is having it set in a specific medium. For instance charchol, Ink, Paint, Lead. And how they could be affect as if drawing. For instance if its charcol dust could fall off the line work of the figure or flecks or shardes of charcol could come loose from the figure. The same with ink. The ink could 'bleed' from the figure and stain the figure as if it were the shadows of the figure.

for an example here are life drawing pieces which use the two elements. now just imagine them to be digitaly animated and continously moving.

I think i would want the female character to play the part of ink and the male to play the part of charcol. Because the part were both the characters are on screen the female dancer fears the male dancer, and i think charcol could be a feared element and very dark and dangerous. whilst the female/ ink is fluid and easy to slip through but at the same time fragile looking and easy to ruin. But then it breaks through and is vibrant and strong

It would be interesting to see the two elements touch and see the reaction between the two mediums.

The motion capture studio.

We have just been given a motion capture studio on campus which is incredibly usefull for this project. Its a small (ish) room but enough to work with and it is run along with a man called Jens Meisner.

http://www.digitalstages.com/pages/about

Who has worked with motion capture for a long time and is willing to help out with this project! which is awsome. we met up yesturday with the dancers and had a look around the studio and met with Jens. On thursday the 1rst we get to go in and do a few test runs and see if we can work with it and see how it looks with the dancers. which is incredibly excting!

There will be pictures and test shots ^_^

Stills of the dancers

Her are some stills of what the dancers are working on at the moment.

I was first sent these shots

Which concentrate a lot on the lifts. Already this looks exciting and looks visually exciting. However i looked at one still which is the last still were the female dancer is bent over his shoulder. I found the angle to be a bit odd looking and not very elegant. I sent an email to Katie who is the choreographer for this project and asked if she could do the lift again but from the side, so you could see the two bodies and how the female dancer has curved herself to fit around the male dancers. This is the photo they sent back.

This photo instantly looks better from this angle as you can see the lovely curves and line work of the female body and how strong and steady the male is positioned.

This has made me take into account as to what angles would instantly look more appealing to the viewer and what would help define the figures. So when filimg for the reference and the animatic i will be finding a cinamotographer for the filming so they can help define the perfect angles for this peice and what is the best point of view for the movement of the dancers.

The slide show

For the first pitch we had to put together a small presentation with what we had at the moment and what we could show to the rest of the year and basically sell our idea to see if anyone would be interested in joining.

So heres the show =]

                                                                                                                                                  

1.

Introduction.

For my project it is an exploration into the 3 art forms.

MUSIC

DANCE

and

ART

It will be in collaboration with students from dartington who study within the music and dance courses. The animation will be up to 1:50 minutes at most 2 minutes.

Throughout this piece it will show different art forms which help depict the human body in movement. The art style would be mostly based around different forms of life drawing but due to it being an experimental piece, more art forms can be included providing it works and flows.

                                                                                                                                                   

2.

Life drawing art style.

Here are a few examples of life drawings which i have created to help understand the style i would like the piece to look like. The human forms will be displayed in fluid lines and over exagereated line work depending on the movement of the dancer(s)

The animation will be created mostly in 2D but I am willing for any 3D pieces providing they look organic and flow easily with the rest of the piece.

                                                                                                                                                   

3.

Classic art styles.

Other examples of art styles which flow the life drawing effect are Dali, Egon Sheile, Botticelli and Kathe Kallowitz who relay a lot on the human body. As you can see these figures show a lot of emotion and character and would work well in an animation piece. baring in mind these are only guide lines to the art styles i am looking for. 

                                                                                                                                                   

4.

Modern art

If the classic style isnt what you are looking for I also have modern artists who bare this in mind such as Amos, Iemza and San, who display their human figures in ever moving formations. Again the line work on these examples are free flowing which is vital in this project. Again these artists are only guide lines of what you can do.

                                                                                                                                                   

5.

Dance video

Here is a short video of what the dancers are currently up too. The dancers contain 2 females and 2 males and will collaborate and work with each other. The composer attends these rehearsals to get an understanding of the movement and will be influenced with this whilst creating the music. 

The music will be an electric classical containing piano, violin and cello. A good example is Escalla, who are a string quartet. 

At the moment both the dancers and composer are working to 4 tracks which i have chosen so that they can understand the music they will be working with.

                                                                                                                                                   

6.

Final words.

During the early stages the animators working on this project will be attending some of these rehearsals and will need to bring drawing equipment to get a better understanding of the dancers and once they start animating, will have plenty of reference to work with.

The project will contain 3 main emotions which will be shown through all 3 mediums in a collaboration of disciplines  These will be 'joy' which will be at the beginning leading into 'fear' then finally 'hope'. Which will be a grand finale of how powerful all 3 mediums can be. 

The story between the 3 emotions will be shown through the use of the dance whilst the music and art hold it up and present it.

In conclusion to this pitch, Infinitus Artificium will show beauty behind music, dance and art.

                                                                                                                                                   

Life drawing

Infinitus Artificium - Production talk

So ive just had a meeting with one of my course lectuers and explained my idea and how itll look and work.
From this i was given some stuff to think about and their concerns towards the project (these are not their actual words but an outline of what was mentioned);
                                                                                                                                                  

C.L - Think about possibly putting in a story or at least a narrative to help understand what the story is about.

Me - what i want from this project is to help people use their imagination and to show them what you can do with the imagination through music, dance and art! that everything has a story, but people may read the stories in different and unique ways! hence why i dont want to have a story in mine. Ill put in an outline towards how you can watch and listen to these art styles but i want the viewer to do the rest. The base for this project is showing the figure in movement in different variations. Generally with the dance rehersals a story will form so that they can understand were to go with the project but in the end it will be down to the viewer, my project is just the starting point. The art is what makes the piece.

C.L - Your animators could do a completly different style to how you want and take over your project and not make it yours anymore.

Me -  I want people to experiment and to show me how they view a dance movement, how they imagine to movement to look! Inwhich i shall view a test of what they want to put towards this project and decide wether or not it is worth putting in and if it will flow well with the rest of the work. If it doesnt i will point them into a direction were they can still use their art style but modify it to fit within the piece! I have no intension of having pieces of art i think will not flow, and i intend on being very strict with this project as it is what i want! but i also want people to enjoy it in ways they think works well. Its not a set in stone art style, but there are guide lines to follow to make sure it flows nicely.

C.L - How will the collaboration work with the dancers, music composer and yourself?

Me - I live with Katie who is the choreographer for this project. And am very close to Nicky, the music composer. I havent chosen them due to friendship but because i know their work, i beleive that what they can give me, towards this project, will be brilliant and exactly how i imagined it. And that they will take critisism on board.
With Katie I have asked her to film the sequences they do each time they reherse and watch them to see how the progress is going. We also have daily chats inwhich we discuss anything that we think could be influencial towards this piece, and in what direction we can go with it. I will also be attending Their rehersal sessions inwhich i can put my input and discuss any plans of actions.
Once i get some animators on board aswell i will have them attend some of these rehersals with drawing equipment, inwhich they will draw the dancers in movement, and get an understanding of how they move and what their characters and emtions are. Which will make them ready for the animation stage, as they will have enough references from these rehersals to work with.

Regarding music i have weekly meetings with Nicky, and we swap over music that we think would go well with the dancers and How we want the music to show through! in these meeting we will write some music and discuss any routes around things, bearing in mind how the dancers can move to it. I will also have Katie attend some of these meeting or as much as possible so that she can put some input towards it regarding the dancing side of it.
From the very beginning the 3 art forms will be working as one. I have chosen four to five specific songs which i think the music would sound like (which i have posted on this blog) which Nicky can work with to create the music i want. Ive also given the music to the dancers so that they can get an understanding as to the type of music they will be working with. Nicky is also going to try and make it to some of the dance rehersals so that she can be influenced by some of the experimental movements the dancers have come up with.

Its a bit like a triangle. The music is influenced by the movement of the dancers and the art behind the animation. The dance is influenced by the music and influenced by how the animation can interprit their movement. The animation is influenced by how the music expresses the dancers movement while the movement of the dancers express the reasoning behind the music. To acheive this everyone must work with each other closely. Which is already in motion.

Meet the crew

Lauren Jansons

 

Director.

 head animator.

 

                                                                                                                                      

 

 

Omari McCarthy

Producer.
animator.

 

                                                                                                                                                   

Nicky Swan

 

Composer.

                                                                                                                                                   

                                          

Katie Dale-Everett

 

Director of choreography. 

                                                                                                                                                 

 

Kaasam Ali Aziz

Dancer.

 

 

                                                                                                                                   

 

 

 

Grace Nicol

 

Dancer.

 

                                                                                                                                   

 

 

 

Stu Whitten

Motion Capture director.
Animator.