Moon designs

I think it will be easier for me to animate if I simply the design of the moon. I like the cutting edge of the hexagon shaped one, however if I have the moon more rounded it will enable me to manipulate its movement more, and ill be able to do the animation principle squash and stretch more easily. For this reason, I am going to go with the design of the bottom left moon. 

Fishermens movement research

Watching this footage from YouTube, I paused the video where I saw key movements of his actions of swinging the line and reeling it in. From my sketches, I have identified a pattern that continued in his movements through out the clip. Despite making different swings, he continued to form similar, repeated shapes and arm positions, which can be seen in my drawings through different parts of the clip:

 

notes from his movements:

-His body is never symmetrically portioned.

- when the reel is out, his spine is mostly in a 'S' shape, his chest leaning forwards and his lower end pointing backwards outwards.

-What ever position, when the reel is out- the  hands seems to be mirrored against each other.

- One hand is at the real, the other one is under.

-When the puts the fishing rod behind him, he twists to the left. The rod itself goes downwards from the left in a rotational circle when swung.  

 Redrew simplified versions of the drawings to note the line of actions. In all of his movement he tends to have an 's' shape going through him as he twists and turns. In my animation I shall exaggerate this greatly.

Fishing tutorials for refferenceing movement of fishermen

I decided to research different videos of fishermen movement with fishing rods, I drew some reference drawings of key movements.

 Although my animated person will be less detailed and realistic, This has helped me note the way a fishing rod is held, and reeled. In my animation, I will recreate this relationship with the rod, and both hands. However this was just a tutorial how to reel a rod, and is not the actual live movement, so I would like to research further.

Exaggerated drawings of fising reel

Rough sketchs of how I would imagine the movements to be, however I am going to research the real movements. Based off my sketches, I like the back being arched back as the person tries to pull the moon. This will most likely be one of the extreme actions and key frames. I like the positioning of the man arching to the left or right, I feel this makes the movement look realistic and clear. It also gives a nice chance of line of action, and creates nice shapes.  

Experimenting with eyes

I found that the more rounded the eyes, my character began to look more sinister. However on the middle left, I like the effect the eyes have because of this.

There is a sense of worry, seriousness to her character, an critical observational look to her face, that portraits her personality in a different light. I feel that 'tea feather' would be a more analysing, thoughtful character if I were to give her a face like that. There is a sense of doubt, and youthfulness to her also. Previously I believed Tea feather to be an adventurous heroic character, which this expression makes this character more complex considering it is not a traditional heroic expression.
I diss like the above eye shapes, on the right she looks far to grown up and serious, however there is  a sense of amusement that I would like my character to express.

I like the black dots for eyes, however this makes her look rather ragdoll like and perhaps overly feminine, which may be hard to represent her as this powerful character if it falls under stereotypical looks and negative stereotypes.

http://craftywriters.club/reading/christopher-vogler-the-writers-journey.pdf

© 2007 Christopher Vogler First Printing October 1998 

Published by Michael Wiese Productions 

Studio City, CA

'mystic structures for writers' 3rd edition



quotes:

'films drew people in this special way because they reflected the universally satisfying patterns Campbell found in myths.They had something people needed.' p. xviii

'Campbell had described how heroes often encounter these "unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces, some of which severely threaten" them' p. xxx

'Jung sug­gested that these archetypes reflect different aspects of the human mind — that our personalities divide themselves into these characters to play out the drama of our lives. He noticed a strong correspondence between his patients' dream figures and the common archetypes of mythology. He suggested that both were coming from a deeper source, in the collective unconscious of the human race. ' p. 4 

'The repeating characters of world myth such as the young hero, the wise old man or woman, the shapeshifter, and the shadowy antagonist are the same as the fig­ures who appear repeatedly in our dreams and fantasies.That's why myths and most stories constructed on the mythological model have the ring of psychological truth.' p.4 

'Such stories are accurate models of the workings of the human mind, true maps of the psyche. They are psychologically valid and emotionally realistic even when they portray fantastic, impossible, or unreal events.' p.4 

But there are as many stories that take the hero on an inward journey, one of the mind, the heart, the spirit. In any good story the hero grows and changes, mak­ ing a journey from one way of being to the next: from despair to hope, weakness to strength, folly to wisdom, love to hate, and back again. It's these emotional journeys that hook an audience and make a story worth watching. 

The stages of the Hero's Journey can be traced in all kinds of stories, not just those that feature "heroic" physical action and adventure. The protagonist of every story is the hero of a journey, even if the path leads only into his own mind or into the realm of relationships. 

p.7

1. Heroes are introduced in the ORDINARY WORLD, where
2. they receive the CALL TO ADVENTURE.
3.They are RELUCTANT at first or REFUSE THE CALL, but 4. are encouraged by a MENTOR to
5. CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD and enter the Special World, where
6. they encounter TESTS, ALLIES, AND ENEMIES.
7.They APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE, crossing a second
threshold
8. where they endure the ORDEAL.
9.They take possession of their REWARD and
10. are pursued on THE ROAD BACK to the Ordinary World.
11. They cross the third threshold, experience a RESURRECTION,
and are transformed by the experience.
12.TheyRETURN WITHTHE ELIXIR,aboonortreasure to
benefit the Ordinary World. 
p.19

he values of the Hero's Journey are what's important. The images of the basic version — young heroes seeking magic swords from old wizards, maidens risking death to save loved ones, knights riding off to fight evil dragons in deep caves, and so on — are just symbols of universal life experiences. p.19


Changing the traditional sex and relative ages of the archetypes only makes it more interesting, and allows ever more complex webs of understanding to be spun among them. The basic figures can be combined, or each can be divided into several characters to show different aspects of the same idea. p.g 20. 

A Hero is someone who is willing to sacrifice his own needs on behalf of others, like a shepherd who will sacrifice to protect and serve his
flock. At the root the idea of Hero is connected with self-sacrifice. (Note that I use the word Hero to describe a central character or protagonist of either sex.) p.29

'The Hero archetype represents the ego's search for identity and wholeness. '

'Heroes have qualities that we all can identify with and recognize in ourselves. They are propelled by universal drives that we can all understand: the desire to be loved and understood, to succeed, survive, be free, get revenge, right wrongs, or seek self-expression.' 

Heroes should have universal qualities, emotions, and motivations that everyone has experienced at one time or another: revenge, anger, lust, competition, territoriality, patriotism, idealism, cynicism, or despair. But Heroes must also be unique human beings, rather than stereotypical creatures or tin gods without flaws HERO

or unpredictability.  p.30

We want stories about real people. A real character, like a real person, is not just a single trait but a unique combination of many qualities and drives, some of them conflicting. And the more conflicting, the better. A character torn by warring allegiances to love and duty is inherently interesting to an audience. A character who has a unique combination of contradictory impulses, such as trust and suspicion or hope and despair, seems more realistic and human than one who displays only one character trait. 

Storyboard ideas for animation excersice of extremes of movement

 My two different  storyboards ideas consist of ;
1: A larger man giving balloons to a smaller man, who is over powered by the balloons, and  have to fight back with them.
2: A man who tries to capture the moon with a fishing rod, once he reels the moon in its too big and bounces everywhere, squishing him in the process.

Idea 1:

frame one:

Heavy weighted man can easily handle and out power the balloons. His movements are slow but powerful- the balloons being dragged along, made to look light weight.
In this frame, he drags the balloons with ease in his one hand.



frame two:

Once again with ease, and strong movement, he moves the balloons and hands it over. (balloons are flung around, move like crazy with short amount of frames to show speed).








                                        frame three:

Hands over to the balloons to the skinner gent, who is much lighter weight.











                                        Frame four:
The balloons are far to heavy for him to handle, they pull his arm forward, back and spins him around. The balloons then make him lunge forwards.












                                         Frame five:

                               

The man tries with all his might to pull the balloons and fight back,      

 bending his spine backwards, arching his back. Stuck in this  shape

 the balloon begins to drag him with his feet on the up trying to stop it.

                                          Idea 2:

Frame one:

A bubble like man, tries to steal the moon, using a fishing rod. He anticipates before he swings his fishing rod.

                                        

 Frame two:
 The rod swings with speed and quickness.










Frame three:

His rod lassoes on to the moon, he struggles to pull it. It takes a lot

of  movement and poses of him trying to drag it down.

Frame four:

 As he slowly drags down the moon, the moon begins to enlarge. Quickly engaging with gravity, the moon comes to earth with speed, squishing the man.

                                           Frame 5:

 Acting like a ball, the moon bounces around showing  properties of 'squash

                                          and stretch'.

    I think Idea one would take up more frames, having more actions taking place and having two characters may make it too complex for a dynamic exercise. If I were to do idea one, it would should show weight/effort and speed/acceleration.
The second idea I believe would give me more opportunities to show extremes of movement, for example: -weight and effort, of the man dragging the moon down. Speed/ acceleration, when the rod flies into the sky, and when the moon comes crashing down. Squash and stretch, when the moon bounces around like a ball, and finally impact/ reaction when the man is squished. The moon will be a more simplified design, with only one character. Do only two main actions; fishing for the moon, and the moons impact with earth, it will take up less frames (being limited to only 50-70) its essential I use less frames as possible. Additionally, the moon ideas gives me a chance to really exaggerate movements and practice with anticipation.