Friday 9 November 2012

Initial Layouts

So here are some of my initial blockouts, just trying to get my ideas down. I started thinking about my blockouts from what I'm aiming to see for my final piece. Specifically thinking about the final shot from the start should help me get a better composition and make me think about presenting it better.

Below is the progression from my initial ideas through to where they are now. It's not all that much so far but it's a start. 


  

So this is my first blockout just putting down the basic shapes that I'm thinking about. Just thinking about the larger industrial details and leaving much to the detail on the store fronts until later.


Even at this stage I can see some problems with the composition and general scene. So already I can see that I have to really think about the signs and how much they block the view of the skyline. I also found that I need a stronger focal point closer to the camera as it was feeling drab and bare.


Here is my first revision, as you can see I fixed focal point problem by adding in something close to the camera. Haven't quite figured out what yet, I'm thinking like a small restaurant or something. I've also added a lot more smaller details to give the scene some life.


So again, some more revisions. I think that it needs to be wider, but I'm not sure about this. I'll need to take it into UDK to test scale. I don't want it to be too wide otherwise it'll lose the compact feeling I like. But again I'm having trouble with the skyline. I think it would be good to have the skyline visible as a way to draw the viewers eye in towards the piece but I keep cluttering it up and blocking it.


And here is the layout so far from a more overview. It's still early days and needs a lot of work, but I've got the time to revise it and tune it to a better more realised idea.

Thursday 8 November 2012

Some Artistic Ref

So this post is mainly about the more artistic ref that I've been looking at to sort of gauge colour and lighting. Most of the lighting and atmosphere I have taken from the images on my previous post as I believe them to be truly astounding in themselves. But these are mainly images that I like based on composition and colour. There are obviously a tonne more but they'll probably come up in later posts.



Although this piece is not really the style of environment that I'm looking for. I do like the rain and atmosphere to it. This sort of atmosphere, except the fire, is something that I would be trying to replicate for my fmp. 


I absolutely love this image. Obviously it's not the scene that I'll be aiming for. But I really lovely the colour in this. I will definitely be aiming to replicate this sort of colour scheme and vibrancy through my concepting and planning stages to see if it's at all applicable to my final scene. Plus, the fireworks are so pretty.


I really love the colour and composition to this piece. It is certainly one of the more inspirational pieces for me. I particularly like the colour scheme to this and it's certainly the type of colour scheme I'll ultimately end up with. I also like the composition in the way that draws the eye down the street to a larger structure at the end.


This shares a very similar composition to the previous piece but with an almost opposite type of colour scheme. This scene is far closer to what I'm aiming for, perhaps not as futuristic and more traditional.


Below are some of the original sketches for the film Tekkonkinkreet. I really love the concepts for this film but also the style and locale. The pencil sketches are from the art book that I'm hoping that I'll be able to get if it's not too expensive. But I will probably end up heavily referencing these, especially the last image. It is almost exactly what I had envisioned, though perhaps maybe a little more grimy.





Initial Ideas

So this time of year...again. Having done fmp before, well started it and done the whole planning processes, I know what to expect from it this year and I know how much time I have realistically. Last year I discovered that my idea was far too grandiose for the time limit, even though I hadn't planned it to be too large in scale. So this year I'm aiming for something far more manageable in terms of scale and time.

So with this project I was thinking that I would do a scene based on the back alleys from Japan, specifically Shinjuku in Tokyo. I really love the atmosphere and lighting from these alleyways. My initial idea, well not my initial idea but a more refined version, is to have the scene raining so that I can get that some really nice reflections of lighting.

Below are some of the moodboards I created taking shots from areas that I particularly liked. 


This is the Golden Gai area of Shinjuku. The parts that I liked about this area are mainly the lighting but also some of the architectural elements. This would probably be used as reference more than anything as it's quite dull and grey.


This is Hozenji in Kyoto. I really love this area, I think it has such a nice aesthetic. There are some really lovely architectural elements in this area, especially the traditional elements. It also has some really nice lighting.


This is Kabukicho. It's not necessarily like an alleyway that I was looking for, but I really liked it for the neon signs. I'm looking to have a lot, or at least a fair few, neon signs as I believe that it will allow me to have some really nice lighting and atmosphere in my scene.


Nonbei, this is one of my favourite areas from Shinjuku. I really love the whole aesthetic and the atmosphere in these shots. There's just such nice lighting here, especially in the shots that have the wet flooring and some great reflections. As well as some of the architecture. Overall it was very much the inspiration for this project.


Omoide is another one of the areas that was of a great inspiration to me. Again, the lighting and overall aesthetic is great. But this one if more for the interesting detailing and industrial feel it has. There are some really interesting industrial architectural elements that I would love to have in my scene to add a nice juxtaposition to the traditional elements that I'm also hoping to achieve.  


Pontocho is another area from Kyoto that has a much nicer, more traditional feel to it. I really like this style and I would hope to have a lot of this in my scene to get a nice contrast between the traditional and the modern.


Finally, is Shomben, also known as Piss Alley interestingly enough. This is one area that I liked for the more industrial feel to it. Much more interesting to me to have a nice mix of styles but blending it together into a nice scene.


So I've collected all my ideas, and more some, into a moodboard just illustrating my general thought patterns. So at the centre is a really rough sketch of what I want my final scene, just looking at a sort of composition that I like and that could work. Obviously, subject to change. And then around that are the images that I like for the specific areas. As you can see, I've segmented the composition into three separate elements, all coloured coded of course. There split into; pink, the much more modern and slick, predominantly the neon signs at the top most level. Blue; the slightly less modern more industrial elements at the mid level. And green; the lower level that's more traditional. 

However, with my fmp this scene is far more of a backdrop to what I want the outcome of my fmp. The main outcome that I'm aiming for is the rain effect. The scene is, as I've said, a mere back drop. I want to focus predominantly on the rain effect, from the particle systems to the shaders and full on screen effects. This is what I'm trying to get out of this project.

So yeah, that's my idea.