Faculty Review

Wow that was no fun. Before I go on to that, what I've done since I last blogged:
-downloaded a black widow model off turbo squid. I gave up on trying to use the time to model my own.
-got my production schedule and animatic down, really getting into execution now.

So as for the faculty review: I feel like I have to rethink everything now! Gavin said he didn't "get" what was going on. I thought it was pretty clear if you listened to the voiceover. I have to restyle everything and make it easier to understand, and make the voiceover clearer. Somehow. I want to make the visuals more CSI like....I'm going to talk to John Qualter this week about a good way to get the effect I want. I'm also planning on meeting with Gavin more throughout the semester to make sure I'm going in the direction that will earn me his "pass" vote at the end of the semester. I was thinking I was doing great last week, now, not so sure.

New Start

Its been a while since I've blogged...probably because I've been redoing previs! Which is both very helpful and VERY frustrating! I wish I had all of this HELPFUL feedback last semester. I've redone story, storyboards, visual script, scrip and animatic. Hopefully this means that I'm finally on the right track! I'm much more comfortable with where I am now than where I was at the end of last semester. I've redone my production schedule and now I just have a whole lot of work to do in the next 10-12 weeks. Over the summer, I met with Joe Barton, who is a script writer in NYC, and he did a great job helping me re-think my story. We met a couple times and got a great script out of it....a great 3 minute long script. Which I have learned will NOT be ok, maybe for the director's cut as Patricia calls it. So now I'm really concentrating on my visuals, and then the scrip and audio will complement them, so I'll obviously really have to re think this script, and re write. That's what this week is for. So hopefully, by next thesis meeting, i'll have a new animatic, and a a better working script for the time I have to complete this project. The next couple months are gonna be just fabulous...

Butterflies...

Wow, it's been a while since I posted! It's summer, I'm working two jobs, and trying to figure out this thesis stuff all at the same time! What I've been i[ to since school got out in regards to my thesis: I met with Mike Cushney (sp?) and we talked about my project for a long time. Basically I feel like I have to redo our previz semester, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this. I was at a dead and, and what I ended up with in May was not really what I was trying to come up with in January. I've talked with a bunch of writers and met someone who was a script writer in NYC, and had also gotten bitten, twice, by a Black Widow Spider! And for the real catcher, his name is Joe, which was the original name of my character! I thought he should definitely write my script. He's done a couple of drafts for me, and we're working together to get the right balance of medical terminology and entertaining narration. By reworking my script with a professional, I'm reworking my story. When we finally get the script where we want it, I'll redo my storyboards and animatic. This is what I'm thinking right now: I don't want to shoot live video. I don't have experience doing it, it's not what I'm trying to show in my thesis, and I will probably never need to do it again. Therefore, my challenge is, how do I tell my story without it? What I've come up with is a sequence of still images. I'd shoot a bunch of digital photographs of an actor, and then I'd pan over them, and move them in and out of the frame. My main focus is going to be the modeling and animation going on INSIDE the human body, so I don't want to focus on the outside as much. It will almost be like a film strip, where you have one still image, that image gets smaller and moves to the upper left side of the screen, then another still image fills the screen, and then that one moves to the left side under the first one, and it keeps going like this, so you have past images on the left side of the screen in a vertical way, and the new images keep popping up and filling the screen in order to tell the story, along with the narration. My writer is actually writing about his experience, which is actually very similar to my original idea. I'm not sure if this makes any sense without graphics to accompany it, so hopefully within the next couple of weeks I'll have an animatic to share with you. Until then, any comments would be helpful and greatly appreciated! I hope you're all having a great summer!

Progress

So it's been a while since I posted last, I keep forgetting! It's been a crazy couple of weeks, finishing projects, and it's going to be a crazy next couple of weeks. I've been working on completely redoing my animatic and figuring out the best way to show what will eventually be my 3D organs inside the body so that the audience can understand what I'm trying to say. I also need to record a voiceover, but I have all of my sound FX. I've been working on the paper also, but I'm a little confused about the research part. Are we supposed to use the same research as we had for our midterm deliverables, or should we be doing different research? I've also made a rough Gandtt chart for this summer and the thesis semester, and it's really scary! I have so much to do, and still to learn, before this fall. I have a bit of live action footage that I need to shoot and edit/composite for my thesis, and I'm not sure exactly how to do it, aka have no clue because I've never done it before. SO if there are any volunteers who'd like to help me out and will be here this summer I'd love to know! I'm guessing i will just be able to borrow the equipment from CADA? Any advice would be appreciated! Good luck to everyone in the next couple of weeks!

My Script

Here's my current script. I'm making sure it will fit in time with my animatic, but let me know if anyone thinks it's too much info. It should definitely teach you something!
Widow's Peak Script

Script

In preparation to present my new animatic, I'm writing a scrip that I can read while the animatic is playing. Mitch has been telling me that I need to show how myc thesis will teach the viewer. The whole point is that it will show realistic looking 3D images of venom traveling through the bloodstream, as well as the organs that the venom is affecting. Without these 3D models, it's hard to show exactly how it will look and the effect that it will have. I'm going to try to show this as well as I can through my 2D animatic, and reading the script while it is playing will also help. I'll post the script as soon as I have it done.

"Live Action" pictures

So these are obviously right out of my camera, but I uploaded them so that I can work on them in photoshop tomorrow from a different computer, and I thought I might as well post them here for you all to see. My sister's name is Lynzi, she's 14 and would kill me if she knew how many people were seeing her making funny faces. Anyway, I'm not sure what I'll use out of this, but its a start to making a more realistic looking animatic.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1512.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1513.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1516.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1514.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1522.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1517-1.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1519.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1520.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1521.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1523.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1524.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1532.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1531.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1530.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1533.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1534.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1535.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/ndeluccia/100_1536.jpg

New thoughts...

Thanks for all of the responses about my girl/boy issue. I agree that a guy camper might do better for my story, however, since I'm with my sister for the weekend, she'll be the one I use for now. I've taken some live action shots of her that I'm putting into my animatic. I've also been watching my "I Shouldn't Be Alive" DVDs this weekend. I'm not sure how similar I can make my thesis. Obviously, mine will have a sort of comedic flair, which the show certainly does not. Also, in the show, they do interviews with the survivors, and mine is only the story. However, the way they should what is happening inside the body is a look I like. I know I've been thinking about these "Scientific shots" to show what is happening to specific organs. A lot of my comments on this blog have suggested a voice over to make it more understandable. Try to picture this: what if I had a CG body, which was "see through" except for the organs inside, and the way I went from live action to CG was just a quick flash from the camper, to a CG body in the same position as the real camper had been in. From there, we use the fake CG camera to move into the body to an organ that a narrator is talking about, explaining to the viewer what is happening with that specific organ or muscle. I know this deviates a bit from what I previously had been planning, but this is what I've been seeing done in the reference I have been looking at, and I really like the look of the transition. This way I would be better able to show off my modeling skills, but the same body (model) would be used through all of the shots. I'll show a clip of my reference on Wednesday to better explain what I'm talking about. Thanks for reading this long post everyone! Now my question is, should I continue working on an animatic with "scientific shots", or should I work on stills with a CG body to put into the animatic instead? Any ideas??

Progress...

So I've gotten together all of the information I want to use for my "Scientific Screens". I've decided to make them pretty simple, something an average viewer can read and comprehend in 5-7 seconds on screen. I'm also gathering sound effects for all of my shots in my animatic. I have two questions that I'd like to poll you guys on...#1: Is it that big of a deal if my camper is a guy or a girl? My younger sister loves posing for pictures and she'd probably be the easiest for me to use for at least my animatic, but my storyboards featured a male. Big deal or no? #2: Does anyone have any ideas for a "Jaws like" music sequence I can use whenever the spider enters the frame? Let me know! Thanks:-)

Back in Action...

After a relaxing week at the beach...I'm back in NY and ready for the last half of the semester. My "I Shouldn't Be Alive" DVD series was at my apartment waiting for me when I got home, so I'm going to get started on watching a few tonight. I'm also in the process of putting together some images for a new animatic, and trying to figure out my audio. I hope everyone else had a great break!

Progress...

I really would like to have a nice, almost complete animatic in three weeks when I next present. I'm getting together images I can use to replace some of my storyboards. I'm getting together the exact information I want to show on the "scientific screens" also. I'll post next time I have anything new and interesting to say...

Stupid printer...

So I thought I was doing so well, I got my T-shirt transfers last week, and I had my logo done, and I even went to get new ink for my printer today. I get home from class tonight, and after spending 45 minutes trying to fix a paper jam in the printer, I realize that the NEW color ink cartridge I bought for some reason has NO red ink. Yes, red, the main color besides black in my logo. It's almost midnight, when Kinko's closes, so I have no choice but to print my black and yellow logo on a t-shirt. I then realize that the program I am using to open my logo does not mirror images. Photoshop got wiped from my computer a few months ago. OK, so now I spend another half hour trying to figure out how to mirror my image. Thanks to "Adobe Elements", I finally accomplish this task. Now as for the iron. I am not an ironer. At all. I get the front ironed. Now I try to get fancy and put "crew" on the back of my shirt, and end up screwing that up, while melting the image on the front of the shirt to the pillowcase I'm using to iron on the table. I also can't figure out how to turn off the steam, which does not work with the transfers. Needless to say, my t-shirt did not come out the way I had hoped. I'll bring it tomorrow so that I have something, but maybe I'll go to shutterfly and get my logo put on a mug or something. Maybe a mousepad. That would be good. On top of all this, I didn't find a guy willing to take pictures for my animatic. Grrr. No one wants to be the dorky camper. Oh well, I'll keep bugging people I know. Any takers?

Progress

Lately, I've been kind of "coming down" from the mid term. I'm planning on taking some real photos tomorrow to put into my animatic. I'm hoping someone I know is willing to play the camper! We'll see who I can get...I hope everyone else is having some luck!

Deliverables....

I think I'm finally finished! I thought I should address the fact that all of my works cited are electronic. I am waiting for a few books to come in the mail, and I'm obviously planning on finding some more research. At this point, I've only been looking online. I do have quite a bit of info though. I think I've got everything included in my paper...we'll see!

Positive Feedback

While doing research and looking for black widow experts I came across The American Arachnid Society, and their head "expert", Jerome Rovner. I wrote him an email and explained what I was doing, and he gave me contact information for a man named Chuck Christiansen, founder of Spiderpharm.com. Jerome told me he knows more about black widows than anyone else in the world, and supplies their venom to pharmaceutical companies. I emailed Chuck, who got back to me almost immediately with a bunch of scientific articles that show molecular makeup of the venom and antibodies. So exciting! That's exactly what I needed so that I could model them close up. Things seem to be coming together...

Continued research....

I'm continuing to write my paper and figure out where to get some more research for my thesis topic. I visited Barnes and Noble, because I figure I should buy some books on the subject and not just borrow them, but they didn't have anything I needed. I'm going to try a few other book stores tomorrow. I'm waiting for some email replies and seeking out experts on the subject of spiders and poisonous venoms. I'll keep everyone posted on any new happenings....

Finally!

My storyboards are finally working! Take a look.

Storyboards again...

Storyboard troubles and Current Progress..

Sorry that my storyboards are so small! I'm working on a way to be able to click on them and make them bigger, if anyone has any suggestions let me know!
My current state is RESEARCH...there's a lot of specifics I don't know about, so I'm currently researching books I can buy and experts I can get in touch with....I'll post when I find something!

Widow's Peak Logo

I've made a logo for now, it shows where I am visually in my project. I don't want this to be my final logo, because I want the spider that is in the logo to be one that I modeled eventually. The text is visually in the shape of a mountain, which refers to the campsite. Any input and more ideas would be appreciated!

Storyboards and Visuals

I'm continuing to draw out new and more detailed storyboards. I'm also taking some photos that I can use to show my live video shots. I need to find a visual of a spider that will be used in my logo, which will eventually be the spider I model in Maya. The storyboards should all be posted later today.

Next step for "Widow's Peak"...

I feel like I've done quite a bit of research on my spider, so now I need to start with my camper. Most of the shots of the camper, except for the closeup of his arm and inside his body, will be live action. I therefore need to find my camper. I also need to find someone to help me with the live action shots. For now, I'm going to redo my storyboards, getting much more detailed on my "flash" shots, which show large amounts of time and action in short flash shot sequences. I also need to decide on my AfterEffects look, and study up on how to create it. In the meantime, I will take still images of my live action footage to get a better visual idea and time line of my story. I will post them when they're complete.

Visuals..

This is a Black Widow Spider, courtesy of http://www.archaeologyfieldwork.com/images/healthandsafety/blackwidow.jpg



Closeup of hourglass marking on Black Widow spider, courtesy of http://www.abdn.ac.uk/emunit/emunit/lm%20web/pages/black%20widow%20spider.htm



Closeup of spider eyes, since I will be modeling the spider in CG, I want to get very detailed and will need close up images like this as reference. This is courtesy of, http://www.abdn.ac.uk/emunit/emunit/lm%20web/pages/black%20widow%20spider%20eyes.htm



This is a CG spider I found at the microsoft gaming website. I would like my modeled spider to be much more detailed and "scary" looking than this one, but it's a good start. Courtesy, http://www.microsoft.com/games/impossiblecreatures/ss_black_widow_spider.asp



One example of a Black Widow spider bite, courtesy of http://www.brownreclusespider.org/black-widow-spider/black-widow-spider-bite.htm



Another spider bite example, this is what they call an "abnormal" black widow bite, courtesy of http://www.ecureme.com/atlas/data/Black_Widow_Spider_Bite550_ab.htm

Research

I have been doing a bunch of research on spiders, and the consensus seems to be that Black Widows are the most dangerous, yet common in the American South all the way up to Canada. This makes my story somewhat realistic. I've also been trying to figure out common symptoms of a spider bite. According to my research, here are a few:

-sometimes victim will experience pain at site of bit, but danger is that they may not
-abdominal pains
-sore muscles, especially feet
-dry mouth
-paralyzed diaphragm
-excessive sweating
-swollen eyelids
-difficulty breathing

According to this article, the victim is usually given anti-venom or calcium gluconate.
Source: www.badspiderbites.com/black-widow-spider.php

About Black Widow Spiders:

-most common poisonous spider bite in the United States
-spins irregular web in crevices/dark places
-long legs with dark black bodies, female has distinctive red hourglass-shape marking on abdomen
-female is poisonous, male is not
-local pain and swelling at sit of bite, pain maximizes after 1-3 hours
-bites can be fatal, but less than 1% result in death

Source: http://nd.essortment.com/poisonousspider_rlpt.htm

More specific symptoms of BW spider bite:

-four species of Black Widows, all have strong venom
-bite is not always felt, but when it is, feels like a pin prick
-initial pain dissapears rapidly leaving a local swelling and two tiny red spots that appear at site
-muscular cramps in shoulder, thigh and back usually begin within 15 minutes to three hours
-severe cases cause pain spreads to abdomen, blood pressure rises, there is nausea and exessive sweating, as well as difficulty breathing
-death may result depending on the victim's age, physical condition and location of the bite

Physical appearence of BW spider:

-Southern BW spider: shiny, jet black color w/ red hourglass marking on underside of abdomen and another resd spot at tip end of abdomen
-Northern BW spider: row of red spots located in the middle of the back and two reddish triangles located on underside of abdomen, resembling hourglass
-Southern BW is the most widespread widow spider in southern states and is found as far north as Massachusetts
-found outdoors in places such as stumps, wood piles, rodent burrows and storm sewers

Source: http://woodypest.ifas.ufl.edu/spider.htm

Title?

So I slept on it.....if the campers are camping on a mountain, and in the opening shot we pan past a sign showing the name of the mountain/campsite, which is "Widow's Peak", would that me a good title? Ya know, since I'm using a black widow spider?

Title...

I didn't think it would be so hard to come up with a title for this story...everything I think of sounds so corny! Like, "Spider Camp"?? Dumb. Anything to do with "nightmare" seems to sound like a stupid horror movie. I was also thinking of just calling is by the name of the spider, like "Black Widow". That doesn't sound too great to me either though. Does anyone have any ideas??? I'll keep thinking...

Story Beats

Here are what I believe my story beats to be so far:

1. Wide shot: fade in of campsite
2. Camper sleeping inside tent
3. Fade in to spider in background, moving towards camper
4. Spider crawls onto campers arm, quick zoom in to see spider bite camper
5. Zoom in to spider AfterEffects shot: spider rotates while it's name and attributes are typed out on the screen
6. Zoom back to spider, and quick shots of camper crying out in pain, ambulance, hospital lights
7. Cut to venom flowing into blood stream, to respiratory system; AFX shot of lung and list of symptoms camper is experiencing relative to breathing
8. Back to blood stream/venom, zoom to AFX shot of muscle and symptoms camper is experiencing relative to muscular system
9.Back to blood stream, quick cut to anti-venom being injected into camper, then show medicine flow through blood stream
10. Quick shots of camper lying in hospital bed and heart monitors, zoom in on camper's closed eye
11. Pull back on eye, eye opens, reveal camper back in his tent
12. Camper looks relieved, pull back to reveal shadow of a bear outside the tent.

The blog is up...

Welcome to my thesis blog! So far this is what I know....my thesis is about a spider bit and what it does to the victim. I am slowly coming up with a name and logo....I'll keep you posted!