I have been trying to test the toon shading on the characters and i now think i will apply this to the final piece, the character below is Gattuso and what i've thought about doing is changing the toon shades to a colour that represents the players nationality, so for example on this character he is Italian and they wear blue kits so i have changed the majority shade to a blue colour the reason i wanted to try this is to make each player more vibrant and look more individual because i want the animation colourful which is also another reason why i have added strokes to the characters which i still have to determine whether i am including the final piece.
Recently i have been modelling the characters and realized very quickly that seven was far too many too make so i decided cut out two of the characters and later in the animation process i may be able to include them by creating them in a 2D form which will also give me a chance to try some mixed media work in this piece.
Through the modelling process i realized many things such as the better you make the models the easier it will be later for you to texture them, also do not add too many/needless edges because this just over complicates the model.
So far i am happy with the models but would like more time to improve them on the texture side of things, on thing i found difficult whilst i was texturing the models was that the UV snapshot image in Photoshop was at times blurry for when creating the textures which was difficult to make accurate textures.
Players below are:
Top left - Ronaldo, top right - Rooney, bottom left - Rio Ferdinand, bottom right - Gattuso, i also have Messi's model to finish too and will put it up soon on the blog. Out of all the charcters i would like to make some changes mainly to Rio and Ronaldo's face but overall i am happy with the outcomes so far.
Messi below
Now i will begin to rig the characters and hopefully have some walk cycles up soon.
At the minute i am creating the models for the animation and because i am fairly new to the 3D process and i have to create SEVEN models and rig them i have decided to break the process down into parts for example i have begun with modelling all the faces first so that i don't forget anything and whilst i am in the flow creating face models i should be able to create them quicker and hopefully keep me on target for the rest off the project.
So i am currently in the modeling stage of the project and had many complications at the beginning but i am picking things up now but i wanted to have the final 3D models smoothed out but during the modeling process I've been experimenting with colour on the 3D models and when the models aren't smoothed and still with the block effect it picks up the surrounding colours and light more effectively which is a major factor for the animation and in certain areas of the model they have their own colour as for if the model was smoothed out it would have a gradient. Another reason i also want this style is because the Johannesburg football stadium (where the final will be held) will have a shell around the stadium which has i similar style so i would like to incorporate that into the style.
To the left is the blocked style which i think will work great to pick up different tones and shades, (green and yellow ambient lights)
One area that i am having trouble with is deciding on what i want for my establishing shot. I know that i want it to show a desert or field but i am having trouble on where the camera should be, how many different shots should there be and how long should it be, so i will look at opening scenes for movies and see how they tackle this problem.
Mission Impossible 2-
For this movie they it looks as if they begin with a shot where a helicopter seems to be patrolling the canyon, flying past mountains which lets you see a large area of the the environment which in turn helps the viewer to get a better idea of where they are. The camera then closes in on the main character who is climbing the mountain but still roaming the scenery capturing both the action and continuing to capture the establishing shots.
I've placed some examples of storyboards below to see how they are structured and give me examples of various styles of storyboarding.
This is a storyboard from the cartoon MIB The series, what i like about this storyboard is that it is clean, neat and you can tell easily what is meant for each frame.
The only thing i would do differently is have some annotation on whats happening and have some arrows to show movement.
This storyboard is from the Street Fighter - Chun Li movie. This is a little different to theexample above in that it does have annotations, has the arrows, and i also like the layout especially the pan section because you can understand better what the scene is meant to look like.
As i have been looking into camera angles for superhero's, i now want to look into camera angles and shots for football adverts, films, cartoons and any other mediums that i think can benefit my animation.
Firstly seeing as there are so many football adverts i will look into them and see what types of angles and shots they tend to go for and try to pick out their strengths and weaknesses if any.
The Spark - Lionel Messi Below is a new advert where one of the best players in the world (who will be in my animation) is the focal point and who is known for his speed and dribbling which is why i have chosen to look at this advert in particular.
What i have noticed from this sequence is -
They will have the player running full speed then in slow-motion then back to full speed which i think works well because once the slow-motion section ends it does give you a sense speed, a burst of speed.
They have lots of close ups of the legs, to show the control of the player.
Also the camera angles cut quickly from one angle to another which gives you a sense of urgency, speed, agility of the player by how he evades these challenges from all angles. When the angles change they change from medium shots to close ups of legs to wide shots which i think works effectively.
At some points they use a handheld camera which gives it a more realistic feeling, maybe to give the illusion that you are in there with them point of view shots.
They show the player from many angles running past multiple players, dodging tackles, changing direction instantly.
Joga Bonito
Another group of adverts i want to look at are the Joga Bonito adverts because i want the animation to show the fun side of football and these adverts are all about showing that.
How i think the adverts show the fun side of football -
It shows the friendship and togetherness between the players off pitch.
Players working as a team and having fun, joking, laughing, celebrating...
Players expressing themselves with the football, showboating...
getting past your opponent with skill, flair...
Play the way you want to, have fun...
Determination
Nike: Take it to the next level
Going back to camera angles in football adverts this commercial uses the first person view (where you are the footballer) to give a realistic feel to the ad.
How i think this commercial communicates in an effective manner -
Firstly the first person view gives the illusion that you are the footballer and part of the advert, game,
The other players approach the camera which makes it more believable,
The camera is hand held which gives you the movement of the player.
The advert also shows the development of the player from playing for his local team to playing for his country
Camera angles for broadcast
I have looked at camera angles for broadcast so that i could apply these shots to the animation to give it a football match feel. Below is a link to highlights for a football match.
The main camera angle used for broadcast is the sequence from the start of the video to 8 seconds in the video, this captures a large area of the pitch which could also be good for me so that i could show the landscape i create for the animation. also from this video it also shows you angles from replays which i never thought about having replays in the animation but could be a way to go and the reply angles capture the action better as you see from the time 15 seconds in, to 20 seconds where you get a better shot of the goal.
Camera angles for 3D animated cartoon - Galactik Football
I have looked at this animation previously and now want to focus on the camera angles they use throughout their animation and i think the angles and shots used .
Shots that I've noticed and that i think work well -
Lots of low camera angle shots
Players run towards camera
over the shoulder shots whilst player approaches their opponent
Players run from behind the the camera (off screen) to on camera, running away from camera
in certain areas they have a split screen shot where they show the footballer with the ball and on the other screen they have the opponents approaching her rapidly, which i think captures the intensity of the scene perfectly.
Matrix style shots where the player is mid -air and the camera rotates around them
Birds-eye view
Depth of field where one player is close to camera with the ball and crosses it to the other side of pitch to the player where that side is blurry but gets more clearer as the ball reaches him.
From the other video of Galactik football on the blog (football animated TV shows) there are scenes where the camera changes from the regular angles they have throughout to a more broadcast shot and the screen changes to a blue tint to show that which has a more realistic feel to it, shots at 1.25 - 1.28, 2.26 - 2.30, 2.34 - 2.36 , 3.57 - 3.58
I am a Animation student at Birmingham city university in the 3rd year. I am a big fan of motion graphics. 3d animation, live footage and illustration.
