After I had attended a Murder Mystery Weekend, having two days of suspicion, betrayal and violence, It was typical that the film 'Rope' by Hitchcock was on the viewing list for today. Nevertheless, I looked forward to seeing it, even though it would prolong the theme of death of the past few days.

Rope is one of Hitchcock's earlier films, released in 1948 it tells the story of two friends; Philip and Brandon, who murder their friend David (Strangling him with a rope) and store his body in an old ancicent chest in the living room of their house. The film is unique and quite unusual due to the way it was directed. There is very little editing in the film, with the whole piece being filmed on the one camera, never cutting to another angle or shooting away from the action.



This gives the film the atmosphere and pace of a theatre play, the action all takes place in a couple of rooms, alike to that of a stage. The camera moves through the space following conversation as well as focusing on certain important elements of the story. For example, the body was hidden in the chest and when the serving lady was clearing the chest, preparing to open it, the camera lingered on it, even though an important conversation was taking place in the room between characters.



The background of the 'set' was also very impressive, it was a large city skyline which gradually darkened as the day progressed. The overall narrative of the film was very focused and enthralling, with the viewer knowing the secret waiting for the moment when the 'detective-like' character, Rupert revealed he knew. As the plot unravels, the characters reveal they killed their friend David, just because they could, and they felt he was inferior to themselves. Expecting Rupert, their old lecturer, to agree with them had he figured it out. After finding David's killers, Rupert disagreed with their motives and actions, and drew the police.





I really like the film, mainly because it was as involving as a stage-play, with the audience holding on, waiting to see who knew what and how the characters could hide their actions. I'm looking forward to seeing Psycho tommorow, a Hitchcock film which will be entirely different, both in production and plot.

Just a bit of research into the outfits and style of Lighthouse keepers. I would like to focus on the period on the late 19th Century, where the traditional lighthouse keeper was around. I just hope the bouncy dinghy will fit the time-frame.

Before I put alot of time into a character design I want to figure out a style (E.g body proportions and cartoon features) I've started by creating a quick draft of how I want the second lighthouse keeper to look. Here is my first go, when I'm happy with one, I will blow it up larger in Photoshop and begin to create a detailed character.

Over the last week it has been incredibly hard to work on the story-telling unit, which I think everyone will agree with, due to the Theory presentation. When we first got the brief and were told we had a week to do it, I was a bit worried about how it would slow our main unit progress, but I can say that after completing and presenting it, I am glad to have done it. The researching, compiling and teamwork skills that have developed in this incredibly short project were crucial, especially for future projects.

This now leaves us with two weeks to take on this project, which is ambitious. I'm happy with my story, and I've started working on my character sheets which I'm going to begin to refine and upload this weekend if I have the time. I don't want my original ideas and ambitions to suffer, so I'm going to work flat-out on this project,hoping to match my satisfaction with that of the last unit.

I'm just going to repost the requirements here so that I can refer to them later.

- A finished three-act story idea.
- Supporting concept art/character design.
- A final presentation storyboard.
- Animatic with sound & transitions.
- A cg pre-vizualisation.

Also:
- Film Clip Storyboard
- 1500 Word Essay on Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

After getting the 'go ahead' form Phil regarding my story, I've decided to crack on. I've looked through the unit brief once more and realised the huge effort I've got to put in. It is not the quantity thats required, but rather the quality that I want my animatic to reach, to portray the environment I have in mind and the characters I want to feature in it.

I'm starting the character design today, but I'm in the middle of working on our theory symposium, so I may not get a lot done. I'm going to focus on the second Lighthouse Keeper, the one in my story who is oblivious to the problem and stands next to the beacon smoking his pipe.


Characterics:
- Older than the first, meaning he is less agile , maybe slightly Senile
- Bearded, a thick bushy beard is what I have in mind
- Grumpy and tired looking face
- Pessimistic face, reading the paper looking rather miserable

I'm reminded on the main character from 'Up'. 


Strangely, the idea of this character I have in mind is that of a little ornament I bought for about £1 when I was about 8 from a harbour in Cornwall. I can't find it, as I think Action Man smashed it into little pieces once, when it became his arch-nemesis, but i've found a similar image of one on the internet:

As this unit is Story-telling, and the essay is focused on the way a film can convey a story, I thought it would be right to focus on the movie adaptation of one of the greatest stories ever told -The Passion of the Christ.... is not an example of this, so I am writing my essay on Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

I'm focusing on the first film of the trilogy as that is the starting point and the place where I believe the most story has to be 'set-up' and told to place the viewer in the world and associate them with the dilemma. This also gives me an excuse to watch all three films again, along with researching into the production of the epic a lot more.

This is obviously not finalised because as I work on it, I'm surely going to make changes, but the overall story is planned out below. As a reminder my objects were Lighthouse - Ghost - Trampoline (Which I have swapped for a rubber dinghy or life-raft)

1) The first images are of various Newspaper Headlines 'TWO LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS FOUND DEAD' - 'LIGHTHOUSE SUICIDE PACT?' - 'MYSTERY OF LIGHTHOUSE DEATHS'. They are on newspapers that are hitting the ground, being delivered. The last Newspaper's front cover blows open to show the title 'The Day Before...' above a picture of a lighthouse from the paper, which the camera zooms into, creating an establishing shot, where the story begins.

2) Two Lighthouse keepers are sitting drinking cups of Tea on a table. #1 is drinking his drink, #2 is reading a newspaper. Behind them shows a window, looking out to sea. They are both sitting in silence when the outside shutter slams creating a huge bang, they both turn to look out the window, where they see a storm is brewing. They give each other concerned looks. #1 sighs, gets up and walks towards the door. #2 continues reading his paper.

3) #1 Puts his hood up, opens the door and walks out into a blustering wind and rain on the coast. He leaves the door open, and walks around the side of the building towards the window. He shuts the shutter and locks it. He turns back towards the door, but before he makes it, a huge gust comes through, alongside loud thunder and slams the door shut.

4) #2 Is shown as walking up the stairs with his newspaper under his arm. Oblivious to the door banging shut, as the thunder blocked the noise. Meanwhile, #1 is banging on the door, trying to get in. He rushes back to the window, re-opens the shutter and glances in to see the table empty.

5) At this moment, #2 is show as being next to the beacon on the top of the building. He switches it on. #1 Stares up the beacon, through the wind and rain and begins to shout and wave his arms.

6) The thunder and wind drowns out his shouts, and #2 is standing on top, smoking a pipe, looking out to sea. #1 gets tired out shouting and begins to look around for a solution. He sees a rubber-dinghy tied up to a post, it is filled with various fishing and sailing equipment, he unties it and drags in towards the lighthouse. He ties it onto another post.

7) He begins to bounce up and down on the edge of it, slowly building up altitude, the wind and rain are blowing really hard. #2 Is shown still standing there smoking his pipe.

8)A huge gust comes through and blows a sail or sheet from the dinghy, it wraps around the keeper bouncing up and down,blinding him, he keeps on bouncing. The wind blows again, wrapping the net around his ankle, as he bounces, he pulls the net up with him, it wraps around the sheet, giving him a ghostly look, with a white sheet and strands of rope flying around him, as he bounces a final gust of wind blows.

#2's pipe is blown out of his mouth, landing on the floor of the top-platform, the rope on the dinghy snaps, blowing the boat away just as the keeper bounces off of it one last time.

9) #2 turns and bends down to pick up his pipe, #2 screams 'Heeeelp' as he flies up beneath the railings, #2 sees him and screams as loud as he can, in surprise, thinking he is seeing a ghost, he flys backwards, over the side of the railing behind him.

10) The camera shows a full-length shot of the lighthouse, with a lighthouse keeper each side plummeting down towards the ground in slow-motion. Before they hit the ground, the dighy flys infront of the camera blocking the view. But the viewer knows they were killed from headline at the beginning. Solving the mystery of the deaths.

11) The ending / credits simply show the window shutter slamming against the side of the building in the storm, showing how futile the whole event was.

I know this is long and quite drawn out, but I wanted to include detail. If anyone has any criticisms or feedback, I'd appreciate a comment.

I'm still working out the final details of my story and I am also still making sure to pick the right film for my essay, so I'll update this post by the end of the day.

In the last week or so, I haven't updated my blog much and haven't really started this unit with a bang. One reason is the Theory symposiums which we have on Thursday, which I'm frantically researching trying to fill up on knowledge for the presentation. I've also been doing the odd bit of storyboarding and attempting some character sketches on paper, but as I don't have a scanner with me at my student house I can't upload them. Later this week I'm planning to bring some into Uni to scan in.

This week I want to crack on with some concept art, which I'm hoping will bring a bit of life to my animatic along-side my storyboards. I feel that at the moment, I'm not as technically limited as I have been before, so I think I can really ultilize Maya and Photoshop alongside my paper sketches.