Thinking About Clock Designs

Based on James' last post, I've decided not to stress about the base of the tower. I did a little bit of new modeling, concentrating on the actual clock part of the clock tower, then decided that I needed to go back to the drawing board. Literally.

So instead of pushing around polys and CV curves, I spent the better part of the night surfing the web's best watch porn site, The Watchismo Times and making sketches for the clock face. I've got some drawings that I like. I'll turn them into Illustrator art tomorrow and pick one or two to move forward on modeling. The clock face is, in some ways, the focal point of the clocktower. As such, it should look damn cool.

The images over on Watchismo are so freakin' good, if I make something even 60% as good, we're gonna be stoked.

Cheers.

Re: Clocktower Revisions

Wow! I just looked at the NEW clock tower.... and I have to say I think that is a great idea! Obviously there is still lots left to do, but it is SO out of the box.. That is just what was needed.. And it sends my mind in a dozen different directions as to how to build off of this idea to improve the city square thing as a whole. I had told you I wasn't too into the shot from a certain point in, since there just wasn't much to look at... but this opens a door that was sorely needed.

I started thinking first about how to integrate the chassis into the scene - so it didn't look like someone dragged it in the day before. This led to ideas for all types of slight modifications to the area directly under and around the chassis and extending around the courtyard that could really be the missing ingredient.

PLEASE don't touch the base of this thing for now. Just figure out how the clock works!

If I did have anything to say about the overall design as it stands - it would be that the proportions of the chassis to the tower seem reversed from what I would expect.. (I have been reading books on Bonsai today). But the overall scale of this (monolith?device?) in proportion to the girl is perfect.

The basic idea - that it is built upon the chassis of something else is awesome and I think once we work out how to really ground this in the surrounding space and to the ground plane; all of those small adjustments and changes that will be required to the scene will be for the better.

By ground it I mean things like:

Really old remnants of track - or other cars / chassis'. Or, if it was dragged into place, huge chain links and some type of guy wire system built into the surrounding buildings. Or part of a bombed out train station or departure arrival gate. (not literally bombed out, just super old) Or one of those things they put up at the end of the line across the tracks..

Then, imagine time has gone by and people just built around these things - That they could not move. Went on with their lives... Its crazy to think about!

Its like the train chassis (or whatever it ends up looking like ultimately) gives us a strong visual mythology that we can reference throughout the scene... when I saw these frames I simultaneously realized why I was a little unhappy with the way some things had been going - and how we could move forward at the level we expect.

I was disappointed because although we have written a script, boarded out an entire narrative and done reference studies on almost every aspect of the art direction.. It still didn't feel like a 'world' to me. I felt we were still left doing one-off pieces that we were hoping would fall together and become the world.

Now having seen this beast of a clock tower - I have the answers I needed to some of our most difficult questions:

How steampunk are we gonna go?

How are we going to make our largely European influenced city feel integrated into the later scenes which are SO mechanical? Where is the transition? And what is the specific nature of the relationship between the two?

What are we going to do to keep the whole clock in a courtyard thing from looking like a giant set piece?

How are we going to add the needed detail to the city space as a whole to give it an identity apart from any other place?

How are we using all of the weird wires and such / why are they there in the first place?

What happened here - to make this world what it is?

Some thing epic happened here.. and this is what is left.. And that is where our story picks up.

Kick ass work.

Clocktower Screens

I feel like I've been modeling my arse off and that I still have soo, sooooo, soooooo much more to do on this.

I did take the last three days off of modeling. I've been working from home, which is great in a ton of different way, but it makes getting work done after work that much harder. After sitting at my one desk for ten hours, I really don't want to sit here for another four. I love my desk, and my home, but I need a break from it sometimes. What I need is a decent laptop, so that I can leave this room and spend the evening modeling in the living room. I am accepting donations for the laptop fund. It's currently at $0.00.

So, about the screens.

I'd been unhappy with the legs/feet of the clocktower when I first posted shots of it, so I went in a different direction with it. After looking at a lot of steam engine photographs, I thought it'd be interesting to have the base of this thing be an old, rusty train engine. I'm not even 50% done with the modeling of the train chassis but I'm not sure that I love it. It may not be the right solution for this one piece. I'm gonna spend the rest of the night away from it and see what I think of it tomorrow.

What I'm finding is that not having done proper concept art for the 'tower, modeling is going very slowly. Every piece that I'm building I'm figuring out as I go along and I feel like I'm probably not getting the absolute best results I could ask for. If I don't like the train parts when I look at this tomorrow (and after talking about it with James), I may hit the paper for a while.

Cheers.

Technical issues

Well I think another technical issue has been fixed. My entire account
was in limbo for a while but things seem to be going smoothy now. Even
mobile blogging and blog via email seem to finally be sorted. This may
seem unrelated, but it will mean more frequent, more consistent posting
on my part.

Background Elements 4

These two renderings are from alternate angles within the scene. (Not a part of the first shot.) I decided to include them here so we could get a look at the world from their point of view.

Background Elements 3

This is Frame 139. The camera has just swooped under the walkway (visible at the beginning of the shot) Here the background elements begin to establish our setting, as well as creating an additional layer of visual interest and texture by breaking up the skyline.

This is frame 250. The camera has begun to descend into the town square area and the clock tower begins to take over as the main point of interest.
This is frame 941. The camera has just come around the clock tower and is headed through an open door (not visible in scene). Here the background elements are included to maintain visual and stylistic consistency while enhancing the overall interest and composition. In addition these dark shapes looming ever closer to the viewer enhance the drama and foreshadow things to come.
This is frame 1156. We have just seen our heroine for the first time. In contrast to the preceding frames, here the sky is wide open - allowing the viewer's main focus to be on the mechanical bird as it lands on the building. At this point in the shot the movements of the bird take center stage (quite literally). Background elements here help to enhance the depth of the shot.
This is frame 1271. This is near the end of the shot. What was a sunny and happy town has become somewhat foreboding. Here in the shadows of the buildings and clock tower we begin to sense the smallness of the our heroine.

Background Elements 2

Here are a few renderings of specific frames from our first scene with some background elements added.

First though, you should know a few things:

(DISCLAIMER)

All (or nearly all) of the models you see here will be reworked significantly. The purpose of this scene in its current state is really to help Barry and I with blocking and general shot composition.

As such everything you see here is only an approximation of the final scene. Modeling, texturing, lighting , etc. All take a great deal of time - So by working loosely at first we can make broad changes that would be difficult further down the production pipeline.

A great example of this can be found in the shadows that you will see in the scene. By working with very simple shapes as stand-ins, we can quickly make adjustments to the angle of the shadows, or their color..Without spending a great deal of time on the task. Although these shapes aren't much to look at, they tell us important things about the nature of the final shot and help us to determine which areas need the most time and detail.

First up is a rendering of the first frame of shot 1 without any of the background elements.

Next is the same frame with some of our newly created background elements in place.
In the next post, I will show a few more key frames with the background elements included.