Final Maya Pre-Viz

Maya Pre-Viz Sequence 1 (no sound)

Final Storyboard Animatic

Final Storyboard

Revert to Original Storyline

When I tried to wrinkle out all the creases in my original storyline I ended up making it over complex and confusing. I have decided on sticking with my original idea but making little tweaks to areas which didnt flow as a story

Character Turn Around (Security Guard)

Character Turn Around (Wealthy Museum Owner)

@ Phil Logline Resolved

Logline

The main characters in the story are the lonely astronaut, two menacing security guards on night watch and wealthy museum owner/collector. Secondary characters are two alien children playing in a space park along with an alien couple sharing a picnic.

The astronaut lives in one of the many space Cities that float out of orbit. Through one of the many space parks in the City of Seattlelight, the astronaut walks alone. He see's small alien children playing and alien couples enjoying each others company, something which he longs for.

Walking with his head bowed in a state of loneliness, it eventually becomes night in Seattlelight. The astronaut eventually comes across a space museum. Intrigued he looks inside and see's a female astronaut encased in a glass cabinet. He becomes infatuated by her and will go to any lengths to reach her. The female however is in fact a guard of the museum in disguise, used to lure the astronaut in like a honey trap. The museum owner is in fact a collector whom collects humans which he encases and puts on display

The astronaut notices a window ajar on the second floor of the museum. He salvages items from a trash skip and creates a tower which he attempts to climb to get inside. After several attempts he comes crashing down along with the items. While on the floor with the items scattered around him, he has an idea and creates a makeshift pogo stick using the pieces of several items of trash. He manages to bounce high enough to reach the window but comes crashing through, landing on a glass cabinet of priceless artefacts from Earth ( irrelevant and mundane stuff on Earth which is priceless in Space e.g comic books, toaster) destroying them. 

Picking himself up, he sees the supposed female astronaut behind glass in a darkly light room. As he gets closer he sees a vast amount of glass displays all with humans inside (70's hippy, Batman, Charlie Chaplain). Before he has a chance to panic, the astronaut is tackled to the ground.

He awakens some time later encased in the museum owners vast display. After realising the situation he is in he slumps into the corner and bows his head. 

The Museum Owners Collection

Seattlelight

Pogo Stick Idea

I am still not set on one specific idea of how to end the story. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Maya Paperclip

The second joint I noticed moves a little out of time towards the end. I think I may have not altered the movement in the graph editor to be in sync with the others. Again, hopefully its another learning process.

Felix Jr: Rig Installation

Environment Design

 Museum Interior 1

 Security Guard Surveillance Room

Wealthy Museum Owner/ Collector's Office

More will be uploaded shortly

Pogo Stick Resolution

After reading through my logline Phil suggested that I resolve the idea of the astronaut just happening to find a pogo stick behind a trash heap and it is simply too convenient. After referring back to my original story I had the idea of the astronaut salvaging objects from the trash and constructing a makeshift pogo stick. 

Character Design (Wealthy Museum Owner)

Influence

John Goodman (The Borrowers)

Maya Ball (Center Pivot)

Maya Tutorial: Pre Viz

Astronaut Influence Map

1. The rotund belly of Mr Incredible

2. The chunky spacesuit.

3. The overly expressive body and hand movements like silent movie stars to express emotions and character.

4. The clumsiness of Frank Spencer

Unit 4 OGR (part 2)

Unit 4 ogr 2

Unit 4 OGR

Storytelling Ogr

Character Development

Museum Guards

For my chosen storyline I wanted to have two skinny, gaunt looking museum guards whom pursue the astronaut when he sets off the museum alarm. I wanted them to both look menacing and stick thin. I used Ratatouille's food critic Ego and 70's sitcom Porridge's prison officer Mr. Mackay as influence.

 

To show the uniformity of the two guards I want them to look identical and move in unison whilst they pursue the astronaut.

Maya Tutorial

Bouncing Ball 1: Off-Centre Pivot

This is my first Maya animation tutorial complete. I need to work on the timing and the refinements of the ball movement more. I will use this as learning curve for the next tutorials.

Initial Logline

Lonely Astronaut?

When initially looking at images of astronauts I couldnt help but notice they are always solitary and perhaps even look lonely. This gave me an idea of the astronaut finding a possible love interest whom he must overcome an obstacle to reach. 

Logline

The astronaut is hopping (similar to walking on the moon) down a lonely road at night when he glances into a window of a science museum. He looks into the 'Space Exploration' section of the museum and sees a space suit which he believes to be another astronaut, the first he has ever seen. He falls instantly in love with this figure and will go to any lengths to get to it. The astronaut notices an open window hatch which is too high to reach or climb. After unsuccessful and clumsy attempts to get up to it he notices a rusty old pogo stick in a trash heap. He uses it to bounce up to the window which he crashes through, destroying priceless museum artefacts. This triggers the alarm and alerts the guards. The astronaut, realising he doesn't have much time bounces over to the space suit in almost slow motion (low gravity on the moon). He gets just close enough to embrace the space suit before two guards carry the astronaut away. 

Premise

The astronaut is extremely lonely having spend his whole life in a place where there is no other life. Seeing this other figure gives the astronaut butterflies and it is love at first sight as he sees the suit as a companion which he will go to the ends of the earth to reach.

Quick preliminary storyboard

Beat Outline

1. The astronaut is hopping down a lonely, deserted town at night.

2. He peers in a museum window and notices in the corner a space suit which he mistakes for another astronaut.

3. The astronaut falls in love with the figure and attempts to reach it.

4. He finds the solution to his problem in the shape of a rusty old pogo stick which will help him bounce up to an open window hatch.

5. The astronaut crashes into the museum through the window, destroying priceless museum artifacts.

6. The alarm is triggered and the guards are alerted.

7. The astronaut hops with everything he has got to reach the suit in time before the guards drag him away.

Character Design

Astronaut Influence 

Looking at astronauts one of the main distinguishing features about their appearance is this suit that makes then look overly chunky and clumsy. For my character design I thought I could exaggerate these features and use the clumsiness to my advantage as my prop is a pogo stick (something that you need a small degree of agility to use) and the set which is a museum (a place where you must take care not to damage anything)

The first obvious astronaut I looked at was Buzz Lightyear, not however because he is a spaceman but because I like his overly broad chest and tiny limbs.

The rotund belly of Mr Incredible was another influence in sketching up astronaut ideas

Astronaut Preliminary Sketches