Minor Project: Update

There has been some development since my last post on my minor project:

• First thing was I had to  decided how my painting would look like before it comes to life. So I have decided the painting would be set in a forest and this will be the only thing throughout that will stay still.  And the character and the nature (flowers, leafs, butterflies etc) will come to life and dance.
• Also I will have to remember that the logic will be thrown out the window when the painting comes to life, so this will mean that the flowers (nature aspect) can be any size, shape , colour. 

Animatic

In terms of creating an animatic/storyboard Alan and Phil have both suggested cutting footage together as this will make it easier for me to create a  dance routine for my character  instead of choreographing a whole routine from scratch by myself.   So over the past couple of days I have been going through and watching videos and clips of different ballets. Below are just a few that stuck out from the rest from me. 

Next step is to start cutting the footage together and experimenting along with an soundtrack. 

Soundtrack 

In terms of sound track choice, I have been listen to several tracks and think that I have narrow down my choice to a few. There are a few things that I have also will have to take into consideration when it comes to choosing  a soundtrack. It has to connect with the theme being portrayed and also it needs to be in synchronization with the movements and expression of the dancer. As my animation is mystical and has up beat message I have been looking at music that has an mystical effect but at the same time is humorous, bright and bouncy.

Also I have been looking at different type of music that you would associate ballet with. The music that you would traditionally hear when you watch ballet is classical music, this was because it was the music of the time when ballet was first being danced but also this type of music really connects with ballet. But occasionally a modern spin will be added, like the video below. I really like the music used in this video especially when it get to about 1:09 when it starts to become more up beat. 

So I thought I look at finding a more modern soundtrack, but honestly I don't think that it will work with the animation. 

So I think  at the moment I am drawn to the soundtrack 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy' as I believe that it ticks all the boxes I would like the soundtrack to be. 


Style 

In term of style I have been research several types and after talking to Alan I think that I finally settled on a style that I think will work as well as I am happy with. So the style will be a mix between Saul Bass simple shapes and hardness and the softness of Claude Monet and Edward Dagas. Also I have decided to stick to a pastel colour pallet though out as this will be a reference to ballet,  as most of the outfits I have seen are in pastel colours.  

So I decided to experiment with this style. I roughly created a simple petal like shape but at the same time manipulating the shape to so that it is stylized, in Maya and then took it into Photoshop. 

So in Photoshop I experimented with different brushes, opacity and noise to softened the edges but at the same time trying to keep the hardness of the shape and details like Saul Bass. Then I took this simple shape and duplicate the petal to produced a flower. 

I really like this style and I think that I am going to continue with some more experimenting.....