Sunday, December 23, 2012
Christmas Post!
I didn't intend to do Christmas stuff, but it just sort of...happened. One minute you're drawing your character with a candy cane hat, the next...it's everywhere. So enjoy some Dress-Up with Oliver. Merry Christmas!
This Christmas I Gave You My Art.
The very next day it blew you away.
These are the final layouts for my film, as seen in the latest leica. I thought I would post them up separately so you could peruse them at your leisure. The plan was to get rid of the line once they were all coloured up, but we'll see how it goes once I put the colour in. I might opt for a subtly coloured line instead. Maybe I'll both up both versions once they're finished.
Who knows.
These are the final layouts for my film, as seen in the latest leica. I thought I would post them up separately so you could peruse them at your leisure. The plan was to get rid of the line once they were all coloured up, but we'll see how it goes once I put the colour in. I might opt for a subtly coloured line instead. Maybe I'll both up both versions once they're finished.
Who knows.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
The (Hopefully) Final Leica!
So it's the winter break in our school year and there is much to be done. Or, at least some to be done. Still trying to find the right balance between Christmas lounging and work.
This Leica now includes a short bit of animation (a test of how the character will move), the line of the final backgrounds (which will look much better when we get some colour in there, I think), and... narration! Or, more specifically, the final-film-quality narration! It's all coming together, people.
(very slowly)
The Dwen Leica from The Dwen on Vimeo.
This Leica now includes a short bit of animation (a test of how the character will move), the line of the final backgrounds (which will look much better when we get some colour in there, I think), and... narration! Or, more specifically, the final-film-quality narration! It's all coming together, people.
(very slowly)
The Dwen Leica from The Dwen on Vimeo.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Okay, so school is very fun right now, what with all of the assignments being due within a week of eachother. The latest thing I've done for the film is the layouts. Still have some thinking to do on how exactly I'm going to finish them. In the meanwhile, here's some of the layout brainstorming I did back when I was coming up with the look for the film!
Sunday, November 4, 2012
First and a Half Draft Leica Reel
Lo and behold, a leica reel! Narration by the wonderful André Alexis. The music is Density 21. 5 by Edgard Varèse. Enjoy!
Designing the Dwen
Reader, you have no idea. This has been perhaps the longest part of making this film so far. The Dwen from Trinidadian folklore is described as having:
-no features on its face
-a small mouth
-the body of a small child
-feet which are twisted backwards (heels at the front, toes at the back)
-occasionally wearing a straw hat
Do you know what it looks like when you draw backwards feet? Like you don't know how to draw feet.
I'd also been batting around the idea that the finished film would look like a shadow puppet show. This would mean that the audience would have to be able to distinguish the Dwen apart from other regular children from its silhouette only. Strictly sticking to the above criteria, the Dwen looked more like a sad kid than anything.
So I made it a skeleton. Then dropped the idea of shadow puppets entirely. I'll let the rest of the design process explain itself. It boils down to a lot of drawing and figuring.
And the final design...
-no features on its face
-a small mouth
-the body of a small child
-feet which are twisted backwards (heels at the front, toes at the back)
-occasionally wearing a straw hat
Do you know what it looks like when you draw backwards feet? Like you don't know how to draw feet.
I'd also been batting around the idea that the finished film would look like a shadow puppet show. This would mean that the audience would have to be able to distinguish the Dwen apart from other regular children from its silhouette only. Strictly sticking to the above criteria, the Dwen looked more like a sad kid than anything.
So I made it a skeleton. Then dropped the idea of shadow puppets entirely. I'll let the rest of the design process explain itself. It boils down to a lot of drawing and figuring.
And the final design...
Origin of Script-ies
From very
early on it was decided that this film would be narrated.
At first the idea was that it might be a PSA-style video talking about Trinidadian folklore. My writer, André Alexis, told me about the Hinterland Who's Who series that aired on Canadian television in the 1960s and 1970s. These were 1-minute videos that briefly described Canadian fauna in a way that could be understood by everyone: habitats and diet, if they were becoming extinct, and where you could find out more (as seen here).
I, on the other hand, grew up with House Hippos. I was amazed at how similar our inspirations were.
So that's how we got to version one of the script. It took 1 minute and 20 seconds to read start to finish. Too long for a one minute film.
So I cut it down to a 50 second version and boarded it out.
"Welcome to the Canadian Wildlife Service’s series on evil spirits. In this episode we look at … the Dwen. The Dwen is an evil spirit from Trinidad. They have no facial features – except for small mouths - and their feet are on back to front. They live in the crawl spaces under your house or in abandoned fields. A single-minded spirit, the Dwen simply wants to take little children and lead them to their death. In cities or towns the presence of the Dwen is signalled by the sound of high-pitched crying that seems to come from beneath your floorboards or from the bushes in your garden. In the event that you or one of your children sees or hears a Dwen, the best thing to do is to cover your ears and go inside until the cries have stopped or the Dwen has gone in search of another child. For more information, please contact the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ottawa."
It stayed this way for months, but I wasn't entirely satisfied. It was only recently that I realized the solution to some of my problems: make it a poem. So, taking the ideas and key points from André's narrations, I adapted the story into poem form. This brings us to the narration currently being used:
"And now I will tell you the tale of the Dwen,
A creature of death with its legs backwards bent.
Oh, simple enough is this poor demon's quest
The love of a mother is what it wants best.
The children! That's it! They are too young to know
That when there's a Dwen near there trouble shall go.
So the imp will creep up and prepare to destroy
The obstacle keeping the Dwen from its joy.
Yet-- perhaps there is mercy in their heart for others.
Of course not! They'd kill you to get to your mother."
At first the idea was that it might be a PSA-style video talking about Trinidadian folklore. My writer, André Alexis, told me about the Hinterland Who's Who series that aired on Canadian television in the 1960s and 1970s. These were 1-minute videos that briefly described Canadian fauna in a way that could be understood by everyone: habitats and diet, if they were becoming extinct, and where you could find out more (as seen here).
I, on the other hand, grew up with House Hippos. I was amazed at how similar our inspirations were.
So that's how we got to version one of the script. It took 1 minute and 20 seconds to read start to finish. Too long for a one minute film.
So I cut it down to a 50 second version and boarded it out.
"Welcome to the Canadian Wildlife Service’s series on evil spirits. In this episode we look at … the Dwen. The Dwen is an evil spirit from Trinidad. They have no facial features – except for small mouths - and their feet are on back to front. They live in the crawl spaces under your house or in abandoned fields. A single-minded spirit, the Dwen simply wants to take little children and lead them to their death. In cities or towns the presence of the Dwen is signalled by the sound of high-pitched crying that seems to come from beneath your floorboards or from the bushes in your garden. In the event that you or one of your children sees or hears a Dwen, the best thing to do is to cover your ears and go inside until the cries have stopped or the Dwen has gone in search of another child. For more information, please contact the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ottawa."
It stayed this way for months, but I wasn't entirely satisfied. It was only recently that I realized the solution to some of my problems: make it a poem. So, taking the ideas and key points from André's narrations, I adapted the story into poem form. This brings us to the narration currently being used:
"And now I will tell you the tale of the Dwen,
A creature of death with its legs backwards bent.
Oh, simple enough is this poor demon's quest
The love of a mother is what it wants best.
The children! That's it! They are too young to know
That when there's a Dwen near there trouble shall go.
So the imp will creep up and prepare to destroy
The obstacle keeping the Dwen from its joy.
Yet-- perhaps there is mercy in their heart for others.
Of course not! They'd kill you to get to your mother."
The Beginning
Hello and welcome to the blog! This is where I'll be posting all the art and updates for my fourth year thesis film, The Dwen, throughout its production. The film is the center of our final year and, if all goes as planned, the film will be completed April of 2013.
We've been encouraged to be thinking of what our thesis film might be since the end of our third year, and that's when this film began. In some form, at least. Over the course of the summer and through the process of boarding it has, of course, changed and evolved.
I've known from the beginning that I have wanted this film to be personal; to have some sort of connection with my life and my culture. It's with this idea in mind that I approached my partner in crime (for this film, at least), André Alexis. As the resident expert on Trinidadian mythology and folklore (unofficially), I knew he would be able to give me some insight into some spooky stories from the Caribbean.
He pitched a few ideas to me, and we eventually settled on a story centering around the Dwen: the soul of a child who died before it was baptized. Oooh. Spooky.
And that, I suppose, is where our tale begins. The tale of a tale. Me making a film. Whatever you want to call it. Come along with me through the blog and we'll see how films are made!
(very slowly)
We've been encouraged to be thinking of what our thesis film might be since the end of our third year, and that's when this film began. In some form, at least. Over the course of the summer and through the process of boarding it has, of course, changed and evolved.
I've known from the beginning that I have wanted this film to be personal; to have some sort of connection with my life and my culture. It's with this idea in mind that I approached my partner in crime (for this film, at least), André Alexis. As the resident expert on Trinidadian mythology and folklore (unofficially), I knew he would be able to give me some insight into some spooky stories from the Caribbean.
He pitched a few ideas to me, and we eventually settled on a story centering around the Dwen: the soul of a child who died before it was baptized. Oooh. Spooky.
And that, I suppose, is where our tale begins. The tale of a tale. Me making a film. Whatever you want to call it. Come along with me through the blog and we'll see how films are made!
(very slowly)
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