WEEK THREE

I explained to Alan the problem and he suggested that maybe I should chose a definite time period for which I want my scene to belong, and then start to look into basic components inside a machine and think about how I could re make the machine. Also to have a look at existing robots in film and see the methods and techniques that they use, in particular he mentioned the Disney Pixar film, ‘Robots’ as they were all comprised of object found from the same time period. After speaking to Alan, I refreshed my mind about what I was trying to create and had quite a few ides of further paths I could take in my development stages.

Within a few days I had started to generate quite a few ideas, I have chosen a time period – the 1940’s as I have a personal fondness to the time periods style and also to relevance of the war, which has similarities within some of the lyrics in the song itself, using words like ‘march’ referring to others as ‘sir’. I like the idea of maybe intertwining very subtle hints of the war, maybe in the form of a poster on the floor or a similar effect, and maybe not everyone would notice it but to have that aspect there would be brilliant for when it is noticed.
I also made a trip to a local breakers yard to take pictures of interesting pieces of machinery, old pieces of car and the way they fit together.

I am aware that my final machines will not be made out of car parts but the way they are put together would follow a very similar technique. I was particularly looking at shape and texture and found myself being more interested in the older cars in the lot as they seemed to have more character. Maybe this was because their dents and scratches and alterations from how they were originally made told a story about the ‘life’ that they had lived – this is what I want my robot to be able to do!

Below are my images that I have managed to gather, i have put them in very short slideshows as i felt this was the easiest way to view them on my blog unfortunately they were too large to be uploaded here so i have put them onto 'YouTube'. The links are below....

A COLLAGE OF 1940'S MACHINES AND DEVICES:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0EmFEUIT7w

BROKEN DOWN MECHANICAL OBJECTS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWT6gpnnya4


CAR PARTS IMAGES - MY TRIP TO THE JUNKYARD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vmeKlTWZvs

EXISTING ROBOTS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n1e-LlY8yU

WEEK TWO

When I first listened to the song a few things that it made me aware of were the composition of all of the different sounds, they are built up throughout the song, almost introduced one at a time. It made you aware of what you was listening to, and this was a point that I wanted to bring into my idea, but with a twist.

As electro was music made up of electronic sounds (or at least the majority of it) I wanted to somehow introduce all of the sounds from this song as mechanical sounds – following the same theme. I wanted to create a composition of sounds created by small mechanical devices, or mechanical recreations of existing instruments.

At first a group in particular sprung to mind that do a similar thing, with the same message that music can be made out of anything, and they are, Stomp. They are a group of people that have west end instrumental performances comprising of no known instruments. Instead they use alternatives, but the sound is just as impressive. I am going to try and incorperate the way they interpret music through a range of strange objects the same way in my work.

*****

It is all set in a small one cell room

All the objects have been made or built

There is an open door with light falling through it and one small window in the top corner of the room. Through it you can see a small mechanical sun, whose rays are being moved and controlled by cogs. Throughout the song the weather outside the window changes, sometimes metal clouds float by.

At the very beginning of the song, before the music starts you see the character altering his machines in some way or another (for instance turning a screw, but i need further thought into this). Then you are made aware of his power source becoming low – maybe indicated by small lights on his body dimming, and you see him plug himself in to the machine. As the music starts you will see indications of his power being re charged due to the music.

You see the majority of the animation through the eyes of the character but catch glimpses of his hands and body etc, which are all mechanical.

Towards the end, you begin to question the point for this character being here, alone (why doesn’t he just leave through the opened door?)

At the very end of the piece the character turns around and you see the power source he is plugged into and realise that if he were to leave he would become unplugged and no longer be able to power up; instead he stays and creates music.

At the very end the camera pans out leaving you no longer looking through the characters perspective but looking at him in this small room. The camera then pans out of the room, still looking inside. As it pans outwards you see that everywhere is desolate, and the only thing visible is the building he resided in and the mechanical sun placed on top of a huge pole.


The idea:

..is that you your made to believe that he is forced to stay at this prison but in fact it is all that is left, and it keeps him happy. I built this narrative from the song words and the sense that song could go on forever. Below I have selected the words in particular that I felt were most important to this song:

...There’s nothing in a world where the melody is broken
...There’s always some way to make the silence be spoken
...I’m found I’m looking for a place where I was once found
...for a mechanical fright
...Return o the nothingness and joy just might be right
...I’m a mechanical music man
...I’m a complicated being with love songs to beat
...mechanical museum
...malfunctioning being
...I’m lost I’m looking for a place where I can get lost


An idea that I’ve had for one of the sounds that is similar to rain is to have raindrops fall from a hole in the ceiling in his room and land onto different sized empty in cans giving a different pitch.
Only the raindrops don’t break up when they land they roll onto the floor as they are made of metal.

This is the sort of idea that I want the rest of my animation to have.

I started to think about what my robot and its environment could look like as I had an idea in my head that seemed to be very ‘retro’, sort of, a room with all of its objects collaged together to function in the same way as before, but look entirely different.

For instance and amp (or speaker of some sort) but that looks like nothing you have seen before, made form only the basic components necessary for it to work. I stated to think about colours and further into style but it was very difficult without a clear understanding of what and how the objects in the room were to fit together – it was time for a tutorial!

WEEK ONE

Transcription: to translate one type of information to another format.
For example, converting the principles and narrative of a film into a game, or to take a piece of music and convert it into and animation.

You’re not changing the story just the context from which you view it.
Some examples of this are:

The Godfather, originally a film ----> also made into a Playstation game






Silent Hill, originally a Playstation game ----> also made into a Film








Twilight, originally a book ----> also made into a Film





Personally I really liked the idea of taking a piece of music and turning it into an animation. I felt that this way I could really get a sense of what it was I was trying to create, enabling me to understand the feelings and emotions that were important. After I decided this I went on to make a decision about what sort of genre of music I was going to choose. Eventually I came to a decision that it had to be something that very few, if anyone had heard before yet likeable.

I didn’t want to choose something that everyone would know as this would take away from the animation, plus the fact if I used something to extreme such as a heavy rock or classical then this would only appeal to a small percentage of the audience, so I brainstormed particular popular genres at the moment.




They were:

1) Indie

2) Electro

3) Alternative

4) Rock


After searching through a few bands I realised that I didn’t know a lot about all of the different genres that had been mentioned and I needed to get the opinions of friends that did know. After a general enquiry amongst them the genre that popped up the most was ‘Electro’. I asked them to give me a list of their favourite bands of that genre, suggesting that they may like to consider bands that were quite new.

The list I managed to compile was:

1) Foals



2) Bat for lashes



3) Bolt action five



4) Hot chip



5) Robots in disguise

I sourced these bands and listened to a variety of songs that they had produced narrowing down which bands I felt were more appropriate. Eventually I narrowed it down to one band ‘Hot Chip’ and one song in particular, ‘The Warning.’ It has quite a variety of sounds in it and it made my imagination generate a lot of ideas.

I then found the lyrics for it reading it as more of a poem than a song thinking about the main ‘message’ or ‘point’ that it was trying to convey.

The lyrics are as follows:

Excuse me sir, I’m lost I’m looking for a place where I can get lost
I’m looking for a home for my malfunctioning being
I’m looking for the mechanical museum

This is a warning ill spell it out for you, for you
This is a warning ill spell it out for you

Excuse me sir I’m a dog on heat
I’m a complicated being with love songs to beat
I’m a problem solving baby who could march all night
I’m a mechanical music man and I’m starting a fire

Hot chip will break your legs, snap off your head
Hot chip will put you down, under the ground

Excuse me child, I am trying to see all the colours and wonder your brightness can be
Return to the nothingness and joy just might be right
But prepare yourself for a mechanical fright

This is a warning ill spell it out for you, for you
This is a warning ill spell it out for you, for you

Hot chip will break your legs, snap off your head
Hot chip will put you down, under the ground
Hot chip will break your legs, snap off your head
Hot chip will put you down, under the ground

Excuse me son, I’m found I’m looking for a place where I was once found
There’s nothing in a world where the melody is broken
There’s always some way to make the silence be spoken

Hot chip will break your legs, snap off your head
Hot chip will put you down, under the ground
Hot chip will break your legs, snap off your head
Hot chip will put you down, under the ground

(It almost seems to be a riddle, and you’re having to guess what or who the singer is talking about.)