Virtual Reality / Week Two :: Experimentation & Installation

We have the location and equipment all set up. Steam VR (portal to VR Applications & HTC Vive Software – this is where Google Tilt lives) runs everything that we've experimented with so far.

As we move into development, we'll be using:

• Cinema 4D / 3D Studio Max
• Unity (Game Design)
• 360 VR / Stitch

The hardware consists of:

• 2 Controllers + 2 Chargers
• Link box (connects VR Headset to the computer)
• 3 link box cables (Audio, HDMI, & USB)
• VR Headset (wired)
• Earbuds connected to VR Headset
• MSI Laptop (y'know, the Dragon Edition) + Charger
• Sync cable for the Base Stations (mounted at 6.5')

https://vimeo.com/198945119

Virtual Reality / Week One :: VR Research & Planning

We spent a lot of time reading and researching. VR is a squishy space where a lot hasn't been figured out yet – the practical applications, the software and hardware and how they interact with preexisting design resources. Can you model something with Google Tilt and then use the 3D Printer to see it in real life?

Can two people be in the same VR world at the same time and interact with each other?

Can something created in Cinema 4D live in the VR world and be rendered as a video that can be shared?

Can you take a 360 video, map it to a sphere and populate it as a world with 3D-rendered objects?

Beats the fuck outta me, but I'll let you know in a couple weeks.

So far the reading list is:

Neuromancer – William Gibson

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline (we're already calling the VR world "The Oasis" and have a Joust Lich as our desktop wallpaper. NERD ALERT.)

We're suggesting reading or watching YouTube videos about Ivan Sutherland, Bob Sproull, & Jaron Lanier.

We're also researching the physiological functionality / effects that VR has on the human body to share back.

Stay tuned...

Hanneld/Herrin Corp. :: Finishing up Fall / Layering in Winter / Prepping for Spring

New Quarter! Second-to-last Quarter!

We're layering in projects on top of each other which is a little intense with our other classes but we're setting aside the time and committed to seeing it all through. It helps when you're in love with the process and materials.

Next up: Titles/Packaging/Posters for Charles Laughton's directorial debut AND swan song–Night of the Hunter (1955), starring Robert Mitchum as a murderous preacher. The uncharacteristic Film Noir also stars a young, tragically doomed Shelly Winters and 63-year-old Lillian Gish in a role that's exceptional for the time, being a woman who is both strong and mature.

American Werewolf in London :: Ice Cold Shoot

There's a quote that I can't find, the sentiment is something to the effect that true creativity is channeled when things don't go as planned. I found one that works from Orson Welles: "The enemy of art is no limitations." Here we are, on the coldest day of the year, during Winter Break, shooting with friends who are taking time away from their friends and family to help us. We're cutting scenes and characters from the storyboard as we go, adapting for the circumstances.

And thanks to those talented colleagues and friends, things went well (albeit not to plan) after all. It even started to snow.

[slideshow_deploy id='892']

American Werewolf in London :: Script / Storyboard / Schedule, OH MY!

We're shooting the first weekend after finals with the fantastic cinematographer, Katie Strand. Storyboards are a lock for the WOLF sequences. The EVIL BOOK sequences are still in the hopper.

We're hoping to learn some new techniques...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8A9e4Lp0N0

H&H :: Faces of Fury

American Werewolf in London :: Kickoff – Sketches & Moodboards

We've watched American Werewolf in London and have compiled our notes and initial sketches.

Here are or proposed mood boards: 

We're slightly behind schedule, but feeling optimistic...and we have a revised timeline to help keep us on target for the rest of the year: 

We're hoping to do a lot of live-action footage and we already know what wolf-mask we won't be using:

John Carptenter's The Thing :: That's a Wrap!

A re-envisioning of the title sequence:https://vimeo.com/191722597

Packaging: Laserdisc, of course. 

Poster Series:

Voila!

Special shoutout to some software: Frame.io is magic for collaborating with AfterEffects & Premiere online.

John Carpenter's The Thing :: Working on the Video & Posters!

We've gone dark, working hard to stay on schedule. According to the timeline, we should be wrapping on The Thing this weekend. We're far enough along that I don't want to spoil anything from the video, but I will share some of our inspiration, good old Bauhaus designer, Jan Tschichold:

I'll also share something embarrassing, if only to generate more content for this entry... I'm learning digital painting at great expense to my ego and available time...

Moving along...

Here are some process shots from the first poster.

John Carpenter's The Thing :: Sketches & Shooting

https://vimeo.com/190033718

Couldn't resist trying out the new stencil (light board + blown-out candle + 1,000 IG filters)

John Carpenter's The Thing :: And We're Off!

Same drill – Opening title sequence, Packaging & Posters. We've watched the movie and the special features which was a great move because the covered the practical effects used for the reveal of the title in the original sequence. Another added benefit is watching interviews with cast and crew–the names in the credits are no longer anonymous, we have faces and voices to go with them which adds another dimension to animating them.

https://vimeo.com/99871834

https://thepropstop.wordpress.com/2016/03/04/the-thing-art-of-ploog-special-edition-artbook-and-storyboard-special-kickstarter-review/

STAY TUNED!

MadMax Beyond Thunderdome :: That's a Wrap!

A re-envisioning of the title sequence: https://vimeo.com/189472461

Packaging: 

Poster Series: 

Taa-Daa!

MadMax Beyond Thunderdome :: Video Shoot

What are the two most essential elements in the post-apocalyptic desert hellscape? Water + Fuel

The third? Blood.

Drawing on these fundamental elements drawn from our moodboard, we decided to shoot these elements mixing at different speeds.

We enlisted the help of pro videographer and photographer, Victoria Kovios.

MadMax Beyond Thunderdome :: Sketches & Moodboards

We watched Beyond Thunderdome in the Nerd Room at school on a sunny Saturday afternoon. We took notes, paused frequently to chat and sketch.

We'd almost immediately settled on using the original Maurice Jarré Bartertown score for the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFLJCXaIaGU

Things really heat up at 1:26 in case you don't have all day. 

We made the plan to go off separately and build mood boards and concept for the title sequence re-design. Here's what we came back with:

True to form, we'd pretty much selected the same palette making our decision pretty easy...  

Our Untimely Demise :: Hanneld/HerrinCorp.

So it begins:   

THE PLAN :: Three Film Treatments including: • Reimagined title sequences for well-known films • Poster • Packaging • Website to showcase final work • Branding & identity for AJ & Gabe

Audience & Considerations: Primary: Prospective employers Secondary: Pop-culture junkies Always show respect for the original and frame up our project as fan-art rather than “fixing” something (it’s homage not hubris)

Objectives: Learn this software inside and out, demonstrate an aptitude for understanding and appropriately expressing the essence of the film.

Primary strategy is time; we’re devoting a tremendous amount of time to this project, for watching the films, talking about them, sketching, doing AE tutorials. The plan is currently to meet every Wednesday afternoon and Saturday.

The Medium: We’re hoping that the films themselves will dictate the medium, be it analog (paper cutting / hand animation / stop motion) or digital (AE, 3D, etc.). The pieces we create will not acknowledge any previous title sequences, wordmarks, logos, or posters but should absolutely work with the existing films. Finish products will be showcased on a website.

Deadline: End of the quarter with the possibility of extending through the end of the year. We have built in interal milestones to keep us on track.

Budget: Other than our lab fees, the only anticipated cost is for stock footage / footage website management depending on how we decide to execute each treatment. Sign-off: Each product will have to meet with our own expectation as well as those of our Professor.

Sign-off: Each product will have to meet with our own expectation as well as those of our Professor.

STEP ONE: Build a timeline / choose your films

And we're off...