Pecha Kucha Revisited
Concept
The concept is to combine realism and expressionism together, the finalised idea is to base it on war photography in WW2, in which I am trying to capture the sense of realism about war in a expressionistic animation
Realism
(We get a sense of realism through sources such as diaries, memos, articles, news papers, photos etc with these overlapped we get a better picture of the war, the story will be heavily based on these facts)
We get a sense of realism through sources such as diaries, memos, articles, news papers, photos etc the richness of these information gives us a better sense of the war but still we haven’t actually experienced war from reading from these, its like a view from nowhere, so the story is based on these historic sources.
Expressionism
The aim is to create a short film which is expressionistic yet realistic in terms of the narrative. The expressionistic style gives more room for creativity as the style enhances the emotions, psychological impact and the atmospheric mood to depict the people in WW2.
Research of WW2
In order to know about the setting more, I looked into the history of WW2, the life styles, war photographers during that era, what camera they have used, soldiers, how they got conscripted to the army, and then I looked at the fashion and style of Britain during that time.
Don McCullin
Don McCullin has been a war photographer for decades, some images are staged in order to enhance the image, but they are real. He says that when young children look at these pictures, they would form a opinion and expected to inherit a responsibility and hopes that the next gen doesn’t need to, occasionally he takes pictures of the twilight like a reminder of hope and life.
James Natchwey
James is a modern war photographer, he used to take pictures from war zones like Iraq, in his documentary, I found one of his quotes quite inspiring “every minute when I was there, I wanted to flee, but I have to deal with the responsibility of being there with a camera”
Further visual
For further visual reference, I looked at interior and furnishing of a middle class 1940s house which would help me for modelling in 3D. Looked at the layouts of the furniture and capturing every detail and to understand the poetic space of the house.
Story
set in pre WW2 and post WW2. First half is about Harry the photographer, his bids farewell to his wife to join the army to be a photographer, hoping his photos could change the thoughts of the world, second half concentrates on Anna who becomes independent with the absence of her husband and helps him develop his photos. When the war ended, Anna waits for Harry’s return at Manchester exchange station.
Side Project
Is to look at the life style of a typical middle class family in the 1940s. Families gather together to listen to the radio for updates about the war, they were required to seal their windows to avoid shattering from bombs, they were required to hide in their shelters when the siren goes off and they had to grow their own food. Low wage family gets the shelter free.
Inspiration
A PSP game the war of the lions, I like the cross hatch shadows and cel shaded animation gives a quite sketch look, sin city I like how they key colour some of the features, tim burton’s exaggerated caricatures and the third man’s use of camera angles enhancing the atmospheric mood of a scene.
Sketches and planning
Most of the short film is based in the house, so I drawn a floor plan and wall plans to help me model the scene and documenting every little details of furnishing. From the information I gathered from before, I worked out the layout of the room and how might the character utilises the space.
Psychological Impact
These are some of the psychological impacts for the characters, at night they were required to seal off all windows to avoid light emitting from the house this is to avoid enemies from above putting the whole street at risk. It doesn’t feel like a home anymore, its just a fragile house being watched from above.
Harry
This is Harry pre war and this is him in the war serving the army as a photographer. These are his key items, the hat gives him identity and the timeline, the photo album is his treasure of memories and the model Leica II camera is sort of like his dream and his will, which he carries 2 with him incase anything happens to one of them.
Harry’s Face
Facial emotions shows a lot about a character, he is athletically weak but he is yet brave and determined. This is also to help me with the facial rigging and morphing. If he was an animal, he would resemble a puppy, loyal but yet easily scared.
Anna
This is his wife, before and during the war. Women back in the WW2 were expected to live a independent life with their husbands at war, these are her key items. The first one is the letters she receives from Harry, second is the films from Harry, the head garment is the evidence of her character becoming strong and to look after the house.
Anna’s Face
Her character sort of resembles a princess, she starts off quite weak until she realises that she can’t be like this anymore, and she has to realise that there is a war going on, everyone is working hard to stay alive. Her facial features resembles a cat, sharp eye contacts to enhance the expressions.
SCAMPER
At first I decided to have 2 main characters, but I thought it added too many unnecessary interaction between the 2, so I decided to eliminate the wife as the main character at the start, then I rearranged the roles. With Harry being the main character at the start then Anna for the second half.
Interior 3D
Started modelling the interior of the house, trying to capture every small details and the patterns of a 1940s house, because most of the film is set in this house, I want to have as much details as possible, in the end it will be cel shaded and with cross hatch shading like in the example before.
House 3D
This is the street they live in, a typical terraced houses, this is the start of the film, a scene to show an introductory of the feel of the space. Going to build all the scenes and character in 3d first, then map them with a designed skin to stand out.
Future Plans
Here is a rough estimate of what needs to be done next and my current progress, still in the process of model and mapping hoping to start animating by Febuary.
After finishing the house, the interior and the model of Harry, these are my next task. For more development, research and images you can visit my blog, link up there.
