Transcription - Initial Ideas and The First Tutorial

Got a few things to post today. Firstly, I have created a project timetable, which breaks down all the tasks ahead, into manageable chunks.

Note that it is only in list form, and is subject to change. As soon as I've put it into a table, I can re post it.
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Not including Saturdays and Sundays (reserved for Maya tasks first)

2 weeks pre production - 1st week ideas done + story board done
2nd week animatic done – character designs done

2 weeks production - 1st week characters modelled
2nd week characters rigged, skinned etc

3 weeks animating - 1st week
2nd week
3rd week

1 week rendering - 1st week – lighting and texturing while setting off renders

1 week post production - 1st week – finish off renders while post editing what already done

Last week - 3 days - other bits that need doing
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Secondly, after a chat with Phil, I finally settled on a song to transcribe. So for this project I am using It Must Be Love, by Madness.

//Edit: Can you believe the music video I posted here has been removed from YouTube due to copyright infringement! Lucky it was on someone else's account!//

The lyrics are as follows:
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I never thought I'd miss you
Half as much as I do
And I never thought I'd feel this way
The way I feel
About you

As soon as I wake up
Every night, every day
I know that it's you I need
To take the blues away

It must be love, love, love
It must be love, love, love
Nothing more, nothing less
Love is the best

How can it be that we can
Say so much without words?
Bless you and bless me
Bless the bees
And the birds
I've got to be near you
Every night, every day
I couldn't be happy
Any other way

It must be love, love, love
It must be love, love, love
Nothing more, nothing less
Love is the best


--Long Bit of Music--


As soon as I wake up
Every night, every day
I know that it's you I need
To take the blues away

It must be love, love, love
It must be love, love, love

It must be love, love, love...

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Thirdly, the evening before last, I was discussing story ideas with my brother and dad. I decided first that I would like to explore the possibility of an animal and its connection with some inanimate object.
The first and only thing I was thinking of at the time was a bear and his slippers. I don't know why, but I guess that there were a few cue in the song that caused this to pop into my head. Like where the singer says "every night, every day", the slippers came to mind. Reinforced by the fact that it kind of needs to be a love for something trivial. The line "and I never thought I'd feel this way, the way I feel, about you", as if he wasn't expecting it.
The choice of a bear came second, and I think was caused by the line, "bless the bees". Bees = honey = bears.
Anyway, it was a starting point, so my initial ideas centred around this combination.

A draft story was formed.
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It starts with a bear in his bedroom, waking up. He finds his slippers next to his bed and puts them on.
Then we see all the fun times with the slippers, but at the end of each night, when they are taken off, they are gradually seen getting more worn.
They are too old, so he gets some new slippers, but they are not the same.
As soon as he wakes up (for the last time in the song), he goes for his favourite slippers, but of course they are not there as he has a new pair.
Then at the end he decides to chuck out the new pair and rescue his old pair, even though they are old and worn.

The main part of this story is that in the song, it goes "every night, every day," and I wanted to show at the end of the day, the slippers looking a bit more worn, until he comes to the hard decision to get new ones, but then goes back to the old ones right at the end.
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That is the basic story, although I thought of many variations, and the ending isn't exactly concrete. For instance, were the old slippers put in the bin, or at the back of the closet. Then there is also the problem that the new slippers get thrown out, so they don't get their happy ending :( Which I kind of want. Although I did think up a partial solution by introducing another, younger bear that likes the new slippers, and then at the end, they are given to him.
Exactly what condition are the slippers at the end. Just tatty, or almost dangerous. If the latter, then he needs them fixed before he can wear them again. As you can see, what was a simple story, still has many unsolved parts which kind of make it overly complex.

It's also less of a comedy too. While it might have its humorous moments when he is enjoying his slippers, it isn't exactly a laugh out loud comedy. Although I'd rather it has more a happy ending regardless of any twist at the end.


Anyway, yesterday morning, I knew that my main Idea, (which had been adjusted and re adjusted four times already!) was not a perfect story. With a one to one tutorial this afternoon, I thought it would be sensible to wait and see what was thought of the ideas. In the mean time, I looked at some images of bears. Both real and cartoon.














I did a few sketches of bears, hoping to generate more ideas for the current story, but it was also good drawing practice too!




So, yesterday afternoon was the first official one to one transcription tutorial with Alan. I took this opportunity to present some story ideas, generated the night before.

Although I've set the deadline of storyboarding done by the end of the week and animatic by the end of the following week, I suppose I should really be more realistic. Alan reminded me today that this bit cannot be done quickly, and is something that evolves over time. The main problem I face with my first story idea is that it simply doesn't have an ending that works well. There are too many loose ends created in the first half that don't draw to a close. A common symptom of thinking up the story in one go from beginning to end... in the course of one evening!

Anyway, a few suggestions to take away from this meeting is to just experiment with anything. Replace the animal, replace the object and to switch who's perspective we are seeing the story from. This all merely as a way of generating lots of ideas, so there is more to work with.

I hope to come back with some more ideas by the end of the day.