Project Complete!

After rending my my project for what feels like forever I have completed my Animation. Overall I am happy with my final piece and like the way it has turned out. I like the look of my robo-butler and my environment and feel it fits well with my futuristic home of the future. I like the cartoon look my animation has with the use of bright colours and shiny textures. I also like the design of my environment as it worked well as the set for my animation, it had a good flow as the camera moved across for the opening scene establishing the scene. I also liked the use of camera zooms as the animation played as this added drama to the banana shot to build up comedic affect. Although it is clear and very predictable that the robo-butler will slip and fall over because of the banana I feel the ending works well as it is a surprise most people wont guess. After creating my walk it was clear it still didn't work as well as i hoped and if I had more time I would like to perfect it as I think it could work well and explain more about how my character works in its environment. I wanted the walk to be careful and each foot well placed as he was careful at not trying to slip over on the polished floor as it was very slippery due to its impractical design. I feel this walking sequence is the weakest part of my animation and I would still like to spend more time developing it, but due to the deadline it wasn't possible. I would also like to add more sounds to my animation as I feel it lacks background sounds such as robot movements or machine hums. Overall though I am very happy with my finished animation and feel it fits the required outcomes for the project. I have enjoyed creating this project from designing ideas to creating it in 3d. For the next projects in term two I would like to create a more realistic final outcome rather than a cartoon feel.

Animating!

Whilst animating my animation I realised I had alot of shots and scenes that were not needed as they added notting and even added confusion as it wasn't clear what was exactly going on. As it was only a minute long it also took more time away from more important parts such as falling over and the surprise ending. Whilst creating the walk form my robo-butler I tried to create a walk that showed more of my robots personality as everyones walk is individual. I looked at how butlers walk in real life by looking at clips from films and youtube clips. One big influence was the butler form Corpse Bride. In this animation the butler has a very unusual walk and posture. His body posture was very closed and kept together, His arms and hands hardly moved whilst walking unless he was moving or picking something up. His arm movements were slow and expertly performed, whilst his legs were fast and quick paced almost blurry at times. I added these features to my robot rather than a robotic movement as I feel this added to my character personality. During my animating I decided That due to the shiny/high polished affect of my flooring I made my characters walk very careful and well placed movements as he is scared of falling over the slippery floor let alone a banana skin. His steps are small and carefully placed although he still walks at a steady pace, so some times his feet slip forward a bit during his walk.

My Story

After creating my robot and my environment I started to animate my robot. The story of my 1min animation for bots and bananas is about a robot butler that is starting his daily chores in the morning. It starts with a moving camera shoot across the room to set the scene. The audience will see the futuristic setting and furniture so they understand that it is set in the distant future and it is a modern day home in the sky. They will then see the robot starting to walk to his work station, by looking at his attire I hope people will recognise that it is the dress of a butler but its on a robot. As he starts to walk to his work station the audience will see a banana skin on the floor that the robot hasn't noticed. The audience is then lead to believe that the robot is about to slip on the banana, which he does do but thats not all that happens. After falling over as the robo-butler regains his wits and realises that in falling over he has damaged his work station and it starts losing power and begins to shut down. This make the robot panic as he is lying down underneath the main control centre of the computer. The surprise is this then comes crashing down on top of the robo-butler as he tries to get back up.

My 3d Environment

In 3d Max I designsed my environment around some of my favourite features of the research I did from Sleeper, sculpture house the Jetsons and other futuristic Furniture designs. I then changed these to make them look even more realistic by having them made in ultra shiny reflective materials, having them balance on tiny legs or stands and even hovering in mid air. I added other detail such as hovering circular rings to add an even more unrealistic/futuristic look to my furniture. This also made them look more space aged as it almost looked like rings around a planet like saturn. I also added shiny textures to all my objects or a translucent colour affect so everything looked man made. With so many reflective materials the light and shapes of other objects were reflected in everything else which added to the theme of a futuristic setting.

My Robot

The design of my robot is a combination of the Woody Allen's impersonation of a robot butler and the Jetsons cartoon butler. I like the idea of the overall look of my animation being in a cartoon style but a modern interpretation and 3d animated rather than an hand drawn animation. I have created it so it looks like my robot is made of shiny coloured metal and I have also added colour by giving him a blue body and yellow detail rather than being black and white like conventional butlers. I have also added a bow-tie, jacket detail and jacket tails. I have given my robot a large square head to emphasise his intelligence and he only has one eye so he focuses on his tasks. He also doesn't have a mouth as he receives orders and doesn't give them so he has no need to talk.

Futuristic Environment

For my animation I will create a house of the future. From looking at the sculpture house I will create the layout and furniture to a similar style. I will use shiny textures such as plastics, glass and metals for my environment. I have also looked at furniture that has been designed to be ultra modern and also designs that may not be possible in really life due to manufacturing techniques or laws of gravity. I also like the use of bright colours to add detail and depth to rooms that are minimal and usually black and white.

The sculpture House

In Sleeper the house that is featured is a house in colorado USA. The sculpture house was designed by architect Charles Deaton and is in a distinctive elliptical curve. It also features a large glassed wall to make the most of its views over jefferson county. The house is raised of the ground and looks like its almost hovering in the air adding to its futuristic look. It is also known as the Star Trex House, clamshell House, flying saucer house and my other main influence the jetsons. I like the aesthetics and the overall look of the building as its very futuristic even though it was built in 1963. I like the use of shiny/polished materials and glass as textures for my environment.

Sleeper!!!

In sleeper woody Allen Plays the part of a robot butler to escape capture. These robots are capable of doing the sort of things I would like my robot to do in my animation. I like the combination of a machine look but wearing butler clothes. I shall use these features in my robot design so it looks more like a butler than an ordinary robot. This way he shall match his job description and gives the audience an idea of the robots purpose in the animation. Watching this film has helped me fine tune my ideas and has helped to develop other ideas.

Sleeper!!!

Sleeper is a futuristic science fiction comedy film, written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, and directed by Allen. The plot involves the adventures of the owner of a Greenwich Village, New York health food store played by Woody Allen who is cryogenically frozen in 1973 and defrosted 200 years later in an inept totalitarian state. The film contains several plot points which parody or spoof several well-known works of science-fiction, most notably H. G. Wells's novel The Sleeper Awakes and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Time for an update!

Robot butler

For the bots and banana project I will create a robot that has to fall over, trip and slip over. The design of my robot will be a robot butler, a robo-butler. I like the idea of it set in the future where every household has a robot to do their house work and daily chores. Although the robot has chores to do, they can all be achieved in seconds with the flick of a switch or the push of a button. This easy way of life has created a robo-butler of high intelligence that has nothing to do for most of the day but the simplest of tasks, this makes him feel unappreciated and underused.