!MO CAP PENGUINS!

Another film fest!

2008-10-31T14:37:00.001-07:00

An update! We got into another film fest - this one entitled The Short Short Story Film Festival, which will be screening our film on two occasions in New England. Check out their logo and site below!

Way to go team!!

The film is online!

2008-08-18T21:56:00.001-07:00

I uploaded a youtube version, and it allows you to watch it in high quality. It looks MUCH better that way.

I figured we might as well put it up online here since its already up at http://www.teletoon.com/scholarship . But it seems to run pretty choppy and is even more compressed on teletoon's website.

Good News, Folks!

2008-07-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Congratulations TELETOON Animation Scholarship Finalist!
From: Animation, Scholarship (scholarship@teletoon.com)
Sent: July 23, 2008 3:00:56 PM
To: argentor_draak@hotmail.com
CONGRATULATIONS!

"The Celestial Ox" has been selected as a TELETOON Animation Scholarship Finalist in the Continuing Education Category.

The finalists will be announced officially on teletoon.com/scholarship and teletoon.com/bourse on AUGUST 18, 2008.

What's next? In September, a jury of industry professionals will select 3 winners in each category. Winners will be announced following a screening at the Ottawa International Animation Festival on September 20, 2008.

Voters Choice Award! From August 18 through September 15, your film will be screened on teletoon.com/scholarship and teletoon.com/bourse as part of the Voters Choice Award. The public can vote for their favorite film in each category. The film with the most votes in each category will win the Voters Choice Award. We'll announce the Voters Choice winner at the Ottawa International Animation Festival TELETOON Animation Scholarship Finals September 20, 2008.

Promote yourself!
Starting August 18, bring attention to your film as part of the Voters Choice Award at the TELETOON Animation Scholarship by clicking on the "Share This on facebook" button on teletoon.com/scholarship and teletoon.com/bourse.

If you have any questions, please contact scholarship@teletoon.com

Congrats fellow Penguins!!

2008-07-18T07:15:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say as a HOLLA and an update - YAY US for getting into the LA Shorts Film Fest AND Ottawa Intl Animation Fest 08! WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!

Greaaaaaaaaaaaat job Guys, all our crazy hard work is payin' off!!!!!

I hope everyone is having a FAAAAAB internship and rockin' good summa.

Stace :)

Festivals!

2008-05-09T07:36:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd do a quick search on Edmonton Film Festivals, and there is one! And the best part? The entry fee is 20 bucks, and it's waived for Alberta residents. Hooray!

I don't know if there are any prizes or anything, but y'know.

Where could I get a dvd copy of our film? Does anyone have one? I think all I have is all eight films together.

DQ- HI ALL

2008-04-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the wonderful and beautiful signed poster
it looks amazing

It has been a great honor being your mentor and look forward to see your work in the future

Celestial OX has earned its place in the stars......

P.S. remember me when you become rich and famous

DQ

THATS A WRAP!

2008-04-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

Garrett Hanna completed an AMAZING suitable for framing poster for us. I'm getting 20 11x17's made so talk to me tomorrow if you want one (MoCap Pengs who are out of town already, email me your address and I'll be happy to mail you yours)

I just want to say again how proud I am of everybody in our group! I am simply amazed at the end result. You guys did it! THANK YOU!!!

*************SPOILER ALERT*************************

Here are some stills from the final film. GO TO THE SCREENING FRIDAY AT 6PM! Buy a copy of ALL 8 FILMS FOR ONLY $3!

2008-04-11T23:34:00.000-07:00

I watched the first cut of the Celestial Ox and, I almost broke down into tears. This year has been amazing, and seeing this film done just made all the work worth it. Thanks for everything, talk to you soon.

Jason

NEWEST SCENE UPDATES

2008-04-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

This morning we made a list of all the scenes & what we need at this point.
The list is below! I also printed it & posted it beside my desk. lf you do anything off the list, please cross it off!
Thanks Guys!!

After effects stuffs.

2008-04-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

Looking for some tutorials online on how to do some effects, and here's what I found.

Making a camera iris, for the final shot. This one has the details on the apeture shutter things. I don't know if we wanted that, but here it is.

Mark and I were discussing making an image distorted, for his drinking scene and for my scenes in a portal. There seem to be two things that will work, depending on what we want to do.

Using a displacement map. An example of one being used. We'll still have to experiment to make it work, but I think it's a starting point.

For my scenes, I was thinking more of a heat distortion near the edges of the frame. I found a tutorial on making heat distortions, using particles. Perhaps a combination of the two techniques will work for me, so that it's not distorting the entire image, but just around it.

I also downloaded copies of these, so I can show people on the school computers.

And now, it's so much later than I thought it would be. I will be into school as soon as I eat!

FINAL PAINTED LUSH LAND

2008-04-08T02:02:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, here's the final look of the land when everything grows. I'm almost done the painting for the pan, but here's the section that you guys might need for reference in case you didn't check the mocap folder. See ya tomorrow!!!

Meeting tomorrow morning...

2008-04-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

For those of us not going to the long lecture, Brock was saying we should have a meeting to see what's done and what still needs to be done, who needs help and who can help.

Early-ish in the morning. I'm planning on being there between 9 and 10, we'll see who's still there from the night before.

In case anyone wasn't in school, and checks the blog before tomorrow. n____n

G'night! We're going to finish, I can feel it!

Scribbled notes on After Effects

2008-04-03T16:31:00.001-07:00

Hope you guys can read my chicken scratch!

DQ- HI ALL

2008-03-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

The artwork and animation is looking great
see you today

Emp's RGB values

2008-03-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

Here's the final colours for the emporer with the RGB values.
[And yes, he does have sleeves :) ]
Happy scanning/colouring!!

Some Intro BG's

2008-03-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Here's some painted BGs of my scenes with characters dropped in for reference. I'll put the PSD's of these up on the server tonight if anyone wants to use elements for their BGs in this sequence.

Emporer & pillar colour ideas

2008-03-25T06:32:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys, I did some revisions to the emporer colours, and I also tried colouring the pillar...

Comments? Changes? Ideas?
Lemme know what you guys think, feel free to suggest anything! I just thought it would be nice to get the emp's colours established so we don't have to waste time after we are done cleaning up!

DQ- your stuff is looking great

2008-03-11T06:05:00.001-07:00

HI ALL

did any of you want to meet earlier this week, since we missed last week
the artwork looks beautiful ....rrreeeeaaaallllyyyy NICE!!!!

DQ

NEXT DEADLINES FOR ANIMATION

2008-03-07T19:39:00.003-08:00

Hey Penguins!

A few of us met today and discussed our next deadlines... since we are supposed to have a FINISHED FILM by Week 13... where should we be at now? Next week? Well, hopefully this helps:

Week 9 [next week]:
> By WEDNESDAY try to have all [or as much as you possibly can] ROUGH ANIMATED for ALL of your scenes. We will have our group meeting then and review everything.
> By THURSDAY can you please bring a print-out of your poster [if you want to throw it in the ring] and we will have a FINAL vote on which one to pick.

If the roughs are approved, or almost done, that leaves us with just over 2 weeks to do ALL the final fix-ups, clean up and colouring.

We decided that WEEK 12 - APRIL 1ST [Mark decided to throw that date out there!] is the day we are shooting for to START COMPOSITING.

One last thing - I made a folder on the server called 'ANIM_ROUGH_ALLSCENES'. I made folders within that for all of my scenes, and copied my latest flipbook files in there. If you could, please all create your own scene folders in that folder as well, and keep updating it with the latest versions of your scenes so that everyone can take a look whenever they need to.

Thanks Guys!! Keep on plugging, we are only a few weeks away! Everyone's doing an AWESOME job so keep it up!

Sorry for the random cap'd words, but it makes for variety.
Stace :)

Tony's Meeting

2008-03-05T08:13:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,

Just to let you know Tony won't be in today for his meeting at 12:00. I won't be in either because I can't get my car out of the driveway, and my street isn't plowed yet.

Thanks guys, see you tomorrow!

Stace :)

The Ruffs and Clean version of the big pan

2008-02-29T18:21:00.001-08:00

Here's the ruff and clean, I finally scanned everything. So if you guys need it for reference for the scenes after this scene its here.

Pan Test with sound

2008-02-29T18:16:00.000-08:00

This is the test I did before I redesigned the layout and the character placements. But I thought I would put it up, so you guys can kind of "visualize" the scene when its completed. As well DQ gave some great suggestions on adding zoom ins and outs and ease outs and ins as well. This is just a straight pan across right now, but the final will combine all of these things.

additional ruff work

2008-02-26T20:54:00.000-08:00

here is what i fixed today, i fixed the priests movement , and when the ox receives the embrosa.

2008-02-26T14:53:00.001-08:00

i add the torch effect which done by Brock, and i modified the glow too.

here's the Scene19's BG painting. pls give me some comments.

here's S19 & S20.

a work in process (ruffwork)

2008-02-25T09:39:00.000-08:00

i still have a few inbetweening to do and some fine tweeking on the priest char , but this is what i have so far on my scene, i ll start the other one either tomorrow or wednesday.

2008-02-24T15:26:00.000-08:00

i did some effects for my scene. feel free to give me some comments. i will modify it till u guys
think it's good to go.
*modified the ox's outline. make it blue this time. which versions do u guys like better? the yellow or blue?

Background texture and colored linework

2008-02-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

I tweaked a bit with Andy's scene background. I wanted to show you what the difference colored lines and just a bit of texture can do. I dont think we should go crazy with texture, it gets distracting. But especially in scenes on earth when its still dry and dead, a bit of speckle on the surfaces helps to convey the stone look. Also, I think some colored linework will just help in general. Its much easier on the eyes to see the characters with black outlines if the backgrounds don't already have black outlines. They separate easier.

Its really, really easy to add texture to a bg thats already painted flat like Andy had it. And add it on its own layer so it too can be adjusted if needed. I can send everyone the custom photoshop brush that I used to make the texture, or we can keep experimenting until we find something we all can agree on.

Who is Supervising what...

2008-02-17T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys, I was just organizing some of the design pack stuff - there has been some updates and revisions on things [Lucia did some great designs for FX, check it out!]...

I will be copying the newest design pack to the server on Tuesday morning, so print it off from there for your own copy.
**Also if you have additions or revisions to the design pack from what you have been working on in your scenes, can you throw it on one of the templates, and copy it to the server? [in the Design Pack folder] Also maybe just do a quick post to let everyone know there are updates; it would be good to keep the most updated stuff in the binder.

Also I will be printing the newest board, script & design pack for the Master Binder in case you need to reference it while working at school. I leave it above my desk in those shelves.

Above is a list of our group members and who is supervising what... I was getting confused so I thought some of you might be too!

Thanks Guys, have a great Family Day!
Stace

about being on Model

2008-02-12T19:08:00.000-08:00

you all are ruff animating a scene of the ox, next week is the final week of RUFF animating the scene
if you all used a ruff working model of the ox it should be close
in fact it has been my experience that even if you all had a final model , your OX would still look different
but you will all have an idea of what works and what does not based on what you have been doing in your animation class
It is best to put together a final model based on what you all have contributed from the animation you are doing
we can meet as a group and discuss what you feel looks good and works then you can get someone to finalize the model for all of you to finalize your animation
then when you do the clean up of the scene you can put the character design on model

NO characters are ever on model at the beginning of a production, especially when the character is new and you have to discover them...

Do not worry if you have started other scenes, you are only in the ruffing stage and once you have gone thru the pose test and ruff animation , you should have a model to work from

I also want to go over the model with who ever designs it or even the other characters and
who ever creates the final models should also give a chalk talk to the group on how to keep it on model

thanks

DQ

Hey guys, I thought I should just throw this out there

2008-02-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit worried about a major thing, that we maybe haven't thought about. The ox I think is beginning to look very inconsistent, I think that everyone is drawing it very differently, all good I might add, but he doesn't actually look the same. I think we really need to focus on the design of the ox, and try to match it to the best we can, because Brocks style is very different to Kellys, and Marks, and Andy's, and Jasons, and everyone else (I haven't seen the other versions yet), so we should really try and do something about it or else our main character is going to change from scene to scene.....not sure if that's what we were going for???

suggestion, Brock, maybe if you can do a bit more designs, because the group seems to be leaning towards your ox

Kelly, you said you were going to do some facial expressions, I think that's great, I liked your expressions a lot, but I think the group needs it asap. We are all beginning to animate, and I'm sure none of us will want to redo it because it doesn't look like the same ox from scene to scene.

What does everyone else think??

Scene 12 pose test

2008-02-09T11:47:00.001-08:00

Labelling the boards digitally

2008-02-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

Hey Penguins!

Rach and I were talking in Maya today... I know today we were labeling the boards by hand, but I think really the best thing would be to label the scenes and dialog all digitally. Because then those master boards would be on the server for everyone to grab and print off, and you wouldn't have to keep reprinting it every time. [It also would ensure consistency with all the copies of the boards!]

I will try to label all the boards I have [the first 42 pages] tonight... Angie would you be able to label your boards? Or maybe a couple people could label them....we just need to get it done so everyone can work from the same master board on the server.

One more thing - I copied my half of the boards onto the server, but I will replace them when they are labeled.

We'll finish off the meeting we were having today, tomorrow after lecture. It shouldn't take too long to finish.
Thanks Guys!!

Meet on Monday?

2008-02-02T14:19:00.001-08:00

I just emailed everyone, but just to make sure....

I thought maybe we should try to meet quickly on Monday to touch base before our Wednesday meeting.

Is everyone free to meet at noon on Monday, before Maya at 1 PM?
Angie - if you could print your boards and I'll print mine and we can go over them at the meeting.

If anyone can't make it, can you please let me know?
Thanks!
Stacey

DQ-Happy snow day

2008-02-01T06:51:00.000-08:00

HI MOCAPS

seems we are going to miss our meeting today.....
if you have anything to show me or ask let me know on the blog
I will try to check it thu the day and weekend

DQ

SNOW DAY!

2008-02-01T05:35:00.001-08:00

I see classes are cancelled today, so happy snow day everyone! [And a Friday even, sweeeet.]
See y'all on Monday!

more designs

2008-01-31T14:25:00.000-08:00

Angeline - board pages!

2008-01-31T13:50:00.000-08:00

Awesome, thanks Angie! You are fast!
My pages will go til page 42... so start numbering your pages at 43.

NOTE to the rest of the Penguins - Angie and I grabbed each board and are putting them on the templates. Thanks muchly to Angie for volunteering, as it's a huge job and much easier when it's cut in half! Perhaps we can have some of your guys' help tomorrow numbering all the scenes and filling in the other info during Natalie's story class.

We can go over it in our meeting at 1 PM tomorrow and actually divide up the board amongst the group.
Thanks!

Finished up my part, Stacey.

2008-01-31T11:15:00.000-08:00

All the panels are on pages, I just need to know how many pages you got to so I can number mine. n___n

Latest leica reel, week 4!

2008-01-30T19:05:00.001-08:00

Refer to this for now doing your rough scenes and workbooks!

2008-01-30T17:30:00.000-08:00

We really need to post the leica, since it's a bit hard to do workbook for it without any reel. :S

DQ Hi mocaps

2008-01-30T09:01:00.000-08:00

Liked your latest story reel, it is much tighter
there is a lot of great animation opportunity and all the scenes

It still is a bit long feel there is room for trimming but I will talk to ya all about it when we meet

love the designs you are posting,

DQ

NO TONY MEETING TOMORROW

2008-01-29T18:06:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,

Just in case you don't check your email.... Tony won't be in tomorrow, but we will still meet in the studio for 1 PM. We will divide up the boards and sequences, and go over the design pack.

Thanks guys!!
Stace

and some more

2008-01-29T00:51:00.001-08:00

more Rachel locations

2008-01-29T00:50:00.001-08:00

Rachel's location all done

2008-01-28T23:36:00.001-08:00

Rachel's Villager is completo

2008-01-28T22:14:00.001-08:00

our village!

2008-01-28T20:39:00.001-08:00

Design Pack---Alex

2008-01-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

character clean up--andy

2008-01-28T19:41:00.001-08:00

Design pack templates USE THESE

2008-01-28T14:31:00.001-08:00

Hey Guys, here are the design pack templates.
If you could put your artwork on these templates [make sure to choose the right one, ie, char, prop, etc] and put your name and description on it as well.
[I will upload one of mine as an example.]
If you are having troubles, let me know and I can put them on the template.

**Please print your pages and bring to the lecture tomorrow to add to the design pack. I will be going to school before lecture to print out the pages I have ready [just print it black and white].

Example page:

DQ- ferdinand the bull

2008-01-28T06:45:00.000-08:00

Just to stir your imagination
Party Animal

C=Villager

2008-01-27T18:16:00.000-08:00

Playing drums. Figured they wouldn't use sticks.

Martini glass and olives. I tried to use thick black lines wherever possible, to tie in with the ox's tail.

Drums.

Mouse.

Cart. Some distortion when he goes fast, since he's a magic ox.

Brandy snifter and how to hold one.
Beer steins and how to hold them.

Ox construction from Brock

2008-01-27T15:58:00.001-08:00

This will help a lot going forward, thanks Brock!

Reference scans

2008-01-26T09:50:00.000-08:00

Design dudes and dudettes - see below post for duties!

Andy's monkey & pig:
**Clean up in this style

Stacey's villager:

Kamal's emporer:

Mark's ducks:

Brock's ox for reference [he is going to revise him for Tuesday]
**On Monday we will pick some poses from the storyboard to clean up for the design pack.

Rach's baby char:

Stacey's emporer:

Andy's villagers:

Angie's rat:

Brock's emporer:

Design team duties

2008-01-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,

I will post who is doing what for the design pack this weekend and then I will scan the sketches that we should be working from. I have moved a couple things around so it's spread evenly between the 7 of us. If you have any questions, please comment or post. [If I forgot anything, let me know!]

And please post your stuff as you do it so I can add it to the templates. Thanks!!
[**Also note the post below that our meeting on Monday has been rescheduled!]

Alex:
> Andy's rough priest 3-see scan - [clean up, 3/4 front & back, 2 poses]
> Andy's secondary char 6 - see scan [clean up, 3/4 front & back, 2 poses]
> Ambrosia bottle [a couple angles of prop, the prop with a rough char - even just a hand or whatever]
> crops/food [a couple angles of prop, the prop with a rough char - even just a hand or whatever]
> party hats [a couple angles of prop, the prop with a rough char - even just a hand or whatever]

Angie:
> Mouse/rat [2 dance poses, 1 pose with champagne glass, 3/4 front & 3/4 back]
> Andy's secondary char 4 - see scan [clean up, 3/4 front & back, 2 poses]
> ceremonial drums [a couple angles of prop, the prop with a rough char - even just a hand or whatever]
> wagon [a couple angles of prop, the prop with a rough char - even just a hand or whatever]
> drinking glasses [a couple angles of prop, the prop with a rough char - even just a hand or whatever]
> beer stein [a couple angles of prop, the prop with a rough char - even just a hand or whatever]

Kamal:
> Andy's monkey [2 dance poses, 1 pose with champagne glass, 3/4 front & 3/4 back]
> Stacey's secondary char 7 - see scan [clean up, 3/4 front & back, 2 poses]
> jewel [a couple angles of prop, the prop with a rough char - even just a hand or whatever]
> barrel [a couple angles of prop, the prop with a rough char - even just a hand or whatever]
> lightning - fx [what it will look like, design it]

Andy:
> Pig [2 dance poses, 1 pose with champagne glass, 3/4 front & 3/4 back]
> Andy's secondary char 5 - see scan [clean up, 3/4 front & back, 2 poses]
> village layout [clean layout on its own, plus one with a char in it]
> dead fields layout [clean layout on its own, plus one with a char in it]
> lush fields layout [clean layout on its own, plus one with a char in it]

Rach:
> Andy's secondary char 1 - see scan [clean up, 3/4 front & back, 2 poses]
> altar layout [clean layout on its own, plus one with a char in it]
> land lush w/crops layout [clean layout on its own, plus one with a char in it]
> any other layouts you have Rach that you did from the storyboard, post them and I will add them to the template!

Lucia:
> Duck [2 dance poses, 1 pose with champagne glass, 3/4 front & 3/4 back]
> Andy's secondary char 2 - see scan [clean up, 3/4 front & back, 2 poses]
> Rach's secondary char baby - see scan [clean up in Andy's style, 3/4 front & back, 2 poses]
> flames/fire in torches [fx]
> splash [fx]
> clouds [fx]
> glow on Ox [that might just be a simple Photoshop filter, we should experiment designing something for that]

Stacey:
> clean up Ox's expressions
> revise Emporer, clean up, turnaround
> Emporer expressions
> Emporer gesture poses
> organize design pack/put stuff on templates
> design pack index page
> revise heavenly kingdom layout [clean layout on its own, plus one with a char in it]
> star shapes/shooting stars [fx]

**DESIGN TEAM MONDAY MEETING RESCHEDULED

2008-01-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

Hey Design Team,

We had planned to meet on Monday at noon to go over the designs, but Bardel is coming to do their presentation at 11:45 AM [in J102], and I know a few of us will want to go!

So could we please meet at 11AM on Monday in the studio? Please be there on time so we get the time in before we have to leave for the presentation! [Note, this is only for the design team! You story guys can disregard this msg!] [Side note 2: Rach, I will go to the gym for 9:30 AM if you want to meet me there!]

I will be out late tonight, so I will post the design pack instructions either late tonight or tomorrow morning! Thanks guys, you rock!
Stace :)

More char designs

2008-01-24T19:39:00.001-08:00

character concept

2008-01-23T20:06:00.000-08:00

Pipeline for this term

2008-01-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

Emporers to draw from!

2008-01-23T17:51:00.001-08:00

Here are the ones we narrowed down to for the Emporer.....

The arms on this one:

Moustache/beard on this one:

Glasses on this one:

Legs/cloak on this one:

Hands/arms on this one:

A couple more celestial skies

2008-01-22T18:26:00.001-08:00

Some celestial designs

2008-01-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

I finished these on Sunday eve; I am still working on a couple more, I will bring them to the meeting tomorrow! [Also, at the bottom I posted a pic of some star brushes I designed... if we choose any, I can share the brushes so we can all have them on whatever Photoshop we use to paint the bg's]

More Design

2008-01-20T16:03:00.000-08:00

Design

2008-01-20T15:57:00.001-08:00

Some designs & expressions

2008-01-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

Playing around with space stuff.

2008-01-19T10:04:00.000-08:00

Just basing some paintings off the Hubble images, and playing with the crazy colours there aparantly are out in space.

clicked some layers off, and thought it looked cool.
without the stars...
with them. Not my favourite stars, but *shrug*. I'm sure someone else will think of a better way to do them!

It looks like an eye with a planet iris. Happier with how this turned out.

Not quite done this one, but I thought I'd post it anyway. Next time, I'm making a 'swatches' layer, that's why the two different greens. -____-;

Link back to my pigs is pigs post.

2008-01-19T07:05:00.000-08:00

With all the screencaps and gifs that I did.

And here's on image from that hubble site I was talking about.

Some cool flintstones reference.

2008-01-17T18:23:00.000-08:00

I was googling Flinstone images, and I came across this great article on different Flintstone animators, with examples of each one. It really is great stuff, I had forgotten. n___n

DQ- New Meeting time

2008-01-12T07:31:00.000-08:00

HI All

It was a great meeting on Friday, I am looking forward to what you come up with this weekend

also to confirm our meeting time is Friday at 1pm

if you want to have a quick talk earlier this week Tuesday after 4pm let me know

DQ

DESIGN!

2008-01-09T18:14:00.001-08:00

Just some stuff for the design team to refer back to!!!

New Script Provided by Kelly!

2008-01-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

The Celestial Ox

Long ago, in an age far before our own, humanity was forced to toil in poverty at the whims of the Gods. They were simple people who depended on these dieties for the very basic necessities in their lives. Despite their hardships they continued to love the Heavenly Emperor and his court of Celestial animals for everything he gave to them, and continued to loyally respect his ways.

*show the earth, dry, dark, and red. Emaciated, half-starved people are slavishly worshipping a shrine.*

Though, as difficult as life seemed for the humans, they were not the only ones with problems.

*Either start pan to heaven from this or show a head priest standing at the altar and sacraficing a weathered-looking fruit of some sort. The fruit will explode in a flash and the smoke floating up to heaven will motivate the pan.*

Each of the Emperor’s Celestial animals was to be given a task to earn his place among his respected brothers.

*Show an animal running over a cloud hill to the centre of the screen, holding an obscenely large and shining gem stone*

When this task was completed, the animal was showered with praise and adoration before ascending to his rightful place in the stars.

*All of the constellation-animals celebrate as the one holding the gem turns into a constellation as well and rises up*

However, any animal who had not yet proven his worth became the subject of ridicule amongst his peers.

*Attention goes from the animal who has just ascended to the Ox, who is looking eager and ready to please. Other animals roll their eyes, torment him.*

Poor Celestiial Ox, he was the only who still had yet to sucessfully complete an ininitiation task.

*Ox looks disheartened as others torment him*

It pained the compassionate Emperor to see his subjects tormenting the Ox in such a manner, so he resolved to put an end to the cruel hazing

*Emperror shoos animals out of the way, looking bemused/disinterested. Pulls a list out of his robes*

by giving Ox his own noble task to earn his place in the stars.

*Emperor skims down list of tasks, all are things like “Pick up Heavenly Emperor’s dry cleaning” and “Wash Heavenly Emperor’s car”. Finally settles on “Feed Heavenly Emperor’s subjects”*

After careful consideration, he decided that Ox could deliver his message of food to the people. As the subject seemed to be very close to Ox’s heart, the Emperor felt he could trust him to respect the gravity of the situation.

*Emperor moves as though he is declaring something, other animals taunt the ox, poke his belly to watch it jiggle.*

He told Ox, “Lately, I feel the sacrafices from the humans on earth have been very disappointing. I want you to tell my people that I will give them enough food to eat three times a week so that this will no longer be a problem.”

*show Emperor holding weathered fruit from first scene*

Ox accepted this message, but before he could leave the Emperor stopped him one final time “Now Ox,” he began, “I know that you enyoy feasting and celebrating with a great passion. However, the humans’ ceremonial Elixer of Tribute is a very potent potion and you will do well to avoid drinking too much.” Ox accepted this advice half-heartedly, as he was quite sure of his control over his own vices, and began his descent to the earth.

*Emperor looks very serious, ox completely carefree, waves him off. Ox is magically dissappeared down to earth somehow.”*

Now, the conditions on the world below were very difficult, but this did not stop the villagers from feeling exceptionally joyful whenever they were granted audience with a messenger of the Heavens.

*Ox appears at shrine, lands upside down/on top of somebody/something like that*

After settling himself, Ox began to tell the people that the Emperor had sent him with a very important gift. The people were overjoyed to hear this, and immediately brought forth the ceremonial Elixer of Tribute to honour this great occasion.

*Ox rights himself and shakes off any residual dizziness. Motions as though he is adressing the people, who, look very pleased with his announcement and get down on their knees, worshipping. The priest comes forth with a fancy-looking bottle*

Ox remembered the Emperor’s warning about this elixer, but the humans were so kind and hospitable that he could not help but countinue to celebrate with them.

*people pass the bottle around, each gargling a swig and spitting it out. The bottle is passed to the ox, who tastes it and looks absolutely elated. He begins chugging the bottle. Crossfade as timee passes and more and more bottles pile up at his feet*

Before long, Ox began to feel that all of these festivities had made he and the people of earth very close with each other.

*Ox is weaving as he tries to sit still, playing with the priest’s face, ect*

Upon further reflexion, Ox decided that the Emperor’s original promise of three meals a week was no where near enough for his new friends to support their kindly society. After careful deliberation, Ox declared to his friends that the Emperor had sent him to gift them all with three meals a day.

*priest looks hopeful, as though he is reminding the ox that he had a message to deliver. The ox, still weaving, shakes himself to attention, remeberes the message, but seems to dismiss it. Stands on his hind legs and decrees something, catching himself before he falls over.*

With that, the land became lush with crops, the likes of which humanity had never even seen before.

*plants erupt from the ground, constantly growing, people are overjoyed, skipping around and biting off huge hunks of food.*

While the humans certainly appreciated Ox’s nobel decision, not everyone was so pleased with his behaviour.

*Thunder crashes, everything turns to dark blue hues, with one light shining at the ox, a tall shadow of what appears to be a police officer with a riot stick is moving towards the ox, who is squinting and trying to block out the light. Ox realizes who it is, and looks terrified. Pan over shadow to show that it is really the Emperor with his crown and sceptre.*

The Emperor explained to Ox that continuing to grow this food would drain his power so greatly that he could not possibly keep this promise to the people

*Emperor is shaking the Ox, who seems to have sobered up, smacking him around.*

and that his only hope was to take the food back.

*pan across crowd of people looking sad and dewey eyed*

Seeing how happy they had made the humans, however, Ox and Emperor alike couldn’t find it in their hearts to dissapoint the mortals who loved them so.

*Emperor looks sympathetic and sad, still strangling the ox, who looks to be on the verge of suffocation, but also sad and sympathetic.*

“There is still a way we can help them,” began the Emperor

*Emperor lets go of Ox, who falls over and gasps for breath*

“But to continue to feed the humans, you will have to sacrafice everything that you have.”

*Emperor’s shadow looms over ox, who looks very nervous, sweating bullets, ect*

*fade to black

*reopen with silhouette of what looks like a man roasting a hunk of meat. Lighting chages to reveal it is really an assortment of vegetables on a spit Another villager walks by, dumping a wheelbarrow full of vegetables beside the first villager and carrying on, happily. Walks past ox who is struggling to pull some sort of harvesting tool through a field of grains.*

And so, Ox was forced to spend forever more in the fields, working to feed the people as punishment for disobeying his Master’s orders.

*Villager who was carrying wheelbarrow passes Ox a bottle, both clink their bottles and drink. Ox licks his lips/eyes flash/flaps his ears/ something like that and looks completely rejuvinated. Continues happily pulling harvesting tool.*

That is not to say, however, that he did not enjoy his his new life with the humans.

*Ox pulls tool past to show that crops are being deposited into a large basin marked “GRADE A HOPS maybe with a brewery name beneath that”*

2008!

2008-01-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

hope everyone had an awesome new years. I'm going to keep working away on some board art for our film in the studio. I was wondering if anyone wants to come and draw too. give me a shout if your in the area my cells 416 702 4097. I'll still post what i draw on the blog, talk to you later.

Jason

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T21:45:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!!
Just wanted to wish you all a happy holiday/Christmas!!! :)
See you all in the new year.
-Alex

happy holidays!

2007-12-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

have an awesome break everyone. lets draw some funny oxen and get this story ready for when we get back in the new year.

- its totally goin on my wall -

2007-12-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

if i had an Ox I'd name it TheCelestialOx

Time for storyboarding?

2007-12-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

I have to go to lifedrawing today to hopefully get some portfolio pieces, but after that it'd be great if people showed up at the studio so we could start storyboarding something to hand in for tomorrow. It won't be as pretty as the other leica, but maybe it'll be more enjoyable.

Life drawing ends at four, then I'll need to pick out and hand in my portfolio, so four thirty or so?

Another poster

2007-12-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

Ox story

2007-12-08T20:09:00.000-08:00

Angeline and I wrote out the beat script so that its a story hopefully we can work out the kinks sooner then later, and figure out how to put this on the screen. lets get this story locked. we should meet up tomorrow and discus this new story, and make a reel.

Jason

Long ago the human race believed that sacrificing foods would keep them in good favour with the gods. Although the food supplies dwindled to next to nothing their faith remained strong and continue pay their respects to the gods. Up in the heavens the celestial animals eagerly await their daily offering of food. The ox buts in the circle curiously as the other animals all look at the ox and push him away. The ox knowing he’s not included hangs his head sadly. The other animals spot a tiny fruit floating towards the heavens, each animal starving from the lack offerings selfishly decided that they will be the one to eat it. As the fruit drew near enough to grab the other celestial animal madly scramble for the fruit. I the epic battle the fruit flies from the scuffle and lands in front of the celestial Ox. The Ox being a large and powerful animal was extra hungry from the lack of offerings and excitedly stuffed the fruit in his mouth. The other animals were slightly annoyed by this and expressed theirs anger towards the ox. Knowing that the Ox wasn’t the brightest star cluster in the sky the angered celestial animals send the Ox down to earth to gather more food. The celestial Ox is forcefully booted out of the heavens and down to earth. A human child is playing a game in the human temple when he hears a rumble and witnesses the Ox Landing in the sacrificial pot, the Celestial Ox looks back up at the Heavens, sighs, and gets on with his duties while still chewing his fruit. He grabs the sacrificial pot to gather food in. Meanwhile the kid is frozen from amazement and watches the ox walk by him. He runs off in fear. While the Celestial Ox is searching high and low for some food to bring home, the kid from the temple returns with some friends to observe the ox from behind a pile of rocks. The Ox is still eating his fruit from the heavens. He finishes his fruit, and spits out the core behind him. The glowing core falls into a crack in the ground. The ground around the crack begins to glow. A massive tree grows from the ground along with a lush patch of other edible plants. The Ox is completely oblivious to this, and only turns to see the tree after a fruit has fallen on his head. The ox is shocked and baffled because he could have sworn that tree wasn’t there before. The starving humans are amazed at his celestial powers of the ox. The Ox gathers up all the food with his strength by shaking the tree. He piles the fruit in the sacrificial pot to an amazing height. The ox examines the pile of food that is teetering and tottering until finally one fruit falls into his open mouth. Happily, he starts to pull the bowl back to the temple creating a large furrow in the ground. The humans who observed this run off excitedly. Back at the temple, the Ox puts the sacrificial bowl back on the altar and turns to find a huge crowd of hungry people watching him. The humans are starving and want some of the food, but the ox pantomimes NO! It is for the celestial animals. The humans look super-pathetically starving and hungry, but the ox still says NO! Finally, an ultra-super-pathetically starving child with enormous eyes runs up and grabs a fruit and holds it close to his body. The ox demands the fruit back with his tail, and the kid looks even sadder and stuffs the fruit in his mouth, exactly like the ox did at the beginning of the film. -Flashback!!!- To the ox at the beginning of the film, feeling rejected the other celestial animals and booted from the heavens. He thinks and decides with a smile to give the food to the humans. With heaping handfuls the ox throws all the fruit to the crowd. He does this until he reaches back, and there is no more food to be given. The crowd of humans is still hungry and the Ox thinks to himself how I can feed these people. He spits out his fruit core that he has been chewing the whole time into the furrow that he made himself as he dragged the sacrificial bowl of fruit. The ground starts to rumble as the magic core begins to grow. The kid seeing this directs the Celestial Ox’s attention towards the sprouting tree and other newly grown foods. The ox seeing this realizes that his celestial magic can make stuff grow with the aid of a seed and hole in the ground. The ox immediately takes off to start growing food for the starving humans. The ox is happily in the field ploughing with a makeshift plough, floating along while chewing and spitting seeds out behind him. For every seed he spits his glow fades and the ox dips towards the ground until finally his glow fades completely and he crashes to the earth. He tries to keep ploughing, but it’s much harder now. The kid from the temple jumps onto his back and encourages him to keep going with the humans help. The plants don’t grow as fast, since he’s not a glowing celestial power is gone, As the humans and the ox work together in the fields, the ox’s colour changes to a more normal brown colour. Cut into the future the land now is lush with vegetation and the humans look much healthier. The kid from the temple is telling this story to a group of children while sitting beside the noble ox. While they’re talking, in the background, the celestial monkey sneaks in to steal some food. -the ox floats through most of the story, until he starts to lose his powers. (During credits: Kid asks ‘Where do baby ox come from?’ Ox and narrator share a significant look, and narrator says ‘That’s another story.’)

Worked on the story today,..

2007-12-08T20:05:00.000-08:00

Jason and I worked on the story today, he'll be posting what we came up with later on tonight. It's pretty much the same, but now there is a kid in it with extra wide innocent eyes to convince the ox to give the humans the food it was originally going to give to it's celestial bretheren.

Ahhhh. I guess I was just fighting a losing battle against the kid... T____T Hopefully we'll see some people around tomorrow to give us a hand with storyboarding?

2007-12-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be heading to the studio today to work on some revised storyboards for the storyreel due Monday. hope to see some of you guys there.... we can totally make this reel awesome! see you guys later

Jason

Ox-inspiring

2007-12-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

Here's my poster... I enjoy the quote at the top :)

Movie poster

2007-12-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

I did this for fun, was just messing around and eventually handed in for the project!

BTW, I'm liking the new story idea, it seems to make a lot more sense. Especially with the animals as Gods, needing the food from the humans to survive. Neat ideas, guys, very good job. :D

NEW STORY BEATS [as per our mtg with Natalie today]

2007-12-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

For the few of you who didn't make it to Story class today, we met with Natalie to get some input from her on our story "problems"... and it seems we all came up with a new story that really works!

Here are the newest story beats.... we will meet on Monday to go over this more and refine it.

**Note there is now no "God" character, but we are focusing now more on the other celestial animals as the main gods [and the ox]
*Also with tail, Natalie suggested it be more of an extra arm than an extra personality, that way when his power is diminished, the tail fades to just be a regular tail

1 - Establish a hunter-gatherer village/society who sacrifice food/fruit to the gods
2 - The food they sacrifice TO the gods, the gods EAT
3 - When the fruit is gone from the earth, there is no more food for the gods [let alone the people]
4 - There is one last piece of fruit on earth - they sacrifice it to the gods [same idea with priest sacrificing, and people being like NOOOO...!!]
5 - Ox sees this sacrificed fruit and takes it and eats it himself [doesn't think of consequences, just that he is hungry, he is always "taking" food to eat which angers other animals]
6 - The animals/gods see him take this last fruit and are angry [ox does not fit in with them, they don't accept him]
7 - The animals cast ox to earth to gather more food for them
8 - When ox appears on earth, it is random; he walks past some villagers and nods hello, one guy sort of waves, and is like, "Wait, wha–" [this is all pantomime, no need for dialog - but still want a narrator!]
9 - Ox is still eating last fruit he took that they sacrificed, he finishes it and spits the seeds/core on the ground and bury it [like a dog would bury]
10 - Because he is magical, this instantly sprouts a huge tree of that fruit, ox is oblivious
11 - He turns to see new fruit that appeared and picks some and eats it, spits out seeds, buries it, does the same thing [still oblivious]
12 - He gathers a mountain of food to bring back to the animals/gods
13 - Humans have now gathered to see what/who he is [the same guy who waved at him earlier has now brought a few of his friends to see, and they bring more people, etc]
14 - People are apprehensive of ox, but see mountain of food beside ox, want some
15 - At first, Ox keeps humans from food, motioning that the food is for the gods, don't touch!
16 - Humans point to their rumbling stomach, and ox feels pity so gives one piece, then another, then, oh alright, another.... until all the food for the gods is gone except for one last piece
17 - Ox decides oh well, and eats that last piece, spits out seed and it grows... people see what he can do [plow and seed] but ox still oblivious to it [Ox has been dragging a bag behind him and that's where he spits the seed - in the earth that has been plowed]
18 - People try to show him and he doesn't get it, finally they turn his head - SEE look what you did! He finally sees it. There are more humans to be fed....
19 - The ox has to make a choice - the food can go to the gods or to the humans
20 - He chooses to help the humans, every time he magically sprouts food, his glow slowly diminishes; his magic is slowly being lost until he is normal ox.... as the ox can do less with less power, the humans help him more and more [they seed, he plows]
21 - Humans show gratitude, celestial animals yell at him. He plows for the humans who have to help him more and more as he loses his power - he sees that he can fit in and he helps them and they appreciate and help him back; he is accepted there.
22 - The humans give him food and shelter and no longer need to sacrifice to the gods to get food - this gives the celestial animals their comeuppance because they never get food anymore. Ox is away from them and happy on earth.

THE END!

We Can Do It Guys!!!!

2007-12-06T09:40:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,

Allen just called me, and said he won't be able to make it this week, which because its already thursday, but he said about next week, maybe I can ask him to come this weekend? Or do it monday morning? So that we have his amazing voice for our film. I know we are all frusterated with work load, and story, but I don't think we should give up on trying to make it good. Lets stay positive and remember that our film is going to be really funny. Many groups are going to work on it over holidays, or first week back, so lets not stress about it that much. I will definitely work on it over the holidays. I know we can make a great film, common we're the mocaps!! And there's someone who wants to help make it awesome too, lets continue to work together and remember that working as a group can be a lot of fun. I believe in our film and I believe in us.

NEXT DQ MEETING

2007-11-27T09:28:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,

I talked with DQ after the lecture this morning; he cancelled the meeting tonight at 6 PM - so DON'T GO! He has a scheduling conflict, and we decided it would be better spent working on all the other work we need to do right now.

***We WILL meet with DQ from 1-2 THIS THURSDAY BEFORE CO-OP CLASS to review the leica with him further. Please be there!

Thanks Guys!

2007-11-26T18:06:00.000-08:00

hey Gus,

I just wanted to remind you that the boards are due in the lecture, we really appreciate it, hope all goes well,

thanks again! and if you need help you can bring them into lecture and I will help you there,
Rachel :)

Final boards for Tuesday

2007-11-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

First off, thanks to everyone who put in tons of work cleaning up the boards, doing audio and doing and re-doing the leica! Go team, it looks awesome!

Rachel and I started compiling the final boards and labelling them yesterday in story class... it's a bit of a job cause the final boards used in the leica are all named differently and all over the place. We were comparing the leica and then finding each board and transferring it in order onto the template, then beginning to label them all.

We got maybe a quarter of it started yesterday, so I am gonna go into school early Monday morning [I work better early morning rather than late night!] and work on getting the rest of the boards together and labeled, ready to hand in Tuesday morning. I'll be in the second floor lab if anyone wants to pop by, but I should be able to get it finished before DQ's lecture.

**I won't be able to make it to DQ's mentor meeting, as I have to leave right after class to take the train downtown for the evening. I'll have the boards ready to give you guys for the meeting though!

Thanks again everyone, have a grand weekend!!

Rough Cut Leica is up

2007-11-23T15:18:00.001-08:00

Its finally rendered as an .mpeg, with the sound synced up correctly. Its on the server in our group folder, I think I named it "celestial ox master leica.mpeg". I also burned a DVD and gave it to Natalie, so she has the new version with the sound correctly synced to the images ready for tuesday.

And now its time to SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
followed by lengthy periods of AAAAACTION AAAAAAANALYSIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSS!

2007-11-19T09:42:00.000-08:00

here's some staring human designs based on Andy's character and story sketches i did for the setup...not sure if the eating the bug part is really necessary for the story tell me what you think.

take it ezz Penguins

Fields

2007-11-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

What kind of fields are we going for? There are the fields in England, where the borders are more organic, and then there are the fields of western Canada that are more geometric.

england

screencap from mapquest, from Barrhead, Alberta.

Quick sketches for fields.

some thoughts on overlap...

2007-11-19T07:02:00.000-08:00

After the ox gives his message, the food doesn't all pop up right away, it takes time to grow. The people wouldn't understand at first, since it's so *much* food that it's out of their range of experience. Then they'd celebrate. The ox would be proud that he's made the people so happy, and be watching them. The tail, meanwhile, knows the message is wrong and is frantically trying to get the ox's attention, finally hitting him on the back of the head.

(The food is still growing, or getting lusher, or maybe it grows in stages? Like real plants, only faster? Maybe the green stalks and trees were first, with seeds and fruits growing now.)

Ox looks at tail, with a What was that for? expression on his face. Tail points up to gathering clouds. Ox has an 'uuuuuuuuh-ooooh....' expression on his face, while he frantically tries to remember what his mistake was. People are still happy, food is still growing. Maybe now the fruit is ripening? Nearly ready for eating.

A godly voice rings out. "No no no no no no no no no! Never send an Ox to do a god's job!" The food growth rolls back, leaving the place as barren as before. People are shocked, unbelieving. The god continues to yell at the ox, who's tail grovels on the ground. The ox, meanwhile, is distracted by how sad the people are, he watches them and gets sadder and sadder himself. Perhaps the tail also notices the misery of the people, so the ox and he can be on the same page.

"I wish I could help them." The ox says, to himself. The sky, which was getting darker and darker as the god yelled, suddenly lightens up somewhat.

"You want to help, Ox? Are you sure? It wouldn't be easy."

"Oh, I do."

Then he gets his magical yoke, and lands in the field. He's still sad, since he thought that he'd find his place in the stars through this mission, and now he's lost that forever.

He meets the priest, who walks with him as the ox continues to plow. It isn't until the priest tells the ox that he's the best celestial animal that's ever come to visit them that the ox stops working, and looks at the priest, who then gives him his stars.

Wow, that was long. I was trying to think how our plot points could run into each other, but still be distinct enough for people to see them happening. I don't know if I got that balance right, but I think an easy overlap would be to have the food take much longer to grow in. If the food's almost ready to be eaten when the god hits the celestial RESET button, the people's reaction would be even more extreme, and maybe comic.

My design sketches

2007-11-18T11:56:00.001-08:00

I really like the idea of having the three constellations as sculptures, I think its symbolic, and more cartoony this way, I think we should make it more cartoony and focus on designing layouts in that pigs is pigs style, and not so realistic

In class we thought of some more ideas, but I think this one is not as dominant, it should be higher up.

2007-11-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

here's a quick layout for the temple I drew up tonight and some renderings i did at the story meeting. This reel is coming up real soon so we should hammer out some killer revised storyboards asap. see you guys on Monday

!rock on penguins!

Field designs

2007-11-16T17:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple I mocked up.... colourful and sketchy!

LAYOUTS

2007-11-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!
Just reminding everyone to have their rough layouts done for tomorrow!!!

DQ-cancelled meeting

2007-11-15T05:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry guys but I can't meet tonight
a family thing has come up and I can't meet
this weekend ...can we meet early next week?

Symbol

2007-11-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

Hey, guys, i just got an idea of one meal every 3 days and 3 meals a days' symbols.
One meal every 3 days--rich fertile land & seeds
Three meals a days--rich fertile land, seeds and the ox

Therefore, our story doesn't change a lots. Just in the climax, not the food, plants pop out from the ground; we show desert turns into rich fertile land and some baskets of seeds(should not be a lot，only a few)are appeared in the temple. The villagers confuse, upset. They think the God lies to them. Then the God shows up and explains to the ox: by their technology right now, they only can make 1 meals every 3 days unless you come to help them. The ox chooses his way...then rest are the same, only the ox doesn't get his constellation right after he starts working on the field. He gets his constellation 1 year later in a orange, harvestable field.
The moral: 1. (from the ox perspective) if you make a mistake, you have to respond it;
since you respond it, you will be accepted by others.
2. (from villagers' perspective) mistake can turn into great effort.

Hey hey

2007-11-11T11:45:00.001-08:00

Hey guys, sorry to suddenly throw this in here, but I might have to go home today for a family situation. I'm waiting for the call currently, in which case I'll be in on tuesday morning, so I'm sorry if I do miss the meeting and classes and such.

But again, it's not sure whether i'm going or not, that's why I'm waiting for this phone call. If you guys need anything, I'll throw my cell/home phone number on the comments here so you can contact me/text me whatever, but if I do head home I'll be checking the blog and e-mail at my friends house (he lives down the road from me. Technically, it being a small town, EVERYONE lives down the road from me, heh.)

Again, sorry about this! Hopefully it's all good though and I don't miss anything here.

Fun Pack character pages done!

2007-11-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

These are done enough to hand in to DQ anyway.... I shall print them for today's meeting as well!

See y'all at 5!
Stace

my storyboard pages, redone.

2007-11-09T19:48:00.000-08:00

Here they are! I added the part where there's the close up of the tail and the ox's face to build up the tension. n___n