Sunday, 24 January 2010

Research: Osmosis Jones

Researching into this classic, wonderfully animated film was a natural choice for my group. The film provides a lot of innovative design and ideas, whilst presenting it's viewers a fun and interesting story to follow. Below is a link to a section of the full film on Youtube.




Osmosis Jones is a film starring a personified white blood cell of the same name. The unsuccessful officer tries to fight bacteria and germs from the body he is protecting, which belongs to a very unkempt man called Frank. With the help of his new accomplice Drix, a pill of extreme fighting power, Jones clamps down on the treacherous antagonist Thrax and brings peace and good health to every cell in Frank's body.



Aside from the amazing cast of actors involved in this film (Bill Murray, Chris Rock and David Hyde Pierce, to name a few), the way in which this film has been put together is pretty well thought out. The contrast between the real outside world of Frank and the animated body in which Osmosis Jones resides is very refreshing. And the animation isn't half bad either. The characters move very smoothly and expressively. The way a character moves reflects its personality. The only problem I have is that the lip-synching can be a bit off occasionally. Other then that, I commend the animators for their efforts in making these characters so fun to watch.

What I want to concentrate my attentions on is the environment. The body is shown in a very unique way. The many parts of the body are turned into cities comparable to places like New York. There are roads are twist and turn, transporting cells around the body, rows of wobbling buildings, cars that morph to the shape of the passengers, and wonderfully interactive machinery that power the many elements that keep Frank ticking. This film reminds me of Shark Tale, only set inside a human being, not in the sea.



I watched carefully when the brain made its first appearance on screen, which was about 10 minutes into the movie. This is where the mayor works and controls Frank's many body movements. I noted that varying shades of purple were used, to heighten the brain's importance. There's even some yellow, which makes sense, because yellow and purple are complimentary colours.

There's a part of the brain which is like a call center, which presumably receives all the phone calls from the other areas of the body, like the stomach or the lungs. There is electricity, which must symbolize the lightning messages that the brain receives and sends out. The main room of the brain looks out across the whole kingdom of Frank, as if it were a skyscraper of some kind. There are screens that indicate when something is occuring that the mayor should know of. The shapes the archs and tunnels form are nice and rounded and circular, which softens the mood and gives the place a modern feel. A very stylish place that shows power and intelligent thinking.

There is a lot I can get from this film that can utilise me for the future of our project. I'm thinking that the use of colour and shape is fundamental in our success. I will continue to look at other sources of inspiration, whilst thinking about designs for our brain.

Friday, 22 January 2010

Photos of museum displays

Wow I really hit the jackpot today! There was so much stuff at this museum that inspired me, in terms of the body. Here are some photos I took. Sorry if the quality is a bit poor - I used my old knackered phone to take these.



This is a painting of the inside of the human body. Although it looks kinds gross here, I kinda like the idea of the
















Tuesday, 19 January 2010

Digital Environments/Visual Studies Project

As written in the project brief document on Moodle:


For this project you will be working in teams of four or five students. You will all be working towards a final collaborative short film but will have the opportunity to fulfil clear and separate roles within the team.

• You will be working to create an animated environment.
• You will be collaborating not only with the other animators in your team, but also with designers from the environment design course.
• Their designs will form the starting point for your work.

This environment will be modelled in 3D, UV mapped, textured and lit based upon the research of materials and environments as initially designed or propsed by IDEAS students. This research will consist of practical site visits (such as the trip to Barcelona and alternative London based venues) and associated drawing and photography, as well as academic research via the web and the LRC.

This environment must demonstrate integral animation, it could be mechanical such as machinery, doors, windows, windmills etc, or it could be more organic, and atmospheric, such as the effects of wind on plants, weather conditions etc. It could be a much more long term animation to show the effect of years passing, rather than minutes. For those of you who feel that you are more character animators than computer visualisers you can focus upon contextualising the designed environment by populating it with characters using that environment, it may be that the environment is being used in an unintended or unexpected way that has evolved through public interaction with the space. (Was the South Bank designed for skateboarding or parkour?).

It may be easier for you to think about defining the way in which you will approach this project by choosing one of the themes listed below.

a) Changes over time (historic).
b) Changes in weather or lighting (climatic).
c) Changes in use of the environment (contextual).

Although you will be working as part of a team towards your final animation, you will also be required to provide evidence of your individual contribution to the project via a blogged design journal where you will document your personal research, experimentation, and acquiring of new skills.



I've joined a group of very talented students to take on this task. Mel, Carlos, Rory and Joe are my team mates for this project. I'm really excited and happy to be with such a cool team, and cannot wait to get started on this!

Friday, 15 January 2010

Our adaptation of the project

Our group has decided to concentrate on inside the body. We've done some mindmapping on the theme, and we seem to have come to the conclusion that we are going to centre our ideas on the brain.

We're going to allocate tasks for each other and do lots of research, and then share some ideas on how we are going to define a nice style for our piece of work.

Possible Research sources:
  • Monty Python - Terry Gilliam
  • Osmosis Jones
  • Millenium Dome
  • The Magic Schoolbus
  • Biology
  • Sci-fi? (If we are going for a futuristic feel)
  • The Fantastic Voyage
  • Wellcome Collection - Museum college trip
I'll post anything I come up with on here presently