December 23, 2004
Dev frozen for Sanctuary breakdowns
Development frozen for breakdowns at this point - script v4.3, storyboards 20041124, animatic 20041124 (v2)
Storyboards gallery
http://thequality.com/flics/10weeks/gallery/album10
Individual Storyboard frames package (ZIPed JPGs)
ftp://upload:please@ftp.modfilms.com/storyboards/20041124_sanctuary_boards.zip
Printable Storyboard proof sheet (PDF)
ftp://upload:please@ftp.modfilms.com/storyboards/20041124_sanctuary_boards.pdf
December 21, 2004
Re-mixable or remixable?
To hypenate or not hypenate, that is the question. MOD Films pretty much dominates Googlespace for "re-mixable films" but will people use remixable more?
December 17, 2004
Virtual reality box office mojo
A good overview of where virtual reality fits into the money game.
Box Office Mojo > Genres > Virtual Reality
December 16, 2004
BlogTorrent
I'm trialling BlogTorrent for keeping track of large files as torrents and making them easier to download.
Surveillance Central
Random soundbite in (the movie trailer guy) deep voice while waiting for a train at Central Station, Sydney.
"For your safety, surveillance cameras continually monitor THIS station."
December 15, 2004
December 14, 2004
DENR Control Room brief
The DENR control room is your classic security control room monitoring CCT cameras. The Department of the Environment and Network Resources are monitoring activities from all around the State. The bush is under surveillance by camera placed in the Sanctuary and surrounding urban sprawl. The cameras are triggered by motion sensors so there is wildlife captured as well as human activity.
This location, full of screens, is used to re-enforce the story aspect that everything is recordable. The control room sees what happens in schools, in the streets, in the sky, in backyards...
The data being presented here in 2D is also available in other more sophisticated forms. Blake hacks that data and this is how she appears to be a virtual form of the bush.
The State Troopers, wearing personal RIGs, can webcast their camera signals back to this control space as well. We see a nanobat being examined from this perspective.
Think of the surveillance capabilities shown in The End of Violence (the NASA room) and Enemy of the State (the CIA room) and Aliens (the trooper personal readouts). I don't want something as simplistic, and neat, as in Congo.
December 13, 2004
Art Dept questions
Michela could you give a brief description of what the State registry files will look like?
Q) What is the story of the RIG?
For decades researchers had been trying to create the ultimate man-machine interface. From crude wet-ware experiments in the 80s and 90s, the technology has evolved to allow a person's mind to be connected to a computer network with any invasive physical contact. A sophisticated array of wireless sensors was eventually devised and, the year before our story begins, the device was released for public consumption.
Like broadband, the Web, the PC, the jet, the car, and the wheel before it, the RIG quickly became a tool of the State, endorsed as a new way of life and seized upon by the DENR as the ultimate two-way tool for surveillance. You know longer have to look at computers. They look at you.
The Chief of the DENR has taken prime credit for the RIG (a little like Al Gore who "invented the Internet") and is the source of the corrupting influence in the heart of the State bureaucracy. His personal use of the RIG is becoming an obsession. He is taking increasing pleasure in defining the rules of the world.
Q) Are there Surveillance state cameras everywhere? what are their limits?
Yes, cameras are everywhere. Everything in the State is recordable. The principle limit on the cameras is that they require power and therefore funding. In practice there is more surveillance data available to the State than they can use. The Registry is awash with clutter.
Q) Does everyone have a RIG?
No. Only early adoptors do. It's a little like the take-up of the Sony EyeToy a year ago. "Hardcore gamers and drug dealers" according to one source. The DENR and Activist geeks like Dad are early adoptors - Big Brother vs Little Brother.
Q) How and why does she have a RIG?
Blake has a RIG because her Dad gave her one. He is a professor of Information warfare, a reformed hacker and into his toys. He's taken pride in passing on his knowledge to his kid and gave her bleeding edge technology to play with. Over time this became a bit of a cop-out for real parenting, a little like giving her a bedroom TV instead of personal attention.
Q) Will blake's avatar look the same in the void as the other virtual/augmented reality locations
Yes.
Q) Will she look as she does in the real world. ie bedroom as the avatar? ie are avatar and blake exactly the same or differently dressed or more extremely different ie steps to BLADE. is she identical but to her live action self but treated somehow.. holographic.. whatever..
Blake's appearance in virtual worlds must be different but subtle. There is no reason why her features and body should not be exactly the same (the price of photorealism has gone down) but equally the audience must know at all times that she is not in the real world. How this is shown is largely a question of budget and imagination. She could be slightly opaque, slightly wireframe, slightly streamlined, whatever.
I had two ideas - one similar to the girl in the red dress in Schindlers list (i.e. constantly treated slightly different visually with make-up and post) and the other looking identical but with subtle visual glitches (e.g. one-off distortion of face, flickering facial expression).
Q) if so are the state troopers also treated in the same way or are they real any way or as they are in both virtual and real worlds how do we represent that?
Think of the Ringwraiths in Lord of the Rings, they exist in two worlds at the same time. There is no reason why their virtual world appearance has to be the same as Blake's as long as its clear that what we are seeing is not something that exists in "the real world".
The PointOfViewBreakdown suggests that we use information overlays plus glitches in a stylistically different way from Blake. If we can show a person "degrading" momentarily to wireframe that would be nice but it would have to be used sparingly. That was one thing I wanted Xian to discuss with Artemis-style folk about.
RESUME MEETING - VFX+ART DEP
Meeting on the 08/12/2004
Present to the meeting
Art Departement - Damon O'Connell
VFX - Christian Hogue
Production - La
State Registry
To Optimize the shooting cost of the “State Registry” sequence:
Whole scene sequence should be boarded from initial wide down to closeups.
Initial shots could be very wireframe 3d info graphic and only change to possible actual set in the close ups for the l/a elements.
Then we can determine costs for blue screen versus "augumented reality" approaches.
Lasers should be cgi.
Paper could be colored or actual pages form magazine or could be just color coded blank paper for the augmented realy info graphics to track to.. ie simple physical cues for the real information.
We will then be able to see if it is cost effective to do full CGI in post production.
…Or the alternative is to shoot it in live action with probs etc.
The art department will provide a concept art brief.
Bush
Please click on the links to see eventual idea and how to avoid shooting live action sequences in the bush fire.
This is a digital photomontage based matte painting projected onto a simple 3d shape to all low some limited 3d camera movement.
please click on attached movies from France 3 TV Ident and Roni Size video.
http://www.buf.com/?class=comm&year=2004
and then scroll down to FRANCE 3
http://www.streamload.com/lostinspace_vault/EL/EU8XR4DYNY/roni-extract.mov
Smoke and dust will be added in post production afterward depending on the digital matte/monatgist skills they may do this all or this may be handled by a team that takes the digital matte and does the 3d.
The nice thing is the smoke and dust can be shot for real and there fore be more convincing.
Live action of a burning tree will be then composited in post
Blake Workspace
Full 3D, with the live action shots in the studio for the drama
Blue screen Blake. carefully storyboarded for camera angles etc but allowing enough creative scope regarding the actual look and feel of the info/interface-gfx for the motion graphics people to be incentivised creatively on the project.
Possible visual cues coming into The Void space from her bedroom.
Art Department brief needed.
Blake’s room
Art departmenet brief to be given to production design.
No post production involvment, apart from screen contents which could be live on set or comped in post depending on who does them what they relate to (the void) and when they can be ready.
Classroom
Only the area immediately behind the teacher needs to be blue screen the rest of the wall can be simply corner pinned.
The film seen by the pupils on their laptops will be filmed before entering post production. We will use blue screen on laptop screen and then composit those in post.
Its best if the screens are fed a blue signal to capture screen reflections accurately.
Best if all screens are lcd's then no camera/crt syncing is required even better if its shot so we don’t see screen contents apart from a Blade over shoulder shot.
DENR screen
Most cost effective approach would involve a single large screen much like the teachers wall screen with mutilple feeds in picture windows etc. This would remove the need for multiple live feeds on set and for tracking of multiple individual monitors in post.
Blue screen and compositing in post production.
Actual interface to be determined by gfx supplier (working with art and director) to incentivise them creatively.
Eco activist
Art department will provide concept art brief to production design.
Nanobat POV should match the actual motion of the nanobat and see the set so this can be comped in the nano-monitor screen in post or fed live on set. Perhaps thru some realtime VJ codec to distort treat it.
CD
Damon will provide some test of CD but it will be fully done in post production.
The VFX team would suggest CD is done by the motiongraphics people who have an animation sensibility as he needs to tie into the interface design well, especially The Void.
Refer to MTV "cut out" creature,3d abstraction of this perhaps.
Nanobat
The Art department will provide a FULL description of the look and feel of the Nanobat to the model maker and post house. The Art department will not produce sketchs or drafts.
Files (State registry)
Camera/RIG/PDA Full description needed from Art Dept for Production design team.
Thank you
La
December 02, 2004
20041126 - VFX BRIEF - FLOATING PANELS IN VOID
Floating panels in void
Biz dev meeting minutes
MINUTES BIZ DEV MEETING 1st Dec 2004
Aladin, Michela Ledwidge, Phil Chang
AGENDA
1) Status
Approaching next milestone (Film Pre-Production). Two heads of department appointed (Art, Visual Effects).
ML suggested that recent developments suggest that the original plan, to consider Sanctuary the first official product demo, could be reviewed in light of "simpler" product potential emerging. This may not derail the overall plan and final demo experience but allow other demos to be created earlier.
PC suggested that there are in fact two businesses within MOD Films which can ideally bootstrap each other - a project-based production company and a technology company.
Aladin pointed out three key elements of the project to keep focus on
- Reach NESTA milestones to maintain 1st phase cashflow
- Concretise the idea into a capsule that stands on its own (e.g. stand-alone package)
- Constrain the spread of the idea so others (apart from ML) can focus on the idea and work out the potential and business opportunity for themselves
2) Leads
Movieaudit (William Latham) looking for database to hold film data "hoovered" from a production. ML was approached to do this. ML has told Movieaudit that MOD Films will have a product to license early 2005 and would be able to quote from being given a vertical slice of film data (all asset types). ML feels we should have a demonstrable tool for data asset mining mid-Jan.
The Movieaudit discussions identified three key questions for the business
Q) What are the most pressing commercial needs for re-use of old production assets? Q) What is the best way to demonstrate re-use value to existing asset IP holders? Q) What is the right price point for asset IP holders?
National Computing Centre keen to on Manchester Whispers proposal for Manchester Broadband Fund.
Grant Dean (in advisory team) has put forward lead for mobile development.
Aladin has a contact from Tiger Aspect Productions interested in this area.
Next steps
3.1 PC to start work on business plan for 2nd round funding. First stage of this will be to prepare short-form plan (approx 5 pages) to be ready end of December for NESTA and Team review.
3.2 ML to continue progressing the film and demo as planned.
3.3 PC and WL to discuss the provision of feature film sample data to the company for testing.
3.4 PC and A to put together a "pragmatic" group of advisors (a subset of the team) to guide ML on business development and come back to ML with a name. ML to then appoint someone to head that group.
3.5 ML to submit Mancunian Whispers proposal for Monday 6th
3.6 Plan for expanding modfilms.com web site with materials that explain the concept clearly "Dummies guide" including video of Science Museum pitch (need to check permission with NESTA).
3.7 PC to help ML set up equity deal structure - deadline, end of Dec.
December 01, 2004
SANCTUARY NEWSLETTER > DEC 01 > 2004
FREE FOR ALL COMMUNICATION TOOLS
Looking to cut down bills? MOD Films is trying to put as much of the
funding on-screen as possible! So we recommend you try this FREE
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OR how about a FREE Internet telephone at: http://www.skype.com
OR maybe a FREE IM.. guaranteed to function across MOST networks:
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And yes... it's ALL ABSOLUTELY FREE... *or your money back!*
SYDNEY-BOUND
Michela is jetting off to Sydney on Friday to set up camp for the
production and secure us the services of a line producer. Laetitia
will be managing the London office in her absence.
http://thequality.com/flics/10weeks/blog/archives/001865.html#001865
ART DIRECTOR
Damon O'Connell has been appointed Art Director for the overall
project (taking over from Michela) in order to steer the development
of Concept Art in a forward path. Yep folks... we have our first Head
of Department!! *crowd roars... well sort of!*
CONSOLE TEAM DOUBLES IN SIZE
Will Newton will be coming on board this Monday to begin work on the
prototyping of The Rig and other cool re-mixable film tools. The first
project code was checked by Robin earlier this week as work on Demo
Milestone1 gets underway.
GLOBAL JOB NOTICE
We're currently seeking a post house and character animator in
either the UK, US or OZ so if anyone from the Team has any 'good friends'
they'd like to recommend, please email Laetitia: la@modfilms.com
70'S KILLER ANIMAL SCREENPLAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Lifeless eyes, black eyes... Like a doll's eyes" - Quint