66 - P1

P1: Learners plan for an original short 2 to 3 minute animation, or section of an animated production:

1. Our 2 to 3-minute sequence will include a mixture of both animation and live action. Animation is a movement that is created by displaying a series or pictures or frames. This creates a fluid movement as it forms an illusion of continuous motion. We want this to portray a production that is high quality and is ready for the big screen. There will be scenes of ships flying towards earth which will be made on Maya. These type of scenes will fit in the category of animation.  We will then switch to the scenes where there is a human on Earth who will find these ships with aliens on board. This fits under the category of live action.

2. There are many animations to choose from, but as we are creating a sequence that includes aliens, ships and space, we thought that 3D animation will suit this perfectly as we can use our skills and put great detail into our models ready for animation. We will make the models and animate through a software called Maya. We will be able to animate the thrusters of the ship and the whole movement towards Earth. Any other type of animation will have provide problems with quality. 3D animation gives a high quality render of a model which portrays all lights etc. that make the scene cinematic.

3. There is one clear genre and style that we will go for and that is Sci-Fi. Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which the stories often tell about science and technology of the future. It is important to note that science fiction has a relationship with the principles of science. These stories involve partially true and partially fictitious laws or theories of science. We chose Science Fiction because our sequence will involve the conventions that are guaranteed in most science fiction themed media. This can alien, space, spaceships, and time travel. Our sequence will include an alien invasion with a huge alien mothership that will destroy the Earth defences. These are both well-known sci-fi conventions that make the sci-fi genre so popular and successful around the world.

4. There is a clear structure for our sequence. It will have character development as it the core of this story is about aliens coming for the boy in our story. Here is the structure of our narrative. An Alien student hears strange sounds in his head being made by something far away. This will show character development as it creates mystery about the character. The next scene will how an alien ship warping to Earth. The alien fleet of ships will warp straight into the solar system. The alien student encounters disturbance in his mind, he runs through the college corridors fearing the worst. The alien fleet flies towards Earth. The Earth defences do all they can but are destroyed by the alien fleet. Finally, the Alien student runs outside to look up into the sky that turns his fear into reality, the alien mothership coming down from the sky. All these steps build on the suspense for the outcome for our alien student. We want the viewer to go through this emotional rollercoaster ride that the student is going though.

GROUP P1 WRITTEN

Our scene, which should appear as if it is part of a larger feature film, will utilise 3D modelling to enhance the overall production value of our piece by incorporating realistic models into live action shots in addition to purely modelled sets.

Because of this, we can spend more time incorporating detail and effects to scenes that would otherwise have not been able to feature in a theoretical TV series of the same calibre.

The aim is for a fluid movement between scenes, as it forms an illusion of continuous motion; we want this to portray a production that is of high quality and is ready for the big screen. There will be scenes of ships flying towards earth which will be made on Maya, these type of scenes will fit in the category of animation. We will then switch to the scenes where there is a human on Earth who will find these ships with aliens on board, this fits under the category of live action.

Realistic 3D modelling will pull the scenes together, meaning the work will be extensive. Using detailed models in Maya, as well as equally detailed textures made in Photoshop, we can create ships on the same level of detail as the live action shots. Lesser detailed pieces can be made more visually appealing via VFX and lighting. With live action shots being relatively easy to film, the majority of our time will be spent compositing models into live shots and building the purely 3D scenes.

The inspiration for our scene will be from the genre of Science Fiction genre, and as such will represent and take note from other sci-fi films that have a: similar setting, plot point or just unique tropes that stem from a specific film within the genre. The most notable elements and tropes from films in the sci-fi genre would be the hive mind mentality of the alien race. The cult classic sci-fi film ‘Ender's Game’ inspires this, and the classical warp/light speed effect from iconic sci-films such as ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Wars’ that will be essential to the realism and iconography of the Science Fiction genre we are trying to imitate.

Our story follows an alien disguised as a student who, in the opening scene, begins to hear mysterious alien sounds in his head. We would then see the alien mothership warp to earth, closely followed by a fleet of alien ships to defend it. Cutting back to the student, we see him running through corridors looking afraid and concerned while the mothership simultaneously leads the attacking fleet closer to earth, attacking and destroying the Earth's defences. In a final scene, the student would run outside to look up at the sky, seeing the alien mothership descending from space.



Risk Assessment

Shooting Schedule

Call Sheets