Man Vs nature idea v2

This is the 2nd version of man vs nature, and the one i will be making

based from researching taking "nature" literally and making a "Re-Claimed" even

the idea is, Due to a electrical storm like weather anomaly, several green-ish motors will strike the earth causing rapid growth in plants (we only see one close and once off in the distance). this will make the plants  grown uncontrollably along buildings and path ways. Mainly following paths to door ways and windows seeking for mankind,

this would mean the “Vines” would be acting like predators and would seamlessly and uncontrollably grow towards the camera and any other form of life, towards us?. 

in thsi is would be replacing the normal "blue" sky with a darker red-ish black sky(as the anomaly starts). its debated if its going to be still shots, or some small movements (retreating from the vines). timing will be key, as the area i plan to film in (Side street to Civic Hall/ o2 academy leeds) can get kinda busy as its a prime short cut. also, since the VFX needs a green screen element, i would be compositing people (actors) and have them react and flee(and maybe get trapped?) from the vines

SeaQuest "by any other name" (VFX research 4)

“An urgent distress signal leads the seaQuest to a hydroponic research lab, where all signs of life have been erased”

In seaQuest season 2 episode 7, by any other name. the research lab is over ran by nature and exotic plants,, in this episode a team are sent to investigate, and everything seems to be normal.. um other then a small vine that seems to have grabbed one of the team members feet, thinking nothing of it another member takes a plant to study.

as she places the normal flower in a glass on the desk and leaves the room. se the viewer sees the plant starts to rapidly grow until it breaks the glass. it later starts to grow vines that a pear to grow towards the camera.

later in the episode a crow member is alerted by a scream, as they go to investigate they find an over grown carnivores plant in a room, and the researcher screaming for help from the corner of the room. As one of the crow members helps her, he gets his food grabbed by a vine, the plant laches several more vins around him and turns the victims to sand.. 

The Mummy Returns (VFX research 3)

 In the opening Prolog of The mummy Returns we follow the Scorpion King as he leads his arm to war, the kind and his army fail and are driven into the desert, where one by one they all die till the Scorpion Kind is left.


so the king makes a deal with the God Anubis, asking to take control of Anubis's undead army to take revenge, for this act the king would give up his soul. Anubis agrees and saves him, by sending "message" (a scorpion, how ironic)

The king gets stung by a scorpion, as the king eats the scorpion grass starts to spawn and grow around the kind,

 As the camera moves back, we see the forming Oases growing outwards in all directions, grass, vines, trees, shrubs and other forms of vegetation

This all takes place in less then 30 seconds, at the end a lush oases has been made,,


This is more relevant to my idea, and it has given me some insight on the formation and growth patens, something i will use in my VFX video

Elephants Dream (VFX research 2)

Elephants Dream follows two characters, Emo and Proog a they explore the seemingly unending machines. the old Guy Proog is trying to convince the Emo that this Machine would is a wonderful beautiful but dangerous place,but Emo just cant see what Proog sees. as they keep walking deeper into the machinery. as they are in a lift thats suspended in mid-air, Proog asked Emo what he sees to his left and right but Emo sees nothing

Later on they are in a small room as we see Proog placing some final tiles. Proog questions Emo why he cant see how perfect this would i,, to this Emo replays with "why should i trust my life to something that isn't there"


As Emo tryes to ecape from Proog by walking away from him, but as Emo  walks towards a wall it starts to move away from him making the room longer. until Proog tells Emo "its a trap"

To this Emo mocks Proog by stating "to the left we see.um..hanging gardens of babylon" and no sooner had he said this the room starts to fall apart revelling an organic type electrical vines that take over and pull apart the room. as the vines grow along the surface.

what we now see is the true machines of this would, and as the room fully falls apart Emo states..again mocking Proogs Question about sight "on the right side you can see...look at what!!, the colossus of rhodes,.: this statement makes the room fully falls apart till they are surrounded by the electrical vines.





finally Emo adds "the colossus of rhodes and it is here just for you Proog, Just for you!" this.. this causes a huge electrical hand to forms. as it tries to grab Proog, proog douges it, grabs his walking stick and knocks Emo out, ..since this nightmare has been created from Emos mind, as soon as he's knocked out, the vines fall and die



i intend to use this in my FVX, but rather then it being electrical, it will be natural, but would behave in a similar manner. growing uncontrollably and maybe near the end of the 1 minute VFX the vines might form some kind of shapes?..

Vines (Research 01)

Since i have picked "Man vs Nature" as my response to "Smoke and Mirrors" VFX, i started to look into Nature mainly vines and weeds.

the reason i focussed on a plant like a vine was because of its overpowering nature to grow on pretty much anything it can. Vines/ ivy has the natural ability to grow on any surface in any direction, and in almost any environment and element.

Moss is also a good element to look into. as it closely follows any vine type plant, normally seen on and around roof tops,IN addition to plants, i needed to see how they grow over times, 1st thought came to mind was a scene from "elephants dream" Blenders 1st open movie.

In this sean Emo starts to go a little crazy and starts fantasising. the room is a small 4 sided cube at head hight.. as Emo talks towards one of the walls it starts to move away from him, making the room expand, later he starts making small statements and the room starts to fall apart as organic- electrical type vines start to grow towards him.

VFX Man Vs Nature ideas..

Character design, “nature’s Guardians”

The design of these beings are of a human like form (minuses a finger) with a variation of plants and vegetation making up the body and face..

Feet/legs- would mostly be tree trunk type objects with lose root like appearances,

Joints- would be a sort of organic vine look to them..

Arms- much like the legs but more skinnier and mossy.. With bits of twigs     pointing out acting as spiked armor

Hands- the hands would be comprised of two-three fingers that would be “simple” intertwined vines.

Head- would have vines/trigs as hair.. the face would be void of features, and deep sockets for eyes

Ideas fo Man vs Nature

Idea 1, a tree like being would walk through the streets almost un-noticed leaving a trail of plants, grass and vines growing from its foot prints. ..(Hum boring)

Idea 2, would feature 2 “guardians” one leaving a tail of nature behind it, and the other “Guardian” would be killing said plant growth. Till both “Guardians” have a semi fight. This would cause an eruption of plant life surrounding them, till it would eventually in case them…

Idea 3 would have a “young” child like nature being causing mischief by making its surrounding nature behaves strange.  Grow uncontrollably..

The problem with this idea is..

Location- people would be around. And the “guardians” would look out of place due to the lack of reaction of the public

Models- the “Guardians” them self’s would prove to problematic, they would need to look real, making they would need to be detailed and textured (texturing a single tree was a headache…) so texturing AND rigging a human form being full of plant life will be a nightmare..

New mean of being heard

We now live in a digital world, and with this, we now have an unlimited access to information and new talents. from image and video sharing sites (YouTube and DeviontArt) as well as social  networking sites such as Facebook and twitter, Even Google is joining the broader aspect of social media with their Google+. now there are benefits to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and they are you get to "stalk" and see what your favorites actors, concept artist or games developers.

 Twitter and Facebook have always been in computation, i don't use twitter, and rarely use Facebook, but what is clear is with Facebook you can only see updates on say a games developer and comment on their statuses, rarely do you get to talk to them because Facebook is a more enclosed private space. bout on the other hand, Twitter is a public and it will allow you ~if your lucky enough~ to talk to the person your following, and Twitter offers a more open and direct way of finding people, and allowing you to be found.

now as mentioned before, YouTube and DeviontArt, there has been a lot of people becoming "famous"..is well know because of Facebook, like SkyDoesMinecraft with his love for Budder/butter (gold) and his YoTtube Subscribers/ Twitter/FaceBook followers AKA the Sky Army, and like i said in a previews post about Ady.S user of FL studio and vocaloind, hes not as big or well known, but still. but enough about Sky, YouTube has provided us with hours on entertainment and for me the best place to watch hours on end of animations and effects, I'm subscribed to this channel TheCGBro its a great sauce for inspration, and whats new, since they mostly (other then tutorials) they show case peoples word, and behind the scenes from films

So they has never been a better and easier way to be seen, YouTube, Facebook or twitter and many more sites, your choice, your opportunity to be seen

What will music become?

 music?, for generations its brought us entertainment  and filled night clubs and parts with music and excitement, but now, whats today music got for us?... answer..Dubstep skrillex, makes your ears bleed right?...but m not here to trash on new music "artiscts",, no, I'm gonna talk about the "computer generated/ assisted music, mainly the wonders someone can produce from a program such as Image-line FL studio (Fruityloops), bad news Mac users, FL studios is only available for PC users this is strange since FL Studio is available for iPod touch and iPad. a swell and android.,,

 FL studios  developed by the Belgian company called Image-Line. The program is a digital audio workstation and features a graphical user interface based on a pattern-based music sequencer. The program is available in four different editions for Microsoft Windows, each with a higher price tag and its own excursive content. these editions are FL Studio Express, Fruity Edition, Producer Edition, and the Signature Bundle. is a was 1st realest on December 18 1997 and since then new ad done, plug ins updates/upgrades and most of all, new audio samples and mixers, Even a Hatsune Miku demo song (no idea why thats there)

when you buy any edition of FL studios, Image-Line offers a free and limitless liftime updates to the new programs, meaning you only need to pay once,


FL Studios is a difficult program to use and it emulate a lot of music and sound mixing "decks" and plug ins but it is fun to use and really enjoyable to see your own music come to life, The Program is also used by electronic musicians and DJs such as Afrojack and 9th Wonder.

so to conclude, what is music today?.. computer generated or manipulated, very much like Vocaloid with its computer generated singers, Fl Studios can generates some cool sounds and beats.

I came across theindisputed21 or Ady.S from a Vocaloid DnB song titled "SONiKA- My disapperance" and discovered he used both FL studio and Vocaloid to make his music, and i love it. Lately hes been using a new Voice back, Oliver (spoke of him in a previous blog) Oliver - Take Me Down
But i have presentably discovered he has made about 30+ other songs with FL Studio, here is once i like the most, The Beginning,

So to wrap this up, computer aided/ generated music is becoming more and more popular, and its not now, as the date showed, this programs been here for a good 16 years, and in that time its helped people create stunning music in their free time, cool hobby right?

Vocaloid 3, voice Synthesizer

Voicaloid is a  voice Synthesizer program developed by Yamaha Corporation now on its 3rd version. Vocaloid 1 was releaced in january 2004 but it was under development since March 2000, although the program is mainly Japanese but was organically made only available in English , its also has supporting languages for English Korean chines and Spanish

People know Vocaloid better for its bi-product and not for the program it self, "Vocaloids",, virtual characters.. a face to the voice so to speak the main and best know ones are Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin/Len (twins)... but they didn't show up until Augast/December 2007 (with Vocaloid 2)

where as in face the two origami official default Vocaloids are Leon and Lola , developed my Zero-G and they are both English, they are also the only two "Voice banks"(i'll talk about Voice banks later)  that come with Vocaloid 2 Demo

the software works by letting user type in lyrics/ melody onto a virtual key bored to generate a virtual singer by using synthesizing technology, the singers or "Voice banks" are provided by real singers or actors, and each "voice bank" is sold separately to the program ~yes you need to buy the program~  and once you have your "singer in a box" you are ready to make music...kinda




The software was intended for professional musicians but computer music users can also use it because the only real limitation to the program is your own skill as song writing and  rhythm., as said befor you need one voice bank to work,, and you cant simply make your own, as the data stored in the Voice banks contain all possible possible combinations of phonemes of the target language. 


now since its a synthesizing program, the end result of the singers sound robotic, but whats creepy is, a few of the Vocaloids support breathing. example being one of the newest vocaloids,, Oliver an English speaking vocaloid,, and also the youngest vocaloid/voice provider at the age of 13,. each Voice banks  is made for a spasific pitch, mood and temp of songs, like Kagamine Rin is mainly J-pop where as Kagamine Lenis more light rock, ironic since their voice providers is the same person. now there is a downside to this program,, the voice pitch can hurt at times but...


above is Oliver, his most of not all of his songs are sung in a slow melody rhythm relate  to some kind of physical or emotional pain, a lost love maybe? but a reason of this is because hes really a monster. think Frankenstein's monster, that also the reason why he had bad-aids, 

to my left is SeeU, she can sing in noth Korean and Japanese, her songs are mainly in a fun mid range pitch and mostly in a pop/J-Pop style




since the release of Hatsune Miku the Program has produced over 100,000 sings and counting, and as i said before, bi-products, i mentioned in a previous blog about MMD...as well as some arcade dance games and also a PsP game named "project deva"












http://www.vocaloid.com/en/

Damien Dawn your heart (Dein Heir) part 2

Damien Dawn- your heart (Dein Here) and Anna Blue- So Alone (So Allein). Very little is known about these two, other than a website and Facebook page under “Anna Blue” no other information can be found. So that in mind “Anna Blue” and “Damien Dawn” could the characters names, the people who are performing the songs, or they could be the directors/animators of the videos, who know.

(German version )

Damien Dawn- your heart (Dein Heir) was realest soon after Anna’s so allein and this video contains some of Anna blue’s shots, but it also has cross over. I.e. “Damien” is claiming up “Anna’s” bedroom window. In this side of the 2 part story, the character is a vampire forever frozen in time and forbidden to love. But he longs for Anna blue’s character, this is seen by the quote her repeats “I bleed for you”. He believes she can set him free but from his course knows they can never be together.

(english version )

I love the story that links both videos together, without one they is no other. The songs add to the emotion of the videos, as well as the animations to the song. But aside from the “love” story, I really enjoy the videos because if the characters over all design from the textures and the partial hear simulation.. personally i like the original german version better, because it the origanol language, and the lip  sync fits better for an over all better animation.

Zombie Playground

You never really see many kids in zombie game/ movies,,, well you do but not a lot, so we ask ourselves, in a zombie apocalypse, where do all the kids go?.. East to zombie playground
Zombie Playground is a zombie survival adventure game (go figure), it has you assuming the control of 1 of 12 passable characters, all with their own traits and abilities and what seperates this from other zombie games,,, normaly were you would try to find guns or swords, in a kids school they are not so seay so come by,, so what can you use?... well toys,, but with deadly intent

“In Zombie Playground you take on the role of a kid during a zombie apocalypse as seen through his or her imagination.  Your school is overrun by the undead, and it’s up to you and your friends to do whatever it takes to survive!”

The game is made by massive black and is still under development but the original idea for the game came from a simple image,,,

Jason Chan is a freelance digital artist and in 2008 he entered a contest called “Thunderdome: Last Man Standing“ on a site ConceptArt.org

The contest was "Outbreak." He know people would draw zombies and they did, but gave it a little a twist rather than an adult zombie apocalypse his focused on kids, specifically a playground filled with non-other than zombie kids [Zombie Playground], then about a year ago a games development/ marketing company known as massive black inc found this image and developed a game based off this image and employed Jason Chan as the concept artiste for the project [ZPG]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/massiveblack/zombie-playground-zpg-3d-action-online-battle-rpg?ref=live

Spartacus (TV series)

Is an american TV series that’s started on January 22, 2010, and concluded on April 12, 2013, hence the tital, the series was inspired by the historical legend Spartacus  who led amajor slave uprising against the Roman Republic  from 73 to 71 BCE.

The TV series follows Spartacus on his journey from a free man, to slave, a champion of the arena,, then again as a free man fighting agented Roma

The series consists of three main series (Blood and Sand, Vengeance, War of the damned and a mini-series prequel (Gods of the arena) at the end of Blood and sand, we see Spartacus free himself and his fellow brother gladiators and slaved from their bondage, and take up arms agented Roma.

Sadly Andy Whitfield (Spartacus) was diagnosed with early-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma (died September 11 2012) , so as Andy took time away to recover Starz made a  six-episode prequel mini-series, the series was used to re visit the characters origins, and see who how they developed before Blood and Sand,

The style

Spartacus is presented with a slightly over the top, overexposed video stylization, akin to the style used in the film 300, uses a stylised graphic visual effects and an overused of blood and gore, the show would use a lot of after effects and green screen to achieve its “graphic novel” type feel 

Video games

The fame from the TV series has now spawned a Free to play/download video game (only available for PlayStation Network and Xbox live…not PC?) it was announced that the game should be released late May 2013, the game is titled Spartacus Legends, and you play as a slave fighting for glory of Capua, the game does feature three main characters from the series,, Spartacus, Crixus and Oenomaus but sadly you can’t play as them :(

Kickstarter

Kickstarter is an American-based company, founded in 2009 it gives developers and small studios the “tools” needed to raise funds for their projects via  through its website. Kickstarter isn’t just used for games developers, it’s also offers a range of supporting medias such as Film, Music, Stage shows, comics and even food related projects,

Now is 100% crowd funded, but the people can’t make any money by “backing” and giving money to their chosen project, BUT most if to all projects offer a mile stone kinds of system, example pelage $5 and get a shirt, $20 get an concept art book, $50 reserve a copy of the game,,, and so on) each pledge mile stone offers its own rewards and advantages, since some projects are closed and only open to the “backers” meaning if you want a copy of the game/music, you must put your money where your mouth is.

Kickstarter does take 5% of the funds raised, but clams no ownership over any projects feathers on the site, when a project is launched on the site; it is permanently archived and accessible to the public. Once a projects funding is completed, the project and any uploaded media cannot be edited or removed from the site. There is one down side to Kickstarter, and that is one you have helped fund a project, what garneted do you have that your money will be used for the project, or ill the project unexpectedly disappear?

Among the Sleep (Alpha)

Among the sleep is a first person horror/suspense adventure game, where you take control of a two year old child with the abilities of a small child, and they are walk crawl and interact with anything that’s not breakable (doors, toys cupboards and chairs, oh and teddy, the game lets you immerse yourself in the limitless imagination of a child's

Among the Sleep is set in the dark with next to no visibility (unless you adjust the gamma levels of the game, but this WILL ruin the games affect) the games sets itself on the borderland between a childs dream and reality,

Among the Sleep is set near midnight,,, strange things happen when things go bump in the night… during the game surreal creatures and diverse environments will present the player with both physical and mental obstacles that challenge the player's creativity.

The game is under development by a small games developing studio called Krillbite Studio, a small Norwegian studio, on April 2013 they launched a Kickstarter pledge, they needed $200,000 to advance their game, within 30 days they got 8,110 backers, with a total of $248,358 kindly given by you.

Although I haven’t played much of Among the Sleep (horror games are not my thing) but when the brief time playing, the game truly is strange and wonderers. The fact you play as a small chiled, from their POV adds more to the experience, when scary things happen you find yourself hiding under things, or clambering on top if chairs to open doors. The game uses this and a stunning shilling sounds and audio is really put the fright into a child’s bed time


Among the sleep is a first person horror/suspense adventure game, where you take control of a two year old child with the abilities of a small child, and they are walk crawl and interact with anything that’s not breakable (doors, toys cupboards and chairs, oh and teddy, the game lets you immerse yourself in the limitless imagination of a child's

Among the Sleep is set in the dark with next to no visibility (unless you adjust the gamma levels of the game, but this WILL ruin the games affect) the games sets itself on the borderland between a childs dream and reality,

Among the Sleep is set near midnight,,, strange things happen when things go bump in the night… during the game surreal creatures and diverse environments will present the player with both physical and mental obstacles that challenge the player's creativity.

The game is under development by a small games developing studio called Krillbite Studio, a small Norwegian studio, on April 2013 they launched a Kickstarter pledge, they needed $200,000 to advance their game, within 30 days they got 8,110 backers, with a total of $248,358 kindly given by you.

Although I haven’t played much of Among the Sleep (horror games are not my thing) but when the brief time playing, the game truly is strange and wonderers. The fact you play as a small chiled, from their POV adds more to the experience, when scary things happen you find yourself hiding under things, or clambering on top if chairs to open doors. The game uses this and a stunning shilling sounds and audio is really put the fright into a child’s bed time

Manga to film?

Most of not all anime series today first appeared as a manga, some examples are Lucky Stars, Black Star Shooting, Fullmetal Alchemist, Highschool of the Dead, Elfen lied,, ,and many more.

Manga to Anime?

Now reading manga is fun in its own right, but if a manga series is long enough (ie Naruto… personally hate that anime) will eventually become an “anime”. Now from this step from Manga to Anime, some aspects of the original story lines or character developments may be lost, another example of this can be seen in both Deadman Wonderland and Elfen lied, both anime series consist of 12 to 14 episodes, but the Manga consists of 36 to 45 chapters. This means A lot of the story lines are cut out,,, mainly the characters back stories, like in Elfen Lied, the anime shows the main protagonists “Lucy” past as a ten year old in a single episode, whereas in the manga it crossed over a few chapters and some flash backs now and then. Even with this cut down, it’s still enjoyable to watch

Anime to Motion film?

Now if an anime series becomes successful, a 40 to 70 minutes long motion film will be made, the motion film would normally be unseen story lines, or UN used ideas and characters, like Ghost in the shell, the two films had no connection to the Anime series, nor did the series reflect on the film. As expected, not all the films are good, some just are shocking.

Anime to Live action?

Now this is fun, not a lot of Animes: make it as fare to see “the big screen”, to name a few, Death Note, Blood+ the last vampire, and Higurashi When they cry (titaled Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Chikai), the Live action Films well be one of three things, 1^st a condensed version of an anime series (ie Dead Note being series 1, and Death Note: The Last Name being series 2) 2^nd being a remake of a motion film, only in live action, or 3^rd, a completely new story,,,

Now needless to say the live action films rarely do as good as the Anime or Manga and jys my opinion, they should stay as anime or manga,, as the story lines and characters can only be pulled of as an animation, not live action,, too fake