Week 13-17 January
Synopsis
In this week’s team work, we determined our team members and related topics. At the beginning, our group was obsessed with the third endocrinology project or the theme of our own choice. Finally, according to several meetings and discussions, we finally decided to make our own theme. The theme of arcade games. After that, we determined the relevant division of labor, and I was responsible for the planning of the whole story and the production of storyboards.
Synopsis: The protagonist is walking in the street after work, and suddenly a car turns into a human form and starts to fight with the protagonist. After defeating the autobot, the protagonist begins the second marvelous journey, and his opponents become actual work-related items (such as computers, office equipment, briefcases, etc.). After defeating these evil “monsters”, the hero begins the third leg of his journey. Finally, after overcoming the final boss, suddenly the whole world gradually falls apart, and it turns out that all this is just the last run of the street console.
Week 20-24 January
Storyboard
In the preliminary work, I was mainly responsible for the creation of storyboards, so I made my first version of the storyboard, this version is not the final version, as the production progresses, I will probably continue to make changes. In the process of drawing the storyboard, I drew the soul of each shot, and each shot was rough, because I knew that there must be a lot of revisions after this, so I tried to spend time on the idea, rather than this repetitive labor. In the end, I cut the last paragraph of the story based on the time allotted, because it exceeded the 1 minute limit.
**Storyboard:**_v02
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On a sunny afternoon, the protagonist (gender and ethnicity to be decided) is wearing a work uniform (similar to overalls, blue-collar style, with a cool vibe) and walking down a slightly cyberpunk-themed street. Surrounding them are tall buildings, trash cans, billboards, vending machines, streetlights, and various cars speeding down the central traffic lanes. The protagonist passes by an arcade game machine that has obviously been abandoned for many years (the machine is broken, covered in dust. The screen faintly glows as if showing a game’s start-up screen, with the occasional buzzing sound of electricity, indicating the machine has not been used for a long time). After passing the game machine, suddenly, a monster (Monster A) leaps out from the street side (the design is to be determined, depending on workload, here are some ideas: a giant elemental creature, giving some of the special effects workload; a transformer-like robot, an alien, a fantasy creature, a tentacle monster, or a classic monster from existing IPs, etc.). As Monster A appears, both the protagonist and the monster spot each other, and they begin to face off, preparing to attack. As the protagonist charges toward Monster A, the monster also charges toward the protagonist. Just as they are about to collide, the scene abruptly stops and switches to a 2D side-scrolling game view (such as Terraria, Mario, Contra).
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**In the 2D view** (the 2D view is actually a 3D scene made up of different foreground and background planes. The background is a hand-drawn flat image representing the street scene from earlier), the protagonist and Monster A engage in a “fierce battle” (this battle is shown through flat special effects). After the battle, the protagonist defeats Monster A and continues moving forward (toward the right side of the screen). Along the way, the protagonist defeats various enemies (incorporating some classic game elements as Easter eggs, such as the protagonist jumping to hit a brick, causing a coin to appear, etc.). Suddenly, a group of 3D monsters (Monster B) with a clearly different art style appears on the right side of the screen (this monster is a cluster, with 3-10 monsters depending on workload, and the design should relate to real-world work tools like computers, office equipment, briefcases, logos of work software like WPS, etc.). The monsters rush forward and quickly overwhelm the protagonist and fill the screen. The scene then transitions back to a 3D setting.
At this point, the view shifts to a first-person perspective (UI elements like health bars, status, and control buttons are visible). Only the protagonist’s arms are visible (the protagonist holds either a blade-like weapon or a firearm, depending on production difficulty). The protagonist finds themselves in a dark environment (the color tone of the environment is dark, with various sizes of blocks scattered around, indicating that this is no longer a real space, but more of a strange, virtual space). Surrounded by Monster B, the protagonist calmly deals with them one by one (the entire space is in gray tones, with only the UI elements and the color effects of the monsters being destroyed in the first-person view).
After eliminating the last Monster B, the protagonist, breathing heavily, looks around in confusion, and suddenly, the entire world begins to collapse, disintegrate, and break apart. As the world collapses, a series of numbers appear, showing that the world might not be real. The protagonist watches helplessly as the surrounding darkness begins to engulf them. (Black screen transition)
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The screen gradually brightens and the camera pulls back. It’s a sunny afternoon again, in a slightly cyberpunk-style street, surrounded by tall buildings, trash cans, billboards, vending machines, streetlights, and cars speeding down the central lanes. This time, an arcade game machine, which has been abandoned for many years (broken, covered in dust, with a faint glow from the screen and the buzzing sound of electricity) suddenly flickers. It turns out, this entire experience was the final run of the rundown arcade machine on the street.
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**Additional Notes:**
This project is a tribute to three different classic arcade game styles: side-scrolling action-fighting, first-person shooter, and rhythm game. The reason for using these styles is to reduce workload, with most effects focused on the combat sequences and the final combined flat special effects. This version is not the final one, and adjustments will be made based on actual workload and progress.
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**Ps:** The project timeline is just 2 months, and the focus should be on individ
some of the storyboard
Week 27-31 January
The work of our group this week is mainly to optimize the storyboard and to think more deeply. In the end, due to time constraints and the theme we wanted to express, we finally decided to optimize and cut the entire storyboard. In this process, I was mainly responsible for the overall planning of the whole project, the arrangement of the schedule and the coordination of team members’ tasks.
After that, I was mainly responsible for the formulation of tasks, the coordination and management of personnel, and the overall planning of the whole team. Finally, I made a timeline of the current phase to facilitate the progress of the project.
Finally, I would like to add that I also discussed the theme and intention of the whole project with another student from 3d animation. During this period, we went through a lot of mental journey and finally reached an agreement.
Idea:
In the modern environment, most people have been facing pressure, such as work pressure, emotional pressure, family pressure, these pressures collectively referred to as “social pressure”. Social pressure for a person, will be directly converted into psychological pressure, ideological burden, over time, will become a knot. Stress often leads to long-term anxiety and fear, and in severe cases, can lead to physical and mental illness. But proper pressure can also help us to stimulate a stronger fighting spirit, overcome and overcome the difficulties we face.
Goal:
The animation, through arcade games to concretely people’s social pressure in reality, and through the internal mining of people’s own needs, to give players the source of power to overcome difficulties, with the game to awaken people’s inner struggle and fighting spirit to overcome difficulties, so as to guide an optimistic and positive attitude towards life to face social pressure.
Week 3-7 February
This week has entered the actual production stage, and my main job is to assist team members in the production and communicate and coordinate with teachers. For example, the final design of the monster, the modeling design of the heroine, the division of labor of the team members and the third version of script were determined.
Week 10-14 February
This week we refined our script and storyboards, and because we wanted to highlight the theme of the spirit of the game and felt that the smoking action was a bit redundant, I finally decided to remove the smoking action and make a video game action instead, in order to streamline the script and focus more on the original theme.
So to sum up, the final version of the script is very similar to the third version, except that the female character is changed from walking to smoking, to walking to playing video games.
Week 03 Mar -07 Mar
This week, our team project is nearing its conclusion. We need to combine all the team’s elements into a single Blender file and set up lighting and rendering. Now, we are collaborating with the Digital Space team to solve the issues we’ve encountered.
Week 03 Mar -07 Mar
It was a really busy week. This week we decided on the style of the final project. Although it was decided at the beginning, this is the first time we have achieved this effect. Secondly, I lived in LCC’s digital space this week, arriving at 10:30 in the morning and leaving at 8 in the afternoon every day. I feel like I’m starting work already. Every day with my crew to determine the effect of each shot, really tired, have to repeat the next week a week, help~~~~~~~~~~~
Week 10 Mar- 14 Mar
Finally, with all the shots rendered, it’s time for compositing and final editing. Hopefully, I can finish the video before deadline.
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