film marketing...

doing some research now for some kinda of promotional ideas for the animated film...

for no budget, facebook and youtube seems to be the places to promote the trailers and posters. Plus CG talk and cg websites.

From http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/19/090119fa_fact_friend?printable=true

"Modern campaigns have three acts: a year or more before the film débuts, you introduce it with ninety-second teaser trailers and viral Internet “leaks” of gossip or early footage, in preparation for the main trailer, which appears four months before the release; five weeks before the film opens, you start saturating with a “flight” of thirty-second TV spots; and, at the end, you remind with fifteen-second spots, newspaper ads, and billboards. Studios typically spend about ten million dollars on the “basics” (cutting trailers and designing posters, conducting market research, flying the film’s talent to the junket and the première, and the première itself) and thirty million on the media buy. The hope is that a potential viewer will be prodded just enough to make him decide to see what all the fuss is about. It’s the “belt and suspenders and corset and parachute harness” approach."

“We have to yell loud and long enough to perfectly inflate the balloon on the day of release—and yet not so loud that we pop it.”

So even if got no money, the idea of using the 3 act ideas can be applied to the animated short.

Interestingly, there have been many recent Hollywood promotions of the web that haven't initially mentioned the name of the film ("Cloverfield" and the recent efforts behind "Quarantine" come to mind). Doesn't calling attention to the movie to early hurt the chance for the promo to go viral? Could it still work with a slate at the end for the film's website?

I will sound out my stratgey in a later post.

for now some links...

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-marketing2.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/filmmakingguidemarketing

http://mag.awn.com/?article_no=671&ltype=Special%20Features

http://www.moviemarketingmadness.com/blog/

diverging edge loops

often I have to diverge or redirect edge loops by re-organising the topology of a geometry.
this is a really simple one that I just realised after a lot of convoluted clickings.. gr....

step 1
step 2

step 3

Done - orange lines show the change in flow!
edge loop tutorials and theories...
http://www.digitaltutors.com/forum/showpost.php?p=35554&postcount=3
http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8000 (more advanced theories for edge loops.)
http://zoomy.net/2008/04/02/modeling-with-edge-loops/


http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/forums/showthread.php?t=907

subsurface and fake sub surface scattering

http://www.danybittel.ch/t_sss.html
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=214189

Camera Projection tutorials online

simple but good camera tutorial.



http://qvolabs.com/otis_cam_proj_mp_01.html



http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?p=891111



general camera projection notes from DannyGuertsen.



1.) make sure maya to Motr is loaded in preferences



2.) select camera



3.) duplicate and rename to renderCam



4.) select camera -> attribute editor -> display film gate (this is based on camera aperture)

5.) lock it.

6.) Render the scene.

7.) Paint on it (Twice the res, uncompressed)

8.) Hypershade -> Create lambert -> map the texture to incadescence -> zero out all the values.

9.) Go to the render node -> 2D textures -> as projection -> filein Node -> load the painted map.

10.) Projection Node -> attribute editor -> projection type -> prespective -> camera projection, link to camera you want .

11.) Projection Node ->Effects -> filter 0.1 (important)

12.) FileinNode -> Effects -> Filter 0.1 (important)

Baking Projection on to Object UV

1.) select objects you want to bake. Rendering -> Lighting/Shading -> AssigntextureBakeSet-> Attribute Editor -> texture bake set 1 -> Color Mode -> Light&Color

2.) filename Prefix -> blahblah (important to name it)

3.) x-res, y-res up to you. Fill texture seams -> 2-6

4.) Create a directional light and set to 0. This switches the default light off. ( so that the bake will be pure color)

5.) Select the objects + the shader with the projection.

6.) When both are selected, under Lighting/Shader -> Batch bake (mentalRay)

7.) Make sure camera is set to right one and convert and close.

Live projection (no baking)
From 1 camera angle, you can duplicate it and use it from another camera angle. This way you can have a 2nd live projection. By combining these 2 projections via a layered shader, you can have more flexibility.

Then you can use lighting in the scene.

Ambient Occulsion tutorial.

good ah........

http://toi.bk.tudelft.nl/toi-pedia/index.php?title=Mental_Ray_Ambient_Occlusion_tutorial

http://www.game-artist.net/forums/spotlight-articles/1317-tutorial-ambient-occlusion-maya-alchemist101.html


next one camera projection....

my opinion on movies

Personally, movies are a form of escapism and a source of entertainment. And through the years, it makes me appriciate movies that have well rounded characters and developed stories. The really good ones makes me think and reflect on things in the real world. BUt the primary focus is still escapism. There are much better people out there who are totally into the the dramatic and serious subjects in film.

At the end of the day, I want to be able to suspend my disbelief, be entertained and be brought to another world/time/dimension/galaxy far far away. If it is thought provoking, awesome. If it can give a warm fuzzy feeling inside, lagi best. Personal tastes have different views on what constitutes a good movie. And it is hard to pin point. But damn it, I want a happy ending. If I want a sad ending, I just have to look around in reality.

For me, I know that I do not like the following

1.) Horror, gore movies. (I want to laugh and be inspired. Not scared shitless or even worse waste time on "not scary" scary movies.

2.) Period British/American drama and gansta rap movies. (Just different upbring, zzzzzzzz to death).

3.) Mindless violence. (Violence is fine if there is a motivating factor. But violence for just the sake of violence is lazy and lame)

4.) Abstract movies. (aka arty farty movies about nothing or something that no one can understand except the film maker)

5.) Gangsta and gritty detective movies.

Things I like in movies. (reminds of the nokia video cam handphone commerical)

1.) Big explosions and loads of destructions. (I paid $10 for 2 hours of my life. Show me the eye candy)

2.) Realistic, high quality, I cannot tell what is real what isn't visual effects. (not some cheapo TCS visual effects done by students in poser)

3.) Good dialog and humor. (good dialog does not have to mean loads of dialog.

4.) Robots, Monsters,battle planes, martial arts, aliens and super heroes.

5.) Cool non-regurgitated story and non-lame plot that do not drag. ( I have ADD so I like movies that move at a decent pace.)

I do not know if these tastes are reflective of the average movie goer but hese are my own very biased, myopic preferences. of course I do appriciate a well directed, well writtern and well acted movie regardless of the genre. But I am more of the fanboy type of audience rather then the hard core movie affectionatos that knows all the weird quirky movies.

The Resident Tourist

The Resident Tourist by Troy Chin. Part 1 and 2

I 1st came across these books when I came back from NZ a few weeks back. Saw it at Ani-PLay in sunshine. It was interesting but I did not buy it. Later end up like most local comics. All cannot make it one.

But I finally got a chance to read part 1 in kino at Taka. Some joker tore the wrappings and left it there. (not me). It was really good. I was pleasantly surprised how good it was.

Just finished and re-read all the books again. And it does get better on a 2nd reading.

His art is decent (still way better then me). But it was his story telling skills that really stood out. There is no judgemental tone in the book nor did it felt dumbed down or exggrated just because its a comic. Its kinda of reminded me of yotsuba in terms of the feel.

For me it really connected with me as the issues that he faced and things he is going through.

Its a autobiographical account of his return back from singapore after working in NYC. There is a really good review of the book at http://textfiend.net/zerohero/?p=636

You can his website and other short stories here

http://www.drearyweary.com/

I am waiting eagerly for the 3rd volume and I wish him all the best in his writings.

New Year 2009.

2008 have passed by in a relatively quick flash.

It is also one of the more fruitful years in terms of personal developement and opening the mind to different things.

2009 is a brand new year ahead and a lot of things to look forward to.

Key Challenges for the New Year.

1.) Have a healthy lifestyle and lose weight.

2.) Finish the animated short.

3.) Stop buying too many TOYS AND BOOKS.

4.) Write down thoughts and rants here for more creative contemplation.

5.) Have a more balanced lifestyle. More diving and less work.

6.) Expend my horizon and way of thinking.

7.) Less cynisim and more positive spirit.

8.) More tolerant towards idiots and pricks. (actually screw that, pile on the pain on them)

I hope it to be a challenging and satisfying year ahead for everyone.

problem focusing.

I have a problem with focusing. It seems whenever I have to do something that is percieved as work, (regardless if its paid work) my brain just break down. On the bus, on the MRT, even walking.. there are a million thoughts and things going through my brain. And I keep thinking, these are good ideas for analysis or just starting point for stories. But surely enough, when I get in front of a computer, the mind goes blank, actually it just refuses to think. Sort of like a instinctive rebelling through force of habit. (oxymoron?)

Very annoying. need to look into solutions.... but then that brings me to the next problem. Procrastination. and there is no cure for that.

Eye Movements 3 - Saccades and Fixations

Great Article about the different ways of animating eyes from Synchrolux.


"Convergence
is a motion of both eyes relative to each other that ensures that an object is still foveated by both eyes when its distance from the observer is changed. The closer the object is, the more the eyes point towards each other. This movement can be voluntarily controlled, but is normally the result of a moving stimulus.
Saccades
are the principal method for moving the eyes to a different part of the visual scene, and are sudden, rapid movements of the eyes. Saccades can be initiated voluntarily, but are ballistic: that is, once they are initiated, their path of motion and destination cannot be changed. Visual input is suppressed during a saccade.
Pursuit motion
is a much smoother, slower movement than a saccade; it acts to keep a moving object foveated. It cannot be induced voluntarily, but requires a moving object in the visual field. One frequent failing of thoughtless animation is having the eyes demonstrate pursuit motion when there is no object being followed by the character’s eyes.
Nystagmus
is a saw-toothed pattern of eye movements that occurs as a response to the turning of the head (acceleration detected by the inner ear) or the viewing of a moving, repetitive pattern (the train window phenomenon). It consists of smooth `pursuit’ motion in one direction to follow a position in the scene, followed by a fast motion in the opposite direction to select a new position. This is an eye movement that has probably never been animated, and if it was, it would probably get rejected by the supervisor or director because it would look so odd.
Drift and microsaccades
occur during fixations, and consist of slow drifts followed by very small saccades (microsaccades) that apparently have a drift-correcting function. These movements are involuntary, and their function is in question.
Physiological nystagmus
is a high-frequency oscillation of the eye (tremor) that serves to continuously shift the image on the retina, thus calling fresh retinal receptors into operation. Physiological nystagmus actually occurs during a fixation period, is involuntary, and generally moves the eye less than 1°. As with microsaccades, you’d need to be in an extreme close-up for this to register, but it’s another reason the human eye looks ‘alive’ in live-action extreme close-ups.
Rolling
of the eyes is a rotational motion around an axis passing through the fovea and pupil. It is involuntary, and is influenced by among other things the angle of the neck. Although this is also something we can safely ignore as animators, some rigs will automatically provide this when using the ‘eye-target’ controller.
Of the above, it’s really the first three we’re concerned with. Because of the precision that CG animation allows, we can (and should) pay much more attention to these types of movements than is typically done in hand-drawn animation.
Convergence is fairly straightforward. In a properly rigged character, convergence should happen naturally as the eye target is moved close to the character’s face. If a rig lacks this function, or the eye-target control isn’t being used, it should be a simple matter to manually add in some convergence when a character is looking at something very close. You don’t need to go too far with this to portray convergence.
Pursuit is also straightforward. I like to use the eye target to match the motion of the object being tracked, and I like to make sure the head motion (if the head is rotating in the direction of the object being tracked) is somewhat out of phase with the eye movement, otherwise the sense of the eyes actually moving in pursuit motion is lost.
There really aren’t any timing considerations to convergence and pursuit, but there are for saccades. I’ve heard various rules of thumb regarding how many frames* a saccade should take, and how long the eyes should fixate between saccades. Rather than regurgitate those, I’ll lay out some data from physiology studies. I encourage readers to do their own research — look closely at reference like I’ve posted above, and see what the eyes really do."