Evaluation

I am pleased with the outcome of my work because I feel that I addressed certain key points that are relevant to the mise-en-scene, and tackled them accordingly. I have documented my work in detail throughout the course of this blog, and was able to keep track of my progress, and backtrack to look at any areas that needed revising.

For example, the last minute inclusion of the POV shot where the character looks at the moon. I decided to include that after looking back through my blog entries, and noticing that I had spoken about different types of camera shots, but only focused on one.

I didn't address this about my work earlier, but the use of shapes had a significant impact on the message that I was trying to convey. I did draw a point from Pan's Labyrinth where round, curvy shapes appear around the character of Ofelia. I tried to a similar thing around my character with the use of vast numbers of bricks, which are square-like. Squares represent a box, and boxes are limited or restricted. The character is restricted in many regards on account of being in prison.

Ideas just came to me while working on this. I never planned on making the cell grey. That just came to me. I would like to work on something which has been planned from the very beginning, and to see if I can recreate the plan in an accurate way.

Having completed this, I will strive to work towards that goal.

Otherwise, my ambition of creating a story using the mise-en-scene in conjunction with the character has been fulfilled.

Final Animation

The animation for this blog entry can be found on the CD I handed in. It is called Specialist Study 1 Final.

This is the final animation. All of the elements that I have built up to this point are featured with in it, and I have included the still shot of the moon.

Finally, I decided that a fade to black would be sufficient at the end. I would have liked to have made the ending slightly longer, where the character sits still for a few more seconds before the fade out occurs.

Here is the final piece:

It can be found on the CD that I handed in. It is called Specialist Study 1 Final.

Mise-en-scene revisited

While I felt that I was exploring the concepts and principles of the mise-en-scene, and was applying them effectively, I felt that I was doing enough in terms of the camera. I was advised that the camera is an important part of the mise-en-scene, which is why I took an in-depth look into it in my thesis.

I didn't want to change what I already had for the sake of the camera, however, because it would look forced, and if something works, then it is generally best left alone. So instead, I decided that I could add to what I have.

The shot where the character looks at the moon provided the perfect opportunity for this, as it meant that I could employ a POV camera shot, which I touched upon earlier in a previous blog entry.

The shot would, of course, be from the character's point of view, looking at the moon.

The character will look up and at the moon, then it cuts to the POV Camera, and then back to the default camera.

Facial animations

The last thing to regarding character animation, was the facial expressions. They were as simple as eye gestures, so it didn't take much time.


I like the way the eyes stand out in the dark:

With all of the animations completed, I made a playblast which included everything:

Camera movement

The animation for this blog entry is on the CD I handed in. It is found in the Camera Test folder.

As said, I wanted camera movement. Despite all the research I did, it turned out that I only needed a small introductory panning from right to left. I knew exactly how it should look, and I have used this type of camera work before, so I was very quickly able to construct it.

And I needed it to slow down just before stopping in order to tell the audience that we have now arrived at the focus -- the character.

The graph editor, causing the slow down:

Eventually, I created an animation playblast to test it out, and it turns out that I got it correct in one try.

Animation + Light test

The animation for this blog entry is on the CD I handed in. It is found in the Light Test folder.


This is the character animation and the light animation combined in the form of a playblast, the file called Light Test 02. I think the timing is okay, though I admit it could be better. I think that the lean forward that the character does at 8 seconds could have been quicker, or removed altogether, but there wasn't much time left at this point. Final rendering had to begin.

Light animation test

The animation for this blog entry is on the CD I handed in. It is found in the Light Test folder.


This is just a quick test to see whether or not the flickering is acceptable. It's just as well as that I got it right the first time.

Next, I need to tailor the character to move in conjunction with the light changing.

Light and shadow

I was happy with the effects I got from the test lights in a previous blog entry, but I wasn't satisfied with the shadows. Plus, I wanted the shadows from the bars to be really apparent.

First, I tweaked the shadow settings, opting for depth map shadows instead of raytrace shadows. This was simple enough, and didn't require too much thought.

I tried two methods of creating the shadows from the bars. The first, was to create another set of bars off-screen, and then put them directly in front of the light source, but it wasn't working very well.

The second method was by using a gobo. I attached an image of bars to the colour node of one of the lights, and this was the result:

It looked much better, but the source of the light became obvious because as you can see, the gobo effect seems to emanate from the bottom right hand side corner, instead of  being evenly spread. I tried applying the gobo to another light -- a directional light -- but it was too far away, and the shadows appeared much bigger, and thus weren't recognisable as bars.

I decided to stick with as there was no alternative, and it was the best I could do without seriously adjusting the camera. 

Anyhow, I was able to change the output colour of one of the area lights to create the illusion that the lights outside of the prison cell had been dimmed (I imagine prisoners aren't kept in total darkness so as they can still be monitored), while maintaining the nice shadows from the gobo.

I intend for the light to flicker and then fade, thus causing the character to react to it in the way shown in the animation tests.

More animation tests

The animations for this blog entry is on the CD I handed in. They are found in the Animation Tests folder.

The reaction to the lights fading would have to be a quick one, as he wasn't expecting it to happen. Plus, a quick movement amongst otherwise slow and depressing ones could add some life into the piece.

I created the initial movement, as shown in Test 04 - Reaction, and then slowed it down in Test 05 - Reaction slower.

Then, as seen in Test 06 - All, I playblasted the whole sequence.

I'm happy with all of the movements, but I think that some areas need to be prolonged so it looks more natural. But before that, I wanted to work on the lights changing.

Further animation

I had the first half of my animation complete, apart from a few tweaks that were needed. All that was left was the second half. I needed for it to be in the same vein as the first half, but different actions. Not just simple sighs and face in hand actions.

Then I considered, what about a reaction?

Perhaps, as dark as the prison cell was, it could get darker, and he would react to it in a surprised manner. By darker I mean, maybe the correctional officer shouts "lights out!", then they fade out. As if the situation couldn't get worse for the character.

Other than looking nice, and being a nice outline of my understanding of lighting and its setting, it could suggest that this is the character's first night in prison. His surprised reaction would indicate that.

Texturing the scene

I needed to think of a way to make the messages that I wanted to convey clear.

The character is in prison. He is depressed about it. He is reminded about the outside world by looking outside. His actions demonstrate this.

The environment would have to further exemplify this. Prisons have a very grey and white theme, which is something I noticed in some of the reference images in an earlier blog entry. That is something I knew I could work with.

I have already textured the character to be bright orange, and orange would stand out amongst grey and white, which left me confident that, if I could pull it off, the audience wouldn't stray away from the focus of the character while still taking into account the effect of the environment.

A grey brick wall, grey concrete ceiling and floor, and stainless steel desk and shelf all fit the theme that I was trying out. I was already liking the way the orange stood out in the viewport, and was sure it would look even better with a lighting set-up.

Before doing some proper test renders, I wanted to create a nice shader for the bed frame, as it was situated where the character would be, and had to look correct.

An anisotropic metal was sufficient, but I thought that a Fresnel effect may help with some of the reflections.

Then I set up some lights to test it all out.

And it came to this:

Which I am quite happy with, texture-wise. The orange and the moon stand out amongst the ubiquitous grey, which was the desired effect.

Looking at that render, I noticed that the shader qualities for the bars could be applied to the bars.

The final thing to consider, texture-wise, was the outside sky. Naturally, it would be night time as the moon is out. But what type of sky was I looking for? Pitch black? No. I needed the outside to contrast drastically from the prison cell. Black is the the type of colour that would have a place inside the prison cell. If outside is just as grim as inside, why bother wanting to be outside? Why bother showing it? So I opted for a navy blue, starry sky.

I found this image online:

And made some Photoshop edits:

And applied it to my scene:

I am extremely pleased with the presence of colour in this otherwise monotonous scene. It's a great blend, and I especially like the reflections of moonlight cast on the metals.

Animation tests

The animations for this blog entry is on the CD I handed in. They are found in the Animation Tests folder.

As the character would be sitting down, the animation would be a simple process, but it wouldn't be terribly interesting. I tried a few sitting-up actions, and they were straightforward,as can be seen in the "Test 01 - Sitting up" and "Test 02 - Hands on lap" files.

I then proceeded to make it more interesting by introducing a sigh (Test 03 - Sighing), after the character looks up at the moon. I wanted to remain true to the fundamentals of animation principles and create an over the top sigh. But for two reasons I didn't achieve this.

1) The IKFK switch was causing me problems. When key framing between the IK and FK, I found that actions would undo each other, most notably pole vector. With more time, I could overcome this, but I didn't have it, and I could afford to overlook this as character animation isn't wholly important to what I am trying to achieve.

2) The rig has very slim limbs, and the camera is quite far off from him, so it is barely noticeable. At this point a different action, or no action at all was considered.

Now I will need to consider what happens after he looks to the moon, but first, I think it is time to actually start creating the environment. I find it interesting that while mise-en-scene was primary and character animation secondary, I started off with the character animation.

Character's action

I thought a little more about what the character would be doing, and why. I had already established that he would be depressed because he is in prison, and the lighting set-up would compliment the mood in order to allow the audience to realise that.

So I decided to exemplify that further. We all know that it is better to be free than in prison, that is a given. I am sure it is a thought that many who are incarcerated reflect on. I needed a visual way for the character to reflect on that, and I achieved that by utilising the idea of the outside world.

The character would look outside of the cell window, where a fool moon would in full view would look down at him, reminding him of the beauty that is outside and is inaccessible to him.

Regarding animation, I now know that he would at some point need to look up. Now I need to consider what happens before and after he looks at the moon -- what type of actions need to be performed in the build up to it, and his mood changes after seeing it.

Positioning the character

At this point, I knew that the character would appear between the two bars, with the bed in the middle. This is the spot in which he would get the most attention, and would adhere to the balance I spoke of earlier between character and the scene.

With the character decided upon, I was able to accurately scale all of the objects within the scene to correct sizes.

Because I positioned the bars correctly, I was able to quickly position the character without the need for any other adjustment than scaling, which was a quick and painless process.

I also knew that all of the animation would take place at the position at which he sits. There wasn't going to be any huge or bombastic movements, just face in hands, and a sharp waist movement that would cause him to sit-up.

But just to be sure of this, I will do some quick animation tests.

Character

The character that I will use in this prison scene will be a downloaded rig. I am not trying to challenge myself to create a fully functioning rig, so I have no qualms with doing this. The challenge here is to tell a story using the scene itself. This way, I can save time and spend more of it perfecting the actual goal.

I will, however, need the character to agree with the context. That is, he will need to be wearing on orange prison jumpsuit, which is something I will have to make happen myself.

The rig that I will be using is the Andy rig, which is a very popular experimental rig used by animators to perfect their craft.

I will be using the male form of this rig, re-painted to fit the scene. I decided to deal with texturing the character first in order to get it out of the way, because no matter what direction my prison cell would take in terms of colours, textures, and shaders, I was certain that this character needed to wear orange. It's classic prison iconography.

It's the most basic form of painting -- solid colours -- but it does its job. Next, I will determine the best position for the character in conjunction with the camera.

Setting up the camera

I decided upon a resolution of HD720, which is 1280 x 720. I spoke about positioning the camera directly behind the bars in a manner similar to below:

I agreed with the positioning behind the bars, but experimented with transforming the camera to the left, right, above, and below.

Personally, I preferred something along the lines of the very first screenshot, so I made a few adjustments:

I'm content with this. I think the character will fit nicely in between the two far right bars, sitting on the bed.

Study of camera

I would like to examine the possibilities facing me when dealing with the camera, as I have been advised that it is an important facet of the mise-en-scene. My main concern is the positioning of the camera. I intend to have it pan across the cell, and then slowly stop at a sufficient location that gives access to the cell. I also know that the camera will feature directly behind the bars, with some of them visible close-up, and the camera will focus on the character who is sitting on the bed. This tells me that detail will need to be paid to the texturing and shading of the bars, whilst not diverting any attention away from the character.

My main issue is, where exactly do I locate the camera. From above? From below? Top corner? Center? Each position can give a different insight to what is happening in the scene. From above would suggest that character is being watched, perhaps by CCTV, which is uncanny of a prison cell.

To further my understanding of camera positioning and movement, I consulted a book called "Shot by Shot" by Steven d. Katz. Several quotations on the use of camera shots struck me, and they are points that I addressed in my dissertation.

“For the narrative filmmaker, the most interesting aspect of open and closed framings is the way in which they are used to offer the viewer varying degrees of involvement and intimacy with the subjects on the screen (Katz, 1991, p.259).” 

While the mise-en-scene establishes this relationship between audiences and characters, what of the relationship between the character and the objects that are around him. It can be said that a scene can be looked at as a world within a world, as if everything that appears in a scene is there intentionally. Thus, it is important that the character interacts, or has some presumed interaction, with them. An alcoholic who is at home and is trying to stop drinking, for example, would be accompanied on-screen surrounded by empty bottles. This ties into the closed camera framing. Even with this establishment, the character may be drinking out of a bottle as well, confirming that he indeed is afflicted with alcoholism. His struggle to stop will be signified by the intricate camera shots back and forth between the bottle and the character. These types of shots can be so effective that they can tell the audience who is winning the struggle without the use of dialogue. A shot of the bottle with the alcoholic in the background would tell us that it is him who is motivated by the bottle. If the shot was vice- versa, then the audience could put themselves in the mind of the alcoholic as his struggle to resist the temptation will be show from his point of view. This type of framing is best used

during negative instances where something bad has happened, is happening, or will happen, such as the relationship between a man keeping desperate track of time with his watch, or during car chase scenes -- whether it is shown that the chase is dangerous through the presence of pedestrians, or if it takes place within short and narrow roads as opposed to an open field.

“With open and closed framings, we considered the ways in which graphic and editorial

techniques determine the level of involvement the viewer has with the characters on screen.

Point of view, on the other hand, determines who the viewer identifies with. The two

concepts are closely related and nearly always work together in any sequence (Katz, 1991, p.267).” 

The point of view is often a consideration that must be tackled when there are multiple locations and characters in a narrative. It is important that the audience is always aware of who the main focus of the shot or scene is. Even in scenes involving only one character, it cannot be assumed that this character is guaranteed to be the sole focus. A distant shot of a window behind the character who is performing an action may indicate to the audience that something is soon to happen to it, or outside of it. Incorrectly placing the shot will change the audience expectations and thus not deliver the intended outcome of the scene.

“Extensive use of the subjunctive viewpoint has always been awkward in narrative film

largely because we are only given the visual point of view of a character and are deprived of

seeing his or her reactions through facial or other gestures (Katz, 1991, p.267).” 

While this is true in many cases, it gives rise to a number of possible unconventional techniques in the often repetitive world of film. An example of a recent case is Hit Girl’s first person point of view scene in Kick Ass. This works particularly well due to two reasons. Firstly, we are seeing the scene in a day and age where this viewpoint is extremely common and, more importantly, popular in another medium – video games. The use of the view in this film is borderline parody of that (which ties into the second reason), and in this zeitgeist age

of information, anybody with access to television or internet will be able to see this. The second reason is that, the point of view itself is used for comedic purposes. This is an eleven year old girl who is killing adults in a professional manner. The scene, or better yet, the sequence, does not rely on accepted film language concepts. We do not need to see her facial expression of physical reactions to the killing as we are already aware of this from previous scenes. If anything, this type of point of view shot benefits her character, because

as mentioned before, she deals with the situation in a professional manner, thus telling us that all fun and games aside, she is deadly and competent when it matters most.

The key points to be taken from these quotes, and my analysis of them, is to strike a perfect balance between character and the scene. I want the scene itself to be the emphasis, but it can't overshadow the character, otherwise what would be the point of having a character present? They must compliment each other. 

Modelling the prison cell

The first task was to decide on the dimensions of the cell. I wanted to depict solitude and a small capacity for space, so a fine balance needed to be struck. Too much space would mean a comfortable cell, which no prison really is.

Something like this looked right. It would serve as a trial, and could easily be scaled up if it didn't look right with all of the props inside it. I mentioned how sometimes photorealism can be boring, as if there is no life present in some of the work created, so I went ahead and created some dungeon-like bars running through the window as a means of staying true to the animation principle of exaggeration. There is no conventional exaggeration here, but you'd be hard pressed to find a jail cell with old-fashioned windows like this.

At this point I already knew that a bed and a toilet must be present in the scene. Fortunately for me, I already had a toilet modelled from an earlier project.

And as for the bed, I happened to find a model that I could download for free at this site:

http://www.sharecg.com/v/36843/related/5/3D-Model/Prison-Bed?interstitial_displayed=Yes

All credit goes to Ascania.

And the scene with all of the models together:

I will most likely have to edit the proportions of all objects, but the first task ahead of me is how to fill that void on the right side of the cell. The only other luxury that I could imagine a prisoner having, other than a bed and a toilet, was a desk and a small shelf.

And the cell as a whole:

The next step to consider is the bars, but I may resort to some camera trickery in replicating them. I really want to emphasise the presence of the bars in order to fulfil the foreboding nature of a prison cell, and I think a close-up of several of them, while the camera peers into the cell behind them, will do that.

Prison references

With the setting decided upon, the next stage is to look at some references that help in the creation and design of my prison location. Even before looking at any images I have a fair idea of how I'd like the prison to look, but I think it is worth it to look at other images so as that I can look out for some interesting prison iconography that eludes me.

So far I'm thinking of the usual; bars, bricks and mortar, bed, and the classic toilet by the bed.

In all of the images above, the bars have great presence, even if they aren't emphasised upon, and they definitely separate the prison cell from rooms. Even more so exerting than the bars themselves, are the shadows cast by them. They engulf the room and serve as lasting reminder of where the occupier is. I will look to include them in my cell, and will further strive to cast them in a way that some of the shadows of the bars are cast on the character as well, relating to the point I made about Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now, earlier.

Prison cells are notorious for being great bastions of solitude, so I won't have to model many things. A bed, a toilet, and a desk are enough, which will leave me with much time concentrate on the lighting -- something I already mentioned as being key.

My project

I plan to create a computer generated piece of work, using Autodesk Maya as my main software for all modelling and animation needs, and Adobe Photoshop for painting textures.

The aim will be to tell a story using the environment and adhering to the principles of the mise-en-scene. Secondary and tertiary objectives will be photorealism, and character animation. I don't think I'll be able to include sound with my work as it's not my area, so an even tighter grip on key mise-en-scene aspects, most notably lighting, in order to send out the message that I hope to convey.

The first step was to think of a setting that already implies mood, whether it is happy or sad, as it would aid my task of creating the said mood. The first location that came to mind was a prison. Nobody enjoys being in prison, so if I were to create a character who was in a jail cell looking grim, I wouldn't need to find a way to express why he is looking grim. The audience can understand that, because they would feel the same way if they were in prison.

And, naturally, a grim location and a grim character would call for grim lighting set-ups and slow camera movements. This is a setting which I feel confident about, as I already have my foot in.

Focusing on mise-en-scene

The goal that I strive for is to create a convincing mood, taking into account the concepts of mise-en-scene, and by using photorealism as a tool to achieve that.

The most important element here is mise-en-scene. If I do not create shaders and models that do not much resemble their counterparts, then that is fine. As long as the message that I want to convey is realised.

The more that I think about the final piece that I want to create, the more I find myself thinking about this message, than creating accurate recreations of real life objects.

I like the above images, especially as photorealistic pieces, but I want to expand on them further. I wish I could download each file and play with the lighting set-ups myself, and create some interesting camera focuses and movements. That is where the challenge lies. I'm confident that I could make scenes like this, but in order to get them looking dark, moody, and ambient will take much time and experimentation