First Experiment...

me>Before really starting my big after effects stuff I played about with my world- I was initially intimidated by getting stuck in - this little play helped me to relax - I plan on using the spinning element in a sting at some point although of course more needs to happen within it- this initial basic experiment is going to be the basis.

Vals correspondance...

I have had a fair few emails from Val, although its hard to translate what she actually wants -

I have so far presented Val with screenshots of my world - which she loved- it was clear she thought it was good and she was happy with it.

A storyboard - which she seemed to understand but didnt have a great deal to say about it even after i sent her a detailed explanation.

A video from which my movement will be based- she liked it and could see where I wanted to take the movement for the title sequence.

Mock up people on mopeds- she stated that I was on the right track

In regard to the people there have been some issue- the people are supposed to be the presenters of the show riding through Brighton on mopeds- initially I asked for details on hair colour and skin tone since it was decided early on to keep them fairly generic and have them wear goggles I only really needed those details. Val send back a few vague sentences with a few names to look up on the site (entirely unhelpful as I dont know what they look like an who they are on the show). She then called me to inform me that another presenter had been added an 80 year old woman. It was then deiced that I put full on helmets and goggles on my people to keep them really generic- the only thing noticible would be the hair colour- since I didnt want to spend too much time or really have the time to design the presenters by themselves I have also kept them in the same biker uniforms with slight changes to build and helmet colour. Val said that this was a good idea since it had already been settled that some of the presenters were going to have to be cut out since it would be too many in frame. After which i recieved a confusing email describing presenter characteristics (vague but better and would have been handy when I asked for them) i emailed back questioning the relevance of the email since we had a phone conversation about keeping the characters generic and Vals response was to do whatever I thought best.

So from what I can extrapilate I am doing well but Val is frustratingly vague at times even when pushed its becoming clear that she doesnt really know what she wants which is great because I plan on running with my own designs and then tweaking to meet her approval. I have made sure to tell her that nothing in the drawings can be changed from this point forward and other than some minor changes to the presenters everything seems to be fine. I have had no response from music guy.

The World

 So this is my final world I really really like it and am really proud of it. I think its very colourful and really embodies Brightons colour and vibrancy. I added a grain in photoshop and altered the curves a little to darken certain areas that seemed to like in correspondence to the background.Im also happy with the background which blended well considering the range of tones used to create a sunset night.

 Experiments with type- I had always planned to generate a type that looked like lights but Im really happy that it seems to fit well with the world.

I was playing around with the moped people (they are in the style previously presented) just to see if they would fit - I think perhaps the red of the moped needs to be brighter and the people smaller but other than that I can definitely see them working.

Illustration Brighton Pier and Welcome Sign...

I was most worried about the pier design because its the most complicated of my elements. I also worried about the colouring since the actual pier consists mostly of greys. In order to ensure a pier that matched the rest of my elements I decide to use various shades of blue with hints of grey which actually gave my design an igloo look. I had issues with the pieces at the end because the end of Brighton pier actually has a mini theme park with  a big hammer ride since I didnt want to put anything with too much height at the end (it wouldnt work with my world design) I opted instead to use smaller elements- the carousel, the tube slide and a turret filled up the space nicely.

The welcome to Brighton sign is an element that I thought was necessary since it grounds the entire world instantly. I plan on placing extra emphasis on the welcome sign at the beginning and then using the same sign and replacing it with welcome to Latest TV or Brighton Lights.

.Illustration, The North Laines and The Royal Pavillion,

I felt that I had a good enough idea as to how the world would work as a whole so I decided that I could now comfortably design and make the additional elements without placing them within their own worlds. The North Laines was by far the easiest element to draw. I based the lampposts of the more old fashioned ones since I have made some more modern ones to be placed around the world accordingly and I didn't want the Laines to blend in with those. Simple three lines of shading around the edges helped to create a 3 dimensionality whilst the smaller lights wrapped around the lampposts provided the right amount of detail to match my previously made buildings. 

The Pavilion was the hardest building to draw because it was detailed (there were also a lot of curves and curves are harder to shade because each curve has to be adjusted when placed on top of one another.) It wasnt actually on the list of locations suggested but I thought that It was more well  known than the church (the shape more iconic and Val had no issues with it).

 When the pavilion is lit up at night it generally has a purple sheen so Im thinking in the closeups of the pavilion during the opening credits the fairy lights are gonna change to purple.

Illustration Clock Tower...

I made the clock tower in the same styling as the Duke of York's. Theres a lot of detail incorporated  which Ive done my best to match to the actual building.

Again I played around with lights in Photoshop as a tester although I had issue with the positioning and the intensity, although I edited most of the controls, I couldnt seem to soften the lights like I had befoe so they came across as too vibrant.

I explored darkening the background which I liked (in the big world though I will have to blend between each tone). I placed a film grain atop my image to give it a soft paper texture and a drop shadow which helps to separate the world from the background and really iterate the cut out design.

Illustration Artwork (Duke of York's)...

I began drawing all the different locations specified in Illustrator, other than the artworks previously researched I wasnt really designing with a specific style in mind. I was of course aiming for a retro look with lots of solid fills and bold colours. The style is entirely my own- I wanted to keep it bold and fun although I tended to exaggerate the colours that I used. I really wanted to highlight the paper cut out style that I investigated in my moped people so it was important to include a sense of depth an shading within the locations.  

 I placed the main duke of yorks building within its own world (mostly as a tester since I intend to make a big world with all the different locations on it) I created some generic Brighton esc houses to frame the outside edges of the world. I really like my background which was the first stage of a sunset that I would darken gradually until it was night.

 Actually really like the boldness of the silhouette and plan on using something like this as a possible sting.

I played about with lights in photoshop (since I know that you can also use lights in after effects) to see what it could look like and was pleased with the soft dappled lighting.