Tom Pilott - Development

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PLP 2 Work Based Learning

Development

12th March - Online Group Previs - Micha Bostrom - Phase 3

Today a brief talk was arranged with our group to get to know our previs mentor.

It started with each group member telling a little bit about themselves and then Micha explained the brief, which was another one minute previs using assets from Cargo, like last time. But this time it was cyberpunk themed and included technical sci fi elements which really suited me and my type of visual style and themes I like, as demonstrated by my previous sci-fi projects such as the robot in the forest and the alien in the swamp or the recent Akali vs Agora robot previs scene for phase 1.

Our first task from our mentor was unfortunately set alongside our thursday's lesson and alongside the pixel challenge brief that I had to complete the next day. But I still managed to make a good list of items I would likely need for the sequence. I then went looking and testing assets I found online, I then proceeded to create a Rat rig by myself and possibly others to use, as our story has a rat in it, and I couldn't find any great rat rigs online. I then started bringing all the assets into the same maya world file to start thinking about layout.

Plot:

A character is hiding from a drone robot scanning for them in an abandoned futuristic city. The character sneaks around the environment avoiding detection as the drone continues their search. They find a hiding place among cluttered trash/junk in an alleyway as some rats scurry away from the area. The hidden character peers out to see the drone scanning a street. Under where the drone Is hovering, the character notices a maintenance duct/sewer/gutter cover which would lead to the final escape to safety. Just as the drone leaves the area, the character heads toward it, unknowingly grazing a trash can lid that is balancing on a pile of junk/cluttered items. The character makes it to the maintenance cover, struggling to pull it open as they prepare to escape. They hear a small sound from the cluttered junk where they were hiding a moment ago and see the balancing trash can lid on the edge of the trash pile. They see a rat emerge near to the trashcan lid. It knocks the lid out of equilibrium, causing it to fall to the ground with a loud crash as the character helplessly watches. Suddenly the drone emerges from the shadows scanning the trashpile area as our character, still undetected, desperately tries to force the lid open. The character finally figures out the locking mechanism. A loud bang causes the drone to be diverted from the trashpile and toward to sewer/maintenance duct in the empty street, with the character having escaped.

Here are the assets I extracted from the text and started to gather, plus additional items that I feel may fit the plot:

Environment Assets (Abandoned Futuristic City)

Buildings (damaged, futuristic architecture)
Alleyway walls (grimy, worn-down)
Streets (cracked pavement, futuristic elements)
Streetlights (broken or flickering)
Neon signs (optional for atmosphere)
Pipes and vents (industrial look)
Graffiti decals (to add realism)
Fog/mist elements (could be added later for ambiance)

Key Props & Interaction Objects

Drone Robot (futuristic scanning drone)
Trash cans (metal, dented, abandoned look)
Trash can lid (separate from can, used for noise trigger)
Cluttered junk pile (assorted debris like boxes, metal scraps, wires)
Rats (animated for movement)
Sewer/Maintenance cover (grate, hatch, or manhole-style cover)
Locking mechanism on cover (bolt, lever, or futuristic latch)

Additional Details for Atmosphere

Loose newspapers/paper scraps (blown by wind)
Scattered cans/bottles (adds realism)
Hanging cables/wires (dangling from buildings)
Exposed pipes and vents (damaged, leaking)
Broken holographic sign (optional) (for futuristic feel)

Main Character

Protagonist (Hiding Character)
- Could be a human or humanoid
- Worn-out futuristic clothing (suggests survival in an abandoned city)
- Possibly a hood or mask for stealth
- Light gear/bag (optional, if carrying anything useful)

Antagonistic/Threatening Entities

Drone Robot
- Floating/scanning mechanism
- Futuristic design (sleek or industrial)
- Spotlight or scanning laser
- Small mechanical arms or cameras (optional)
- Possibly a speaker or warning siren

Secondary Living Beings

Rats
- Small, fast-moving
- Scurrying animations needed
- One key rat that triggers the trash can lid noise

Making some assets.

My custom made Rat Rig:

texture courtesy of LumaLabs.ai

may not have enough expression as some other rigs, but seeing as it's for previs and its not the main character, it should suffice.

19th march

This is all the assets so far put into one place.

Darwin, one of my group members, mentioned he couldn't find a good rat asset. So I gave him my Rat rig to use. and he helped by providing me some links for a good robot drone I could use for my previs. demonstrating professional teamwork and efficiency.

First test

basic blocking layout of a path of action through a rough city with my gathered assets

Second pass with some adjustments given by my mentor Micha on Teams

adding animations to make her sneaking/ looking in the right directions
tightening camera shots.
Using narrower lense

26th march

SyncSketch feedback from Micha

Getting great feedback sessions from industry mentor Micha, has proven very useful at helping my narrative of my sequence. Setting up a clear environment shot for the beginning gives the audience a moment to understand the setting and be brought into the place of action before it starts.

Micha gave tips in syncsketch such as camera positions shown here on the right:
He stated there was a lot of dead space on screen and the audience doesnt need to pay attention to that, so i could bring the camera closer.

Here I break the 180 rule. I wanted to introduce a small shot of the rat part before the action happens, but didn't position the camera in the best place. I later improved this.

Fleshed out the camera shots, adding more of an intro shot, tightening camera angles, and getting rid of places where I break the 180 camera rule.

Micha gave us the great tip of using the Maya POSE LIBRARY to help save common poses to save time during animating.

I had already experimented with a similar pose library in Blender a couple of years back, and didn't think at first that it would come in much use in Maya as we were switching our rigs up quite a lot and they each had different bone layouts. But recently I have been using the Akali rig in a couple of projects, as it has decent controls for facial expressions and poses. Utilizing the pose library in Maya shows beneficial for long projects which require repetition of poses, or when reusing this rig between projects. I have now looked into it and started saving poses.

2nd April

More SyncSketch feedbacks from Micha

Rule of thirds. making the camera track the ship better. leading the action.

Line of action. Making sure she's facing the precise way the action is.

Tips on framing for less dead space and better viewer engagement.

Add another camera angle. - birds-eye view

Have her closer to the wall, hugging it more, to make her seem more engrossed in the moment and really scared that the scanner might hit her.

Have her hide, waiting for the right moment to pass the scanner.

Start the shot with her further back so the viewer sees her enter the shot more, and so that she seems that shes really trying to hide more and taking it carefully.

Camera movement, slow zoom in. Making the moment more dramatic

9th April

This was hand in day.
I was tidying up my presentation and making sure I had the bibliography all filled in.

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