Managing a big project like any of the thesis projects that my fellow classmates and I are committing ourselves to requires a lot of forethought, which is why the requirement of a research plan is an essential part of it. We each are faced with a (hopefully) new set of problems that have come with the two semester long project. For me specifically, I have chosen to do a 3-5 minute (this is subject to change) long animated 3D model film. More specifically, I aim for it to be a commentary on how badly 2020 has been on the American political/police events like the riots. Whether or not this will end up in the final film, I am not entirely sure.
The story elements I have solid in my plans (thus the elements I need to research) are as follows: Noire stereotypes, Sci-Fi genre and location, Dystopian city, Cybernetics, Anthropomorphic animal characters.
The technical aspects that I need to look into (thus the elements I need to research) are as follows: Character modelling, Character design/development, Blender 2.9 (or 2.79), Rendering, UV Mapping/texturing, Unity animation and Unity camera work.
Key Story Elements Bullet Points
Some of the noire detective tropes that I have been repeating throughout these previous posts are tropes like: The Cynic, The Jaded Professional, the Hard Boiled Detective, the Private Detective, etc. All of which are common characters within the noire detective genre. Personally, I have not looked into these genres as of yet, but these are bits and pieces of the main protagonist of the short film.
I mention the three specific games (L.A. Noire, Observer, Call of Cthulhu) because these are two pieces of current (or rather.. past media) media that have the feel of what I want the characters and setting I want my story to take place in. I would even extend the inspirational source from current media to some traits of Booker DeWitt of Bioshock: Infinite and related DLCs.
Observer:
Bioshock: Infinite
Call of Cthulhu Video Game
Wilford Warfstache (Markiplier Comedy video)
These are just some of the scenes and characters I have chosen to take inspiration from for my Sci-Fi Noire Detective short film.
Key Technical Elements Bullet Points
This is the software of choice I had decided to use, as I have covered in the first Revised Concepts post I did previously. This is going to be part of the second research phase I have designated for better organizational purposes, as the story elements will be part of the first phase of research.
The Plan
How I aim to execute this research is to first focus on the story elements. In researching the ins and outs of the story and characters, this will provide a springboard to shift into an animatic and then into the animation itself. I want to keep the idea of a screen by screen animatic in my mind because if I do not have the time to finish the full animation, I still want to have the full story outlined in some kind of animation related medium. Back to the story elements.
Will this have a script? More than likely. Thus I also have to look into scripts from hard boiled detective movies/games and sci-fi dystopian movies/games. That is why I aim to research the design process of Observer, the character design of Call of Cthulhu’s Protagonist, the design process of L.A. Noir, and the Film/Game tropes of the genres I want to utilize. After further understanding is achieved and a storyboard with the accompanying script is completed, I will focus my efforts towards the more technical side of the project.
For the technical portion of the project, I imagine Blender documentation, Unity documentation, and Youtube tutorials will come in handy for the research process for the software side. Using my own knowledge to have a baseline to work from, I would imagine that while I am researching the technical side I will have started modelling the room and the two characters that I will be using for the 3-5 minute short film (this will probably extend as I understand the requirements of what makes a good thesis, but I figure 5 minutes is a good baseline to shoot for). So to sum things up.