Character Design - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

In an earlier post I looked at a few different cartoon programmes which I was using as a base for my research on anamorphic characters. So far I came up with two different programmes which I believe represent what I will be trying to achieve with my character design throughout this 10 week project.
I have had a few basic ideas which I believed to be pretty solid but after having a chat with Justin, decided to start again from scratch. These will be noted in later posts after more research has been carried out.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -

So, one of the cartoons that I left out in the last post which was a massive influence in my life from an early age was The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".
This programme was released the late 1980's to the early 1990's which over the last decade has gathered world wide fame. The ninja turtles train in the art of nijitsu and were taught by their master who also happens to be a mutated rat.

Turtles animated series trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avHVOHsN3T0

The Ninja Turtles animated series which they made into a movie which is in the video below -

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 - 

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 -

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 -

 

- TMNT - This was an animated CG film that was made in 2007 for the Ninja Turtles fans.

Ed Wood

Yesterday in Alans lecture we watched a very interesting movie which was based on and around the life of film director "Ed Wood Jr". Ed wood was born in New york on the 10th of October 1924 but died at the age of 54 on the 10th of December 1978 in California because of heart failure. Unfortunate for Ed Wood Jr, he was ignored through a pretty unsuccessful career where he probably directed three of the worst films of all time, which got him his title of "worst director of all time".

The movie was written, produced and released in 1995, Directed by Tim Burton. The film is based upon Ed wood, who by the end of his life/career became most acclaimed as the worst director of all time. The main role of Ed Wood is played by none other than Johnny Depp, which is completely understandable as it is a Tim Burton movie.

Three of Ed Woods most famous flops are posted as videos below the post!

Glen/Glenda - I Led Two Lives - 

 

Plan 9 From Outer Space - 

 

Bride of the Monster - 

 

Also I just wanted to add up another video which was the Tim Burton trailer for the actual movie, "Ed Wood" Just have a look, the film is very interesting and shows how the life of a director can be. 

Anamorphic Cartoons

So I have been researching using sources which were available to me, and have come up with a number of different ideas for a character design which I will put forward in a not too distant post. For now though I have put together some videos which demonstrate some cartoon characters which I found represent an anamorphic character. Below are the cartoons, a quick example of each and a short description of them.

The Biker Mice from Mars -

This programme I remember watching when I was about 5 or 6. The Biker Mice from Mars was a science fiction cartoon series which was released some time in 1993. The show was about three anamorphic mice who were motorcyclist named Thottle, Modo and Vinnie who came to earth after escaping their home planet, Mars.

Street Sharks - 

Street Sharks is another animated series which was released in America which was released between 1994 and 1995. This programme was very similar to the teenage mutant ninja turtles and biker mice. The sharks were half man half human who found it very appealing to fight crime.

Character Design Unit

The two words which I was given randomly for my character design unit were - Anamorphic and Ninja. Below are web definitions for the two words which I will be using to create my three characters, the Hero, the Villain and the Sidekick.

The video below has been put together by Alan and Justin to give a quick demonstration into different characters, such as the sidekicks, heroes and villains.

Below is an influence map/mood board which should help me put ideas on paper and combine them to create characters for my story.

Anamorphic Ninja -

.

The Fly - 1986

It was very Unfortunate that I missed watching the original of the movie called "The Fly" which was made in 1958 by director Kurt Neumann. However, on Tuesday I got the chance to sit in on the first years lecture were a few of us had the option of watching the 1986 remake staring Jeff Goldblum.

The plot unfolds at the start of the movie as brilliant but eccentric scientist "Seth Brundle"(Jeff Goldblum) Starts to transform into a mutated fly after being fused with one whilst in an experiment to tele-port himself from one machine to another.

 

Narrative - An introduction to the Unit

Finally I managed to get my blog working after waiting some time and moaning at a few people :). Anyway, for this unit we have been assigned into random groups were we are challenged to create a two minute trailer which is based on a B-movie.

Studio C - Gremlin Box Productions -

Jordan
Adam
Dave
Godwin

At the start of the induction to the unit we was given four separate cards all which had a different set of words on, which when put together made a title which would be used as a basis for our two minute trailer. For our project we were given the words "Attack of the Horrible Bikers of the Black Lagoon" which made up our title.

The image below is a little something that was put up to the briefing page to show the importance of a believable narrative!

Introduction to Year Two

Hey guys! long time no see/speak. I must say I rounded off the first year pretty well ending off on a very high 2.1(69%) for my last animation project. Everyone keeps asking me if I had a good summer, at the moment I find it alot easier to just dismiss the question as I have had a rather rough summer.

Anyway, I don't really want to go into the last few months but just give a quick explination into what I will be doing over the the next 10-15 weeks. I got in on monday morning and found myself being welcomed straight back into the group as if we had never been appart for the three or so months over the summer. Our first lecture was based in lecture theatre 1 were Alan gave us our briefing on a 15 week group project based on the style of a B-movie. On Tuesday we had our next briefing, this time it was a 10 week project on character design. Last but not least, on wednesday we had our first lecture all about post modernity, which needs to be taken in and applied to something to give and explination/argument on the subject.

Now my blog is working I should be on the way with all of this work. Wish me luck!

Year 2 - CGArts and Animation