Showing posts with label Showreel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Showreel. Show all posts
Thursday, 12 December 2013
A Rejigged Showreel.
James O'Neill Showreel from James O'Neill on Vimeo.
My showreel featuring model work and animated bits and pieces new and old.
Friday, 28 June 2013
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Wardrobing 2
Managed to pretty much finish the wardrobe prop/set piece today which is a good feeling indeed.
I was going to add a physical sculpted "carved" motif to the door but I no longer think it needs it. I rather like the blobby messiness of the brush strokes.
This blobbiness is something I am carrying throughout the film in the set design, it is something that has become a motif which I feel is rather important for the film.
The film deals mainly with paintings and the creation of paintings, so therefore I feel the set in places, specifically the living room and bedroom should reflect this hand make almost organic feel.
More to come....
I was going to add a physical sculpted "carved" motif to the door but I no longer think it needs it. I rather like the blobby messiness of the brush strokes.
This blobbiness is something I am carrying throughout the film in the set design, it is something that has become a motif which I feel is rather important for the film.
The film deals mainly with paintings and the creation of paintings, so therefore I feel the set in places, specifically the living room and bedroom should reflect this hand make almost organic feel.
More to come....
Portraiture
Moving on to something different for the project, I turned my attention to the portraits that would hang in the hallway of the house.
Each portrait shows a different person from a different time period. With pale white skin and haunting searching eyes.
There are three paintings, and one empty frame hanging. I shan't go into further detail.
A good friend of mine Natalie Todd (Who I would link you to but alas she doesn't appear to have an online presence as of yet) was kind enough to knock up some gentle pencil sketches for these portraits as I didn't feel my drawing skills are in no way up to creating what I actually want for the film.
I felt far more at ease knowing an actual illustration student was helping me than knowing I was relying on my own perhaps sub-par abilities. I am a sculpture primarily these days and it would only show in the drawings I would produce.
But anyway, here are the pencil tests she was so kind to provide for me as a clue as to what she had in mind.
The idea was for Natalie to produce said portraits in photoshop to mimic the feel of an actual painted portrait which I would then print out onto high quality printer paper then "paint" over it with PVA glue to give it a painty texture and a gloss as well.
Eventually time passed and Natalie had to reluctantly pull out of the project leaving me with an incomplete but terribly lovely digital painting of what to expect.
Her schedule was and is still hectic and so my project was only interfering with her own education. Something I could not willingly allow.
And so that was that.
Then I turned my hand to trying to make the portraits myself. I got less than five minutes into sketching what I wanted when I lost the will to live. But, more importantly, had a bravewave and suddenly realised the answer was staring my in the face all this time.
Why make three new portraits myself when I have three beautiful pencil test sketches from Natalie all ready to go?
So I printed the portraits off onto some lovely textured paper, cut them out and gently coloured them in with watercolour pencils, giving them a light wash of water to get the colours to run a little.
I then cut them out, along with a rectangular slip of acetate, four strips of angled wood and hay-presto, done.
Here is part of the process
Each portrait shows a different person from a different time period. With pale white skin and haunting searching eyes.
There are three paintings, and one empty frame hanging. I shan't go into further detail.
A good friend of mine Natalie Todd (Who I would link you to but alas she doesn't appear to have an online presence as of yet) was kind enough to knock up some gentle pencil sketches for these portraits as I didn't feel my drawing skills are in no way up to creating what I actually want for the film.
I felt far more at ease knowing an actual illustration student was helping me than knowing I was relying on my own perhaps sub-par abilities. I am a sculpture primarily these days and it would only show in the drawings I would produce.
But anyway, here are the pencil tests she was so kind to provide for me as a clue as to what she had in mind.
(Above: Left, an Elizabethan gentleman bearing a slight resemblance to Peter Cushing. Right, a woman from the Regency period intended to have a hint of a resemblance of Elisabeth Sladen)
(Above: Left, a young Dickensian gentleman with a dash of Ben Whishaw in his face. Right, a woman from the 1940s with a delicate hue of Sophie Aldred in the face)
The people I suggested to Natalie as reference all have or had soulful, evocative eyes which is very important for these paintings. They must have a haunted unsettled feeling to them, and I feel that Natalie made me proud in these sketches.
The idea was for Natalie to produce said portraits in photoshop to mimic the feel of an actual painted portrait which I would then print out onto high quality printer paper then "paint" over it with PVA glue to give it a painty texture and a gloss as well.
Eventually time passed and Natalie had to reluctantly pull out of the project leaving me with an incomplete but terribly lovely digital painting of what to expect.
Her schedule was and is still hectic and so my project was only interfering with her own education. Something I could not willingly allow.
And so that was that.
Then I turned my hand to trying to make the portraits myself. I got less than five minutes into sketching what I wanted when I lost the will to live. But, more importantly, had a bravewave and suddenly realised the answer was staring my in the face all this time.
Why make three new portraits myself when I have three beautiful pencil test sketches from Natalie all ready to go?
So I printed the portraits off onto some lovely textured paper, cut them out and gently coloured them in with watercolour pencils, giving them a light wash of water to get the colours to run a little.
I then cut them out, along with a rectangular slip of acetate, four strips of angled wood and hay-presto, done.
Here is part of the process
I'm still tinkering with the frames but I am also aware that I don't want it to look perfect. I want it to feel slightly cobbled together not to mention old. I'm very pleased with how these turned out and am terribly thankful for what Natalie has done for me.
(I did, just to be clear, run this by Natalie who gave me her approval to use her work anyway, which I'm terribly grateful for)
More to come...
Sunday, 14 April 2013
The Psychology of the House
Whilst drawing up the plans for the set I started thinking about the "Personality" of the set, the "Psychology of the House" as it were. It sounds a little pretentious I will admit, but it suddenly gave me a brilliant idea for how to approach building, dressing and filming the set. Soon after this idea stuck I thrashed out a tiny bit of writing to put my thoughts into words. It is as follows:
These Four Walls: The Psychology of the House.
The House is like a Venus Fly-trap, its hallway is inviting and comfortable, the windows around the front door are long and friendly, like eyes wide and open, welcoming its new friend.
The hallway is modestly decorated. Pale-off-yellow wallpaper, slightly stained but nice nonetheless. The colour does however lose its pleasantness as it moves down the corridor towards the paintings hanging on its wall.
It is as if the colour has died on its journey, all life sucked from it.
As Violet moves throughout the house, the condition deteriorates; the rooms become danker, darker and nastier.
The living room is relatively well-kept, the wallpaper is a deep green, almost damp looking.
The floorboards creak under foot.
Again this room is in reasonable nick, not as homely as the hallway however, something sinister, the walls are crumbling beneath the paper.
The bedroom is totally different.
The wallpaper is a dusky red, a couple shades difference from that of stale blood. The colour pooling in the corners where it meets the floor.
The paper is again peeling and the bare wall behind is exposed.
Again crumbling, stained and damp.
It is almost like moving through a predator’s digestive system. The surroundings are progressively unpleasant and inevitably heading towards a horrible outcome.
Violet's outfit shall contrast with the set, for instance, for the scenes that will take place in the living room, with its dank green wallpaper, Violet shall wear her newer deep red (deep as blood) jumper to contrast, and in the scenes that take place in the bedroom with its dark red, stale blood hued wallpaper, Violet shall wear her deep green jumper as contrast.
This way the colour red, a foreboding and even primal colour is nearly always present.
I want to create a feeling of decay throughout the house, give the impression it is alive, or better yet, on the verge of death.
More to follow...
New Jumper
So it was my birthday yesterday (22. Goodness me) and I received a package from a friend in America who is graciously helping me by providing Violet's jumpers. My friend Brenna being a prodigious crocheter, her site is http://www.etsy.com/people/nutsaboutcrochet13 (Note, she only sells patterns)
I now have two lovely jumpers for Violet to wear, beautifully made by loving hands.
I already know how and when these two jumpers shall be used within the film (i.e. what scenes and sets they shall be worn in) which shall be addressed in the nest blog update.
More to come....
Banisters
And so on to another piece of the hallway set, this time the banister that alludes to their being an upstairs part of the house that Violet lives in.
In the film the actual stairs won't be seen on screen only implied through the use of sound and the element I'm building below.
Bit of a trick really.
More to come....
Monday, 8 April 2013
Varnish and Wallpaper
Started varnishing the door and it looks a treat, have also started wallpapering this part of the set. A long way to go yet however.
More to come...
Sunday, 7 April 2013
Age and Wisdom
Feeling on top form today, made the door and aged it all in one day, very pleased with myself.
Added old scuff marks by dry-brushing lighter paint, adding a lock too, because you rather need one of those in this day and age.
And also remembered to put a letterbox on the door, which is something I famously managed to *not* do with my previous project which involved a door being in shot quite prevalently, which I didn't seem to live down.
So I'm addressing that here and now.
More to come.
Door Work
Right, so more productivity. Started turning my attention to the set itself which is rather fun. Using large sheets of Poly-board. I was going to build large elements from light weight wood but it soon became impractical, fortunately brush-strokes make up for woodgrain texture.
(Ceiling Required, good advice)
More to follow...
Saturday, 6 April 2013
The Painting
(Above: The small piece of wood that will become the board Violet paints a landscape on.)
(Above: A couple minutes later, and it is practically finished. It is intentionally incomplete as, well, that is how it is in the story)
Jolly happy, very eventful few minutes.
Thursday, 4 April 2013
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Wardrobing
After a week or two of lapsing into relaxing for a little while (it being the Easter holidays and all) I finally snapped back into some sense of productivity.
Tuesday (2nd April) brought an eventful meeting with my sound designer, Paul Freeman, who I have worked with frequently in the past.
He shows great enthusiasm for the project and this enthusiasm inspired great enthusiasm in myself also, which is always greatly appreciated as director.
We discussed several exciting ideas that will eventually be worked into the film and hopefully add the tense and murky atmosphere I want for the piece.
Last week I met with Katie Single, the First Year Animation student assigned to assist in the production of the film, she has been "divided" if "divided" is the correct word, between myself and Katie Sommers, the other and only other stop motion director on the course.
Katie seems a promising production aide and I look forward to working with her.
She will assist in making elements of costume and set dressings, she will also offer an external view on the film.
When you've been working on something for so long you can become blind to it.
Whenever you can access a fresh pair of eyes, you should take them with both hands...
Today I spent my time building one of the larger props for the film (save for the sets themselves), the wardrobe that Violet has in her bedroom.
It is simple in construction and made of light wood.
Already I have realised I haven't enough to complete it....completely, so another trip to Hobby Craft shall be in order quite soon.
Tuesday (2nd April) brought an eventful meeting with my sound designer, Paul Freeman, who I have worked with frequently in the past.
He shows great enthusiasm for the project and this enthusiasm inspired great enthusiasm in myself also, which is always greatly appreciated as director.
We discussed several exciting ideas that will eventually be worked into the film and hopefully add the tense and murky atmosphere I want for the piece.
Last week I met with Katie Single, the First Year Animation student assigned to assist in the production of the film, she has been "divided" if "divided" is the correct word, between myself and Katie Sommers, the other and only other stop motion director on the course.
Katie seems a promising production aide and I look forward to working with her.
She will assist in making elements of costume and set dressings, she will also offer an external view on the film.
When you've been working on something for so long you can become blind to it.
Whenever you can access a fresh pair of eyes, you should take them with both hands...
Today I spent my time building one of the larger props for the film (save for the sets themselves), the wardrobe that Violet has in her bedroom.
It is simple in construction and made of light wood.
Already I have realised I haven't enough to complete it....completely, so another trip to Hobby Craft shall be in order quite soon.
Violet surveys the wood choices.
The basic elements laid out ready for final assembly. Messy floor optional.
The elements assembled slightly more 3-Dimensionally.
Side Struts.
The base of the wardrobe.
The back panel and door.
Scratches in the wood.
(Below: sculpted tests for a "carved" face to go on the door of the wardrobe)
Regarding which one I will use, I'm beginning to err more towards the first, its ambiguous, semi-Human look is intriguing and less suggestive. The second "carving" is too obvious, too corpse-like as it were. The idea is for the wardrobe to have a subtle hint, an ambiguous menace, the first carving offers a subtle hint of a person, if indeed it is a person. Waking or sleeping.
And so things keep moving, more progress pictures to come.
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