experimenting

modeling almost completed... working on touch up details, such as clothes for the last character, hair for all characters interior of the mouth... and then its on to rigging and facial morphs.. also need to model one more sword and touch up the ninja character.


its going to be a long week.

Joshua Mabie
jmmabie@syr.edu
www.aheroicnight.com


To the CAR 430 Class of the Computer Art Department at Syracuse University,

With this being our senior year, it begins to be the time where we all inevitably ask ourselves the same thing they asked themselves in American Pie... “What's the next step” and I am here to answer with... We are the next step, with each class is a fresh perspective and fresh ideas, we are the future, as is every class that follows us. We need to lead with innovation, not with the same things we've seen time after time. With that being said I am here to propose a rather long endeavor that will in the end be worth it. I am interested in produce a longer animation, not the traditional shorts that we are used to but something in the 10 minute or longer range. An animation using traditional 3-d software, to convey a thematic that will hopefully reach out and effect everyone in one way or another.

Sincerely,

Joshua Mabie






























Preface:

There has recently been quite a bit of hype surrounding the year 2012 concerning the end of the world. The Ancient Mayans had a calendar that happened to be more accurate than the current roman calendar that is in use today. This calendar foretold the end of the world in the year 2012. The exact date is speculative some say December 13th, and others say the 21st, yet others believe it to be the 25th, but all agree on the month and the year. Based upon this calculation I am mixing some norse mythology, with other ancient stories foretelling of the end of the world. The common held norse one goes something like this:

Ragnarok ("Doom of the Gods"), also called Gotterdammerung, means the end of the cosmos in Norse mythology. It will be preceded by Fimbulvetr, the winter of winters. Three such winters will follow each other with no summers in between. Conflicts and feuds will break out, even between families, and all morality will disappear. This is the beginning of the end.
The wolf Skoll will finally devour the sun, and his brother Hati will eat the moon, plunging the earth [into] darkness. The stars will vanish from the sky. The cock Fjalar will crow to the giants and the golden cock Gullinkambi will crow to the gods. A third cock will raise the dead.
The earth will shudder with earthquakes, and every bond and fetter will burst, freeing the terrible wolf Fenrir. The sea will rear up because Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent, is twisting and writhing in fury as he makes his way toward the land. With every breath, Jormungand will stain the soil and the sky with his poison. The waves caused by the serpent's emerging will set free the ship Naglfar, and with the giant Hymir as their commander, the giants will sail towards the battlefield. From the realm of the dead a second ship will set sail, and this ship carries the inhabitants of hell, with Loki as their helmsman. The fire giants, led by the giant Surt, will leave Muspell in the south to join against the gods. Surt, carrying a sword that blazes like the sun itself, will scorch the earth.
Meanwhile, Heimdall will sound his horn, calling the sons of Odin and the heroes to the battlefield. From all the corners of the world, gods, giants, dwarves, demons and elves will ride towards the huge plain of Vigrid ("battle shaker") where the last battle will be fought. Odin will engage Fenrir in battle, and Thor will attack Jormungand. Thor will victorious, but the serpent's poison will gradually kill the god of thunder. Surt will seek out the swordless Freyr, who will quickly succumb to the giant.
The one-handed Tyr will fight the monstrous hound Garm and they will kill each other. Loki and Heimdall, age-old enemies, will meet for a final time, and neither will survive their encounter. The fight between Odin and Fenrir will rage for a long time, but finally Fenrir will seize Odin and swallow him. Odin's son Vidar will at once leap towards the wolf and kill him with his bare hands, ripping the wolf's jaws apart. Then Surt will fling fire in every direction. The nine worlds will burn, and friends and foes alike will perish. The earth will sink into the sea.
After the destruction, a new and idyllic world will arise from the sea and will be filled with abundant supplies. Some of the gods will survive, others will be reborn. Wickedness and misery will no longer exist and gods and men will live happily together. The descendants of Lif and Lifthrasir will inhabit this earth.

I propose to use Lightwave 3-d, possibly Z-brush, and Maya to compose a 3-d animation based losely upon the tales of the end of the world, however, I do not propose to start at the beginning, but rather in the middle and the resolution. The actual war itself would be much too complicated a project for me to take on myself, but perhaps one day with funding and a staff it would be a possibility.


An Echo of Oblivion:

As I said I propose to start in the middle of the story arc, so I will preface the story at the beginning with some stills and then this scrolling text will appear over those stills,

In the year 2012 on December 13th the world changed forever - some call it Ragnarok, others call it
Gotterdammerung, the egyptians hailed it as a coming of the gods, the ancient mayan prophecy foretells of the end - it was the day the world would remember the the earth shuddering, crying out and the winds howl in anger, the day that mankind stood together in apathy and fear. History tends to repeat its endless cycles of rebirth - The sinking of Atlantis, the destruction of the tower of Babylon,
the world has become so corrupt that the the Gods have returned, the earth had brought back the old ones to cleanse itself, in the first year the gods brought vicious inescapable winter, almost the entire earth is stuck in the endless winter. The following year, the sun went down and has not risen, our only hope rides on the wings of one man, one of the ancients.
The year is AE 2...

In this story, there will be themes of darkness and light, the endless cycles of death and rebirth, along with a dabble of chaos theory, and the limits of life and time spent on earth. In short the story will encompass a friendship being made, followed by a death of a family member, and finally end in the rebirth of the society, but not in the original way intended. There is hope and light no matter how dark the days...

Production Schedule:

Weeks 1-7 All modeling, rigging, facial morphs, and dialogue completed.
1 Story board, animatic, already have sketches made and reference material, also have rough dialogue
2-4 modeling
4 and 5 rigging
6 and 7 facial morphs
dialogue
Weeks 7-15 All texturing, lighting, and scenes are set up.
weeks 7-11 texturing
weeks 12-15 lighting and scene set up

Semester 2 will be all animating, sound and post production

The programs that will be used to complete this project include but are not limited to,
Lightwave 3-D, Z-brush, Maya, Logic, Pro-Tools, After Effects, and Final Cut Pro

The motivation behind this project lies in the motivations of most of my other projects and things that I have done. What makes something great, not even so much that, but what makes something memorable? The answer to this is that it effects you in some way, it elicits a response, positive, negative, or otherwise and you remember this things that has effected you. My aim is to create an animation that strikes people and makes them say “wow” it doesn't matter how you accomplish the so called “wow” factor, but if you do not accomplish this then what was the purpose to your project, why produce something that you do not wish other people to consider “good” or even yourself deem it “good.” In this industry it is not about self satisfaction, but making something that will move people. Why make art if you are not going to attempt to make people think, laugh, cry, hate it, love it, or any type of emotion?
I am also a firm believer that art is influenced by the events that are currently occurring in your life, and currently I have lost a lot o faith in people, well this animation is not necessarily about restoring my faith in individuals, but about finding it where you wouldn't expect to. With this animation I also aim to delve into the base of the human psyche and attempt to determine what makes one human, what qualities of your persona make or don't make you “human.”

The final product will be in widescreen format and viewable on computer or DVD.

More details to follow pending approval.

sketches, and some quick reference material: