Remembrance

Rochester Institute of Technology

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3-1-1996

Remembrance

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Recommended Citation

"Remembrance"

by

John Leisenring

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Fine Arts

MFA Imaging Arts / Computer Animation School of Photographic Arts and Sciences

Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, New York

March 1996

Erik Timmerman, Chair Associate Professor

School of Photographic Arts and Sciences

Marla Schweppe Associate Professor

School of Photographic Arts and Sciences

Stephanie Maxwell Associate Professor

I, John Leisenring, here by grant permission to the Wallace Memorial Library of Rochester Institute of Technology to reproduce my thesis paper in whole or in part. Any reproductions will not be for commercial use or profit.

Table of

Contents

Page Number

INTRODUCTION

STORY DEVELOPMENT

MUSIC AND _{SOUND EFFECTS}

SOFTWARE

TECHNICAL WORK AND MODELING

SHORT CUTS

MOTION AND TIMING

EDITING CREDITS THE SCREENING 1 2 3 4 5 7 7 8 9 9 APPENDIXES THESIS PROPOSAL:

ORIGINAL THESIS SUMMARY

TREATMENT

BUDGET & TIMELINE

SKETCHES & STORYBOARD FRAMES

STILLIMAGES

APPENDIXA

APPENDIX B

INTRODUCTION

Istood at bowwatchat three in _{the morning,feeling} the _spray ofthe

waves hit my face. The sudden force ofthe NorthAtlantic surged over the bow and knocked my feetoutfrom under me. The _{incredibly clear, huge sky}

with_crispbright stars stretched out _{ahead, disappearing}into the darkhorizon

ofthe edgeofthe Earth.

Holding the helmwith bothhands I could feel the hurricane force

winds shakethe one hundred _thirtyfoot schooner like itwas a _toy boat. The rain mixedwiththe _{spray making sky}and oceanbecome a single _frothy medium. With _thirty foot waves _{periodically breaking} over the windward rail, the schooner cut through the ocean with sheer determination.

The surfaceoftheocean was always changing. Over the period of a _day itcouldbe glassy_calm, large rolling _swells,sharp rough white caps and large

violentwaves. The _sky couldbe equally _{diverse, reflecting}its mood in the ocean. _Livingin _{this world, I}realized thatI wouldbe_happy tosail for therest

of_my life.

Unfortunately, the voyage ended and I returned to college to finish _my

Bachelors Degree. Four years _later, whenI started _thinking about whatI

wanted to dofor_{my thesis,} itwas important forme to haveit reflect a part of my life and experiences. The answer _was, of _course, sailing. From _{day sailing}

in the Puget Sound to _sailing on a schooner across the North Atlantic

through several tropical storms. The importance that these experiences have had on me madeit difficult to come _upwith a_story that would give itthe

value it deserved. EvenwhenI had decidedon the final _story I wanted each

STORY DEVELOPMENT

There are three distinct acts to_my thesis. The first begins withthe main

character onhis _sailboat, a _sloop,in a dead calm. The second is his memory of his grandfather as a sailor on a schooner. _Fightingthrough a storm comprises

the _majority ofthis act. The third act returns to the present with the main

character. He realizes that in order to live he must leavethe protection of the

island and risk his life inthe openwater.

The _feeling of each act was_very important. Inact one, the _suppressing

stillness ofthe air and theboredom ofthe character establishes a lifeless

world. The _sloop is surrounded_by the highcliffs of an extinct volcanic island,

one side ofwhichhas allowedthe oceanto create a small bay. The

claustrophobia is important to enhancethe _ending of the story. A brief

stirring is felt as the shearwater flies over the _sloop and outinto the open. A

beeping is then heard andthe character goes below. _Jumping down through

the _hatch,he sees that there is a small craft _{advisorywarning flashing} on the screenofa weather radio. _Turning offthe alarm he turns and looks a two

pictures._{One is} ofa _boy and an old_{man, the} main _character, as a_boy, andhis

grandfather,respectively. The other picture isthat ofthe grandfather as a

youngmanat the helmof a schooner. The picture is faded and sepia colored. He then turns and sees his reflectionin a glass case _containing a model

schooner. The reflection_fades as the sound of_{creaking rigging fades} in. Act two beginswith the schooner on _relatively calm _water, night is

turning to day. The sun rises over the horizon. The grandfather is at the helm when a storm appears on the horizon. Another sailor, an _extra, points

forward to the _{loosely swinging} main stays! _sheet, and takes over the helm.

schoonerbroadside. Theextra at the helm is swept over board. The wheel turns freely. The Grandfather tightens the loose sheet, and _finally climbs out

ontothe bowsprit. _Lookingforward theGrandfather sees anisland appear through the rain. He turns to see that the helm is unmanned and runs back

to the helm. The shearwater flies pasthim and crosses thebow. Hewatches it

and turns to _{follow, turning away from} the island. The schooner sails into

clear _{sky,following} thebird.

The third act cutsback to the insideofthe sloop. Analarm is beeping.

Turning his head, he sees that the Small Craft _Advisory has beenupgraded to

a Tropical Storm. He looks up into the _sky and out into the open water. An

image ofthe schooner sails _byand fades intothe _darkeningsky. He makes the decision to leave the harbor. He sails out andjibes tohead into the storm. The

sloop sails _assuredly intothe waves. He is free.

I struggled for a_long time onthe story. Throughout _{the changes,}

however, the idea stayed _{the same, using sailing} as a metaphor for life. In the firstversion, the main character is a _young man. He remembers a time when

hewas a_boyinthecity. Heis tolda _storybyhisgrandfather about _sailing

through a storm. _Endingwith the _memory the _young man as he heads out into the open ocean. I cut out thefirst flash back ofthe main character as a

boy,replacing itwith a picture_hung on the cabinwall. I simplified _{the story,} but maintained the overall ideas.

MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS

The music also plays animportant role, _enhancing the _feeling of the

story. Although the visuals establish the predominant mood, music can

Slow, lugubrious musicbegins the story. I chose Handel's

"Saraband"

from his Suite in D Minor. Ithas a _{slow, heavy}beat. This music fades as the

memoryof the schooner begins. The _only sound _during act two is thatof the

storm. _{Wind, waves,} and rain are constant throughout. Other sounds are that

ofthe shearwater and theblock and tackle.

Asact three_begins,the character mustdecide to leavethe _securityof

the _bay and venture out into the open ocean. As he realizes his situation and

decides to _leave, the music builds to the first movement of Beethoven's

seventh symphony. There's a release of tension as the _sloop sails into the

storm.

I used _my Macintoshand a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI)

to produce the music. After _decidingon the specific pieces, I searched for the

sheet music and transcribed it to a software program on the Macintosh. The

program makes itpossible to assign different instruments to each line of

music andthen _playthe entire pieceback using the MIDIwith sampled

musical instruments.

Having only sound effects _during the schooner sequence delineates it

from the present time ofthe main character onthe sloop. It makes the

memory dream-like. Wind, waves, and thunder are the most common

sounds used. I took these and others from the B.B.C. sound recordings. I

decided not to _{have any talking} or voice overs. The _only animal sound is that

of the shearwater.

SOFTWARE

ElectroGIG 3D-GOwasthe mainprogram I used. GIGis a full three

It is unlike other 3-D modelers inthat it doesn't use polygons. This enables

the objectstoreflect and refractwithrealistic clarity. Normal objects have

smooth curved edges instead offaceted edges.

Ialso used _photoshop for the _{sky textures,}the images of the pictures of

the grandfather and main character and the composite shot of the sheet ofthe

fores'l swinging loose. _Drawing the lines of the sheet was the most time

consumingshot. _Gettingthe motionrighttook several tries. I was _pleased,

however, with the results.

TECHNICAL WORK AND MODELING

I decidedto _keep the models oftheboats simple. A _hull,masts, sails

and _standingrigging. Several detailed sectionswere builtfor the schooner,

the _helm, the mainm'st _fiferail, and the fores'l traveler. I chose to do this in

order to save _rendering time for the shotswhere the schooner is in a _long

shot. In the _{long run,} I now realize _{that, making} a complete detailed ship

would have been simplier. I would have been able to usejust onmodel for

all ofthe shots. The convenience would have made _up for the additional

rendering time.

The schooner is a combination oftwo different schooners on which I

have sailed. Simple and _stylized, it is a standard staysail schooner. The Island

is modeled after anancient volcano. _{High, steep} green _{hills describing} a

small, claustrophobic harbor. Itwasbuilt out offreeform _{patches, the} same

objectsthatcreated _{the water, sky,} and sails.

I'm somewhatdissatisfied with the storm sequence. _Keeping with _my

simplified style of art I tried to give the waves violent _movement, while

schooner _moving over them and the island above water was _very difficult. I

solved the problem _{by keeping} the water movement simple.

I created thewaves _using a freeform patch. _Copyingnature I_only

moved the points of the freeform patch _up and downfor each wave. This

gives the impression of the _{energy moving} through the water. _Keeping the

boats movingthrough these waves was difficult. _{Objects passing} through one

another was a constant problem. With the ever _movingwaves and a _moving

boat, the chance ofthe _{boat suddenly submerging}or _{rising completely}out of

the water was even odds. I wanted some variance in the _pitching and_rolling,

but to much would make a waves rise _completely over the boat.

The bodies ofthe characters were modeled_fairly simply. _Using

stretched spheres for _{the arms,} andfreeformpatches for the shirt and pants.

The heads are the most complex. _{Using NURBS,} I modeled a head starting

froma sphere. _Addingpoints and _{slowly moving} them created a _nose,

mouth, chin, eye _sockets, and the shape of the head. This process took more

time thanexpected. Inorder to see what the NURBS _reallylooked like itwas

necessary to returnto the main menu ofGIG and do a quick render of the

object. _Creases and bumps were common. Ifjustone pointwas out of

alignmentthen an unwanted line would appear on the face.

Separate objectswere added to the heads. Ears werealso created in

NURBS. _Being simpler objects these were much easier to create than the

heads. The beard, mustache, eyebrows,and bangswere made from freeform

patches. _Animatingthesewere _{very easy}and made hair _blowing and

eyebrows _lowering quick and simple.

The hulls of theboats were done in NURBS as well. The sails were

standingrigging and masts were made outofspheres and _cylinders,

respectively.

I keptthe _skysimple. _Usinga sphere or a freeformpatch Iapplied a

texture from a photograph ofa sky. I used two concentric spheres for some

scenes _during the storm. The inner sphere was half transparent. Both moved

tocreate a layered stormy sky. When _usinga freeform patch I would animate

the points to create a varied movementin the clouds that were mapped onto

the patch.

SHORT CUTS

There were few short cuts I could _use,butone was _vitallyimportant.

The particle systeminGIGwas perfectfor _addingrain tothe stormscenes.

The _only problem was that it _{significantly} slowed down both _animating the

scene and rendering. The solution was to render the scene without particles.

Then, once all of the frames were rendered, the rain was animated separetly.

Sequential frames of animation canbe keyed into the background of another

animation. The frames of the rain animation were keyed into rendered

framesof the storm scenes.

MOTION jAND TIMING

I wanted to have smooth,fluid movements. I feel I was successful with

the sky, water, and the _pitching and _rolling oftheboats. Some ofthe motion

ofthe characters is somewhat stilted. Even though the characters don't have a

lot of wild quick _movements, I wish I had modeled _my characters _differently

The _timing of _my animation was tested _using quick renders called

flipbooks. Several problems needed to be dealt with when_usingthis portion

ofElectroGIG. The flipbooks didn't play backinreal _time,one had to setthe

time arbitrarily. Toplanthe _timingof_{the shot,} one had to _{play back} the

flipbooksatthe desired speed andtimeitas _accuratelyas possible. The real

animation then had tobe setto the correct number of frames, _usingthe

flipbook time as a guide. _{Thankfully only} a few shots needed this time

consumingprocess. Most of_{the shots, particularly} the ocean shots were done

without testing.

EDITING

Itwas _satisfyingto_finally see a sequence of shots edited together.I

realized, however, that several sections just didn't work. _Reediting several

times and _adding some short new shots helped these problems. _Particularly

the transition scenes.

Thefirst shots neededtobe _longwith slow cuts. This created a _feeling

ofboredom and serenity. Two shots thatI renderedfor the _openingwere to

short torepresent the _feelingof calm. Insteadof_rerenderingthese scenes I

played themback fromthe opticaldiscrecorder at a slower speed. The O.D.R.

has a normal_playmode,a slow_playthathasfive _speeds, andfast play that

also has five speeds. There are,however,_only nine _{play speeds,}because slow

speed one and fastspeed one are the same asthe normal_play mode.

Thescene below decksofthe _sloop took several editsto getright. He

does a number of different things in a short amount of time. _Animating him

moving from one place to another was kept simple _{by cutting} to whatever he

looks atbefore moving. In the next shot he's already there.

As the schooner sails _{through the storm,} the cuts quicken. I shortened

mymovie _{considerablyby editing} and _reediting shots. The result, however,

creates a sequence thatbuilds tension and shows actionthat tells a story.

CREDITS

I wanted to give the _feeling of_moving water from the _very beginning.

The fonts inGIG were not_{very good,} so I used fonts from the Macintosh. I

made a "tif' image ofthe title and _my name for the_beginning and applied

them to the same water colored texture. These images were then mapped

onto a freeform patch. _{Making only} one texture opaque and the others

transparent, Ifadedfrom one creditto the next_bychanging the attributesof

opacity and transparency. Throughout these transitions the freeformpatch is

waving smoothly. Because thewater texture was the same for both images the

only things that fades in and out are the title and _my name.

TFIE SCREENING

I was _finallyfinished. _Doingthefinal editsIbecame so sick of_watching

mywork that when I was_making copies I would turn ofthe monitors just so

I wouldn'thave to look at it. On _{the whole, however,}I was _verypleased with

my final version, sound and all.

The _day ofthe _screening arrived. Iwas bothrelieved and nervous. I

wasn't sure how people would react. Would _they understand the story?

Would _theybe able to experiencethe different moods of the story? When_my

animation was_playing the audience was quite silent with _only a few

well, with _only a few minor criticisms. The most successful part of _{my film}

seemedtobe the motion of _{the water,}whichpleased me, as thatwas one of

my main goals.

The project took much longer than I _{had originally} planned.

Complications with equipment and _deciding on _{my final story} added _many

months to _my timeline. But Iwas _{completely finished} and _I, like my

character,was _finally free.

APPENDIXA

ORIGINAL THESIS SUMMARY

TREATMENT

John _Leisenring

Original _Summary of Thesis

Dec. 7, 1994

ACT I

The story starts in 3-D. An _establishing shot of the ocean. A

flyingfish emerges from the water. The camera follows the fish as it

swoops over the waves. The fish immerses and a bird takes it's place above the waves. The camera moves _{smoothly from} the fish to the

bird. This scene changes to 2-D and becomes a drawing. The hand of

a child adds some final touches. The _{boy is siting} at a table. He leaves

and walks to a closed _{door, carrying} his picture. He enters the room. He sees his grandfather _lying in bed. He crosses the room and hands

the picture to his grandfather. The man looks at the picture. He

points to a model ship. The _boy hands it to him and he begins to tell the _boy the experiences he had when he was a _young sailor.

ACT II

The _ship transforms into 3-D. The man's fingers change into

waves. The grandfather is a _young man at the helm of the ship. He

looks across the ocean. The wind begins to die. He watches a dolphin

riding the bow waves. The ship is in a dead calm. He catches a fish

and then watches the ocean change as a storm approaches. Waves hit

the ship. The man struggles against the storm. He makes his way to a

bowsprit as it rises _up and down. A lantern sways _slowly and comes

to a stop. The storm is dying. The grandfather stands at the bow,

watching the water calm and the moon rise. It clouds over and

begins to rain. The rain lights up phosphorescence in the water. The points of light change to stars.

ACT III

Transition to 2-D. A _{starry sky} outside the grandfathers

bedroom. The _{man, asleep} or _dead, drops the model _ship, it breaks.

The _boy picks it up. A final transition to 3-D the _boy has grown and

TREATMENT

Three and two dimensional animationwill tell the _story of an _old, sick man

and his ten year old _{grandson,William. The} man has spent a _{solitary life sailing}on

various _trading ships. _Nearing deathhe wishes to givehis grandson a model _ship as

something to remember him by. As the old man shows the _boy the _{model, William} imagines himself _standing on the _{rolling deck} of the schooner. The_boy experiences a _dayinthelifeof_his grandfather.

The second actbegins onboard the ship. William watches _flying fish surfthe

highswells the roll the schooner. The _dayis spent _sailing rough seas. Asnight falls

the weather calms down. Williamis at the_bow,watching the stars. A squall

approaches, the _sky clouds _over, and itbegins to rain. As the rain hitsthe smooth

water, _tiny phosphorescent points oflight appear. This scene cuts to the _{starry sky}

outside thebedroomwindow. His grandfather is asleep.

The _storyconcludeswiththe _boydrawinga picture of the _{ship crashing}

through the waves with _flying fish and gulls _soaring alongside. William returns to the plain, darkbedroom. He places the _wonderfullycolored _drawinginfrontofhis

grandfather. As the man_holds the picture of_{the schooner,} the waves beginto move, the sails _fill, and he can hear the sound of the gulls. The man, _knowing now

that someone will remember him and his _experiences, dies inpeace.

The first act willbe animated withsimple line drawings. Some objects, such

as the modelofthe schooner willbe modeledin_3D,but rendered _simplyin order to

fitinwiththestyle of the other objects. The second _act, the _sailingsequences, willbe

animated in3Dwith2D compositing. The third and last actwill returnto 2D

animation. Itwill be simple drawings, with the exception ofthe _{very last} scene

Budget

Cost In Kind Actual

Salary $20,000 $20,000 0

Computers $20,000 $20,000 0

Software $5,000 $5,000 0

OpticalDisc $300 $300 $300

ExabyteTapes $150 $150 $150

Total $45,635 $45,635 $450

Month Timeline September 30 October 31 November 18 December 20 January 20 February 15 March 30 April 10 May 12 Story developement

Storyboard, character designs

Animatic, 3D animation _{tests, Compositing} 2D&3D tests

Schedule animation ₍ seconds/week ₎

Act 1 completed

Compositing of2D & 3D animation (Ocean _{Scenes) February}28

All of 2D animation completed

1/2 3D animationcompleted

3/4 3D animation _completed, 1/2 music completed

Animation completed

sound effects & music completed

APPENDIXB

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