Trial

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Trial

Chen-ni Hsu

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TRIAL

Master of Fine Arts Thesis Production

By

Chen-ni Hsu

MFA Imaging Arts

/

Computer Animation

SCHOOL OF FILM AND ANIMATION

ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

ROCHESTER

,

NEW YORK

May 2006

Committee Members:

Professor

,

Skip Battaglia

(Chair)

Skip Battaglia

Professor

,

Malcolm Spaull

Malcolm G. Spaull

ThesislDissertation Author Permission Statement

Title of

thesis

or

dissertation:

Trial

Name of author:

Chen-ni

Hsu

Degree

:

MFA

Program:

Film and

Animation

College:

Imaging Arts and Sciences

I understand that I must submit a print

copy of my thesis or dissertation to the RIT

Archives,

per

current RIT guidelines for the completion of my degree. I hereby

grant to the Rochester Institute

of

Technology and its

agents the non-exclusive license to

archive and

make

accessible my

thesis

or dissertation in

whole or in part in

all forms of media in perpetuity. I retain

all other ownership

rights to the copyright of the thesis

or dis

sertation. I

also retain

the right to use

in future works

(such as articles or books) all or part of

this thesis or dissert

ation.

Print Reproduction Permission Granted:

I,

Chet1--"

i

H*?tA

,

hereby

grant

permIssIon to the Rochester Institute

Technology to reproduce my print thesis or dissertation in

whole or in part. Any reproduction will

not be for commercial use or profit.

Signature of Author:

_ _

H_s_u_C_h

_

e_n_-_n_i ____ _

Date:

Print Reproduction Permission Denied:

I,

,

hereby deny permISSIon to the RIT Library

of

the

Rochester Institute of Technology to reproduce my

print thesis or dissertation in

whole or in part

.

-Table

of

Contents

Acknowledgements

Page

4

Concept

and

Story

Idea

Page

5

Movie Title

Page

5

Preproduction

Treatment

Page

6

Character Design

and

Aesthetics

Page

6

Storyboarding

Page

7

Production

Modeling

Page

8

Texturing

Page

9

Rigging

Page

10

Animating

Page

10

Lighting

Page

12

Special Effects

Page

13

Renderings

Page

14

Postproduction

SoundEffects

Page

14

Music

Page

14

Compositing

&

Editing

Page

15

Reflection

Page

16

Conclusion

Page

17

Appendix

A

Original Thesis Proposal

Page

18

Appendix

B

Complete Storyboard

Page

23

Appendix

C

Production

Stills

Page

45

Appendix

D

Character Design

Drawings

Page

49

Appendix

E

Acknowledgements

First,

I

want

to

thank

Rochester Institute

of

Technology

for

giving

me

this

opportunity

to

learn in

the

United States

of

America.

Although

having

learned

some

2D

cartoons skill at

my country

before

enrolling,

learning

3D

concept

is

a

totally

different

experience

for

me.

At

the

School

of

Film

and

Animation. I

gained not

only

in-depth

knowledge in

the

field

of animation and

its

methods,

but

also studied

further

techniques,

wider

viewpoints,

and more

international

experience about animation and

film

production.

Studying

at

SoFA

further

fulfilled

my

knowledge

of animation and

filmmaking.

Learning

how

to

combine

these

fields is

also attractive

to

me.

I

also want

to thank

my

committee members.

Thanks

to

Skip

Battaglia,

my

committee chair, who gave me good advice and suggestions

throughout the

production of "Trial."

Prof.

Skip

helped

me at

every

stage and gave me

the

most

freedom

to

perform

my

work.

Thanks

to

Malcolm

Spaull,

another committee advisor, who also gave me

good

technical

help

about

moving

the

camera and suggestions about sound effects.

Thanks

also

to

Mark

Hijleh,

a

Houghton

College

(Houghton,

NY)

professor, who

composed

the

wonderful music

for

me.

Prof. Mark

helped

me solve

the

big

problem of

music since

I

always

have

trouble

finding

music

to

give emotion and

drama

to

match

my

film.

Really

thanks to

my

committee advisors.

With

their

help,

I

have

finally

done

a

work

that

I

am

very

proud of.

Studying

in

a

different country

with a

different language has been

achallenge

for

me.

Therefore, I

want

to thank

my

classmatesand

the

senior students whoaccompanied

Finally,

I

really

thank

my

parents and

friends.

Without

their

support and

attentiveness,

I

would not

have

peaceofmind

to

complete

this

work.

Concept

and

Story

Idea

As

an

international

student,

I

desired

to

put some cultural materials

in

my

film.

Therefore,

I

planned

to

do

an animation within a

traditional

Chinese

culture style.

I

came

up

with an

image

of master and

apprentice,

and

developed

my story

base

on

it.

I

added some characters and plots.

I

wanted

something

to

interact

with

the

apprentice

to

enrich

the

story; therefore,

I

thought

about a paper

bird

(done

via origami).

I

also

wanted

to

add some

mystery

elements

into

my

story,

and

I

thought

about

transformation.

In my

country,

some materials endowed with soul can

transfer to

human

appearance.

I

tried to

make

this

as a

hint,

foreshadowing

a

later development in

my

story.

I

wanted

the

apprentice

to

show

his

pure nature and moral character even

if he

could not

find his

target.

As

the

apprentice at a

"Trial,"

people sometimes need

to

face

a

difficult

situation

from

their

negligence.

But

if

they

can overcome

through their effort,

they

can

learn

andearn

something

more

than

what

they

lost.

Movie Title

"TriaF

is

a

story

about a master who gives

his

apprentice some

tests.

Therefore,

I

looked for

words

that

were similar

to

test,

and

decided

to

use

"Trial."

It

is

simple

but

Preproduction

Treatment

All

disputes

about

the

story

during

my

research seminar class and

the thesis

proposal preview committee were about

the

Little Guy.

The

questions were about

whether

the transformation

from

the

jade

pendant

to the

Little

Guy

was

to

be

necessary.

Also,

others asked about

the

meaning

when

the

jade

pendant

transforms

back

to the

Little

Guy

at

the

end, and

if

it is

needed.

I

wanted

to

make

the

Little

Guy

as an

indefinite

element

for

the

apprentice.

I

wanted

to

hide

the

jade,

make

it

unidentifiable, and see

how

the

apprentice will make

his

choice even

if he

cannot

find his

target.

Setting

the

jade

pendant with a

human

appearance makes

him have

more

interaction

with

the

apprentice.

Therefore, I

think the

transformation

from

the

jade

pendant

to

the

Little

Guy

is

necessary.

For

the

transforming

back

at

the

end.

I

think

even

though the

apprentice

has

overcome

the trial

and got

the

jade,

he

still cherishes

his

experience with

the

Little

Guy.

The

master

knows

his

apprentice's mind and also wants

to trick

and surprise

him.

so

he

makes

the

jade

transform

back.

(See

Appendix A

for

original

treatment.

Page

19)

Character Design

and

Aesthetics

I

tried

to

find

some references about

the

clothes and

hairstyle

ofancient

Chinese

costumes on websites.

After

I looked

around

the

style of some

dynasties.

I

decided

not

to

limit my setting

on a particular

dynasty

and gave

my

designs

more

freedom

based

on

common

impressions.

About

the

apprentice,

he became

a

teenager.

Since

he

needs

to

costumeand ponytail are

familiar

to

signal a man with martial arts experience

in

ancient

China.

The

master was

to

be

a

very

old man with wisdom and magic power.

His

long

sleeves and robe are

very

traditional

and

have

not changed

too

much.

As

for

the

Little

Guy,

I

set

him

as a childsince

that

seems

to

be

an encumbrance as

he is

also a

trial

for

the

apprentice.

His hairstyle is

also

familiar in

ancient

China.

Since

the

Little

Guy

is

transformed

from

the

jade

pendant,

I

added

the

same color and

texture

for both.

For

the

samurai,

I

took

references

from

ancient

Chinese

soldier costumes and

did

some

design

to

simplify

them.

The

paper

bird: I just

made a real one with origami and used

it

as

reference.

(See Appendix D

for drawings

of character

design,

Page

49)

I

took traditional

Chinese landscape

painting

as a reference

for

the

outdoor scene.

I decided

not

to

use

the

2D

painting

or

Toon

shader

to

do

the

background.

Since

my

characters and other scenes would still

have

a

3D

appearance,

the

2D

style would

become

incompatible

with

the

whole

feeling.

As

for

the

pavilion and other scenes.

I

took

pictures

from

traditional

buildings

and used

them

as reference

to

do

the textures

and

to

design

the

buildings.

The

traditional

Chinese

style patterns were

very beautiful.

I

used

them

to

enrich

the

ancient sense

in my film.

Storyboarding

I

spent much

time

thinking

about

the

camera movement and shot sequence

during

the

storyboarding

process.

Although

it

was

time-consuming,

it

also saved much

time

to

set

the

camera position when

doing

animation.

Also,

doing

an animatic

base

on

storyboarding

can

help

check

the

timing

of

the

shots and allow me

to

have

a

basis

to

was

too

long

and

had

some

unnecessary

shots.

I

deleted

some shots

to

make

the

plot

and rhythm even more compact.

I

think

storyboarding

andanimatics are

really

useful

to

break

down

the treatment

into

a visual

display.

Although

I

still can

find

some other

better

camera angles

during

animating, a storyboard

is

also a good reference when

doing

animation.

(See Appendix B

for

complete storyboard.

Page

23)

Production

Modeling

I

used

NURBS modeling

to

do

my

character's rough

head

and

body,

and

then

converted

it

to

a polygon

to

do details.

The

reason

that

I

didn't

use

NURBS modeling

directly

is for

the

convenience of

applying

texture.

Polygon

modeling

has

more

freedom

to

assign

texture

and

to

do detail

than

NURBS

modeling.

The

benefits

of

modeling

converted

from NURBS

are

that

it is

smooth and saves

time.

I did

the

modeling

of

the

apprentice

first.

I

took

more

time to

refine

him

and added more

faces

around

his

joints

since

he

needed

to

be

animated

the

most, and also

because I

wanted

to

use

him

as

the

base

model

to

transform

other characters.

I

simply

changed some

characteristic

features

of

the

apprentice's

modeling

and made

him

to

also

be

the

master,

the

Little

Guy

and

the

samurai.

The Master I

changed

the

most.

His

face has

more wrinkles and

details

so

I

needed

to

split more polygon

faces

to

model

it.

For

the samurai,

I

used

NURBS

to

model

his

armor

separately

and

just

parented

it

on

his

body

since

NURBS modeling has

a

smooth streamline and

I only had

to

apply

one

texture to

reach

the

statue's material

feel.

model

because it

takes

much

time to

check

the

effect when

animating

andrendering.

So

I

used

NURBS

to

model

their

hair

and set

joints

to

control

the

movement.

These

character modelings were converted

to

smooth

proxy

and

I

used

the

proxy Mesh

part

to

rig

and animate

later.

By

the

way, when

I

was

doing

animation,

I

just discovered

a new

way

to

do

modeling

and

texturing

more

efficiently

and easily:

the

program

Z-Brush.

I

didn't

have

the

chance

to test

it in

my modeling

this

time,

but 1

would

like

to

try

it later

on

my

future

projects.

Texturing

Texturing

is

an

important

presentation of

the

model.

A

simple model can also

reveal as great an effect as a complex one

through

good

texturing.

I

spent more

time

than

ever

doing

the

texturing

for

my

characters and

backgrounds in

Photoshop

and

Illustrator.

After rearranging

the mapping,

I

used a

Blinn

shader

to

do

all

the

texturing

except

hair.

A

Blinn

shader

has

more attributes

to

control

the

effects and presents a

better

detail

during

lighting.

I

emphasized

the

setting

of

bump

mapping

and specular

color.

The

attributes ofeccentricity, specular roll off, and

reflectivity

are

important

for

the

feeling

of materials.

For

example,

for

the

mirror,

I

just

set

its reflectivity

attribute

and

it

automatically

reflected

images

as

reality

when rendering.

As

for

hair,

I

used

the

Anisotropic

shader

because it

presents particular

luster

rather

than the

Blinn.

I

used

Photoshop

to

composite

texture

layers according

to

the

visual

display

I

wished.

I

made

the

color

image

with a

texture

first,

then

converted

it

to

a

gray

image,

then

adjusted

its

image

to

adjust

the

highlight

part of

my

texture

as an

image

for

specular color.

Sometimes

the texture

display

in Maya is blurred

and

it is

hard

to tell

its

change

in

real

time.

Adjusting

the

texture

resolution

higher in

the

shader attribute of

hardware

texturing

can

fix

this

problem.

Rendering

out an

image

to

check

is

a more precise

way

to

see

how

the

texturing

really

works.

Rigging

I

used a smooth

bind

to

rig my

characters

since, through

weight painting,

it is

easier

to

find

the

cover vertexes.

The

most

difficult

parts

that

needed

to

be

rigged more

attentively

are

the

parts connected with

the

body

that

have

a wide range of

swing,

like

shoulder and

thigh.

Hair,

eyeballs,

teeth

and

tongue

are

the

parts

that

do

not need

rigging but just

parent with

the

skeleton.

Also,,

after

I

finished my

rough animation,

I

just knew

a new plug-in

that

makes

rigging

and

joint

controlmore efficient and easier.

It

is

called

TSM (The

Setup

Machine).

I

still

didn't have

the

chance

to test

it in

my

modeling

this

time,

but I

would

like

to

try

it

later

on

my

future

projects.

Animating

Setting

the

camera position

is

the

first

thing

I

will

do

during

animating.

I

always

take

references

from

my

storyboard and use a

bookmark

to

set and compare

different

angles.

The

view

in

the

3D

camera

does

not always conform

to

our anticipation as well

as

the

2D drawing.

It

is

interesting

to

move

the

camera around and see

if

there

is

a

position

from

the

bookmark

record.

Then,

I

can

just play

the

animation of a shot

sequence and compare

the

feeling

of

the

camera change

for

a single camera

in

Maya.

But

if I

want

to

check

the

timing,

playblasting

the

whole animation out

is

still a

better

way because

sometimes computers

may have

a

slightly different

play

speed

in Maya

according

to

their

hardware

capability.

Therefore,

the

feeling

of

timing

within

Maya

may

not always

be

precise.

For

characteranimating.

Pose

to

Pose

is

a good

way

to

set a rough animation

flow

as a pencil

test

of

the

2D

cartoon's

key

animation.

Add

in-between

poses

bit

by

bit

to

fulfill

the

movement and refine

it

until

the

timing

looks

good.

Then,

shift

body

weight,

enhance

the

motion of stretch and squash, and edit

the

animation curves

to

break

the

average

tempo

and enrich

the

performance of characters.

When

satisfied with

the

timing,

I

will

then

do

the

facial

expressions and

the

minor animation

that

follow

with

the

main movement,

like

the

hair

and

the

sleeves ofclothes.

I

put

these

in

the

last

part of

animating

because I

won't need

to

move

the

keys

again and again

if I

change

the

action

of

the

characters.

As

for

the

skirt of

the

apprentice,

I

bound it

with

his

pelvis

joints but

still created

blendshapes

and a set

driven

key

with

his

thighs to

make

the

push

forward

movement more natural.

The

interaction between 3D

characters

is

complicated

to

deal

with since

they

cannot

really

touch

each other.

Anticipating

the

passive character's

action

to

animate

the

active character

that

will guide

their

contact

first,

is

a

better way

to

begin.

Texture

can also

be

animated

in

Maya.

For

the

images

transferred

from

reflection

to the

apprentice

in

the

mirror,

I

rendered

the

animation as an

image

sequence

eyeballs of

the

samurai and

the

Little

Guy,

I

changed

the

color,

the

ambient color and

incandescence

attributes of

the

surface material,

to transfer them

between

normal and

glow red

light.

The

bump

depth

attribute needs

to

be

taken

care of

in

relation

to the

camera

distance.

When

the

camera closes

to the

target, its

bump

depth

value should

be

lower;

otherwise

the

texture

will reveal a rough

feeling.

Lighting

I

used

basic

three-point

light

setting

and adjusted

the

light

color

according

to

outdoor or

indoor

scenes.

As for

characters, the

basic setting

of

lights is

usually

not

enough.

Separate

lights

need

to

be

added

for different

character movements and camera

angles.

For

example, characters under

the

shadow of pavilion should

be

seen

darker

than outside,

but

when

the

camera moved

to

an opposite position

from

the

main

light,

the

shades of characters seemed

to

become

too

dark

and

I

needed

to

add other

lights

to

adjust.

The distance between

characters and camera also affects

light

and shade.

With

a

close-up

shot one

usually

needs

to

recheck

the

lighting

before

proceeding

with

the

rendering.

Since

my

scenes are

huge,

I

used

raytracing

shadow

instead

of

Dmap.

Dmap

shadow

has

some

display

problems when

the

distance from

the

light

to the

target

is

too

far.

Although using raytracing

shadow

takes

more

time

to

render,

it

reflects more

texture

details

under

the

shadows

than

using Dmap.

The light link is

also an

important

part when

doing

a complex

3D

lighting.

Some

parts,

like

teeth

and

tongue that

are parented with

the

skeleton should

be

attentive

inside,

which can not use

light link

to

adjust

their

shade

problem,

should add

negative

lights

to

fix.

Different

computers

have different

brightness

and color

displays.

Therefore, it is

better

to

use

the

same computer when

doing

lighting.

Otherwise,

we

may

also adjust

the

brightness

when

editing

the

shots

in

postproduction.

Special Effects

I

used

Maya's

paint effect

to

create

the trees

and grasses of

my

outdoor scene.

Using

paint effect

is very

convenient

to

create andanimate,

but it

takes time to

renderand

test

the

effect.

I

needed

to

render

the

scenes with paint effects

separately from my

characters

because

sometimes

the

effects will extrude onto

my

characters even when

they

are

behind

the

characters.

As

for

the

swing

effect

for

the

sword

in

my

second scene,

I

just

made a streamline

shape of white

light

in

Photoshop

and animated

it in

After

Effects

later.

It

presented a

more

dramatic

visual effect

here

than

using

motion

blur.

Fire

effect at

my

second scene was

the

only

Maya

dynamics

effect

I

used

in my

film.

Other

visual effects were all created within

Combustion.

Combustion is

the

software

that

I

learned

at

Fisher-Price,

Inc.

as an

intern.

It

is

easier

to

create several

visual effects

by

using

its inside

setting

and

operating

the

particle attributes

to

animate.

If

I

want

to

use special effects

to

wrap

something,

the target

needs

to

be

rendered

Rendering

I

used

Maya

software

rendering

since

Maya

hardware

rendering has

some

limited

conditions of use.

I

set

2D

motion

blur

to the

characters

only for

the

second scene.

The setting

of motion

blur

took three times the

rendering

time

more

than the

normal

setting.

Therefore,

I

didn't

use

it

at

my

other scenes since

I didn't have

enough

time

after

that.

The

resolution of

"TriaF

is

720X389 (device

aspect ratio

is 1.85).

Although

NTSC 720X480 is

still a standard

specification,

considering

the

setting

of wide screen

16:9

will

become

a

trend

gradually,

I

tried to

use

it for my film

this time.

Postproduction

Sound Effects

I

didn't do

this

part at

first

since

the

music composition matches

my

animation so

well

that

I

thought

I

did

not need

to

add more.

Prof. Malcolm

gave me

the

suggestion

to

do it if I have

time.

Therefore,

I

started

to

collect

the

sound effects

for my

scenes.

The

time

was short, so

I

could

just

find

the

most

important

parts

that

I

might need.

I

edited

the

sound effects

in Sound Forge

and composed

them

in Sonic

Foundry

Vegas

as

I

usually

do.

I

am glad

that

I

could addsound effects

finally

at

the

last

minute.

Music

Although

music should

be

partof

pre-production,

I usually did it

after

I

finished

a

change

the

timing

and shots,

but

also

it brought

me some

trouble

when

doing

music

compositing.

Finding

music

to

match

my

animation rhythm well always vexes me.

The

music of

"TriaF

was

done

by

Mark

Hijleh,

a professor of composition at

Houghton

College.

Prof. Mark

has

always

helped

me

to

compose

the

music

for

my

two

quarter

project and

he impressed

me a

lot.

Therefore,

this time

I

asked

him

again

to

help

me

compose

"Trial."

When

he

said

he

was

willing

to

work with

my

animation

film,

I

was

really

happy

and appreciated

his help.

I

sent

him

the

rough playblast sequences of

my

animation, and

he

created a wonderful composition

that

matches

the

feeling

and

every

beat

of

my

animation rhythm.

The

length

of

his

music

fit my

animation

very

well;

therefore,

I didn't

change

anything

when

combining both.

Prof. Mark

also gave me a

suggestion

to

not

'fade

out'

music at

the

very

end since

it

would sound

very

weak.

Music

plays an

important

role

in

animation.

Without

his

assistance,

I

wouldn't

have

peace of mind

to

do

the

following

parts of post-production and special effects

for

my

animation.

Compositing

&

Editing

I

used

After

Effects

to

do mostly

compositing

and editing.

The

opening, cloud

animating, and

ending

credits of

"TriaF

were also accomplished

in it.

Since my

characters were all rendered

separately

from

the

background,

adjusting

the

blur

attribute

to

make

the

illusion

of

depth

of

field

was easier

to

reach.

Besides, I

still used

Premiere

to

edit some shots since

changing

the

order of

the

sequence

is

moreefficient

in Premiere.

I had

a problem

exporting my final

animation

from

After

Effects.

The rendering

error message online, and

found

a

way

to

fix

the

unknown problem.

When

setting

the

export

format

option,

choosing

a

lower

key

frame

rate can repair

the

crash.

I

set

my

key

frame

rate at

every 5 frames

and

it really

worked.

Another

export problem

to

DVD

also

needs attention.

Since I

used a wide screen setting,

I

needed

to

change

the

ratio at

16:9

rather

than

4:3;

otherwise,

the

images

would

be

stretched and

deformed.

Reflection

I

was glad

that

all

the

responses at

the

screening

were positive.

One

question

was about

the

jade

pendant which

transformed

back

to the

Little

Guy

at

the

film's

end.

As I

wrote

in

the

Treatment

section,

the

transformation

reflected

the

apprentice's

heart

and

the

response and

trick

from

the

master.

Also.

I

thought

this

transformation

enhanced

the

impression

and gave more

interaction

to

the

characters.

All

in

all,

I

really

appreciated

the

acceptance of

"IWa/";

the

good responses gave me more confidence

in

myself.

Although

I

eliminated some shots

from

the

storyboard,

I

think the

movie

did

not

suffer

from

this

decision.

The

eliminated shots were some

fighting

scenes and

did

not

matter

to

the

development

of

the

main plot.

Since

my

story

was

too

long,

eliminating

some

unnecessary

shots could save

my

time

when

doing

animation, and

it

also made

the

plot and rhythm even more compact.

Besides

all

the

"technical"

things

I

learned,

I

still want

to

learn

more about

making

movies and

telling

stories.

The

application of camera change

between

shots can

bring

different

reaction.

A

good

director

can

impact

the

audience and

interpret

stories

topic

that

I

want

to

learn

more when

making

movies.

As

for

my

film,

I

plan

to

enter some

festivals

and use

my film

to

enrich

my

portfolio.

Since I love

animation,

I

will continue

to

devote

myself

to this

field,

no

matter

if it is 3D

or

2D.

Conclusion

One

thing

that

impacted

me

the

most

during

the

production of

"TriaF

was a

strange crash of

Maya.

I

used reference

to

do

a scene with several shots

casting

a

long

time.

One

day

I

found

the

interface

of

Maya had become

disordered,

and

then

I

saved

my

file

and reopened

Maya

to

check.

The keys

of

the

animation

in

my

reference

file

were all gone when

I

reopened

it.

It

was

my

negligence

that

didn't back up my file

and

save

it

with another name

for insurance.

After

that,

I

always remembered

to

do

this

precaution

for my Maya files.

In

conclusion,

it is

a good

learning

experience of

doing

"Trial."

Although

sometimes

I

encountered some problems

in

some stages,

I

also

learned how

to

deal

with

them

and won a personal

technique.

I really like

animation and

enjoy

it.

It

is

really

exciting

to

see

the

process

that

I

created

become

alive.

Watching

others make

animation and

learning

better

skills

to

refine

my

animation also

fascinates

me.

That's

why I

want

to

learn

more about animation and pursue

further

opportunities

in

this

field.

Finally,

I

want

to thank

again

the

people who always

helped

me and

accompanied

Appendix A

Thesis

Treatment

Working

Title:

Trial

Producer:

Chen-ni Hsu

Budget:

$

38633

(Estimate)

$

2325

(Actual)

Start Date:

March 11 2004

End Date:

May

11 2005

Running

Time:

5

minutes

Release Format:

DV NTSC

Synopsis

A

master gives

his

young

apprentice a

trial to

increase his

education, prove

his

skill and cultivate

his

moral character.

Story

The opening

echoes

traditional

Chinese landscape

painting.

In

a pavilion, a

master

folds

a paper

into

paper

bird.

He

makes

the

bird

fly

to

inform his young

apprentice

he

wants

to

give

him

a

trial.

When

the

apprentice arrives,

the

master

takes

out a mirror

that

decorated

with special pattern

in its frame.

He

puts

the

mirror on

the

ground and uses

his walking

stick

to

knock it.

The

mirror soon enlarges with soft

light.

Then

he

takes

out a

jade

pendant

from his

cuff and puts

it

upon

the

mirror.

The

mirror

emits soft

light

and

the

jade

pendant sinks

into it.

The

master wants

his young

apprentice

to

find

the

jade

pendant

back

that

proves

he has finished

the trial.

He

calls

the

paper

bird

to

guide

the

apprentice

to the

final destination.

Then

he

gestures

to

his

apprentice

to

stand upon

the

mirror.

When

the

apprentice

holds

the

paper

bird

and steps

upon

the

mirror,

it just

emits soft

light

and

the

apprentice soon

falls into it.

At

the

same

time,

the

patterns of

the

mirror

frame

also

float

up,

become light

points,

and enter

the

mirror.

Then

the

master

just

sits

in front

of

the

enlarged mirror and

looks

at

it

with

smile.

The

apprentice

falls

into

a

tunnel.

He

finds he has left

the

room and arrives

in

another space.

He is

not conscious of

being

watched

through

the

mirror

by

the

master.

The

apprentice gets rid ofsome

traps

and arrives

the

other side of

the

tunnel.

He

turns

statue.

The

apprentice

looks

around

but

cannot

find

any

outlet.

Then he

notices

the

paper

bird

flies

near

by

the

statue and a

Little

Guy

is

hanging

on

the

hilt

of

the

stone

warrior's sword.

He

is

surprised

to

meet other people

in

this

place.

The

paper

bird

looks like

the

Little

Guy,

spirals upon

his head

and stays

in his hands.

(The

masterwho

is

looking

at

the

mirror

is observing

the

apprentice.)

The

apprentice

lets

the

Little

Guy

free

but

soon

finds his

approach starts

the

stone warrior's attack.

He holds

the

Little

Guy

to

rush around

the

space.

The

stone warrior wields

his

sword

but keeps

squat at

the

same position.

The

apprentice

feels

strange and notices a passage

is just behind

the

warrior.

The

passage

is really high

without

any

stairway

to

arrive.

The

apprentice

looks

at

the

sword

that

is

being

wielded

to them.

He holds

the

Little

Guy

and

jumps

toward

it.

He

tries to

keep

his balance

on

the

sweep

and runs on

the

sword

toward the

warrior's arm and shoulder.

The

apprentice uses

the

stone warrior and arrives

the

passage.

When

they

enter

the

entry,

the

stone warrior

gradually

recovers

his

body

to

cover

the

passage.

A

light

point

flies

out

from

the

warrior statue and returns

to the

mirror.

The

apprentice cannot

leave

the

Little

Guy

alone

but

just brings him

along.

The

paper

bird

seems

too tired

to

fly

and stays

in

the

Little Guy's finger

as

they

continue

their

way forward.

There

are

three

masks on one side of

the

wall and on

the

opposite side are

three

pillars with crystal

light balls.

When

they

pass

through

the

path,

their

shadows cover

the

masks and

turn

into

men with

black

robes.

The

masked men attack

them

in

turn.

The

apprentice

fights

with

them

and also gives some attention

to

protect

the

Little

Guy.

Then

he finds

the

relationship

between

the

crystal

ball,

masked men, and

their

shadows.

The

apprentice

destroys

the

crystal

balls

and

the

masks

just

drop

from

the

black

robes

to

the

ground.

Some light

points

fly

up

and return

to the

mirror.

The Little

Guy

picks

up

a mask and

keeps

it.

Finally,

they

arrive another place

but it is

only

a precipice without

anything

below.

They

try

to

look

around

but

find

nothing.

The

apprentice

is

disappointed

and sits on a stone.

The Little

Guy

puts

the

mask on

for fun but

being

controlled

by

it.

The

paper

bird flies

away

from him.

The

Little Guy's behavior

becomes

violent and attacks

the

apprentice

from his back.

The

apprentice

just

turns

around,

sees

his

attack, and

dodges

alarmingly.

He

tries to takes the

mask

away

without

hurting

the

Little

Guy

but in

vain.

He dodges his

attack and moves

backward

to the

edge of

the

precipice.

The Little Guy's

attackgoes

too

far

and

he

passes

the

edge of

the

cliff.

But

the

apprentice

just

catches

his hand in

time.

The

Little

Guy's face hits

the

wall and

the

mask

just loosens

and

falls

down.

The

apprentice

finds

the

Little

Guy

is

apprentice.

The

paper

bird flies

to the

Little

Guy

and stays on

his head.

At

the

same

time,

the

Little Guy's

body

glows and

he

transforms

into

the

jade

pendant.

The

apprentice

looks

at

the

jade

pendant on

his hand.

The

paper

bird flies

around

his hand.

Then

he finds

the

environment changes and

he

returns

to the

original scene.

The

master

is

standing

in front

of

the

mirror.

The

apprentice returns

the

jade

pendant

to

his

master

but

the

master

turn

it back

and wants

him

to

keep

it.

The

apprentice

is

very

happy

and

bows

to

his

master.

The

master watches

his

young

apprentice with smile.

He

shows

the

mirror

to

his

apprentice.

(The

mirror reveals some scenes

that the

apprentice solved

the trial

problems and saved

the

Little

Guy.)

The

apprentice

just knows he is

being

observed.

The

master nods with an

approving

smile.

The

apprentice

feels

embarrassed

but find

the

jade

pendant

is shaking

heavily

in his hand.

He

cannot

hold

it but just

open

his hand

to

look.

The

jade

pendant soon

transforms to

the

Little Guy.

The

apprentice cannot

hold him but just hugs him

and

falls

to the

ground.

He

is

surprised about

his coming but

soon

they

are wreathed

in

smiles.

Camera

tracks

back

to the

whole

landscape.

Approach

My

thesis

animation

film is

being

produced

in 3D.

It

is

being

originated

in

the

computer.

The

software apps will

be

used

for

modeling, animation,

texture

and composition

is

Maya,

After

Effects,

and

Photoshop.

The

software apps will

be

used

for

Thesis

Budget

Working

Title:

Trial

Producer:

Chen-ni Hsu

Budget:

$

38633 (Estimate)

$

2325

(Actual)

Start Date:

March 11

2004

End Date:

May

11 2005

Running

Time:

5

minutes

Release Format:

DV NTSC

ITEMS

CONENT

ESTIMATE

IN KIND

ACTUAL

Preproduction

Research

40

hours

x

$15

$600

$600

$0

Script

80

hours

x

$15

$1200

$1200

$0

Storyboard

80 hours

x

$15

$1200

$1200

$0

Character Design

40 hours

x

$15

$600

$600

$0

Background Design

40

hours

x

$15

$600

$600

$0

Animatic

20 hours

x

$15

$300

$300

$0

Hardware

Computer

$2000

$0

$2000

Software

After Effects

$999

$999

$0

Photoshop

$649

$649

$0

Production

Software

MAYA

$6999

$6999

$0

Modeling

500

hours

x

$15

$7500

$7500

$0

Animation

*

500

hours

x

$15

$7500

$7500

$0

Rendering

120

hours

x

$15

$1800

$1800

$0

Postproduction

Software

Sound Forge

$400

$400

$0

Foundry

Vegas

$560

$560

$0

Soundtrack

60

hours

x

$

1 5

$900

$900

$0

Composition

80 hours

x

$15

$1200

$1200

$0

CD-ROM

50

pack

$25

$0

$25

DVD-ROM

15

pack

$30

$0

$30

Videotapes

12

pack

$13

$0

$13

DV

tapes

3

pack

$20

$0

$20

Envelopes

(10"xl3")

20

pack

$20

$0

$20

Print

papers

500

sheets

$6

$0

$6

TOTAL

$35121

$33007

$2114

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Appendix

C

Appendix

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Appendix

E

Trial Credits

Director

and

Producer:

Chen-ni Hsu

Music Composer:

Mark Hijleh