Maya: Pre -Viz Models and Basic Renders #2

Maya: 3D Cam Tutorial

Maya: Rigging Skinning and Binding

Maya: Pre -Viz Models and Basic Renders #1

Positive and Negative











Mirroring

Maya: Blending Shapes

Refrence Images: Sperm and Egg

Refrence Images: Fern Plants

Animatic: The Life of a Fern

Storyboards: Life Cycle

Fern Plant Releasing Spores

Fern Gameophyte Concept

Fern Spore Concept

Concept Art: Fern Plant Concepts

Act 1:

The scene begins with a ‘Fern’ plant at its mature sporophyte stage, the spores underneath the ‘Fern’ plants leaves will be then shown and slightly later the ‘Fern’ plant will release its spores, which will travel to the ground.

Act 2:

After the spores have been released (I will only show this process for one of the spores) one will begin to grow/turn into a gametophyte. The gametophyte will then produce gametes, which will produce sperm to fertilize the egg.

Act 3:

After the eggs have become fertilized, a new sporite (Fern Plant) will grow out of the gametophyte.

Although I am clear on how I will structure my sequences I still need to gain an understanding of duration of a ‘Fern’ Plants reproductive life cycle; this will enable me to know how to set all my scenes and produce the correct lighting and environment for my animation, now its time to get cracking with the creative work.

Narrative Structure: Refined

Ok, for my narrative structure I thought it would be Ideal to break my three acts in to the three most important stages of a ‘Ferns’ reproductive cycle. Below is a brief summary of the three act structure I intend to produce;

Act 1:

· The ‘Fern’ plant starts off at its original state, but at its sporophyte stage.

· The ‘Fern’ then produces and releases its spores, by the process meiosis.

Act 2:

· The spores begin to grow into a gametophyte, by the process mitosis

· The gametophyte then produces gametes, by the same process.

· The egg that is attached to the prothallus then becomes fertilized.

Act 3:

· After the eggs fertilization stage it becomes a diploid zygote.

· It then turns into grows, becoming a ‘Fern’ plant (sporite).

Now I need to produce a much more fluent and informal description of the ‘Fern’ plants life cycle, which will help me produce a more effective set of storyboards.

Storyline: Narrative Structure Breakdown

My target audience is going to be 18 – 22 year olds, as this is the average age group for university students. Using the internet I researched into this age range and found out what programme genres are most commonly watched. The most commonly watched programmes are; reality, soap, action and drama, out of these four genres I think that a realistic or dramatic approach would be best suited for my future animation, I think it’s important to know what sort of programmes this age group watches, as the final animation has to appeal to their age. I also researched into the attention span of 18- 22 year olds who watched these programmes; apparently the statistics show that the majority of 18- 22 year olds, viewed footage for approximately 8 seconds before becoming distracted, this means that when I do produce my animation I will need to make sure that it is of a speedy pace in order to ensure that those, who view do not loose attention, as this may result in the viewers missing out on vital sections/stages of the animation and the reproductive cycle.

I also produced and distributed a survey, which asked a couple of questions, such as what the ages of the participants were, if they knew what a fern plant was and also if they knew about its life cycle. 72% of my participants were aged 18 – 22 years, out of this 72%, 50% of them knew what a fern plant was, but only 15% of them actually knew the reproductive cycle of a fern plant, which means that I am going to have to make my animation as informative and understanding as possible in order to produce an effective was of portraying a ‘Ferns’ life cycle to those who may view my animation.