A METANARRATIVE is the story about the making of the story. It is reflective and documentary in nature. It serves as a trail of breadcrumbs that create a trail from the beginning to the end. It is both a map and a Captain's log of sort that details your adventures into new, unknown terrain.
Use CAPTIONS for your images. This text moves with an image when you re-order content. You access this by scrolling over an image. A PENCIL ICON will appear. When you CLICK on the PENCIL ICON you have the option of DELETING, REPLACING, RE-ORDERING or CAPTIONING the image,
Film Noir typically is shot with high contrast lighting in black and white. Characters such as the femme fatale and an angst-ridden, morally ambiguous detective are mainstays of the genre.
Why do we document our learning? Have a look at this useful graphic to see the sorts of activities and how they inter-relate with one another.
Introduction
This is where you introduce your audience to the creative challenge that you were presented with. It should state any parameters, guidelines, restrictions, deliverables and design considerations that were attached to the project.
Materials.
This is where you list the physical materials and software that you used. You can include the picture of the mystery box and its contents here.
Methods/Process
METHODS should focus on PRODUCTION METHODS ie. How did you use the software to create your assets. This should be KEY STEPS in the production of the work.
PROCESS should focus on your CREATIVE PROCESS. How did you come up with the story idea? How did you use the props, etc.?
Exploration of Mystery Boxes.
Documentation of items
Documentation of group collaborating.
Created a hypothesis on a crime committed: elaborate on this.
MAP Using TUFTS VUE software showing connections between clues and characters.
Presented and critiqued story idea.
Wrote the stoty outline.
Wrote the character bios (physical descriptions and biographical data such as occupation, place of residence, life style/moments
Sketch the characters
Create storyboards (9 and 3 panel)
Create film poster rough Comp using Adobe Comp and Illustrations from either Adobe Draw or Sketch.
Create film trailer.
Storyline Creative Process (Example):
Using the artefacts in our mystery box we were to collaborate on piecing together a fictional account of a crime. The artefacts served as clues that were used to infer characters, places, times, etc. In short, our story had to answer SIX questions: WHEN (time period when the story is set; WHERE (location(s) in the story); WHO (detail at least THREE MAIN CHARACTERS who are connected in some way—‚one of whom is the perpetrator of the cirme). There was to be a protagonist an antagonist and a third character connecting the other two; WHAT (details of the crime committed and it could not be murder); WHY (What motivated the character to commit the crime—best to have real and compelling reasons beyond simply being evil); HOW (the details of how the crime was executed.
The storyline also required a reasonably interesting story arc that included a beginning, middle and end as well as interesting plot twists, a climax—a point of maximum intensity in the action and a denoument—the final resolution of the story (boy gets girl, hero wins the day, good triumphs over evil, crooks get caught or get away, etc.).
It was also required that the storyline be logical and plausible and that people and places simply could not be invented as a convenient way of arbitrarily connecting the clues to the story. The story had to make sense. ie. you couldn't have someone driving a get-away car if the story was set in the 1800s.
Our Story (Example): Written by Jim Kinney
It is New York. The year is 1948. Unemployed dockworker Jake Kennedy, AKA "Jake the Snake" has just granted his wife of one year (Sofia) a divorce. She knew he was no good. He drank too much, argued and fought at the drop of a hat and he just lost his job for reasons unknown. Sofia suspects that he was either drinking on the job or that he got caught stealing. She knows that he steals. Their living room was a clearing station for unknown "gifts" that never stayed there for long. Strangers were always coming to the door and Jake was never short of cash like most of his other dock worker pals. She couldn't take the lies so she left him.
Jake fills his time with petty crime. running "errands" and driving truck for a local moving company run by Carlo Massi, a local mobster who is affiliated with Cedric Latimer, the flambouyant owner of the famous Gallerie St. Etienne on the South East corner of Central Park in Manhattan. Workers in Carlo's moving company have inventoried the private collections of Manhattan's elite while on the job. Cedric has a bevvy of underground painters who skillfully reproduce the works of the masters while moved pieces are in temporary storage—replacing them without the owners ever being aware. This all goes rather well until Jake takes an interest in art.
During a "drop" of some art at the temporary storage warehouse Carlo and Cedric observe Jake poking around and admiring a forged work that is currently drying. Both use this as an opportunity to belittle and mock Jake's lack of culture by asking his opinion of the painting. They take sport in poking fun at the fact that he couldn't tell a genuine from a fake and that he should stick to driving and keep his nose out of the art business.
Jake, aware of the con decides to make a play on his own.
He takes part time courses in painting but lacks the skills and the patience required but he endures in order to form relationships with young, talented painters who eventually introduce hime to the world of art. He forges a relationship with the neighbouring Phillip, Son & Neale gallery in Manhattan. Owner Harry Phillips is a bitter rival of Cedrics who would like to see him run out of town.
Jake conspires with Harry and his cabal of underground artists to absconding with the paintings from one of Carlos and Cedric's "moves" and have them painted and returned before they know what has happened. They decide their best bet is modern art because they feel it will be easier to reproduce fast.
It turns out that a private collector of up and coming Jackson Pollock works is on the move and Jake and his accomplices move into action. The warehouse is located accross the water from Manhattan in New Jersey. The plan is to start painting in the truck the minute the works are in the Van. They will proceed via the Holland tunnel to the warehouse where they will transfer the forged works to waiting Carlos and Cedric—stopping to hide the originals in a lockup that Harry rented for them in Jersey City.
The thieves find out that painting a Jackson Pollock in the back of a moving van has some unintended consequences.
Eventually they arrive at the warehouse. Carlos and Cedric are suspicious and angry about the time delay but Jake explains that they were caught in the tunnel in a massive traffic Jam.
The story climaxes with the showdown in the warehouse as Cedric studies the freshly painted forgeries. If found out they would be executed on the spot by Carlos and his henchmen.
The ruse works and the fogrers escape to Harry's lockup only to encounter another, unexpected twist in the road.
Character Biographies (Example):
Using the artefacts found in our mystery boxes we had to come up with main characters linked to a crime. We were tasked with providing detailed physical descriptions of our characters as well as biographical details about their age, occupation, habits, traits, likes, dislikes, etc.
We were then asked to swap those descriptions with one another and to use one of our team member's descriptions as the basis for creating a sketch of that character in either Adobe Draw or Adobe Sketch.
Jake Kennedy A. K. A. "Jake the Snake"
Age: 50
Date of Birth: April 22nd, 1920
Place of Birth: Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, NY
Address: 79 WIllow St., Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, NY
Occupation: Dock Worker currently unemployed.
Height: 6 ft.
Weight: 210 lbs.
Hair Colour: Mousy Grey/blonde
Eye Colour: Blue
Distingushing Features/Marks: Walks with a limp on his left leg.
Bio: Jake is the anti-hero. The protagonist of the story. He is always looking for the easy way out—the shortcut to an easy buck. He is known to frequent local bars and nightclubs. He has a record of minor offences for theft. He has a quick temper and fancies himself a boxer of note. Lives alone. Married and divorced in 1941. Never re-married. Has part time work as a truck driver for various local establishments one of which is owned by Cedric Latimer, owner of the Gallarie St. Etienne.
Drawing of main character Jake Kennedy AKA "Jake the Snake" Who was an accomplice to a fine art heist orchestrated by gallery owner Cedric Latimer.
Cedric Latimer
Age: 59
Date of Birth: September 30th, 1911
Place of Birth: The Bronx, NY
Address: 1392 Lexington Ave, Manhattan, NY
Occupation: Owner of Gallerie St. Etienne.
Height: 5 ft 9 inches.
Weight: 160 lbs.
Hair Colour: Black with Grey sides
Eye Colour: Brown
Distingushing Features/Marks: Black handlebar moustache.
Bio: Cedric comes from common roots in the heart of the Bronx. He is an aggressive social climber who puts on airs and graces in an attempt to be accepted into Manhattan's elite high society. He dropped out of art school due to financial hardship and went to work under the tutelage of his mentor Harry Phillip. Due to "undisclosed reasons" Cedric was let go from Phillip, Son and Neale with enough cash to open his own gallery which he grew over the years. Cedric and Harry became bitter rivals.
Age: 59
Date of Birth: September 30th, 1911
Place of Birth: The Bronx, NY
Address: 1392 Lexington Ave, Manhattan, NY
Occupation: Owner of Gallerie St. Etienne.
Height: 5 ft 9 inches.
Weight: 160 lbs.
Hair Colour: Black with Grey sides
Eye Colour: Brown
Distingushing Features/Marks: Black handlebar moustache.
Bio: Cedric comes from common roots in the heart of the Bronx. He is an aggressive social climber who puts on airs and graces in an attempt to be accepted into Manhattan's elite high society. He dropped out of art school due to financial hardship and went to work under the tutelage of his mentor Harry Phillip. Due to "undisclosed reasons" Cedric was let go from Phillip, Son and Neale with enough cash to open his own gallery which he grew over the years. Cedric and Harry became bitter rivals.
This is Cedric Latimer, Art Dealer (Drawn in Adobe Illustrator Draw).
3D Model version of Cedric Latimer done in Adobe FUSE then Rigged and Animated in MIXAMO. Animated walk was recorded using a QuickTime Screen Capture and uploaded here.
The Cedric Latimer model was exported as a Collada .dae file and brought into Photoshop as a 3D Layer with light added in order to immerse the model into the background image. Note shadow casts from model.
The walker shown above was animated in Adobe FUSE then the animation was recorded using a QuickTime Screen Capture. This video was then brought into Adobe After Effects and the grey background was removed using a technique called ROTOSCOPING. I also added an Object Layer using the Pen Tool and applied MULTIPLY TRANSPARENCY and GAUSSIAN BLUR to give the appearance of a shadow. The shadow, the model and the background were all moved and scaled on the After Effects TIMELINE to simulate a camera following the subject along the street.
In this example I used a technique shown to me by a student who did some in-depth research on creating shadows using a drop shadow trick. By making a copy of the original video layer containing the rotoscoped character and then distorting that character vertically to imply a shadow shape I was then able to apply the DROP SHADOW EFFECT to that character and CHECK OFF the SHADOW ONLY CHECKBOX. This resulted in a distorted shadow moving in tandem with the foreground character.
Conclusion
Reflection on what you learned. What were your triumphs and what were your greatest challenges? What would you do differently?