Rooftop Concept Art

I'm starting off by planning what assets are going to be on the main rooftop, I've drawn out a little plan just below, to help me design.

I've also did a quick sketch of what I would like the Rooftop door to look like, just below.

Below I have drawn out a little sketch of what I would like to occupy the rooftop, it's basically the assets I have named in the plan picture at the top of the page. With a quick sketch of the building next to building #1 of what will occupy that rooftop.

More Mood Boards

Here's a mood board of what type of buildings I would like for my environment, below.

And the other mood board below, is the colours I would like to use for my textures, because I think the bricky red and orange colours, really give the environment that New York feel.

Rough Storyboards

First two Frames

Page #1

Page # 2

Page # 3

Page # 4

Page # 5

Page # 6

Page # 7

Page # 8

Character Descriptions

Character #1 "The Runner" (The one being chased)

Name: Jason
Age: 20 years old
Build: Skinny, maybe a little gangly and about average height
Occupation: Part time student, and Sales Assistant in a shoe shop
Relationship status: Single
Films: He likes action films, and is a bit of a film buff and a bit of a know it all.
Hobbies: playing his Xbox, he want's to be a game tester for Microsoft, but is way too lazy to apply. He also likes roller blading and likes to say "free-running" is his hobby, even though he isn't very good at it and never practices it.
Lives: He lives in a small apartment, in the outskirts of Manhattan, New York, with his mum.
Little Bio: He's very lazy, and has to be asked a few times to do stuff, he skates around the city in the early hours as he finds it peaceful, and he's doing graphics at college.

Power Centre: His power centre is quite high, it's in his head, so when he runs or walks, it's as if his head is pulling the rest of his body along with it.
Energy Level: He has a high energy level, so he is quite fast about everything.
Tension Level: This character is wound quite tightly, so he gets spooked easily from every noise and creak and is always aware of his surroundings.


Character #2 "The Chaser"

Name: Leo (Leonardo, but he prefers just "Leo" because he dislikes his full name) 
Age: 21 years old
Build: He is quite a big lad, with muscles so he looks quite intimidating.
Occupation: He's a student, studying Architecture, He also works as a barman in the local club
Relationship Status: He has a girlfriend, they've been together for a year now, they met in Uni
Films: He is a big fan of the big action flicks, especially the "Bourne films" and the Jason Statham films
Hobbies: Playing American football with the guys, and playing pool.
Lives: He lives in student accommodation at his college, in New York, he shares with a roomate, but spends most of his time at his girlfriends house, as she lives off campus.
Power Centre: His power centre is in his chest, and that's where most of his movement comes from.
Energy Level: He has medium energy, but is slow witted from time to time, and doesn't notice things straight away.
Tension Level: I would say he's quite laid back and loud noises don't really phase him, his posture is a little slouchy.

Draft Script

The Chase 

Starts of with one character running up a stairwell inside an apartment building. The character is constantly looking back over his shoulder, like someone is chasing him. The character runs into a person on the landing carrying some shopping bags, causing the person to spill the shopping on the floor and down the stairs. The character doesn't stop running, he gestures a sorry at the person and continues running up the stairs. Until he reaches the rooftop exit door at the top of the stairwell. 

When the character reaches the rooftop, he runs to the end of the rooftop. The character hears a loud bang and he turns around seeing the guy who's been chasing him, standing at the rooftop exit door. The guy at the door just stands there and stares at the first character intensely, with a determined look on his face. The guy at the door starts running towards the first character and panic floods the first characters face as he sees this. The first character takes a few quick steps back and looks back at the guy running towards him. The first character then starts running to the end of the rooftop and does a big leap across to the next rooftop, landing in a stumble and a skid. 

Now the first character is on the other rooftop, he picks himself up brushing his knees as he stands. He looks back at the other guy on the other rooftop, the guy looks really miffed and is standing on the edge of the rooftop shaking his fists at the first character. The first character then gives the guy a big smile which looks very smug and a sarcastic wave. As he walks away towards the fire escape at the end of the rooftop. He starts to climb down the fire escape until he gets onto the street. When he gets onto the street, he does a little happy/jaunty walk as he's very pleased with himself. 

Then a familiar face pops out from around the next corner and it's the guy from the rooftop, he stops in front of the first character. The guy just stands there and stares intensely at the first character for a few seconds. Then quickly touches the first characters shoulder and shouts out "TAG"! and runs off leaving the first character looking annoyed. 

Project Motivation- 

My personal objective is to create a short 3D animation, that is about 30-60 seconds long, created primarily in Autodesk Maya. I want to tell a story through just body language and expressions and use as little dialogue as possible. I want to show my character animation skills and modelling skills, by using already free rigged characters. I will be modelling and texturing everything myself. 

Technical Description- 

I am using free character rigs, the Morpheus rig, which can be found on Josh Burtons blog. I will be using two of these rigs for my two main characters, just changing there appearance and giving them different clothing. I will be modelling the buildings and all objects for the environment in Autodesk Maya and I will do all texturing and any sculpting in Z-Brush and Photoshop. I will be doing the lighting in Maya as well. When I've rendered all the passes, I will put it all together in Adobe Premiere Pro and add the foley sounds and music in. 

Describe your product- 

I will produce a short 30-60 second 3D character animation. The genre is an action/comedy piece with a subtle twist at the end. The audience I think it will attract will be older children and maybe young teenagers. 

Outline- 

November-December: Concept Art for Environments, blocking out the environments in Maya. 

December-January: Video referencing(for animation), Storyboarding, animatic, blocking out key poses in the animation. 

January-March: Fully animating the characters. 

Mid March-Mid April: Lighting, texturing and adding in more detail to assets in the environment, camera angles. 

Mid April-May: Rendering, adding in foley sounds and background music, and the one bit of dialogue.