For those of you that don't know, after I finished the Final Major Project last year, I got to work on a personal project, which ended up taking the form of Captain Cartridge and Friends in Operation Compact Disc:
The reason I chose to do this was because during Creative Media Level 2's Animation Unit, I ended up trying to make a cartoon starring our intrepid space cleaner and his motley crew. The original version would have been what the re-make ended up being except you switch out the 3D characters for 2D ones animated with backgrounds made in Dreams PS4, which back then, would have been the early access version because the game hadn't released yet. This ended up being an idea that would be way too ambitious within the timeframe I had (as I was warned by my friends and some of my tutors at the time), but I wouldn't find out until it was too late and had to cut out basically everything that wasn't Captain Cartridge or the rubbish, thus resulting in the atrocity known as Captain Cartridge in The Rubbish Skinubish:
Why am I saying all this? well you see, I'm currently in the same position I was at the end of last year, as I've finished my FMP and now I've not got much to do, so I intend to try and get another personal project off the ground within the next 3 months. Unlike last time however, I don't want this one to be a remake of any sort because I feel as if I could fill that slot better with a new plot, and I think it's about time I brought a certain cartoon sheep back into the lime light:
Now that I've established who I want the new project to be about, it's time for me to decide what the project itself will be about, so you know what that means...
It's Idea Development Time!
That's right, I'm going to be coming up with ideas first. The reason I want to do this instead of doing research first is because once I finish deciding on what I want the idea to be, I can base the research around whatever crazy idea I decide to go with rather than the other way around. The reason I want to do this approach is because I can use that research as more of a jumping off point. So without further ado, let's begin.
Idea 1: A Project That Leverages Green Screen Effects
For this idea, I could try and use green screen effects to tell the story like I tried to do with Super Sheep in Minecraft but couldn't due to time restraints.
So What's The Plot Here?
for the plot, I'm thinking maybe it could involve Hex Moother creating a magic green room that allows him to trap anyone who enters it in another dimension just by changing the backdrop. He could use this to trap Super Sheep and friends in another dimension (likely the Minecraft universe)
Why Would I Want To Do This?
I believe that I could use the wacky premise as an excuse to do plenty of experimentation with various green screen effects (although given how I'd have to use Share-Factory to do the green screen effects, the possibilities might be a little bit limited when compared to other software such as Vegas and Premier Pro), plus I get to expand on what I was originally trying to do during the green screen unit. (meaning I'll have more than just two shots worth of green screen effects going on)
Idea 2: Super Sheep and Friends have a cut and dry fight with Hex Moother
for this idea, I could simply animate what I would want a prototypical episode of Super Sheep and friends to be once I finally get to make a TV show out of them, seeing how I've never got to animate that kind of thing before due to all the new Intellectual Properties I've been creating recently. (by the way, I do also plan on making new Intellectual Properties next year, I just figured I could give Super Sheep a little bit more love this time around) I could also feasibly try and do a green screen joke like I wanted to do with The Grand Lamppost Heist, although I haven't decided yet.
So What's The Plot Here?
The plot could be that Hex Moother wants to build a device in order to take over the world with, but Super Sheep and friends are determined to stop his evil scheme. The reason I'm keeping this description quite vague is because I haven't quite come up with a plan for what this device could be and why Hex Moother wants to take over the world, but the idea here is that I would toy around with those decisions as I move forward with the research phase. This would mean that by the time I start writing, I'd have a more concrete idea as to what the story will be about.
Why Would I Want To Do This?
The reason I would want to do this is because it'll give me a chance to test the waters with developing one of the two formulas I plan on switching between when making Super Sheep and friends into a tv series, in this case it'll be the one where they go and stop Hex Moother (or perhaps another villain such as Dr Dingbat or even Digeridoom) from doing whatever hair-brain scheme he's up to at the moment. The other formula would simply be Super Sheep and friends going on their own adventures and dealing with situations that aren't specifically caused by some super villain coming up with an evil plan. (think what happened with Super Sheep in Convention F-3)
Idea 3: A Cartoon That Involves Lorange In Some Fashion
for this idea, I could properly introduce a character I created named "Lorange" (the name is pronounced "Low Range"), who I actually had a picture of hidden away in Super Sheep in Convention F-3 during the part where we're in Super Sheep's Apartment:
So What's The Plot Here?
So here, the plot could take place in the past, as Lorange and The Night Pig have to go and prevent an artificial planet from launching so that they can stop the mass extinction of all the coloured sheep people. (and by "coloured", I mean in the sense that Super Sheep has naturally blue wool as well as blue hooves) I came up with this idea while I was trying to get Super Sheep's first movie off the ground, but I do think this part could be its own stand alone cartoon as well because of the action packed nature of the scene, I could even use this to introduce some of the other Super Sheep characters too.
Why Would I Want To Do This?
I'll admit, the reason I want to do this idea is more as an excuse to properly introduce the character of Lorange and establish her past relationship with The Night Pig, as Super Sheep and Hugo The Shape-Shifter wouldn't be prominently featured in this one. (maybe Super Sheep could appear at the end in a scene where Lorange and The Night Pig find him laying around)
So Which Idea Do I Want To Do?
while I do quite like all three of these ideas, I think the one I'm going to go with is idea two. The reason I want to do this idea above all the others is because it'll allow me to see what I can do with one of the formulas I have in mind for when I turn Super Sheep and friends into a TV show (preferably after I've already released the first movie) and it'll allow me to ease into the idea of using green screen humour rather than diving head first and making a cartoon with sloppy effects because at least with this idea, the potentially sloppy effects will be contained to a single scene or two rather than spanning across the entire cartoon. So now that I've decided what I want to do, it's time for me to start doing a little bit of research (after a little bit of reflection that is)
So how was coming up with these ideas?
I'd say coming up with these ideas was a bit of a cinch, although as a result of me not doing research first, these ideas might come off as quite sloppy, so hopefully I end up doing further development of this idea while I'm doing the research phase. (which will likely consist of looking into analysing cartoons and looking more into green screen effects) Overall I've not really got much else to say here, so I might as well move on to the research phase.
The Research Phase
So here, the research is going to be a little bit less structured than a lot of my usual work, since this is a personal project. With that out of the way, I actually want to do a little bit of research on green screen effects first, that way I'll be able to do a little bit of further experimentation and expand upon research I've done during the academic year
So What Are Green Screen Effects, And Why Are They Used?
Sometimes when producing a piece of media, whether it be movies or tv, sometimes you'll want to take the characters to a more fantastical location than what's possible in reality. If you were making an animated production, this would be no problem, as all you need to do is make the assets for the new location and then animate your characters doing whatever you need them to do within that particular location, as seen in this image from The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part where Emmet and Emmet are seen in the jungles of the Systar System:
It's only when making live action productions (and to some extent stop motion productions) that you would run into a bit of an issue, as depending on how far you want to go with this, it could get very expensive to do everything practically. This is where green screen effects would come to the rescue, as with those, all you'd need to do is film all of the practical elements in front of a coloured sheet (the most common colours for these sheets are green, blue and even pink) and then after filming has wrapped up and the intended backdrops are finished, it's then up to the editors to key out the coloured background and viola, your human actors can suddenly do at least half of the things an animated character would be able to do without the need for green screen trickery (as seen in this comparison shot of a scene from Avengers: Endgame with and without it's visual effects):
Earlier, you may have noticed that I also happened to mention that you could also use blue and pink backgrounds while making your green screen effects (I believe that the other colours are the reason that green screening is formally known as "Chroma Keying" in this particular field), the reason for this is because if you were working with characters that happen to wear green clothing, you don't really want them to stand in front of a green background. Why is this? Well to answer that, I'm going to use Pixlr to simulate a green screen scenario with our good buddy Luigi, from the Super Mario series:
As for where we're going to put Luigi, I'm thinking we could "Chroma Key" him into The Land Of The Dead from P.I.X.A.R's Coco:
First, I want to see if you can figure out what's wrong with this first image:
Here we can see that Luigi's jumping in front of a green background, nothing wrong there, right? Well actually, this is a big problem, as Luigi happens to be wearing a green shirt and a green hat. Why is this a problem, well you see, the way green screens work is that once all the filming is done, the editors will go ahead and get rid of all the green in the original footage, effectively creating a window in which you can see through the green screen footage. In order to do this, the editor has to key out the solid colour background, this process works perfectly fine if none of the characters happen to be wearing green in the scene. Unfortunately for us however, since Luigi's wearing green clothes, they'll end up getting caught in the crossfire, thus creating results similar to the ones we see in this simulation I whipped up using Pixlr:
Sometimes, this can actually be intentional, as with scenes such the one in The Adventures Of Sharkboy and Lavagirl where Lavagirl melts into a puddle of lava, with only her head remaining solid:
In this scene, we can see that only Lavagirl's head is the only part that remains visible, as the rest of her has turned into a puddle of lava. What I believe they may have done here was that they had a green screen floor with a hole in it for Lavagirl's actress (Taylor Dooley) to stick her head out of in order to achieve the special effects here (the reason I believe this is due to the way her hair looks during this scene), thus allowing just her head to remain in the frame once the editors take out all the green that surrounded her head during the shoot. While this might be the case with Lavagirl, getting rid of parts of your body isn't going to work as well for poor old Luigi here. With this in mind, the next best thing is to simply swap the green screen for a blue screen, right?:
Wrong! This image actually has a very similar issue to that of the previous image, except instead of luigi's shirt, now it's his overalls/dungarees that are the problem because they also happen to be blue (technically so would his eyes considering how big they are, but I forgot to account for them when simulating the issue in Pixlr):
So since Luigi doesn't work well with green screens or blue screens, does this mean he and other green and/or blue characters (I.E: Sonic The Hedgehog) are doomed to look all weird no matter what coloured screen they're standing behind? Not quite, as there is one last saving grace for all this (although since any solid colour could serve as a good chroma key background, there are actually many more saving graces we could use), and that's the pink screen background:
Why pink? Well you see, unlike the other two examples we just saw, nothing on Luigi is actually coloured pink. (except maybe his tongue, but we'll ignore that for this simulation) This means that when the editors have to remove the solid background from the footage, Luigi will look like he's actually jumping around in Coco's version of The Land Of The Dead (albeit not convincingly in this case because the lighting in the two layers clearly don't match, but most professional productions will try to match the lighting conditions of both layers as best as they can):
Whenever you see any green screen scenes in film, they're really just applying the same principals we learned with this simulated example, The only difference there is that they're often working with the footage they themselves made rather than random images they stole from other sources.
Earlier, when I was doing a brief run down on what green screens are (since I already did an entire unit on it during the Chroma Key unit), I'd skimmed over how stop motion productions are usually the only animated productions that would need to utilise green screen effects, the reason for this is often because unlike other forms of animation such as traditional 2-D animation and 3-D Computer Generated animation, stop motion animators have to deal with the laws of physics when making their movies due to how everything has to be modelled out in the real world. (that way they can capture the necessary frames) How do I know this? It was on a DVD I always used to watch as a kid that contained what would have been the complete Wallace and Gromit collection (A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave) at that time:
The main example I want to show off where green screens would be needed in a stop motion production is actually the scene from "Wallace And Gromit: A Close Shave" when Gromit is swooping towards Wallace in his side car, which at this point has turned into a plane, but since I can't find the raw green screen footage on youtube, I'm going to do something I've never done before (mainly because I never had to):
That's Right, I'm going straight to source and taking images straight from the DVD itself, because it's the easiest solution I could come up with for this one (besides, this serves as a nice trial for when I potentially have to do this during the second year of my course), now that we've established where I'm getting my screen shots from, let's begin the analysis.
In this scene, we can see that Gromit is flying over the British countryside while below, we see that Wallace is in hot pursuit of Preston the dog because he kidnapped Wallace's girlfriend, Wendolene. The reason I bring this particular scene up is because of the way they were able to achieve the effect that Gromit is high up in the sky, because in order to pull this off, they needed to make a specialised model for the ground where they animated a less detailed version of Wallace and the truck Preston happens to be driving:
Afterwards, they'd animate Gromit's plane on a green screen via a special rig they created in order to keep Gromit's plane in the air, since animating in stop motion requires a little bit of creativity when you're trying to keep things suspended in mid-air:
once the two layers are finished (and the animation process is complete), it's then up to the editor to composite Gromit's plane into the footage of the small countryside model, and presto! Gromit suddenly looks like he's actually flying over the countryside as seen in the final version:
Another example from the same studio actually happens whenever we see the boat on the water in "The Pirates: In An Adventure With Scientists" (AKA: "The Pirates: Band Of Misfits" in the US because I guess they wanted a more boring title):
The reason for this is so that they wouldn't have to worry about animating water by hand, as water is one of stop motion's biggest rivals due to how the constant movement would mean that it could end up ruining the animation of any scene it happens to be in due to how the water would end up being in different states in each frame due to the constant movement, especially if we're talking about flowing water and/or waves (in fact, this is part of the reason Aardman's "Flushed Away" was done with CGI instead of stop motion, as that film would contain a lot of water effects, especially when the characters are in the sewer)
One more thing I should mention is the fact that alongside the commonly used flat wall behind the actors and/or big green screen rooms, you can also buy solid coloured morph suits such as the one you see below:
Last time I discussed green screens, I briefly mentioned these things and moved on to discussing the first use of green screen effects (which for those of you that don't know, was in a 1940s film known as "The Theif Of Bagdad" in order to create a character known as The Giant Genie), as such, you can think of this as the green screen suit section I never got around to making last year.
Ok, So Why Are These Suits Used? And Why Do They Look Like Nightmare Fuel?
Well you see, these chroma key suits (which can vary in both material and colour, but ultimately they all serve the same function) exist to serve a very similar purpose to that of regular old green screen sheets and rooms, only instead of pretending that the actors are in a different environment, they're used to either augment or remove the people wearing the suits entirely as if they never existed in the first place. The reason filmmakers might want to do this is because sometimes, they either want to make someone invisible, as seen in films such as the recent invisible man movie (the one that couldn't beat Sonic at the box office), or if the producers really go ham with the chroma key and CGI effects (by the way, the term "going ham" refers to when you do something to an excessive degree, for example, when an actor really goes wild and gives a very excessive performance, it's referred to as them "going ham" with the performance), they also allow the real actors a frame of reference so that they know where to look and where they're supposed to be in relation to characters that'll be added in later, as seen with movies such as Alice in Wonderland (the 2010 version, not the good one):
Heck, the rapper known as "Dan Bull" (he makes fairly decent raps that relate to games on YouTube) actually used one of these suits when he did a rap about RayMan in order to help Ubisoft promote RayMan Legends:
Video uploaded by Dan Bull
the reason he did this was so that he could look a little bit more like the star of the game, who looks a little something like this:
Now that we've delved into the world of green screens for a bit, I think I'd like to experiment a little bit in order to see if it's worth me including any green screen jokes this time around (because last time I determined that it would be too much hassle)
Before We Dive Into The Experimentation
Alright, it's time for this project to actually start going somewhere, but before we get into what I actually did today, I should say that some of the circumstances leading up to it were actually quite interesting, as not only did I get to take advantage of the added power the PS5 gives me (oh by the way, I got lucky and managed to get a PS5 about a week ago as of writing this blog post) so I'll be using that to make the cartoon since Dreams can run on a PS5 with no issues and I even get a noticeable performance boost out of the new hardware so I'll be using the PS5 in order to actually make the new cartoon. (to be honest, I wasn't expecting this to happen due to the continuing shortage of PS5s and its components, but here we are) Not only did all of that happen, but guess what game I Decided to use for the backgrounds:
In terms of my thoughts on the console itself, there's a lot I like about it, from the backward compatibility (which while it's currently limited to just PS4 games, those games do perform much better, likely due to the similar architecture of both systems) to the faster load times on all the games I've played thus far (which itself allows me to jump into the various games quicker than I would on PS4), but enough about the new hardware, let's get experimental
Experimentation
That's right, up first is our newcomer Miles Morales. Here, I was trying to gather at least three clean shots of this game's rendition of New York City so that I could use them as the eventual backdrops where Super Sheep and friends would end up once the chroma keying process is done. The reason I wanted to get the backgrounds first rather than doing the animation was so that I when it eventually came time to animate the foreground elements in Dreams PS4/5 (which thanks to the power of PS5 has upgraded from the base PS4 version to the version found on PS4 Pro), the task of getting the lighting conditions for Super Sheep and his buddies to match the background image as much as possible would be much easer since I would already have the reference image to begin with.
To get these images I first had to get Miles where I wanted him to go so that I could use the game's built in photo mode (a similar feature will also exist in the game "Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart" so don't be surprised if the next green screen experiment involves that game in some way) in order to actually capture the shots. The reason I had to have Miles in the actual locations (which in this case ended up being Central Park, The Empire State Building and this game's version of the Avengers Tower) is because while in photo mode (particularly with the "free cam" mode), the camera can only move so far away from Miles. While I could have used the game's fast travel feature to get closer to the various locations faster, but I felt it was more entertaining if I swung my way over instead (plus not a lot of the fast travel points take me directly to where I'd want to go, so either way I'd have to do a little bit of swinging and jumping around to get where I wanted to be)
Doing this was quite easy since I'd already 100 percented the game on that save file before hand (no that "100 percent" comment wasn't a grammatical error, as when you do and collect absolutely everything in a video game, it's sometimes referred to as "100 percenting" it) so I had all the traversal moves unlocked already which made getting around a breeze.
Since the experiment is already finished, I may as well share the screen-shots here for the sake of evidence, although due to these images being 4K (apparently) don't be surprised if I have to split this post in two:
One thing you may notice between these screen shots is how I've tried to minimise the amount of moving parts as best as I could. The reason I did this was because I felt that if I did have things like cars, pedestrians and even pigeons in these pictures then it would ruin the illusion I'm trying to go for because then it would appear as if Super Sheep and his pals were the only beings alive in the universe and then it would look like a downgrade from the Minecraft experiment because there I used footage while here I used images for the background (as much as I wanted to use footage here, there was no way I would be able to make Miles invisible [as in you can't see his model at all] during gameplay), now that we've discussed the background, it's time to move on to the foreground (which is split into two part because of a lunch break):
and here's where we get to the more time consuming bit, as unlike Miles where New York was already made for me, here I actually had to animate the characters once again. (although coming off the heels of The Grand Lamppost Heist means the skill would still remain fresh) I decided it would be best to do the night time one first since that was the most recent picture I'd taken up to that point and it would feature the most lighting work because there were lights in the background, so I needed to make sure my foreground lighting would match the background so that I could theoretically convince someone that The Night Pig was really there. (although seeing how I was placing in characters I made in a game without ray-tracing and putting them into an environment where ray-tracing was enabled and the characters didn't cast shadows either way due to the lack of ground mixed with an inability to add shadows into share factory studio, I doubt I'll be able to fool those with the technical knowledge into believing the characters are in New York City) As for Super Sheep and Hugo meanwhile, I just had to manipulate the sun and change the sky colour so that the lighting would match the same lighting conditions as in the background shots, although I think Super Sheep ended up coming out quite bad when all was said and done due to the combination of the slightly washed out colours and the bright sky washing the colours out even more (perhaps I should have adapted the grading a little bit more during Super Sheep's brief flight), but this wouldn't become apparent after I'd already rendered the video. Something I should mention is that while I was broadcasting the second part, I tried to see if I could get my music to play through the stream (since the settings menu implied that I could do that), and much to my surprise it actually worked... kind of. You see, I was able to get it to play on my end via my USB flash drive but the music wouldn't play on the actual YouTube stream. (it's a bit weird, but I guess copyright issues had something to do with it, plus the music player is integrated into the console now where as on PS4 it was a separate app that would close upon starting the stream) Now that we've delved into the background, I believe it's time for us to put the two elements together:
Since this was my first time using this new version of Share Factory, there was a little bit of fumbling around at first (despite how fundamentally similar Share Factory Studio is to its PS4 predecessor) and I even had trouble getting the green screen to work, but after that initial bump on the road it was like I was living on easy street. This new version of Share-Factory actually does have a few upgrades over the original, one such upgrade is that I no longer have to use gameplay footage in order to add screenshots as now there's a dedicated "add screen-shots" button. (so no more having to use random footage I have laying around as a backdrop for a picture gallery) My favourite improvement has to be with the green screen tools, as now I don't have to worry about leaving a green outline as much (not sure if it's the tools getting better of if it's just that the clips I'm using are now 1080p) although I do wish they would allow for multiple layers of green screen effects, as I get the feeling that future projects might just end up being too much for this software to handle. (which I would assume is a natural part of getting more and more ambitious with each project) One part I wish to dabble in a little more is adding in some of those "special effect" overlays, as I didn't really get to do that during this experiment mainly because I didn't need to, and even then I'm sure someone will end up importing those sounds into Dreams anyway. (if I don't decide to do it first that is)
So will there be green screen effects this time?
I'll be honest, I do think the fact I have a little bit more time on this one might mean I could feasibly include at least a few green screen effects in this cartoon (not to mention how much better I could potentially make these effects thanks to the new share-factory studio), but I'll have to wait and see if I end up writing a story where I end up needing to even use any green screen effects at some point, whether it be for a quick gag or if I end up needing to place Super Sheep and friends in a different universe that would be tricky for me to fully remake in Dreams PS4/5 if not downright impossible depending on what I'd be required to pull off for said recreations. So in other words, it's more of a possibility here than it was with "The Grand Lamppost Heist" but I won't know for certain until I write the actual story and conclude the matter one way or the other, but of course, using environments from games like Ratchet and Clank to tell my story might end up raising copyright concerns anyway, especially if I don't give proper credit where it's due, so I probably shouldn't that can of worms outside of these experiments, especially once I come back into college for the second year of my creative media course, although I should be ok when it comes to Miles Morales since it takes place in a real city (well... As long as I don't accidently have Avengers Tower or any other Marvel specific landmarks in the background that is)
So What Shall We Look Into Next?
well perhaps we could look into other formulaic shows and see what aspects might make people come back ready for the next episode despite the similar plot structure in most episodes.
What Is A Show's "Formula"? And Why Does Plankton Want To Steal It?
A formula in context of a TV Show is like a set of rules that governs the plot of each episode, think of it as like a quota that most episodes in a formulaic series will try and hit. These are most commonly used in shows that take place the floating timeline approach (meaning everything resets for the next episode and the characters don't recall past events so that you can watch the episodes in any order) and/or have a more comedic tone since in those the story isn't as important in a more plot driven show such as Avatar: The Last Airbender. For example, Disney's The Replacements' formula involves the shows lead protagonists, two children named Todd and Riley, as they end up having to deal with problems relating to adult authority figures, so they make a quick phone call to The Fleemco Company in order to replace said adult for someone that's supposedly better in every way. After a while however, things start to backfire fast as now the kids have to deal with a problem that's ten times worse than what they started with so it's up to them to fix the problem themselves. (and from what I remember when I watched the show as a kid, usually their phones would have either died or be taken away by the time the problem worsens because it takes the rest of the episode to resolve the issue) Keep in mind, that's the formula the show uses, and since the formula is only a building block, it's up to the writers to fill in the blanks to make an interesting and unique plot for each episode, which can be a bit of a balancing act as each episode would have to be different from the ones that came before but at the same time, they also has to fit in a similar mould to the previous episodes. (this isn't as big of a problem with shows that have an over-arching plot since in those shows, the story takes centre stage)
To illustrate this point, let's compare the plot of two episodes of Phineas and Ferb and see how similar they are on a fundamental level, but before we begin, I should actually describe what happens in a regular episode. What usually happens in your average episode of Phineas and Ferb is that the title characters, Phineas and Ferb (and sometimes their friends too), would go and build some highly elaborate project in their backyard (or wherever that particular episode happens to take place) while their sister Candace usually tries to bust them, only for the project in question to disappear by the time their mother comes home at the end of each episode due to the events that happen in the episode's "B plot." (which involves their pet platypus Perry going off to fight an evil villain known as Dr Doofenshmirtz) Now that you're all caught up on the base formula, let's compare two typical episodes and try and describe the plot using our description of the show's formula as a basis:
In this pilot episode, Phineas and Ferb go ahead and build a roller coaster that runs through their entire town while candace tries to put a stop to their shenanigans by busting them (which means getting their mother to witness whatever crazy contraption they've built this week and put a stop to it), only for the roller coaster to disappear in the end because Perry The Platypus was putting a stop to Dr Doofenshmirtz's Magnetism Magnifier (because Doof was trying to halt the rotation of the earth), which happened to attract the big roller coaster and send it somewhere far far away.
Since this is the pilot episode of the entire series, they do have to do a little bit more leg work in establishing who the characters are first (thus establishing the dynamics the entire show would revolve around), but other than that it's a pretty standard episode. The next episode we'll discuss comes much later in the series:
In this episode, Phineas and Ferb build a big biosphere during a rainy day so that Isabella and her Fireside Girls (think of them like the wilderness explorer mixed with girl scouts) can earn a bunch of Badges, all the meanwhile Candace tries to bust her brothers (albeit this time it's at the last minute because she's having a picnic date with her boyfriend, Jeremy), only for the biosphere to get golfed away after Perry the Platypus puts a stop to Dr Doof's plan to make it rain more than usual in the Tri-State Area.
Despite how different these two plots might seem on the surface, they both follow the same structure for story telling (that being Phineas and Ferb build a thing and Candace tries to bust them, only to fail due to Perry and Dr Doof's shenanigans intersecting with the main plot), the only major difference is that this episode is a little bit more refined than the pilot and the characters are well established, not to mention by this point in the series, characters like Buford, Baljeet and Vanessa had long since become a part of the supporting cast. (none of the characters I just listed were in the pilot episode) With this in mind, the producers could skip the part where they establish who the characters are and go straight to the plot of the episode, not to mention how the show would also play around with its various conventions later on, as Candace would go on to believe that a mysterious force is preventing her brothers from getting busted and the writers would include more meta humour as time rolled on.
I think what makes each episode work well on its own is the fact that the show already has a really good premise behind it (that being a pair of brothers go and do extraordinary things over the course of their summer break), which allows the writers to really let loose and pull off lots of unique plots that'll really capture the audience's imagination, I.E: in one episode, Phineas and Ferb could build big tree house robots or even robot replicas of themselves, the possibilities are endless.
Sometimes, the show runners will do an episode that breaks the regular formula, the reason they do this is to help spice up their show and give the audience something new and refreshing for a change, an example of this kind of episode would be "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted!":
Basically, the plot of this episode breaks the series formula by actually starting at the end of a typical episode, the twist this time is that the big invention of the day doesn't end up disappearing, so I'm guessing the fight between Perry (AKA: Agent P) and Doof managed to contain itself this time. Nevertheless, this causes Phineas and Ferb's parents to finally see what the boys have been doing. This then results in Phineas and Ferb going off to a place called the "Smile Away Reformatory" in order to give them a sense of disapline, although eventually Candace realises the importance of their whole dynamic and decides to bust them out of there with the help of Jeremy, although by the end it's revealed that the whole thing was a big dream that Candace was having within another dream that Perry was having (yup, they did the whole "dream within a dream" thing BEFORE inception made it "cool"), I believe the likely reason for this is because then they wouldn't have to worry about the events getting in the way of the rest of the series (because it's likely the series would have ended at that point if they didn't do the dream ending), which would go back to business as usual. Another thing this episode doesn't have is a B plot where Perry and Dr Doof duke it out, this is mainly because the episodes starts after their little skirmish already happened, and as such they wouldn't need to really show what happened there. (although Agent P and Dr Doof do make a brief cameo just before the big reveal) There do exist other episodes like this one that break the formula in other ways (mainly things like the Christmas special and even the "Summer Belongs To You" special which happens over the course of 2 parts) but I think I'll wrap things up here, as I really want to develop the story as soon as possible.
Ok Poindexter, So What's The Story Here?
Well I've already established that I want it to be about Super Sheep and friends putting a stop to one of Hex Moother's evil schemes, but I currently don't know what this evil scheme will be, why He's doing it and how it'll effect the main characters on a personal level. (besides their nemesis taking over the world) As such, I want to take this time to try and figure out what I want Hex Moother to make and why I want him to make it, that way when Super Sheep and friends come and put a stop to it I'll at least have a believable character dynamic going on.
Alright, So What's Hex Moother Going To Make Then?
hmmmm... I may have to create multiple designs for contraptions and see which one I think I can make the best plot out of. To Pixlr!:
But before we start designing anything, I do want to mention that during my college taster days, I actually did get to write a script for a Super Sheep cartoon, it was called "Super Sheep and The Volcanic Deep Dive Of Hex Moother" and it involved Super Sheep and The Night Pig (no Hugo though because I was only allowed 3 characters) stopping Hex Moother from causing a place called "Mount Splodesmore" (which is a big volcano) to erupt so that he can take over the world:
The reason I bring this up is because if I can't come up with anything I feel is good enough for this project, I can simply do a re-write of this script and potentially adapt it to include Hugo The Shape-Shifter perhaps I could even adapt it to include Lorange too, since while I'm doing this I'm also re-working another script that would take place in an alternate canon where Super Sheep, Night Pig, Hugo and Lorange all work together as the justice quartet. With that out of the way, let's get to work:
for this design, I'm thinking it could be a handheld laser cannon that's capable of levelling entire cities, although if I were to do this, I would have to establish some of the greater lore I have planned for these characters, I.E: The relationship between anthropomorphic animals and humans in this universe, so if I do this I may have to find a way to convey that information without stopping for an exposition dump. (which is where a film sits down for a moment and just dumps a whole load of information on the audience)
now that I've coloured everything, it's time for me to start labelling this things design features (professionals would usually do this with every single design they make, but I haven't really done this very much, so I might as well try and get into the habit of doing so now so that I can make things easier on myself):
The reason a lot of the real guys add labels to the things and characters they design is mainly so that people in the props and costume department (or the animators if it's an animated production) know what all the different parts of the design are and what function they're supposed to serve, that way when they're actually making the props (or if the modelling department are making the 3D model for it, or if the 2D artists are drawing it), they'll have a handy reference they can draw from at anytime. (unless the design changes part way through, then they have to wait for the new reference sheet to come in before continuing their work) Honestly, I'm surprised nobody's said anything about this (as far as I remember anyway), since like I said earlier I haven't really done this until now, but hopefully I'll be able to get into the habit of doing this before college starts up again, as it might help me out in the long run.
While I do like the design I made here, I'm not so sure I could get the strap to move in a very convincing manner, since paintings in Dreams don't currently have any form of collision detection (perhaps that's something that'll be an option in a theoretical PS5 upgrade):
for this design, I'm thinking it could be like an exo-suit that's meant enhance other people so that they can match Super Sheep's strength and agility. You might be thinking that this is so Hex Moother can be evenly matched with Super Sheep, but actually I'm thinking that Hex Moother could sell these things to other super heroes that could potentially stop him from taking over the world. Why would he want to do this? Well I could also design a remote controller that allows Hex Moother to disable the exo-suits, thus immobilising every super hero that was foolish enough to buy this product, thus eliminating most of Hex's potential enemies in one fell swoop:
I've got to say that while this isn't the cleanest bit of art I've ever done (mainly because I was trying to get this done quickly), I do think the plot I came up with around it has a lot more potential as a story than the one where Hex Moother uses a big laser cannon to destroy cities because now the stakes are a little bit personal since this could potentially end all super heroes as we know it. (if they end up buying this thing that is, so I'll have to come up with a way that Hex Moother could force all the super heroes on earth to wear these things) Perhaps I could get started on that script tomorrow.
Before We Begin Writing The Script...
...I'd just like to quickly establish our old friend, the project management table:
This one's quite a bit longer than most other projects I've done (except maybe this year's final major project due to how I also counted the research there), and if I'm correct in assuming when we'll be back in college, I've currently got roughly 13 and a half weeks to do the practical bit, which is more time than I've ever had when it comes to that side of things, so with this, it's time to move on to writing that script.
The Script
As I have re-iterated time and time again throughout my time at college as a whole, writing a script for any project (whether it be for a film, TV show, video game, stage show, musical, music video, ext) because the script is a written plan of action for what you want to happen within your production, as without a script, how are the different departments in the studio know what they're supposed to be doing or even if what they're currently doing will get used in the final production at all. (technically, you do get a little bit of that with the latter due to certain elements ending up on the cutting room floor in the end, but it usually happens less frequently when you have a script) The script can also help the executives that are funding any given project to estimate how much they think the whole thing is going to cost to film/animate/program/put together, this is also an opportunity to tinker around with the story and characterisation until you have something you're happy with, after that you can move on to the storyboarding phase where you translate your written work into rough visual imagery, so without further ado, let's get this party started:
For this script, since I've got a lot of extra time on my hands, I think I'll try and push for a 10 minute story just to see if that's something I could pull off in the future, and then afterwards I could slowly build up to creating feature length animations. (and then Super Sheep's movie will finally become feasible)
As for the title, I've decided to call it "Super Sheep The Exo-cist" for the time being because I figured since this would be a plot about Super Sheep and friends trying to stop Hex Moother from using exo-suits to immobilise all the super heroes, I could have the title be a pun that relates to exorcism which is the art of removing ghosts and demons from a possessed soul so that they can have free will again (and I figured that getting immobilised against your will because someone turned off your exo-suit would draw comparisons anyway)
When writing a script, it's generally a good idea to establish where you want each scene to take place, for example, this scene takes place in a Super Hero agency I just sort of named on the spot. (so don't be surprised if the name ends up changing partway though) As for the format (which goes "INT/EXT. LOCATION. TIME OF DAY) it's used as a way to quickly clarify information about the scene quickly, for example, we can determine that this scene will take place indoors at a place called "The S.P.A.G. Super Hero Agency" and it'll take place in broad daylight just by looking at the slug line for this particular scene (yes, that's what they're called), as for why they're always all caps, I think this is so that it'll stick out from everything else on the page (think of it like the "scene selection" section found on almost all DVDs and Blu-Rays that get released)
Another important element to keep in mind while writing a script is that while you might know what your scene and your characters look like in your head, no-one else does, so it's a good idea to try and give a brief description of the current location and all the important characters in it. Speaking of the characters, The first character I decided to introduce is actually the leader of S.P.A.G., a new character named Bollen because I figured with his name being Bollen, it would make his whole organisation a big spaghetti pun (although thinking about it, I'm thinking the pun would work better if the characters name was Spag and the Organisation was called Bollen because instead of it being "Bollen, leader of S.P.A.G.", it'd be "Spag, the leader of the Bollen organisation", thus allowing the bad spaghetti puns to really shine through), whether it is a new character or not however, it is still imperative for me to capitalise their name when first introducing them, that way the people reading will know that this is first time that particular character comes into the picture. After the introduction, it's usually customary to give a brief description of who that character is for the same reason it's important to briefly describe each location. (you know what the characters are like, the executives don't) Oh, and if you need to include a character's name in the script again, you don't have to do all caps anymore. (with the big exception being whenever they speak)
Here, we can see that I've given our new friend Spag a little bit of dialogue. The way this is usually formatted is that you'd feature the character's name in all caps just before you write wherever you want them to say on the next line. When doing this, you should always make sure that the character's name and dialogue are aligned to the centre of the page so that it'll be immediately obvious to the actors reading it that those parts are when they get to speak due to how the formatting sticks out from everything else on the page.
Sometimes, you'll have a specific way you want an actor to deliver a certain line of dialogue. In situations like this, it's ok to put little delivery instructions underneath the character's name in brackets, as below that would then go the actual dialogue you want the character to say.
We Interrupt This Program To Bring You A Project Management Update
I'll be the first to admit, things have been off to a slow start thus far, but luckily I have more than enough time to try and make up for lost ground. Oh, and I also changed the formatting slightly so that there's actually more of a plan as to what I'll be doing each week. That way I'll know exactly how long I've got left with each task.
We Now Return You To Our Regularly Scheduled Program
Sometimes when writing a script (especially if you've done the slug lines to be more specific like I did), a scene only ends up lasting one line because immediately afterwards, you might want to cut to a different area of the same location. (for example, where most writers would probably have put "INT. THE MOOCIFER CORPORATION. DAY." I decided to go ahead and put what part of the building we're in, that way I can use that as a point of reference later on)
There will be times when you want your actor to deliver a line in a specific way but putting a little parenthesis before hand isn't going to be enough, as you need then to shift the delivery of the line midway through. What I usually do in these situations is have the acting instructions within the dialogue line but I would denote the instructions with little asterisks at the beginning and end of each instruction so that the actors don't accidently read their instructions as if it were part of the dialogue. (and that's no good because it means the directors and actors have to waste precious moments establishing what's dialogue and what's not)
one thing you have to do when you're giving the various characters their lines is that you have to make sure that each instance of the capitalised version of their names always has the exact same name as each other. For instance, if you typed in Hugo's name as "HUGO THE SHAPE-SHIFTER" when giving him his first line of dialogue, all future instances of Hugo's dialogue would have to have that exact same spelling (even the little line between "shape" and "shifter") or else the folks reading the script will think you're not very professional.
Before we continue any further, I just want to delve a little bit deeper into the character of "Steve Washing Up A Ton", specifically where on earth he came from:
You see, I actually started trying to write Super Sheep's first movie since before coming to college, and in one version I originally wanted it so that our hero was actually a sheep-like alien from another planet which exploded due to some one accidentally trying to clean the planet's core using windex:
This was also back when Super Sheep was meant to have two eyes, but I'm getting off track. The reason he was even named "Steve Washing Up A Ton" was because of the fact that in the original, it was his job to make sure that their planet's core was kept clean or else the dust army would be able to take over the planet entirely, however, he would have accidently used Windex and ended up blowing the whole planet up as a result. (because "funny" origin stories I guess) Of course, I've since reworked the lore and changed Super Sheep's eyes so that he has one big eye with two pupils that move independently (think in the same vain as The Smurfs or Sonic The Hedgehog), so I might want to think about changing his name to something else. (especially now that I've decided to actually use him in something)
Here, I decided to clarify that I want for Steve and Super Sheep to be evenly matched without the use of an exo-suit, the reason for this is because I actually plan on having Steve be someone that could actually put up a fight with Super Sheep, plus I need the good guys to get beaten to a pulp in order to establish the sheer strength these exo-suits can provide. Having said this, If I can't figure out how to naturally convey how strong Steve is WITHOUT the exo-suit in the first place, this scene won't carry as much weight as I want it to due to the missing context surrounding said character.
Ok, so I think I may have figured out how to convey how strong Steve is normally without ruining the pacing.
What I did was that I changed Steve's introduction so that Super Sheep himself actually reacts to the situation with shock and horror. Hopefully doing this should allow me to establish that Super Sheep and Steve at least have a little bit of history as rivals. If this goes well, then next time I decide to use the character, I can build on the implications I will have made here when I show the two of them fighting without any external forces helping them out in the future.
After a little bit of consideration, I've decided to re-name this cartoon because I feel that the name "Super Sheep the Exo-sist" has the potential to give away the big twist I want to pull off the twist in question is that Hex Moother creates the exo-suits specifically to immobilise all the Super Heroes that aren't Super Sheep or Hugo (since neither of those characters really need exo-suits to begin with), that way, no-one will be able to stop him from taking over the world. As such, I've decided to go with a temporary name I came up with just now, that being "Super Sheep in The Exo-sized mystery" (in other words, I've swapped out a bad exorcist pun with a bad exercise pun for the time being)
before we go any further, I just want to explain what I mean by "Hugh-riot shield" (pronounced "Hue Riot-Shield"), you see, I want it so that whenever Hugo transforms into something, I refer to his transformation as a "Hugh-[Insert object and/or animal here]" (for instance, if he turned into a car, he'd be a Hugh-car, if he were a tree, he's be a Hugh-tree, ect.), the reason for this is because I figured it'd be something silly for me to include (also because I just plain wanted to)
here, you can see that I've decided to have Antler-Man refer to a "non descript online retailer." The reason I've chosen to go with it being non descript is because under current copyright law, I technically can't use Amazon specifically unless I either get their permission (which would require me to pay them) or Amazon themselves pay me to use their product in the cartoon. As such, I'll have to come up with a different name in order to prevent Amazon from coming after me with lawsuits. (which I will then use as a replacement for the current dialogue) The names I'm currently considering are Rainforest and Jungle because they both relate to trees like Amazon does (since the word Amazon has something to do with the Amazon Rainforest) and I could feasibly use them since there are no other online retailers (at least to my knowledge) with those names yet.
but before I go ahead and do the storyboards, there still the matter of the project's name since I came up with "Super Sheep In the Exo-sized Mystery" as more of a temporary title (since an exercise pun wasn't going to work if the episode wasn't about the characters doing exercises or sports), some alternative names I've come up with are "Super Sheep's Exo-stentialist Adventure" and "Hex-o's Exos", althiough I'm actually leaning towards "Hex-o's Exos" because it allows me to communicate what the cartoon is about without giving away the twist (although some other element of the script will probably end up giving it away first):
now that I've written the script, I actually want to take the next few days to mull over whether or not I should do another draft, that way I could potentially improve on what I've done already and iron out potential plot holes before moving on to the storyboards.
We Interrupt This Program To Bring You Another Project Management Update
Alright, so before we move on, just a few quick notes. First I just want to mention about the PS5's share-factory real quick, remember when I said that the ability to add screenshots directly was an upgrade that could allow me to phase out the need for random footage? Well it turns out I could only add them in directly if they were saved in the system storage (like the Spider-Man: Miles Morales pictures I took in the game), anything else and I'd have to use the old method. (and even then, the ability to add screenshots from the system storage directly into the software was already on PS4 anyway if I remember correctly, so I was a little bit quick in assuming the best) It wasn't all bad though, as I did end up getting inspired to make a showcase video for the PS5 similar to that of the PS2 Demo Video that used to proceed the various demo discs (remember those?):
Other than that, I'd say I'm on track to to do the storyboards after I take care of a few things.
We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Program
Now with a potential new name for one of the characters
So What's Steve's New Name Going To Be?
well currently, I'm leaning on calling him "Steve Washington" because his original surname was already supposed to be a play on that particular name anyway (because he was originally called "Steve Washing Up A Ton") so it'll be like I'm calling back to his old name. Hey, speaking of his original name, I could probably turn that into some kind of nick name get gets called at some point.
Can We Move On Now?
ok, ok, sure. I've basically done all I needed to do here. (plus I usually like to make little alterations during the storyboarding phase anyway)
The Entire Script
Like I said during the production of The Grand Lamppost Heist, when doing stuff like this on a professional level, it's generally a bad idea to release the entire script before moving on to the storyboards, but since I'm not at that level yet (and since not a lot of people will ever see this), I've decided to go ahead and put it here anyway, plus in the unlikely event that this gets cancelled for whatever reason (be it lack of interest or the more likely senario, simply not having enough time left), I can evidence what work I did do for this here:
Super Sheep In Hex-o’s Exos
By Sam Gordon
INT. THE BOLLEN SUPER HERO AGENCY: CONTROL CENTRE. DAY.
We’re in a big fancy control centre with lots of fancy computer equipment, high tech gizmos and a big fancy table in the middle, as we see their fancy automatic doors open to reveal SPAG, the serious yet pompous leader of this group of elite super hero people who is quite a tall human being who wears a big fancy suit, as he carries a strange box into the middle of the room.
Everyone else stops what they’re doing to gather around the table and see the box
SPAG
Alright ladies and gentlemen, after much anticipation our new package has finally arrived.
RANDOM EMPLOYEE 1#
What is it?
SPAG
Something that’ll allow our elite super hero agents to finally match the strength and agility of the super-powered one.
We then hear the door open again and find ANTLER-MAN, a hybrid of a human and a reindeer who has big horns growing out of his head, has returned from a recent mission.
SPAG
Welcome back Anlter-Man, did you deliver the leaflet?
ANTLER-MAN
Yeah, but I don’t get why we’re still trying to get this guy and his friends to join.
SPAG
Trust me, once those three read that leaflet, they’ll be at that front door in no time.
CUT TO:
INT. SUPER SHEEP’S DINGY APARTMENT. DAY.
We see SUPER SHEEP, a confident blue cartoon sheep who wears a yellow cape, THE NIGHT PIG, A stern and stealthy cartoon pig dressed in black, and HUGO THE SHAPE-SHIFTER, a witty pint sized egg shaped creature who’s usually brown and blue, are all reading the leaflet that was mentioned earlier.
SUPER SHEEP
(rather annoyed)
Oh for Pete sake, these guys are getting desperate.
THE NIGHT PIG
Eh, it’ll make good target practice at least.
SUPER SHEEP
Yeah, I guess. C’mon boys, let’s see what ol’ Hex Moother’s up to.
Super Sheep, Hugo and The Night Pig then go off to see what their nemesis HEX MOOTHER, an evil cartoon cow who has a broken horn and dresses like he works for a security firm, is currently up to.
CUT TO:
INT. THE MOOCIFER COPRORATION: HEX MOOTHER’S LAB. DAY.
We see our villain Hex Moother manufacturing a boatload of exo-suits, which will give the wearer the ability to match the strength and agility of Super Sheep himself.
INT. THE MOOCIFER CORPORATION: JUST OUTSIDE HEX MOOTHER’S LAB. DAY.
Our heroes are preparing to kick down Hex Moother’s door.
INT. THE MOOCIFER CORPORATION: HEX MOOTHER’S LAB. DAY.
Super Sheep kicks down the door and he and the boys go ahead and do a cool pose.
SUPER SHEEP
Stand down, Hex Moother!
HEX MOOTHER
Well well well, if it isn’t the justice dunces. I take it you...
SUPER SHEEP
*Mimicking Hex Moother’s voice* “Blah blah blah, I see you’ve come to see what hopeless scheme I’ve come up with this time.” *back to normal* Now which of your little toys do we get to destroy today?
HEX MOOTHER
Oh... uuuuuh, I’ll be honest Supes, I got nothing, I’ve been busy running the business side of things.
Our heroes get suspicious of Hex.
HUGO THE SHAPE-SHIFTER
Alright then, but uuuuh. What’s going on behind you?
HEX MOOTHER
Oh that. Uuuuuuh... it’s my new business venture. I’m getting in on that exo-suit market that’s been booming recently. In fact, I already sold a box to my first customers
THE NIGHT PIG
Not on our watch bub!
HEX MOOTHER
Oh really? How about a demo then? *to Steve Washington* OH STEVE!
We then see STEVE WASHINGTON, a red sheep much like our hero except he’s got a mono brow and actually wears clothes, approach our heroes from the shadows while wearing Hex’s new exo-suit as Super Sheep’s eyes widen in horror.
STEVE WASHINGTON
What is it boss?
HEX MOOTHER
SHOW EM WHAT MY NEW EXOS CAN DO!
STEVE WASHINGTON
With pleasure, boss.
Steve then pounces towards our heroes with the same speed and agility as that of Super Sheep, as he quickly takes out Hugo and The Night Pig.
SUPER SHEEP
(distressed)
GUYS!
Before Super Sheep can do anything however, he gets stopped by Steve, and then Super Sheep and Steve proceed to start fighting each other.
Meanwhile, Hex Moother’s watching with glee as Steve actually manages to gain the upper hand on Super Sheep.
Super Sheep attempts to evade all of Steve’s attacks, but he can’t do it because he’s not used to Steve suddenly being faster than he is.
Steve then manages to lift Super Sheep like he’s made of paper and then throw him to the ground, firmly planting his bottom half into the ground.
As Steve is about to deliver the killing blow to Super Sheep however, Hex Moother orders Steve to stop.
HEX MOOTHER
Ok, they get the idea Steve you can kick them out now.
Steve begrudgingly spares Super Sheep and then proceeds to violently kick him, The Night Pig and Hugo out of The Moocifer Corporation.
HEX MOOTHER (CONT)
Good. Now get that thing off. you won’t be needing it for the next phase anyway.
EXT. THE BOLLEN SUPER HERO AGENCY: TRAINING FACILITY. DAY.
We see that Antler-Man and a bunch of other elite super hero agents are training with their new exo-suits as Spag monitors their progress.
While they’re training however, Super Sheep and friends fall from the sky and end up getting planted into the ground.
Antler-Man then has to pull our heroes out of the ground using his new found strength.
ANTLER-MAN
What the... WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?!
HUGO THE SHAPE-SHIFTER
For the record, we’re not staying very long. *notices Antler-Man’s exo-suit* by the way, what cha wearin?
Spag then shows up to see what’s going on and finds the justice trio.
SPAG
Ah, I see you boys have taken note of our brand new exo-suits. These allow...
SUPER SHEEP
Yeah yeah, enhanced strength and speed, yadda yadda yadda.
SPAG
(rather surprised)
How did you...
THE NIGHT PIG
Hex Moother’s manufacturing a bunch of em for “commercial reasons”.
SPAG
Well luckily for us, we managed to get a box first.
Spag then shows the box he received in the beginning of the episode.
Super Sheep and friends then take a look inside and find many more exo-suits.
SUPER SHEEP
Woah.
SPAG
Indeed.
SUPER SHEEP
Anyway, we best go see what evil Hex Moother’s REALLY got going on behind the scenes. The audience have probably figured it out anyway but can’t tell us.
Super Sheep and friends go off to see what Hex Moother’s real scheme is
SPAG
Wait!
SUPER SHEEP
Oh what now?
Spag then throws an exo-suit at The Night Pig.
SPAG
Take this, pig. You’ll need it in order to keep up with Antler-Man and your little sheep friend.
THE NIGHT PIG
Wait. WHAT?!
ANTLER-MAN
Yeah, the big boss decided he wanted me to come with.
Super Sheep and friends mull it over and decide to begrudgingly roll with it
SUPER SHEEP
Fine, the antler guy can come, I suppose
ANTLER-MAN
Brilliant, let’s get moving.
Our 4 heroes then get going towards The Moocifer Corporation at break neck speed.
INT. THE MOOCIFER CORPORATION: HEX MOOTHER’S LAB. DAY.
We see that Hex Moother is working on a remote control that’ll pair up with the exo-suits Hex moother’s made as Steve wonders what the actual plan is if he can’t use his exo-suit again.
STEVE WASHINGTON
So tell me Hex. Why’d you give me an exo-suit if I was only going to be able to use it once?
HEX MOOTHER
Well Steve, once I finish this remote, everything will make sense.
Hex Moother then finishes the remote controller as Super Sheep and friends start literally tearing the roof off this place.
Super Sheep, The Night Pig (who’s now wearing his exo-suit), Hugo The Shape-Shifter and Antler-Man all come crashing onto the floor.
SUPER SHEEP
STAND DOWN HEX MOOTHER... AGAIN!
HEX MOOTHER
Well well well. If it isn’t my old friends... And this guy, I guess. Back to ruin my business venture I presume?
SUPER SHEEP
That’s right Hex, we’re here to stop your ummm... Exo-suit army? Hold on, what’s this cartoon about again?
Hex Moother then gives an evil chuckle as he holds up his remote control.
HEX MOOTHER
Get em Steve.
Steve then charges towards our four heroes, only for The Night Pig and Antler-Man to unexpectedly start beating him up thanks to the power of their exo-suits.
Super Sheep and Hugo then start going after Hex Moother as Hugo turns himself into a riot shield.
Super Sheep then uses the Hugh-Riot Shield as a weapon to beat up Hex Moother.
Once Hex Moother is down on the ground, he then presses the button on his remote control with an evil grin on his face.
We then cut back to The Night Pig and Antler-Man, who suddenly find themselves unable to move.
Steve realises what Hex Moother did and then uses this to turn the tables and start beating them both up.
Super Sheep looks around and watches in horror as his friends are being beat up.
Hex then uses this window of opportunity to knock Super Sheep down to the ground and then get away.
Super Sheep and Hugo then go help fend off Steve before he can kill The Night Pig and Antler-Man.
Once the two finish with Steve, they go and see what they can do to help The Night Pig and Antler-Man.
SUPER SHEEP
Dad, Antler-guy. You ok.
THE NIGHT PIG
Yeah, but these exos must locked up or somethin’
ANTLER-MAN
It doesn’t make any sense. Spag ordered these suits from Rainforest.com. unless... That evil cow man... built these things in the first place.
Super Sheep then realises what Hex Moother’s real plan is.
SUPER SHEEP
Of course. He wanted to immobilise every super hero by tricking them into buying his suits so that he can take over the world more easily. I should’ve known. *To Hugo* Hugo, you stay here and free dad and the antler guy, I’ll deal with Hex myself.
Super Sheep then flies off to go find Hex Moother.
EXT. THE SKY. EVENING.
We see Super Sheep fly upwards so that he can get a better view.
He then finds Hex Moother in his flying machine as he’s heading towards parliament to overthrow the government.
Super Sheep then swoops towards Hex so that he can stop this madness.
We then cut to Hex Moother flying with a confident look on his face.
SUPER SHEEP
OOOOOH HEEEEEEEEEX!
Hex Moother then looks up with terror as Super Sheep breaks his flying machine just by flying through it, which causes Hex Moother to crash land on the ground.
EXT. A RANDOM FIELD. EVENING.
Hex Moother then gets up as he and Super Sheep have a stare down.
Super Sheep and Hex Moother then start fighting each other.
Hex Moother then decides to whip out a gun and start shooting our hero.
Luckily, Super Sheep is able to dodge all the bullets because of enhanced reflexes.
This allows our hero to get the jump on Hex Moother and pummel him into the ground.
Just after he does this, we see Hugo (who’s now a hugh-helicopter), The Night Pig and Antler-Man swoop into the scene of the crime.
The Night Pig and Antler-Man climb out of the the Hugh-Helicopter as Hugo transforms back to normal.
ANTLER-MAN
Mr. Moother. By order of the Bollen Super Hero Agency, I’m here to place you under arre...
Super Sheep interrupts Antler-Man’s monologue by kicking Hex Moother to jail himself.
HEX MOOTHER
(flying into the distance)
CUUUUUUURRSE YOOOOOOOU SUPER SHEEP AND FRIIIIIIEEEEEEE...
Antler-Man then looks at Super Sheep in frustration.
SUPER SHEEP
Oh it’ll be fine. He always lands in jail whenever we do this. *To Hugo and The Night Pig* C’mon boys, we’ve still got paper airplanes to make.
Super Sheep, Hugo and The Night Pig then go back to Super Sheep’s dingy apartment as the cartoon ends.
The End.
So How Was Writing This Script?
I'll admit, writing this did take a little bit longer than I thought, mainly due to how I had to make sure all the dialogue felt natural while still being in line with the goofy nature of Super Sheep's universe, but the important thing here is that I'm trying to make this my biggest creation yet (at least in terms of length), and as such, storyboarding is probably going to be a pain to do since there's so much here, but other than that I actually quite enjoyed writing the script, and can't wait to finally bring Super Sheep and friends to life vocally. (well, there was the grunting and screaming they did in the convention F-3 cartoon but I'm talking about actual words this time) But enough about the script, it time to move on to...
The Storyboards
What are Storyboards? Well as I keep on re-iterating to the point where I fear I'll eventually run out of unique ways to say this, storyboards are a lot like a script in nature, as they also serve the purpose of allowing you to communicate the vision for the story without having to fully commit to anything yet. The main difference between a script and a series of storyboards is that with a script, you'll have to imagine what the visuals will potentially look like and write little descriptions of everything to help others imagine something similar. A storyboard meanwhile is where you create a rough version of what you want the visuals to look like so that when production moves forward, it'll be much easier to actually produce a worthwhile product. So without further ado, let's get started:
Also, I'll be highlighting whatever points in the script I end up doing each day so that I don't accidentally repeat anything I've already drawn.
Ok, so this first screencap actually has quite a lot to unpack at once, much of which would have been their own screencaps in any other project because they all came up at different moments, so let's take this one at a time. First things first, the quality of the art presented in a storyboard doesn't really matter as much since they were made to be thrown out and swapped for something else if some one with creative authority over the production calls for it, as such most storyboards aren't going to feature the highest quality of art out there. This particular panel is actually an example where the art can become so unclear as to where things actually need to be labelled in order for anyone besides the artist that drew it to even be able to parse out what's meant to be seen here, in this case, I had to label was the computers and the people using them in the newly created Bollen super hero agency, since I was too lazy to draw everything individually.
Another thing I should point out are the arrows I drew over the boundries that are pointing left. Those are meant to represent the camera moving screen left, since depicting camera movement is much harder in still images due to the lack of motion. (at least in a base storyboard, animatics are usually where the camera movements are a little easier to convey)
Of course, since these are still images and not animated GIFs, it's not enough to just draw what's happening on screen (even if you've got the skills of the storyboard artists behind Toy Story), so to complement the visuals, you often have to write a small description just below the image that describes what's supposed to be happening in said image. These can also be used to add in a character's dialogue without having to draw speech bubbles like in most comic books and manga, the reason storyboard artists don't draw in speech and/or thought bubbles in a storyboard is because they can take up precious space in the often tiny boxes you have to draw in.
Now I'm still not sure whether the actual professionals that do this stuff actually use this technique or if I've just pulled it out of a metaphorical hat one day, but here I've decided to go ahead and add in a little arrow between the first and second panels in order to denote what the camera is meant to do in order to get to the second shot, I.E: If it says "pan", then it'll tell the producers that the camera needs to pan in order to get to the next shot. (and a similar principal would apply if the arrow said "cut", "fade" or anything in between)
Sometimes when doing a storyboard, you'll often find that you want to depict certain objects and/or characters moving around and you don't feel the writing can capture said movements on its own. This can be remedied by having little arrows pointing in the direction you want the object or character to move in (be it screen left, screen right, up, down or even in diagonal directions)
Coming back to the "Arrows pointing towards the next panel" technique for a moment, whenever the next panel is below the previous one, I simply have the arrow wrap around the page in order to get to the next panel. (think of it like in Pac-Man when he goes through one side of the maze and then comes out the other) This allows me to save a ton of space drawing because now I don't have to worry about finessing my way inbetween each panel like I would otherwise.
if you're wondering about Spag, I haven't actually given him a proper design yet, so he may end up looking slightly different between storyboard batches because I'm experimenting with how I might want him to look once I get around to designing him later.
and like that, I've completed the first batch of storyboards. I predict that this one will end up breaking Ruff Bup's record in terms of how many batches I'll have to do in order to complete the storyboarding process because of the fact this new cartoon will be 10 minutes in length, although given how these projects usually end up slightly longer than anticipated, I'm going to go out on a limb and estimate that the actual length will somehow end up being 11 or 12 minutes.
We Interrupt This Program To Bring You A Particularly Interesting Project Management Update
So as you can see, I managed to stay ahead of the curb, as this week I'm supposed to start the storyboarding process. (which I already began doing a few days ago) This isn't the interesting part however, as yesterday I couldn't access the website in order to do the blogging work due to what I could only describe as a massive slowdown mixed with parts of the internet looking like older versions of themselves (I.E: Wikipedia), luckily I was able to access Pixlr and continue storyboarding:
As far as the actual process goes, you weren't really missing much, although I did find at least one screen cap worthy moment:
Under normal circumstances, I would have discussed how the motion arrows would also apply whenever you need certain body parts to move, but since these weren't normal circumstances, I wasn't able to discuss it as I did it, luckily, I was able to save this image thanks to having PowerPoint open like I used to do when Wix wouldn't allow me to paste screen caps onto my website without saving the image first.
Now that things are back to normal however, It's back to work, as I'll only be doing screen caps whenever something new or interesting comes up during this process because I don't want to be taking screen caps of the same things over and over again since that would be repetitive and I'd eventually have to split this post in two.
We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Program
Because we're on batch three however, I figured I'd uphold a little tradition I've been doing where I add in Knuckles from the Sonic The Hedgehog series into the picture as part of an in joke. But since this is coming right after I state we'll be back to our "regular program", I might as well finally explain where this little tradition came from. You see back in 1993, during SEGA's prime (and hot off the heels of Sonic CD), they were working on the development for Sonic The Hedgehog 3, which was supposed to be one gargantuan game (for the time) with more zones than the series had ever seen at that point, but due to issues with the limited cartridge space they had on a regular Genesis/Mega Drive, they ended up having to cut out half of the levels they wanted to put in so that they could release the game on groundhog day of 1994. (because that day would be dubbed hedgehog day in the games marketing):
However, this was just the first half of what they really wanted, so six months later, the developers over at SEGA would go on to release the rest of the levels they wanted in Sonic 3 as a separate game called Sonic And Knuckles, which is where Knuckles first became a playable character:
What's special about Sonic and Knuckles isn't really the game itself however, but rather the game's cartridge. Why? Well you see, most Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges looked like this:
What sets Sonic and Knuckles apart from every other game on the system is the fact that it's cartridge looks completely different from every other game on the system:
The reason Sonic and Knuckles' cartridge looks so different is because it has a cartridge slot so that you can stick another cartridge on top as seen with this image where it has a Sonic 3 cartridge on top. Sticking almost any game on top and putting it into the system (including Sonic 1) would result in randomly generated blue sphere levels, the main exceptions to this rule are Sonic The Hedgehog 2 which lets you play that whole game as Knuckles and Sonic The Hedgehog 3, which would allow you to play through both Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles as one massive game like the developers originally intended (this would go on to be dubbed Sonic The Hedgehog 3: And Knuckles):
Years later however, the awkward placement of the "& Knuckles" part of the title would become a bit of a meme on the internet where people would randomly shove "& Knuckles" (among other things) anywhere they could as shown by this example I found involving Super Smash Bros:
And that's the story of how this little "And Knuckles" tradition (as well as the other tradition where I put "And Knuckles" at the end of every third file in a series of related files) got started in the first place.
I'll be honest, the idea here was that I was supposed to do this batch while talking about why I always put Knuckles into every third batch but I ended up focusing more on the tangent than the actual task at hand. Luckily, I was able to get this batch done regardless. (so that's a big plus right there) I'll be honest, it's starting to get just a little bit tedious now that I'm all out of screen cap worthy moments (for the time being anyway, you never know when another one could pop up), but I'll just have to live with that until I get this part finished.
Here, you'll notice that once the doors have outlived their purpose, they simply disappear in the next panel. The reason for this is because it saves time in the long run because you no longer need to draw redundant elements.
whenever you want the producers to know that certain actions are to be repeated, you simply draw a single line with arrows on both ends.
Ok, so currently I've been doing things one batch at a time, since I think it's the best approach when it comes to doing this particular task in theory since t means I can avoid a lot of the potential tedium. In practice however, it isn't something I can realistically afford to do for the whole process, as if I don't pick up the pace at some point between now and when I'm due to finish this part, it'll cause delays further down the line. (and that's no good)
During the early stages of any given batch, since I do the entire batch as one layer instead of multiple layers for each panel, if I don't like the placement of a character or object, I can simply move it around until it's somewhere I feel is more appropriate as seen with Hex Moother where I move him from right to left in order to maintain consistently with the framing of the characters. (Super Sheep and friends on the right and Hex Moother's on the left) Of course, I can't really do this once the batch is completed since moving one object moves the entire batch around at once.
During the storyboard phases, I usually like to make little alterations to the story in order to potentially improve upon it before I begin the actual production. Here, I've decided to deviate from the script and instead have Hex Moother ask if the Justice Trio would like a demo. I'm making this change because I no longer feel it's necessary for The Night Pig to interject and establish information that is already obvious to the audience.
Usually when storyboarding, you don't need to account for any of the lighting conditions used in the final scene (or even the colour pallets of the areas and characters) because most of the time, you'll want it so that you can see the characters clearly. In rare moments such as this however, I've actually had to add in a little bit of shading in order to represent Steve Washington walking out of the shadows for his character introduction.
I'll be honest, I didn't think I would even find as many screen cap worthy moments as I did today (I was expecting like, one at most), but with the circumstances I ended up in, I was able to comment on what I was doing quite a bit. Personally I think the changes I made to this part will definitely improve the flow of the story since now I don't have to integrate The Night Pig's interjection into the story. (instead I have Hugo do it, only to get interrupted)
Ok, so it may look like I'm finishing these batches faster and faster, but that's not true, it only looks that way because I haven't done any screen caps for this particular batch.
We Interrupt This Program To Bring You Another Project Management Update
Ok, so because of the fact I've been doing this of a night and the entire day, I've been slacking off a little bit, hopefully I can pick up the pace a little bit
We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Program
here, we can see one problem with how Similar looking Steve and Super Sheep actually are, as the two characters look almost identical from the side (meaning I may have to do a bit of further re-designing in order to make Steve look a little bit more different from Super Sheep while still being the same species as the main hero)
I'd say doing fight scenes is probably the most challenging bit of storyboarding because you have to illustrate every movement while keeping everything look nice and concise (and keep in mind, I'm actively cutting corners in order to get these things done, so who knows how much more challenging it would be to do this without constantly cutting corners)
your probably wondering what this box is. Well you see, this box represents where the camera's original position was before zooming out as represented by the lines with the arrows pointing away from the inner box. (if you wanted a zoom in however, all you'd have to do is draw the arrows pointing towards the box rather than away from it)
Ok, so I'll admit this one was finished yesterday (which would explain the date on the screen cap above the finished batch), but due to complications with wix and a slow internet, I couldn't get the images to load properly (so this image is actually being published later than I originally planned)
I'd say the hardest part of this particular batch was actually drawing Super Sheep upside down. The reason this was a bit of a challenge is because I don't normally draw characters when they're upside down (and even if I did, I'd probably draw them right-side up first and then flip everything upside down after the fact)
Before we move on to the next batch however, I just want to mention that one of the panels actually looks slightly different from the rest if you look really closely at it. The reason for this is because I realised that I'd drawn part of batch nine in the same layer as the actual backdrop, meaning I couldn't move Antler-Man and Spag at the same time. As a result, I had to re-draw Spag (and the two arrows that point at the next panel) in the same layer as Antler-Man and afterwards I covered the belements I drew in the background layer via the fill tool. As a result of that however, I had to re-do the boarder of the second panel (because of how high I set the tolerance on the fill tool and how it caused the boarder to disappear because some of the elements I drew touched it), which is why it looks slightly different now.
Here, I've decided that I don't feel like re-drawing ALL the characters again in the third panel since all the characters are going to be in a similar pose anyway, so I'm going to try copying and pasting it so that I can move the copied illustration and then make any alterations I need to from there, Normally this wouldn't be very practical since each panel usually features the characters in different poses in each panel, but since these two panels will be so similar, I figured it would be worth copying and pasting this time around.
Remember when I said I could only move stuff around during the early stages of each batch? well throw all that garbage out the window, as I'm only now realising that I can just use the select tool in order to move specific segments of the storyboards around (I.E: Super Sheep's head)
I'll be honest, I'm beginning to think that the only reason I was even able to do the Captain Cartridge remake was because I went straight for the storyboards without re-writing the script (since I was basically taking that original script and finally putting it to use) because I'm on week 2 of this project's storyboarding phase and I've only managed to cover seven out of the eleven pages I've written so far (over the course of around ten batches mind you), so I do have my doubts as to whether I'll even be able to get it done on time. Hopefully I can prove myself wrong over the next week or so.
aside from the copying and pasting I did in the first panel and the fact I used the select tool to make Spag's head bigger in the fourth panel, not a lot of noteworthy things happened this time.
I'll be honest, I've slowly been realising how pointless a lot of the green screen research has been for this project in particular, since this is an animated video and if I wanted to release a version in Dreams, I'd have to replicate all the green screen effects without the green screen effects anyway.
There was a little bit more copying and pasting going on this time around with Steve and Hex Moother, but not much of note really.
I'll admit, this copying and pasting function is coming in clutch by saving time when doing panels that are similar and/or take place in the same shot, since the time that would have been spent re-drawing everything can be used to alter the copied panel to suit the needs of the current shot and then after that's finished, I can get right to work drawing the next unique panel.
We Interrupt This Program To Bring You Yet Another Project Management Update
ok, so now we're at the part where I can start hitting the panic button, since it's now the final week of the storyboarding process (plus this time slot is also shared with the asset list, so there's that), with that being said though, I'm actually feeling confident that I'll get this done for once, since I'm already most of the way through.
We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Program
I'm starting to get the feeling that I might beat my own record with how many storyboards I've done for a single project, since we're already on batch 15 and the climax is still happening (Ruff Bup ended up using 16 batches total)
Ladies and Gentlemen, we've officially reached Ruff-Bup numbers, as now I've reached batch 16, which I decided to name after the next Sonic game (which is currently speculated to be called "Sonic Rangers"), so now I'm out of mainline games to name these batches after. This means we'll need to draw from the spin-off games if I want to keep up the tradition of naming these batches after games from the Sonic Series.
Before I leave for the night, I just want to quickly mention that I originally wanted to make The Night pig sound like Will Arnett's take on Batman (you can kind of hear what I was going for with The Night Pig's grunts from Super Sheep in Convention F-3), with that being said however, I'm starting to have second thoughts on whether he should sound like that, as I don't think DC would take too kindly to having a character that isn't theirs trying to sound like a Lego version of one of their flagship characters. Luckily, I've got at least one replacement in the pipeline. I could try and get him to sound like Eddie Valiant (played by the late Bob Hoskins) from Who Framed Roger Rabbit instead (and by extension, Mario from The Super Mario Bros Movie since Bob also played Mario in that one), since Eddie himself has a rather gruff voice, but I think it'll be easier for me to get a little bit more emotional range out of it, so if The Night Pig does end up sounding different, you'll know why.
And as a result, I've officially broke my own record for most storyboards done on a single project of mine.
In this screen shot, I've decided to add in a little line after the arrow. This line is to indicate that this is the end of the character/object's path.
we're getting closer and closer to the finish line gang.
for this one, I decided to change how Super Sheep destroys Hex's flying machine so that he uses his laser eyes instead, the reason I did this was because I felt it would be better if Super Sheep used more of his powers in this short. I predict it'll take me at least two or three more batches before I finally finish the storyboarding process. (give or take whatever extra changes I decide to make at this point)
All I need now is to keep up the good pace and I should be done by the time the weekend hits (so around Saturday or Sunday)
We're almost there
This means I've got a new personal record of 22 batches for a single project, and if you're wondering about why 22 and Joe Gardener from Pixar's soul are here, it's because I wanted a visual joke where the character of 22 is featured on batch 22, like Knuckles, they won't appear in the actual cartoon.
So How Was Doing The Storyboards?
I'll be honest, much like a lot of my other projects, this part started off quite refreshing but then as I went further and further along, it started to get a little bit tedious. (not to mention how this is a much longer project, which can really Luckily, I was able to take the "one batch per day" approach a little bit more, but even then I did still have to kick it up a notch since now I've only got about a day or two to work on the asset and shot lists. Not to mention how I ended up running out of screen cap worthy moments once batch 18 was complete, so it'll end up looking like I'd completed every other batch faster than I actually did, but now this part is finally over and I can move on to bigger and better things once the asset and shot lists are done. Don't get me wrong, I do see why having storyboards is important and I do think it's better to have them, I think once I get Slamination Studios off the ground, I'll probably hire someone else to handle that part for me (under my supervision of course)
The Asset/Shot Lists
Now these lists are super important because they'll help you communicate what props, sets, characters, costumes and shot types you'll need in order to tell the story. While the storyboards could be used to communicate the shot types you'll need if yo do a good enough job during this phase, but because I cut as many corners as I could get away with, I'll need a shot list to go with it, so without further ado, let us begin:
oh by the way, the asset list's finished now:
I'll be honest, doing the asset list was fairly easy because all I was really doing was listing what Assets I'll need. With that being said, I don't really want to do a shot list this time since this is a personal project and not a college one (so I don't have to worry about getting a lower grade for lacking certain elements), with that establish I'll be moving swiftly to designing the character of Spag (that way I'll have a reference to use when making the 3-D model)
Designing Spag
Ok, so now that the boring bit is out of the way, it's time to finally design the character of Spag, the leader of the Bollen Super Hero Agency, which means it's time to come back to Pixlr (my favourite Photoshop alternative):
So How Was Designing Spag?
I figured that doing this design would be quite easy since I do this sort of thing quite a bit, but this is just getting ridiculous now since I did this design in less than an hour, which is most unusual for me since it would take me at least an hour or two. (and this time I actually did end up taking screen caps too, so it could have actually taken even less time than this) The only thing I do wish was that I designed Spag sooner, that way I could take this time to evaluate whether I would need to do a re-design in order to improve certain elements because I want to move away from making a bunch of one design wonders (the term "one design wonder" in this refers to characters that only have a single design made for them during the original design process that manages to make it into the final product, an example of this would be Randimeer B. Process from my Captain Cartridge cartoon), but now that Spag has been designed, I'm finally ready to start the asset production and gathering phase.
We Interrupt This Program To Bring You Another Project Management Update
Alright, so today's the day I begin producing and gathering the assets I'll need for this new cartoon. You might have noticed that I've given myself an extra week to produce said assets, this is because I don't think I'll actually be able to produce all the assets in a single week (which now leaves me with only three weeks of actual production), so I figured the extra time could be used to make sure the assets come out at a high quality
Asset Production And Gathering Day 1: Fields, Cartoon Sheep And A Dingy Apartment building
Today was mainly all about creating the random field that the final fight will take place in as well as re-doing Super Sheep's Dingy apartment to be slightly bigger than it was in the last cartoon. (and also adding in a hallway and a few extra rooms in order to flesh this place out a little bit) Doing this was actually quite challenging due to how once I turned on the final lighting, it was a little bit hart to see what was going on (the dark colour pallet didn't help), I tried to use lights in order to allow people to actually see the whole room (and by extension, the main characters), but I couldn't quite seem to get it to work right. Luckily, I did end up coming to a solution near the end where I'd simply stop the ceiling from casting shadows onto the ground instead. (which means now I've got the natural lighting passing through all the ceilings, so that'll be a fun challenge to figure out how to make it seem like man made light) All that's left for me now is to add in some further detailing and texture work in order to make the place seem more run down like in the last cartoon.
As for the random field, since it's an exterior location (as appose to the Dingy Apartment which is an interior location), I've got the problem of the audience being able to see that the world just ends at some point (since I can only expand it so far before loosing track of the main area of focus. As a result, I decided to surround the whole area with hills that conveniently cover up the fact the world is actually floating above an infinite void of nothing. I also decided to add in a road that goes through the field just to spice it up, plus it gives me an excuse to have a pair of tunnels on either end of the field. For the ground, I decided to take a slightly different approach than what I normally do by instead modifying the default platform so that it looked like there was grass there and then I cloned it a whole bunch in order to make the environment bigger. I also added a couple of "buildings" (actually just the warehouse containers I made for the tension builder exercise) for the sake of a little bit of extra detail (that way, the scene isn't boring to look at)
In between the two locations, I ended up modifying my existing Super Sheep model so that I could move his ears around, I also made extra ears and even a pair of eyebrows in different poses that I can switch out with key frames in order to make Super Sheep himself more expressive than ever before. Doing this did end up being a bigger challenge than I thought it would be because once I rigged the new ear models onto his head, I couldn't seem to get them to stay still as physics would cause them o flop downwards (not even disabling physics seemed to do any thing, as it ended up breaking the rig in a similar vain to Ruff Bup's horse, although it wasn't as severe as this time, as all I had to do was undo the changes and the rig would get fixed)
After I did up Super Sheep, I remixed that model in order to create Steve Washington (since it was easier than re-doing the sheep model from scratch), all I had to do for him was make the textures on his body radically different and then recolour his hooves so that they were red instead of blue. That's all I really got done today, and I've got a long road ahead of me.
Asset Production And Gathering Day 2: Making The Dingy Apartment Dingier, Creating The Human Characters And Modifying Cartoon Pigs
Today, I mainly touched up Super Sheep's dingy Apartment in order to make it seem even dingier than it was yesterday by adding in areas of green mould via the spray-paint tool in sculpt mode, However, because I'd made most of the walls and the ceiling live clones of the floor, I only really had to spray-paint one of the cubes and the texture would be replicated on all the clones, for example, if I spray-painted one side of the floor cube, it would replicate that edit on the same side of all the cubes, which is perfect for doing things like uniquely textured walls without adding on to the Graphics Thermometer. As you can imagine, this saved me tons of time when working on adding the mould texture (since that was part of the original version of this area), and I even added a couple of cracks on to the floor and walls. (not that anyone's going to notice the one on the floor due to the camera angle)
Before I finished up here, I decided to try and figure out a different way to light the room fully without giving the game an aneurism over the amount of spotlight shadows in the scene and eventually, I came to a fairly decent solution where I'd have lights emanating down from the corners of the room. I put in six lights and I think the scene looks fairly decent (four for each corner and two in the middle) since now I can actually see the characters clearly and the ceiling. (which means the ceiling is allowed to cast shadows again)
After that, I got to work creating Spag himself using the 2-d drawing as a reference model like I did with all the other characters I made. For this guy however, I decided to have his moustache be a separate element from the rest of his face so that I could make it seem hairy without accidentally doing the same with the rest of his face, other than that minor difference in how I do things it was pretty much smooth sailing for the rest of his design process. The only thing I would say is that doing the 2-D elements is still one of the more time consuming parts, especially the mouth since I have to draw all the different expressions as separate frames (meaning I'd constantly need to colour everything if it happened to be an open mouth pose or even just one that showed his teeth), other than that, it wasn't too much hassle.
After he was over and done with, I decided to touch up The Night Pig so that his ears would be able to move like Super Sheep and Steve's could. When I did it this time however, I found that I was actually able to get it so that his ears wouldn't flop around a whole bunch. Turns out the problem I was having with Steve and Super Sheep were that their ears weren't directly grouped to their heads, so after I did the Night Pig , I rectified this with the other two and found that doing this actually fixed the problem.
After that triumphant revelation, I decided to get to work on producing Antler-Man, who I decided to just make a remix of Spag in order to save time making another human model from scratch. To turn Spag into Antler-Man, I simply altered the proportions, retextured his body, changed the moustache into a moose nose and even added a pair of big antlers on top of his head. The only reason I ended up stopping was because Liverpool was playing for the first time in ages. (yup, we're transitioning back to normal alright)
You might think this is a bad thing (which it is in most circumstances because it cuts into my time), but this time it might actually be a blessing in disguise since now I can use this as an excuse to do some concept art for Hex Moother's lab and the "Bollen Super Hero Agency" Building, so without further ado, let's begin.
It's Concept Art Time
Really I should have done this before designing the first asset, but I ended up being pressed for time so I'm doing it while I have the chance. First I want to start off with Hex Moother's Lab since we'll be going there at multiple points in the story.
I'm only going to be screen capping this bit of concept art though because I feel the process for both should be similar enough to where I can say everything I need to in one go.
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