Butterfly Shots

Here are some shots of the scene within my piece where the butterfly flies over the top of the glow bugs. I have explored playing with depth of field in these shots, as a way of pulling focus on different elements within the scene. I have played around with this focus as the voice over talks about different things. For example, initially the focus is pulled on the glow bug which sits within the foregound of the peice and then as it talks about 'objects being able to decieve ... looking like other things', the butterfly in the background flies over the top of the glow bugs and as it reaches the foreground of the frame the focus is pulled to this. I tried to use depth of filed as a device in order to help draw the viewers eye to different asspects within the scene.

Glow Bug: Transition possibilities

One thing that I need to consider is the way that that my glow bug works. Then the wing casings open here the ball on the back of the bug starts to glow. In this test I have taken the idea of the red back which is the colour generally associated with these tablets and have the colour change to the yellow/green glow colour. However is this necessary? Does it need to start red and change to the yellow/green colour? Could I just keep it yellow/green from the start. A benefit of this is that if I sit my bug in the scene next to actual tablets then I could just colour correct the tablets in post, if I require. It would make this simpler and mean that I wouldn't have to have this transition from red to the yellow, just have the wing cases open/close.

GLOW BUG IN SCENE

Here is a test render with my glow bug comped into the scene. I think that it works well. I think that the bug appears as if it sits nicely within the scene and that the occlusion gives it a lot more depth and helps the bug apear as if it is in the scene and not just stuck on top.

Glow bugs

Here are some shots of the final designs for my glow bugs.

I wanted to make sure that the shapes for the glow bugs didn't seem too perfect, as they are meant to hint that they could be washing tablets and not 'hit people in the face' with it. I have had to try to find a balance, until I found what worked. I'm happy with how the legs connect to the body now. I have pushed back the sections around where the legs meet the body a little, so that it seems as if the legs are part of it and not just stuck on.

Volkswagen: The Making of the "Black Beetle" Commercial

A friend sent me a link to this the other day. Although I've seen the actual animated advert I hadn't seen this before. I think that this making of is brilliant. Especially considering the similarity in the subject matter to my own work. I think that what this piece does is highlight the importance of 'making of's' in showing the amount of work that goes into a piece of work. The way that it breaks shots down is great in terms of how the different mediums are composited together, for example the 3D animation onto the backgrounds. This is definitely the way that I want to go with my 'Making of' for this project.

Popping Lid

After talking through ideas with Ste, I have had play at folding the legs back inside the tin. As the shoehorn, head shape pops the lid the legs rush back inside. At the end of my scene when the cupboard door is opening all of the bugs need to hide/be camouflaged so that they can't been seen as 'bugs' in the end shot.

When I have been considering this I have been looking for reference in a few places. I have looked at how tortoises retract back into their shells and also snails in order to see how natural/or not the movement is.

Here is a test, showing how the insect will retract into its shell:

Insect Development (2)

Character, ("Elephant Beetle")

This insect is based on the "Elephant Beetle".

Here is a basic mockup of the bug design. Obviously at this stage this looks as it does, a shoe polish tin with legs stuck on. So now, I need to play with the design so that it suggests the tine but its more like a natural bug shape that has evolved in sections to suggest the tin design.