The catch-up post

Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to get this live. I'm going to post everything accomplished on my thesis piece here, starting from the very beginning.

So to start, here's my script.

"Script for “Hotdog Wizard”

Elevator Line: A wizard who can only create hotdogs with his powers has an identity crisis in an arms race with a competing wizard.

Theme: We are all good at something, even if that something is small in comparison to others.

Ext. View of Central Park, New York City. It’s early, sun just rising. It’s autumn.

Cut to a sidewalk in the park. We see a small, old, pudgy man with a moustache and glasses pushing along a silver cart. After a short while he seems satisfied with a spot, and stops. He puts the brakes on, opens the umbrella, fixes it up, sets up a small stool behind the cart. He pulls out a small, cone-shaped hat, dusts it off, and ritualistically places it atop his balding head. He opens a small wooden sign in the front of his cart, which reads “The AMAZING Hotdog Wizard.” He steps on the stool behind the cart and folds his hands, waiting for customers.

We see people beginning to walk into the park. Most just walk by, but eventually a young man glances at the sign and is at first confused, then intrigued. He walks up to the HDW (HotDog Wizard) and places some money on the cart’s counter. The HDW nods, and, opening a drawer on his cart, pulls out a flower with flourish. By this point, a small crowd has gathered around the cart. Holding the flower up, the HDW wiggles his fingers and, poof, there is a puff of smoke. Once it clears up, we see the flower has been replaced by hotdog. There is clapping, and the man takes a bite out of his hotdog. It’s delicious. The HDW takes a small bow. People begin to clamor around the stand, waving money at the HDW. A montage ensues, where the HDW turns all manner of objects into hotdogs.

All of sudden there is a large puff of smoke to the right, interrupting the HDW, blowing his hat askew. Everyone glances to where the smoke came from, and there is a tall, handsome man, standing next to an elaborate stand, cloaked. He whips off his coat with a flourish, revealing bright clothes underneath. He snaps his fingers and the cloak disappears in a puff. The crowd claps, he bows, and then snaps his fingers again, creating a neon sign above the stand flashing “THE WHATEVER-YOU-WANT WIZARD!”

We then see the same man from before cautiously walk up to the WYWW, and give him some money. The WYWW smirks, claps his hands, and a golden wristwatch appears. The man’s eyes widen and he grabs the watch greedily as the crowd ooos and ahhs. Then, visibly, the crowd as a clump moves over from the HDW stand to the WYWW, waving money. The HDW reaches forward in vain, trying to stop the group, but it’s to no avail.

What then follows is a montage of the WYWW making various objects for people. There will be three cuts to the HDW, during this time, with each time flanked by 1 or 2 instances of the WYWW creating something for the various patrons. The first cut will show the HDW with a new, hastily made sign saying “50% off.” Second will be the same sign saying 99% off, with the “50%” painted over. The final cut will be initiated when the WYWW creates a bunch of hotdogs for the whole crowd to cheers. The HDW is shocked, then dejected, then depressed. He slumps over, and slowly takes off his hat. He steps off of his stool, forgotten by the crowd.

We then cut to the WYWW’s crowd, where a small boy, who looks like a bad kid, with a black skull shirt, pushes to the front of the crowd and thrusts money up to the WYWW, who takes it and then looks at the kid expectantly. The kid holds up a piece of paper; we don’t see it’s contents. The WYWW strokes his chin, nods, and, smirking, claps his hands.

We cut back to a bird’s eye view of the park. There’s a large poof, and there is a giant T-Rex standing over the park, blinking stupidly.

Back to the crowd. There is a beat, and then everybody is screaming, all except the WYWW and the boy (who looks jubilant).  The WYWW laughs and goes to snap his fingers to get rid of the T-Rex. However, before he can, the T-Rex steps on the WYWW, removing him from the equation. The dinosaur roars.

Pandemonium ensues. Seemingly oblivious, the HDW is closing his umbrella, with his back turned from his stand. Suddenly, the T-Rex stomps on the stand, breaking it into a million pieces, causing the HDW to jump. He looks at the stand, then adjusts his glasses and looks at the T-Rex. Another roar. The HDW’s brow furrows, he slams his hat back on his hat, rolls up his sleeves, and with a determined look, wiggles his fingers at the T-Rex, who turns into a giant hotdog. The gigantic hotdog slams to the ground in the field behind the HDW, causing the earth to shake. There is a beat, and the frazzled people begin cheering. They rush the HDW and begin throwing him into air. He’s at first surprised, then pure joy crosses his face as he realizes that he’s done something good for these people. Fade to black.

Cut to an unspecified time in the future. The HDW has rebuilt his stand (which looks slightly ramshackle). There is a long line coming from his stand. At the front of the line is the WYWW, with an arm in his sling and covered in bandages. There is a new sign: “Come eat a part of the world’s largest hotdog!” The HDW hands over a plate to the WYWW, who, smiling, takes it. The HDW smiles back, looking quietly happy.

Credits"

Next, my initial character designs.

Left: The initial Hotdog Wizard.
Right: The initial Whatever-You-Want Wizard

While the HDW was a success from the outset, I struggled with making the WYWW fit with the HDW, so I redesigned him a number of times and, eventually came up with a finished look I enjoyed. Here's two pictures- one showing a rough idea and then the finished character.

Another rough sketch for the WYWW. This version was a little too evil looking for me, but I enjoyed his chin. Decided to make him more cartoony.

The Whatever-You-Want Wizard. He has the look I'm going for- handsome, yet arrogant. Not EVIL, per se, but very overconfident. Should be noted that despite his red nose he isn't a drunk- well, maybe drunk with power, but not from boozin' it up.

Of course, I had to create the other characters, too. Here's a quick size chart I through together to illustrate exactly how each fits into this world.

An illustration of how each character stacks up to the others.

Speaking of the world, I also did a few test sketches to illustrate what aesthetic I want to go for for the park and city. Here ya go.

Attempted using the blur tool to create depth, but made a mess. Still, a shot like this will probably be used.

So this is the aesthetic I've landed on- washy colors with a loose contour. It's digitally made- of that there's no question- but it still has a handmade touch to it. I enjoy it a lot.

So now you're probably asking yourself, well, thats great and everything, Nick, but when are we going to see an example of a character of this type of environment? Never fear dear reader, I have that, too.

This shot is important because it showcases the process I'll be using. You see, each object is on it's own layer, allowing for easy comp creation when I bring the whole psd into AfterEffects. Elementary, my dear Watson.

I then took this picture a step further and experimented with it in AfterEffects. While, in my opinion, the experiment is a failure, it's one of those failures you learn from. Here it is.

Allow me to explain why this is a failure and how I can learn from it. First, even though the 3D layers work, the camera moving them around doesn't. The sunbursts look much too computer generated, and take away from the hand-craftedness of the original sketch. I'll still use a handful of effects like this, but sparingly and only when the piece calls for it. The one success from the piece is my use of the lens blur tool on various layers, thankfully allowing me to do away with the blur tool in photoshop and instead have a blur I can dynamically change. This was helpful and productive, even it didn't further anything.

And finally, this is my animatic-in-progress. I've only gotten to right before the WYWW appears in this particular build, but I am currently in the thick of creation for the rest right now and will, of course, post it upon completion. 

(please note that the timing hasn't been worked out- that will come after completion of the final one)

Hotdog Wizard Animatic (part 1) from Nicolas Pflug on Vimeo.

Also, to note, I will be adding a bird character that will be the "audience" character that observes all of the story as it unfolds. This will, beyond casting the action in another light, serve two purposes: 1.) it will serve as a means to make us like the HDW because, as he walk to his spot pushing his cart, the bird will land on his shoulder and peck playfully at his head. The HDW will chuckle and will pull some corn from his pocket to give to it. Boom, we like him more now and he becomes a more rounded character. 2.) It will allow for more interesting spatial shots as we see some of the action from where the bird is- in the trees.

All in all, I'd say that I've probably worked on the pieces you see thus far for 23 hours. Of course this number continues to grow as I work on the finished and revised animatic. 

As far as a timeline goes- 

On 9/18, I will have completed my storyboard/ animatic. I will from there be able to deduce how many shots and characters I'll be creating per week leading up to Thanksgiving break. My goal is by 11/20 to have fully completed the majority of my assets, giving me roughly two months of creation time. On returning from Thanksgiving break, I will then have two weeks to compile all of my assets in AfterEffects and create an extremely rough but serviceable build of the animation, allowing me to spend the majority of next semester on clean-up animation, sound, and overall refinement. 

Also, hot dogs are delicious.