Creative Collaboration 2023
In September 2023, I was given the assignment to work in a group and produce a final product that could be shown in a film, my contribution would be for the group to decide, my skillset allowed me to be flexible, as I have experience in sound and music production, concept art, animation, game design, and more. The following are weekly updates on proceedings.
Week 1
I was introduced to my allocated group, we had a film student, as well as music, photography, art, game design, etc. It was a mixed bag of skills. Out the gate, those of us who were in class began discussing ideas and allocating resources. I was concerned about how I would fit in, with film, sound design, music, and concept art all being taken very quickly. I would have to work hard to figure out my place. Once I was home, I began looking at what I could bring to the table, and discussed with the group over Whatsapp on themes. Week one was all about horror, as it was getting close to October.
Link 1: http://cits.tamiu.edu/kock/pubs/journals/2005journalijec/kock2005.pdf
Link 2: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1938-02525-001
Week 2
In the second week there was a lot of talk online, many ideas were thrown out. Several people wanted to make a political film, I was opposed to this as I felt something so serious should not be attempted with complete strangers with different viewpoints and opinions. It was a lot of extra stress on top of getting to know our new group. The week was spent discussing politics, horror, and how to combine them. I tried drawing some simple horror tropes to get the ball rolling on discussion.
Week 3
Plans were made to meet up with the group and discuss further ideas, however, these plans fell through and I was left waiting for people to turn up until nightfall. Communication online had slowed as everyone started to come up with different ideas. I was innitially tasked with making a game to be shown, but discussions were needed to explain that gamedesign is a lengthy process, and I cannot make a game in a month. I awaited further information and for my role to come into affect. The theme of "Alien invasion" was decided.
Link 1: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0729436960150107
Link 2: https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/IEJ/article/view/6805/7445#page=33
Week 4
Due to an emergency, I had to leave the country and work remotely. I discussed with my group on what I would need to do, and was tasked with... Filming outside unique british archetecture. While in America. This was obviously not possible, attempts at negotiations were made. I continued to design ideas in order to have something to show, including alien designs, and the sketching of an animation idea.
Link 1: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks/4008/
Link 2: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2216075
Week 5
The group continued to message me, asking for video footage, I repeatedly explained that I was not in the country and tried to offer a compromise by saying I could film desert scenes, as I was currently in a desert. This was "Not needed" and I was asked to come into university... Which I couldn't, because I was not in the country. This had gotten quite repetitive, so much so that I had to reach out to lecturers to try and find a compromise. I decided to take some photos and videos of the desert, just in case the group changed their mind, below are a small selection from roughly 160 photos and videos taken.
Link 1: https://www.lv426.de/articles/files/DarkVisions_1.pdf
Link 2: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20479299
Week 6
I pitched a short animation idea of a man driving through a desert, complaining about the radio, before an alien glow is emitted above him, and he panics. Cut to black, the end. I created a short example of my animation idea, there was some push-back from the group, but I could not see any other way to contribute. Communication was at an all-time low and nothing was being done. I decided to take the innitiative, negotiations were at a stalemate and progression on the project had not progressed in weeks. Due to this, I tried to continue working on what I could, but direction was feeling quite aimless.
Link 1: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-OTUJDZcAzLcDhFbVN3TjdwUnc/view?resourcekey=0-0xnyoFuQV-5wokzxfpawLg (I own the paperback version)
Week 7
Communication between group members had fallen in the following week, discussions on themes and events had dwindled to about 4 people making contributions. Once I was aware that the group itself was not imperative to succeed, I began reaching out to others who were working on projects. I came across a student who was in the same situation as me, he was working on a 2D platformer, but was still new to pixel animation. I agreed to help him by creating concept pieces and animate in pixel art.
Week 8
I did not burn any bridges with my orignal group, I stayed in the whatsapp channel and provided work as, and when, required. I worked on sound design, as it appeared that was lacking. I also discussed ideas closely with my new platforming friend, learning about each world, the art style, and building a moodboard of ideas. We met up in person and discussed everything that was required of me as the new concept artist.
Link 2: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9461355
Week 9
I drew a few more concept pieces for the new group, while also working on making some alien music for the old group, something that was not requested, but we did not have any music at this point. So I focused my efforts on what was lacking.
The following links are to the alien tracks I made:
Week 10
Pixel animation began this week, the protagonist is a knight fighting his way through multiple "worlds", which included: A medieval town, a forest, a swamp, an underground cavern, and a hellscape lava world. after a call that lasted a couple hours, I had everything I needed to start work. I began by focusing on the knight, spending a day designing and animating a run cycle for him. The rest of the week was bouncing back and fourth pixel art of level background screens, the first being the lava world as inspiration struck, I loved the level design from Earthworm Jim, which I have included as an image below. The level from Earthworm Jim is quite literally hell, whereas the level we were designing is more of a "hell on earth" vibe, with active volcanos and ash filled skies. I included the finished background animation under the Earthworm Jim image.
Link 2: https://journal.binus.ac.id/index.php/jggag/article/view/8565
Week 11
More art! By now I'm getting into my new role and having a lot of fun. My new partner has a lot of ideas and is working hard. It's such a refreshing change. I may want to work with him in the future on projects. Some pixel art was hand-drawn, while the medieval village was an attempt of using 3D assets in unity, and pixelating the image. The 3D style would certainly be the fastest way of making these, but copyright would be an issue if this was to become a released game.
Link 1: https://jaars.journals.ekb.eg/article_177174.html
Link 2: https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/f4752p912
Week 12
Music. With the pixel game needing music, and me being the only member of the team with any experience in music, I decided to take on this role as well. I'm no master at composing music, but I was sure I could create something worth using. I began by taking samples of other songs, and adding my own instruments on top. This was the fastest method of creating decent results.
The following are links to the music, in the form of youtube links.
Week 13
This week was spent exploring music further, looking at the themes and trying to compose something a little more unique.
The following are links to the music, in the form of youtube links.
Week 14
Idea generation for enemies in the game. With the backgrounds coming along nicely, the music being presentable and the movement of the character lookig good, it was time to add enemies into the game. I looked at the themes we currently had (Medieval town, forest, ice world, swamp, desert ,beach, underwater, cave, lava biome) and started designing possible enemies. These were rough of course as they were just to get the idea across, anything chosen to be taken forward will have more detailed designs made. I brought these with me at our meeting which went smoothly. We discussed enemies, locations and I was given the task of splicing together the backgrounds we had, and the music, into a short video that showed every area.
Link 2: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/126784/MarikaNieminen_Thesis.pdf
Week 15
More music! I am thoroughly enoying my time with the music. Once I have finished every levels soundtrack, I need to create a short piece that blends all of them, with about 5 seconds of each level, then add images to the music and add that to the video submission.
The following are links to the music.
Link 2:
Week 16
Worked on menu music, including the main menu and save/load menu. I believe at this stage I should have enough music to make my short animation showing each area. I also drew up some design ideas for the main menu layout and background.
The following are links to the music.
Week 17
It was finally time to combine the music into one composition, highlighting each levels uniqueness and to be used as a demonstration of what is to come.
A link to the final musical composition: https://youtu.be/z06d5_b-hLk
Same file on OneDrive: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AqjRHd-aqUMXgbIM8IuGAOV9UhINqw?e=169OGU
Week 18
After creating all of the above, I felt it prudent to focus my efforts on other modules. What was required of me had been accomplished to a suitable standard that the group was happy with, it was now up to the lead to organise these files into a video.
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