Twenty To Nine

Adaptation

Interim Crit
By Lydia Caplan

TEXT to ANIMATED SHORT

[Primary Focus on Set Design]

AUDIENCE PG ADAPTED from GREAT EXPECTIONS by CHARLES DICKENS

[BASED on the character of MISS HAVISHAM and the SET of SATIS HOUSE]

PROPOSED SYNOPSIS
As the camera pans round the decaying wedding breakfast in Satis House, it tells the tragic story of an almost wedding and the on-going heart break felt by the would have been bride. Both music and set design build an empathetic and sober take upon the character of Miss Havisham within Great Expectations. The short, slow paced pans assist in creating the atmosphere and leads to the final reveal a live action shot of Miss Havishams reflection portrayed within the mirror, hanging opposite the cobweb veiled dining table.

Initial Model And Renders of the wedding Cake

Style Ideas

Experimenting with colour pencils, watercolours and pen drawing different aspects of Miss Havisham's Wedding Breakfast.

'Shopping For Miss Havisham' involved first hand research, where I visited the following antique shops in Rochester; Kaizen, Carters and Fieldstaff Antiques. I took photographs of items I thought I would find within Miss Havisham's Satis House. I will be using the photographs to draw concepts from, as well as referencing when modelling the set.

A selection of photographs I took of a dying bouquet of roses. I then progressed to edit colour, contrast and texture to bring the images to life. Several of the images I will use to inspire form/shape and texture within my modelled set. I think its both beautiful and haunting to have something decay, yet remain perfectly formed - this is what I can see within Miss Havisham's Wedding Reception.

As the time 'Twenty to Nine' in Great Expectations holds such an importance in Miss Havisham's life - the time she found out she was not to marry - I thought I'd experiment in Maya. Firstly, I built a rough 3D model of a clock within a bell jar to represent the fact that time has frozen and then continued to test a variety of effects when considering style. I then continued to experiment with my own watercolours/ink works with the software.

I created the following experiments with clay to convey how soft and sunken I want the objects on the table to be; such as the cake as if everything has molded, sunken together. I will also take this logic and apply it to the rest of the room, so it's like the room's erosion is forming the objects that lie within it. I did my own edits/drawings on top of the photographs to bring in the idea of how to texturize the scene. As far as colour palette I'm keen on keeping a sepia tone, but maybe adding a few flashed of colour to bring an 'uncanniness' to the piece.

Using the base shape from my Photoshop thumbnail, I began creating a mock up layout in Maya. With the latter selection of renders I began to edit colour and produce hybrids (using Maya and Photoshop) as I considered lighting, cobwebs, atmosphere and texture. The last two images I want to explore in more depth and in terms of lighting I think 'god rays'/beams of light is the right way to go dramatic, yet realistic to the narrative.

Although tear catchers weren't mentioned within the description of the novel, I felt they had a strong significance - hence should be included within the contents of the dining room. I modelled the item in Maya, then took several renders and continued to edit, tweak, and paint over the images.

Before Easter
Final Concepts/Visualisation Animatic Film Live Action Footage * Modelling the Set and UV Mapping Texturing and Lighting

After Easter
Final Tweaks to Texturing and Lighting Final Tweaks to Camera Movement Rendering

During Easter
Texturing and Lighting Camera Movement Adjusting Live Action Footage

Compositing Animation and Final Touches Art Of and Final Branding

* The live action shot of Miss Havisham will be of her in the wedding dress standing/sitting by the dining table. Although everything around her will have decayed both herself and the wedding dress will appear untouched by time representing the heartache is still as painful as it was all those years ago.