Animatic

Storyboard: complete?

Storyboarding

I'm in the process of colourizing, and finding a good balance between:

- interesting narration (that incorporates many smaller narrative questions and answers, which accumulate and lead up to the final message of the film)

- eliminating confusing or ambiguous visualizations and plot twists (that would detract from viewer interest and understanding)

- finding a way to visually unify the various scales (and rendering styles) used in the mini story arcs (i.e. the intro [zoom in] from the organism down to a cellular scale, the more 'schematic' gene rearrangement segment, the tissue/cellular level visualization of bursal follicles, another schematic approach in gene conversion, and the final zoom out showing the repercussions/happy ending of the creation of a diverse b-cell repertoire) ... but at the same time use a variety of scene compositions and dynamic shots

- keep everything as scientifically accurate as possible (--> choosing words carefully in the script)

- prioritize time logically: i.e. don't go into too much detail in one topic, and neglect another..

- in a similar vein: I'm looking forward to finding creative solutions, outside of rendering everything in 3D, to depict some of these processes (I think a lot of the cellular and tissue landscapes will be done in maya, and the molecular segments may be done using an AfterEffects, animatic approach, and I may also use live action footage if there isn't time to render a chick)

Colour Palette Sketches (These will be a bit less saturated, and used sparingly with a much more glossy, ivory/white dominated theme):

Intro Sketches

A meeting with Alberto Martin today about the mechanism of gene conversion was very helpful, though I think the take-home message is that animating the process in great detail might be beyond the scope of this project.

Preproduction class: very interesting concepts about how to tell [non-fiction] stories, in modular, mini story arcs with their own intros, body, conflicts and conclusions.


I like how applying photographic lens effects to storyboard sketches works!
Now, to watch classic movies with creative camera shots.. and old disney movies for colour, and plot device inspirations..

A hatchery is revealed with the sunrise.




One chick embryo is at its 12th day of development.




Its bones and developing liver, kidney, and spleen are sites of active hematopoeisis.




Stem cells are dividing and differentiating into immature B Cells.




Meanwhile, something curious is happening to their DNA..

Beat Board Sketches

A 15 day old chick embryo, and its developing organs, are revealed inside an egg.

Zooming into a young B Cell nucleus, an animation depicting gene rearrangement is shown.

B Cells then cross into epithelial buds, probably following dendritic cell chemoattractants.

Zooming back into the nucleus, gene conversion is observed (‘2D on screen’, and then 3D).

The chick hatches with a diverse B cell repertoire, thanks to gene conversion.

A Photometaphor of Gene Conversion..

There once was a rocky shore by a lake.

And on that shore lived a pile of rocks. But all was not well with this accumulation of stones. It was sad.

It would watch the various, curious creatures flow in and out of its part of the beach, each with its own busy life and unique purpose..

One day, the rock pile realized the source of its unhappiness. It was so disorganized!

Then along came some helpful hands! They began poking and rearranging the pile of rocks..

And went to great lengths maneuvering new stones out of nooks and crannies along the beach to add to the pile..

Every new addition was placed on the growing stack precisely, and deliberately. 

It should also be noted how unique every individual rock was; a little examination would uncover sedimentary stories of deep time, ancient oceans, and evolutionary plots long buried..

Gradually, the haphazard accumulation of stones metamorphosed into a recognizable structure.. 

An inukshuk! 

Legend has it that inukshuks point the way to paths leading weary travelers in the direction of salvation..

Or in this case, a cool respite on a sunny day by the beach.

The end.

Explanation: 

-Stone Pile is the Immunoglobulin Gene Locus

-Each stone represents a sequence of DNA, and the rocks scavenged are analogous to pseudogenes

-Hands are proteins

- Pointing the way to DQ = immunoglobulin gene is the blueprint/encoded message leading to an Ig protein

progress 2.0

I've been really enjoying the creative brainstorming we do in storyboarding, preproduction class.

Some things we've talked about in class I think will be especially applicable:

Aesthetics:

- camera lenses that distort, play with perspective, depth of field, focus, and spacing of successive characters

- changing location of hotspot (point of interest in a still), especially in a wave-pattern over time

- rule of thirds, and positioning the scene using unsymmetrical, sometimes sidelong PoVs

Abstract/General Concepts:

- taking advantage of people's tendencies to narrate and accept very different, cut-and-pasted scenes as a cohesive story

Suggestions specific to my beatboard sketches and story:

- use more exciting, unusual camera views to tell the story (i.e. shifting hotspot location on screen)

- make sure my film message and/or title is active: i.e. instead of (Gene Conversion in the Bursa of Fabricius, or Gene Conversion and Avian B  Cell Development) --> Gene Conversion is a Crucial Step in Creating B Cell Repertoires in the Avian Model

- emphasize the importance of this research/message to people and society: 

1. future therapeutic potential by harnessing gene conversion process 

2. the same DNA-altering machinery is active in many human diseases

3. non-Ig gene conversion thought to play a role in creating protein families (i.e. hox genes, hemoglobin genes)

4. general interest: completely different method of generating millions of unique antibodies than the one humans employ! Is it better? More efficient? More dangerous?

Major Roadblocks Remaining:

- how to effectively visualize gene conversion and gene rearrangement (will definitely start out with more simple, 2D animation first..)

- keeping in mind time constraints

- my own limited knowledge of protein-protein and dna-protein interactions (reading about how knock-out mutations affect the frequency of successful gene conversion is a much different thing than knowing and visualizing what these proteins actually do to DNA to make gene conversion happen!)

- procuring some good reference images of relevant chick embryo anatomy

- procuring some good reference images of the Bursa's histology / epithelial buds / follicles

science of animation and education

A lot of the animation and design literature I've been reading are all ominously warning about similar things, it looks like:

- don't have too much detail (it's distracting and overwhelming)

- use visual cues / graphic devices (like arrows, transparencies, highlighting with colour, different line weight, cut-aways etc.)

- go slowly on complicated parts

- don't combine text with speech, or text with too much/any animation

And... a lot are pretty adamant that the only way to deliver a good, educational animation is to make it interactive. This gives the viewer control to stop, pause, and rewind at will, which can solve the problem of 'too-much-information-too-fast'.

In conclusion, my current visual solution of using both schematic and realistic rendering styles could be improved if I add scene selection capabilities to the end product.

(Thanks science!)

research methods final presentation