Film Studies & Cinematography: Projects & Exercises

MODULE PVT60104: Film Studies & Cinematography 

Tristan Vaughan Sleep - 0365120

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Film Studies & Cinematography - Assignment

---

MODULE INSTRUCTIONS:

Unlisted

“FEB - MARCH 2025: GCD 64904 / FILM STUDIES & CINEMATOGRAPHY  INFORMATION BOOKLET”

Assignment 3: Designing Robot Design (Weighted 40%)

Assignment III: Students of the cohort are expected to produce a humanoid-built robot. Using the previously acquired skills from the previous exercises or any additional skills produced in this project. Students will be marked on their Strong lighting, effective composition, and high-quality rendering are essential. The final output must be presented using a look development workflow.

---

PARTICIPATED LECTURES:

WEEK I: Introduction to module

Module Briefing: This being the first class of the module, the students of the cohort would meet with the lecturer and be introduced to the topic of Film Studies & Cinematography. In this briefing, students would be given an overview of all aspects in the module, outlining the expectations and learning points taught throughout this module. Furthermore, students would be prompted with a series of questions + tasks to become more confident with the idea of Film Studies. While the module has a greater emphasis on the visuals of a scene and the reasoning behind shots - it's also important to understand aspects of the characters, plots & settings to maximise the communication between the audience and writers.

Exercise Task I - Favourite Films: Functioning both as a student-led introduction and being a decent opener into the course, students would need to find three of their favourite films or series and explain why said student likes them. They should explain any personal experience and emotional connection they have with the film. While the task is quite simple, it proved to be a bit more challenging for me as you have to think more critically about films but also due to it being a personal point to share. 

WALL-E (2008): This film was one of the first films I’d ever watched in a cinema when I was young and became one of my most favourite films - even still to this day. Similar to other Pixar films, WALL-E is a great Adventure story which neatly introduces additional story beats like love/relationships and a message of nature preservation. The film also remains one of my favourites due to expert use of emotions within its rather simple plot - it's a light-hearted film where you can find joy in WALL-E’s observations or mistakes as well as the way he conducts himself without words. At the same time, the film can work with some hard emotions such as romantic interests and loss - it captures the difficulty of trying to express feelings to one another in a way that feels ‘natural (has good & bad moments)’ but also how hard it can be to try to get over or re-spark a failing relationship. 

Looking back at the film with my personal experiences, I’d always relate myself back to the ideas of WALL-E himself: I’ve always had an interest in collecting or experimenting with various items and would try to become knowledgeable as to share my discoveries with others. I’ve been fond of the way that WALL-E remains fascinated by overlooked things and it spurred me into growing curious about the world around me. However, I’ve related myself to WALL-E’s idea of Loneliness: While I like the fact that the film shows that some people are comfortable being on their own when working or relaxing, I do relate to how lonely some days can truly feel.

Spiderverse Series (2018-): By comparison, this film is one of my favourites as it had been a film which inspired me to make changes to myself in a unique way no other film had. I’d originally loved the film because of its graphical design and its focus on meticulous details, but it also offers a fantastic story about personal development and growing more into changes (both internally & externally driven.) One of the key sticking points for me is its emotional story-telling mixed with visuals that completely changed the way various industries approach designs. It's a film which explores the minor emotions experienced with change and amps them up to be more on par with being a superhero. While narratively hyperbolic, it expresses the grandness some emotions of family, self-doubt, interests, responsibilities etc. feel on an individual.

Relating the film back to my idea of being an inspiration, the film showed me a path to change the main characters’ characteristics while re-envigourating my enjoyment of visual design. One of the throughlines I’ve found myself relating the most to in the story is the fear of not being successful on a personal level. As shown mainly through Miles & Gwen, I’ve related more to the idea of wanting to try something or being more expressive but being halted by the fear of failure. Furthermore, also the feeling of being ‘useful(?)’ and taking on additional responsibilities and slowly falling apart as you have too much to try and balance. In the end (thus far) these films however, show that problems can feel insurmountable, with some being so; but they are made more achievable by trying and being more true to who you are personally.

Exercise Task II - KITBULL: For this second task, students had watched a short film in class and was recommended to watch the film again to answer a series of World & Character-related questions. Students were asked to identify who were the main characters within the film as well as explain where the story takes place - relevance to characters. Furthermore, students were then to identify themselves to the main characters to get a better understanding of how emotional story beats can draw on experiences or influence experiences. 

In this Pixar short film, the audience mainly follows what could best be presumed as the main characters, a smaller kitten we can refer to as ‘Kit.’ After being acquainted with their lively routine of exploring town streets and living off scraps to eat or take shelter in, Kit’s life is up-rooted by the introduction of the second Main Character - the Pitbull (or Pit.) While Kit remains the protagonist as they go through a bulk of the change in the story and even takes on the role of being ‘heroic’ in the end, the pitbull also a main character as their small appearance is ultimately what inspires Kit’s emotional changes while also being important to the message as well. As for the environment in the film, it could be expressed that it takes place in ‘multiple worlds’ in the sense that the protagonist has a very shut-in, controlled environment within the card-board box which contrasts the unpredictable and frightening environment of the rest of the world. Interestingly, the worlds do not remain separate and eventually merge together in the end - the idea being that Kit’s controlled environment of trust is tested more with the unforeseen interactions in the rest of the world.

In attempting to identify myself as one of the characters, I’ve found that I can relate partially to both characters and how they're written. In general, I would be more likely to identify myself with Pit rather than Kit: Since I’ve been young, I’ve heard that my demeanour or appearance can be intense to some people which makes me a bit off-putting to converse with them. In similarity with Pit however, I don’t necessarily have the intention to bring any harm to people however, I understand that my demeanour and emotions may convey that. I’d also find myself relating as I would find it difficult to meet other people which can make the desire for socialising harder. However, this sense of relationship is also where I feel that I relate more to Kit. In general, I’m not the one to engage myself in a social environment - I’d rather be prompted into a situation. Furthermore, I do find enjoyment of being on my own and enjoying that space on my own without intrusion. As for Kit’s behaviour, I can understand why they can be outwardly ‘aggressive’ to others they may not know - trust is something I struggle to maintain with some people and I believe that can be a good thing.

Exercise Task III - Pixar Shorts: For the third task of this week, students would need to look through the catalogue of Pixar’s Short films and answer a series short question - exploring the aspects of narrative design in said films. Students would need to answer the following: Analyse what makes these stories great from an emotional connection and personal experiences, create your own ‘what if’ idea and create differences within the story and think of the main characters and world that can inspire your story. For this task, I’ve considered looking at one of the classics of Pixar’s Short films being ‘Geri’s Game.’

In brief, Geri’s game is about an elderly man named Geri who shows up to a seating area within a park alone and begins to play a game of chess against himself. Throughout his game, Geri presents himself playing against a more confident player with a more aggressive playstyle which is different to his more reserved demeanour - ultimately ending with Geri faking a heart-attack to switch the board and win the game. It should be noted that this film’s focus on Geri’s expression throughout his game was the main goal of the short - Pixar wanted to demonstrate their new animation ability to portray complex human emotions completely using CGI which is very present in the film. From Geri’s actions alone, the audience can clearly see the overbearing-confidence of the ‘antagonistic’ side vs the stressed-out and shaken ‘protagonist’ side - using emotions to convey character traits and narrative importance. It accurately captures the competitive nature of people and shows how games can be both for fun but can also be a point of pride/satisfaction. One interesting observation is the lack of other characters - something the shorts show constantly; while it highlights the isolation of the character, it's not painted as a bad thing. Geri is shown to be having a good time by himself which is made more interesting as he’s playing a social game. While isolation from the outside can seem lonely, it can also be one's choice of enjoyment.

Looking at the film and wanting to pose a ‘what if’ question, I came up with a few ideas to try and change elements of the plot. My first Idea is ‘what if Geri was in a park with other players BUT still played against himself.’ As he continues to play his game with more confidence, others watch on to see which old man wins. The visual can include shots of on-lookers' reactions to the moves with some even taking sides on which Geri would win. While a small change, this can open the idea of self confidence, maybe no one wants to play Geri or he’s unable to ask but with him demonstrating his skills in chess - some players may wish to challenge him. Another idea is ‘what-if Geri faced another old man’ with the pair of them exploiting each other's foggy memory and age. While the idea may seem more comedic, it could also serve as a highlight to the difficulties faced by the elderly and may even show some ways to support them.

WEEK II: Creating Character/ Character Profiles

Understanding Characters’ Personality: In the second week, students would be more informed about the requirements of Project 1 and would be given a series of tasks to prepare themselves for said Project. In this week’s activity, our tasks would centre around creating characters and believable profiles. Looking again at Pixar’s short films, we would need to watch ‘Bao’ and would answer questions related to the characters’ presentations.

“Pixar Shorts: BAO”

The short film is presented with two opposing main characters being the Mother and her Son with the mother working to keep her son from being close to her while he wants to be more independent/free. The mother’s personality is shown to be motherly in an overly-cautious  way where she tries to shield her son from all forms of harm and believes she should be able to reach anytime she feels worried. The son on the other hand is shown to have an adventurous personality, wanting to meet and play with new people and trying to maximise his enjoyment of his youth. Both of the characters' personalities are shown to be at odds with one another. 

“Characters: Internal vs. external features”

Character Internal Features & External Features: Another key aspect of these character designs is their features - both external and internal. Looking at the mother, her external features show that she’s an older lady wearing outfits often associated with modern Chinese culture. Internally, she’s shown to be sad/empty before the introduction of her son where she changes to be more energetic and happy in his presence. However, this also presents her as clingy and protective of her son as she’s always watching for him and changing her activities around him. 

For the son, he’s presented to be a smaller Bao roll made by the mother, shown to be physically smaller and sensitive. Internally, he’s shown to be energetic and adventurous as he’s always moving around and looking to join groups with other kids. As he gets older, his adventurous behaviour becomes emotionally combative with his mother, trying to distance himself from her and ignoring anything she says to him. 

Character Wants & Needs: In order to make conflict within the scene and to make the characters more dynamic, it's important to set their wants and needs - having an individual conflict stressed by the main narrative. Looking again at the film ‘Bao,’ we can identify that the son wants to enjoy himself and be independent but he needs to be more considerate of his familial relationship. However, sometimes the want and need can support one another but requires a change in the character. This is seen in the mother - she wants to protect and make her son happy but she needs to learn to let them go.

“Characters: Obstacles”

Character Obstacles: To further add complications and entertainment to the narrative, writers often include either/both internal and external obstacles which causes contention in the characters. This can best be seen with the mother character: her internal obstacle comes from the fear of letting go of her son as she worries too much about him. This is compounded by her external obstacle being distant or removed from her son - she’s unable to care for him or be around him which drives her internal fear more. 

“Characters: Arcs and stakes”

Character Arcs & Developments: With the limitations and obstacles established to the characters, it is important to demonstrate the ability to adapt and change into better people come the end of the story - being the personal arc each character goes on. Once again looking at the film ‘Bao,’ the mother is the main character who goes on the greatest arc in the story. In the beginning, she’s shown to be very possessive of her son to the point where she has him follow her around and not be his own person. Come the middle of the story, she starts to see a change in the son's behaviour where he tries to cut her out of his life as much as he can and even leaves to go with his presumed fiance. By the end, she sees the separation she’d created between them and was worried about losing her son forever but, with some help from the father, encourages the mother to be more open to the son's new life and chooses to support him rather than control him. They finally get to share time without one another without fighting occurring between them.

Character Stakes: This final progression/arc may be inspiring but is not made rewarding in the eyes of the viewer without the introduction of stakes - something the characters have the potential to lose. As referenced previously, in the mother’s arc, her main external stake was the possibility to ruin the relationship with her son and never see him again. However, there were other stakes she came close to such as a philosophical stake of making her son unhappy/depressed should she have kept him away from the world. 

WEEK III: Story Structure 

Understanding Story Spine: For the third week’s activity and serving as an introduction into the first project: students are being more formally introduced to the story-telling and its effective methods of structuring their stories. In general, this week’s activity is about addressing the idea of story beats as demonstrated by story writers at Pixar - being written as a plot point which continues to expand and adding more points which further expand. In addition to this, I would also be referencing the writing structure proposed in another Module; Narrative Writing, which is similarly structured using the Goldsmiths method.

“Story Structure: Story Spine”

Story Structure: As mentioned in the video presented by Pixar story writers, an effective and simple method of writing a story is separating action to the three acts and then building upon the prior point to make a cohesive story. In the Goldsmiths method, the idea is more-or-less the same however, it looks into identifying the five major actions within the plot and then building smaller supporting actions around them to make a more cohesive story. In this activity, we’re recommended to take our existing stories and develop them according the Story Spine Idea:

Act One - Normalcy and Problem: In the beginning of the story, we’re introduced to a young man named Harry Scott who’s moving into his new apartment as he’s pursuing university education. In his hometown, he was an outgoing person: playing sports and entering in competitions which helped him to make friends through shared activities. However, moving into the larger city with no support around him, Harry grows more introverted and feels like he’s alone - feeling depressed about his empty new life.

Act Two - Response, stakes, lowest point: Recognising the loneliness he feels, Harry responds by trying to make new friends; spotting a park across from his apartment full of people playing board games.  Reaching the park entrance, he feels a rush of emotions; being worried about making the wrong impressions and becoming further isolated which would only worsen his mental state. Despite making the great leap of walking into the park and being open to the people around him, he notices that he isn’t making any connections and plans on going home.

Act Three - Climax and Morale: Just as he turns to leave the park for good, Harry is stopped by an older man who purposely blocks him and asks to join him in a game. Though a bit unwilling, Harry accepts the offer but is very reserved when beginning. As the older man tries more aggressive tactics in the game and shows more energy; Harry responds in kind and builds up confidence. In the end, Harry wins the game and feels great only to realise the crowd built around the pair - Harry ultimately using his renewed sense of confidence to reach out and ask a shy girl watching if she’d like to play him in a game.

PROJECT I - SHORT STORY DEVELOPMENT: Week IV - VII 

Week IV - Character Description & Story World: Being an introduction to the first part of the project, students would need to think of a short, simple plot based around one of the short films produced by PIXAR. From there, an adaptation is expected to be made with new characters and scenery being made. In this task, I originally used the short film ‘Geri’s Game’ and modelled my story idea around an old man who is unable to play chess against anyone due to his shy nature. 

This idea continued to evolve into a young man facing similar insecurities based on moving to a place they’ve never been - keeping the old man as a correcting force to get the young man to change. Following the concept phase, I would also need to further develop the character, considering the visual description as well as developing their emotions, goals & fears, stakes or setbacks faced in the story.

With the rough plot established, I could then begin working on the world of the story; explaining key places in the story. This is also a unique task as it was recommended by another lecturer to write it from the main characters perspective - giving a more biased view and better explains why they view the world that way. For this, I mainly focused on the contrast between the lively park versus the dark apartment - how one is more lively, bright and loud while the other is more cool, some-what dark and quiet. 

Week V - Synopsis, Theming & Script: Basing the ideas on the previous section, I began taking the previously established plot points and would arrange them in a set order while giving additional details to each moment. This initially started out with smaller changes which created an act-by-act synopsis which would be further be used to create the final script/screenwrite. In addition, the text could be further enhanced with the addition of the general theming of the story - a learnt lesson or experience of the main character. In this case, I chose the main themes to be about Isolation & community: recognising the importance of shared experiences and being with others even in nerve-racking moments and love: not only as a passion for someone else but also in showing great attention to a craft or experience which can help you get by in difficult times.

Week VII - Script Corrections & cleanup: This final section saw mainly the rewriting of the lengthy script into something more manageable as well as general cleanups around the final product required. Overall, this first task has been set up nicely and will be tremendous in supporting the following two assignments.

“PROJECT ONE - SHORT STORY DEVELOPMENT”

PROJECT II - PRODUCING SHORT ANIMATION PITCH BIBLE: Week VIII - IX 

Presentation Slides: For the next second task, students are tasked with preparing a presentation which should function as a narrative Pitch Bible. In essence, this presentation is expected to define the end-product specifications which includes key information such as: Genre, Run-Time, Age Rating, Animation Techniques, Characters, Plot structure etc. In addition to this, all information is to be presented in a neat, easy-to-flow way as well as creating unique images and photos to support the visuals of the students’ presentation. With the first half of the project completed, students are expected to submit the presentation as a final PDF document and move into the second half. 

“Finalised Presentation Slides”

Main Pitch Video: The second half of this assignment is heavily based on the work done previously and is where students will need to present their documents in a formal setting as well as recording it for reference. Students need to make a video that is no longer than 8 minutes, covering all previously outlined parts of the presentation as well as providing additional commentary and life to the presentation. With their presentations completed, students can post the videos to Youtube via an unlisted video which is to be shared with the lecturer.

“VIDEO PITCH BIBLE AND PRESENTATION”

PROJECT III - SHORT STORY DEVELOPMENT: Week X - XIV 

WEEK X - MOCK BOARD: With the rough story created and presented, providing familiarity with the project for both the audience and student; students are expected to move into the last task of this assignment. For this last task, students are expected to begin making mock-up boards which can later be adapted into final Story boards which their story is based off of.  From there, students are then expected to develop the finalised Storyboard into a custom animatic which should have movement and audio to support the action on screen. Not only is it then to get a better sense of time for each scene but it also allows students to better capture the tone of their stories.

For the first week into the assignment, I’d begin by creating rough mockups as advised by the lecturer. The goal of this stage was to create simple frames which act as the bones of the story - conveying the key story beats which the later storyboard will flesh out and connect together. Based on the recommendations of the lecturer and adding additional details to make characters more clear, I’d add more work in each frame which would cost me sometime but will make the story more readable going forward. However, I did simplify some aspects such as outfits, hands or gestures to not spend too long on this section. 

“Mock-up Storyboard”

With the work completed, I was able to confirm the direction of my story with the lecturer and would be able to begin developing the final storyboard.

WEEK XI - XII - STORYBOARDING: With the rough mock-up created, I would then be able to spend the next weeks expanding upon the mock-up to make a final storyboard to be used in the animatics. While this process could have taken less time, I had been limited by other work. When making the storyboard, I’d elected to create smaller workspaces in my illustration app which would dictate each act according to the act structure. Furthermore, when designing each shot, I’d created a grouped layer to keep all pieces for each shot together, making the animatic stage a lot easier.

As for why the shots were composed of multiple layers, this was done with the intention to create movement during the animatics, allowing there to be more movement rather than completely static photos. However, due to time restrictions, not all of the scenes I wanted to animate were possible - hence the static shots. When it came to developing each scene, it was expected that there would be a range of colours which is used to either communicate differences in scenery or to simulate distance. For this, each of the shots were recoloured with key characters or features having dark lines with a white outline while the background dips into various shades of light greys and white to simulate distance. These values can also further be played with as seen in the Apartment section with both the character and floors being darker colours in some shots to emphasise his enclosed space.

“Finalised Storyboard”

Regardless, with the storyboard sequence completed a bit behind schedule, I’d be able to begin animating the final animatic.

WEEK XIII - XIV - CREATING ANIMATIC: To close out this project, students would need to adapt their storyboards into an animation with the expectation that there would be minor animation and audio to support the scene. For this task, I did the tedious task of exporting all of the shots to my computer where I could begin combining them together using Adobe After Effects. This program was chosen over Premiere Pro as it would allow me to have greater control over the minor animations as well as the shots composition. 

“Animation Process"

With the process taking a long time, when it was finally completed; the project would be moved into Adobe Audition where I’d begin layering audio and sounds. For the music, while it isn’t recommended for it to be licensed or copyrighted; in this instance it was deemed acceptable as it is there to more-or-less inspire the mood of the scene. As for the sound effects, I’d use a website called ‘Free-sound’ where I could then layer its sounds together to make a completed scene.

“Audio and Sound Design Process”

With the final video and audiotrack created, I took the near completed project and moved finally into premiere pro to do some final adjustments before uploading it as an unlisted video on Youtube. With this project completed, this would mark the end of the module.

“Final animatic - One Piece at a Time”

 Overall, this module proved to be useful in demonstrating the creative approaches needed to writing an effective and engaging story as well as  expecting students to become more familiar with the behind-the-scenes workings. Despite its conclusion, I  intend to utilise the methods referenced in the module to help develop my own future ideas as well as enhancing the work of my remaining modules.