This week we need to make our proposal available to sound design students. Here is my proposal (so far) in full:
KIB325 Machinima Proposal
Peter McDowell n5672554
Storyline
The main character in this story is a cat, who is trying to get at a ball of string which is just out of its reach. The ball of string is high up on a cupboard, and the cat tries with great effort to reach it, but fails. In frustration, the cat knocks over a nearby box of catfood. This box of catfood hits a broom, which starts off a chain reaction that goes around the room and concludes with the ball of string being bought back to the ground for the cat to play with. The cat is happy.
This storyline ties into diversity because of the fact that many different types of household items come together with style to complete a task. This is a reflection of the way that many different demographics come together in Australia to work and study together.
Story Events
- Cat tries a few times to jump up and get the ball of string
- Cat hits over packet of cat food in frustration
- Cat food knocks over broom
- Broom end gets tangled in curtain string and opens the curtain
- The curtain brings the phone crashing to the ground
- The phone miraculously calls the number of the nearby mobile phone
- The vibration of the mobile phone call causes it to move and it falls off a shelf and hits the remote control of a toy car
- The toy car takes out one of the supports of a shelf
- The items on the shelf (salt/pepper/spice containers) knock eachother over consecutively like dominos
- The last spice container hits a bowl of onions, which falls off the shelf and turns on the sink's tap
- The sink fills up with water and over flows
- The water from the sink hits the toaster which has an electrical problem and shoots toast into the air
- The toast hits a knitting needle which is on the edge of the cupboard and flips it, and that knitting needle flips another
- The last knitting needle lands by stabbing into the ball of string, and by the force of gravity pulling on the knitting needle, makes the ball of string roll off of the cupboard
- The cat plays with the ball of string with a look of self-satisfaction
Style
The style will be slightly cartoonish, and the physics of the chain reaction may be exaggerated for effect or as needed. A cartoon-like style would compliment the storyline as this is a light hearted story which is somewhat unrealistic. The character will have to be slightly humanoid (not unlike the “Hello Kitty” character), as it displays humanesque emotions and will need human like dexterity.
Implementation
The production pipeline for this project will be fairly simple. The modelling of the assets and elements of their animation will be completed in Maya, while the rest of the work will be completed in Unity. Sound effects will be provided by sound design students.
The following is a list of assets to be modelled:
- Humanoid cartoon cat
- Cat-food box
- Broom
- Entire curtain mechanism including chord
- House phone (wireless)
- Mobile phone
- Remote controlled car and remote
- Salt / Pepper shaker
- Spice containers
- Bowl for onions
- Onion/s
- Sink and tap
- Toaster
- Knitting needle
- Ball of string
- Room itself
- Tall cupboard
- Mid-height cupboard
- Shelf
- Door (optional)
- Windows (optional)
As mentioned earlier these will all be modelled in Maya. There will also be sounds required. The following is a list of the sounds required (in chronological order):
Music: Whatever you as a sound design student think is appropriate. I think it should be upbeat and comedic.
Sound Effects:
- Cat jumping and landing
- Cat meowing
- Hand hitting and knocking over cat food box
- Broom handle scraping against the edge of a bench top
- Broom handle falling to the ground
- Curtain string being pulled and curtain opening
- Wireless house phone being knocked to the ground from around 4 feet
- Wireless house phone dialling a number from auto dial
- Mobile phone ringing and vibrating
- Mobile phone falling onto a bench from a height of 1 foot
- Remote controlled car moving a distance of several feet then hitting a wall
- Containers (salt and pepper shakers, spice containers) falling into eachother dominos-style
- Large bowl of onions falling 1 foot onto a bench
- Tap running and sink filling up
- Sound of an electrical fault
- Sound of toast being ejected from a toaster
- Sound of toast falling to the ground from a height of ~6 feet
- Sound of a ball of string and knitting needle falling to the ground from a height of around six feet
Once all these assets have been created in Maya, and these sounds have been provided by the sound students, it will be time to put everything together in the 3D game engine.
