Specification

TITLE: The Race

SUMMARY:
POP vs. COBRA
For my practical project I will be creating a drag race to be used in advertising...with a twist. As the drag race is only ten seconds long I am going to use clever camera movements and cuts to extend the story. It will start the same as any other drag race, both cars will be queuing up in the ‘fire-up’ lane and they will roll up to the line. Both will perform a rolling burn out at the first white line, then roll to ‘pre stage’ and then to ‘stage’ (these lights let you know when you are far enough forward or too far forward).
The lights come on...amber, amber, amber, GREEN! GO! Both cars speed down the track towards the finishing line, as they cross it the two boards at the bottom light up with the times etc. They will then drive down the return road and back to the pits.

TWIST
On the light tree, there will be sat a little bird all comfy and content, as the cars fire up he opens one eye, pulls some ear defenders out and puts them on his head. The cars roll up to the start, he shakes his head and flies off (not wanting to be stuck in the middle of it), the only problem being that he is flying directly down the centre of the track. As the cars set off and glide from the track, they pass the bird about half way down and he tumbles mid flight (feathers fly), after gathering himself together and nudging his ear defends back straight, he too flies down the track after the cars (with smoke coming off him), just as he reaches the end he passes them both, only his score shows up on the board. Feeling pretty tired he decides to catch a lift back onto of the Ford Pop. He lands on its roof; he blows on his wings, crosses his legs, lies back and looks very pleased with himself.

PROBLEM: A bird is trying to have a rest on the start up lights (not a good idea). He thinks he’s found a nice spot until the noise of the cars firing up disturb his sleep. He flies off to get away from them...only to be thrown into a summersault as they speed down the track. This bird is not a push over and refuses to be bullied by a couple of cars.

SOLUTION: At first he thinks the ear defenders will sort out the problem. As they don’t cut enough noise out, he decides to fly away. This also doesn’t get him away from his problem so he gets an idea to really show them whose boss. He flies after the cars, ends up winning the race and then catches a lift back just to top it off.

RESEARCH
I spend the majority of the year at drag racing events so there was really no doubt in my mind that I would be basing my project on that. I have any pictures and videos of drag racing meetings so that will be my main source of my research. The two cars I am including in my project belong to my friends so it will be fairly easy to get any pictures, videos of sounds that I require to complete my assignment. Also York Raceway is easily accessible to me if I need further research on it. For the bird, I will mainly be using Google image search to design my character, I will need to study birds in flight to get a feel for the movement but I want to keep a cartoon feel to my animation.

INFLUENCES
Real life drag racing
Wacky Races/Stop the Pigeon
Milky Way advert

TECHNOLOGY
My animation will be about 1 and a half minutes long, in mainly 3D but as the background keeps going over countryside I am planning on creating a flat perspective image and using that as a texture to creative the feeling that the scenery keeps going (I want this to be ‘Pantomime’ style). I will be using Softimage 2011 to create my animation and the focus will mainly be on the cars and the bird. The two drivers will appear very little and the crowd will not be a major part. When the cars are driving down the return road I will have the camera jumping a bit, this will create the illusion that the road is quite rough. My report will be written constantly as I am working through my project, i will however write it all up near the end.

CRUCIAL ASPECTS
- The birds movement and emotion
- The burnout from both cars
- Getting the timing right
- Camera movements to heighten situations


SCHEDULE:

OCTOBER
• Script
• Research & Concept Designs
• 3D models

NOVEMBER
• Colour 3D models
• Rigging
• Textures

DECEMBER
• Colour, textures and rigs complete
• Blocking (basic animation)

JANUARY
• Start to fill in the animation

FEBRUARY
• Fill in the animation and polish it

MARCH
• TIME FOR ERROR

APRIL
• Final finish off