Schizophrenia

As my main character in my film, James Schwartz, sufferes from schizophrenia and repressed memory I have looked into both disorders, which I am hoping will give me a better understanding on how he will react when confronted with certain situations and certain characters, and how the forceful intentions of others forcing him to try to remember when he cant, how this will affect his state of mind. I am looking into this as a way of also helping me with the animating side of my film, with reactions, movements, facial responses, eye contact etc.

Delusions

The person with schizophrenia may act upon delusions. These delusions cause the person to believe they are being followed, tricked, monitored or tormented. The person may also believe that environmental cues---such as song lyrics, gestures or passages in books---are directed to them. As the person acts on these beliefs, he may begin acting out the song lyrics or take extreme measures to ensure they are not being followed such as drive many miles "out of the way" just to go home.

Hallucinations

Hallucinations can occur within the five senses: touching, hearing, tasting, seeing or smelling. A person suffering from a tactile (touching) hallucination may feel that something is crawling on them constantly. He may constantly rub or scratch the skin to remove the sensation. Auditory hallucinations may cause a schizophrenic to constantly cover their ears to stop the sounds. The person with schizophrenia may also talk to people who are not there. He could be responding to a voice or several voices speaking to them or about them.

Interactions with Others

The speech patterns of a schizophrenic are often disorganized. A conversation may begin on one subject and go to another without any apparent connection to the previous subject. The schizophrenic person may not advise the listener that the conversation topic is being changed. Answers to questions will not be complete or the response may be completely unrelated to the question. The range of emotion of a person with schizophrenia is restricted. There may be a lack of eye contact or body language in response to the environment. In severe cases, someone with schizophrenia could have catatonic motor behavior. Catatonic behavior is a rigidity of body language or posture; there could be a resistance to being moved. On the other hand, there could be excessive motor activity in the absence of any relevant external stimuli.

Emotion

A schizophrenic may have flat affect. In light of what should be exciting or disturbing news, the person with schizophrenia may not react at all or react inappropriately. He may not have any facial expressions. The person may have a limited range of emotional expression.

 

I have looked into the Tom Stoppard screenplay Every good boy deserves favour. This 70-minute one act play is a truly unique collaboration between playwright Tom Stoppard and composer Andre Previn. It is a play for Actors and Symphony Orchestra that calls for musicians on stage, interacting with the actors and providing live music that at times slips into the background, at other times takes center stage, and communicates insights into the characters thoughts, personalities, and states of mind.

The story is fairly simple. It is set in the Soviet Union in an era when political dissidents were deemed insane and confined to asylums with the truly crazy people. Two people with identical names share a cell - one is really crazy (he plays triangle in an imaginary orchestra), the other has been institutionalized because he claims the government is throwing dissidents into insane asylums

I have looked into this unique theatrical piece as it has numerous links with the story that I am have written for my film. the use of the orchestra that comes in and out of reality, with one character thinking hes in the orchestra, brings a depth of insanity to the piece, which is what I am trying to achieve by using the voices in James Schwarz' head, and giving them sum reality with displacement mapping, which can be seen in my animatic.

Just a piece of scrap metal that I have, I feel it adds something to the alleyway scene rather than just buildings

just trying out the stainless steel door material, as that is what i think I will be using overall as an end product. I think it looks pretty cool, although i may turn out the reflection maps a little.

Another Mockup of the room, untextured but has a nice style of lighting I feel, I still need to model the final bed and side cabinet, which will both be a non clinical feel, when textured but not  rotting away.

As I am getting my animatic more upto date, I was looking at off canter prespectives, and with the use of a dolly track, came up with this example that i am pretty happy with, and this will be in the animatic as soon as possible

Heres my dolly shot throughout the corridor. I think that the volume lights from the windows work really well, so am very happy with that. Camera angle I feel gives quite a un-nerving style as it is using a dutch style. I will converse with my tutors to see if there is any better versions I could try

Here is the start of the alleyway. The main character will be deep within his flashback at this point, and will be hiding behind the building on the left peering around the corner, as he can hear voices. Quite happy with it so far, will be adding moreon here as I go

Here is the untextured model of the initial part of the alleyway flashback. It is of a generic corridor space, where he has just entered the flashback. it is not meant to have any specific aesthetic, it is about him feeling un-easy and un-nerved by being in a strange, odd situation and place, with an inherent darkness at the end.

Just another volume light test, getting better this one, but want to get the light projection on the wall to be smaller without losing the light of the window, any comments welcomed

Finally got the oppotunity to put up these finished gate models. I think now that I have portrayed the aesthetic I wanted as best as I can with this. it gives that clinical, dark feeling which I was going for, so will just need to texture it, and add some volume light and fog, when I have the chance

This is my first attempt of the light coming through the window into the corridor. It is not quite right yet, as it is reflecting the window frame and not the glass, and I need to add volume lighting, but I feel does give the ambience I want.

New prison door that has been modelled. I decided to change the idea of having a flap for the window, and just old fashioned bars, as it gives an older feel to the look of it

I have just finished the modelling of the doors and have input them within the corridor, it seems to give the look I am after, so pretty pleased with that

I have now started the initial modelling for my corridor near the beginning of the film, I have made the basic outline shape, and the wall/roof struts. I intend to make a window and some doors, to add some detail. I will leave it very simple, as the texturing process is what I will use to transform this scene

Here are the new spotlights included in the scene that they will be in the film. I am pleased with the outcome as I feel it gives the look I was after. I will be adding more models as and when I complete them

heres the spotlight that ive modelled for the opening shot, as it zooms through the gates, pretty ahppy with this.

Just having a go with the room environment, looking at the metal guders that will be at the top of 2 of the 4 walls, also giving a little lighting test, trying to add atmosphere, may still be a bit dark, just testing atm

Herea nother version of my initial design of my asylum front gates. really happy with this version, as it is beginning to look exactly how I wanted it, as well as the lighting being nice, still can improve it though.

blocking out

just a test of the gate towers, just gettin a feel of what the front gates of the asylum, which is my first shot will look like

Rufus initial designs

 

These are a few designs that I have used for initial ideas for the character Rufus, I will be adding more to these, and developing them more, but overall, this has some elements of the look im going for

new aesthetic

I have chosen these two images, as it displays what I am looking to achieve from a  lighting and especially a texturing sense. I will probably ease up on the destruction as I dont want mine to look too abandoned, but it does give the vibe I am aiming for.