The iterative process of creating a production plan or narrative structure can seem repetitive, but is very useful in the grand scheme of things. Although, keeping the story fluid and open to change is important, starting to move forward with the ideas presented is also imperative to the process as it keeps moving through production. One of the primary examples of this can come in the form of building the pieces of your storyboard animatic, elaborating and growing each of the necessary parts; examples of this include developing white boxing or mapping out assets with the inclusion of cameras.
This is where my group is in the process. As mentioned in the previous post, my group has been developing plans for assets and cameras, moving forward with what we have since we're satisfied with it at this point in time. We're creating blocked out assets, camera angles, and posing that go along with our storyboards. We split this up between our team members and began setting everything up. Since there were some technical issues with the general server and programs, we put a hold on the Unreal Engine work and did what we could in Maya.
As stated in my last post, I'm working on the shots that are on earth in the beginning with the human bathroom. I set up all my shots with the necessary blocking and posing to the point I could present it to my group when we meet to see if I captured what we were looking for. I set up a camera for each pose and took screenshots after setting each of the white blocking parts as well as the temporary character.
Once this was done, I was able to see what the shot would look like in 3d space, what needed to change or stay the same, and start planning stagging and assets for further production. My group and I used consistent assets, so if something was present in more than one section, we would use the same asset (such as the human rig and the space ship that were made by my other group members).
With clear direction and planning, it's much easier to expand on ideas and edit accordingly to what will be needed. This also emphasizes and elaborated of the current vision for the project, allowing things to move forward smoothly while also having the ability to change along with the future vision.