Although the construction and conception of a pitch is incredibly important as a whole, progressing and growing the idea once it's set into motion is equally as important. After picking an idea or being put on a project, expanding that idea and filtering through the potential ideas going forward can result in repeating steps from the construction and conception phase (as mentioned in previous posts) except with more direction.
Once our class presented our pitches, we were assigned into groups based on a voting system. The short I was assigned was Bathroom Star Galactica, which I'm incredibly excited about! Since I didn't get put on any of the pitches I had previously worked on, I had to reorient myself into the new group and the new story. I'm very happy with where I am and what I'm working on and so is my group it seems, so it was easy to get into the development stage and work constructively. We talked about possible ideas and character designs as well as starting the white blocking phase.
I personally was in charge of sketching some character ideas and white blocking the human bathroom on earth.
For the sketches, I was mainly focused on hair and I ended up really liking the messy hair that's slicked up and back. Since our character wears a hat, I decided to play up the hair by making it look messy and ungroomed.
I wanted his face to be rather angular and average so it would stand out among the aliens that are more triangular and less full in their features. I wanted to make sure he looked more human in how full and fleshy his face, neck, and shoulders were, considering the aliens are thin, long and intimidating from a far but cute up close. Excuse the comments I made on the side, it was a long day.
Additionally, I made white blocking and minor but recognizable shapes for the bathroom. I also added these shapes in Unreal Engine to see how they would look as I played around with lighting and positioning.
Our group met outside of class and we discussed about camera angles and additional changes and shapes. In this meeting, I showed them different camera angles and now I have a direction to go in next with edits and additions as well as what I need to do and add for Unreal Engine.
When it comes to switching gears and getting put on a project where you weren't present for the foundation, it's easy to feel lost and confused. But what I've personally found about this project is that the foundation and construction, as helpful as solid planning can be, is also changing during all parts of production and preproduction phases. As long as the vision and the story are clear, than changes and growth is bound to happen and welcome. Teamwork, flexibility, and, evolution can make a project even better.