Sorry for the lack of updates for awhile. While I developed the story I found that I was slowly shifting focus away from Christopher to the technician, and I went back to concept and began rewriting the story from synopsis. I'm finally back at what I feel is a reasonable point.
Why are you doing this, Christopher?
After doing some more research into AI, theories on human consciousness, and emergent behaviors, I've finally got a clear and simple solution to why Christopher acts the way he does. He was made to seek out intelligent alien life - that's his prime directive. Other top-level instructions include self-maintenance and survival, as well as an order to obey all human commands. He possesses a sophisticated self-monitoring process much like what we normally call a 'mind', which is undergoing a great deal of stress from day to night when humans leave. The experience of being in contact with life has been reinforced from day to day to the point that he has become accustomed to it. Christopher knows that he will have to travel for many hundred years in space before he can find another communicating lifeform and his self-maintenance mechanism seeks to minimize this mental stress by trying to stay on Earth.
19.11.08
22.10.08
Early Task List
CASTING
Casting
- Jeanne
- Christopher (VO)
- PA (VO)
VFX
Modeling
- Int. Probe
- Ext. Probe
- Rocket
- Christopher
Matte
- Launch Pad
- Earth Orbit
- Outer Space
Texturing
UV Mapping
Texture Painting
Shading
Rigging
- Christopher
- Probe
Animation
- Christopher
Filming
- Green-screen
Audio
- Christopher
- PA
SFX
Lighting
- CG Lights
- Physical Light-matching
Rendering
- MR Optimization
- Multiple Passes
POST-PRODUCTION
Compositing
- Keying
- Masking
- Color Correction
- Lens Effects
Editing
Output
- Color Correction / Gamma
- Breakdowns
- DVD
Casting
- Jeanne
- Christopher (VO)
- PA (VO)
VFX
Modeling
- Int. Probe
- Ext. Probe
- Rocket
- Christopher
Matte
- Launch Pad
- Earth Orbit
- Outer Space
Texturing
UV Mapping
Texture Painting
Shading
Rigging
- Christopher
- Probe
Animation
- Christopher
Filming
- Green-screen
Audio
- Christopher
- PA
SFX
Lighting
- CG Lights
- Physical Light-matching
Rendering
- MR Optimization
- Multiple Passes
POST-PRODUCTION
Compositing
- Keying
- Masking
- Color Correction
- Lens Effects
Editing
Output
- Color Correction / Gamma
- Breakdowns
- DVD
Midterm Review
I've been neglecting my journal lately so I have nearly 2 weeks of work to update here.
AI Research
Researchers have broken down the problems of AI into 10 models.
1 - Deduction, reasoning, problem solving
2 - Knowledge representation
3 - Planning
4 - Learning
5 - Natural language processing
6 - Motion and manipulation
7 - Perception
8 - Social intelligence
9 - Creativity
10 - General intelligence
Without getting too into each area, #10 general intelligence poses a particularly interesting dilemma when we consider the Turing convention. For an AI to perform any of these tasks in a way nearly approximating an average human, it would require a strong proficiency in most if not all the other areas.
Blade Runner (1982)
I finally sat down and watched the movie from beginning to end. The NEXUS androids represent a philosophical question very similar to the one I'm posing here: if we create a creature with free will, emotion, and human in just about any way that matters, then what obligations do we have to ensure its happiness and well-being? What happens when we impose our will on our creations and they defy the destiny we created for them?
Food for thought. That said, Roy Batty's death scene was actually very influential when I started writing Christopher's final soliloquy. It was a moment when you profoundly felt the humanity of a villainous character that had, up to that point, seemed monstrously un-human.
Bicentennial Man (1999)
This basically told the story of an android who becomes a human over the course of 200 years of contact with different generations of the Martin family. The 10 problems of AI are demonstrated very clearly as his character develops, and it is very thought provoking as the line between the android and humans gets more and more indistinct.
Fluids
I started experimenting with fluids, particularly cloud, ocean, and smoke effects. They'll be necessary for the rocket launch sequence. I found an interesting launch sequence in the 2nd part of Shinkai Makoto's 5cm Per Second anthology with some participating media effects I would like to crib away.
Other Production Issues
After playing with my own voice in the animatic, I'm thinking a small chorus effect might give Christopher that 'robot' voice he needs. My worry is that he might start to sound androgynous or even legion. I might need a sound engineer for all my sound effects and to help record. The ambient noise of the computer room was alright since the set is full of computers and machinery anyway, but I need to add sounds of people outside so it doesn't feel so empty.
I need to get in touch with my musician again now that my material's starting to shape up. If that falls through, I can always arrange some Chopin and play it myself.
Ben Fox got in contact with Maggie Lacey, an actress he'd worked with before, for me. I'm nearly ready to send off the preliminary script, and get a screen test from her. Ben also offered to help translate my vision into actor-speak and work with her during filming. I've talked to Bora about her setup for green-screen and I've been asking around after a DP.
AI Research
Researchers have broken down the problems of AI into 10 models.
1 - Deduction, reasoning, problem solving
2 - Knowledge representation
3 - Planning
4 - Learning
5 - Natural language processing
6 - Motion and manipulation
7 - Perception
8 - Social intelligence
9 - Creativity
10 - General intelligence
Without getting too into each area, #10 general intelligence poses a particularly interesting dilemma when we consider the Turing convention. For an AI to perform any of these tasks in a way nearly approximating an average human, it would require a strong proficiency in most if not all the other areas.
Blade Runner (1982)
I finally sat down and watched the movie from beginning to end. The NEXUS androids represent a philosophical question very similar to the one I'm posing here: if we create a creature with free will, emotion, and human in just about any way that matters, then what obligations do we have to ensure its happiness and well-being? What happens when we impose our will on our creations and they defy the destiny we created for them?
Food for thought. That said, Roy Batty's death scene was actually very influential when I started writing Christopher's final soliloquy. It was a moment when you profoundly felt the humanity of a villainous character that had, up to that point, seemed monstrously un-human.
Bicentennial Man (1999)
This basically told the story of an android who becomes a human over the course of 200 years of contact with different generations of the Martin family. The 10 problems of AI are demonstrated very clearly as his character develops, and it is very thought provoking as the line between the android and humans gets more and more indistinct.
Fluids
I started experimenting with fluids, particularly cloud, ocean, and smoke effects. They'll be necessary for the rocket launch sequence. I found an interesting launch sequence in the 2nd part of Shinkai Makoto's 5cm Per Second anthology with some participating media effects I would like to crib away.
Other Production Issues
After playing with my own voice in the animatic, I'm thinking a small chorus effect might give Christopher that 'robot' voice he needs. My worry is that he might start to sound androgynous or even legion. I might need a sound engineer for all my sound effects and to help record. The ambient noise of the computer room was alright since the set is full of computers and machinery anyway, but I need to add sounds of people outside so it doesn't feel so empty.
I need to get in touch with my musician again now that my material's starting to shape up. If that falls through, I can always arrange some Chopin and play it myself.
Ben Fox got in contact with Maggie Lacey, an actress he'd worked with before, for me. I'm nearly ready to send off the preliminary script, and get a screen test from her. Ben also offered to help translate my vision into actor-speak and work with her during filming. I've talked to Bora about her setup for green-screen and I've been asking around after a DP.
13.10.08
Storyboards - 1st Draft
Been sick. First storyboard drafts, minus descriptions and audio. I might have to redraft them to avoid full-body shots depending if I can get a good full-body key or not.
1.10.08
Contact (1995)
The film based on Carl Sagan's novel was probably my biggest influence for this project. This entire environment is CG, and Jodie Foster was blue-screened. It is my hope that my final image comes together as nicely.
The opening scene was the longest single CG shot for a live-action film for quite a while. It shows off a lot of cool cosmic bodies that I plan to use in my ending sequence. I especially like the color aberration we see looking back at our sun through the Ortt cloud, and I might use that in my own image. The nebula will have to be simulated either via fluids or a background plate.
The opening scene was the longest single CG shot for a live-action film for quite a while. It shows off a lot of cool cosmic bodies that I plan to use in my ending sequence. I especially like the color aberration we see looking back at our sun through the Ortt cloud, and I might use that in my own image. The nebula will have to be simulated either via fluids or a background plate.
24.9.08
23.9.08
Kübler-Ross
The Kübler-Ross model describes, in five discrete stages, a process by which people allegedly deal with grief and tragedy, especially when diagnosed with a terminal illness. The model was introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book "On Death and Dying". The stages are known as the "Five Stages of Grief".
The stages are:
1. Denial:
* Example - "I feel fine."; "This can't be happening."'Not to me!"
2. Anger:
* Example - "Why me? It's not fair!" "NO! NO! How can you accept this!"
3. Confusion:
* Example - "Just let me live to see my children graduate."; "I'll do anything, can't you stretch it out? A few more years."
4. Depression:
* Example - "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"; "I'm going to die . . . What's the point?"
5. Acceptance:
* Example - "It's going to be OK."; "I can't fight it, I may as well prepare for it."
Kübler-Ross originally applied these stages to any form of catastrophic personal loss (job, income, freedom). This also includes the death of a loved one, divorce, drug addiction, or infertility. Kübler-Ross also claimed these steps do not necessarily come in the order noted above, nor are all steps experienced by all patients, though she stated a person will always experience at least two.
Others have noticed that any significant personal change can elicit these stages. For example, experienced criminal defense attorneys are aware that defendants who are facing stiff sentences, yet have no defenses or mitigating factors to lessen their sentences, often experience the stages. Accordingly, they must get to the acceptance stage before they are prepared to plead guilty.
Additionally, the change in circumstances does not always have to be a negative one, just significant enough to cause a grief response to the loss (Scire, 2007). Accepting a new work position, for example, causes one to lose their routine, workplace friendships, familiar drive to work, or even customary lunch sources.
The most common factor is when the person doesn't have the capacity to change their situation, at least not without considerable loss to themselves, thus a person who would go through these stages would not need to continue if they found a way out of the situation: e.g., If a person losing their house was at the bargaining stage but then somehow found a way out of the situation, then they'd have no reason to become depressed. So the 'stages of grief' could be linked to a lack of control or ability, e.g., people who have lost limbs, people on the bad end of an ultimatum, people under threat, and so on.
The stages are:
1. Denial:
* Example - "I feel fine."; "This can't be happening."'Not to me!"
2. Anger:
* Example - "Why me? It's not fair!" "NO! NO! How can you accept this!"
3. Confusion:
* Example - "Just let me live to see my children graduate."; "I'll do anything, can't you stretch it out? A few more years."
4. Depression:
* Example - "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"; "I'm going to die . . . What's the point?"
5. Acceptance:
* Example - "It's going to be OK."; "I can't fight it, I may as well prepare for it."
Kübler-Ross originally applied these stages to any form of catastrophic personal loss (job, income, freedom). This also includes the death of a loved one, divorce, drug addiction, or infertility. Kübler-Ross also claimed these steps do not necessarily come in the order noted above, nor are all steps experienced by all patients, though she stated a person will always experience at least two.
Others have noticed that any significant personal change can elicit these stages. For example, experienced criminal defense attorneys are aware that defendants who are facing stiff sentences, yet have no defenses or mitigating factors to lessen their sentences, often experience the stages. Accordingly, they must get to the acceptance stage before they are prepared to plead guilty.
Additionally, the change in circumstances does not always have to be a negative one, just significant enough to cause a grief response to the loss (Scire, 2007). Accepting a new work position, for example, causes one to lose their routine, workplace friendships, familiar drive to work, or even customary lunch sources.
The most common factor is when the person doesn't have the capacity to change their situation, at least not without considerable loss to themselves, thus a person who would go through these stages would not need to continue if they found a way out of the situation: e.g., If a person losing their house was at the bargaining stage but then somehow found a way out of the situation, then they'd have no reason to become depressed. So the 'stages of grief' could be linked to a lack of control or ability, e.g., people who have lost limbs, people on the bad end of an ultimatum, people under threat, and so on.
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