#13: Video Log (Week 4)
As you can tell, a lot's been going on this week! To learn *even* more, check out our Week 4 written recap, up next.
#12: Who Do You Admire?
It's remarkable how much you can get to know someone just by asking a few simple questions. Tune in for our weekly "Getting to know you" questions with the teams. You'll no doubt gain insights on these brilliant creatives, but we're guessing you'll also leave inspired.
This week's query:
Who is someone you admire in the creative space?
Chris:
Mike Patey and if an engineer making YouTube videos is cheating (though I think the things he builds are art in every sense of the word), Jeremy Blake (creator of Red Means Recording)
*Side note from THU, Mike Patey totally qualifies as a creative in our eyes too :)
Alex:
My teachers at IDEA Academy! In particular Isabella Mazzanti and Andrea de Dominicis, for their infinite patience as teachers and their invaluable advice over the years. Also, they're both ridiculously awe-inspiring artists.
Stephan:
For me it’d be Stjepan Šejić, a comic artist and storywriter from Croatia who has probably been my biggest inspiration in almost every aspect for the last decade, and Malcolm Wopé, an artist and animator from South Africa, who has been a big drive for me to look more into storyboarding and fight choreography!
*Image caption (from top left, clockwise): Carmilla by Isabella Mazzanti, Mike Patey, an frame by Stjepan Šejić, character design for Emperor Prothus of Numa Seraan by Andrea de Dominicis, Jeremy Blake, Kung FU is Dead fight scene byMalcolm Wopé.
#11: Small Fry...What's in a Name?
How'd we come up with the team name "Small Fry"?
The basic gist is that in the DnD one-shot that we played at THU 2019 (where we first became friends), the macguffin of the story was a chicken named Fry. The goal was to sacrifice it to a chicken god (because it was the most bestest chicken that the cult had) but Fry had other plans and screwed the party over multiple times until escaping in the end. It's since been kind of a theme of our DnD group and when Stephan (I think it was Stephan) came up with the Small Fry joke, the name basically chose itself^^
Kind of an insider reference, but really fun nonetheless!
Pictured in the photo: our newly formed gaming crew at THU 2019. From left to right (clockwise): Stephan, Christoph, Tamara Grünwald, Alex, and Jasper Goodrich. At the time, we were playing Tekken battles, which is why Ron (Artis) didn't join us...we almost got him to play...will have to remedy that at future THU's! He's apparently a semi-pro at Tekken!
#10: About Us
Curious about who we are? What are our backgrounds? What we're each doing on this project? Watch to learn more :)
#09: Goal of the Week (Jan 25)
There's a lot on our mind this week! Many small tasks:
- Finalize the rendering
- Build scene and character pose tools
- Design environment sets and objects (like the ships and weaponry)
- Finalize the revamped story
- Start storyboarding and blocking out the first scenes (as soon as the tools are available)
- Characters #3 and #4 final, sculpts for characters #5, #6, #7 and #8
- Get a start on environment and object models
- First music tests in engine
#08: Video Recap Week 1-3
It's been an exciting and enlightening 3 weeks in mentorship-land. So much has happened in such a short amount of time! Watch on to hear more about our challenges, triumphs, and discoveries thus far.
#07: Week 3: Parlay
<div class="lexxy-content lightbox-container"> <p>Hey! You look amazing today. Care for a chat up on the aft deck?</p> <p> </p> <p>Week 3 was the first time we had one-on-one sessions with the mentors and where our bonds were put to the test.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <p> </p> <p>We put out some amazing work this week, with Jan and Andreas having finished our first two characters: the hunter Kamalei (just "Lei" to his friends) and his sniper foster-mom Inka. Michael, our engine wizard, optimized pretty much everything, giving us a clear path to develop the tools needed to make this wild VR comic a reality.</p> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/83/content_STL_Icebreakers_021.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/83/content_STL_Icebreakers_021.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/82/content_STL_Icebreakers_022.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/82/content_STL_Icebreakers_022.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p>Our first mentorships finally happened and hoo boy, were they amazing! We started with an early riser for us at 8 AM with Tetsuya Mizuguchi, where we explained our project once again (as he couldn’t make it to the general meeting the previous week). We discussed how we could turn the interactivity that we had planned even more to our advantage. The mentors provided insights on how we could use the interactivity in different ways based on the mood of the story at various points. This really stuck with us and gave us an idea of how to truly make use of the tech we’re developing for <em>Icebreakers</em>.</p> <p> </p> <p>Our second mentorship, a day later, with Scott Stafford, was immensely helpful (and fun!) as well. This was more focused on the score, which is less our speciality. We invited Chrisna to join us so he too could get a better idea of how to tackle such a project. In addition, we also discussed if we want to include sound design and voice acting. While that is still something we are figuring out, Scott offered to put us in contact with new people, so….we might be getting a fully voiced <em>Icebreakers</em>, y’all! That just feels surreal to all of us.</p> <p> </p> <p>This week was also one that tested us. Last week sent us sprawling a bit after we needed to revamp the story. Over the weekend we created new drafts and came up with fresh ideas for the story in order to satisfy a more realistic scope. However, globally-distanced as we are right now, it was sometimes hard getting on the same creative page and miscommunication was afoot. Tension was building a bit and finally cracked midway through the week, forcing us to put our heads together and resolve it in a bunch of tough calls. It took us a little while, but once we came out of that valley our bonds (AND our communication!) were stronger than ever before!</p> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/80/content_STL_Icebreakers_023.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/80/content_STL_Icebreakers_023.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <h3>Progress on the goals we set this week:</h3> <p> </p> <ul> <li>Get the first two 3D characters modeled, rigged and textured - <span style="color:#00FF00;">On target</span> </li> <li>Re-write the underlying render-engine to be better perform - <span style="color:#FFA07A;">A little late, but almost done</span> </li> <li>Build basic scene building tools and implement panels - <span style="color:#40E0D0;">Moved to start of next week</span> </li> <li>Decide on the final story (including mentor feedback) - <span style="color:#FFA07A;">A little late</span> </li> <li>Finalize all character designs - <span style="color:#00FF00;">On target</span> </li> </ul> <p> </p> <h3><img alt="" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/87/content_STL_Icebreakers_024.JPG" style="width:800px;height:655px;"></h3> <p> </p> <h3>Sometimes you have to choose between a link and another link:</h3> <p> </p> <ul> <li> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bKaVhXn49xY">75 000 h.p. The Biggest Nuclear Icebreaker</a> - just amazing</li> <li>Go check out Mizu’s Company’s games: <a href="https://www.tetriseffect.game/">Tetris Effect</a> and <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/636450/Rez_Infinite/">Rez Infinite</a>, they’re really good!</li> <li> <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/750350/Google_Spotlight_Stories_Piggy/">Google Spotlight Stories: Piggy</a> - a really cool little VR experience Scott worked on...yknow, a little One Piece never hurt anyone?</li> </ul> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/76/content_STL_Icebreakers_025.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/76/content_STL_Icebreakers_025.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> </div>
#06: Goal of the Week (Jan 18)
The team had a lot they want to achieve this week:
- Get the first two 3D characters modeled, rigged and textured
- Re-write the underlying render-engine to be better perform
- Build basic scene building tools and implement panels
- Decide on the final story (including mentor feedback)
- Finalize all character designs
#05: Week 2: Mutiny
<div class="lexxy-content lightbox-container"> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/73/content_STL_Icebreakers_016.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/73/content_STL_Icebreakers_016.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p>Welcome back on board! I hope you had a fantastic day!</p> <p> </p> <p>For Week 2 we finally met the mentors. We tried to prepare ourselves as best as possible, having a full scope and timeline at the ready and a pitch to properly show them what<em> Icebreakers</em> was all about.</p> <p> </p> <p>We had just completed our draft of chapter 1 of <em>Icebreakers</em>, which was supposed to be our final deliverable at the end of the project. Unfortunately (kind of expectedly) the mentors’ immediate feedback was that we should cut down in length, opting for a simple scene/proof of concept or a trailer. It is something we’re still struggling with since we had a proof of concept as well when we first pitched the project, so we're still trying to find that middle road of showcasing both story and technology as both are integral to each other.</p> <p> </p> <p>During this week we also got some sweet pirate tunes from our composer, Chrisna. It definitely struck a chord with us, making it feel like <em>Icebreakers</em> is taking more and more shape. We also brought on board (Yar!) Jan Szyja and Andreas Braun, both fellow Unicorns of the Tribe to help us create 3D models of the characters, otherwise we cannot possibly hope to show how truly wild they are!</p> <p> </p> <p>We also had the opportunity to get some feedback from the Tribe with a special shoutout to Olga Andriyenko for being willing to give us feedback on our storyboards outside of these sessions, an area we are still relatively inexperienced in.</p> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/78/content_STL_Icebreakers_017.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/78/content_STL_Icebreakers_017.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <h3>The heroes of time: Links! (Week 2):</h3> <p> </p> <ul> <li>New music by Chrisna: <ul> <li><a href="https://soundcloud.com/smallfrystudio/icebreakers-ambush"><em>Icebreakers</em>: Ambush</a></li> <li><a href="https://soundcloud.com/smallfrystudio/icebreakers-tuesday"><em>Icebreakers</em>: Tuesday</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg-_lYeV8hBnDSay7nmphUA “woah.” - Mechanic.</li> <li>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH3HOcRayC8 </li> <li>Go watch <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2708480/"><em>The Terror</em></a>, it is terrific and terrifying. </li> </ul> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/74/content_STL_Icebreakers_018.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/74/content_STL_Icebreakers_018.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/85/content_STL_Icebreakers_019.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/85/content_STL_Icebreakers_019.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/88/content_STL_Icebreakers_020.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/88/content_STL_Icebreakers_020.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> </div>
#04: Initial Thoughts
We're at the beginning of an exciting adventure, so to kick things off, we asked the teams for their gut-reactions to the following questions. The candid responses they provided were both insightful and inspiring :)
1. What are you hoping to get from this mentorship?
Christoph: Contacts to some amazing people and some of the tiny bits of useful knowledge you only gain through experience or by having an experienced mentor.
Alexandra: I look forward to getting feedback both from the mentors and the Tribe. Having a pool of incredibly skilled people to evaluate a work in progress is invaluable!
Stephan: To learn how to fully explore my vision and make it work. Hopefully finding the true direction I want to develop in as an artist as well.
2. What do you think you'll struggle with the most?
Christoph: Finding our shared vision? I think we have it mostly down technically, but working in a team with different ideas always leads to a bunch of friction (and already has multiple times) and working that out to get to a coherent final project will be the biggest challenge I believe.
Alexandra: Staying productive on a day to day basis is something I’ve been struggling a lot with in recent times.
Stephan: Being a good director and leader. I've led before, but never on this scale and with this level of visiblity, and I just want to do right by myself and the team.
3. What do you think you'll enjoy the most?
Christoph: Working on something I love with people I love.
Alexandra: I always look forward to feedback sessions, as they will permit us to see our project in a new light, and make it better. I also look forward to telling this story to the best of our ability.
Stephan: Figuring out alongside the mentors how to make sense of the chaos that is in my brain and seeing this project come to life. That, and just waiting to see the joy on people's faces when they watch the final piece.
4. What do you think will be the most surprising/unexpected part of this experience?
Christoph: I think the most surprising aspect will be the opportunities and possibilities this will lead us to. I think all in all the project and mentorships themselves are "predictable", but I have no idea what journey this experience is the first step of.
Alexandra: With each new week I find out new paths our project can take, and new avenues to explore. Every week has its share of surprises.
Stephan: I honestly have no clue and I like that! It will make the surprise even more impactful when it happens!
#03: Week 1: Raise the Anchors!
<div class="lexxy-content lightbox-container"> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/95/content_STL_Icebreakers_011_new.JPG"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/95/content_STL_Icebreakers_011_new.JPG"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <p>Anchors aweigh! Welcome to the Captain’s Log of <em>Icebreakers</em>! </p> <p> </p> <p></p> <p> </p> <p>Here we tell you a bit on our weekly adventures making a dream project, meeting and learning from legends of our industry, and forging bonds strong enough to barrel through the icy waters ahead!</p> <p> </p> <p>While we can treat this as the first official week of Icebreakers, a true crew makes sure to take stock of their supplies! The moment we heard we were one of the finalists, we basically went to work straight away. In the time we were reevaluating a lot of our work, the characters, story, strengthening the vision behind the project, and even bringing extra people on board to help out.</p> <p> </p> <p>We knew our strengths and weaknesses from the start and we knew if we wanted to make more than just the Proof of Concept that we had for the pitch, we needed more people. Our first new full time team member was Chrisna Lungala, our composer who made the first sketch of the score for Icebreakers. The second was Michael Freundorfer, a developer who helped us out a ton with the render style and making sure it was performing well on the Oculus Quest. Having him on the team would mean we could achieve what we wanted much quicker and to a higher standard, making the tools we want to share with The Tribe a reality.</p> <p> </p> <p>Late this week we got to learn who our mentors would be and that we would be meeting them next week! It really was this moment that it was all starting to feel real and that we would need to get down to business!</p> <p> </p> <h3><b>Links and Stuff from week 1:</b></h3> <p> </p> <ul> <li> <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UYOFwwxhjQ5LwGlc49uf8A2HrhV-2VS8?usp=sharing">Google Drive link to all of our stuff</a> (feel free to berate our organisation!)</li> <li>I have tentatively enabled comments, so if you have specific feedback to anything you find in there, just add one!</li> </ul> <p> </p> <h3><b>Good watches:</b></h3> <p> </p> <ul> <li> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr_N7EIpblo">"The Remedy" Trailer</a>, A VR story created in Quill (go check it out in VR too if you have a quest)</li> <li>Go watch <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375692/"><em>Black Sails</em></a>!</li> </ul> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/92/content_STL_Icebreakers_012_new.JPG"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/92/content_STL_Icebreakers_012_new.JPG"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/100/content_STL_Icebreakers_013_new.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/100/content_STL_Icebreakers_013_new.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/96/content_STL_Icebreakers_014_new.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/96/content_STL_Icebreakers_014_new.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> <div class="lightbox-container"><div class="pswp-gallery lightbox " data-controller="lightbox" data-lightbox-target="container"><div class="lightbox__item"><a target="_blank" data-lightbox-target="item" href="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/103/content_STL_Icebreakers_015_new.jpg"><img alt="" loading="lazy" src="https://trojan-unicorn.s3.amazonaws.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/103/content_STL_Icebreakers_015_new.jpg"></a></div></div></div> <p> </p> </div>#02: Kanpai with Icebreakers!
What better way to introduce the finalists to the Tribe than through a special edition of Kanpai! Our very own Shuzo sat down with Stephan, Alexandra and Christoph to chat about all things Icebreakers ;)
Watch to see highlights, revelations and even a live VR demo!
#01: The Beginning
The journey began back in July 2020, with Sony and THU's invitation to connect, collaborate and contribute. The result is the incredible adventure we're currently embarked on. But it all began here: with a pitch and a dream.
Meet Christoph Graf, Alexandra van Caloen and Stephan Rumping as they welcomes us into the world of Icebreakers.
Statement
Icebreakers takes the fun adventurous comics, set on weird and distant worlds, of one’s childhood and blends it with Virtual Reality. Our project truly bridges the creative distance by taking comics, a medium that hasn’t changed over the last few decades and VR, a medium not fully explored yet. Like the crew of Icebreakers themself, we want to explore. We want to take the core elements of comic book storytelling and styling, and make it into a truly new form of entertainment with the dynamic 3D perspective of VR, supplementing the experience with ambience, soundtrack and voice acting. The production of the pitch itself has been a fulfilling challenge in its own right, being a wonderful exploration for the artists in storyboarding near-360 degree panels, yet also having a sufficient technical challenge for programmers as well in emulating the art within VR.
Tools Description
Unity, Oculus Quest, Photoshop, Blender, Instant Terrain, Procreate, Marvelous Designer, Substance Painter. The project's unique style necessitates a custom renderer and stands out among 3d projects in general and VR especially.
