Considering Transmedia and Merchandising: Conclusion

This small piece about considering Wild - Life as a trans media project I feel has proved very successful. I have demonstrated that more than just the comic we are concentrating on, Wild - Life could make a very visually appealing live action movie, we could sell action figure ranges, prop replicas, jewellery and clothing lines.

Another good idea I think would be video games, for which I feel the best route to go would be a cross between an open world game in the idea of Red Dead Redemption (for the West) Skyrim (for the North) Assassins Creed Blag Flag (For The Carrigo Seas) ect. But this would be crossed with the idea of Skylanders and Disney Infinity in the idea that users could collect small figurines of the characters and unlock them to play as, and them roam and explore the entire map as these, and even meet up with firends online and play with them. Extra levels could be added to this depending on the land you visit in which the AI would treat the user with prejudice or a friendly attitude depending on where the character they're playing as is from, eg an opposing, nuetral or supporting land for the war in the East.

The possibilites for this I feel truley are endless with many more projects that could be easily endulged into creating, but I am confident comic is where it should start. This is because it requires a small team and time to make, where as these other ideas would mean getting a far larger team on board or having and investor or pitching the idea to a comapany, all of which are possible ways of getting the project started. I do however invison the series as a comic, and as I have a passion for them it is where I would like the project to be born.

Considering Transmedia and Merchandising: 2nd Year Animation

This is something I have displayed previously in work I had already done in 2nd year where I took a character from this universe and made a comedy animation about him. This I feel also shows how this project could be many different media and work effectively, even for different age groups, much how Marvel can produce comics, films, graphic novels and childrens cartoons as well as huge amounts of mechandise for their, for example, Avengers, X-men, and Spider-man francises.

The whole animation can be veiwed here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5-LKmIZe7Q

Considering Transmedia and Merchandising: Live Action Movie - Bill

Bill, was perhaps the most challenging. In order for it to work, I needed and anthro/platypus stood up right (which they do not naturally do) image. This was very difficult to find, and in the end my only option was to screengrab a frame from a television advert I found on YouTube, and only had one shot in which to take the screenshot (as its the only time the Platypus sits up right) and this just so happens to have a very bumpy camera on that blurs the shot (as he is travelling on a bumpy road). So I really had one chance to make it work, and an added difficulty, was it was in black and white. SO firstly, i had to shift the layer to multiply to add colour behind him:

 I then needed to find a loincloth (plain which was harder than anticipated to find).

 Then I colour balanced it to the correct colour.

 And gave him a head band from the same layer:

 Then, I added a feather.

 And his snow goggles:

 And poison necklace, which was just a bottle which I added strings to.

 Tattoos/markings were then added with the paint tool and given a texture and shadow to help them pop.

 I then had to add him to a background which complimented his lighting.

 Then added a cliff for him to be climbing:

 then colour balanced each layer until I felt they sat nicely together in the same image.

 Finally I added the logo. Though I think this still shows a high set of skill to create, I feel it looks less professional and convincing than the previous posters/ promotional art, and therefore is my least favourite.

Considering Transmedia and Merchandising: Live Action Movie - Akira

When starting Akira I decided her coat as the most important image to get. This was because it contains most of her costume and it was quite rare to find a coat of the length, texture and lightness I was looking for. When I found a great image, the next challenge I faced was giving her convincing anthro arms.

 Once I knew this would work, I tried to find a face as I knew it would be difficult to give a tiger face a semi-human sized neck.

 To do this I used the same images neck at an angle to give her a neck, and the black tiger stripe allowed it to give the impression of her spine which complimented the picture and helped the head set on the body.

 I then added a gauntlet to her arm, which I placed just under the turf of fur to help the viewer see it as her elbow, giving her again a more human form. Erasing the background wasn't difficult but still required a softer edge then the magic wand tool provides, so I refined the edge and feathered it very subtly.

 I then needed to give her a tiger hand that looked like it was grasping something (I already knew I wanted her to be holding her bow). This image of all the ones I found displayed that most accurately I felt.

 Finding a bow was very easy to find. I erased the entire white area and bow string. The string was then re-added later.

 Which is shown here.

 She then needed her legs added in.

 And her arrow pouch, which I used an image of the 12 inch Aragon slideshow collectible figure. I then added a tail from the same tiger picture I had previously been using.

 The next task was to find a suitable background image. I knew I wanted her to be looking gracefully over a rural/eastern looking image, and as this image was already large I didn't want to have to down size it. I found the perfect image in this:

 The only thing I disliked was the lake as it looked too perfect. Almost like a resort holiday, so I covered it with rocks which also gave the character something to stand on.

 After adding the logo, I had her poster/promotional art finished. I am really happy with this result as I feel it looks professional and used alot of high photoshop knowledge and skill to create so convincingly.