Rōnin 浪人
Art Director - Production Coordinator responsibilities
Last year I was generating storytelling ideas to be prepared for different projects. The final feedback from my Storytelling Animation project encouraged me to be the art director and production manager of the Rorin project.
The previous year's conversations with my Storytelling tutors and the lectures of those tutors provided me with a further idea about the roles in Animation then; as an art director, I am responsible for the visual style of the animation.
As my primary duty, I decide how the characters, props and environments will look and provide a basic moldboard for the rest of the art department to work from. I am also in charge of some scenes of the animation, the VFX and the final assembly of the renders and the sound.
To develop the story, I have followed the principles of creating storytelling learned last year.
I have set the project in an outline to follow it easily.
“The job of an art director is to know how to manage the artistic team in production. From the breakdown of responsibilities and activities for all members, developing preliminary designs or creating new characters requested by the team of writers and storyboard. Throughout the entire process, all the work must be supervised, reviewed and approved, looking for ways to constantly improve it”. – Paula Spence, art director at Cartoon Network.
RORIN ANIMATION PROJECT OUTLINE
1. Ideation map
2. Research history:
-
Questions relatives to the ideation map result.
-
Samurais Animations and movies.
3. Narrative:
-
Act Structure
-
Synopsis
-
Genre and Animation
-
Antagonist
-
Script
4. Main Moodboard
-
Colour and animation style
5. Environment
6. Character design and props
7. Animation references
8. Storyboard Updated
9. Production Update
-
Compositing and lighting Production schedule
-
Miro records link
10. VFX production
11. Video and Sound
12. References
-
IDEATION MAP
2. RESEARCH - HISTORY
During the Muromachi period, although the Emperor of Japan was officially the ruler of his nation and every lord swore loyalty to him, he was essentially a marginalized, ceremonial, and religious figure who delegated power to the shōgun, a noble who was roughly equivalent to a general. In the years preceding this era, the shogunate gradually lost influence and control over the daimyōs (local lords). Although the Ashikaga shogunate had retained the structure of the Kamakura shogunate and instituted a warrior government based on the same socio-economic rights and obligations established by the Hōjō with the Jōei Code in 1232, failed to win the loyalty of many daimyō, especially those whose domains were far from the capital, Kyoto. Many of these lords began to fight uncontrollably with each other for control over land and influence over the shogunate. As trade with Ming China grew, the economy developed, and the use of money became widespread as markets and commercial cities appeared. Combined with developments in agriculture and small-scale trading, this led to the desire for greater local autonomy throughout all levels of the social hierarchy. As early as the beginning of the 15th century, the suffering caused by earthquakes and famines often served to trigger armed uprisings by farmers weary of debt and taxes.
The Ōnin War (1467–1477), a conflict rooted in economic distress and brought on by a dispute over shogunal succession, is generally regarded as the onset of the Sengoku period. The "eastern" army of the Hosokawa family and its allies clashed with the "western" army of the Yamana. Fighting in and around Kyoto lasted for nearly 11 years, leaving the city almost destroyed. The conflict in Kyoto then spread to outlying provinces.
The period culminated with a series of three warlords – Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu – who gradually unified Japan. After Tokugawa Ieyasu's final victory at the siege of Osaka in 1615, Japan settled into over two hundred years of peace under the Tokugawa shogunate.
QUESTIONS RELATIVES TO THE IDEATION MAP RESULT
-
WHAT IS A SAMURAI?
The samurai (or bushi) were the warriors of premodern Japan. They later made up the ruling military class, eventually becoming the Edo Period's highest-ranking social caste (1603-1867). Samurai employed a range of weapons, such as bows and arrows, spears and guns, but their primary weapon and symbol was the sword.
Samurai were supposed to lead their lives according to the ethic code of bushido ("the way of the warrior"). Strongly Confucian in nature, bushido stressed concepts such as loyalty to one's master, self-discipline and respectful, ethical behaviour. Many samurai were also drawn to the teachings and practices of Zen Buddhism.
According to the Bushido Shoshinshu (the "Code of the Warrior"), a samurai was supposed to commit seppuku (also harakiri, a form of ritual suicide) upon the loss of his master. One who chose not to honour the code was "on his own" and was meant to suffer great shame. Those were named Rorin.
-
WHAT IS THE BUSHIDO CODE?
The Bushido Code how chivalrous men should act in their personal and professional lives following the precepts of the eight virtues: Rectitude or Justice, Courage, Benevolence or Mercy, Politeness, Honesty and Sincerity, Honor, Loyalty, Character and Self-Control.
-
WHAT IS A RONIN?
The word ronin translates as "man like a wave in the sea", with the pejorative connotation of wandering man or wandering man.
The undesirability of Rōnin status was mainly discrimination imposed by other samurai and daimyō, the feudal lords. A Rōnin (浪人, wanderer) was a samurai without a lord or master in Japanese culture. A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after losing his master's favour or privilege.
That discrimination would continue in the family for generations.
During the Nara period (710-794 AD) and Heian period (794-1185 AD), the term was applied to serfs who fled their masters' lands and went on their way; to survive, they often became thieves and highway robbers.
Samurai who chose to continue living fell into social disgrace, and their livelihood options were limited. Because they belonged to the samurai caste, they could not "lower" to live as merchants, artisans, or farmers; besides, it was frowned upon for themselves. They kept their traditional samurai weaponry of two swords unless they had to sell them when the time fell. As members of the samurai caste in the strict feudal hierarchy, they could not legally take up a new life as farmers, artisans or merchants, and most would otherwise have despised such jobs. This was how they became ronin.
The most honourable option for the ronin was to live by working as bodyguards or mercenaries for wealthy merchants. Many others engaged in crime, from running gangs that ran businesses such as brothels and illegal casinos to extorting merchants by offering them protection. This type of behaviour helped cement the image of the ronin as criminals.
47 RONIN LEGEND
47 rōnin, the 47 loyal samurai of the lord of Akō, whose vendetta ranks as one of the most dramatic episodes of Japanese history.
In March 1701, the daimyo Nagori Asano of Ako attacked Edo Castle, present-day Tokyo, where Yoshinaka Kira, master of the protocol of the imperial court, lived.
The reason for the attack was the provocations he suffered from Kira, but Nagori failed to kill him in the attack. Asano was sentenced to commit Sepukko, to take his own life; however, although the custom was that both parties were punished in the same way, Kira was spared.
Nigara Asano's entire family was removed from power, leaving Asano's samurai without a lord and forced to commit seppuku for the loss of their lord, which caused an incredible feeling of revenge among the Asano samurai for their unjustly punished master.
This group of masterless samurai, Ronin, waited a year and a half to carry out their revenge, preparing the attack and infiltrating the court in person. On December 14, 1702, the group of 47 Rorin managed to fulfil their revenge by killing Master Kira in his mansion and taking his head to the Sengakuki temple, where they all committed Sepukku.
FINAL IDEAS:
"exsamurai Japanese feudal era, trying to recover his privileges."
"The son of a Rorin tries to recover the privileges of Samurai for his family."
-
SAMURAI ANIMATIONS AND MOVIES
As part of my research, I did a search for Japanese animes and films that dealt with the samurai theme.
I found more than sixteen some of them with interesting adaptations of novels that even mixed old Japan with fictional characters half man half insect, as Mushibuyon (2013) and full of action, adventure and martial arts.
Samurai 7 is an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's famous 1954 film The Seven Samurai. Samurai 7 is an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's famous 1954 film the 7 Samurai. This adaptation reflects the struggle for the people's survival against the power abuse by the rulers.
Hakuoki (2010) tells us the story of the local doctor's daughter who is attacked and kidnapped by a monster and rescued by a group of samurai.
House of five (2010) tells us the story of a magnificent swordsman who begins to work as a bodyguard for a group of villagers.
Studio Deen is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1975 by Sunrise producer Hiroshi Hasegawa and ex-Sunrise animators specialising in the creation of animes that narrate Samurai stories although his best-known series was Doraemon.
Bind Studio founded in 2018 is another animation studio focused on samurai stories as Mushoku Tensei.
The 7 Samurais (1954) by Akira Kurosawa is one of the most famous Samurais films.
The story takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. It follows the story of a village of desperate farmers who hire seven rōnin to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops.
Kurosawa directed many other samurai-themed films, such as Throne of Blood. (1957)
Harakiri is a 1962 Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Masaki Kobayashi. The story takes place between 1619 and 1630 during the Edo period and the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate.
Heading 1
More films relative to this Samurai period are:
The Samurai Trilogy (1954-6), Samurai Assassin (1965), Red Sun (1971), Lady Snowblood (1973), Shogun Assassin (1980), The Twilight Samurai (2002), 13 Assassins (2010),
3. NARRATIVE
-
ACT STRUCTURE
The structure in the three acts of Pythagoras is a pattern of dividing the story into three easily recognisable parts: the account set-up, the obstacle and the resolution.
-
SYNOPSIS
Hakuri's father was a Samurai who lost his honour and privileges for not committing harakiri after his Lord's death as dictated by the warrior's code. Hakuri, on his father's deathbed, promises to return the honour to his family, which could only be recovered if he managed to pass the tests required by the Warrior Code. Monks protected the Sacred Code in a monastery in the mountains. After his introduction, Hakurei is forgiven for showing the virtues of justice, honour, and honesty, and he only has to pass the most crucial courage test of all in the final battle with the reincarnation of his father into a shadow samurai.
-
GENRE AND ANIMATION
Ronin belongs to the drama genre with a primal animation where the character explores melancholic and uncertain emotions having to face their own fears.
-
ANTAGONIST
The Samurai shadow of his dishonourable father.
-
SCRIPT (the script will be edited if for reasons of time it is not possible to finish with this first option).
As an art director, I have to provide the basic mood board with images, references and style research for the animation; these will be the basis that will guide the rest of the departments in their production.
4. MAIN ANIMATION MOODBOARD
COLOUR AND ANIMATION STYLE
I considered an excellent option to use a classic Japanese illustration style called Nihonga.
Nihonga refers to the set of techniques, materials and paintings made following the traditional artistic conventions of Japan.
Nihonga is based on various Japanese painting styles that have evolved over a thousand years.
Possibly the most exciting thing about Nihonga is the extraordinary materials. The vivid and vibrant coloured pigments come in a fantastic variety of hues and consistencies, each with its own Tokuchou (unique characteristic). Fine brushes, delicately crafted from bamboo and fibre, are used to paint Katana precisely. The strong and versatile Washi (Japanese paper) challenges the artist with various surfaces.
During the Meiji period, Japanese painting underwent intense changes due to the westernization campaign promulgated by the government, where the painting technique called Yōga was promoted. This Japanese painting technique promoted creation based on the typical pictorial style of European culture. The Yōga trend lost momentum as an opposite artistic genre flourished based on rescuing the almost forgotten Japanese cultural roots and was named Nihonga.
The Japanese painting technique or Nihonga is a delicate art with the elements of nature as its primary source of inspiration. In the theme and expression, the beauty of nature and the typical characteristics of each season are valued, reflecting the traditional Japanese sense of living in harmony with nature and the cosmos.
Japanese painting does not seek to represent nature as the eye perceives it nor to duplicate objects on paper. Instead, it presents a wide variety of feelings and ideas through movement, variation in pressure and changes in the brush's position, which induces attention and concentration in both the practitioner and the viewer of the final work.
This painting is deeply related to and influenced by Zen Buddhism, a philosophy of life that significantly benefits its practitioners, such as inner peace, willpower and perseverance.
The colours used in the project are the traditional Nihonga Japanese illustrations: red, beige, black, grey and different intensities.
So the final style of our 3D animation could approximate the image below.
We choose a 3D-style animation because more group members work better than in 2D.
The world colour in Blender should be dark to create a twilight environment.
Caricature addon for Blender: outliner helper to draw the shape in a 2D style.
Grunge and papyrus textures will be tested when the Animation process comes at this stage.
6. ENVIRONMENT
HOW DID THEY LIVE?
Castles developed over the centuries from small defensive forts built high up on mountains into massive complexes at the heart of cities, where they served as the status symbol, administrative centre and residence of the local lord. The lord's samurai vassals resided in the town surrounding the castle: the higher their rank, the closer they resided to the castle. Over a hundred castles exist in Japan today, including twelve original castles (whose main keeps have survived the post-feudal years intact) and many modern reconstructions.
In order to separate the social castes, samurai were forced to reside in designated districts of the castle towns during the Edo Period. Today, a few of these samurai districts remain preserved with their historic atmosphere.
Our main character is a farmer who works on a rice plantation surrounded by a valley where the red myrtle flowers grow.
Below are some ideas for the environmental lighting that fits with the animation style and chosen palette colours. Intense points of lighting, dark scenes and volumetric fog create a mist environment. We will use some HDRI for backgrounds too.
Due to their previous social status as samurais and to make an approximation to the mentality of these samurais, I have done a little research on what the samurais were like.
HOW DID THEY SAMURAIS STYLE?
Samurai warriors took great care styling their hair, which they pulled back into a topknot called a "chomage." For battle, samurai warriors shaved the tops of their heads, which reduced the heat under their heavy helmets, and wore their hair straight on the sides. When not wearing helmets, they pulled the side and back hair into a topknot.
A samurai's clothing style was very important and indicative of status. Outlandish, colourful patterns were considered immodest and conceited. Though samurai children dressed flamboyantly, they became more subdued in appearance after their coming-of-age ceremony.
7. CHARACTER DESIGN AND PROPS
The samurai wore a kimono, usually consisting of an outer and inner layer. Generally made of silk, the kimono quality depended on the samurai's income and status. Beneath the kimono, the warrior wore a loincloth.
Outside the home, the samurai wore a two-piece costume called a "kamishimo" over the kimono. The upper piece was a sleeveless jacket with exaggerated shoulders. On the lower part of their body, samurai wore wide-flowing trousers called "hakama." When travelling, they would wear a long-sleeved coat over the kimono.
A samurai going to town for pleasure would often hide his face with a hat (often one shaped like a basket) to avoid being recognized just in case he disobeyed any rules.
The samurai's swords were usually thrust through an "obi," a belt wrapped around the waist, and were always worn on the left side. When indoors, the samurai would remove his long sword, but he was always armed with some form of weaponry.
The armature depended on the samurai's status.
Below I show the first idea I had about our character that I showed to the character design department to have an approximation of the character.
PROPS
Due to the short space of time, we have to create the animation, I decided to make only a few characters and adapt the one we already have of Hakuri with some props so they could be identified as another character. For the monks, hats that cover their heads will be designed for the house scene where Hakuri meditates, a book that represents his family's history, and the typical Japanese paper lights that are part of one of the scenes.
This is the final Character Design created by the concepts Artist department.
A Japanese 25 years old farmer with Marcial arts knowledge. S. XIV Japanese style cloth and props.
*I asked for a change in the character's logo using the Japanese fire symbol to match Hakuri's family in the script.
A katana sword, an old book with Hakuri family history, a monk's hat and lights will be the props for this project and they will be updated when the design and modelling are finished.
8. ANIMATIONS-REFERENCES FOR SCENES
Another of my colleagues will be in charge of the animation process, he will rig the character, and I will help him with some scenes and all the rendering. Below I show essential references to animations such as walking cycles, defence postures and attacks with swords, and more facial expressions that we will have to get from Hakuri.
Here I show some of the facial expressions that we will try to achieve in the animation. they will be adapted depending on the time we have for the process. Determination, surprise, serenity- meditation, concern.
-
RIGGING - BLENDER RIGIFY ADD-ONS
The animations are created between various partners, so I have to ensure that the Rig specifications are the same for everyone.
1. Sep up the character in Blender.
2. Press Shift + T to fit the character in the centre of the world.
3. Press the body
4. Press A
5. Press N and open the dimensions
6. Scale the whole character until 1.85m in Z (dimensions)
7. Ctrl + A and apply the scale to get X Z Y (1,1,1)
8. Add an armature
9. Adapt the bones to the body
10. Generate the rig
11. Skinning (parent with automatic weight)
12. Pose
9. STORYBOARD
Another of my colleagues is in charge of making the storyboard. We still don't have the draft because we're waiting for the modelling department to finish the character and then do the rigging and see how the character's mesh adapts to the scenes of the script to see if we have to change any of them.
As I had excellent feedback from the storyboards of my previous animation projects (I show below an example), I asked my partner to use the same rules of the third system for Rorin.
10. PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Bearing in mind that this subject mainly focuses on learning how to work professionally in an animation studio, we will follow the steps and perform the exact tasks involved in the entire process.
* To comply with the calendar imposed for the deadline of the subject, we must comply with the following scheduled dates specified in the table above. Each department has an assigned colour that you can find in the table below.
To monitor the process, I have a wall open in miro where I record all the records of the updates that I receive.
Miro link:
11. VFX -LIGHTING
As I already mentioned in the animation style section, we will follow the colours used by the Nihonga style. So that the scenes will be dark and the light will come from the same materials used, points of light strategically located, sunlight with low intensity and volumetric lighting.
as soon as I have some environments I will update this section.
-
Moodboard lighting References
Points of light for Rorin the animation:
-Multitone background with lighting
-Two/three tones backgrounds with shadows fade to red/dark red, grey and black.
-Some points close to the character getting a high contract.
-In some scenes, there isn't ambient light to get shadows completely dark then the shapes of the character and background can merge together.
VFX
The VFX will be updated at every step.
I find attractive the idea of generating a portal of smoke or fire for the appearance of the giant samurai Shadow.
The software we will use is Blender because it is the one that most of the team works with; I consider it better to create the visual effects there or use an alternative software like Houdini and then export the files to Blender.
For now, I have set up the volumetric lights for the Cycles render for the scenes that need these lights.
13. VIDEO EDITING AND SOUND
One of my mates will be in charge of looking for the sound effects.
I bought a Musicsound song to avoid copyright problems.
The idea for the main soundtrack was to find a track that would adapt to the scenes of the script, with a slow entrance to be able to use the VO of the narrator of the story and that would gain strength as the plot of the story took shape.
To help the storytelling narrative we join some effects sounds like sword fighting, a person walking, scary sound effects for dramatic scenes and three voice overs for the narrator, monk, Hakuri.
14. REFERENCES (Harvard style)
El templo Sengakuji y las tumbas de los 47 rōnin - Japón Secreto. [online] Japón Secreto. Available at: https://japon-secreto.com/sengakuji-templo-tumbas-47-ronin- [Accessed 7 Nov. 2022].
Devillier Donegan Enterprises (2003). Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire . Samurai | PBS. [online] Pbs.org. Available at: https://www.pbs.org/empires/japan/enteredo_8.html.
Kyoto Samurai and Ninja Museum with Experience. (n.d.). Best Samurai Museum and Ninja Experience in Japan. [online] Available at: https://mai-ko.com/samurai/.
Till, B. (2005). The 47 Ronin: A Story of Samurai Loyalty and Courage. [online] Google Books. Pomegranate. Available at: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_47_Ronin.html?id=V14nI8RKPkwC&redir_esc=y [Accessed 7 Nov. 2022].
Till, B. (2005). The 47 Ronin: A Story of Samurai Loyalty and Courage. [online] Google Books. Pomegranate. Available at: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_47_Ronin.html?id=V14nI8RKPkwC&redir_esc=y.
www.japan-guide.com. (n.d.). Samurai - Japanese Warriors. [online] Available at: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2127.html#:~:text=The%20samurai%20(or%20bushi)%20were.
Kurosawa, A., Kurosawa, A., Hashimoto, S., Oguni, H., Mifune, T., Shimura, T., Tsushima, K. and Shimazaki, Y. (1954). Shichinin no samurai. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/.
Wikipedia. (2022). 47 Ronin (2013 film). [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47_Ronin_(2013_film) [Accessed 7 Nov. 2022].
IndustriaAnimacion.com. (2020). La Historia de la Animación Japonesa. [online] Available at: https://www.industriaanimacion.com/2020/06/la-historia-de-la-animacion-japonesa/.
Clark, T. (n.d.). The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai A Brief History of the Samurai. [online] Available at: https://china.usc.edu/sites/default/files/forums/Samurai%20and%20the%20Bushido%20Code.pdf.
BFI. (n.d.). 10 great samurai films. [online] Available at: https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-samurai-films [Accessed 7 Nov. 2022].
SketcharTM Creators’ Success in Web3. (2021). Exploring Anime — a Global Entertainment Phenomenon from Japanese Culture. [online] Available at: https://blog.sketchar.io/exploring-anime-a-global-entertainment-phenomenon-from-japanese-culture/.
The Art Story. (n.d.). Nihonga Movement Overview. [online] Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/movement/nihonga/.