Semester 2 - Aesop's Fables

In semester two we have been given the assignment of recreating one of the many 'Aesop's Fables'

The general idea of the piece is to portray the Moral of the story using adequate animation and modelling techniques. We have been told to choose three stories that we are interested in, and over the coming weeks to narrow these three down to one story that we will recreate using 3Ds Max.

The three fables i have chosen are as follows.

The Old Man & Death
http://www.aesops-fables.org.uk/aesop-fable-the-old-man-and-death.htm

This story tells the tale of a man who is old and tired and wishes for death to end his life. Much to the old mans surprise, death appears ready to meet his request. Now full of regret, the man palms death off saying he only wanted him to carry the sticks for him.

I think that this story would be quite fun to make, as you could add a level of satire to it that will not effect the outcome of the moral. It also allows for me to make a detailed forest environment, as well as two humanoid models, which I have not had any experience of modelling as of yet.

The Fisher
http://www.aesops-fables.org.uk/aesop-fable-the-fisher.htm

The Fisher fable tells the story of a fisherman who tries to entice fish into his net using bagpipes to lure them to the surface.

This does not work well for the fisherman so he casts his net into the water and soon has captured a full net of fish. Now with his fresh catch, the man plays the bagpipes again, and the fish dance about in the net.

My main reason for choosing this story would be because i could reuse my fish model that i made from last semester, meaning that i would be able to spend more time on the animation side of the course, rather than modelling at which i feel i have already met a competent level of skill.

The Serpent & The File
http://www.aesops-fables.org.uk/aesop-fable-the-serpent-and-the-file.htm

This fable tells of a snake that is passing through a blacksmith/armoury. The snake slithers over a file, which cuts its stomach. The snake became very angry and attacks the file, but shortly gives up upon realising he cannot harm the file.

My reasons for choosing this fable are that I would like to make a very detailed background with photo realistic materials and bump maps. Making a snake would be a relatively easy feat, meaning that a lot of my time would be able to be spent on the armoury.


I will be studying each of these fables and find the one which i think Will be most suited to my current skill set, and what I would like to learn in the future.