Very Strange...Almost Surreal...But Nevertheless Disturbing

So I was having a flick through my google reader before catching some shut-eye, when i came across this little gem. Bare in mind, the use of the word gem is due to the impressive 3D animation, not necessarily the story. Its a great concept, but still rather disturbing, but ill let you take from it what you want.
Just a warning but, depending on your tolerance to slightly disturbing things, you might want to wait until its daytime to watch this one, give you a chance to forget what you've seen before sleeping.


Tous des Monstres from Tous Des Monstres on Vimeo.

Crazy huh?! As you can probably tell its a French animation, made by some students believe it or not. Just makes you wonder how they came up with such a twisted story...I guess we're all a little twisted inside. Not gonna delve too much into it right now, will come back to it after some sleep. Wonder if ill be visited in my dreams by a 5 boobed crazy lady, or a human turtle...to be honest I don't know which is worse. On that note, goodnight all and feel free to comment any thoughts you have about this below.

Zen Font

The font I thought would be perfect for this project was found using Identifont.com, which gave me near enough the exact font used on the book cover. The reason for choosing it was because it was a serif font but had very distinct and particular serifs, I was instantly drawn to it. The font is ITC Elan Book. I looked everywhere for a free version or a similar font that was free, but no such luck. In the end i purchased the font from ITC. There was no other option, as i had not found a font like it that would do my project justice.

Zen Mood Board

Due to the nature of the book I chose for this project, I decided to keep my mood board quite simple, I didn't want it to be too wild and cluttered. The chosen images have close ties with the book, because one main aspect was the 17 day motorcycle journey, through all sorts of beautiful scenery. I also added the wood texture because I wanted the opening sequence to be very natural. One thing i definitely wanted to include was the lotus flower from the front cover of the book. 

Zen Test

Due to the fact that my Maya scene is taking approximately 37 hours to complete, here is a video of what it will basically look like when completed.

Few notes about this video:
   - The room is actually just two pictures at the present time, in the final thing there will be camera movement.
   - There will of course be more clouds and more rain, but due to the maya scenes not being fully rendered i saw little point in making it perfect just to have to restart when the rendering is completed.

StoryBoard

Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The book I have chosen for this project is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, written by Robert M. Pirsig. The book is about the author (although he is not named in the book), and his son on a 17-day motorcycle journey from Minnesota to California. Throughout this journey the main character talks about the meaning of 'Quality' through a series of philosophical discussions, referred to as Chautauquas by the author.

"What follows is based on actual occurrences. Although

much has been changed for rhetorical purposes,

it must be regarded in its essence as fact. However,

it should in no way be associated with that

great body of factual information relating to

orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very

factual on motorcycles, either."

                                          (Authors Note)

I found this book on a bookcase at home, and it turns out it was my dads when he was about 17. The title and look of the book intrigued me to read it, which i hastily did, and within no time at all it was over. It seemed to drag me into the story, enveloping my mind with great visuals and thought provoking questions. This is the reason i chose the book for this project, because in a way, (not to sound too cheesy), it holds a special place in my mind. And i advise anyone who has not already done so, to try and find a copy and lose yourself in it.