"Perseus and Andromeda," Fall 2021
Perseus and Andromeda (1875)
Edward Burnes Jones
Chestburster Scene, Alien (1979)
Motion capture data was recorded at the StarLab. It took many takes for us to get the motions nailed down. This data is cleaned up and adjusted in Motion Builder. It is then re-targeted to my character models.
Contributions:
Responsible for all aspects
Our prompt for this project was a merging of two concepts: first, the aesthetics of a painting, and second, the story beats of a movie scene. My visual reference was a study sketch by Edward Burnes Jones depicting the Greek mythological figures Perseus and Andromeda. My story reference was the film Alien, particularly the chestburster scene. I also drew parts of the Alien aesthetic for the sea monster.
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I wanted to retell the myth with a tragic twist. In the original tale, Andromeda, a princess is chained to rocks, to be eaten by Cetus, a sea monster. Perseus succeeds in slaying the beast, and rescues the beautiful maiden. I chose to portray a different version of the story, one wherein Perseus fails in his task. Finding Andromeda unconscious, he rushes to her aid, presuming she is dead. She awakes however, much to Perseus's comfort. They embrace, but in their distraction, they neglect to notice the presence of Cetus behind them. The monster pierces the lovers through the heart and drags them to the depths.
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I wanted to illustrate as much emotion as I could without facial expression, so I emphasized the importance of large body gestures when blocking out the animation. I was fortunate to have access to A&M's StarLab, where two of my good friends served as my models for motion capture. The human performances are driven entirely by this mo-cap, while the sea monster is animated with keyframes. Some aspects such as the shading and VFX could use more development, but I'm happy with how the animation came out with this project.
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