Context
During this project, the final product will be a character-driven
narrative short aimed at young adults from the ages of 14 and 25. The short
film will be 45 seconds in length and focus on the themes of conflict,
kinsmanship and rebellion.
The film will be inspired by the animated film The Secret of Kells; Pixar’s Brave; the videogame Journey; DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda 2; the animated cartoon Samurai Jack; the advert for the 2010
Vancouver Winter Olympics and the animated shorts Pivot, Beat and The Silence Beneath the Bark.
Most of these are inspirations for the visual style I wish
to create in my short. I am hoping to blend the celtic artwork of Kells and Brave with the simple and clean look of Journey. The brush-stroke effects used within Silence and the Winter Olympics trailer is another visual aesthetic
I am considering, especially in my backgrounds. I aim to combine these styles with
a distinct ancient eastern Asian aesthetic, inspired by the bold styles of Samurai Jack and the 2D segments of Kung Fu Panda 2.
Pivot and Beat are two animated shorts that are
helping me understand how to effectively tell a story within a small timeframe.
Both are very distinctive in their aesthetics – Pivot uses a very limited palette with a low poly count to create a
dark, tense and dramatic mood; while Beat
is perhaps even more limited in its palette – almost entirely monochrome except
for a few segments where the character’s “inner self” is shown on screen. This
intense contrast between the majority of the short and those key moments is
something I want to capture within my own project. Both shorts have unique
animation which fits the characters and brings out their personality (Pivot’s exaggerated squash and stretch
with heightened anticipation to really help bring across the desperation within
its characters, and Pivot’s jerky,
almost incomplete movements which emphasise the monotony of the main character
– these movements then become a lot more fluid once he makes a self-revelation)
This is something I am very keen to use in my animation – I am aiming to make
each character very distinctive through how they move and react to stimuli and
events.
Overview
The film focuses on anthropomorphic chess pieces – the black
army vs the white army. During one particularly harsh battle, a pawn from each
army meet and realise they’re not so different after all, which leads to an
alliance between all pawns who seek to overthrow the monarchy pieces.
Criteria
Essential:
45 seconds long
Bold aesthetic
Contrasting colours to help heighten the drama of the short and help
achieve a
1 3D character
1 3D environment
1920x1080 resolution (HD)
|
Desirable:
Sympathetic, relatable characters
Minimal colour palette
Brush stroke style in backgrounds
Self-made music for soundtrack
|
Production
Process:
To begin with, I will gather plenty of resources to help
research my project thoroughly. This will include primary and secondary
research such as photographs, sketches and moodboards. For research I will be
looking at celtic art and carved stones (which are available in my local
museum) to help create the ancient scottish style I hope to achieve in this
short.
Alongside the research, I will write a story, outlining key
moments, expressions and potential dialogue. This will be drafted more than
once to ensure that my story is as good as it can be.
Colour will be looked at carefully, and colour theory will
be used to the best of my ability. This means for dramatic shots I want deep,
bold colours such as reds and oranges, and for more gentle moods blues and greens.
The opposing armies will contrast each other in both colouration and lighting –
the white army will be lit by yellow lights, and the black army will be lit by
purple lighting. This is to avoid the characters looking too flat with the
cell-shading technique I am going to employ.
Conveying mood and personality is my key goal with this
short. I want my characters to be believable and have distinct personalities,
so the way they act and move has to reflect that. I will use animation
principles such as squash and stretch, arc and anticipation, alongside the rest
of these principals. There will be two distinct characters – a Black Pawn and a
White Pawn (at minimum) so these characters will contrast completely in
personality and colouration, but be the same 3D model to emphasise the plot
point of the two armies being not-so-different after all.
Sound will be the driving force behind my story – the music
will help heighten the mood alongside the colours, lighting and animation, and
if possible I aim to create the entire soundtrack from scratch. This includes
the musical score, foley and any other sound I wish to have in my project.
Plan
Pre-production:
·
Contextual research
·
Moodboards -Environment, Character, Lighting,
Visual Style and Props
·
Sketches from life
·
Photographs
·
Story document (Draft and Final)
·
Character Sheets – Pose, Expressions (3 separate
ideas)
·
Environment sheets – Design, Lighting,
Atmosphere (3 separate ideas)
·
Model sheets – Props, Furniture and other
details
·
Colour tests
·
Test Layouts
·
Thumbnails
·
Storyboards
·
Audio
·
Animatic
Production
·
3D Environments
·
3D Characters
·
2D textures
- faces, backgrounds, clothing included
·
Final Soundtrack
Post-Production
·
Final short composited in Adobe Premier
-45 seconds
-1920x1080 HD resolution
-.mov format
-25fps
-H264 Codec
·
Evaluation Document
Appendix
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