Towards the beginning of the project, we began to brainstorm various ideas for the plot that we felt we could outline within a 20 second time-frame. Below, is a photo from the planning stage of one of the more finalised ideas. Once we began roughly storyboarding that idea out (using the words: tortoise, love letter, stars, fall and ask), we realised that including a love letter in the film wouldn’t be the most efficient approach due to the short time-frame we had to deliver this story in, as ideally we’d show the viewer the letter on screen for enough time for them to read it in. This caused us to slightly simplify our idea down, through using the words: tortoise, love, stars, fall and ask.
Our new tale consisted of a lonely, old tortoise who no longer had his partner and would watch the sky sad, thinking he was the only one who was alone in this world. One night, though, he sees a lonely star fall from the sky, and rescues her. After asking her to run away together, she agrees, leading to the end.
Mood Board and Art-Style Research
In order to draw some inspiration for the art-style, we began to look at the variety of different ways different artists had interpreted tortoise and star-like characters. As the story was quite child-like, we looked at various shows and films we liked as children, engaging with the simplistic line-work in some of them, so that a clear character and style could be achieved. Once we started looking at images, we started piecing together a rough colour palette we intended to use, consisting of a lot of contrasting greens, blues and yellows.
Our eyes were particularly drawn to the style the characters in the show ‘Spongebob’ were drawn in, as we felt that the minimalistic use of lines, and focus on expression, was something we could incorporate in our film, as well as the simplicity of their plotlines.
Storyboard
Once we had decided in the direction we were going to take with the project, we continued to create a Storyboard, where we tried to play around with a variety of shot possibilities, in order to give this film a little more interest and feel.
Original Character Sketch
We then decided to divide up the next stage of the project, where I worked on the Tortoise design whilst Lilu worked on the Star design.
The initial sketch I did of the Tortoise, in my opinion, looked quite off balance and wrongly-proportioned. This led me to start editing the character once I had got into Photoshop, so that the character had more natural balance. I also tried to focus on making the silhouette more interesting and clear by changing the shape of the shell, as that was something that was highlighted during the Character Design rotation. As well as changing the proportions, I began adding extra line work to the character as the original sketch had less personality and was quite dull ,when drawn out digitally.
In order to make the character easier to animate, I kept each part of him that would be able to move separate from each other. This gave me a larger range of movements I could achieve with the character when it got to the animating stage of the project.
I decided to keep the colour palette quite simple, consisting of mainly muted earth tones. This was intended to make the line work stand out against the shading, to maximise the expression on the character’s face.
Finalised Character Designs
After I had drawn the poses, I realised how the colours would need to completely change in some of them, as the lighting in the film would differ depending on the scene. Through using the Hard Light blending mode, that I practiced using during the Photographics rotation, I was able to change the colours of the character, without disrupting the original.
Background Designs
Once we had created the two characters, we split the workload again, where we each made a background. I focussed on the night-time outside scene. As tortoises live in relatively dry climates, I decided to create his home out of a large lone cactus in a desert like area. I thought this could add to the fairly depressing reality of the tortoise, as deserts are usually seen as places in media where characters tend to exist alone, usually dying that way, and the fact that he’s sitting in a spiky cactus only helped add to that feeling. Pairing this with a joyful twist, I felt could work quite well, as despite his home being a place one would realistically end up alone (as not many willingly enter the middle of the desert), he was able to join in with others up in another world above him, finding company at last.
Similar to before, I chose quite a limited colour palette, dark enough so that the Tortoise could stand out amongst it.
Animatic
After we created the three main backgrounds, we decided to think about motion, through creating a very simple animatic.
Animation Process
As we wanted to develop our skills in After Effects, that we enquired during the Motion Graphics rotation, we decided to complete this using that program. Due to the fact that I wasn’t too familiar with the software, it was quite a challenge for me. We focussed on mostly creating clear and simple motions in order to convey a particular feeling or action, as we thought this may work best given the 20 second time-limit, as well as the child-like inspiration.
Throughout this process, I experimented with the camera function in After Effects that I’d never used, so that my third scene had greater dimension. I created a path that the camera followed as the tortoise broke through his window.
The original animated scenes (Pre-Editing) I created (In order of Appearance)
Sound Process – Experimenting with sound effects / Music Composition
Our final step, after cutting the film down, was to create the sound, which at first we struggled with. We knew, firstly, that we wanted to create a soundtrack as we thought it’d add more feel to the story. After experimenting with a large variety of different apps, it became quite difficult, as sound wasn’t what we were best at. However, through using the program MuseScore, Akiva was able to compose a piece. In order to get the pacing right though, we had to keep playing both the cut-down video and the music at the same time, whilst Akiva composed, so that the melody was able to adjust to the emotions playing out in the scene at the right times.
After this, we tried to add more depth to the sound element of the film, through adding sound effects. Following on from that we found that these extra sounds took away from the music in the background, and in some instances made the film a bit too comical, so we decided to just use the music instead.
In order to elevate the character, I developed her look for some of the scenes, as seen below:
Character Design – Antoinette’s Coach
I took inspiration from a previous character I created in order to create this new one below:
Style Inspiration
During the process of creating my characters, I took inspiration from the art style in ‘Spongebob’ (thick outlines and eye shape) as well as ‘The Corpse Bride’ (round eyes for the coach character in combination with the muted colour palette).
Animating
In order to achieve a larger variety of effects and colours within the limited colour palette I chose, I experimented with various blending modes
In scenes such as this one, I experimented with the use of motion tweens, rather than animating frame by frame, in order to achieve smoother movements.
Sound Editing
When creating the foley sounds, in some I used:
The crowd in a riot
A microwave timer
Moving a can around on a desk
Brushing through a washing-up brush
Dangling keys
After importing these sounds, I distorted them through manipulating the speed, audio gain and reversing the audio clips, in order to create an ongoing ominous sound that mixed well together.
Other Film Research
Title Brainstorming
Font Experimentation
When choosing a title font, I narrowed down my options to: Agency FB, Bernard MT Condensed, Copperplate Gothic Bold, Copperplate Gothic Light, Gill Sans MT Condensed and Rockwell Condensed. I ended up deciding on using Copperplate Gothic Bold.
Format Experimentation
In these screenshots above, I experimented with a variety of colour choices and chose the last one as I felt it was the most cohesive in the shot.
For the visual aspect of this film, I merged 3 photos together, consisting of a ceramic baby head, ice cubes and a building through using a variety of blending modes and adjustments in Photoshop. As I felt this selection of images was quite random, I wanted to create an environment that makes the listener feel quite out of place and confused. Through recording a moving fan and adjusting the duration and intensity I tried to set an overwhelming background tone. As the images flick through quickly and then settle I transitioned from two audios, one of reversed speech of a broken phone line, followed by the squeezing of a bottle. The reversed speech, I thought, gave it quite an ominous effect, paired with the bottle that could be interpreted as a baby-bottle.
Film 2
When experimenting with the various audios I recorded, I found that through manipulating the Jiffy Foam, I achieved an effect that sounded similar to walking through leaves. This gave me the idea to pair this with a video of a slow stroll through the woods. To match the speed, I slowed down the original recorded audio, layering it with some shorter samples at various speeds of that same audio to give the sound some variety and depth.
Film 3
For the final film, I once again gained inspiration from the visual I had created to build the sound-world. The image I used was an edited alteration of a piece I had made during the Photographics rotation. Due to the chaotic and broken feel that the piece gives off, I decided to use a larger range of sounds to reflect the given mood. For the background tone, I used a stretched-out and reversed version of an audio I recorded where I moved a can in a circular motion on my desk. Through pairing this with a reversed audio of me brushing through a washing-up brush, I tried to create a wind-like, vacuum effect. In addition to this, to add some rhythm to the sound I reversed an audio of me dangling some keys, which ended up sounding a bit like the sparking of a lighter, adding to the city-like atmosphere. When listening back to the audio, I felt something was missing, so I inserted an audio of a microwave timer in the middle, which to me sounded like a lorry reversing, which I felt matched the tone I was trying to create.
Conclusion
Overall, considering it was my first time experimenting with sound, I quite liked the process of finding objects that can create interesting sounds, mixing them together to create a specific atmosphere. Even though I found it quite challenging, as I always used to include audio as an afterthought, focussing on the visual aspect of animation, I think that at some points within this rotation I achieved the sound I wanted. However, I think I still need more practice at this, as I’d like to learn more about sound and the various techniques I could use in the future. If I were to do this rotation again, I think I would try to implement a more musical aspect to some of the sound-worlds as this week I mostly tried to create atmospheres that didn’t have too much forward-planning in them. As well as this, I think the last film could’ve benefitted if I did more with the visual aspect and developed it to be a moving image.
Micro Film – Indoors to Outdoors – Initial Wednesday Homework
Throughout the process of completing the initial location sketches, I found it quite difficult to draw the subjects in enough detail, enabling me to try a new very simplistic style. As people were moving by very quickly, each line I put down had to have purpose so that I could capture the key characteristics of the people in front of me. After drawing a range of people, I settled on drawing this group of elderly people I saw in a café, as I thought I could develop a good story out of them as they already had a specific dynamic together within their trio.
My story consists of three scenes. The first one portrays the couple arguing as they wait for their friend to join them at the table. As the friend approaches, the couple pretends nothing happened, whilst she reminisces and hands them a photograph of their group. Scene 3 consists of the photo taken when the couple initially met, showing how in love they once were.
When drawing the final scenes, I stuck to a simplistic and muted colour palette, to compliment the minimal line usage in the sketches. I felt this helped set the mood for the first two scenes. For the final scene I tried brightening it slightly, to reflect the happier and brighter time. If I were to do this exercise again, I would probably try incorporating more intricate backgrounds as here I mostly focussed on the characters and their expressions and narrative, rather than location. I think if I focussed more on location, the story could’ve had more context giving greater value and meaning to the viewer.
Throughout this project, I found a large selection of elements that sparked my interest; indoors and outdoors. This led to me creating a variety of outcomes with a range of differing aesthetics. The walls of various shops around my area, however, particularly drew my eye as I saw the same smiley face over 3 times, making each street look somewhat familiar to me. I found this idea of familiarity quite interesting as although each shop was very different, the same artist would paint on each one. This subtle accent seemed to give these walls more personality and life, making them unlike most of the walls I’d seen around. Through this, it made me feel more connected to the space, as the imperfection of the area gave me a sense of community.
When composing the piece, after choosing the three images, I used a variety of blending modes when experimenting. For the final result, I ended up using a combination of 2 blending modes on the three images: Difference and Colour Dodge. Initially, whilst editing, I kept the images in colour, which led to me having to adjust the tones quite a significant amount using Gamma Correction and other similar tools. In addition to this, transforming this to be monochromatic, made me adjust the position of each image too, in order to achieve a more checkerboard feel so that the eye is drawn to those shapes.
Even though, in this image, I wanted to capture the chaotic energy of the city, I do feel that in certain areas, it may appear a little too full and slightly overwhelming. If I were to do this project again, I would probably lean further into experimenting with negative space. As well as this, even though I like the subtlety of the third image, with it adding slight rectangles towards the righthand sides, I think I could’ve approached that specific image differently.
Overall, I enjoyed this project as it let me develop a new way of looking at my surroundings, making me notice things I typically wouldn’t. Also, through focussing on the tonal values of an image, rather than colour, I was able to better control the composition of the final result, as it became easier to change the way the viewer would see the photo, by adjusting the shapes and layout.
When given the prompt “Connection”, I instantly started thinking about how throughout the past year, the way we connect with one another has changed, with the pandemic being a catalyst for this process. This made me think about how reliant we are nowadays of the internet in order to build connections with our community. During the brainstorming process, I realised how that was quite a sad reality and decided to build some ideas off that. I ended up going with “Idea 3” which shows the plug being pulled on the internet, panning over to a character in mild distress, in order to emphasise how much connection means to us, and how nowadays it can be that easy to be cut off from others.
Throughout the process of making the graphics in After Effects, I struggled quite a lot, as I hadn’t used the program before until class. This caused me to break down my idea slightly, making it simpler so that I could do it in the time frame. I used some of the techniques taught in class such as “Trim Paths”, “Squash and Stretch”, whilst changing hues, opacities and moving the objects around using various tools. I also tried using a limited muted colour palette so that the colours looked more cohesive together whilst reflecting the mood of the storyline. In addition to this, in order to make the animation more effective, in Premiere Pro I added a variety of copyright-free sound effects. I tried to make the sounds seem a little overbearing as I feel the online world can be a bit too much at times, as there’s so much going on at such a rapid pace constantly.
Overall, I like the idea, as well as the colour palette. However, I do think the animation is a little too simple due to my lack of experience with the program. If I were to do this again, in a longer time frame, I think I’d go for a more ambitious concept that used a larger range of techniques and effects available in the software. I would also maybe develop the storyline further to make the graphic longer and for there to be a bit more depth.
As I had never used Maya before, when brainstorming I tried to come up with an idea that I thought I could do in the time frame, as it would take some time for me to get used to the program. My initial idea involved a cold world located in the clouds. I started modelling that idea but throughout the process I decided to change my idea to this, as I wanted to incorporate a character into the world to give it more of a story. I ended up modelling a sad clown who got kicked out of his circus with props he’d use in his performances (juggling balls and balloons), next to some train-tracks.
During the sculpting process I stuck with mostly rounded shapes (spheres, cylinders) to coincide with the youthful feel of the world. Instead of using bright colours for this childlike-themed world, I used a more muted colour palette, to convey the dull mood. Throughout this process, something I struggled with was lighting, as whenever I’d add light it would always be too dark, so when modelling this I experimented a lot with was light-types and positions (as well as camera angles).
Overall, when looking at the final result, I like the colour palette I used and the concept. However, I do feel that the textures are too shiny, and look a bit too much in combination with the large range of colours in the bottom left of the image. In addition to this, if I were to do this again, I would probably add some texture to the ground as I think it is a little too flat, when reflecting.
For this project, I used the song provided as my prompt, focussing mainly on the line: “I met a strange lady, she made me nervous”. After some experimentation, where I explored a variety of characters who encapsulated a range of aesthetics and styles, I landed on this idea: a failed ballerina. Her story consists of her childhood where she wanted to become a ballerina, and would do anything she could to get there, to the point it completely drained her physically and mentally. After years of training, she never became good enough and had to get a regular office-type job, hence the suit and tutu combination. As this character appears quite depressed, I felt this could’ve made the singer in the song quite “nervous”, as she looks like she’s on the brink of a breakdown, especially as she does look quite unconventional.
In order to get to this character, I used some of the techniques I was taught in class. Through combining shapes together, I tried to make a less ‘classic’ woman silhouette, so that the character looked a little more unique. Regarding the colour palette, I used a small selection of quite muted and dull tones in order to reflect the mood of the character. I also made sure that the various parts of her body would be easy to separate, so that if she were to be put in motion, it would make the animation process simpler.
Overall, I’d say I’m quite happy with the result, as I like the idea and the style as it’s something I wouldn’t usually try. However, if I were to do this again, I think I’d perhaps add more detail to some areas, even though the idea was for the character to be simple, as I feel some sections are a little bare. Also, I think maybe if I varied the tones a little more, the character may’ve been stronger, as the shading at the moment is more on the subtle side
