2nd draft animatic.

I will post up the thumbnail sheets as soon as possible, but this animatic was made very simply from them, by photographing each thumbnail in sequence. I am surprised that, mostly, a feeling of movement is retained. I have been plagued by a nagging feeling that this camera-rotation was going to be harder than I thought.

The nature of my piece, with the camera rotation, meant that a 2nd draft animatic, bridging the gap between storyboard and full animation was necessary. A few changes have been made to the initial storyboard - the zoom into the boys eye at the beginning was removed for being too cliche. as well as the ending, where the boy turns into the bird. I feel the meaning of my piece is stated stronger, if I just show the empty corner of the room - (which unfortunately, is an omission from this draft, and will be placed eventually as the last shot ). This piece was never meant to be uplifting, more reflective - and the original close felt like an attempt to give it 'a happy ending', which it doesn't need. In terms of timing I would like to hone it more...it is a little shorter than I expected.

Early pencil test.

This piece of animation was an inspiration for my piece - in the naturalist style, and camera movement. I have been criticised, for my choice of subject matter - as if I wanted to portray smoking as 'cool', whereas in truth, for me smoking is a symbol of addiction, and loss of control - and is an intentional inclusion in my piece, for these reasons.

concept artwork

1st draft animatic.

Storyboard:

1. zoom into boy's eye to show tower.

2. bird lands on tower. cut to CU of hands rolling a fag.

3. zoom out to see man on bench. bird flies through smoke, into new scene.

4. bird flies over sea.  360 pan round giant octopus

- eats bird.

5. zoom out, sea in teacup, woman drinks tea, man comes in-

both look at boy in corner.

6. boy turns into bird

7. bird flies round room, into checkerboard floor, 

turns into country landscape

8. bird lands on tower, 360 pan round to sunset

I like the pencil line-quality (...but not enough black!) I still want to work on each frame with graphic pen, and also add some subdued colors into it. So maybe coloring it on computer then printing each frame out to work on with pen. 

The film revolves around 3 central characters, man, woman, and child. It is tempting to assign the labels of id, super-ego, and ego, respectively. It is in their combined interaction they are intended, as a metaphor for a mind of conflicting and tangled emotions. I am influenced by the zen approach, in trying to describe the undescribable through paradox.  The visual metamorphoses between scenes, the surreality of the narrative, and the universality of the symbolism hopefully invite the viewer to read this film in a counter-intuitive way to standard film context.

The intention behind juxtapostion of events in the narrative, and the animation style itself, is to place emphasis on the awareness of the present moment, and the dream-like nature of the past. The camera rotating round the object is identified with dreams, storybooks, and the past - whereas the points when the camera follows a more conventional film-style are identified with the real world, and the present moment. When the camera is rotating, the direction it takes is intentional - the moment it reverses direction frames the climatic moment.

The focus on upon hand gesture is important - there is an intended symmetry between the man rolling and smoking a cigarette, and the woman stirring and drinking her tea, a window into their inner selves. The bird is implied as a metaphor for the child, and this is made more explicit by the ending - the loss of the bird, the empty corner.  It is through the interaction of the bird-child metaphor with the object symbols of a cigarette/cup of tea, that the films overt meaning is understood.

Concept ideas

This will be a weekly blog, documenting the development of my final student film...initial concepts, storyboards, research, etcetera.

I had an idea over the summer but it was a bit literal, and I am unsure of whether I want to pursue a narrative approach. In animation, the shots I most love are the establishing shots, the long panoramas. I have been doing a lot of drawing outside coffee shops recently. A street scene, filled with activity and bustle, appeals to me as something to animate.

Mouse pastiche -based upon gesture sketches.

The quality of the animation and visual style is the thing that is most important to me. I am interested in the richness of the moment and of capturing the atmosphere of a scene, much more than telling a story. I dont, in fact, feel I have anything to say. So this leads me to think that an open narrative, from which the viewer can create their own (if they feel the need) would be most suited for what I want to create.

Anyway, enough babble. So here are some concept ideas. Obviously all this stuff needs color. But this is the general style. I want to keep my animation in pen and ink, so I was thinking that maybe I could composit linetests, on a rough pencil background, then print out each frame, and ink the characters and backgrounds together.

This was for the idea I had over summer - an adaptation of a Kahlil Gibran story.

A city bench. I like the idea of making passers-by meet each other on my sketchbook.

I want to try doing some camera animation- so this was an idea i had for a possible movement.

More stuff from the Kahlil Gibran idea

Four position of a walk. I like the quick sketchy style.

So this is kind of my latest idea, although I don't think much of it really. A bit too sentimental and contrived.

Slightly indecipherable in layout too. Basically, the narrative is- (1.) a camera pan past a photo of a young man, to hands playing the piano. purple flowers against a yellow backdrop. old lady playing piano.
(2.) cut to city. music continues. pan up around street scene...young lady watching street busker playing violin. 360º pan round again, through 60 years to modern day britain. as the old lady passes, she looks back at the spot where the busker once stood. i know my images dont actually really tell this story too well, but hey.

Yeah, thats it for now. I will be trying to be fairly regular in posts, and use this site as a way to get feedback on my ideas - so please leave comments. Especially incoherent abuse.