Two characters and a setting project:

Rough character sheets and storyboards

I began the project with the idea of exploring the connection of characters between two friends of the same age. The animation would cover their interaction at a summer/scout camp where they would sneak out of their tents at night in a moment of childlike rebellion. I really liked the idea of animating this concept but as I started developing the characters and storyline (seen above) I felt it might be a bit complex for this particular project and I felt myself wanting to focus more on the simple, mundane, and more intimate interactions - for instance the touching of hands or the sharing of a facial expression - therefore I moved onto developing a simpler concept.

The character designs above are part of the idea I ended up following through with. It entails an older and a younger character (mother and child/older sister and younger sister) waking up and going on a journey. The movements and interactions are a lot more understated and personal, and the characters more simply portrayed with a few well placed lines to mirror this simplicity of storyline. The older character having a longer and well defined face and the younger with a softer, larger and more playful face.

Rough storyboards and narrative concepts for new idea

Shot ideas

Further developed/refined storyboard shown above

Animation test

I wanted the linework of the animation to give the impression of it being ink drawn, with rough but fluid lines and textures.

Ink colour tests

Initial animatic

More developed animatic - at this point I realised it would be too ambitious of a project to line and render my film in its entirety in time for the deadline. Therefore rather than create a longer but rushed and unrefined piece I decided to bring the conclusion of the story much further back than my original narrative. This completely changed the focus of the piece from a story of adventure and exploration, to a gentle and uneventful morning routine focused on human connection - with a slight twist of the characters being revealed as tiny little elf people at the end.

The base of the animation - still before inbetween-ing work to bring the piece together fully and create more fluid uninterrupted movement. But here I was able to start to see the animation as more of a finished piece with proper linework and sequences.

 

As I was not continuing my story to the outside portion that sees my characters exploring the outside world, I wanted to try and incorporate that nature aspect into the footage that I had. I decided to do this by cutting between the scenes of the characters getting ready, and some sequences showing the wildlife outside - including a circling bird amongst the clouds, a butterfly resting on a flower, and a bird pecking at a tree trunk. I felt this would create more interest in my piece by breaking up the domestic scenes in an inside environment, by also building up to the reveal of the characters unusual size.

I used reference footage throughout creating this film, here is an example with the pecking bird nature cut sequence.

Final lines

Finished fully rendered piece

Finished piece with added audio - music from Chais Canine on YouTube with added sound effects

 

I am very pleased with how this project has played out over the past few months, and especially its conclusion in the film I have subsequently created. I now feel that having a dramatic re-assessment of my own expectations for the extent of work I could achieved helped in the success of the film as it really allowed me to focus-in and refine my work until I was completely happy with the result - something that would have been near impossible if I had attempted to animate the whole of my storyboard. 

I especially enjoyed a focus on rending and line-work and the visual aspects of the piece rather than allowing my usual tendency to direct my focus to creating a complex and action-filled storyline - this allowed for an unusually subtle narrative to develop, of the sweet and intimate connection between an older and a younger sister, presented through their morning routine. 

I found it easy to immerse myself in the gentle flow of this animation while working on it. There wasn’t any bold, high energy sequences to animate, like that of the animations I usually consume, instead I was directing my focus towards creating convincing facial expression changes and tender, less emphasised interactions between the characters - such with the light kiss on the cheek and the soft combing and braiding of the hair. In someways I found this harder to animate as it required more frames and attention than presenting big dramatic movements, but I found it more rewarding once I had put the work into assimilating this loving connection. I still managed retained an aspect of my usual trajectory when creating a narrative with the slight magical indication being shown at the end through revealing the characters are in fact tiny little elf people.

I don’t believe by any means it is perfect, but I feel I have managed to create a sufficient amount of character within the animation through both line and colour that the audience can be charmed by the little people waking up and getting ready for the day. There are sequences that I would have liked to work back into if I had more time - for instance smoothing out the walking scene at the end to make it more convincing, or adding a few more frames to the door opening as I feel it is still a bit jolty. However if I were to have more time to work on this piece I would put the focus on continuing to extend the storyline, at least to establish the characters interacting with nature - for example I really liked the scene of the younger character watching a ladybird fly off a flower petal that I had within my original animatic.

I feel much more comfortable in this style of working than I did at the beginning of the course, using hand drawn animations on a digital tablet. I think I will always come back to this as my preferred style, however it would be interesting to attempt something slightly different for the next project - for instance traditional hand drawn on paper, or trying out 3D animation software.