Film Studies or Cinematography - Project 2

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May 23rd, 2022 - Jul 4th, 2022 (Week 9 - Week 14)
Rusydina Fazlin Athirah Binti Fauzi
Film Studies and Cinematography
Week 5 [April 26th, 2022]
Project 2 - Producing the Short Animation's Pitch Bible 

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INSTRUCTIONS

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Lectures

All completed related Project 1 lectures can be referred to Project 1 blog post.

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Week 5 - An animation pitch bible Pt. 1

April 26th, 2022

What is a pitch bible? 

A pitch bible in terms of animation is an attempt to organize words and picture ideas, visions, and style.

There were a few pitch bibles provided by Mr. Martin that he presented during class (google drive folder of pitch bible examples). 

Here are a few pitch bibles that intrigued me, with their design and the way its formated.

1. The Bronk and Bongo Show

2. The Summoning

3. Adventure Time

4. Rocket Dog

In other words, a pitch bible acts as a guide that covers practically every part of the project's creation, including your:

• premise
• character descriptions
• designs
• narrative
• storyboards

...so on.

Mr. Martin also had us indulge in a video where the animation industry standard for a 'pitch bible,' which is necessary when proposing a new animated series proposal to buyers and distributors, is broken down.

The objectives of a pitch bible are to:

• Developing your protagonist 
• Building a believable world 
• Constructing a compelling plot 
• Finding your voice 
• Fighting writer’s block

-with the points stated above, a way to look at what a pitch bible can offer is to understand what we're intending to put out visually with the stories we write and tell. It's one of the many ways to make dreams of our stories be turned into animations and be told in front of many audiences. At least that's one of my many outputs and somewhat- dreams to be.

A chance to have your own creations be shared and related with other people from around the world! But before that, a pitch bible is important to have to propose the idea of your stories. It's also important to have them all in the right order, so the formatted contents of introducing your story to characters to the plot won't be a big mess.

The order of the contents:

1. cover page with title and image (one page)

A cover page for a pitch bible for your story idea is important. Without a cover page, what exactly are you introducing? That's why a cover page of any design that regards your story plays an important role in a pitch bible and is the first content that should be displayed. 

The illustrations shown below are one of the prime examples of what a pitch bible cover page loos like, although it can be any kind of aesthetic or visual that- again regards your story idea.

the bronk and bongo show, cover page (pitch bible)

rocket dog, cover page (pitch bible)

One page that displays your story's illustration would already be enough to attract anyone in to know more about your story, of course as long as the cover of your story has the visuals to pull a person in.

2. table of contents

Next up, we have the table of contents. Giving a person what to expect in the pitch bible is a way to let them know how far your ideas are you presenting to them and it's also a way to make things much neater.

3. concept statement

A concept statement assists your story in the main idea that underlies it. There are many ways of interpreting it and many outcomes of what concept statements of many stories out there have been put out. It doesn't specifically describe your idea of your story but states its plot or storyline in a much broader perspective is the best way I could put it.

(know more about concept statement generally, link provided by Mr. Martin)

The body text in this illustration below of an animated short 'Rocket Dog' by Mel Roach.

rocket dog by Mel Roach, concept statement

from my understanding of the concept, the statement had a much more specific statement to it, its reference to another story that could regard its characters or storylines or even plot since it mentions 'Lassie' meeting 'Beetlejuice' and its way to breakdown what 'rocket dog' is referenced off except its much more for targetted audiences that are kids, 'Hangover-for-kids adventure comedy'. At least in my assumptions, but it didn't mention it specifically it was a much wider way of stating the following story.

Other than that, a concept statement captures the "essence" of the project, particularly its uniqueness. More examples can be seen below to identify what a concept statement is and can be.

Two Witch Sister by Niki Yang, concept statement

rocket dog by Mel Roach, concept statement #2

Other than that, a concept statement produces a mood or emotion. It can begin with a definition, a quote, or a comparison and then be expanded upon.

4. Logline

Through my understanding of the definition of a logline for movies, tv show, etc it's a summary that hooks the reader in, describing the central conflict of the story and by summary, I mean a couple sentences that support explaining what the story is about. Seen below are prime examples of loglines for a movie/tv series/story:

Bravest Warriors by Pandleton Ward

A logline is a simple sentence that summarises the story's intricacy and richness.

Logline Formula #1

From what Mr. Martin further elaborated, a logline should form from an 'inciting incident' from the story, not forgetting to mention the 'protagonist' along with implementing an 'action' that uprises in the story and of course mentioning the 'antagonist' to tie off what the story tells, if the viewer chooses to further indulge in it. Seen below are examples of the formula of the logline that comes into play with the story being presented:

5. Target Audience

Targetting an audience is also one of the most important parts that play in pitching a story out to the public. A specified group of people you reach in a way helps defines your artworks. 

rocket dog by Mel Roach, the target audience of the show

The image above gives a description of the show's targetted audience along with visuals to appeal to the body text.

6. Synopsis

A synopsis is a written description of your story's plot and world. In a more technical term, everything is explained from our final drafted story spine or the 3 act structure to our story.

Adventure Time, Pitch Bible, Synopsis

7. Production methods and/or value 

Next on a pitch bible, producing methods and/or value to make the story more appealing, a way to describe any unique production processes that will set your project apart from the others.

life on the flying hat in the show 'Two Witch Sisters'

a way to indulge in the action of the show 'Bravest warriors' with a pledge

-with the remaining parts of what should contain in a pitch bible are:

8. Character design drawings 

9. Character description in paragraph form 

10. Setting/environment concept art (at least 2 different drawings and one needs to have the character in the environment)

11. Script - must be presented in professional script writing format.

12. Storyboard (reproduction in a size that fits in the notebook)

13. Contact info (Production house, key artists)

And with all that has been elaborated deeply and stated on what should be implemented into a pitch bible, this guide would assist in our storytelling and planning.

Week 6 - PUBLIC HOLIDAY

May 3rd, 2022

No classes were held due to the Public Holiday celebration Eid Aidilfitri.

Week 7 - Pitch Bible Pt.2

May 10th, 2022

Recap of pitch bible in animation

Two weeks back we looked into what a pitch bible consisted of and learned all about what was half of them, these pitch bibles (animation productions kind) are formatted in the following order of the first half which are:

• 1. Cover page with title and image (one page)
• 2. Table of Contents (one page)
• 3. Concept Statement
• 4. Logline
• 5. Target Audience
• 6. Synopsis
• 7. Production methods and/or value

All the parts that consist in an animation pitch bible were all covered in the previous week of week 5. Now we'll look into the remaining half of what is consisted of an animation pitch bible. 

• 8. Character design drawings 
• 9. Character description in paragraph form 
• 10. Setting/environment concept art (at least 2 different drawings and one needs to have the character in the environment)
• 11. Script - must be presented in professional script writing format.
• 12. Storyboard (reproduction in a size that fits in the notebook)
• 13. Contact info (Production house, key artists)

-with the 2nd part of the contents that are in animation pitch biles all laid out as seen above let's div into the first or the 8th content in the animation pitch bible.

8 . Character design drawings

Creating and designing a character and drawing it out is of course an essential part of your animation pitch bible. You are telling a story and a character so forego the adventures in your animation story is important.

But it's also important as to how they are designed, how much they fit into your stories, and the environment of the animation.

The Bronk and Bongo Show Character Turnaround sheets, description

9. Character description in paragraph form

As seen below, a small description in providing insights into a character design that's put into a world of animation telling their stories. That's practically what character design is all about. Seen below are ways to display your character, from design, personality stance, and backstory (where a small description of your character is provided) to explain WHO your character is. 

The above image also points out the character turnaround, where a full 360 display of the character is shown.

The Bronk and Bongo Show Chracater Design sheets.

This kind of display of the character allows your pitch to assist in developing your animation/story and understanding your characters much better.

10. Setting/environment concept art

Next, we have a depiction of the kind of environment or settings that your characters have in their everyday lives.  Just like us in real life, your characters that get designed and created they're in a way alive and they need a play to live. 

-and environmental concept arts are ways for you to present that. It helps people that you are pitching to, to help in expanding views and ideas on improving the initial pitched design/idea. As seen below. just like character design sheets, environmental concept arts can their descriptions too.

Adventure Time's Finn and Jake's Fort, home concept art.

Concept art can be as simple as you wish it to be but it should have its essences that connect within the world of your story's animation and the characters that you've designed. This will lead to one of the tasks that would need to be carried out as progression into our second project in making our own pitch bible. In a way, it also helps your whole character's world they live in come to life.

More Adventure Time Environmental Concept Art

11. Scriptwriting - Must be presented in professional script writing format.

Next up we have scriptwriting, within an animated story that any writer or artist has created would include dialogue, and that's where scriptwriting comes into play. Within an animation pitch bible, making sure that the script is presented in a professional script writing formally is just as important.

Mr. Martin showed us a video in class of a scene that was played out, a movie in 2019 titled Jojo Rabbit has quite the comedic outlook in scriptwriting, it may not be in a form of a document but what Mr. Martin wanted the students to analyze was how this scene was acted out, it was all taken out from scriptwriting.

-from elaborating the environment around, acting out what the character could, should, and would do to act out a scene and the scene below emphasizes that a lot. 

Jojo Rabbit (2019), the opening scene

Although there are always different ways of writing out a script to better flow a story, that's why there is never a story that ends up being acted out or depicted the same. The script plans out and determines a story or a scene that plays out.

This leads to an in-class activity that Mr. Martin wanted us to try out, we installed a scriptwriting program called 'Scenarist' to assist us in writing and understanding scripts fluently. We watched a couple minutes of Kung Fu Panda's opening scene, as seen below for reference to writing out the script.

KUNG FU PANDA OPENING SCENE

Turns out scenarist allows the script to be exported into a format to what an actual professional script would display itself as.

Testing scenarist out (Kung Fu Panda opening scene scriptwriting):

When it comes to script format, there are particularly consisting features to them. Like the kind of font that is used in a script.

'Courier, 12' the name of the font is used for timing purposes. One script page in Courier 12 roughly averages 1 minute of onscreen film time. 

There are also elements to writing out a script, that's why when a scene is played out from a script they have its variations of how a story starts and the list below is what they are usually referred to:

• Titles and Opening Credits
• Scene Heading
• Action
• Character Name
• Dialogue
• Parentheticals
• Extension
• Intercuts     
• Transitions
• Montage
• Flashback

A better understanding of the script and its respective headers to each line can be seen below: (images provided by Mr. Martin in his lecture slides)

Jojo Rabbit Script, cover page

Jojo Rabbit, dialogue pages

More examples and helpful tips on working ways around 'Scenarist' to better the flow of writing scripts and implement headers into it can be referred to below:

• The Scene Heading tells where the scene takes place: indoors (INT.) or outdoors (EXT.) Next name the location: OFFICE, BEDROOM, BASEBALL FIELD.  And lastly include the time of day - NIGHT, DAY, DUSK, DAWN information to "set the scene" in the reader's mind.

• ACTION describes the setting, introduces your characters, and set the stage for your story. Action is written in REAL-TIME. All caps when introducing a speaking character for the first time.

• Inserts CHARACTER NAME before the dialogue started. A character name can be an actual name (JOHN) or description (FAT MAN), an occupation (DOCTOR). or COP #1 and then COP #2 speaking.
• DIALOGUE rules apply when anyone on-screen speaks: During a conversation between characters; the character talks out loud to himself; when a character is off-screen and only a voice is heard.
• An extension is a technical note placed to the right of the Character's name that denotes HOW the character's voice will be heard by the audience.  Off-Screen voice can be heard from a character out of the camera range; V.O. stands for VoiceOver.

Parenthetical script example

• Parenthetical provides attitude, verbal direction, or action direction for the actor who is speaking the part. Parentheticals should be short, to the point, descriptive, and only used when necessary.

Intercuts in scripts

• Intercut simplifies the writing while maintaining the flow of the story. It works by removing scene headings and screen descriptions from two interacting scenes.

Transitions in scripts

• Transitions are formatted in all caps and almost always follow an Action and precede Scene Headings.

Montages in Scripts

• MONTAGE is a cinematic device used to show a series of scenes, all related and building to some conclusion. Most often it is used as a passage of time device.

An example of a montage scene from a script can be referred to in Disney's Pixar's 'Up'.

Flashbacks in scripts

• Flashbacks and dreams place us in the mind of the character who is relating to them. This causes us to identify with that character, drawing us into their story.

12. Storyboards (reproduction in a size that fits in the notebook).

-and to think through it all, scripts would determine and fall into animatics as well as storyboards to depict the scene whether in acting or in animation much clearer. A good example of a script that transitions in an animatic can be referred to (1026) Zootopia, below:

Scripts and storyboards would end up being interrelated with one another. Another example of a good understanding of a storyboard can be seen in the video below:

Storyboards in a much simpler term are ways of converting scripts into a comic that depicts the action visually. Which is something that I've stated back when covering the topic of 'scriptwriting'.

But why exactly a storyboard?

Well,

1. Explain the idea and the narrative flow
2. Validating the central concept
3. Detecting problems 
4. Approval for production

-and it assists in the visual representation of a script, of course putting elements like:

1. Action & Camera movement
2. Composition
3. Timing & pace
4. Editing

Thumbnail sketches of storyboards act as chosen shots to explain a whole scene.

Thumbnail Sketches

How it made (storyboards):

Next up, Action & Camera movements, are to be implemented into storyboards. 

These elements like adding arrows implicate character movements and/or even camera movements.

Examples of actions & camera movements in storyboards.

Timing and pacing in a storyboard usually manually add shot numbers and addition of timecodes.

This part of storyboarding would usually be looked into when editing the scenes and shots that make up the storyboards into an animatic.

Storyboards would also act as story breakdowns that are presented visually. The best method to prepare for storyboarding is to create a story breakdown, a shot-by-shot outline of the entire story from the script. Describe each shot briefly in a separate line.

Animatics are later than what it becomes after forming and editing these scenes and shots together. 

"Animatic is a series of images played in sequence with a soundtrack. It's an animated storyboard."

Example of an animatic (right) and final outcome of animation (left)

There are also a few differences between storyboards and animatics in visually presenting the story of the animation to later be refined in final productions.

Animatics VS Storyboards

13. Contact info (Production house, key artists)

Finally, the last contents that should end off your pitch bible are the production house that you work with, who the key artists are, and your contact info in opportunities to have your ideas that get pitched out be chosen and worked on with much bigger teams to make your story have its recognition to a public audience.

-and again your contact info can have its acknowledgments, purposes, and aims as to why you'd want to put out and pitch this story idea to the world. It can be designed to complement the story and characters that you've designed. Just like these examples below:

Rocket Dog, Contact Info, Pitch Bible page

Costume Quest, Contact Info display

And that concludes each content that is important to have in a pitch bible.

Week 8 - INDEPENDENT LEARNING WEEK.

May 17th, 2022

No classes were held since it was independent learning week, there were still assigned tasks to get done for this week.

Week 9 - Cinematography in Animation

May 24th, 2022

Applying cinematography in animation

In the 9th week of Film studies and cinematography lessons, Mr. Martin aimed to cover everything that is to know about cinematography in animation, with that we started off with a short session watching the Netflix show love, death, and robots, to analyze cinematography in animations.

The particular animation tells a story of a deaf knight that encounters a siren, but in this week's lesson, we focused more on the cinematography of the animation and how much it adds dynamic to it. Mr. Martin and the class had a short analysis breakdown where everyone gave their opinions on the style of animation and whether any particular fundamentals of cinematography were seen in the animation that Mr. Martin had the class watch.

Later on, Mr. Martin gave many detailed elaborations on cinematography in animation, diving into the 9th week's lecture.

The cinematography in animation from my perspective are elements that draw audiences into the story that is being told on screen, the art and technology of motion-picture photography:

• Composition of a scene; 
• The lighting of the set;
• Choice of cameras lenses;
• The camera angle and movements.

or in simpler words, it makes a scene or a shot appear more extravagant.

1. Cinematography in Character

Cinematography affects and appears in characters as well, and certain character designs would at times have an appearance of a stronger, weaker, more emotional, more confused or emotional, and innocent or mature energy to them. It makes the world that they live in interrelate with the responses of their environment to their personalities.

Pixar's Inside Out, Characters

A prime example can be seen in the figure above, from the colors to the expressions and shapes of the characters above add the essence of cinematography of the environment that these characters live in. They would all work well and interrelate with one another, which adds variety and dynamic that would pull an audience into being fond or having massive resentment of these characters. 

It applied and has been applied throughout animation and film history.

2. Cinematography in Scenes

Coming up next on the list are scenes in animation or film, scenes would be one of the biggest elements that emphasize cinematography. Since a scene of a landscape or environmental backdrops would take up a whole screen, applying lighting and perspectives adds cinematography to a scene. 

In a scene that feels dramatic or horrific, all the elements of light and distance are something that adds cinematography to a scene.

These examples of cinematographical scenes below really emphasize a dynamic to it.

Your name shooting star

When the scene above lays upon a viewer's eyes a feeling of awe can be amplified, same goes to the scene below the feeling of suspense can be made out from an audience.

Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Hero fighting Dragon scene

But many more kinds of scenes can depict varieties of feelings, it's up to the artist and animators the kind of cinematographical scene they'd wish to make out to achieve a particular kind of feeling to it.

3. Composition in cinematography

Compositions are always an important element in designing or creating anything, of course, consist sitting of these factors:

• Camera angle
• Rule of thirds
• Staging
• Camera movement

that assists art prices and even scenes or photography to have a much cinematographical look to it.

-Staging

Staging is the process of drawing the viewer's attention to the shot. Animators use character poses and motions, as well as their positioning in the frame, background, and other elements of the scene, to draw the viewer's attention. (know more about staging, link provided by Mr. Martin)

A great example of understanding staging better can be seen below, these two characters' poses are able to appeal to the audience with their poses' visibility. The lady is in a quarter angle pose, a way to show the audience her pose and expression, in reaction to the man giving her the flower.

-and the man completely displaying a side view of him kneeling and holding up the flower, his expression even from the side can be depicted as him being happy or excited to give the flower to his lover.

Man giving the lady a flower

Man giving the lady a flower, silhouettes

ways into identifying whether your poses are good or visible are to apply a silhouette onto the characters' poses. If there are ways of analyzing the actions being carried out by the characters even without facial expression that means it's an effective staging pose.

The silhouette on the right for instance is a little challenging to see the visibility of the activities carried out by the character, which isn't a very effective staging pose.

Understanding the importance of staging led to an in-class activity where we were to sketch out a scenario depending on the character's personality and the mood of the setting. 

In-class activity, staging

We had about 30 minutes to skecth out our scenes, each student's scene will add insight on us improving our final project of the 20-second trailer.

Staging skecth activity:

The first scene is supposed to display the personality of a shy kid that encounters a very outgoing girl that invites him to play with the other kids in his school. His stance, it stages his personality was a shy and timid kid. The same goes with the girl on the right, a more stable stance of her feet being much farther apart and her arms much farther from each other displays more energetic and not so shy energy.

Feedback received (improvements):

-The staging is good, if it were to be turned into a silhouette the visibility of the actions carried out by the characters will be noticeable

-The scene could be closer to the characters.

The second scene, depicts the mood of the boy, internally he sees the girls as a threat. He may not be used to talking to other kids and when a kid comes into his space he feels attacked.

Feedback received (improvements):

-perspective wise is achievable in staging the character's expression of fear filling his face-

-backdrop needs more additional depth of the forest

-Camera Movement

Camera movement is always one of the cherries on top of the cake when it comes to making a scene look very cinematic.

There are two kinds to look into when it comes to camera movement:

1. Push & Pull
2. Parallax

a. Push & Pull

b. Parallax

Week 10 - Perspective in Animation

May 31st, 2022

Implementing perspectives in animation

In the coming of the 10th week in film studies and cinematography, we learned everything there is to know about perspective and how much of an important role it plays in animation.

But before we dive deeper into it, what exactly does perspective mean? Well, Perspective is to create the illusion of depth, or space on a flat page. A prime example can be seen in the images below:

perspective applied to an illustration. (source: Mr. Martin's lecture slides)

Looking on the left of the image, the illustration with all the guidelines comes from a source of a vanishing point, that determines the angle of how the illustration is portrayed. More examples are seen below:

perspective applied to an illustration pt2. (source: Mr. Martin's lecture slides)

Perspective gives the illusion of the 2D characters are moving about in the 3D world. As seen above there are many ways to approach this method to achieve the kind of angle you want your illustrations to be in. It's a convenient way in assisting your flow of 3D-like illustrations that are commonly displayed as two-dimensional drawings.

It's also quite important and dynamic to implement perspectives in illustrations and animations, if not the art pieces would end up looking like Egyptian hieroglyphs, as seen in the image below:

Egyptian like illustration

-although, it isn't wrong to have your illustration or animation styles appear 2D without any kind of perspectives implemented in them. A good example to portray that statement is the 2D animation titled 'Boy and the world'.

Boy and the World, 2D animation

But even with an art style direction keeping its 2D style, the animation broke its boundaries and added in a few scenes where the view of perspective was obviously being displayed.

Perspectives in Boy and the World, 2D animation

So in conclusion, when it comes to 2D animation or 2D illustrations it's more of a back and forth action where perspectives don't necessarily have to be displayed. But when displaying perspective over a 2D animation or illustration definitely adds dynamic. 

The way I see it, perspectives could be applied to major scenes that have an in-depth storyline or a plot of a story.

Illustration exemplifying perspective

"Most scenes look best when they depict the qualities of distance and perspective. In other words, many of the most powerful and attractive pictures contain a clear foreground, midground, and distant view."

Now that we've got the gist of understanding how perspectives work in 2D illustrations, let's dive deeper into knowing how to exactly achieve these guidelines to illustrate perspective illustration.

Perspective grid in 2D illustrations

A perspective grid is to be used underneath your drawing. While working in Photoshop, start compositions with a grid layer, turning them on and off as you work through the design. 

Horizon Line

It also begins with a horizon line, the first thing to create is the position of the horizon line. This line will represent the eye level of the painter.

The perspective grid assists in scaling objects in illustrations

-with enough practice and understanding of scaling objects and even characters using a perspective grid, the workflow will get easier and easier. One other thing to look ut for when it comes to horizon lines is to place character heads on the horizon line, to achieve the principle of unity of scaling those characters.

character heads along the horizon line add depth.

As seen in the image above, when placing these characters or objects that you want to emphasize in an illustration it should work along the horizon line.

Vanishing Points

Next, we'll look into vanishing points. This part of the method is the backdrop of your illustration comes into play.

vanishing points in 2D illustrations

Vanishing points are the points at which lines appear to converge.

horizon lines and vanishing points

All vanishing points will be positioned on this horizon. From understanding how vanishing points adds depth to an illustration. Let's cover how there are multiple point perspectives that help in viewing illustration from a front, bottom, and top angle.

multiple point perspectives

One-point perspective, lines extended from all the side planes will appear to converge at a single point along the horizon line, while all the front planes will be parallel to the horizon line.

one point perspective background illustration

A good example to identify a one-point perspective usually, is when you look straight down a city street or the aisle of a cathedral. Another good example can also be seen below, with one of the well-known famous horror films, 'The Shining'.

The shining scene (drawing) perspective example

Parallel Rule

A parallel rule is one of the ways to understand an object or character's angle in the design work you are working on. 

Characters example placing from the vanishing point and horizon line

"If the horizon is waist-high on a character in the foreground, it will be waist-high wherever the character is placed or moves within the picture plane."

A good way to understand drawing out your background, object, or character with perspective grids is, to begin with, simple shapes to become acquainted with the perspective method.

Drawing perspective backgrounds step by step

TIP!

Always start with your pencil tip on the vanishing point and draw away from it.

Two-point perspective example

Two-point perspective example pt 2

The height is perpendicular to the horizon line, while the breadth and depth converge on the horizon line's vanishing points.

Two-point perspective example pt 3

Two-point perspective example pt 4

Two-point perspective is more suitable for panning and parallax shots. 

parallax scenes

Three-point perspective, linear perspective is characterized by parallel lines along with an object's width meeting at two distinct places on the horizon and vertical lines on the object meet at a point on the perpendicular bisector of the horizon line.

three-point perspective top view

Three-point perspective provides a more extreme point of view.

three-point perspective bottom view

three-point perspective bottom view

When drawing from a low or high eye level, a three-point perspective is most usually used.

low eye level illustration using a three-point perspective

the curvature of perspective grids

The fish eye effect displays the curvature of the earth as suggested by rolling the ground and sky planes.

the curvature of perspective grids pt 2

A common error made by a layout artist is to design a landscape with a flat ground plane. Nature is not a level surface.

curved ground grid

Scale in Layout

scale in layout, leveling backgrounds

When an object is far away from the camera, it appears smaller and less detailed; when it is closer, it appears larger and more detailed.

Week 11 - Animation Discussion

[June 6th, 2022] There were no lectures held. Other than consultations to begin Final Project (20 Second Animated Trailer) Refer to progress in the 'Final Project' blog post.

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Exercises

Exercise 3 
April 26th, 2022
-

Tasks for week 5:

• wrap up project 1 (ideation document)
• rough sketches of the character with descriptions (how the character should be)
• rough sketches of the key moments (in the character's world)
• synopsis
• logline

Completed Ideation document:

Tasks for week 6 - week 7 (May 10th, 2022):

• Finalize final project shots→make detailed storyboards→animatics.
• Character Design+turnaround.
• a few links were provided by Mr. Martin to help identify better character turnaround:
• https://www.domestika.org/en/blog/5703-what-is-a-turnaround-in-character-design-and-how-to-draw-one
• https://www.theakstudio.com/blog/creating-a-character-turnaround
• install scenarist

1. Character turnaround

Before diving into the final few shots of the project, producing the storyboards and working on the animatics which is a part of week 6 and week 7's tasks. I decided on working on the character turnaround first, Mr. Martin provided a few links to help us understand the utilization of a character turnaround and a way for us to understand how to go about making a character turnaround.

So from the website that was provided, I read and skimmed through it and understood that there was a sort of guide to proportioning your character, so when turning your character (displaying it 360°) it wouldn't look out of place. Each angle will add up to one another, as seen below:

Character turnaround example by Laura Ewing Ferrer

There were a few struggles when working through my character turnaround, but I understood how my character needed its essence of realism but at the same time I didn't want to stick too much to it. I'd say my final touches to my character turnaround could still be altered after maybe a few feedbacks from Mr. Martin.

Character #1: Lady Charlotte

Anyway, I started off with analyzing human anatomy before I went on to idealizing it into a simpler and less detailed design. 

Figure 2.1 - Character turnaround, progress #1, May 10th, 2022

I started off with the guidelines to make sure that when the character gets turned around to display each angle of the character (preferably; front (3/4), back, right side & left side) lines up with a previous angle drawn before. As seen above the proportions were really accurate, or at least as accurate as I want them to be for the character's design.

Figure 2.2 - Character turnaround, progress #2, May 10th, 2022

The poses above were poses that I used as references to support the kind of personality that the character resonates. Lady Charlotte since having quite the tragedy, she closes herself off and the pose above that in a way portrays a timid and unsure display. So there were many attempts at shaping and understanding each part of the human anatomy to draw this particular pose onto the character.

Figure 2.3- Character turnaround, progress #4, May 10th, 2022

-but slowly into drawing it started to get really difficult since I'm not that great at drawing humans so making sure the proportions were right kind of struck a nerve for me and I decided to move away from it being too proportionate and realistic in terms of the body placements and messed around with a few figures, implementing lines of actions as seen above.

Figure 2.4- Character turnaround, progress #5, May 10th, 2022

Maybe there were a few parts to the character design that hasn't quite exceeded a particular art style yet. It still remained its human parts but it's in an art style that I'm trying to not force which is good for the long run and it got a lot more fun in trying to figure out the character's attire and hairstyle next.

Figure 2.5- Character turnaround, progress #6, May 10th, 2022

-and finally, after a few tweaks, each angle of my character Lady Charlotte is done and dusted for the character turnaround.

Lady Charlotte, character turnaround (reference guide):

There could probably be a few alterations in the future for 'Lady Charlotte' but for now a base and a clear display of what the character looks like would make easy changes. Other than that, I added the colors and finished it off with the name of the character. 

The second main character is Maple. Maple's character I attempted to display the kind of character that he resonates which is a curious, playful, and affection kitten and it's important to display in a visual so a viewer would know how this character is even from a visual that goes similarly to Lady Charlotte's character.

Character #2: Maple

Moving onto the second main character of the story; Maple! I may have a little bit of experience in drawing animals specifically cats but I still required the reference in order to display the kind of personality in pose form that Maple should display as her character.

As seen below, I had a pose that I got off of interest and redrew it in an art style not far off from Lady Charlotte's style sketches seen above. 

Figure 2.6- Character turnaround, progress #7, May 10th, 2022

The first part of the sketches down of Maple's pose is the reason why I chose this pose for Maple. In a way, my interpretation is because Maple is still a little helpless kitten and having his paw up like that is a way to indicate how he seeks help or attention like how every baby animal would want. This results in this particular pose seen below.

Figure 2.7- Character turnaround, progress #8, May 10th, 2022

Not to mention the size of Maple, to add up to the scale of the character turnaround of the character Lady Charlotte. 

Figure 2.8- Character turnaround, progress #9, May 10th, 2022

After completing the turnaround of the character adding Maple's color was the last addition to it.

Figure 2.9- Character turnaround, progress #10, May 10th, 2022

Although I did want to capture Maple's expression since it's a way to display more of the character's personality, so I did a couple close-up sketches of him with his big adorable eyes! and expression where he was yawning.

Figure 2.10- Character turnaround, progress #11, May 10th, 2022

but other than that, Maple's character turnaround was completed.

Maple, character turnaround (reference guide):

Again, there could be a few alterations to Maple's design too from feedback received by Mr. Martin to assist in tweaking the character before production. But is still a good way to identify the character's design to further improve it later on/

2. 20-second trailer, animatic:

The following task during the 6th to 7th week was to work on an animatic to ease the flow of the storyboards in the following week (week 8). 

We had to finalize our chosen shots, which were also determined in the previous project, our first project. Seen below were the shots that I used as a reference to animate in adobe animate. 

The way I started off the animatic was by simply adding the shots into adobe animate as a quick reference, so I didn't exactly have to redraw everything. I only highlighted a few parts of the sketches that I wanted to display their movement in the animatic.

There isn't exactly a right or wrong way to do an animatic, as long as you have your visuals and you want them to be brought slightly alive, determining the animation's story process in its final production. It can be produced in a way that this convenient for you.

For me, the progression of using adobe animate and implementing 'the chosen shots' in each keyframe helped progressed the animatic.

Figure 2.11- 20 second trailer animatic, progress #12, May 18th, 2022

I worked on each frame and identified what I wanted to animate either in an already visualized shot or simply just adding new elements in the foreground of the animatic. In other words, adding more to what I couldn't add in a static sketch.

Figure 2.12- 20 second trailer animatic, progress #13, May 18th, 2022

I did the same and followed the same processes, throughout more shots until I was satisfied with the animatic.

Figure 2.13- 20 second trailer animatic, progress #14, May 18th, 2022

Figure 2.14- 20 second trailer animatic, progress #15, May 18th, 2022

Figure 2.14- 20 second trailer animatic, progress #15, May 18th, 2022

Just like the character turnaround, there could be a few alternations to the animatic when will feedback be received by Mr. Martin in the upcoming week during consultations. There might be changes in timing and maybe scene sequences, but overall the animatic is to further determine and assist in brushing up the final storyboards for production in animation.

Other than that, here is the final outcome of the animatic (without music):

3. Concept Art (Environment Setting Illustration)

After completing, the animatic, the next task to complete was to illustrate two settings that were heavily visualized throughout the story. The purpose of concept art, in my view, is to understand the kind of environment the character lives in. In other ways, it is also an artistic way to display the character's personality or actions in the setting that they're in, in their own story. For instance, my character's environment sets in a small town in Canada, and this country is seasonal, I chose autumn to be heavily visualized in the story.

So from there, I worked on the concept art. Since Lady Charlotte spends most of her time in the graveyard, I started by picturing the setting and of course, focusing on bringing out the colors of fall too.

Concept Art #1: The Graveyard

You'll be able to see the process of my illustrations. I decided on illustrating the first concept art of Procreate, I feel that there were more opportunities in terms of brushes and manoeuvering the canvas.

Figure 2.15- Concept Art process #1, May 22nd, 2022

I started off with a skecth and from then, the sketched the remaining elements from the foreground all the way back to the background of the canvas.

Figure 2.16- Concept Art process #2, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.17- Concept Art process #3, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.18- Concept Art process #4, May 22nd, 2022

As seen above, when the sketch is complete, I looked into the colors of autumn as a color palette reference to assist me in coloring my skecth.

Later then I added Lady Charlotte in the mid-ground of the illustration and continued from then on.

Figure 2.19- Concept Art process #5, May 22nd, 2022

The process seen below was all in adding colors to the illustration.

Figure 2.20- Concept Art process #6, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.21- Concept Art process #7, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.22- Concept Art process #7, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.23- Concept Art process #7, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.24- Concept Art process #8, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.25- Concept Art process #9, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.26- Concept Art process #10, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.27- Concept Art process #11, May 22nd, 2022

The final piece is to depict and introduce to a viewer where Lady Charlotte spends most of her time. She visits her friend's grave every day without a fail, ever since she lost him at the start of the fall. Also known to be Lady Charlotte's friend, Tyler's favorite season. The color of the trees and the falling leaves was one of the highlights for a viewer to understand the vision of fall.

Concept Art #2: Playful Kitten

The next concept art was after Maple's appearance towards Lady Charlotte, it was way after Lady Charlotte realized her care towards the little kitten and I wanted to visualize the time they spend in Lady Charlotte's room.

For the second concept art I worked on I decided on utilizing medibang to illustrate the scene I had in mind.

Figure 2.28- Concept Art process #12, May 22nd, 2022

I also used an online room planner to help in referencing the perspective of the scene in Lady Charlotte's room.

Figure 2.29- Concept Art process #13, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.29- Concept Art process #13, May 22nd, 2022

It was practically the same process as the first concept art, I worked through the sketches and colored them in later on.

Figure 2.30- Concept Art process #14, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.31- Concept Art process #15, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.32- Concept Art process #16, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.31- Concept Art process #17, May 22nd, 2022

Figure 2.32- Concept Art process #18, May 22nd, 2022

I messed and played around with the way lighting of Lady Charlotte's room too.

Figure 2.33- Concept Art process #19, May 22nd, 2022

For this piece, I decided on achieving a depiction of Lady Charlotte's emotions projecting onto her room. When someone is so alone and hurt for so long, their rooms would be messy and dark but since Maple came along she's allowing herself to let some light in and clean up a little. Along with her constant fascination with seeing Maple play away.

4. Scriptwriting

When it came to scriptwriting, I thought maybe a voiceover or an element of narration to the 20-second animation could add a soft-hearted feel to it, along with the right background music that would eventually complement the narration, creating a perfect combination.

FEEDBACK [MAY 24TH, 2022] - 

Consultation held during week 9 was to showcase Mr. Martin the animatics that we had finished in previous weeks. Sadly scripts- the idea I initially had, where it was a narration had to be scrapped. So the script above will no longer be a part of the animatic.

Though my assumption, Mr. Martin would want a write-out of the character's actions and more of the camera movements in scriptwriting. 

-till further notice.

[Update] Week 12, June 14th  -  Completed scriptwriting

scriptwriting (refined, spelling, redundant words, present tense):

5. Storyboard

Before Feedback -

The storyboard I have displayed below are my initial depictions similar to the animatic seen above. Except for their much more spread out, to understand which scene is which. 

As you can also see, there are parts of the narration from the script that needs to later be refined (Since Mr. Martin mentioned that narrations aren't qualified in the 20-second animation trailer).

Tasks for Week 9 (May 24th, 2022):

After Feedback [May 24th] -

After consulting Mr. Martin, there were quite the major changes to bring upon the storyboards and the animatic itself.  The suggestion that Mr. Martin gave was to make sure that it wouldn't be too hard for us to animate it in the final outcome of it. 

Refinement Tasks (suggestion on lessening shots)

Animatic shots & storyboard rearrangements-

• Begin (Present Day) - 
• Start off with Scene 1, Shot 1. Add more dynamic to the shot. Depict a much different angle on lady and environment. (3 seconds)
• Mid (FB starts, include a flashy, blurry, framed effect) - 
• a. Scene 2, shot 1. Charlotte walks home all sad (parallax scene) and stops to see a kitten rubbing against her boots. (4 seconds)
• b. Scene 3, Shot 1 & 2 (overlapping), a closer view of the scene, to depict a silly moment Charlotte has with Maple (4 seconds)
• c. Scene 7, Shot 1 - 2. Top angle, to show the intimacy of Charlotte's bond with Maple. Maple can look up at Charlotte, blinking his eyes and resting his head on her lap. As a leaf falls onto him. (4 seconds)
• additional scene - 
• d. Scene 6, Shot 1. A zoom-in pan of the box after charlotte opens it. Displaying Maple's collar. (3 seconds)
• End (present-day) - 
• Glow transition to *Scene 1, Shot 2. Charlotte holds the leaf and collar in hand as the screen fades to black.

I started off by fixing the storyboard sequences. Since Mr. Martin helped out and suggested some scenes to go in their suggested places. I also decided on redrawing some of the scenes. That'll come to handle later as a reference to better refine the animation from the animatic. 

Other than that, it wasn't a long process so the results from the storyboards being changed made the animatic much more sense in telling the story through a trailer. 

Refine storyboard (pdf):

Later on, I moved into working on the animatic. All I did for the animatic in its refinement was to rearrange some scenes in the sequences of the keyframes in adobe animate and of course with much refinement of the chosen shots drawings too. 

-but even after a few adjustments in working out some movements in adobe animate for the animatic, I added a few parts of the clips and added transitions in a separate editor program called 'Hitfilm express'.

Then I decided on a song to add to the background of the animatic. The song is titled 'In the starts' by Benson Boone. It's definitely different from my ideation progress documentation, but I believe that the intro to this song (instrumental version) already makes it seem perfect. 

Refined Animatic:

After completing the refined animatic another feedback from Mr. Martin was received into completing the refinement and progressing into the beginning of the final 20-second animation.

Final Project blog post (20-second animation trailer) -->

Tasks for Week 10 - Week 11 (May 31st - June 7th, 2022):

• Complete and accumulate content for animation pitch bible

Throughout the process of the contents required in the pitch bible the final outcome of it can be seen below:

Pitch bible - Maple (PDF)

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