Introduction
This week, we held a presentation of our animated artefact and showcased our concept, storyboard/animatic and pictures in development.
Concept
I will create a body mechanics shot, emphasizing on the idea that the body can be perceived as a powerful medium of expression. It will be heavily influenced by silent films as they convey the narrative visually and the characters communicate their feelings only with their body.
Narrative
Synopsis: The character in the story has the feeling they are being observed by creatures and it is their fear and obsession that leads them into a paranoid state of mind.
Animated Comedy
Cartoony Techniques: I will implement cartoony techniques into my animation, as I want my animated artefact to be an animated comedic short film.
Sketching my Storyboard
Introduction
- A mysterious creature appears from a bucket.
- When the character inspects the bucket, it disappears.
Main Body
- A giant creature pops up from the back.
- The character runs to the next room, however, more creatures start appearing (climax).
Conclusion
- The character crawls back into the main room.
- Looks around to see if they can find the huge creature.
- No creatures are in sight anymore.
- They leave the room failing to notice that a creature is attached to their back (plot twist).
Creating my Animatic
- Animatic: I converted my storyboard into an animatic, as it will help me in the future to pose out my characters and record my reference videos.
- Key Poses: I will also use it as a reference to create the key poses of my character.
Work in Progress
- Environment: My animation will take place in an indoor environment, and I will use Buster Keaton’s interior spaces as a reference.
- Visual Language: I want the environment to be displayed in grayscale to suggest the idea of silent films. However, I want the characters to be in color, so that they stand out from the background.
- Characters: For my main character, I will use a cartoony and friendly character as my animation is targeted to a younger audience. Ideally it will not have many facial features as I want to only focus on body mechanics. When it comes to my creatures, I want to incorporate one-eyed monsters, as I want to tell the story of how my character has the feeling they are being observed.