Term4 - Short - Re-storyboarded

Not up to date with the finished shots, but it gives a better look at the story all the same - this is assuming I posted my first *really* rough boards.

Term4 - Short - s09 Horse-> House -> Turtle2

Yeah, it's been mentioned that my titles might be a bit superfluous. I will try to shorten them from now on (this post marking the last)


Anyway, this is the key for the 'house' horse


And this is the suggestion that Mark made- though the flow was working, he mentioned that the key I made is from a slightly downwards angle, and does nothing for the illusion that the horse is growing. This picture is the revision he threw down. The difference in the impact is staggering.


He also mentioned that the choice I used for the shrinking motion was backwards; for the horse to be sucked down instead would add emphasis to the knight's movement that followed. I originally wanted to do that, but could not solve the problem of the horse's legs simply shifting along the ground. This is another picture that Mark did that solved that problem.

Term4 - Short - s09 Horse-> House -> Turtle

Scene 9 WIP for the short.


Breakdown of the second half. Fixed the POA busted frames.


I added some extra movement to the beginning in an attempt to be more realistic. It worked, but it detracted from the animation... a lot. And it made the action too slow.

Also realized that the shoulder sphere left the POA a bunch of times.


First rough

Term3 - SVL - Short - Model Sheets

Term3 - SVL - Short - Character research + development

Someone said that my design looked a bit like the gentlemen's duel characters, so I drew them and slapped them onto the bottom left corner for good measure.



The horse designs will probably ring a bell for most of you. Since I really had no idea how to approach the design for the horse, I looked around and found some interesting characters for inspiration - and direction. I normally don't work this way since your designs end up reflecting someone else's ideas, but I hit a bit of a wall by this point.
- looney tunes horse (from the opera episode with Elmer's lightning helmet)
- sleeping beauty - the prince's horse
- the no-naked horse

Bottom left picture is drawn by Merly doodles (yes, that is an alias)



I originally wanted a highly stylized, but otherwise stereotypical dragon - the top three are renditions of Breath of Fire's amazing designs. I ended up going off in my own direction - much my preference.

I combined animal traits with the dragon concept, and ended up with an anteater-dragon and whale-dragon. The center image ended up looking like the starwars monster in Java's pitt - funny, but completely unintentional.

Layouts for the original story that ended up never getting used.

Term3 - SVL - Short - Storyboarding #2

More changes to the story. Although the idea of having the kid misread the words and having the book-world change to compensate was interesting, it took far too much time to play out the acting choices convincingly. I simply don't have the time.

So it changed to the child deliberately getting carried off on his own little tangent story line- much to the knight's discontent. I see the potential of it, but I honestly don't like the new story as much. But...that's how things go.

Revision 1


Revision 2

Term3 - SVL - Short - Storyboarding #1

Progression of the story through storyboarding. By the end of it, my story is drastically different.

Week1


Week2


Week3

Term3 - SVL - Short - The chosen one

Had to re-pitch the final story idea.

Term3 - SVL - Short - Down to Two

We had to pitch our remaining two story ideas and film them (as it turns out, that is really convenient for posting purposes). The classes then voted on which was their favorite - if only to give an idea of what was the general consensus was.

And yes, I am a pretty snowflake ;)

Term3 - SVL - Short - Three Concepts

Third term in SVL (story visual language) class was directed towards developing a story for a short that would be our final project in term four.

Our first assignment was to come up with three potential ideas that would be narrowed down to our final selection for the short.

Sooo Here they are (just so you know, the last of the three was just to take up space - the teacher agreed)


Short Story 1 (Lurking Shadow)

Story Information
A) Setting: Modern Cityscape
B) Time: Evening
C) Characters: Young child (elementary school), Swamp-style monster, two young children

Story Pitch
A) The story opens with a child fleeing from the pursuit of a creature through a city/ suburb.
B) Until the child takes up a hiding place in hopes of being passed by.
C) And then the creature discovers the child. The child takes flight.
D) And then the creature sprays water at the child, engulfing and submerging the child and surrounding area.
E) Until the screen cuts to two children playing with toys in a little lego landscape. The girl; now soaked with water, is greatly irritated, and runs off to tell on the boy.

Observation
The most entertaining point of the story would likely be either the discovery of the child, or the revelation that the entirety of the scene is essentially within the minds of two children at play - as well as the consequent reaction of the now water-logged girl. However, the latter depends on the audience's experience of such things. As such, those without siblings may lose some of the impact.


Short Story 2 (Learning to Read)

Story Information
A) Setting: A child's room, Medieval landscape (field/ cave)
B) Time: Evening- just before bed (child's room), Progressive dawn-afternoon for the medieval segment
C) Characters: A young (early elementary school) child, a knight

Story Pitch
A) The story opens with a child in his room reading a stereotypical story involving a knight setting out to slay a dragon.
B) Until it cuts to the child's imagination - the realm of the knight on his quest, it proceeds along smoothly for the knight.
C) And then the child mispronounces a word -The knight climbs upon his (house/ horse) - thus the horse changes form as the knight is climbing upon it, causing him to fall off. He shrugs it off and continues on - to humour the child telling the story.
D) He passes by (tree/ three) knights as he continues on. As the child gets more excited, he errs on more words, causing more frequent mishaps.
E) And then multiple other mispronunciations cause similar occurrences (fire breathing wagon/dragon) causing great irritation on the knight's part, whom is becoming frustrated with the child's inability to tell his story properly.
F) Until the now irate knight enters the child's room from the book and chastises him for ruining his story. He slams the book shut and vacates the room, leaving the child sitting in bewilderment.

Observation
Though some of the potential gags yield more interest in terms of action and movement - as well as the knight's subsequent reactions to the mishaps, it is likely that the confrontation and conflict between the child and knight at the end will be of the most interest, since it provides the best opportunity for internal forces at play. It depends on whether the focus will be internal or external in nature.


Short Story 3 (Gleipnir)

Story Information
A) Setting: Icy landscape
B) Time: Day
C) Characters: Tyr, Thor (humanoid gods), Fenrir (wolf)

Story Pitch
A) The story opens with a group of norse gods trying to confine the gigantic wolf Fenrir. Nothing can constrain him however.
B) Until the fates foretell of a material that will succeed, consisting of '...the sound of a cat's footfall and the woman's beard and the mountain's roots and the bear's sinews and the fish's breath and bird's spittle.'
C) And then Some unnamed god offers his assistance, but is rejected.
D) And then the two attempt to claim these metaphysical components. Only a selection of them would be animated; such as Thor trying to use a bottle to catch the noise of a cats steps. Choking a fish to get a breath etc.
F) Until they return; in ragged form and utterly exhausted, with the needed items. The unnamed god is also present, and the others' frustration is let loose on him. The unnamed one goes on to procure the same items that were needed, mentioning that they were present in his collection for some time.

Observation
The focus of this story would definitely be the gods' attempts at obtaining the required materials. Though there is good potential for humour given the strange requirements for the fetter, this story would not likely have very strong appeal as it stands to those whom have no knowledge of the norse mythologies on which this is based.

As you can see, the third idea was included just for completions sake.

Term2 - SVL - Storyboard Revisions

After showing a couple of the teachers, I figured some revisions were in need. Mostly involved cutting out unnecessary images that did not contribute to the overall action.

Term2 - Story Visual Language - Storyboards

Started a new class in Term 2 dubbed Story Visual Language - or SVL for short. Surprisingly, I'm still a little unsure of how to summarize this class; it discussed anything pertinent to the story (from story pitches to story boards, facial acting etc). I suppose it would be best to say that it was meant to get us ready for 4th term where we all get to work on our own shorts.

Anyway, this was the intro to storyboarding. The goal was to get a character to react to the presence of a box he just noticed. The corrisponding reaction could be anything - though it must lead up to the character opening the box.