LAUAN601-Concept Art for 'Sal and Peppy'

Concept Art for 'Sal and Peppy' 

As well as working on my own short film, I decided to broaden my work by working on the concept art for the backgrounds of Briony Caswell’s short film: ‘Sal and Peppy’. I received mood boards from Briony based on a 1930s kitchen setting. These mood boards include: the set out of a standard kitchen in the 1930s era, the style of the chairs and tables and lastly, a prop sheet of what would be placed within the kitchen during each background, depending on the action within the scene. Briony explained during our conversation that she wanted the floors to be checked/tiled and also gave me a colour palette to stick to.

Some of the mood boards I received:

Designed by Briony Caswell

Designed by Briony Caswell

Following the guidelines given to me I started by creating a concept sheet of the design of the cupboards and fridges. Studying the design of different cupboards and fridges I created many different designs for Briony to choose from. I enjoyed doing this piece as it gave me a break from my own short film and allowed me to work on pieces that I have not had a chance to do before. As well as this, it also made me realise how much I enjoy doing concept work and found myself happy with the concept boards that I created for the background designer.

Concept art for the design of the cupboards and fridges in the 1930s style:

Concept art for the design of the props around the kitchen:

Once the basic concepts were finished for the props and the furniture within the kitchen, I moved on to the aesthetic design of the checked and tiled floor.  I started by using perspective skills learned during this course with the end result of the six different camera angles of the kitchen. This was going to aid me when drawing the tiled floor because I was able to test out how the tiles would cover the floor based on where the camera will be as well as, giving the director a vision of what the tiled floor could appear like and the test of what colours from the palette worked best with the furniture within the kitchen.

Concept art for the checked/tiled floor:

To finish the final concept design, I put all the concepts together to create two different 1930s styled kitchen. I did them with two different colour palette and different colour schemes and designs of the furniture within the kitchen. Creating two kitchens styled differently allowed the director to see the layout/set-up up of the kitchen based on what layout will be the most effective for the action that is going to take place within the background. As well as this benefitting the director, it also supplies the background artist with designs to work off of when laying the background depending of the perspective of the kitchen during the action of the characters and the props within the scene.

The first draft for the layout of the kitchen:

Briony also asked me to play around the colours, and eventually landed on the final colour palette of the kitchen being: number 3 for the checked floor, number 6 for the colour of the wallpaper and lastly, the layout will be the kitchen with the red table.

The final concept design for the 1930s style kitchen:

LAUAN601-Final Character Designs

The Process of the Character Designs

For my short animation the original character designer was Rhys Davies. I had created a timetable for the pre-production side of the film to ensure that the pre-production would be done in time:

First Draft of Pre-production Plan 

Rhys did not manage to hit the original date for character designs to be completed by however, I gave him another date and he started to improve by showing me some of the rough designs that he had come up with. These were the rough designs for the characters of the ‘Little Boy’ and Grandma’s character:

Designed by Rhys Davis 

Designed by Rhys Davis 

As part of my weeklies I decided to show these designs for some feedback from my peers as I was unsure whether this character design was effective for my storyline. The feedback I got from my peers was:

• The Little Boy’s build is too manly:

-       Change the body shape

-       Character needs to be shorter

-       Maybe even try a bigger head and smaller body to         make the character more childlike

• Needs something in common with the monster:

-       Could change the Little Boy’s skin to match the robots

-       Maybe the Little Boy could have one eye like the monster

-       Lastly, the Little Boy could have a toy robot in the Reality World that becomes life-like in the Mystical World.

• Grandmas needs a common theme atheistically to relate to the boy.

• As the boy is dressed from the era of the 1940s then so does Grandma.

After I received the feedback, I had a discussion with Rhys about the changes that needed to be made to the character designs as well as, the dates these needed to be done by. Unfortunately, I did not receive any more completed designs or rough designs to look at for a couple of weeks. At this point, as the director, I had to consider a back-up plan. After talking to Dotty in a 1:1 conversation I came to the conclusion that I had to start putting my foot down. I did this by contacting Rhys and asking him to have the completed designs to me in a week and that was his final deadline. When I did not receive completed designs, furthermore, the designs that he did do did not follow the changes that I wanted to make based on the feedback given by our peers, I put the back-up plan into action.

My back-up plan consisted of taking away one-character design off of Rhys so he only had two to focus on in the hope that it would speed up the process. I had asked Eloise Wayling to complete the ‘Monster’ character design for me:

Designed by Eloise Wayling 

The concept of the Monster designed by Rhys Davis:

Designed by Rhys Davis 

I was very happy with the end result of the character design, as it followed the guidelines of how I wanted my Monster to appear. As well as, going as far as to give me a completed final turnaround:

After Eloise being able to complete this design after a week, Rhys had still not completed any of the two-character designs he took control of. What I could have done better in this situation is my communication with Rhys could have been more productive when explaining the final deadlines and when he did not meet them, why this was frustrating to me. I decided to give the last two final designs to Briony Caswell. I was two weeks behind and did not know what else to do. I finally got around to talking to Rhys about these final decisions and we came to an agreement that I would still use his designs as my concepts for the character designs in my ‘Art of Book for: The Portal’.

These are the final designs for the Little Boy’s and Grandma’s characters:

Designed by Briony Caswell 

Designed by Briony Caswell 

LAUAN601-Storyboards and Editing

Editing the Storyboards 

Original storyboard designed by Gabbi Slater:

 Originally, I wanted my short film to be 1 minute and 30 seconds long. When Gabbi put the storyboard together it was 2 minutes and 27 seconds long. She put it together in After Effects. After discussing it with peers in my class and my teachers, I came to the realisation that this was not possible to complete in the time I have for my project. However, I love Gabbi's storyboarding skills and the quality this animatic was done to was defiantly up to my exceptions and more!

This is the first draft of the animatic put together by Gabbi Slater:

Although I was happy with the standard of the animatic that was handed to me; the animatic was completed two weeks after my original deadline, this was disappointing to me as this was not the final product as I had changes I wanted to make. As well as this, I feel as though I did not communicate with Gabbi effectively before starting the storyboard to make it more clear that I wanted the short film to be as long as: 1 minute 30 seconds.  As this would set me back waiting for Gabbi to change the animatic based on my notes, I made the decision, as the director, to make these changes myself to the animatic by to editing the video in Premiere Pro.

The changes I decided to make were:

• I started by cutting out all the unnecessary scenes.
• These unnecessary scenes involved all the running scenes that would take up too much and did not need to be in the storyline for it to make sense to the audience. 
• I also sped up certain scenes that were too slow as this would benefit the mood of the scene and make the action more eye-catching and dramatic.
• After receiving some feedback, I was told the flashback from the mystical world to the realistic world was not clear enough. To make it more clear I placed a video effect on top of the scenes to create a flash. Instead of the scene flashing from the monster chasing the boy into the boy travelling to his Grandma’s, it flashes into an establishing shot of the realistic world. As the story begins with the establishing shot of the mystical world, this demonstrates to the audience the visual difference between both settings allowing them to understand what world they are in by setting the scene.
• The original animatic timing was at 2 minutes and 27 seconds long.
• By making all the these changes I was able to drop the timing down to my original plan which is now at 1 minute and 27 seconds.
• This is beneficial to me as now I will be able to make up for lost time after waiting for the animatic. I was aware of what I could do as a director in the amount of time I had to complete this project.  

This is the final animatic:

LAUAN601-Competition Brief 1

Competition Brief 1 

For my first competition piece, I decided to enter the Character Design Challenge. The theme for February was 'The Carnival of Brazil'. I decided to enter this competition because character design is something I have not fully tried out yet. This allowed me to draw a character and see if any of my strengths lie within character design. I thoroughly enjoyed entering this competition and really enjoyed creating a character based around the theme. I went for a curvy woman dressed in the carnival attire. I wanted to create a bright, colourful piece to really express the meanings behind the Carnival of Brazil and showcasing the joy the carnival wants to express. 

LAUAN601- Mood Boards for Backgrounds

Mood Boards for the Backgrounds 

Mystical World: 

Figure 1 

Figure 2 

Figure 3 

Figure 4

Reality World: 

Figure 5 

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

After creating my portal between the two worlds I decided that I wanted each world to visually appear slightly different to one another. As I wanted two different worlds, I created separate mood boards to visualize how I could visually show the difference between the two places:

Mood boards for the Mystical World:

• Filled with colour.
• Visually pleasing while portraying a spooky tone.   
• Based in the mountains with a community of cabins that lead into the forest.
• One of the mood boards is used to test the colour palette within this world and how I could set the tone of the scene by the use of colour to control the mood of the world and the emotional understanding the audience will perceive when looking at the backgrounds. 
• The style of the background, cabins, mountains and trees.
• Light and shadows.

Mood boards for the Realistic world:

• The complete opposite of the Mystical World.
• Will be seen visually in black and white (no colour)
• Based at Grandma’s House.
• An old and remote house that appears different to the other houses around.
• Old wooden floors and doors that creak.
• The light and shadows used within the background will set the tone for each scene as the use of colour will not be available.

LAUAN601-Character Sheets

Character Sheets 

•       As the director, my first plan of action was to create a written character sheet so I could mentally plan out the roles each character will play within the storyline. This document showcases the three characters by explaining what the: personality traits of each character will be, how the characters will appear atheistically, and lastly, the backstory of the character.

•      Assisting me as the director to be able to communicate my ideas based around the planning the characters designs. These sheets helped me to portray what I wanted each character to look liked based on all these categories and gave the character designer a clear idea behind the purpose each character will have on the storyline. As well as, how I wanted them to be portrayed aesthetically.

•       Furthermore, I was able to decide and fully understand what each character will portray and how I wanted them to be portrayed without leaving confusion about the importance of how the character is represented when animated and how their personality is going to appear on screen.

LAUAN601- Mood Boards for the Characters

Character Mood Boards 

Grandma: 

Figure 1

Figure 2

Little Boy:

Figure 3

Figure 4

Monster: 

•           Taking the character sheets further, I created mood boards for each of the three main characters. These mood boards will not only show the character designer what style I want the characters to be portrayed in, but the written explanation of my characters traits brought to life visually, so the designer had inspiration and understanding of my ideas in how I want my characters to be presented.

LAUAN601-Script Changes

The Portal Script 

Script 

The Portal

Written by Jessica Carter

SCENE ONE: THE MYSTICAL WORLD (COLOUR)

EXT. MONSTER

This scene opens with an establishing shot of the village. At this time of year, the snow falls over the mountains which is home to the village community. They live in broken-down wooden cabins that creak when the wind blows. The moonlight glistens along the mountains as the snow slowly falls; the snow covers the ground leaving a print over the mountains and the roof tops of the cabins as the temperature drops causing it freezes over.

A neon glow slowly coats the surface of the town as thundering footsteps echo throughout. The camera pans in as the MONSTER approaches through the mountains. A CLOSE-UP of the monster as it roars ready to attack.  

The camera pans in on the MONSTER as it locks eyes with its target: BLUE (THE BOY).

BLUE starts to sprint towards the dark woods where the trees are crooked and barely any light lays. As the MONSTER continues to chase BLUE through the village, BLUE finds a tree to rest behind. BLUE is panting as the camera starts to fade into the FLASHBACK.

SCENE TWO: REALITY WORLD (BLACK AND WHITE)

A car stops abruptly outside a worn-down house. GRANDMA’S old-fashioned house is the only place on the street surrounded by crooked fencing, round windows that are broken with old wooden shutters on each side, and a large wooden door with steel panels across the entrance. A dead tree hangs outside of the house with no sign of life attached to it.

(DOORBELL SOUND)

INT. GRANDMA’S HOUSE

The door creaks open as GRANDMA is standing behind the door. GRANDMA invites BLUE in with the motion of her hand and a peculiar smile and as he is left alone to explore the house. The camera pans to a montage of BLUE looking for things to do all summer until he tires from boredom.

BLUE is sitting up against a wall when a bright light shines behind the basement door across the room. Feeling curious, BlUE follows the light down to the dingy basement stairs until he gets to the bottom. A CLOSE-UP shot shows the shocked emotion on BLUE’S face as the camera pans around to the basement wall. Along the basement wall are six coloured doors: RED, BLUE, GREEN, ORANGE, YELLOW, AND PURPLE.  

SCENE THREE: MAKING IT HOME (COLOUR)

EXT. MONSTER

The FLASHBACK ends as the MONSTER approaches BLUE from his hiding space. Out of the corner of his eye, BLUE sees the door through the trees. The MONSTER roars out as BlUE runs towards the door for safety. Running in and out of the trees as the camera pans to a LONG SHOT, the MONSTER continues to chase BLUE as the trees fall down and the village is left destroyed and burning down.

SCENE FOUR: MAKING IT HOME (COLOUR TO BLACK AND WHITE)

INT. GRANDMA’S HOUSE

As BLUE reaches the door, he falls through with a thump and slams the door shut behind him. After BLUE has brushed the dirt off of his clothes, he leaves the basement. One of the doors is seen opening and the camera fades to black as the MONSTERS arms start to crawl out of the doorway. 

THE END 

The feedback I received in the session pushed me to respond to the responses by changing small details within the storyline therefore, leading me to change the script alongside this.  The feedback given to me in the Weekly’s were:

·      The class felt as if there needed to be more of a connection between the Monster and the Little boy. This is so the audience can understand the meaning of the Monster in the Mystical World as well as, acknowledging what the relationship is between the two main characters.

After considering the relationship between these two characters, I came up with the idea that the monster in the Mystical world can be a giant version of one of the Little Boys toys. As I wanted the era to be based in the 1940s, I started to research popular toys around that time. I came across this 1940s robot toy:

The new monster will fit into the storyline by the use of the flashback into the reality world:

·      When the flashback starts this will show the Little Boy travelling to his Grandma’s house in the car. In his hands will be a toy robot. When the montage begins, it shows the boy struggling to entertain himself in Grandma's house during the summer. The toy robot will be shown throughout the boy's time in the house and within the mystical world. When the basement is found, and the boy is intrigued by the idea of what is behind each door. He starts to explore what the reason is for his Grandma having this secret in her basement. The camera will then pan back into the mystical world and the monster will be chasing the boy. The audience will recognise the monster as the toy robot that he had back in the reality world. However, in the mystical world the toy robot is not so small anymore and is grown in size as he seems to come alive while towering over him.  

LAUAN601-Statement of Intent

Statement of Intent 

Study Task 1: Major Project – Statement of Intent (500 words max.)

For my final major project, I will be creating a one to two-minute short film in the style of 2D digital animation. The theme for this short animation is leading on from my research essay about colour versus black and white image in my Context of Practice module. The outcome of this final piece is going to test the theories based around colour theory and black and white movies. Does colour theory play an important role when used in a particular way to control human emotions? Are black and white movies as effective as colour movies? Or can they both be effective as each other when the storyline allows it?

I plan to involve both: colour and black and white image by creating a portal between two colliding worlds. The story starts in the mystical world, which will be in colour image, where a young boy is running from the monster that is chasing him. He finds a place to hide to catch his breath, while it flashbacks into the story of how the boy had gone from one world to the other. However, the flashback will be shown in black and white. This scene shows the boy being dropped off by his parents at his Grandma’s house for the summer. As the flashback continues, he is searching for things to keep him occupied. Coming across a door with a light shining through, he is intrigued and left questioning what is behind the door? He slowly follows the mysterious light down to the basement and appearing in the dim light is five coloured doors lined up next to each other against the brick wall. It pans back into the mystical world, and once again turns from black and white image into colour. The boy sees an opportunity to run back to the coloured door that is his portal between the mystical world and Grandma’s house. As he falls through the door, he is left feeling shocked and staring at what he is yet to enter.

What I am hoping to achieve from this short animation is to leave the audience questioning what is behind the other coloured doors. Is there a different world behind each door? Does each colour represent a different environment? I want to gain an understanding of how to engage an audience visually in an effective way and what methods or tools I could be using to do this; as well as,

gaining better skills when creating effective designs for environments and improving on my animating skills.
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I will be designing the storyboards in my context of practice module but will complete the animatic in my extended practice while directing the short film. My other jobs will consist of creating the final background designs for Grandma’s House and animating the final piece. Rhys Davies is going to be designing the character designs and Eloise Wayling is going to be creating concept ideas for the mystical world. I still need to consider what music is going to work best with my film and if I need any visual effects. Lastly, I will be asking a few individuals to assist me with animating at the end, so I am able to hit my target and finish the animation.