Character & Narrative- Week 2-Final Idea & Pre Production

Week 2:

Final Idea & Pre Production 

The final idea for my animation brief, Telling Tales, is about a couple who have both passed away. One has come back as a zombie, yet the other is a skeleton. He will come out of his grave to see her missing, so he gets worried but soon finds her and they come together. 

With this idea, i needed to make sure i picked the story i wanted and stick to it, as this was a problem i had in the past which stopped me from starting and getting going. This year i have chosen within the first week and now i am well underway in my pre-production and planning out the module and the work load.

Script

I started doing a rough script with who was going to be in the scene, where it is, what is happening and noises that are going on. I did this so i could still have a chance to change and go further with the ideas i have, but also make sure i have planned out enough to make sure i know what is happening and with which character. I will now write it up on word so i can use it as a guide for when i am setting up my animation in the stop motion set and when i start to move the characters around.

Female Skeleton Character (Belle)

These are the concept ideas for my female skeleton. I couldn't decide wether or not to do a more animated cute character, or a more humanoid character. At first i was testing out different ways to do a skull so that it can look female so the audience can understand my story from the start. This is why i added flowers and bows to many of the designs.

The two i struggled choosing between, would be the bottom left design and the cute skeleton above. The reason i struggled, was because they are very different in style and look overall, so choosing between the two, would decide on the overall look of my stop motion as a whole.  

As you can see i preferred the bottom left skeleton deign that still looks quite humanoid, but has bones, rotting flesh and the bullet wound showing. As i became more comfortable with digital, i have done this character on Photoshop, i have tried a few different eye designs and a body shape/ how i am going to make it. This is because stop motion means i need to make the character, taking that into consideration, means i need to design accordingly and thinking of how this character is going to be small.

I started the female design first as i am generally more comfortable designing with females, and developing their looks. This is when i thought more on my actual story and how the couple could be from the same era, thus backing up my story, to be about their Opposites attract theme as she is a skeleton and him a zombie but they're still in love.

Here is when i thought more about what the outfit should look like and how i am going to make it. The first design is by a fashion student i am collaborating with who was thinking about what elements could be made and which would look good on a small character. The other three are some i have come up with for what i think the character should be wearing and how she looks like she is from the victorian era.

On this project, i will be working with two fashion students, who go to a different university. I am asking for help because in the first year, the character i designed, i didn't feel was as good as i was able to achieve. I will be asking them about fabrics, pattern pieces, the overall look and how to change elements for things smaller (buttons of knotted fabric as buttons cant come that small) This has really made me exited about the project as i know what i am doing clearly, and i can get help into making the characters i am designing, look as good as possible for the stop motion.

This is a design sheet, done by one of the fashion students that i have helped design. We were talking about how the character should look, her body shape, how she will be built and which elements of the era i wanted to show more of in the overall look. As i have never made pattern pieces, i found her help to be very useful and really made me think of what i was doing and how i need to think about how i will make it. 

Im overall very happy with how she is looking but i am not sure about the bottom half of the dress but the top half is exactly what i wanted. I will carry on working with them both so that i can get an outfit i am happy with and making the character exactly how i imagine her to look.

Male Zombie Character (Vincent)

These are simple head shapes and facial feature placements for the male focal character. These are just so i can see which ones work better for the character i am thinking of. He will be a zombie so i have drawn more longer faces, as i feel that the shape is more fitting. As he will be dead, he will be lanky so longer features fits with that thought.

Set Design

These are the set designs i have done so far. I was looking at where the camera could be placed and what shots i needed to achieve. These are all helping me to get a more clear image in my head about what i want the animation to look like overall and what the environment should be like.

I found that when designing, the scenes can look too flat if too much is placed against the back wall of the set. This is why i started playing round with placements of everything and what backgrounds could be drawn on the backgrounds. I am liking the end result more than the rest, as the other designs were when i was testing space and placement, so the bottom design is what i have been working towards creating. The idea of a path, also creates a way for the eye of the viewer to travel through the scene, not be stopped at the flat base.

I have also been looking at where the camera needs to go and which walls need to be built. If i make the scene larger, i can build three walls. Therefore creating more of a large feel within as there will be more background, but i can also have more camera shots and angles.