Concept Art - Activities

Good day!

Today I am to comment on a video about two guys that have some problems between them, take their differences and solve them on a Shootout.

I was presented with five different versions of the same story. The difference is the way the cameras are set to tell the story. In my opinion the clip that tells the story the best way is actually the first one:

Although I don´t like the way the first camera is set, in a low position revealing only the lower part of the first introduced character, it actually makes a lot of sense with what happens next. One has the feeling that this character is being revealed little by little, first with a low angle, then a medium shot and finally a tracking shot that reveals the character identity.

In between, we have the introduction of the other character, first with a long shot, and then a close up of his face, completely revealing his identity and also, in a way, indicates that he is aware that his rival has arrived. The introduction is followed by a two shot, which unleashes the action. 

One of the things that made me choose this clip above the others, was the way the action was shown to me. A medium shot of the first character calling the other character out, followed by a simple two shot with a low camera angle facing the second character, which is the one that wins the shootout. This low camera angle is very good to emphasize the power the second character has, it induces some respect for him...powerful! 

And then the story ends with a dolly out of the face of the dead character, emphasizing his loss in the shootout. I think it was very good camera movement for an ending of this particular story.

The story pace is really good. It starts slowly, but with the development of the story, it starts speeding up, with everything happening faster, which transmits a feeling of a certain anxiety towards whats gonna happen next.

The assets present in the clip, compose the story so that it feels that we are in the middle of a western. I don´t have that much to say, other than it was a good choice and that they complement this simple scene.

With this said, I will soon post my own version of this story!  

Write ya soon!

Trash Can Rebelion - 2D Animatic

Hello!

So it all comes to an end, with the completion of the final project: production of a 2D Animatic of my story.

I added sounds, and experimented with them, which gives me a different perspective on how will sound affect certain key scenes in my movie. I think it´s looking kinda funny :)

When making the animatic, I could clearly understand that it is a vital step towards the pace of the movie. In my Storyboard, I had defined an estimate amount of time for each shot, but when producing the Animatic I saw that I could make some shots shorter, and some others longer, even though my Animatic does not have every single action in the movie, which is something I need to consider on my next storyboard: more shots, to have a clearer understanding of the pace of the movie.

The good thing is that, according to my calculations, the duration of the movie is under 60 seconds, so that would give me room for the necessary changes and eventual shots I would need to add to the movie.

From an editor´s perspective, I can definitely see that this workflow is such a time saver towards planning of the movie´s different shots, plus it allows the editor to either exclude or include more scenes without having to "film" them all. Cost and time effective process.

One thing that I could have added to the story board is color. Although it may not be necessary, it would definitely emphasize the dimension of certain scenes, characters, etc, . But on another hand, it can also make things more confusing and might not be so practical. I would prefer to have a stage in my workflow where I draw characters and scenarios focusing solely in the design aspect of the movie.

All in all, these three projects were very productive and knowledge full. I must say, that for the first time, I feel myself looking at my ideas with a production point of view in mind. And this experience is invaluable in my professional future.

Thanks for reading!

Trash Can Rebelion - The Storyboard

Good Day!

I am presenting the storyboard for my short film idea, which I published in my previous post. 

This storyboard content is not so much about key poses, or beautiful drawings, but is directed at visualizing the essential and ideal camera shots for the primary actions and any camera movement that it requires, and is also useful for me to have an idea about the duration of each shot in my movie. 

This is a completely new area for me. Before I started these projects, I had zero idea about how to develop my ideas into concrete stories, how to present them and how to decide, organize and apply the required camera shots and positions. I have a better idea now, or better said, I have the knowledge, but as with everything in life, this process requires a lot of trial and error and a good deal of experience to be able to use it with all the potential it has, towards planning a movie.

This following link will lead you to the PDF that contains my complete storyboard:

Trash Can Rebelion - Storyboard

Having had some time to reflect upon my storyboard, there are a couple of things that I would have done differently. 

 

Simple Storyboard example.

To start with, I would definitely draw my shots a lot more simpler and with more precision regarding the camera position and movement. Some of them are not exactly as I pictured them in my head. That might also be because I can not draw so well in perspective, and even though I can see every shot in my head exactly as I want it to be, it is still hard to draw it correctly. So, simpler drawings would be better. 

 

Camera angle example.

One other thing is me being unsure about what camera angles, or camera movement work better. I for one, am not a very big adept of too much camera movement if not necessary, so I try to keep my shots still unless they require movement to emphasize the action. As an example, on shot number 05, I decided to go for a Close Up of Frank´s (the kid character) face and them to make a Zoom Out  to a Low camera Angle and reveal what was the shadow that came upon him.

However, it then came to my mind that maybe if I had just had changed to another camera, with a Low Angle, the scene would work better and emphasize much more the dimension of the Trash Can, and the fear sensation that Frank feels, instead of a perhaps confusing (for the audience) camera movement.

On the other hand, on shot 07, I do believe that the Zoom Out really does work, because in this shot the important aspect is that Frank is physically lost, and the Zoom out reveals the environment surrounding him. If this camera movement is fast, it works even better. Of course, I might be completely wrong, although I really do believe it works.

And, as with shot 07, the shots I did not mentioned satisfy me, because they express my idea and the way I want people to see my story. I like the sequence of the intense "coffee cup hitting the Trash Can", and I believe that sequence will be a fun part of my movie!

 

 

Storyboard template example.

About the Storyboard template, I made that one myself, and comparing to the ones I found around the internet, I believe that it works well, is easy to follow and has all the necessary information to allow for a fast and understandable reading.

That´s it for now. I will soon complete my 2D Animatic and post it here. Stay tuned!

The piece that was missing.

These last few days, while drawing some sketches of certain key scenes, I could not stop thinking that my story lacked something. It lacked the reason why the trash can would go berserk. It was not funny enough and my inciting incident was being to simple and not "inciting"enough.

And then it occurred me: what if instead of just throwing away one coffee cup, Frank (the character) would be repeating this action for six days in a row? This would give strength to the point i´m trying to make with my story and make it more understandable, while adding much more humor to it. And it would also emphasize the fact that lead to the rebellion of the trash can.

I have now added this to my story, as well to the treatment. It is looking like this now:

I believe that the story is much more complete and it strengthens my message!

Back on track!

Hello world!

I am now back from some super summer vacations, huge computer problems and lots of work, to start with my school projects again.

Getting closer to the final project, I am now introduced to a more detailed process of thinking, editing, presenting and creating our animation film ideas. In my previous post, I used different techniques to allow my creativity to flow, and I had some nice ideas for short films that came up in the process. One of them, I decided to use as a base for the three projects I have to do, which all complement each other, and I would now like to start writing about my story, and explain a bit more what is going on in my head, and how I plan to complete all of these projects.

So, my story is very simple: it is about a young guy that does a very common think among us humans, he throws most of his trash to the ground, without much thinking about the consequences of it. But this time, there will be a consequence, involving a trash can that got fed up with this attitude. Therefore, I decided to name my short story "The Trash Can Rebellion".

At first I had made the above draft of the treatment, and after much thinking about of it, I decided to alter a couple of details that, in my opinion, will make my story easier to understand. These details were things like the boxing gloves, which I could not really see how I would fit them in the story, or what kind of relevance or emphasis it would add to it; The way the story ends. This was a major change, because the end I had previously chosen was based on a moral lesson, and as I learned later, this is not that good of an ending, so I decided to have a funnier ending with my message being sent to the audience anyway, but without ending in this moral issue.

Here is the final treatment of my story:

 

I think it is important to write about why I chose such a weird (?) plot. In my view of the world, I think people in general, everywhere, are a bit careless about this particular issue. They throw every single crap to the ground even if they are just standing near a trash can or something of the likes. I also understand that this might be a very wrong idea for a short film, and it might not make any sense, or it can be really wrong in a cinematic point of view.

However, I prefer working on a project that stimulates me, and shows a bit of my ideals, and that can have a useful message to who ever might end up seeing the movie. Plus, I thought of this idea with a specific target group as an audience: adolescents and children. Working for the greater good.

And even though my idea might seem wrong in a cinematic point of view, let me take a couple of lines more to show why I believe it is not that wrong (or maybe why it is right).

My story follows a three act structure:

-Act 1: Introduction of Frank; the environment where the action starts unfolding; introduction of the second, but not secondary, character The Trash Can;

-Act 2: The inciting incident that will unravel the plot and lead to a conflict between the characters: the moment when Frank hits the Trash Can with his coffee cup. 

The pursue of an objective is not directly related with Frank, but with the second character, the trash Can. He is the one that will pursue his objective: change the way Frank acts towards the world, more specifically, Mother Nature. Everything that happens in Act 2 will lead to the ultimate moment in the story, the climax: when Frank realizes he has made a mistake that might have had different consequences, had the Trash Can not been so friendly.

-Act 3: A breakdown in the action intensity, when Frank looks up and sees that he is still in the same place and is not really sure of what has happened, but still will pick up the coffee cup and throw it into the trash can, just in case what he experienced might happen again if he doesn´t. The action flows again towards the end, when the Trash Can comes in a big plan and shows a "mission accomplished" expression, mostly revealed by his eyes.

In the three Acts described above, I tried to include the most possible animation acting principles, such as conflict, pursue of an objective, doing something until something happens that makes you do something else...

What I explained above, coupled with some nice shots I have in store for the movie, that will be featured soon when I complete my storyboard, might make a simple story achieve something more than just being another animation short movie: to make a difference on other peoples attitudes.

Up next, the storyboard!