Trees and woods

I went to the woods recently to get reference material, I wanted to gather small details that could possibly be incorporated into the animation and new ideas.

Buildings research

During summer while doing some research for 'A Conversation' I did some research for the shapes of buildings that I want to get for this animation.















I love this quirky building in York, just the way its slumping like the roof is about to slide off.































I think I became more obsessed with the roofs more than anything.


I want to translate this style with the images below.

Thumb boards

I did some very rough thumb boards they really don't make much sense at the moment but I know I can flesh them out into the real ones quite quickly this is probably about three quarters of the animation.

Graduate work

I thought it would be a good idea to look at other graduate animations to see what is possible in the time given..



Julia Pott directed this animation a running time of 3.53

John kelly did this one on an MA degree 4.16


This was Lesley Barnes Ma project 3.59



Jason Peacock 4.37




All of the above stated how difficult it was to get that level of quality in the time given , so from this Ive decided to stick to my original plan and just go for the one animation. Quality is better than quantity.

Development

Ive also begun to develop different shapes for the different trees and a very bizarre color palette. As I want to reflect the U.P.A animation look.









I was trying to develop a character that would fit in the environment at first, and then I realised its a fairy tale anything goes...I started to create a character who could roll out of different environments and roll back in.






Johnny's speach can convey emotion, giving him a persuasive force that over powers people kind of like that part in the twilight zone movie.




He has power over adults p.s that part used to make me feel sick when I was younger.










I want the houses to disappear in 3d to do this I will have to create them from each side and cut away each part. and piece them together in AE.










I really want the monsters to appear like layered up paper. Here is a mock up I made.







The paper comming out of his mouth can transform and morph into different shapes and creatures such as birds. When he gets cursed the paper should come out of him as if he was ill so vomiting, farting, burping.



It is also leaves room for using different paper types for different characters.




The idea of the text coming out of the characters mouth can be a really useful way of differentiating Johnny's speech from everyone else's.



I wanted something to come out of a swamp in the oods. I really like the idea of creating the swamp out of wet twine.




Also I want the speech bubble to roll into the water then the twine begins to bubble and move.





These were some bed bug like creatures that I conceived I was fascinated with how bed bugs once they bite fill up with blood which makes them visible. But instead of blood I thought they could suck out ink.

Images and Ideas

Ive been looking at these types of images to get an idea of the compositions that im aiming for.

Inspiration and ideas.

This video for Fleet foxes directed by Sean Pecknold is a great example of conveying characters without showing them with human form. It is also quite similar to my last animation as well. This fills with me with confidence about doing the Johnny Caddilac section of the animation.

On a time scale this animation took 4weeks but they had allot more people working on it than just me perhaps I need some hands helping me on this one.


Here is a little making of feature as well.




Im also considering mixing animation with video footage for the next one.

The lovely impactist show a great way of doing this. I think back screen projection would work quite well for some sections in the animation.





This is kind of similar to the way I want the text to com out of the characters mouths.



Im also thinking of shifting the pub setting to the otudoors and playing on the idea that anything goes in the fairy tale world and its a possibility that the world that the tellers in habit is just as bizzare as the worlds they are sculpting.

Perhaps they could be rotoscoped outside.