30.8.2022 - 4.10.2022 (Week 1 - Week 6)
Chung Yi Ki / 0345014 / BDCM
Film
Studies & Cinematography
Project 1 / Research and propose the
original short animation story
Lectures
Week 1 / Introduction and Module Briefing
In this week, we are given a briefing of the module information and an overall
expectation of our assignments. Other than that, we are asked to
answer a few questions
regarding our thoughts on animation and given a introduction on how different
genres will lead to different character and world design. Thus, the genre of
the story needs to be decided first before deciding the art direction.
Week 2 / Idea to pre-production
Idea development
The Pixar's idea development begins with personal experience and from there, develop into a universal story.
Script & storyboarding
Storyboarding is about visual storytelling, which consists of turning words into image
Character Design
-Begin from shape
Production Design
-Create the finished "look" of an animation, with assets, backgrounds, etc.
Concept to theme
Concept: The simplest description of an idea
Theme: The manifesto of the concept
Theme decides the style, character design, art direction, music and pacing that complements the story.
Week 3 / Storytelling
Story is about the action and event. Plot is about why the action is decided in this way and how the event happened.
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| Fig 1.1 The 3 act structure Source: https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/three-act-structure/ |
Act 1: Set-up
Act 2: Confrontation
Act 3: Resolution
To create a story-base animation, cause-and-effect is very important. Every event that happened needs to have an effect which leads to another event.
Difference between short story and long story
Short story can be impactful without a strong plot and with lesser characters. While long story relies heavily on a well thought-out plot line.
Visual storytelling
The act of telling a story or communicating information to other people with visual content. Apply the concept of show don't tell
e.g:
tell: Jason was scared when he saw the monster
show: Jason's heart raced as a shadowy figure caught the corner of his eye
Story beat
Story beat is the most important moment of the story, it shows what is happening. Story beats can be created and planned with a story spine. Important to hook the audience in act one.
3 Act structure
Act 1
Introduces the character and the world. It shows how the world word, what genre is it, what scenario happens that disrupts the protagonist's worldview. It is the set up of the story, it's also important to make the character lovable so that when the plot point appears to challenge the character, the audience
will be rooting for the character and this moves to act 2.
Where and when does the story take place?
Who is/are the main characters, why do we care about them?
What or who is the antagonist?
Skeleton:
Once upon a time...
Until one day...
Act 2
Where the character is faced with obstacles, this is where a lot of challenges is thrown to the character. The mid point of act 2 is where the character is met with a decision that the character needs to make that is in conflict with their wants, called as the point of no return. There should be a series of progressive complication in act 2, and a rising action which is an obstacle that forces them to make a difficult decision.
Skeleton:
Because of this...
Because of that...
Because of that...
Act 3
In this act, it should show the character is in danger of losing everything they value the most, and so the character develops a better version of themselves and a new version of the world is presented. It should feel emotional, as it's the end of the character's emotional arc. It should tie back to your theme.
Skeleton:
Until finally...
And ever since then...
Week 4 / Cinematography in animation
In motion-picture photography, cinematography considers the composition of a scene, lighting of the set, choice of camera lenses, the camera angle and movements.
For character design in animation, the character design needs to be exaggerated based on their personality. So that the character's personality can be seen through their design.
Staging in animation
The personality of the character and the mood of the scene needs to be obvious in the scene. They need to be shown out.
Week 5 / Animation layout
The misc-en scene in animation layout involves composition, staging, colour and lighting
Staging
-Create dyanamism and "life" in the layout with the expression of the characters (body or facial)
-apply exaggeration and perspective
Composition
-The layout needs to be balanced, avoid having more weight on one side than the other
-Make use of line of action to create dynamism and focal point
-line of action is good when it's curved, organic
Colour and lighting
-Create contrast in the composition using colours, warm vs cool colours
-Avoid overlapping of elements, and blending of colours. This can be solved by creating contrast if the overlapping elements need to be included.
Instructions
Week 1 (30/8/2022)
Expressing memory
For this week, we are tasked to think back of a memory that we remember
vividly and record us talking about it using our phones. After that, we need
to write down one or more emotions that we can connect to our memory.
Verbal memory recording
Fig 1.1 Verbal memory recording
Why do I think I remember this memory so well?
I think I remember this memory so well is because the brief feeling of fear
associated with it stuck with me and made the thought linger there. This then
made me to become curious and led me to think of the possible scenarios
related to it every now and then. In other words, you can say that I’m
curiously frightened by the memory. But curiosity plays a bigger part in
making the memory stick to my mind by thinking about the consequences of it
and how to manage it.
Week 2 (6/9/2022)
Ideation progress
We started off with our project 1 by filling up a word document template about
the story ideation of our final project based on our verbal memory. We are
required to think of the theme, emotion and realization of our verbal memory
and think of our main character’s emotions, character design, concept art
sketch, and concept statement. We are also required to create an abstract
image and find songs or music that relates to our verbal memory to remind
ourselves what the feeling felt like. The abstract image can be done in anyway
and doesn't have to make sense for the reader.
Fig 2.1 Ideation progress word document template
The concept statement is based on the main idea of my verbal memory, which
is about the fear of loosing control and hurting people in the process, and
not directly linked to every detail presented in my verbal memory. I’m
locked on in making this a story structure animation rather than a
feeling-based animation because this is how I process and make sense of the
thought in my mind. I also believe it’s the best way to put people in the
same perspective and let them realize this is not just about a random
person’s concerning thought, but it can be a universal feeling of
discovering a shocking revelation, and what you intend to use it for.
Week 3 (13/9/2022)
Story beat point form
Fig 3.1 Story beat of short film animation in point form
For this week, we are tasked to write the story beat of our idea in point
forms. I based the story on what I wrote for my concept statement and
tried to create plots that would connect all the events together in telling
a coherent story. I tried to keep the story as short and as to-the-point as
possible since this is for a short film animation.
Week 4 (20/9/2022)
Story beat in paragraph format
Fig 4.1 Story beat 3 act separation and in paragraphs format
While Mr. Martin was going through my story beat, we discussed together and
made some changes to leave the story at a more impactful ending and suitable
for the time length of a short film animation. Since the girl helping a
person in the end is too rush of an ending and left plot holes along the
way, we changed it to Guy 2 actually beating up the girl and leave the
ending of the story at a cliffhanger. This is because the goal of the girl
is to get rid of her ability to automatically hurt anyone who threatens her,
but the need of the girl is to keep on surviving and not die. We then
separate the story into different acts and plot points.
After that, I wrote the story beat points into a multiple story beat
paragraphs. I wrote two different version of the story beat arrangement for
the final part of act 2 and the rest of act 3 to see which would work
better.
Week 5 (27/9/2022)
Finalizing story ideation
Fig 5.1 Finalized story ideation document
After receiving feedbacks, I decided to go with the 2nd version of the last
part of act 2 as it has more impact and tension. I then included the
finalized story beat and story paragraphs in the ideation document and
edited any typing mistakes for submission.
Final short film animation story ideation
Fig 5.1 Final story ideation document
Feedbacks
Week 2
Think about the feelings of the memory more and explore in depth with it.
Like, according to your verbal memory, there seems to have 2 sides of the
situation (like 2 sides of the same coin), the rational side and the
intrusive side. And both are fighting. Think about the consequences as well.
If the intrusive side win, will there be a sense of relief? The theme seems
like something relating to a "versus" theme. Explore and go in depth with it
to continue developing the story,
Week 3
The story from the memory can go both ways, either story-based or
feeling-based, but both choice have very different direction and idea. The
written memory seems to be have a very strong flow of event and the feelings
are clear, and the idea of showing how the character is entranced with the
sharpness of the knife can be done in 20 seconds. But if it's put into a
story structure, it seems that a lot of what was written in the memory will
be compressed. It's up to me to decide which direction I want to go.
Week 4
The ending seems a bit rush to do in a short animation and with the existing
story beat as there's not much explanations given in the plot. Showing more
of the conflict and ending the story at a cliffhanger is better. For the
major conflict, guy 1 should break in and actually hurt the girl, and the
girl is then put into a tight spot whether to give up or survive. The
outside conflict and inner conflict should be
shown together in the scene.
Week 5
Version 2 of the last part of act 2 is more interesting as it has two things
happening together. Transitions can be put when editing the scene to show
the two events.
Reflections
This project was interesting as it starts with developing a story from a memory. A part of me was excited to do this as I had a story idea in mind formed by a thought I had for a while now, and this was an opportunity for me to develop the idea. The challenging part for me was to think of a way to make sure the story flows well while also limiting the contents to fit in a short film format, since this was initially a larger idea I had in mind. Other than that, the character design took some time as well since I wanted to make sure the design reflects the personality of the character, and to make sure it’s flexible enough to be animated for the final project. All in all, this was an enjoyable project and hopefully I can execute it well later on for the remaining projects.
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