For this project we were first assigned to research into ideas we’d want to explore over the summer, specifically into themes, artists and concepts we’d like to explore for our FMP:
Initial inspiration was from different music videos such as Siames’ The wolf, or art pieces I had been drawn to over the internet. I knew for this project I wanted to break away from just doing things within my comfort zone as a animator so starting from imagery which initially inspires me helps to lead into other pathways further down the line.
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For my first idea i had been inspired by my love and interest for video-games, specifically retro sprite based ones, I felt drawing from a genre that I personally enjoy would help to combat my theme in a unique and memorable way.
Working off the common themes in the games I chose for inspiration such as: street fighter, dragon quest, rayman, megaman ect main words which sprung up were fighter, combat, level, progression and fun among others. Using this I built around the idea of anxiety as a ‘enemy’ that the protagonist we’d follow would have to face in order to progress. To explore this idea further I visited an arcade to get references:
From here I figured that experimenting with sprite based animation would really elavate my animation so I started off with designing a protagonist and a few enemies they would fight:
The enemies where made from quick rough silhouettes I had jotted down, based on the idea of common fears such as insects, reptiles etc. What works best is not only would this link thematically but they would also stand out shape wise as they are distinctly different from each other however as they are just silhouettes the designs feel unfinished and would need redefining to see how they would be integrated.
Using a motif of music as it is one of many ways to help calm yourself whilst feeling anxious I used common visuals such as a rockstar with a guitar or a conductor for initial sketches, with the final idea landing on a magical sorcerer with a musical wand, with a bright colour palette and a slight space aesthetic. This works well as a design, as the bright colours (pink against green) stands out to the viewer along with their expressive emotions. What I would have done differently to improve was to further explore outside of my go to with character designs looking further into my arcade sprite work inspiration and the types of design elements that are usually included there, as overall this design may be hard to accurately design in sprite work as the multiple colours blend too much with eachother for example.
For the first test animation I made a quick pixel brush in procreate and using the drawing assist tool made a fairly rough attempt at a simple sprite inspired animation, this is particularly seen with the linework and limited frame style. Whilst this test is only rough i feel what would have worked better to improve it would have been to test an alternative style similar to lineless or coloured lines to better show the inspiration from sprite based videogames, this is because these games (on the consoles they came out on) had limited colours to work from, which meant creators and developers would have to work within those limits and while i am not making a game to better show the inspiration I could have tried these limitations to see if they work.
For my second initial idea I wanted to work from my moodboard inpsiration, Inspired by the music video for ‘The Wolf’ by Siames aswell as the other artwork inspirations i wanted to experiment with a horror abstract style where not only would I push myself outside of my comfort zone, i would also be able to work on my organisational skills to be able to work within a style i can animate within a reasonable amount of time, this is important to me as my 2nd year film I had a good idea but I wasn’t able to execute it in time for the final deadline. To combat this I worked with a basic limited colour pallete with a emphasis on the visuals and what is animated, cutting out what isn’t needed early on so I don’t fall into similar problems like previously:
What works best about this idea is the vagueness of the character as opposed to what is happening around them, pushing outside of my comfort zone I focused on the visual animations instead of a developed or personalized character design, this helped to explore a visual style around the theme of anxiety such as the rules or laws of the world presented even if it’s a short video test. I would have liked to test out more visuals such as expressing fear through body language based animations like the character screaming in fear or crying, with just focusing on the visuals i limited myself in attempting to physically show the characters emotions however overall I liked the idea off having visuals represent the fear such as the looming eyes surrounding the character.
For my third initial idea i wanted to draw from the idea of the anxiety being represented by a creature which follows the protagonist as a metaphor for living with anxiety daily. With this idea i would explore thematic environmental design using the backgrounds to help illustrate the feelings the protagonist would be feeling such as feeling trapped within a inescapable forest of dense wood. I was inspired by the visually dense artsyle of cartoon saloon’s: WolfWalkers, specifically the highly textured traditional artstyle for the backgrounds i felt this could be great inspiration to draw from especially for how I can encapsulate certain emotions withing the backgrounds along with the characters.
For this working from the silhuoette designs from my video-game idea i came up with a concept for a creature which embodies anxiety and fear. Using key words like suffocating, trapped or sinister I drew inspiration from a foggy-like aesthetic to give the creature a more ghostly look. This works as it captures the many feelings associated with having anxiety and can make for good concepts for how they would interact with the protagonist such as swarming around them as a pack of wolves would or chasing down their prey. I would have liked to have attempted to draw them using other materials such as water colour or perhaps pencils to try a style outside of my go to with digital.
Workshops development:
5 obstructions:
For 5 obstructions we were tasked to in small groups challenge ourselves by coming up with short animations inspired by the rules laid out by the 5 obstructions as limits. Working with a student named Philipa we came up with an initial idea of a creepy/cute style which draws inpsiration from internet horror games or short stories by taking familiar imagery and twisting them to create a sense of fear in the viewer:
We decided with a simple cat animation to draw from the ‘familiar imagery but twisted’ approach as a cat walking would be recognizable as a common thing enough that when twisted it’d lead to interesting results such as for the 2nd prompt Philipa edited the animations i made to have a ‘lights on and off’ look as the cat walks into the shadows.
For this project i particularly liked working within a group and bouncing around ideas for what we could come up with, it felt more organised and what we created together really pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I also found the affects applied to the cat such as the scrambled visuals or the glitchy affect really helped to present a disconnect from reality, especially after it was edited by Philipa after they twisted the dimensions. What I would have improved personally would have been to further push the twisted visuals such as the cat morphing into really disturbing shapes paired with warping the surroundings. After presenting this work we were given feedback that the cat shifting into different plains after they walked out of the shadows was a really intriguing idea and that we could play with the idea of a 3d esk hallway with the cat peering into different doorways, if i was to revisit this i would explore this idea further by experimenting with a parallax camera of sorts as the cat walks into the shadows, perhaps they walk further into the background and vice versa and move close to the camera after a while.
Vignette abstractions
For this workshop we were given the task of coming up with short films which play around with capturing certain emotions or styles we’d want to explore for our FMP. With the idea of my summer projects and anxiety still in mind I created a moodboard around anxiety and how that can be depicted from triggers such as overwhelming situations or fears to imagery that I had found which captures aspects of how I want to play around with the idea:
Using the words and imagery I had come up with i used Procreate to animate, with after affects and premier pro as editing tools to come up with my series of vignettes: (check final showreel, 0.28s in and continues again at 1m. 25s in)
I wanted to work with the glitchy aesthetic again so I included this where possible to suggest a disconnect and a subtle hint towards something being off. What i like most about these tests is the style consistency between each as even though the subjects are different from the wolf walking cycle to the Vhs monster emerging from the tv I felt it was important to experiment with different visuals as to not limit my ideas at first. I also particularly liked the continued use of eye imagery to suggest fear/ anxiety as a big trigger for those experiencing anxiety could be the idea of being constantly watched, which is a big fear of mine too. What I would have done differently would have been to further experiment with after affects, while i learned about masks and the 2.5d aspect using the camera in after affects i didn’t use this and would have liked to explore the wolf walking against a foggy background for example. Other then this i feel it’s a strong sense of direction as I really like the potential with this idea and visual direction for my fmp.
Story worlds:
For this workshop we had to work off our ideas and create short stopmotion tests to explore the worlds we’d be introducing to the audience. Focusing on the creature aspect of my film and then subsequently the type of materials i used to depict them I wanted to play around with how different materials can be used to mimic real life elements such as a plastic bag moved in a way to mimic water: ( Check final showreel, story worlds starts at 0.42s and ends at 1m 23s in)
Initially we were told to cut out images in magazines to help visualize the world we’d be creating for our FMP. I found this really helpful as I was able to really hone into what I’d want to focus on for my film, the feelings and emotions I’d want the audience to feel whilst watching is important as they would be the people who would watch what I would bring out.
What I particularly liked about this workshop was not only working in a medium I had limited experience in but i was also able to experiment with ideas on how to present my world around anxiety, what would be seen, how much would the audience be knowledgeable about ect. these helped me create short ideas for me to test out such as the wolf running through the woods. What I would have liked to explore further would have to be exploring the world I presented and what I want the audience to take away as a result, what message I want them to be left with and why?
“What my ear sees” sound design workshop:
For this project we had to focus on using sound to create the world we’d be animating, using sound recording equipment to gather them.
What i feel works best with this sound design is using items around me and sounds I had heard around me to incorporate into my idea. What I would have liked to develop is using more sounds such as traffic or more artificial sounds like that of the nearby elevator for example, to further explore the glitchy aesthetic more as while I did test a distorted idea around this it is very simple and overall I feel a more heavily dense layered sound could really sell the static chaotic emotional state.
Creative practices:
For this project we had to break down our ideas so far and reinvent them to further develop them moving forward, we received feedback on our ideas as a group and gained insight into how our ideas can be pushed beyond.
Starting off I generated words related to visuals i had come up with so far: cold, isolating, fog, suffocating, unknown ect. with this i made links to the forms of those words such as suffocating and fog being related to air or drowning related to water I wrote down the idea of having a narrative theme of solids, liquids and gases, not only would this aid the scientific aesthetic with the glitchy look but it would help with a thematic theme that evolves as the film progresses. What I would have liked to have done to improve would have been to further explore down the solid,liquid and gases route of thinking in my mind map, where possible i would have liked to explore why i came to this conclusion and what this could mean for my fmp if i explored it further such as the world and environments.
Overall I loved these workshop as I was able to explore ideas outside of my comfort zone, personal feelings related to my project such as how anxiety affects me aswell as visuals which didn’t just rely on my love for a hybrid western and manga influenced style. I was able to push outside of my boundaries to come up with really intriguing routes to take my project, and as a result I will work to incorporate these ideas moving forward.
Below is my final showreel for this project which showcases my tests throughout my project, mainly focusing on my individual work.
In working towards Element 2 of my FMP I focused into organizing the time I had effectively to be able to create a short film. My biggest aims were to showcase the theme of anxiety through a visual narrative, my use of colour and design as well as showcase my overall aesthetic to put towards my showreel and online presence in the creative industry. To do this I honed into which element 1 outcomes I enjoyed the most and what smaller production ideas had been sprouted out from them, eg the character designs, visual motifs and sound design were ideas I particularly liked so I brought them forward.
Initial character design thought process, used initial colour palette exploration and changed the silhuoette to reflect a shy archetype instead of a strong and confident one. Using long swooping shapes which draw attention away from the character helped bring focus on their low emotion, with them always facing behind suggests a easily scared character who is always looking back so they are always aware.
My thought process when creating Iris was quite simply to create a character that not only is visually in sync with the theme of anxiety but would also be effective to animate. A big part of the animation process is the rendering (cleanup, effects ect) I wanted a simple and solid design which would allow for exaggerated movements and effects to be used but most notably I wanted to also focus on the use of subtle expressions to help showcase the slow build up of anxiety over time. Inspired by artists such as Jackie Droujko, “Meppity”, “Subjectively” and many more i wanted to explore the role my character design is to function as and to actively explore the limitations and progressions when animating her.
When finalizing Iris’ design (and partially the shadow-creature) I focused on a more conceptual approach, i wanted to explore the dynamic that they would have over developing them separately. To do this I made conceptual pieces highlighting key visual points in the film, one of which being the anxiety catalyst itself. What i had learned from this was while visually appealing i would have to think about approaching this to animate, though procreate has limited animation options it would be limiting in my production to use it compared to toonboom. Though I wanted to use brushes like the light pen for the symbol design shown around the shadow, it would have taken extra time to recreate this effect, similarly to the comic visual of the pop art concept in thinking of my current timeframe of completion I opted to test alternative methods of showcasing the affect anxiety has.
While not all Fx styles were used what i particularly liked was being able to use what I learned in the workshops of element 1 to be incorporated to showcase the overwhelming feeling anxiety can have. Though not everyone experiences anxiety the same, I wanted to show this effect from personal experience so not only would this film have a solid visual style, it would also come from the heart of someone who has experienced the effect anxiety has mentally and physically daily.
What I would have liked to have done differently would have been to further test out using after affects to incorporate 2.5d aspects within my film such as the shadow creature shapeshifting on the envrionment or chasing iris in her mind to add a sense of depth. While not perfect I feel adding this affect would have greatly improved scene transitions and background movements instead of having to add them manually or animate them in the sequence.
One problem I faced was as previously mentioned the visual style of the shadow creature, specifically faced against the visually developed backgrounds and character design, comparitively the shadow looked flat when seen next to Iris in the same scene. How I overcame this was by adding peg transformations and highlights, what i found was by adding a shadow peg affect, altering the radias,alpha channel and intensity the animation itself would have a colourn burned rim but the main animation would look hazy leading to a blotchy/ foggy design so when paired with the straight ahead style used it would blend the frames in a way that looked visually like a shadow would. This not only helped beat the flat almost cartoony look the shadow previously had but also led me to to advantage of toonboom more such as adding highlight layers and shadow layers to the main animation of iris which ended cutting alot of time I would have had to take manually colouring the highlights.
Another problem I faced upon going to a av tech test was my previous backgrounds (specifically at the time) looked washed out or was too dark to see when viewed on the projector:
What I did to combat this was take tutors advice to up the contrast of colours so they would stand out more, and to use colours which stray away from black. What helped with this as seen in the finalized style is the background design looks more visually appealing and less muddy, what I had originally overlooked was how the content would be viewed. While the video would be uploaded on social media, in person it would be viewed on screens, projected or similar and would entail their own issues in regards to colours,lighting and would need to be adjusted accordingly. This not only helped to push my visual style to a direction i liked, it would also account for the different ways the content would be viewed making it a enjoyable experience.
This playlist showcases the development of my storyboard, while I had originally developed a more expansive narrative with scientific elements I decided to scrap them as to aim for a much more achievable story. The final working idea developed was:
“A young teen named Iris experiences a anxiety attack, physically represented by a wolf-like creature which consumes her mind.
We are taken into her mind as we see her unravel these overwhelming emotions”
What I particularly enjoyed was being able to receive feedback and gain important advice regarding the doability of my proposed storybeats and ideas as well as the overall narrative structure of the story. While my personal circumstances cut into the time needed to develop this story to the next steps more efficiently, i was able to effectively take in the feedback given to me but also other students such as having scenes last longer (in terms of duration) having fade in shots to establish scenes (or re-establish scenes) so the final outcome has a more cinematic feel and helps ground the viewer and so on. I took part in weekly fmp tutorials (mainly with Kelvin Martin) who had given me valuable advice and visual references to look at and be inspired by as well as course tutors throughout when I could.
One problem I faced was the story while being simple, the peak of being in iris’ mind and seeing the visuals take hold throughout the different storyboards was underwhelming or had little lead up. One valuable note was that as the creature was wolf-like, the visuals of the anxiety should incorporate this. To challenge this I animated some scenes to use the visual wolf motif, such as the scene of Iris falling into her mind, and used the motif to suggest an enveloping use of the idea of a shape shifting creature. This was hugely fun to animate as not only did I have to pay close attention to the timing and follow through such as multiple heads being animated at once but I would also have to make sure the scenes leading into one another made sense as well. This helped to not only push my visual style, but in comparison to media that exists (with similar themes) such as SIAMES: The Wolf, it helped to push away from the comparison as while I was inspired by the music video (among other videos and artists) it helped with the longevity of my film so it wouldn’t be taken as a copy.
One thing I hugely enjoyed exploring was using sound design to inform part of the “character design” by this I mean the development of the shadow creature. The ability to warp sounds such as wolves howling and city noises (either recorded by myself or sourced on free sounds with free creative common distribution) was really fun. The outcome of this as shown over the sound tests in the animatics was the development of the world being created, even for a short duration exploring the livelyness of the character being created through sound (accompanied by the animation) as well as the mindscape scenes.
Inspired by old 80’s/90’s films with drones and synth effects I wanted to experiment with creepily texturized sounds, just having a “cityscape” with bits of distortion was not enough for me personally, to develop this I layered the sounds I recorded under different effects in premiere pro such as altering the pitch, adding reverb and flanger/phaser among other changes to get a audible that felt unsettling to hear with the best description being that it sounds crunchy and would stay uncomfortably close to you (listening wise). A challenge I came across was living up to the build up and momentum of the anxiety attack and the after affect, with the interim feedback at the time being that it was abit underwhelming. Given some student feedback and tutor feedback, I experimented with using glass shattering sounds (with synth and drone effects added) played in reverse to suggest the peak moment being built up and literally being shattered as Iris falls to her knees tired. This helped to match the emotional narrative of the story with the audio as previously the main feedback is this was a lacking aspect of the film. I was able to effectively take in feedback and progress efficiently forward to not only create a film (something I struggled with in year 2) but I was also able to challenge myself in aspects of “character design” I didn’t originally intend on.
Overall the process of creating this film while effected by my personal circumstances was hugely gratifying. Comparatively to my second year film “Scarecrow”, I was able to develop my style (animation wise) to reflect what it is I want to do as an animator, I was able to effectively progress and face challenges head on in the development of this film.
Feedback I was able to take onboard (reflected throughout my process and final film) not only helped strengthen my visual (and audible) voice but also encouraged me to challenge myself and to be proactive in seeking feedback and advice. One example being the sound design in connection with the wolf motif, in key points of the film such as the shadow creature being present or the transition to the mindscape, while previously the fx alone (with bright colours refrencing red blue yellow colour channels) was compared to pop art, through seeking out feedback from students and tutors I was able to effectively test short animation styles to be used in the final film (the anxiety sequence in the film for example) which not only strengthened the visual language (helpful as there is no dialogue) but it also matched with the emotional arc being progressed as Iris passes the threshold of her anxiety attack.
Were I could have improved was to follow up with other students who had offered to help finish scenes (such as cleanup or colourists) so the time to finish this film could have been sooner, but also could have meant ideas that were scrapped could have been incoporated. While my personal circumstance meant alot of my planning wouldn’t match up with other peers, I would like to take this forward as a tip moving on if I were to make another short film in the future.
Moving on, with plans after University I will aim to reach out to more animators in the industry to network, with the completion of my film and the visibility to be gained once the graduation film commences I hope I can successfully get a job down the line as a character designer or as shown by my film a animator as part of the pipeline (such as rough,cleanup or storyboard artist, post editing/ motion graphics maybe as well). I will with the last remaining weeks of Uni I will use the facilities to the utmost until i leave, with help in careers as a post graduate I will do my best to have my best chance in getting a job in the creative industry. To sum up, this experience has been informative to what my voice is as not only an animator but a director also, and the creation of the film has exciting shots that i can definitely use in my show reel online. As one of the last projects to hand in i’m both nervous but excited for what my future as an animator holds, and will take things one step at a time!