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Max Zaina - Final Major Project
Rough Proposal
Rationale & Theme
Over this entire term of collage work and the tasks that I've done, in absolute honesty, there wasn't anything I did that I particularly found most interesting to me, and that I thoroughly enjoyed doing. During all the tasks I needed to, with the factual film making tasks or the visual effects tasks, but they're not useful or insightful for the final project task that I'm planning to make for this final major project. For this entire project, I want to focus on 2D digital animation, and I want my final result to be of a short animated film. And all the tasks I've done so far haven't related to 2D animation in any way, so I wasn't able to pick up anything that could benefit me for this project except maybe some small things, like from the factual tv projects, I have a better understanding about the style of the film content and what will interest the viewer the most, also how to prepare for the films final result, how I must plan and what I must plan for, the story, all of which I will take into consideration when making the film.
This animation theme I'm going with comes from a personal hobby which I most enjoy doing in my spare time, outside of collage work. I work from being self taught in, and I look at various tutorials on the internet and on YouTube. Since this is the only thing I most enjoy doing and that is really the only thing I'm good at at this moment of time do I want to base my mini final project around it. See my portfolio website, which is themed around my hobby of an animator. Portfolio Website
Project Concept
The final product I'm aiming to create at the end of this final project is a short digital animation film based around this one character and how he manipulates multiple different colours and patterns around him in a visually entrancing abstract display to the viewer, which is the main entertainment that they are supposed to take from it, like in very particular abstract 2D animated films and videos I've seen on YouTube and in the cinema, like in many particular scenes in Disney films like in that one scene from Dumbo where Dumbo gets drunk and starts seeing all these hallucinations that bounce and morph and mix together. But more commonly seen in the clips on the internet. Some of the my main examples come from the same animator I referred to a lot in my previous research page, Howard Wimshurst, who makes the particular animation styles which I'll take most of my inspiration from for my final product. As well as these other examples I found on the internet.
The plot and narrative I had planned for this short film is basically about days life of the main character. Its all based around the theme of the character being exposed to the harsh reality's of life and how it effects him emotionally and how he displays his own emotion in tern, all with abstract images. This thing with the main character is that his personality is some what distinctively joyous, and he'll displays that personality in the short film as the abstract animation parts of the film, with the moulding images and various changing colours. But during the film, he's opposed with some sort of negative aspect of his life, like other people who aren't as joyful as he is, and the deterioration of the ecosystem around him with pollution, and any other negative aspects of life all try to combat the main character with darker colours, diluting his bright colours, and in so makes the main character feel this down and disheartened. I plan for the ending of this film to be with the main character fighting back against this dark force in, again, another display of colours, with him finishing triumphant.
Backstory
The reason I chose this particular style of animation for my final project, the reason I personally like it is because I've always enjoyed the visuals aspect of any film or media. I also enjoy these particular types of media that intentionally don't have audio or dialogue in them so the audience is forced to come up with their own interpretation of the events that take place in them, with the visuals and the actions in the visuals. One example comes from this old book I used to read when I was younger called "The Arrival" from Shaun Tan, which is an illustrational book about the life of this man who moves to a different city in a fantasy based world, and its all portrayed with images and drawings with no text what's so ever in it. I particularly liked this book because of this style, and I also like the look of the illustrations in it as well, which I might implement into my final film.
Another example of a non dialogue based plot comes from this old video game I used to play called "Abzû" produced by "Giant Squid" which is an underwater adventure game where you play as this character, traversing through oceanic areas. As I adore the visuals in this game, what I especially like is as there is evidential lore and a backstory to the world you play in, there is absolutely no context that tells the viewer what's happening, its made for the viewer to figure out himself/herself with the visuals. I want to implement this style if narrative and plot to my short film.
I also like the way the mood of any story in any film and animation, to the viewer, is altered with the change in the colours as well. For examples, if the scene in the story is meant to be dark and sad, the tone and colour of the scene would turn to a darker shade. As opposed to a scene that is made to feel happy and joyous, the colour would change to lighter tone. I plan to greatly enhance this technique of altering the mood with the use of colours in the scenes in my short film.
Opportunities
Personally, I think this project and idea is a great opportunity for myself above all else to test and practice with a new type of animation style and technique, from my usual type of animation style, which mostly consists of little stick figure animations and occasionally other types of styles.
As stated before, in the future, I want to go into the animation industry, so I'm always looking for ways to get invested in this medium, and look at new ways to improve, looking at tutorials on the internet and watching films, taking notes on the details.
Some of the main issues I'm aiming to over come with my animation skills in this project, are basic narrative and script writing. I found that most of my previous work, in collage and outside it, was pretty bland and not that interesting to me. Looking back at it all, I wasn't as intrigued by it then how I thought when actually doing the project. With items from my blog like my Script Writing tasks. And even with my shorter videos as well, like from my Visual Effects page where the short video I made at the end, I also didn't find that interesting.
Another important aspect I want to improve on is being able to draw full body animations. As said before I've only been working with stick animations all this time, and I don't have much practice with full body, but its something I really want to do in the future, so I plan to look up a bunch of tutorials on the internet, and maybe even an interview with some professional animators and any other research and practice to get a feel for full body animation, which will play big portion in my final product.
The same goes for abstract animation. I'll need to look more into that area of animation as well to get an idea of the technique.
Target Audience
The target audience for this film will be people who, first off, enjoy the typical style of 2D hand drawn animation, like the old classic films and tv shows. like many of the old fashioned Disney films and CartoonNetwork series. And people who also enjoy, and appreciate the look and the art style of the animation above all other things, like the plot of the story.
It could also be for people who like to look into more detail in the subject of the animation and the story, for stories that don't give away the plot of the story to the audience, and the audience has to figure out the symbolic meaning behind it for themselves.
Final Proposal
In this section, I created the final proposal plan for the entirety of my final animation project. A solid and informative layout of my final decision as to what exactly I want to create, what examples and research I'll base it off, and how i'm going to do it, creating a time schedule as to what and when i'll do the certain sections of the animation.
Initial Idea
The initial plan for my final project is the same as it has always been in the previous rough proposal, a short 2D , hand drawn animation film that solely uses visuals to tell the story and narrative behind the short film. The visuals will be intense to an extent, they will be vibrant and will give a certain appeal to the viewers and make them feel the certain emotions displayed from the visuals of the animation in multiple different themes like colors and patterns.
The reason for this theme and idea for my FMP is that personally, I really like visual based content, in any form of media not just 2D animation, I also like it in other medias such as comic books, and also action based videos and films, with the motion of the combat and just generally the display of it is for some reason very satisfying and appealing to me. Like in some anime fights, there are, surprisingly, a lot of detail and patterns that together is very entertaining to me.
Colour Theory Research
I did some research on my other research page on my site, on colour theory and make a plan for how i would implement/incorporate specific colours for the certain parts of the final animation and what kinds of emotions they would invoke from the viewers.
I didn't particularly find this research task that useful, because, in my personal opinion, i already had a basic idea of how i found carry out the use of media for the film.
In the animation film, practically all the basic colours on the colour wheel, red, blue, yellow, and all the secondary colour gradients, will be based around the protagonist and the patterns and shapes he emits in this film, and the emotions that they will present will all be used for their positive aspects, as described in the list in this site i used as research on the internet (Research Site). Whist on the opposite side, with the antagonist, the colours representing him are solely just a plain black to symbolise the darkness, death and fear of the antagonist. There will also be other darker colours implemented into the antagonists colour scheme, such as a dark red and purple, all the increase the dark and scary feel of this being in the short film.
Shapes and Objects
The same sort of approach goes for how i plan to use the patterns in this film. I find that the whole story plan for my final film is really not that complicated and doesn't require that much planning, so I don't see the need to have to familiarise myself more so with than what i already planned.
So for the use of the patterns in this film, for the protagonist, he will have this theme of patterns and shapes that all represent good, kind and playful things, the main concept behind his actions will act as flowing water, from which the rest of the objects will emerge from, one example of this action i can think of comes from this old animation cartoon called "Avatar The Last Air Bender" where these characters called Water Bender manipulate physical water in the same sort of movements i'll try to recreate for this film.
Another main object that will spawn from the protagonists, as well as water and basic shapes, will be an array of different animals that have a similar sort of movement to the flowing actions around the main character as stated before: such as birds and fish ( a school of fish to be more exact, as it looks more esthetically pleasing to watch), will be a main feature for this film.
For the antagonist on the other hand, the collection of shapes and patterns for it will be the complete opposite from the protagonists collection. An array of objects that, to people, is considered to be harsh and scary and ominous: such as sharp pointy spines/spikes, sludgy liquid movements like lava or slime, and ominous looking facial features such as large eyes or teeth. All to display the unpleasant and terrifying presence of this antagonist compared to the protagonist character. One example of how this antagonists movements and personality comes from this one youtube video from this youtube animator i used to watch from, called "Gildedguy: I mainly watched his content for personal pleasure and entertainment, as well as i did for the "Avatar" show above, but i still found most of his work really quite unique and professional, especially this one scene when a giant sludge monster appeared on screen.
Target Audience
My intended target audience for this short, 2D animated film is a very specific group of viewers: first off, it's intended to be available to people of practically all ages, in any place in the world and on the internet. Its not meant for viewers who want to try and receive any practical gain from watching it, its solely meant for pure satisfaction and entertainment.
Its for an audience who more so enjoy the visual aspect of watching a film or a video. Insteads of what the main plot of the video is and what it means to take into real life.
Granted, the target audience i'm aiming for is a much smaller quantity than for another film where plot and narrative play a much bigger role in, but i don't really mind, its what i like doing the most and that my final conclusion. This is meant for people who really appreciate the work and effort that goes into making an animation like i do and lots of other animators (if not all of them), and this is meant to isolate that specific aspect of animation, which is where most of the hard work goes into.
The basic color combinations that will be used for the protagonist assets in the film
The colour combination that will be used entirely for the antagonists assets and color scheme
Examples
I don't exactly know where I got my influence and inspiration from for this idea for my FMP. Or if there are any exact examples in the world that can compare to this idea, films videos, and any other visual media. I think it was just a combination of multiple different visual based medias i've seen in my life time, and my own personal idea of entertainment to produce this particular idea and theme of a 2D animated, visual based animation.
The reason I chose 2D for this project, is because I personally like this type of media for certain personal reasons. Such as I like the general look of this media, it has a particular rough and organic look about it which i find entertaining to look at and can't be recreated by any other form of animation.
Despite there being an exact reason or example for this particular idea i have come up with, i still want to go through with it. Animation and this idea of a visual based story are the two things i most enjoying doing and watching. Also, one the of the main reasons is that i'm still trying to find ways to improve on my animation skills and story development skills, and i think this final major project, and the animation I'll make at the ned of it is going to be a big step up on all the properties just described.
One example of a visual told story that I liked with no audio other than the sound track was the film "Fantasia" which had no sound effects whats so ever, and the story being told in each segment of the film was mainly based around the soundtrack that the producers chose to incorporate during the process of planning the story of each story.
I'll mainly base the style of my final animation from this one youtube animator I constantly refer back to in my previous research and rough proposal above, Howard Wimshurst. I really admire this youtubers work, with his smooth and consistent animation styles and creative ideas, and I want to incorporate into my final animation. I also like the stories and plots behind his short animation films, they seem very raw and original, nothing i've seen in many before in other animations.
Pre Production Plan
For all the animation work in this project, I plan to mainly use the animation software I had had my eyes on from when I started doing animation as a hobby, the adobe program I remembered being called adobe flash animation which is the software I've seen being used by multiple other advanced animators on the internet and on YouTube. I want to us this program for the animation work than the one I've used for my previous animation work, the one I've mentioned before, "Krita" which is the one I've used because its a free animating program and I didn't want to spend money on the other program. The reason I want to use this software is because, as said before, its more professional and has more useful features in it than Krita which I'll use for the short film.
I struggled to find this program at first because apparently I was looking for an older version of the program at this time. I remembered it as adobe flash animations, but I couldn't find any application on the internet or on the adobe website with that exact description or layout. It was only up until now, after doing some research did I find the history of the programs development and the updates its had, did I find its current version and name, which was just called adobe animate, and the icon looked a bit different. Now that I've downloaded the program, I can start testing with it and getting familiar with the essential features.
I don't know if I'll need to use any other software or program to develop the final film. As far as I can think, the final film will solely consist of 2D animation, which this program does well at on its own.
I want to develop the final film during the pre production stage in the same sort of way as the "Fantasia" film shown above, by sourcing some music that I think would best fit the story for my film and then base the procedure of the film around the different tones and emotions of that music.
So the soundtrack i'm looking for should have different moods during it that follow the basic theme of a narrative in any film: with the beginning, the tone feels normal and happy and to get the viewers intrigued. The climax where the heat of the moment is at its highest and then whatever antagonist in the situation prevails and the tone turns to a dark and sad mood. And lastly the ending, where the protagonist rises up and then prevails himself with a happy ending.
I plan to base the main narrative of my final film in this way.
I'll source music and soundtracks from various websites and studios. One particular one I had in mind was a free site called Artlist, which has a wide range of royalty free soundtracks which I think will be useful and could be used for my animation.
I'll do some more research into the subject, like making some more small test animation, all too improve on the certain aspects and feature that will be in the final film: like animating water effects, human motion, incorporating different colours, particles, backgrounds, 3D perspective, etc.
I'll then make evaluations from the tests and, if needed, do more research as to what I might need to improve on in those tests for their flaws and then redo those certain animations to get the perfect result I'm looking for.
like some of the tests I'm already doing for this project.
Before animating the final animation, I'll make a final story board, incorporating all the ideas and plans I have for the story and style of animation that I've learned and tested from.
This test animation is unfinished
These were the types of animation programs I was searching for when looking for the adobe one
This was the modern version of the program I was looking for and the one I'll use for the final animation
Story Plan
This is a section of the whole project I feel like i've had the most trouble with, I've struggled to think of a solid idea for the story of this animation film.
I've always had this basic idea with the main character displaying his emotion and most importantly his joy through the various colors and patterns I had explained above, by doing cool acrobatic movements and dancing in a way, and then would come the antagonist/antagonists who would try and oppose the main character whit darker forces and injure the main character in a physical and emotional way. At this point in the story the character is at his lowest and saddest but then gets up again and combats the dark force and forces it back in an epic display of color, again, everything being displayed by the visuals to the viewers.
My first initial idea for the plot of the film was to be inspired from the real life events from basic everyday life, with the main character going into the world with optimism and joy (again, being displayed by the visuals) but then is presented by the harsh and cruel realities of life: war and conflict, corruption, drugs and alcohol, etc. all being displayed with darker colors and patterns. This then hurts the character, making him feel hopeless and depressed, but then gets up again in an emotion and hart felt moment where he is forced to accept the darkness around him and in him and lives with it form now on.
This sort of story and narrative is inspired by my own interpretation of life and how at first we find it innocent and joyous but then see the other side of it all, which effects us emotionally but then learn to accept it in our lives and are forced to live with it, with not feeling the same way and acting the same way as before, but can still be happy.
This was my first idea off the bat, but over the course of my previous work, to think on it, I realise that its too complicated and in honesty, I don't know how I feel about the my interpretation of the world in this way, I don't want the to mislead the viewers in thinking the same way as this or be offensive in anyway to anyone for this harsh predicament. Its too much of a responsibility for me to incorporate into this project.
So I decided to to approch the story of this idea in a more simple way, with a generic plot where the main character minding his own business one day and then gets into conflict with the dark force that comes at him from out of nowhere, injures him, but then the character makes a comeback and prevails against the darkness, making everything go back to normal. The story is pretty generic and simple but the main thing that the viewers are going to take from this experience is the visuals, thats the main work that i'm trying to focus on for this project, and leave out the complicated story telling part from this project, as I don't feel like I would get it right and avoid risking being controversial for the film.
I made a short, but not finalised story board for the short film.
Then in the next scene, he starts dancing almost, and all these flowing patterns come out from his moving limbs and other colours and objects, all displaying the sort of mood he's in, which is joyous.
Then after that scene, things start going down hill, with the dark force appearing and confronting him, the dark force is designed to be a flowing sluggish mass of black (and other dark colours, red) liquid, with harsher and terrifying features compared to the ones from the main character, spike and, more specifically, ominous eyes that increase the scariness of the subject.
The introduction to the animation film, where the title of the film appear and where the main character walking and minding his own business.
After the dark force is introduced, it assaults the main character with dark spikes and shards, and injuries him badly. At this point, the mood of the film changes to a dark/scary and suspenseful scene where the fate of the main character seems uncertain.
But then, in a heart felt moment, the character gains the courage and determination to fight back, this is displayed by him releasing a flurry of colours and patterns, reassuring the viewers that he's fighting back and there's hope for him. The main character proceeds to combat the darkness in an epic final struggle.
At the end of the film, the main character vanquishes the darkness and displayed his victory with the same patterns abstract images he displayed before, assuring the viewers again that he rains victorious and that everything goes back to normal.
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