Planning an Animation (P3, P4, M2)
Planning an Animation (P3, P4, M2)
Be able to plan an animation to a client brief
Mood-boards for Characters and locations
These mood-boards contain ideas for colours and aesthetics to incorporate into my final animation. The character moodpboard I created includes ideas for colour swatches, as well as inspiration for character design and also stylistic choices for aspects such as line-art and anatomical proportions. Then the location mood boards mainly focuses on the colour grading and the time of day in which I want my animation total place in.
Annotated sketches and drawings of Character designs
These are my final character design ideas and their respective character sheets. On each sheet I show an over all head-to-toe design of each characters, as well as the different facial expressions they may exhibit as well as certain poses that they may be in during certain frames and scenes. Ive narrated each character sheet with explanations as to why I chose certain elements such as clothing and blood splatters.
Storyboard (Contains storyline and scene timings)
This storyboard will help me to keep all my scenes at the right length, and also help me visualise how to story will play out. I also wrote about the type of cuts and transitions/effects I will add in when I go into post-production
Storyline
- Alarm clock goes off
- Zombie turns alarm clock off
- ‘Sleepy’ view of calendar
- You see that today is the day of the Zombie March
- View of each zombie family member looking happy
- Zombies start walking to the train station
- Train pulls into train station
- Zombies board the train
- Time passes and the family of zombies fall asleep on the train
- The family wake up as they stop at Leicester Square station
- They each individually get off the train and walk off screen
- The family are going up the escalator but realise that everyone else around them seems to be human
- The mum gets sad at this but quickly her mood changes as she realises they’ve reached their destination
- She looks over and sees that the humans are actually turning into zombies as they scan through the barriers
- The family walks out the station and walks into the crowd of the Zombie March which seems to have a ‘Brainz’ (food) stall and more
- Cut to text screen asking audience to join the march on halloween
- Suddenly a zombie reminding you to come in fancy dress is on screen with lightning as a ‘jump-scare’
Pre-Production Plan
Medium
The animation will be 2D animated using Procreate with the characters designed above. For the backgrounds I will use images as well as videos, then animate my characters on top of that. Editing will be completed on final cut where I will apply transitions, effects and also insert the voiceovers and sound effects to line up with the animation.
Synopsis
The story starts with a family of 3 zombies waking up and finding out that the Brain Goo Zombie fest March is today. They all go and walk to the train station together and get on the train at their local station ‘Deadville’ and stay on the train all the way to Leicester Square station which is where the Zombie Fest is being held. On their way up to the exit they see that everyone else around them seems to be human instead of zombies. The family seem upset by this until they reach the exit of the station where they see the sign indicating that they’ve arrived at the Zombie March. They look around and they see that the ‘humans’ they saw earlier are actually turning into zombies as they scan through the station barriers. The story ends with the family walking out the station into the crowd of zombies to join the march. There is also a quick cut scene at the end to remind viewers to come to the march in fancy dress.
Target Audience
The target audience for this animation is both adults and children who are enjoyers of the horror genre. The typical adult tailored zombie visuals are softened through the use of animation making it suitable for the viewing of children too. However the main Primary target audience will be Young Adults/Adult (from 18-30) from any race/ethnicity and gender. This is because whilst the medium is 2D animation, the character designs contain slight depictions of gore such as blood and exposed brains. This means that the content may not be suitable for younger audiences. Despite the slightly graphic visuals, due to the 2D animated style, the secondary audience may be a slight younger audience such as teenagers (from 13-17) from any ethnicity/race and even gender. This slightly younger audience could also be attracted as the animation will be distributed across the web and smartphone interfaces. This distribution method will be sure to attract the secondary target audience as the age group tends to spend a lot of time on the web and on their smartphones.
Purpose
The purpose of the animation is to inform the target audiences of the Brian Goo Zombie Fest March. This is advertised quite a few times throughout the animation, such as at the beginning its featured on the calendar as well as in the station towards the end of the animation. I include the name of the event in order to remind watchers of the animation what the video is actually supposed to be advertising. A further purpose of the animation is to entertain watchers, if the animation is able to entertain audiences then it can gain their attention and even be memorable to them. Additionally, if the animation is entertaining, there’s a chance that they could share it with friends and family which gathers more attention for the March. And lastly, the most important purpose of the animation is to persuade audiences to attend the zombie march. This is in order to increase recognition and perhaps income for Brain Goo. For example, at the end of my animation I have a text screen which says ‘Join us for the Zombie fest this Halloween!’ This type of language along with the exclamation point is very persuasive as its to the point and forceful.
Script
INT. BEDROOM - EVENING
The alarm clock sets off
A hand reaches out to turn the clock off
JUMP CUT:
INT. BEDROOM - EVENING
We get a half-asleep POV from one of the zombies as they look at the calendar
The camera zooms in to a specific date from the calendar which has the Brain Goo zombie fest march circled on it
JUMP CUT:
INT. ANY ROOM - EVENING
Close up of the Dad zombie looking happy. Slightly giggling
Frame wipes half to the right as the Mum zombies frame slides in from the left. The wife looks happy as well. Also slightly giggling.
Both the Mum's and the Dad's frames get pushed half upwards as the Child's frame pushes upwards from the bottom of the screen. The Child is happy and laughing.
JUMP CUT:
EXT. STREET - EVENING
Full shot of the family walking on the street towards the train station in their 'zombie world'
JUMP CUT:
EXT. TRAIN STATION - EVENING
We get a shot of the train pulling into the train station 'Deadville'
The train comes to a stop and the doors slide open
Cut to a tracking shot of the family walking into the train
JUMP CUT:
INT. TRAIN - EVENING
Medium close up of the family sitting on the train
The camera is slightly shaky to mimic the movements of the train
CLOCK WIPE:
INT. TRAIN - NIGHT
We get a more close up shot of the family who has fallen asleep on the train
The camera jolts slighting to show the train coming to a halt
The train announces they have arrived at Leicester Square station so the family jogs awake
JUMP CUT:
INT. LEICESTER SQUARE STATION PLATFORM - NIGHT
Full shot of each family member coming off the train and walking out of frame one by one (Mum, then Child, then Dad)
Once the Dad is off the train, the train doors shut and the train departs from the platform
JUMP CUT:
INT. LEICESTER SQUARE ESCALATOR - NIGHT
Tracking shot of the zombie family going up an escalator
The family looks confused and uncomfortable as everyone else on the escalator are humans instead of zombies
JUMP CUT:
INT. LEICESTER SQUARE EXIT - NIGHT
The Mum looks upset and is slightly crying under her breath
She looks up and her expression changes from upset to happy
JUMP CUT:
INT. LEICESTER SQUARE EXIT - NIGHT
We get a view of what Mum was looking at - a big banner displaying the Brin Goo zombie fest march poster
JUMP CUT:
INT. LEICESTER SQUARE EXIT - NIGHT
We see a full shot of humans scanning through the station barriers. However, as they walk through, they turn into zombies before they get to the other side
This transition can be showed through crossfade transition?
JUMP CUT:
EXT. LEICESTER SQUARE STATION - NIGHT
Full shot of a bunch of zombies walking out the station
After a few zombies have walked out, the main Zombie family walks out of the station
JUMP CUT:
EXT. LEICESTER SQUARE STATION - NIGHT
The 3 frames of each family member come back from one of the previous scenes and each family member is happy and laughing
JUMP CUT:
EXT. LEICESTER SQUARE STATION - NIGHT
The camera slowly zooms out at we get a shot of the zombie family walking into the crowd of people to join the zombie fest march
JUMP CUT:
BLACK TEXT SCREEN
A text screen displaying the words:
Join us for the Zombie Fest this Halloween
This shot is then intersected by a zombie holding a piece of paper displaying 'Zombies only' with lightning in the background in order to remind people that fancy dress is required.
Potential hazards and risks
Potential Risks and Hazards | How this can be managed | Risk and Rating |
Could be in a loud area whilst recording voice overs | Wait until a quieter time, or move to a quieter area | Medium |
Ipad could get damaged during the animation process | Try to keep my equipment as safe as possible | High |
images I chose for my backplates could become pixelated when blow up to canvas size | Find better quality, high resolution images to replace the low quality ones | Low |
Running order
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To do |
Explanation |
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Plan your animation |
This is so you have all the materials you need. This is important as it keeps the project organised. The planning materials you need would be:
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Get the equipment you need |
It important to do this in advance just in case you don’t have them immediacy accessible (for example if you need to borrow equipment). The equipment I will need to record my animation and record voiceovers is:
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Find the personnel you need |
This is also an important step to do in advance s you need to see what skill set the people you choose have and if they match up with the skill set required for your production. For example, personnel I will need for my project are:
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Animate all the scenes |
The most important part of the entire project would be actually animating the scenes as this is what everyone will be seeing, and what the rest of the steps revolve around |
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Voice over work |
Bring in your voice actors and get all the voice acting work you need done so its ready for when you need to edit your footage |
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Editing |
This is where I will put together all your clips and voice over work. I will also add all the needed effects and transitions to get the finished look im going for |
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Export final product |
After I have my final edit, I need to export in the required file format. |
Equipment and Personnel
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Equipment |
Personnel |
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iPad |
Animator |
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Apple Pencil |
Voice artist |
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Computer |
Editor |
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Editing software |
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Microphone |
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Backplates
Outside 1 - Sourced from google
Train pulling in and out of station 1 - Sourced from youtube
Train Interior - Sourced from Pinterest
Train doors opening - Sourced from YouTube
Escalator - Sourced from Google
Station Backdrop - Sourced from Google
Brain Goo poster template - Sourced from Google
Underground Barriers - Sourced from Google
Leicester Square station exit - Sourced from Google
Leicester Square at night - Sourced from Google
Gantt Chart
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
A strength of this Animation project is that it will specifically attract horror enthusiasts as the content within the animation will only interest those who enjoy the horror genre meaning that news of the event will only reach those who would be interested in attending the march.
Another strength of the advertisement is that it’s Animated, which means it may reach another target audience of children. Any horror elements in the animation are ultimately softened due to the 2D animated style, meaning that children won’t necessarily be scared by it. Also the 2d style of the zombies featured may remind them of other characters in the cartoons they watch which may peak their interest.
The USP of the animation could be its strong link to London which is seen through the backplate imagery of the underground and Leicester square which would be seen as relatable and even realistic to people living in London. The use of the London underground to get to the location allows the audience to relate to the animation as a lot of Londoners use the underground to commute everyday meaning people are going to be more interested in attending the event because we’ve used elements of their every day life to advertise it.
Weaknesses
A weakness of the animation may be the quality of it and also the standard. For example, instead of using industry standard animation equipment and software, I intend to use just my iPad with Procreate as my animating software, which could be seen as low standard.
Another weakness is that although our advertisement is aimed at those passionate about the horror genre, animation doesn’t usually fit into the horror conventions (unless its CGI) which may be a bit unappealing to some people from the target audience and they might think of the event as childish, as animations and cartoons tend to make people think of kids shows.
Opportunities
An opportunity of this project is that because it's a short animation, and done digitally, it can easily be put on many platforms of social media which will be beneficial because its low cost and also has the opportunity to reach wide ranges of target audience, who may not be horror genres, but still enjoy the advert. For example, because the advert is animated, it will reach a whole new target audience of those who are passionate about animations. This will gain awareness for the Brain Goo march and attract more and more people to the march.
Using social media as a way to promote this march is the best way to gain attraction from people who may not even be in your primary or secondary audience. People can repost and share the videos with everyone, this way you’re only growing and growing the audience who are interested and may even attend.
Threats
A threat to the animation could be the medium in which were animating it. 2D animation has a strong correlation with children’s shows and movies. The adult horror fans in our primary target audience usually go for the more realistic looking gore in films, an if they’re going to watch an animation, it would typically be CGI as that gives them the realistic look they’re going for.
A further threat could be competition. Not only are we creating a 2D animation that may not be appealing to the target audience, there are many companies that we could be in competition with that have the resources and ability to create much higher quality animation that we can. These companies can include Disney and Pixar.
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