For this post, I’m gathering the materials. I will include the Final Storyboard and Animatic, but not be showing the 8 Second Animation as it will come later (and will have the Storyboard and Animatic present there as well). Instead I will be focusing on references and design choices, as well as some of the materials that I will be using to create the 8 seconds of animation. I will also mention what I hope to achieve, and how I plan to apply the 12 Principles of Animation to the final piece. I will also mention challenges to be had, and whether I have solutions for them. If anything, this post will be a rough guide for myself, to keep me in line, as not everything is guaranteed to work out, and sometimes I might get lost or stuck.
Background References
I also plan to use the colours from the house (and props) for the interior of the Old Man’s house. The Exterior of the house will involve keeping the tone, but switching the colours to their complementary counterpart. Turning these warm colours into cool ones. This house was present in Tiernan’s presentation, and I think it’s good to go back to utilising it in this way. To still use the idea that a whole neighbourhood of these houses somehow existed…and yet only one is occupied. I took screenshots from the video in order to capture the colour schemes and shapes I plan to use for the animation.
Colour References
A Screenshot from Pinocchio that Andrea picked out for us to use in Discord. I went to watch it again so I could screenshot this scene (I wanted the picture a little bigger), and use it for the outdoor colours.
Old Man References
My main physical reference will be Disney’s Willie The Giant from both Mickey and The Beanstalk, & Fun and Fancy Tree. I considered Stromboli from the original Pinocchio, but I didn’t get the secondary actions that I wanted from the character to refer to. Actions that I would find from Willie. Nor did I find a Flip book that I thought I owned as part of a collection. So I’ll be rewatching a little bit of Mickey & The Beanstalk and, as seen above, perhaps getting more stills to refer to. In terms of clothes and colours, I’ll use what I had for my second design, as seen above. There will be no rotoscoping of this character in any way. I will simply be borrowing the shapes. In the eyes and the nose….It also occurs to me that my colour choices for his clothes are quite similar to The Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.
Sister References
I’ll be borrowing mostly from Zoe’s design of The Sister for this 1. In particular the colours and shapes, and perhaps mix it with some of my own choices.
Mickey Mouse References
For the opening shot I want a version of mickey to be presented on screen. I may use round shapes, or I may try to change it up by changing the geometric shapes, much like in my Animatic. The reference is more to do with the shape proportions than copying Mickey exactly. I might try to create an effect of TV static, since I’ll be using the TV in Mickey’s house in Toon Town as reference.
Rebel Reference
I’ll once again be using Zoe’s design of the Rebels, and as a rough reference on how they will move passed the window, I see this as an option.
I’ll be refining the design, but the crouched run, similar to a Ninja run, might be the way to go. Although their movement is as important to me as how I do The Old Man and The Sister. I”ll also be studying while ‘on the job’ how to make a good walk or run cycle for the Rebels using either video reference, or going back to the Animator’s Survival kit with pages like these:
I also will look at Timing For Animation for ways in which I could portray the 12 Principles effectively…especially when I consider what I want to animate in the list below: 
As well as considering some reactions and timings of them. Especially for The Old Man and Sister who would be surprised to see each other.
How I plan to use the 12 Principles Of Animation
Squash and Stretch
The Old Man’s head when he looks out the window.
Anticipation
When the Old Man hears something that would eventually cause him to turn his head and look out the window.
Staging
The Old Man in his rocking chair is in the centre with his environment clearly shown. The Sister is also presented in the centre.
Straight Ahead & Pose To Pose
I will animate the Old Man and The Sister with Pose To Pose, allowing me to create keyframes to make in-betweens from. The Rebels that travel with The Sister may be animated Straight Ahead, or based on a Pose To Pose Walking Animation that I found in The Animator’s Survival Kit . Or I might use a little bit of both. Or I might rotoscope someone walking to the right.
Follow Through and Overlapping Action
The Sister’s Fringe should move when she stops. The presence of wind could be presented so that it is moving. I may animate it on 1s if I animated the sister in 2s.
Slow In and Slow Out
The Old Man’s head movement should be at a similar flow to a pendulum or swing with more frames in him leading back and leading forward than in the movement between poses. I may include move lines/speed lines that appear in Looney Tune cartoons as a means of accentuating that movement.
Arcs
The main arcs should be Mickey’s violin bow, The Old Man Swinging back in his rocking chair, the Old Man turning his head, and the motion of the rebels outside.
Secondary Action
I want the Old Man’s nose to have its own physics. That it will swing around when he swings his head around. Also, as mentioned, the Sister’s fringe blowing in the wind.
Timing
I’m setting this to a small part of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre, Op 40. Although Andrea demonstrated to us that Igor Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring as a part that would work well too. The pauses in the timing will line up with the Key Frames.
Exaggeration
I want the Old Man’s reaction to the noise outside to be over the top.
Solid Drawing
I will present the Old Man within perspective on his own home. It will be 1-point perspective. In fact, every shot in this would be 1-point perspective.
Appeal
I will focus mostly on round shapes for the characters and some triangles. In particular, the Old Man will be made up mostly of circles, even if he’s technically ‘bad’. The Sister will be Circles and Triangles, as will the rebels.
Background Art
I’m keeping it simple by utilising the colour schemes of Mickey’s house in Toonland for the interior and Stromboli’s caravan for the outdoors. The backgrounds themselves will be kept in the 1-point perspective.
Some Keyframes (rough) based on Willie The Giant and Zoe’s design of The Sister.
For the keyframes I decided to just use pencil (red), black sharpies, and paper, then photograph them. They’re rough at this point, as I intend to ink them digitally.
Some line and colour reference. They’re not perfect, but they are something to refer back to when I’m creating.
To say the least – I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with this – and not for any other reason other than to challenge myself and try to create something that looks good.