Story updates and finalisation:
Going into week 5’s presentation, I now had a script to work from (after a round of feedback from Alec):
I struggled with the ending, but after reflection on the themes of nature and renewal and life and death that I was trying to work within, I thought of having the hand of the character from the memory appear on top of the wizard’s after dies as dawn breaks and fills his bedroom with light. The final shot will be of grass growing through snow with the house in view.
This is quite an (intentionally) open-ended finale, however I see the hand of the forgotten character as representing some benevolent personification of death, or the suggestion that the two characters are finally reunited or reconciled. The grass growing through the snow I thought of as a suggestion of life after death, but not so much in reference to an afterlife as to spring’s return after winter. The wizard’s most cherished memories are of the spring he spent with his love, so whenever there is spring, their love or the memory of it lives on in a sense.
By week 5 I decided my main character would be a cat, and his forgotten love a goose, for the reasons I mentioned before, but also because removes the complications of drawing and animating human hands, which are a personal weak spot. There names are undecided (they’re never revealed in the film), but I have been calling the cat character Barnaby, after a childhood teddy bear, and Millie- short for Millicent- after my paternal great grandmother.
Music:
In my first post I mentioned an Edwardian song called Let Me Call You Sweetheart, which I would have playing from a music box. Since then I have considered several options for the song in my film, however two issues I consistently came across in looking for recordings in the public domain were that they were generally too festive for the tone of my film- so many foxtrots- and, naturally, of substandard quality, so I expanded my search to include younger works. That led me to a 1937 song called Where or When, a beautiful and romantic song where the singer/s are lovers confessing to a powerful sense of déjà vu, sensing that they have met before. Originally a duet in its original context of a stage musical, the song became a standard and has no shortage of good recordings and interpretations, mostly by solo vocalists. This song fits well into the story I am trying to tell, and using an old recording of it could really elevate and tailor the film to my wants.
After a lot of research I found a recording I liked (below) on an album from 2008 that compiled work by crooner Dick Haymes, who was popular in the 1940s-50s. This rendition of the song has a great sense of warmth and nostalgia that appealed to me. In spite of his former popularity I could only find evidence of this recording connected to the compilation CD as a whole- I couldn’t find the original single or album. Being from 1937 the song isn’t in the public domain, so I reached out to Warner Chappel music (who I found at some point absorbed the company that made the CD, who at some point absorbed the original label etc) and got a response “Confirming WC’s share of 50% on this song obo Lorenz Hart”, alongside a form to fill out. It was clear looking at the form that the use of this track would not come free- or cheap, which dissuaded me from using it entirely.
So- after further research I found that popular Jazz standard ‘It Had To Be You’ was in the public domain, and any recordings made of it in the subsequent year would become public domain on January 1st 2025. From here I came across one 78 that was a pretty ballad with only a voice and ukulele (below). There is noticeable popping and crackling, but I think the song is pleasant and intelligible enough that it will work nicely.
https://archive.org/details/78_it-had-to-be-you_cliff-edwards-ukelele-ike-kahn-jones_gbia0362817b
Character Design:
This is the first piece of design exploration I did for the main character, thinking about the wizard’s robes he would be seen wearing in the portrait above the grand staircase. I was inspired by the idea of a club tie- a tie designed for and worn by members of a club- so I have in mind two-three colours and a stripe motif. I liked this idea as to me it connotes ideas of something stuffy, old-world, overly-fraternal and exclusive. I like deep red and navy blue as the main colours, perhaps with gold embroidery.
Below are further explorations based more on historical portraiture. I was most interested in numbers 4 and 6, so tried to combine them.
Below on the far right is the finished design. I decided on navy as the main colour to push his academic qualities more than his status, but I have obvious allusions to the latter in the red cuffs and collar and the gold work on it, as well the little decoration on his tail. I enjoyed the severity and harsh feeling from the standing collar that pushes his cheek fur up into points. I was partly inspired by Doctor Who’s Time Lord regalia here, too.
Time Lord references:
Below are early character explorations for the older version of the character. I drew from images of Ebeneezer Scrooge (thinking in particular to Richard William’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol from the 1970s), Gaius from BBC’s Merlin and Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane. This design will only be seen in bed, so I avoided putting too much effort into his pyjamas, sticking largely to one colour and an accent.
Here’s the final design. I landed on navy and blue for his robes to connect him to the stately portrait and the character as he is in the past through the ‘club’ colours to try and cement the fact that it’s the same character to the audience and ensure they make the connection, since he looks different in each iteration.
For his younger design I am leaning into Edwardian influences. Beyond a personal interest in the aesthetics of that period, I think to media like Maurice (1987), The Secret Garden (1993), and Peter Pan, which are all set around the turn of the last century and which all contain an air of nostalgia and wonder, as well as a connection to nature; all things I want to evoke myself. I am keen to enhance a sense of something outside of our current time or reality but still have firm roots within it, and I think this is the right way to do it.
Number one of the below three is the final design. The earthy, neutral colour palette makes it more informal, while the red and blue of his tie and braces hint at his obligations to his generational wealth (I imagine him as the inheritor of a title like Lord or Duke, and that he chose a life of pomp and riches over happiness with his beloved in the end) and, again, connects him to how we see him in the present. I gave him neat, curly whiskers in place of a moustache which grow and loose their shape as he ages, and sky blue eyes which I thought stood out well against the warm brown of his fur.
For the forgotten character I stayed within the Edwardian theme. I decided on a hat so I could obscure her face and add to the imagery of the main character not being able to remember her in full. Since this character will not be seen moving I can get away with more detail in her design to help generate of a sense of the past. I landed on number 5 out of these 10 designs. I put her in what’s known as a lingerie dress, which was a sort of lightweight gown worn in warmer weather, making it appropriate for the setting I’ll have her in. Historically these dresses were usually white, but since she is white already I used a gentle pink.
More references- the last two show examples of lingerie dresses:
The gangs all here:
Early Background Development:
This is the first piece of background exploration I worked on, thinking mostly of my Post-/Impressionist references in the context of the memory sequence. As I initially planned I painted this in Clip Studio Paint, however I found it difficult to reproduce the washier watercolour effects I had imagined, so it ended up feeling like thicker paint on a canvas that has nice light and atmosphere, but that doesn’t really do what I want it to. There’s a lesser sense of ephemerality.
Below is my second attempt, this time in Photoshop using Kyle’s watercolour brushes. My main references here was artwork from The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013). I worked in a template given to us by Leana Hillen in her background workshop. I was much happier with this, and I sent it to Leana to ask for feedback.
Here’s what Leana gave back to me- she was very generous in providing me a paintover, which I will use as reference later.
This is another quick test in Photoshop using 101 Dalmatians as reference. I think it’s pretty and emulates the style in a way that I like, but I don’t think it serves the story as much as the previous example.
Here I used a line drawing from 101 Dalmatians to try mimicking the colour work of the film. This was more of a study than anything else to make sure I could achieve what I wanted. I think the rich, cool colours are satisfying to look at and will do what they need to in the context of my story.
Here’s another piece of concept work for the memory, this time depicting the leafy glade just beyond the graveyard, where the couple are alone together. This is slightly removed from the previous tests in that it was inspired by historical landscapes and classic Disney films, namely Bambi (1942). I figured since it’s an old painting that takes the character into the memory I should try a style that leans into that. This concept made me realise the effect that depth of field can have- with this style it really puts me in mind of Disney’s use of the multi-plane camera, which will help me in leaning into my 1930s/40s inspiration.
Storyboards and Animatic:
At this point my boards and animatic were in 4:3 because of my intent to mimic the look and feel of films from the 1930s/40s, however Alec suggested that I relegate the use of 4:3 to the memory to emphasise a feeling of nostalgia and the past. I liked my original choice, but this made sense to me and I will make the change. Here are my storyboards and animatic as I presented them:
In earlier concepts I used a gravestone in the shape of a cross in the foreground to make the pretty surroundings feel more foreboding and make sure that the idea of death was still present even in the memory. But since this is a fantasy world I decided I didn’t want to include obvious religious iconography. With that in mind I changed it to an angel, which I felt was less obviously religious, but still something that could belong to a world beyond our own.
Link to the animatic:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DuOqpawitSn8vvoPtStvaw1IIvw4q8pT/view?t=2
On editing, to further the tone I contrasted tense, hard cuts as you’re taking through the palace grounds and rooms with gentler cross dissolves as the character’s taken into the memory. I tried to maintain a slower pace to contribute to the sense of reverie.
