Beginning off our assignment, my group discussed some possible ideas for a story line. Jamie first thought about:
- An adventure of a Dandelion seed, the seed get blown away, has a adventure in the wind before landing on the ground.
- A marble race – Two rival marbles race down a slope, but a different marble wins in the end.
- Easter egg hunt – Eggs hop off to hide, but isn’t found for a long time but then eventually is found.
- Untangling Christmas lights – a person tries to untangle Christmas lights, gets it in the end.
At first the last idea seemed interesting and a good possibility for a story line that could be explored with. From here I then suggested about a football being bought from a shop then played with loads of kids and it ends up being kicked somewhere they can’t find then years later it’s found and it gets a flashback of the adventures he had playing in different places as well as a possibility of a face being drawn on to express the emotion or the rain smudging it. Jamie agreed that this story would be quite emotional, not sure whether to be happy or sad, this gave us opportunities with the storyline.
From this we set up a google one drive which included a word doc of our main ideas and then we all decided on going with the football idea. James then suggested that it could be bought by a young kid but then it goes forward to see that same kid playing with it as a professional/grown up. From this it zooms out to the stadium with crowds and then it cuts to black. Also have the possibility of having it all from the footballs center perspective and including feet or hands and voices.
From this we decided it would be easier and more achievable to keep just the bottom half of the human in, since this would be the first time for many of us to model and rig it. We also did have a thought of designing the character to be similar to a mii and keep the simplistic design but we ended up scrapping that and just sticking to the feet and hands.
Once getting a rough idea for our story, our next focus was our presentation. The main things we needed to have completed are project ideas, designs, storyboards, and the animatic. Samantha then created our PowerPoint for us to include our individual parts.
James fixed up our story to read better to present:
“Our 30 Second short sees the life of a little boy and how his life is changed for the better. This is achieved through his attachment to a football. This football is seen as part of his past by the audience, but is lost by him at around the same time. We then notice a difference in his lifestyle, through glimpses into his future, we see he loses sight of the simple and enjoyable things in life.
We then watch as he discovers his old football. Now deflated, ripped and covered in dirt. This takes him back to his childhood through flashbacks of what was a more happy time in his life. The emotions of the football are visible to the audience through facial expressions and the overall condition that the football is in.”
For our animated short we all took influences from other animations over positioning and camera movement.
- Cute Adventure Fantasy CGI 3d Animated Short Film ** SPRING ** by Blender Foundation
- CGI Animated Short HD “Quest for Glory Euro Cup 2016” by Ember Lab | CGMeetup
We also really liked the art style and design of an animated film called “The Unbeatables”. The background shots of the crowds and camera angles of the ball made us want to design something similar.
This angle here showed great potential for our character and helped with the placement of the feet, the angle of the body and the scale of the ball to the character.
As well as these I found some images of positioning of the character:
We also were interested in the “When She Loved Me” song in the Jessie scene from Toy Story, the song that co-ordinates with her being left behind and Jessie reflecting back on the happy memories. We really liked this idea and wanted a song that was similar and showed the sadness and emotions without a face to work with.
This scene in particular would be a great comparison to our short, Jessie is seen under the bed alone and in the darkness links well with our decaying ball. Her face and body positioning are able to show her feelings whereas out ball decaying shows the same emotions.
Articles & videos:
The Unbeatables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RTkGvJ4-1Q
Spring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD-SoI1wGig
Quest for Glory Euro Cup 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTKAM1B8H48
Toy Story 2 “When She Loved Me” Sarah McLachlan 1999: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElhbTsKsros
Football Animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnkfV0lePvc