THE PROCESS

Our brief for our Animatics rotation was to create a 30-second working animatic loosely based on one of the four prompts provided to us. They were:

• A group of bank robbers rushes out with bags of cash, ready for their grand escape – only to discover that their getaway car won’t start! Panic follows as they frantically figure out their next move, with the clock ticking and the sirens getting closer. 
• Two friends meet up for coffee, but when the bill arrives, the real battle begins. 
• A flight is delayed, and a couple gets into a heated argument with the airline’s customer service. 
• Whatever you like, so long as it includes some form of transformation.

I was extremely excited to begin this rotation as I have always had an interest in creating storyboards and animatics- I feel like I already have a somewhat solid understanding of how to portray movement and emotion to an audience, as most of my personal art is very character-driven. I enjoy experimenting with different shot types, angles, perspectives and other techniques, as I already have a good foundational understanding of character animation (essentially, I know how to draw characters quickly and confidently, meaning I wouldn’t have to focus on making them look okay!).

However, I was quite nervous about creating my own plotline as I do not have as much experience in this area, and I was worried about creating something boring or obvious. For this reason, I opted to go for one of the pre-set briefs, as I wanted my sequence to feel deliberate and pre-established rather than requiring a lot of context to understand. I also already had a solid understanding of Adobe Animate, a software which works well for creating animatics, so I knew my traditional storyboards would work more as a guide for my digital work.

As I had heard from other groups about this rotation, I went into the experience with a solid idea of what I wanted to create already – the airport brief immediately stood out to me as I would be able to create a high-energy running sequence, which felt like a fun challenge. After sketching out some rough designs for the characters in my piece, I was able to sketch out my ideas on the sticky notes provided to us by Izzy. (I actually had a lot more concept sketches to show, including of the kids and the old lady seen at the end of the piece, but they were unfortunately lost. This, for me, was a lesson in organisation and making sure I document absolutely EVERYTHING, even if I do not end up needing it later on.)

We had discussed ideas around shape language and how that communicates to an audience, so I tried to keep this in mind as I worked. The mother character was largely constructed of triangles, as she was fast, aggressive and rushed. The father character was more loosely based around circular shapes, as he was meant to be a laid-back, pathetic character being dragged along by his wife. The kids were then an amalgamation of the two, taking after their mother and father.

Making these storyboards by hand was a greatly beneficial process as, much like the stop-motion rotation, I was able to physically see my work in front of me rather than on a screen. Moving around shots on the table and discussing with my peers made me realise what shots were missing and what could be improved to help the clarity of my shots. Creating these frames felt very natural and intuitive to me, as I can draw characters quickly, I was able to focus less on the details and more on the general composition and emotion in each frame.

After a quick refresher on Adobe Premiere Pro, I was able to import my frames onto a timeline experiment with timings and see what felt rushed, unfinished, or underdeveloped. This illustrated that my video was much longer than the allowed time and that the changes I wished to make would be much quicker to be made digitally.

I realised several frames needed much more development and did not read to an audience, and it was much more difficult to time things correctly than I initially thought. So, I spent time converting these frames into digital drawings on Adobe Animate so I could create a higher-quality final piece.

I also implemented sound effects, which completely elevated the animatic as a whole. I was able to implement comedic timings and really play on the exaggerated movements and characters(especially in the final scene), and I believe it grounded the piece in reality. I was able to include many scenes I did not realise were necessary (like the cutaway airport board in the last scene and the transition to inside the window in the first scene) to further increase clarity and adhere to the “Potato Audience”! I always made sure to keep this idea in mind and to check with my friends and family if things conveyed well, and what could be improved. This is something I have always held very important in my animations, and I will continue to keep this attitude moving forward- I was always very aware that *I* knew what was going on in my animatic because *I* made it, so that may not be the case for everyone else!

To keep myself organised, I made an itemised list of every sound I would need for this project and kept adding to it as I was animating. I kept my files as organised as I could, and this was very helpful and kept my workflow as efficient as possible.

Version 1

The feedback I received from my peers in Group B was not as beneficial as I hoped it would be – my group was not particularly vocal about any issues or problems they had with the piece as a whole. However, I did receive feedback stating that I could focus on the reveal of the mother character a lot more; rather than her appearing in the car, I could have drawn out her reveal for a lot longer with some more interesting shots. This is something I changed in my most recent iteration, and I believe it greatly improved her presence as being scary and dominant. Amping up the contrast at the beginning of the mother overworking herself and the father slacking off, utilising acting and performance, could further characterise them as being a comedic duo.

I was advised by Izzy that I could try and shorten my animatic in a significant way – 55 seconds was a lot more than my intended timing, which, in a commercial setting, would cause lots of problems for lots of different reasons. After much deliberation on what could be considered “dead weight” to the overall animatic, I realised that I could shave off a lot of time by removing the entire second half of the animatic and changing the catalyst of the big reveal from being a slow, old lady, to a simple aeroplane announcement board. This still maintained the comedic reveal, just in a more streamlined fashion.

Going over the animatic again with fresh eyes was very beneficial as it allowed me to escape the tunnel vision I had been in during production. Going back to shots and realising they could be greatly improved to further enhance the emotion and impact on an audience was extremely revealing, such as in this first shot compared to my remastered version:

This was very eye-opening and proved to be a good lesson in taking time to revisit my work and seeing things from a different perspective. As I have never been in a creative environment like this before, I had previously never thought twice about the composition in my work and simply made what I thought was right- so coming back to this shot and realising how much it needed improving was quite revealing.

Version 2

Being made to axe such a significant part of my original story was a hard decision to make, but ultimately a very beneficial one. Linking back to the advice Chris gave us about not being precious with our work, I made the decision to remove a part of my piece that I was very attached to personally. While it did not shave down the final time by much, it was a lot of content to rework and a difficult balance to try and maintain the same level of humour and timing as the original. Several corners had to be cut, speeding up the transitions between shots and the time movements took to be completed. This may have proved an issue if I was to animate this completely. However, this was beneficial to the final piece as it got me closer to the initial timing that was required while still being high quality.

Sound design continued to play a big part in this piece- the fast-paced nature of almost all of the movement would be, in my opinion, completely lost without the addition of sound. I, once again, wanted to record my own sound for this piece but did not have the time. I feel like sound design is often underappreciated in animation and is considered something you could quickly do at the last minute, but I know, at least for myself, that is not the case. I would need to dedicate a lot of time to creating something high-quality and to learn the software and processes necessary for good sound design.

Reflections

I believe the idea I chose was far too ambitious for the timeframe we were given. 30 seconds to portray that much information was a struggle, and I ended up not completing the goal I set out to create. However, the animatic itself I believe was of high quality, and the timing issue could be ignored as this was just an introduction to animatics as a whole, but correct timing should be at the forefront of my mind for my next project.

This project was a great experience in trying to look at animation from a larger scope than just making smooth movements. Considering the pacing, composition and emotion of each shot on an intimate level meant I had a greater appreciation for the animation I consume personally, and I was encouraged to go into future projects with the passion to make something great rather than just acceptable. Each storyboard I made had to be deliberate and have a purpose, and I was advised by a friend that “if it doesn’t look good in the storyboard, it definitely won’t look good in animation.” That meant that every frame had to be extremely carefully considered, which was a good exercise for me as I tend to rush through things very quickly.

I am happy with my ability to create cohesive characters within a short time frame, but I am still slightly unsure if all the decisions the characters made read to an audience. My lack of feedback from my class meant I was in the dark on whether things made sense or not, as I have learned I cannot trust my own opinion on my work. I gave it my best go, however, which is all I can do!

If I had more time to work on this piece, it would have been great to include the mother’s anger getting progressively more intense as the journey continued, perhaps encountering hard traffic or the children being annoying. This would have made for a great boiling point to be reached and could even make the audience sympathise with the mother a lot more. I may return to this project in the future to further develop the relationships between these characters and how that, in turn, leads to more comedic moments between them.

Overall, I am pleased with the amount of fun I had on this project and the clean, quality look of the finished piece. Many things are left to be desired with the story, but considering I struggle with telling convincing and compelling stories, I believe I did a good job of making something cohesive and entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of storyboarding, sound design and character creation, which put me in high spirits for my next rotation!