Design and Concept
Starting a Progect for creating a 3 to 5 minutes Animation.
The IDEA:
The most important thing, before the begginnig, is to have an idea. My
Brief is to create a whole new thing - Animaiton. At first sign I was thinking that it will be really interasting new chellange for me, and it is. I started from the zero, without knowing even how to start the whole project and then I realized what is a project without an IDEA.
Creating an "Ideas Document" came to my mind.
After our first introduction lectures, I started my first research about how an Animation can be created and the different styles of animation can affect my work, what I can use and what I still cannot. For me creating a first animation does not have to be complex and specific. The message of the movie itself that will carry is the most important thing - the Idea and the understanding in depth of how and why it is needed to be created.
I looked at a lot of YouTube videos about beginning an animation and how to start. Then a thought came to my mind. Let's start with the problem solving situation, people often expect to see something meaningful to then in animated short or long film, then why not to get in touch with a real problem - How people affect their lives through the thoughts of their childhood and do not accept that everyone should grow up. There is no going back, because time is our greatest enemy. For me as a person, I can understand how hard it really is to try escaping the reality, so I tried to look into my soul and to find the ideal representation of this problem and the solution.
One of my truly favourite films is "Interstellar" directed by Chirstopher Nolan. I watched the movie again and it connected me to the idea that I was looking for in one of the scenes. The scene is where the main character - Cooper leaves his daughter to sacrifice himself for her, because she is his meaning of life.
My first idea was to recreate not only the scene but other parts from Interstellar. I decided to not do this and to create my structure through fixing my mind on that scene and what I can do.
I started with creating the Document full of ideas, I have done a research about what is expected from me to think about. Things like colour tone, how to represent each scene, how to pick the right camera angles and the movements, how I want to switch from shot to shot and very important - the lighing.
As my first job, I have done the research and It took me a while to memorize most of the things by heart, but after the repeating and rereading artickles and tutorials everything became easier.
Resources:
DETISCH, A. (2020). Film Lighting Techniques: How to Make Your Film Look More Cinematic. [Blog] Studio Binder. Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/film-lighting-techniques/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2020].
RISK, M. (2019). How to Use Color in Film: 50+ Examples of Movie Color Palettes. [Blog] Studio Binder. Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/how-to-use-color-in-film-50-examples-of-movie-color-palettes/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2020].
Dise, J. (2017). Filmmaking 101: Camera Shot Types. [Blog] Explora. Available at: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/tips-and-solutions/filmmaking-101-camera-shot-types [Accessed 22 Feb. 2020].
Leefilters.com. (2020). Complete LEE Colour Range. [online] Available at: http://www.leefilters.com/lighting/colour-list.html [Accessed 22 Feb. 2020].
Characters:
I simply started sculpting my idea into something that can be called a project. I learned what is Protagonist and Antagonist in a story and how to develop their characters, but I had half built characters, so I decied to create two humans - the father and the daughter.
1. The Father was very important part of this film because he represents every parent in this world and how as person he will die and leave his child, people are not immortal as we know.
I didn't wanted he to be old or to look like a strong man. The idea here is to be understood from the viewer. He is a caring parent and it is difficult for him to separate from his child, but he understands that it is time to do so. I named him Mathew with hope to be understood.
2. The Daughter is the main character in this story. She is in her early teenage years, innocent and childish. This represens everyone who once was a child and never accepted the idea to be seperated from his parents. The idea here is to create her look innocent and young, I managed to play with her age in the story.
After knowing what I want to create, I started creating the Ideas Document, my mind came cleared that I want complex idea to become not too complex through short animation.
All my ideas are written on the document: explenations about my characters, problem solution, even the description of my story, what mood I want to create through light and colours, how many Key scenes I have and the most impotant thing - The name ot this short Animation.
The Name:
"Time, stay!" - this is the first and final name of the film and I created it with purpose. As we know, we do not want to die or to leave without living our life as we want, that is why it is Time, stay. The time is our enemy, it helps us to grow, get older, stay alone and at the end to disappear. It's a prayer.
Ideas Document
Storyboard for 3-5 min Animation
STAGE 1
Creating the story
The name of the story about the animation came from my own thoughts. And for creating a good script I need a good story. In interstellar one of the main scenes took place around cornfields, so this background inspired me to think about including cornfields in my project. Then my imagination worked for me and I decided to put a door in the middle of this cornfields. Two of my three Key scenes are in action including the cornfields, the whole background inspires me to think about how I want to show the calm and ordinary situation between the sadness, anger, curiosity and pain in the world of the daughter - Sally.
There was very important element in Interstellar - watch. I took this Key element too, representing the time, reality, future, past, present. There are frames which shows the watch and all those meanings.
And also, I wanted to add my idea, to transform Sally and to play at the same time with her character and the weather outside. In the beginning the time is 07:00 am in the morning, when Key Scene 1 starts, in scene 1.1 the time is nearly 09:30 am. In Key scene 2 (when Mathew leaves) is 12:00 pm noon. When Sally reaches a door in the middle of the cornfields at 12:30 pm. When Sally is inside the door the time spends around 12:30 pm 6:30 pm. In Key scene 3 when Sally steps outside of the door is 7:30 pm. Here is the game with the time and at the same time when Sally comes outside the door she is grown woman and here this is a representation of the growing. All the drama starts at sunrise and ends at sunset just like every person's life.
The story takes place in a farmhouse where Sally and her father Mathew live. The first scene Mathew comes inside Sally's room and the mood is dramatic. He tries to explain to Sally that he needs to go and she refuses to listen. The in between the scene 1 and 2 Mathew disappears with his car and Sally starts running after his steps. Scene 2 is when Sally is running inside the cornfields and reaches a door in the middle. In between scene 2 and 3 Sally enters the door and sees her past and future. This is a lesson for he that she cannot escape the time and what needs to happen. Scene 3 is when Sally comes from the door older and wiser. She reaches the sky and understand that she is grown and without support anymore.
With all that information I created the Outline Document for the Sotryboard.
Storyboard - Outline
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How the screenplay is done - script
the biginning with the screenplay was very rough work for me to start. I was wondering what kind of font is needed, where to do it, how to understand the language of the screenplay. Then I decided to see part of the real Interstellar script.
After seeing it, I wondered is there ano other thing that can help and researched about the basics of how to write a screenplay and how to use the language. I also researched about how directors are creating a screenplay and how this helps for visualising all the scenes. In a screenplay the most important thing is to write down clearly what is happening. So, I opened Google Drive and created a document with the font created for this purpose. I learned about writing a dialogue, how to create a mood, to explain actions and etc.
Screenplay - Storyboard
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Referencing list:
1. Images from internet:
(2014) tumblr_23dc9437187663e9ae659a079bf4575c_69eb064a_1280. Available at:https://honwy.tumblr.com/post/156739502315/natalia-dyer-in-i-believe-in-unicorns-2014 (Accessed: 22 February 2020).
(2014) Unicorns_Still_1.1_6. Available at: http://natjencks.com/i-believe-in-unicorns (Accessed: 22 February 2020).
(2020) 51060100_2045312762217655_6908023951482421248_o.jpg_nc_cat101_nc_htscontent.xxoh6f139438dc582143d868957af17049e1oe5cc2b9f4. Available at: http://www.geewhizcustoms.com/310-coopers-jacket-from-interstellar-16-scale(Accessed: 22 February 2020).
ff37c6f1073673d30f8b0f64e7d4f84a. Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/164029611404223070/?lp=true (Accessed: 22 February 2020).
interstellar-matthew-6520-1024x576. Available at:https://theithacan.org/life-culture/review-stellar-leads-and-sharp-style-propels-interstellar/ (Accessed: 22 February 2020).
2. Idea (film reference):
Interstellar (2014) Directed by: Christopher Nolan [Interstellar].Distribution place: Paramount Pictures (North America), Warner Bros. Pictures (International)
3. Learning Sources:
DETISCH, A. (2020). Film Lighting Techniques: How to Make Your Film Look More Cinematic. [Blog] Studio Binder. Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/film-lighting-techniques/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2020].
RISK, M. (2019). How to Use Color in Film: 50+ Examples of Movie Color Palettes. [Blog] Studio Binder. Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/how-to-use-color-in-film-50-examples-of-movie-color-palettes/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2020].
Dise, J. (2017). Filmmaking 101: Camera Shot Types. [Blog] Explora. Available at: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/tips-and-solutions/filmmaking-101-camera-shot-types [Accessed 22 Feb. 2020].
Leefilters.com. (2020). Complete LEE Colour Range. [online] Available at: http://www.leefilters.com/lighting/colour-list.html [Accessed 22 Feb. 2020].
How To Format A Screenplay - 5 Basic Elements : FRIDAY 101. (2013). [video] Directed by I. Mogul. YouTube: YouTube.
Storyboard rough sketches and research:
One of the most useful things helping all filmmakers, camera operators and etc. is creating a Storyboards by the written script. I started my research about how to create a Storyboard with a book , I bought a book called ->
Rough Sketches for storyboard:
I decided to start searching different styles of animation and to see the difference and find out about the whole process o creating Toy Story 4 and how the famous japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki is creating his animated movies.
The traditional way of creating an animation through tradition art rather than the digital, because for me to start from the beggining means to start with the old school way. I started sketching in a Sketchbook where I also was writing all the things about each frame like what is happening now, sound effects if it is needed, camera movement and angle, mood if it is needed, the throughout from one shot to another and etc.
After reading the book I learned about the beggining, why the storyboards needed to be created and how to do it well. The hardest thing is to visualise the narrative. You need to be well educated in the sphere of creating a concept art, drawing figures, positioning the figures, drawing a set and etc.
Here I will show you a bunch of pictures that helped me to create my storyboard and first rough sketches of the Storyboard:
Full Storyboard - Time, Stay!
After showing rough sketches and explained about the process I created the storyboard by hand and used Photoshop CC to put together in a templates all the drawn shots. Everything is clearly explained and the Animatic will be done with the material from the storyboard, because I have and idea to recreate and add more shots for the real Animation. I want to create short beautiful animation which shows the meaning I want to share.
Production Design
1. Cornfields and the Farmhouse
MOODBOARD
The Production design is very important part of a film in every way. It is the visual comunication with the viewer's feelings. Every detail is important. For my research I decided to start with moodboard for the environments, character's visual look and the most important ellements in my animation.
The farmhouse and the cornfields are the first shown backgrounds in my story. Why? They remind of a calm scene, of a hope and peaceful mind. I chose the same environment as it is in Interstellar. The farmhouse is also from Interstellar, but only part of it is shown in my Storyboard.
Sally's room is created by me, I added all the elements inspired by the wooden setting that goes on to the Farmhouse.
Sally's room and all the wood inside the house are part of the Production Design, they are showing a big house with large space, but without a lot furniture, to be just like my Sally's feelings. The decign should be matching the character's feelings and in this way the viewer will fully understand what is the situation in a scene.
2. Characters look - clothes, hair, body
MOODBOARDS
1. Sally
Sally needs to be innocent and young. I need to play with her age and that is the hardest thing that I have ever done, it is not easy to draw person in a different age but the same face. She is sad and childish and these are the perfect images that can describe how I want her to be.
2.Mathew
Mathew needs to be incredible, but at least a good man, to look like a father. These images best describe how I want him to look like, because he is part of the half of the story (in person).
3. The Watch
MOODBOARD
The main element in the film which is existing is the watch that takes part torepresent the real time in our world. The idea for the watch came again from Interstellar but with different description and history in my Animation. These images are my references for it .
4. Weather
MOODBOARD
For my movie to show the environment is the same as to show the mood. Here, the main idea is to be calm and to remain sadness. These are referencing pictures of how I want my weather to be.
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Checklist Document + Shotlist included
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Shot list
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Creating the Animatic
Starting the process was extremely slow for me. I needed to become friendly with two softwares - Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro. First, I started with learning about Adobe After Effects. It was a bit difficult for me to learn the basics and what can be done in the software, so I had 3 different experiments with it, but non of them sucessful. So I was very curious about Premiere Pro because I really like video editing softwares. I saw a bunch of tutorials about it and it is similar to After Effects. But first let me show you some of the tutorials that I saw about the softwares:
1. Adobe After Effects
2. Adobe Premiere Pro
I prefere Premiere Pro, so I decided to create a study video of myself first an tried to edit it.
I opened the Software and from the interface I understood that you have space where to put all the material for editing, your timeline space and a whole bunch of effects, video and image transitions, different lens, adjustments and filters. I felt very confident using Premiere pro.
You can see screenshots of my experiment work with my video and the actual one:
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The video:
Both of the softwares have it's renderer and even can export th media direct in YouTube or some other platform. They both have a lot of funcitons but I prefer Premiere Pro, so I worked for my Animatic with it.
How the animatic it's made.
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<- Software interface
Tools for using ->
Time
line Effects I Window
V I
V
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I imported all the 75 images from the Storyboard and renamed the with numbers. And Started placing one by one the images just like in the sotryboard and started plasing it in the timeline. Then I started with positioning the pictures, I created zoom effects through scaling the image, also changed the position of an image and can do many many things.
After creating effect for every image and how to move through the video.
Then, I started creating the video (image) transitions between the jpeg files.
The whole process took me 1 day and at the end I added sound.
The soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp0kbJC6njc
T
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The Animatic:
Animation
The Animation has been created with the two softwares - Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects.
It is my desicion to redraw several of the images used in my storyboard. The Animation is black and white and it is showing a depth and understanding of the light and mood. See the recreated images here:
About the editing process, I created the whole composition and in Premiere Pro, I used scale and position keys for creating the movement of the images, after that I etided it with the transitions between each shot and it was ready for rendering and exporting. I saw a tutorial for how to export my composition with high quality, so it is here:
I have exported the file like it is in the video above and the quality is perfect, it is very high with depth. Here are screenshots of the process of creating the main part of the Animation for Time, stay!
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After Effects is a software for creating an animations, editing videos with effects and it is perfect for my last stage of editing. So, after exporting the video as mp4 from Premiere Pro I imported it in After Effects and created a composition. The whole video was my background. I wanted to add a transperent images cropped and exported from Adobe Photoshop CC and to animate them on my video. That is why I did not wanted to move some of my images in Premiere Pro and letf them to be static.
I created the images in Photoshop:
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