Summative Presentation and Revised Proposal Form

This is the presentation that was given on the 10th December as a showcase of the work done so far on this module. The Presentations highlights the production aims of my Final Major Project, What Research I have done, my concept work as well as my Animatic. It successfully showcases my aims and how this will relate to future industry practices. Upon the feedback from the previous presentation, as well as feedback from my peers, I have altered certain aims and renegotiated my proposal to create a more coherent and Art focused production, that more effectively conveys my aims, visual style, and projected outcomes.

Pre Production Practices	Module Title:	Pre-Production Practices	Module Code:	ANIM3013
	Student Name:	Cameron Hurd (16007258)
	Area of Study	Joint Illustration and Animation

Title of Project:	Final Animation Film Production
Synopsis:	A story that explores a child and her idealistic dreams, while confronting her fears.

Treatment:

For this module, I plan on developing a series of characters for my final project; which will investigate character development, visual and emotional storytelling, film production as well as preparing and developing my existing Animation skill set. The story follows a young girl who loves to play with her action figures and one-day dreams of becoming a superhero like the ones she sees in the movies. Her life isn’t all that glamorous though, she often finds herself alone with her own thoughts. Her mother is constantly working overtime, and her Father is nowhere to be seen. The girl dreams of one day confronting her fears and saving the day. She also wishes to find out what happened to her father, who passed away a few years prior to the story beginning. Genre: This story is a character-driven action fantasy that is accompanied by underlying themes such as grief, fears, anxiety, and idealism. To balance these themes, the tone of most of the piece will be fun and often lighthearted. The character’s motivations will keep the viewer invested and as she develops, the audience will root for her. The action set piece will be fast-paced and fun, using various forms of fighting to keep it fresh at all times. In order to give depth, the antagonistic character has been designed to represent the heroes fears, and in order to win, the main protagonist must develop in order to find the resolve to emerge victoriously. Target Audience: The age range that the piece is targeting is older children between the ages of 12-18, who may find that they are unsure about life, what it entails and may be losing sight of their young and childlike idealism. The piece is designed to attempt to rekindle that fire within them, and hopefully help them realize that the world isn't as dire as it is made out to be. Structure: The Animation will follow a traditional 3-act structure, in terms of both the PHYSICAL but also the EMOTIONAL plot. Following a character-driven narrative, the audience empathizes with a likeable main character and later should come to sympathize and become emotionally involved with the character. There will be two distinct set pieces, the real, and dream worlds. Not only will the places look different, but the pacing will vary from both worlds. The real world actions will be mostly slow paced to emphasize the dullness, whilst in contrast, the dream sequence will be fast-paced, with a lot of action and dynamic camera angles. When the pace slows down, the classical narrative allows the audience to appreciate the character development and enhance the viewing from an emotional standpoint. Visual Style: The character designs will be created with the audience in mind. The visual style will be cartoonish characters, with a base in realism. As most of the characters will be human, their body shape will be based on real-life anatomy, with some exaggerations, in facial features and other extremities, to help the character personality and emotions come across better. The reason this visual style has been chosen is that the colour palette and character designs lend themselves to this target audience, as found through contemporary research. Therefore using this style will be relevant and appropriate. Cinematography will be important in helping to tell the story in an interesting and unique way. The angle of the camera will help convey the protagonist's emotions and the general emotions of the scene. The action will use many moving camera shots and will try to avoid using a quick cut or shaking camera, to give the animation of the piece time to showcase itself and shine, while also letting the audience get a clear understanding of what is currently happening. As there will be two very distinct set pieces in this film, lighting in the animation will play an important role in depicting the mood of the environment around the characters. The dream sequence will use this to its advantage to give off a very fantasy, and rather another worldly vibe, by experimenting with nonconventional colours. Technical Approach: The Animation will be created using a vast array of techniques. It will be treated with programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Toon-Boom Harmony, After Effects, Premiere Pro, and explore other programs, for instance, CLIP STUDIO PAINT. My film will offer some dialogue. The intention of this is to allow the audience to focus more on the emotion and how the character body language conveys emotion. This approach has been chosen as it showcases the character designs and development, and shows that dialogue isn't the only things that drive a character, but rather only enhances it.

Research Proposition Investigate how Character design is influenced by the culture around the author in Illustration and Animation Investigate how character design is influenced by shape, colour and semiotics. Investigate and research concepts such as idealism and existentialism are portrayed in visual representations such as Illustration, Animation, as well as how it differs in other visual arts, and other Cultures. Research how narratives are portrayed in animation and popular culture as reference and inspiration Research and study contemporary industry practices to help prepare for the production stage. Research Concept Art for both Animation and Film Further, Develop and research my post-production techniques.

Week	Date	Activity plan	Tutorials
1	24.09.18	-Introduction to Module
2	01.10.18	-Feedback tutorial with the lecturer to help develop ideas for a proposal -Create a blog
3	18.10.18	-Research contemporary animation, and contemporary preproduction practices to inform initial studies. -Research Character and Environment Design -Do initial character concept work
4	15.10.18	-Submit the proposal and begin initial research for the film. -Continue with Character and Environmental Concept Work
5	22.10.18	-Begin research into a narrative and explore pre-existing films. - Create Detailed Concept art for characters, environments, as well as props -Consider colour schemes, themes
6	29.10.18	-Practice character animation to ensure they will work within the animation. -Finalize the Main character designs -Receive Feedback to help evaluate Project
7	05.11.178	-Research into storyboarding and cinematography. -Begin creating storyboards. -Create Side character concept Art - Begin research into Project proposal question.
8	12.11.18	-Receive Feedback to help evaluate Project -Continue with storyboarding. -Begin work on the animatic -Continue working on the blog
9	19.11.18	-Continue Work on Animatic -Research potential outsourcing options for Music and SFX to add to Animatic. -Begin written report into pre-production question
10	26.11.18	-Continue on final animatic. -Receive Feedback to help evaluate Project
11	03.12.18	-Continue creating an animatic -Get peer feedback, record and evaluate feedback. - Finish written investigation, ask for peer feedback
12	10.12.18	-Complete Animatic artwork -Begin on Post Production inc. editing, sound and rendering -edit written investigation and complete.
13	17.12.18	-Complete Project FINAL SUBMISSION