Project Proposal
By Claire MacKenzie, L1119188
Working Title: Water Nymph
Outline:
In the project I will undertake I aim to provide a project bible, animatic and a 2D animation. My piece will be approximately 60 seconds in length and will become part of my show reel. My short involves a curious and quite lost Water Nymph. They start off trapped in an old looking stone fountain, but as it decays it becomes weak and topples over, falling and breaking to pieces. This in turn frees the curious little water Nymph, letting it slip out of it’s stone prison. This little Nymph has been trapped for a long time, so the surrounding area would be rather different to what it remembered. Curious and confused, she would set off on a journey of exploration while also attempting to locate her original home; the Ocean. She will encounter various trials and her curiosity will get the better of her in some cases, though it will not deter her from finding her home back at the ocean. She will navigate around a mixture of ruins and dense foliage, perhaps even dip into a few water streams along the way before finally reaching an open beach side and slipping back into the ocean.
Rationale:
I have chosen this particular project as I wish to really strut my stuff in terms of Storyboarding, Design as well as the 2D aspects. I wish to show my true potential and understanding when it comes to the art of fluid motion from a 2D standpoint. I hope that this will also prove quite useful when the time comes that I seek employment. This project will prove how important I consider drawing to be as well as how proficient I am at it, and will demonstrate to potential employers how much effort I put into my work. I want to show how well I can apply a personality to a character design, how I will make the character move to suit and really make it feel like it’s really come alive.
Background Research:
As my story is based off of a Water Nymph, I will be doing deeper research into their origins through Greek Mythology. This will require quite a bit of reading and image research, though I will most likely keep it loose as far as visual design of the character is concerned. A few books I have considered looking up are Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore and 100 Characters from Classical Mythology. Various websites have also proven to be quite useful in educating me further on the various types of Nymphs as well as different kinds of the water Nymph. For example the fact there are fresh water Nymphs as well as ocean ones. I’m considering the character design to have two elements, that of a human form as well as a more creature like form. For the latter I will be researching various images of water animals and textures to ensure I come up with something quite different and interesting from a visual stand-point! This will also involve constant practice of drawing the human figure, if I choose to show it within my short. The fact I am focusing on the design and storyboarding aspects of this as well as the animation side, I will need to do a bit of reading up on the preproduction side of things as well as referring to the Animators Survival Kit. I plan to look through a couple of art books for feature films for both inspiration and perhaps a taster of how I wish to proceed as far as concept art and development art pieces will go.
Methodology:
I will be producing multiple pieces of character concept as well as a full turn around of the final design and colour designation. I will then move on to produce a storyboard of Studio quality before moving onto the next phase of production. I will be focusing mostly on the aspects of Character movement and acting, providing well thought out and well-directed character animation. Camera positioning and shots are also something I will be heavily thinking of to create a really dynamic piece of work. All concept art and Storyboarding will be produced via a healthy mixture of traditional paper methods as well as that of a digital twist involving programs such as Photoshop CS5 and Paint Tool SAI. Any Animatic production would be a combination of the previous edited for timing and basic movement with the assistance of Adobe After Effects or Adobe Flash. The animation itself I am considering finishing within Flash or perhaps Photoshop/After Effects. I am proficient in these programs, so these options seem to be best suited to me. For this my greatest enemy is time. 2D production requires a lot of preparation as well as drawings and since I have opted to go through the preproduction process this will pose a challenge. I will also need to consider the restraints when it comes to working in programs such as Photoshop and Flash. Particularly file size issues when it comes to the final render of my work. This in itself may require time, so I must be careful to ensure I finish with time to complete this.
Project Plan:
Week 1-3: Concept work
Week 4-5: Colour studies
Week 6: Storyboard Rough
Week 7: Final storyboard and Animatic.
Week 8-17: Production of Animation
Week 18-20: Sound and final polish.
Product:
By the end of this project I aim to have completed the following:
• Project Bible
• Animatic
• 2D Animation
References:
JENNIFER LARSON, K.L.(2001) Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore Oxford University Press
MALCOLM DAY, M.D. (2007) 100 Characters from Classical Mythology Barron's Educational Series
RICHARD E. WILLIAMS, R.E.W (2012) The Animator’s Survival kit 2nd edition. Faber & Faber
TIM HAUSER, T.H (2009) The Art of Up (Pixar Animation) Chronicle Books
http://www.godchecker.com/
http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/Naiades.html
http://www.paleothea.com/Nymphs.html#Naiads
