The Animated Self - Animating

Seeing that I only had two days to finish this up (So I had initially thought… well, we still have to submit the first version at least), I had to cut back on a lot of details, most of these scenes are just still images that are later on edited to have some movement in After Effects. 

As seen here the background, Felicity the central character, and the groups of people crowding around her are all separated into their own layers (The background was separated from Felicity just in case I needed to make any changes in details to it).

A little shadow was given to her body after on a separate layer, which I then
decided to combine for easier animating later on.

David gets a cameo for his contribution.

Nothing but straight lines for the first bit of the background.

Once I figured out a train interior design I was somewhat satisfied with,
I then started shading it in.

I then added in a bit more lighting.

I had to mess around a bit with Felicity's sitting pose, initially it had looked
like an exact copy of Chihiro's in Spirited Away, I also thought that
she looked a little too composed, and so I went with something that shows
more exhaustion.

Seeing how monochromatic everything already  is, I had to sketch out the crowd
in red so that I could actually see anything when I started painting over it.

I was considering adding in some blood details, but it would take away the tension I was trying to evoke… people however would probably still question why is it that woman in the bottom right is crying. To create better focus on the main character, I then painted a shadow over most of them.

The background perspective turned out to be a real huge pain in the ass,
I had to decrease her size and draw out a rough outline of her body to better figure it out.

After numerous attempts and references that weren't all that helpful...

After animating the head turning bit, I then started painting in her hair, it had originally simply looked like a blob without any volume whatsoever and it just looked so darn weird… (I think I had a gif for it, but for some reason it won't upload properly here, so I will just talk more), so I decided to take a bit more time in improving the movements of her hair sliding off her shoulder.

Another layer was placed over the last few frames so that there wouldn't be
a spastic change of hoodie shadows.

For the last scene where she reaches for her mother, I was clearly rushing with this bit and was thankful that the last section where she gets thrown from the sudden braking of the train had to be done quickly (So I didn't need to be too precise with the details on her).

I had originally drawn her arm frame by frame while copying and pasting
the hand, but in my rage I decided to scrap it and try something else.

The arm was instead separated into two sections, that I started to piece and position together for each frame, while it still looks pretty stiff and weird, I think it looks a lot smoother than the other hand drawn version.

I after that rushed to paint in each figure, coloring any transparent bits first.

I then once again did some quick shading.

I was suggested by my teacher to lessen the shaky movements of the train, which I will definitely do once I get some sleep… and fix up that darn white line at the top of the reaching scene… that's just my fault for not shading that sill properly.

The Animated Self - Storyboard Ideas

I decided to focus on a narrative-related animation (I bet you didn't see that coming did you?) in the end, it would evoke the right amount of challenges and would definitely be much more enjoyable to work/struggle on. It would also give me the chance 

Lurk (Horror Narrative)

This was the first horror game project that I had actually done proper designs for, while it had its fair share of monsters like any typical survival horror, it was the atmosphere and sense of helplessness from the main character that I wanted to utilize more. Again, I wish to define myself for my narrative works, based on my own ideas aside from existing works, this 'teaser trailer' will allow me to experiment a bit more with shadows, a more dramatic coloring style and more defined characters designs as compared to my previous projects.

Based on some brief research I did on video game teaser trailers, these previews normally contain one ambiguous scene that does not explain much, or a a compilation of incredibly short clips, both allowing the audience a sample of what the game's tone and mood would possibly be like (And I say possibly, because game designers tend to make a lot of changes to these games after the teasers are released) that gives us an idea on what the game will be like but not the story itself, all that manages to last around 30 seconds, give or take. More research will be done on teaser trailers in the coming posts.

I then quickly drafted down three ideas:

1. The Pool Room

While not shown here, we get a few pan shots of various areas that are completely deserted and completely void of human life, before cutting to the first scene of a supposedly abandoned pool room. The camera raises up from pitch black darkness, showing the edge of a pool table, and the shadowy figure of a young girl approaching it, only the light from her phone's light lighting up the area.

The scene then shifts to her point of view as she looks at the table covered with scattered balls and shattered glass (One of the ceiling lamps having broken off not too long ago), trying to get a further look at the other parts of the room but there doesn't seem to be anything of use to her, she sighs quietly...

Weeping is suddenly heard then… that seems to sound like that of a child's, even a baby's, she raises her head, freezing in place, but only for a moment as she whips around to the direction she hears it from, turning towards another dark corner of the room where another broken ceiling lamp lays.

The camera pans moves past it then, before the entire scene fades to black, the young girl then calling out to the voice as the title appears on screen.

"… hello?"

2. Father's Call

The camera pans downwards where a phone is seen on the ground, the phone then lights up the once dim area, the voice message activates as the young girl's father is heard, desperately trying to reach his daughter. A montage of various scenes are shown during the voice over, of monsters lurking in the darkness, the young girl hiding and exploring different areas on her own, before the final scene shows her mother sitting on her own in a train carriage, cracking an eerie smile.

The scenes cuts abruptly to black as the father ends his message there, assuringly say that he and the rest of the family will be there waiting for their safe return, the title appearing on the screen along with that last line.

"We will be here, waiting for you…"

3. The Train

In a train crowded to the brim with passengers, everyone is notably distressed and distraught, some even trying to comfort others. The young girl is shown sitting in the centre of one of the benches, for a moment staring down at her lap, looking nervous and unsure as she tries to contemplate her situation.

She looks to the side then, where her mother sits beside her, having been eerily quiet throughout, her features appear paler and more sunken than before, she can understand that what had occurred earlier must have frightened her mother, but, there was something off about her…

Just as she tries to comfort her, the train jerks to a stop, people scream, the lights go out.

Before a hellish shriek is heard echoing throughout the area as the title appears...

Blade Petals in the Wind (Fantasy Narrative or Sequence)

This idea is based on an old illustration of mine that I have yet to finish, I was taking a small break from a larger project that had a very similar art style at the time.

This short animation focuses on a tiny little fairy dancing among several blossoms as they bloom from her encouragement, her dance ends with her revealing to the audience the tree she had aided is now in full bloom and is ready for spring.

We are H2O (Sequence (I guess?))

Based on one of my scrapped ideas from my Animation Process and Production project, the animation focuses on the amount of water each human body holds and how it changes throughout the day.

 I found several problems with this idea, that being which gender I should give this character (Would it offend certain audience? Especially as they are seen drinking alcohol?) as well as what activities I should include that depletes and increase the amount of water within him or her body, aside from the usual drinking and exercising that is, after drawing a part of the storyboard, I realized it seemed a tad dull and required more development.

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