Statement of Intention
(outlining Rationale, Context, Methods, Outcomes)
Rationale
When I was thinking about what I wanted to achieve with the Studio 2 project, I wanted to try out something different. After watching a few experimental animations, I realised that there was a very heavy morphing element in those animations in 2D. The morphing element often works in stop-motion animation as well. Therefore, I think it will be really interesting if I could bring these elements into 3D CGI. Then I took my initial mind maps, gave them a run-through, and decided that the island story would be a better fit for a 3D CGI animation with morphing elements implemented.
As for the main topic of the animation, I decided to work on something about 'toxic relationship'. I did some research online and listed out a few symptoms about toxic relationships. Then, I wrote out the narration. I tried to include as much as I could but in the end, I mostly picked up the more apparent one, e.g. 'putting someone down', 'controlling', and 'not caring about personal boundaries at all'. I wanted to use the morphing and transition elements in animation to show what it's like to be in a toxic relationship without being too obvious. Hopefully, I will receive tons of feedback and advice from tutors and peers to further improve my animation concept along the way.
- What if the morphing element that is mostly used in 2D is applied to 3D animation?
- How to present a toxic relationship with 3D animation using nature-related character?
Context
- Ming by Danski Tang (narration and morphing)
- Negative Space by Tiny Inventions (the narration and transition)
I was mainly inspired by 'Ming' and 'Negative Space' to do a narrative-based 3D CGI animation. They both have excellent morphing and transition animation in them. I wish to learn from them and create equally beautiful morphing and transition animation in my project.
- Animated Morph by students in the Character Animation Basics course at Savannah College of Art and Design (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03OJjIOe5gE)
- Memo by Gobelins (colour smearing when losing conscious of where the character is)
- The Stained Club (a story about an emotionally abused child with his physically abused friends)
- Nueva Vida by Jonathon Seligson (transition)
- The Opposites Game by A TED-Ed Production (morphing and the way they utilise their canvas)
'The Opposites Game' is a stop-motion animation that combines with 2D traditional animation. It uses a narration (the poem) to carry out the story and guide the audience's view.
Methods
- Use narration to guide the audience's expectation and the animation morphing.
- Use Blender.
- Pre-production: Storyboard is used to decide the morphing element of the story and animatic is used to set the tone and pace of the animation. Modelling and rigging need to be done at this stage. Gather feedback and adjust the story and the animatic.
- Production: Animating, gathering feedback, and adjust animation.
- When animating, it is possible for me to use the Keymesh/ Shape Key function to create the morphing animation in Blender.
- Post-production: Rendering, compositing, sound design.
- Basic Weekly Schedule:
- Week 1: Solidify idea, sketch out morphing element
- Week 2: Mood board, sketch out morphing element, storyboard test, feedback and adjustment
- Week 3: Animatic first draft (without sound), simple sound design, feedback and adjustment, character sketch finalise (for modelling reference)
- Week 4: Modelling for scene and character, animatic second draft, feedback and adjustment
- Week 5: Lighting test, rigging test, camera test, simple animation test, animatic submission
- Week 6: Camera and blocking animation to check if the animatic timing works
- Week 6- Week 10: Animating, feedback, and adjustment
- Week 11: Rendering, compositing, sound design, editing, feedback, and adjustment
- Week 12: Submission
Outcomes
- A 3D short animated film that is approximately 1.5 ~ 2 minutes.
- A 3D animation that utilised morphing and transition elements effectively.
- An animation to present the inner struggle of a character in a toxic relationship.