You Are Here: Medium and Layout

Media experimentation

Layout development

Through doing media experimentation I successfully identified a medium that would work best for the hand drawn section of my animation. This was watercolour as it has a ghostly feel about it, much as the past does, which is where the viewer is being taken. However, one annoying thing about using watercolour is it wrinkles the pages if they are too thin. Hopefully, this does not show up on the scans.

Designing the layout of the train station was pretty straightforward. I based it on how the actual station looks presently, with a few minor changes. Mainly, I just simplified the environment, taking away things like pillars and enhancing the colours to give it a more cartoony feel. One thing I did not think about though, was the design of the train tracks. I future, I will make sure I have got every aspect of my design right before I start marking over it in pen and colouring it.

You Are Here: Final Storyboard and Animatic

Final Storyboard

Animatic of final storyboard

Authors own

This was the first time I had made an animatic for any of my animation projects and I found it really helpful. I was able to get a better grasp of time and how each sequence of my storyboard will plan out. In turn, I was able to see what would in fact work well and what would not. I decided that I no longer wanted to include the candle stick as it seems too clunky, and instead just a lone flame. Also, in a critic with my tutor, he mentioned that the London bombings springs to mind. In order for me to avoid that connection I have to think about the nature of the flame I decide to animate. Will it be erratic? Will it dance? Will it throb gently? Also, what colour will it be? And how do I extend to insinuate the idea of fire? I am leaning towards the idea of using materials found at the train station such as, a newspaper. I now plan on studying the movements and colours of different flames to see what kind of emotional response they provoke.  

You Are Here: Storyboard Development

Storyboard development (left) and visual research (right)

Authors own

Through developing my storyboard I was able to concentrate on what was to be visually important within my final animation. I want it to run smoothly against the eyes, so therefore I concerned myself with clever transitions and subtle changes that insinuate things rather that embodied them. I was working with the name of the old street 'candlewick', packing the storyboard full of visual puns. Half way through making the storyboard, I came up with the idea of creating the first half, where we are leaving Candlewick Street, by hand, giving it an antique feel to reflect its historical nature. Therefore, the second half would look much more digital and modern, using simple aesthetics or perhaps even photographic collage.