After Crit 1 Update

I received both good and bad 'reviews' for my story:

The good was that it was an interesting story, it was different and original and since I have on set locations to use as referencing I know I'll be able to build a strong environment.

The bad was that it didn't feel like it had a real story to it; it wasn't clear why the goblins were there, how it all started etc. So, with the advice of Alex and the class I changed the story.

Instead of aiming towards a game opening, I've now changed to a short animation with a little story. It now follows the young girl as she travels from her house to her ponies stable in the dark and we follow her as she overcomes her fear of walking down the dark pathway.

I'll be able to use lighting and the environment to my advantage when creating scary shadows and a tense atmosphere.

I received better feedback for this story as it has more meaning to it; children are afraid of the dark and its a big step in childhood to overcome that fear.

I did receive criticism though; i was told it still didn't feel as if it had an opening, why was the girl scared?

However, I only have 1 minute to fit this animation in and not a lot of production time so instead of focusing on why shes afraid, even though its a natural feeling for young children, I'm going to focus on getting across the young girls bravery on overcoming the dark.

Here are a few ideas I wrote and a very rough storyboard I did when the idea first came to me:

Really quick character design

These are just really rough designs to get me started on the look of the characters.

The girls hair is kinda blocky as a guide to modelling. 

Storyboard

Moodboard

Video Referencing - Live Action!

Since the environment of the animation is partly based on my stables, I set aside a minute to rough out the sequence of my scene.

This is for referencing, so there are no special effects, sounds or characters, etc and it is a dark, but that also helps the horror side to it.

It starts out with the (imaginary) young girl going about her chores then suddenly hears something scurry across. She looks up, but ignores it then hears a noise at the end of the yard. She heads out to inspect it and makes her way down the path. She then sees something run across the end of the path  (again imagine!) that startles her but carries on. Nothing is there when she gets to the end so she goes to see her horse to check on him. She comforts him and looks around and is then suddenly attacked.

Image Research - Horses

Image Research - Stables

Looking into Stable designs

Introduction - Planning My Idea

This blog will serve as my 'Production Bible' to my Final Major Project in my Second Year at Uni. I've been given a choice between ding an Animation Short and a FMV (Full Motion Video).

What's the difference?

The Animation short is more based on telling a story with a meaning/moral where as the FMV is kid of an opening to game, so more focused on detail and luring people in rather than the meaning.

I was thinking doing an animation short - I has thought of ideas that included telling the story of responsibility when owning animals; perhaps a little child owning his/her first puppy or an adult adopted a dog and discovering that it's not as easy as it seems. However these type of ideas require a lot of planning time and can be tough to fit into one minter so I decided to go with the FMV idea.

Idea One 

My first initial idea was based upon a friends nightmare (creepy I know). An opening animation to a Japanese style horror game; the story is about a young woman who has just had her first baby and is already looking for the perfect first school. One afternoon the mother is standing with friends in a primary school yard, learning about the school, as they wait for the children to be released. In the background you see 3 men eye the mother and new-born - a janitor, a head master and a random guy (blended in as a parent).

Fast forward to the next part, the baby is kidnapped and taken back to the school. The mother runs after her baby and kidnapper but loses them as they go inside. Through-out her ordeal inside the school all she can hear is her baby crying over the tannoy. She starts feeling extremely scared and begins to hallucinate whilst being attacked by small mind-controlled children. The ending of the animation shows  the masked kidnapper about to reveal himself, but ends before he does.

Obviously this idea is too long for a one minute film and has too much work for just one person who has only around 10 or so weeks to complete the project, so unfortunately I had to let this idea go for now and work on something else, but I do plan on 'perfecting' this opening one day.  

Idea Two

After some thinking and collaboration, I decided to change my story completely but keep the horror theme. Still being a FMV my idea is now based on a real location - my new stables. On another project, I've been working on a little goblin like character and it's been quite popular so I'm bringing that character idea into this animation.

This animation is more of an advertisement rather than opening, but depending on how the game plays (which I have no idea about, I just have the starting idea really), it is about little goblins running around the stable yard, terrorising the horses and causing havoc.

 It plays out behind a young girl (3rd Person Mode) as she does her usual stable chores in the evening. Hearing a noise and/or seeing something frights her and she goes to investigate. As she walks along the path she sees, what looks like a little creature run across the end path behind a horse, she startles but continues. She comes to the end and sees the horse standing up the top to her left, no creature...
She turns right to go see her horse and check on him - it's strangely quiet - she looks around, looks back to her then quickly looks left and the little jumps on her.

This is the basic outline of how the animation will run.

For the best outcome on the animation I know I will have to focus on the movements on the young girl, the horse(s), the creature, texturing, modelling and, importantly lighting, to give the best spooky effect.