Sample Animation

Here's a small sample of animation, forgive me if it turns out a bit stutterly but I've recently had this revelation that *movieclips shouldn't be used for animation because AVIs don't record nested timelines, only Quicktime*. Well, I guess better late than never... I'll be doing this in After Effects anyways. The clip gives a small taste of what to expect from the concept of "Transitional Animation".

Artwork

Some artwork inspired by the mood board. I'll probably use these as a framework for animation, however I'd like to refine them further and make them look pretty. Some of the colours were distorted in the export process, and they should look a bit more natural when it comes to production (ie, the ant one is not really that bright).

Animation mood board

These images might give one an idea of what type of imagery will appear in the animation. In particular the photo of the lone flower is very powerful in my opinion and I will likely start my storyboard using a replica of that image, or atleast in that style.

Project 3 concept

Concept: “reflections”

Reflection is a metaphor for looking back on one’s past, evaluating and summing up one’s work and life, to see how far they actually have come. In the context of the studio exhibition:

Reflection seeks to examine and explore the journey taken through our time at Monash, and to predict where that path may take us.

Using dreamlike imagery, I plan to create an animation that explores the metaphor of reflection. To further reinforce this concept, I plan to use actual reflections to scatter parts of the animation around the gallery space, making these reflections an extension of the animation itself. Careful planning into what parts of the animation are being reflected and where will be explored. Reflective surfaces and their properties will also be researched, so that unique and interesting patterns may be made using reflective properties.

The animation style should be dream like, like a distant memory. There will be a strong emphasis on transitional animation, for example, following a bird flying which leads us to the ground which leads us to watching flowers, the flowers take flight and take us elsewhere etc. Another example of this type of animation is Ultralove Ninja by MK12 Studios.

Textured map

Updated map with some crude texturing to give an idea of what each zone might begin to look like.

New logo

I probably should have mentioned that I've come up with a logo concept for the box design too, so here it is. I'd like to enhance this further during production by making the reflection coming off a ripple of water which would probably require some 3D rendering. The box design itself I want to look like a dark and foreboding jungle, catching only small glimpses of figures in the dark, like the viewer is being stalked. The advertising should also follow this theme. I think it also kind of has an alien unnatural feel to it which creates the sort of mystery I'm after.

The Map

Here's a prototype map for the manual when the project is undertaken next semester. I hope to pretty it up with some nice graphics when it comes time to create the manual. An interactive map for the launch website is also being considered, with the ability to zoom in and view details, and to give a small blurb on each land.

Below also is a revised edition of the creature evolution chart. This new chart shows the actual scale of each animal, and has revised evolutions (instead of a crocodile we now have a Komodo Dragon, and the Efl Owl will be the first iteration of the bird species, evolving into a highly aerial seabird the Sooty Tern, so that the Arctic fox and Tern can share the arctic tundra's environment as they would in the natural world).