This is an experimentational walk cycle that acts as a test of the synching of the soundtrack to the walk cycle.

Animatic Soundtrack

This is the music that will be used as the background soundtrack of the animatic. The song is titled "Seraphim" by Buck Tick.

Toon Boom Studio Vs Flash Vs Director

Toom Boom, Flash and Director are all 2D animation packages and I will be looking at their distince properties and discussing which of the three programs that I prefer to use in my animations.

1. Toon Boom Studio.

I think that Toon Boom Studio is a very versatile program that is easy to learn and I think that it offers useful elements such as automated lip-synching and good camera control.
I think the main element of Toon Boom that I find useful is the exposure sheet, as it allows easy viewing of the drawings that have been done, and allows the animator to extend the exposure of the drawings, cutting out the need to keep on re-drawing the same background over and over.

2. Flash

I think that Flash is more difficult to learn than Toon Boom and I find the interface to be comfusing and difficult for users who are not familiar with this program.
Although the interface is a bit difficult to learn at first, Flash offers some very good animation elements, but is disadvantaged by the lack of easy-to-understand exposure sheet. The timelines that are used instead of an exposure sheet are difficult to quickly understand and I think that this is one of the main diadvantages of the program.

3. Director.

Although this is a multimedia program, it can be used for simple animations such as presentation work, but the program is limited by its multimedia interface. The interface is more suited to web design and programming than animation, and I think this is what lets the program down.

Overall, I prefer to use Toon Boom Studio as my animation program as it is easy to learn and use, and takes out a lot of the work involved in 2D animation.

2D Versus 3D

Personally, I prefer working in a 2D environment as I feel that I have greater control over the style and design of the animation.
The drawing style and design in a 3D animation is restricted as the animator has to consider what would be a plausible model that they can animate. For example, an anime-style character would pose more of a problem in a 3D environment than in a 2D one.
I think that 2D animation is a very versatile medium as the drawing style and design can be easily implemented into 2D software such as Toon Boom Studio.
The problems with 3D animation is that the three dimensionality of the medium can result in a camera that is incorrectly positioned in the scene and it may be forgotten entirely. This is not a problem in 2D animation, as the camera is always directly facing the scene and can be moved, zoomed in or out or panned across the scene as required without resulting in odd camera angles.
I also think that 3D animation feels too remote when the animation is being created. The animator is kind of distanced from the building blocks of the animation; they are unable to physically change details of the model as it is being animated, the model, itself must be altered, then re-imported into the 3D environment.
Overall, I prefer 2D animation a lot more than 3D animation as I believe that it offers much more freedom to the animator than a 3D environment.

The Twelve Principles of Animation

1. Squash and Stretch.
-This technique will not be used in the animatic as I think that the effect of squash and stretch is too cartoon-like for the tone of this animatic. The tone of the animatic that I will be producing is too serious for the effect to be added, and I think that if squash and stretch is used in the animatic, it would detract from the overall feel of the animation.

2. Anticipation.
-This technique will not be used as there is no action that requires this principle. The animation is smooth and there is no motion in the animatic that requires anticipation for it to be executed effectively.

3. Staging.
-This is an important element in the animatic as I have considered different camera angles and changes in perspective in the production stages and I think that this technique will work well in the animatic.

4. Straigh Ahead Action and Pose to Pose.
-This technique will be applied in the production of the animatic as Toon Boom's exposure sheet allows the quick copying and pasting of a previous drawing into the next frame so that it an be quickly adapted, making the drawing animated.

5. Follow through and Overlapping.
-This technique will be implemented in the animatic as sequences like the balloon floating on the air will need to use the Flollow through and overlapping technique.

6. Slow in and Slow out.
-This technique will not be used in the animatic as the action is all paced at the same level during the course of the animation. The animation will have a steady pace through the course of the animatic as the animation is timed in synch with the beat of the soundtrack.

7. Arcs.
- The use of arcs will be a very important technique in the production of the animatic as I will use arcs to chart the progress of the balloon when it floats through the air as it is passed to other characters. The use of arcs will allow me to create a more believable line of motion that the balloon will follow, and so it will enhance the overall animation quality.

8. Secondary action.
-There will be elements of Secondary action in the animatic as, when the Pierrot is walking his arms will swing. When other characters appear in the animatic, they will be animated as the Pierrot walks towards them.
Another example of where secondary action will be implemented is when the Pierrot does his double take. His head will turn towards the bench where one character is sitting while he is walking and he will stop and turn round to face the character.

9. Timing.
-Timing is a very important aspect of the animatic, as the soundtrack that I will be using has a steady rhythym and I will be timing the Pierrot's footsteps in synch with this, so that the Pierrot steps in time with the beat of the soundtrack.

10. Exaggeration.
- I will not be using exaggeration in the animatic for the same reason that I am not using Squash and Stretch. I think that the technique is too cartoon-like to fit in with the theme and tone of the animatic, and I believe that the use of exaggeration will detract from the animatic's tone.

11. Solid Drawing.
- This technique will not be used in the animatic as the animation is not fixed on one point; the scenes, camera angles and perspective all change over the course of the animatic. The only area that solid drawing may be used is in a fixed sequence such as a walk cycle, but I do not think that is a principle that will be used frequently in the animatic.

12. Appeal.
- The animatic will have appeal as I will concentrate on the Pierrot's personality and try to express this through the way he is animated to the best of my ability. The other characters will also have appeal, as I want to convey to the audience that each of these characters has their own backstory, but we do not learn of this in the animatic. I will also concentrate in giving these characters a full personality in the way that they are animated.

Pierrot

This is an additional design of the Pierrot.

Secondary character designs

These are the basic character designs of the secondary characters that the Pierrot meets in the animatic.

Animatic Storyboard

This is the storyboard for the animatic. I like how I have created this storyborad, as the sketchy quality of the storyboard allows me to think more creatively than by using a highly detailed version of the storyboard.

Animatic thumbnails

These are the thumbnails for the animatic, showing all the key points of the story.

Pierrot walking scratch sound 2

This is the second sound effect of the Pierrot walking. The sound was created by recording tapping on the desk.

Pierrot scratch sound 1

This is the first scratch sound effect of the Pierrot walking. The sound was created by recording the noise of the keyboard keys being struck.

Chime scratch sound

This is the scratch sound for the chime effect that plays when the characters hold onto the balloon and turns into colour.

Balloon scratch sound

This is the scratch sound of the balloon appearing in the animatic.

Background scenery

These are the initial designs for the background scenery of different scenes in the animatic.

The scene on the right is where the Pierrot sees a man in a boat below the wall that he is walking on.

The scene on the top left is the park scenery where the Pierrot walks past and sees a woman sitting alone on the bench as he walks past, as shown on the bottom left.

These initial designs show the basic camera angles and perspectives that will be used in the final animatic.

Initial balloon designs

These are the initial character deisgns for the balloon. As you can see, the only difference between the two balloon designs is that the colour of the balloon changes to red and frown lines appear on the balloon, making it look angry.

The design of the balloons had to be kept simple as I felt that overcomplicating the balloon's design would detract from the sinister feel when the balloon changes state in the animatic.

Final Pierrot character design

This is a close up of the Pierrot's final design as will be seen in the animatic.

As can be previously seen, there has been no major changes to the Pierrot's character design. The character's design has not changed drastically becuase I think that the Pierrot's design was exactly what I was expecting it to be, even at the initial design stages.

Overall, I am very pleased with the Pierrot's character design and I think that his facial design and expression captures the character's personality.

Initial Pierrot deisgn

This is the initial design of the Pierrot as he will be drawn in Toon Boom Studio.

This is the initial colour version of the Pierrot as he will appear in the animatic.

When the character was being drawn in Toon Boom Studio, I found that I had to colour the Pierrot's outline in navy blue as the black colouring on his sleeve and shirt were running into one another. The Pierrot's hair outline had to be changed to dark grey because of this problem as well, but I think that I have overcome these problems effectively.

As of this stage, the final Toon Boom Studio design of the Pierrot is still pending, but I think that this initial character design has helped to rectify problems that might have occurred when the final animatic is being produced.

Background designs

These are the background designs for the animatic. The animatic is set in a city, so the backgrounds consist of cobbled streets, a wall or other feature in the immediate background and a silhouetted cityscape in the far background.

In the overall design of the background, I intend to keep the environments simple but effective so that the backgrounds will tie in with the tone of the animatic.

Script format

Scene one:
Set in a monochrome world.
+ Close up of the Pierrot's feet walking along the cobbled streets. (sounds of footsteps as he walks.)
+ Camera pans up to a long shot of the Pierrot walking.
+ Close up of the Pierrot stopping as a string appears from the sky. A side quarter view of the Pierrot as grabs the string and pulls the golen balloon down.(the balloon is the only object in colour.)
+ Close up of the Pierrot's face as he turns into colour. (A chime sound effect as he turns into colour.)
+ Long shot of the Pierrot as he strides down the street with the happy face balloon.
+ Long shot of the Pierrot walking over the bridge with the balloon.
Scene 2
+ Close up of the boy with a sad face.
+ Long shot of the Pierrot walking over to the boy.
+ medium shot of the Pierrot handing over the balloon, a diuplicate appearing and the boy takes this one. (the balloon slightly changes colour as it is duplicated.)
+ Close up of the boy as he smiles and changes colour. (Chime sound again as he changes colour.)
Scene 3
+ Long shot of the Pierrot striding away, down the cobbled streets.
+ Medium shot of the Pierrot walking down a road lined with trees and an iron fence in the background.
+ Medium shot of a lady sitting on a bench by herself looking sad.
+ Wide shot of the Pierrot striding past the lady, then steps back and turns towards the lady.
+ Medium shot of the Pierrot holding out the balloon and the balloon duplicates.
+ Close up of the lady appearing into colour. (Chime sound as she turns into colour. Balloon changes a darker shade as it duplicates.)
+ Wide shot of the Pierrot as he strides away.

Scene 4
+ Long shot of the Pierrot striding past a row of houses.
+ Long Shot of the Pierrot stopping.
+ Close up of the Pierrot looking up to a second floor window.
+ Close up of a girl crying at the window.
+ Long shot of the Pierrot looking up at the second floor window where the girl is looking out. Pierrot holds out balloon and the dupliacte floats up to her.
+ Close up of the girl grabbing the balloon and changing into colour. (chime sounds. Balloon changes a darker shade as it duplicates.)
+ Long shot of the Pierrot striding away.

Scene 5
+Scene one:
Set in a monochrome world.
+ Close up of the Pierrot's feet walking along the cobbled streets. (sounds of footsteps as he walks.)
+ Camera pans up to a long shot of the Pierrot walking.

Scene 6
+ Medium shot of Pierrot as he looks up to the balloon.
+ Close up of the balloon which has turned red and it's happy expression has changed to one of anger.
+ Close up of the Pierrot smiling and letting go of the balloon. The Pierrot fading back to black and white as he lets go of the balloon.
+ Long shot of the balloon floating away into the sky, the scene fading to black and white.

Pierrot profile and character rules

Character Rules:

1: He always holds onto the balloon, even when passing on the dupilcate to the other characters.
2: He strides along the streets in a confident manner.
3: He is always impassive and expressionless. His only other expression is a blank smile.
4: He is enigmatic, a bit of a mystery and no one really knows who he is or what his purpose is, yet they trust him.
5: He never talks.

Profile:

Name: The Pierrot.
Eye colour: Blue.
Facial appearance: white face make-up. Red tear drop under his left eye. Black cross over his right eye. Blue lips.
Hair colour: Black.
Physical appearance: Tall and slim.
Clothing: Black top hat. Black and white patchwork shirt with black and white neck ruffle with large red buttons and ruffles around the end of the sleeves. White mitten-gloves. Black trousers. Black pointy boots.

Balloon design

This is the design for the balloon. During the course of the animatic, the balloon changes state from happy (as shown on the far right) to angry (as shown on the near right).

The design of the balloon is simple as I was trying to create the effect of the character of the balloon being quite sinister. even though the balloon could be seen as an inanimate object, I was trying to create a bit of depth behind the character of the balloon. I wanted to create the idea that the balloon is not what it seems and this gave the inspiration for the balloon changing state through the course of the animatic.

The balloon changes colour gradually as it begins to change state and the only difference in terms of deisgn is the addition of frowning eyebrows and change of colour.

This was intentional as I wanted the balloon to seem quite sinister and i decided that the best possible way to do this would be to only slightly change the charater's design.

Final Pierrot design

This is the final design for the Pierrot. The design of the Pierrot's costume is the only thing that has changed.

I have incorporated elements of both of the initial costume designs into this one. The ruffled collar with the pom-pom has been adapted from the first inital outfit design and I have used the black and white patchwork shirt design from the second initial outfit and added ruffles around the ends of the sleeves as well as giving the Pierrot mitten-gloved hands.

The Pierrot also wears plain black trousers, which fan out towards the end of the trouser leg and he wears shoes with pointed toes.

it is undecided whether the Pierrot shall be wearing a hat, but I think at this moment that it is not entirely necessary as I feel that his character design is complete.

The Pierrot's face is painted white and he has a red tear drop under his left eye and a black cross over his right eye as this is incorporates both the clown and mime elements of his character.

Overall, I am very peased by the design of the Pierrot and I think that his character is depicted effectively. I think that his costume design suits the character and I feel that the character had been fully developed to the best of his potential.

Pierrot Design

This is the initial character outfit that I designed for the Pierrot.
The Pierrot is a sort of mix between a clown and a mime, so I tried to establish both types of costume in these initail designs.

In conclusion, I think that several elements of the design work really well. For example, I think that the black and white ruffled collar works really well, and I think that the fitted top is more suitable than the loose one, although I do like the patchwrok design on the second outfit.
I also think that it is a better idea to have mitten-gloved hands as opposed to finger-gloved hands as it will be easier to animate, and I think that the ruffles around the end of the gloves is a nice touch.
Another thing that I really like about these designs are the pom-poms on the second outfit, as i think that it adds a distinct feature to the character and I think that this is one of the features that I would like to keep in the final design. The pointed shoes is another feature that I really like in this design, and I would also like to keep this aspect in the final design.

Pierrot Character design

This is my character design of the Pierrot in the animatic.

I think that this deisn captures the character of the Pierrot effectively as it shows his pensive nature.

Breakdown of Key Frames

This is the preliminary breakdown of the key frames in the animatic.

• Camera focuses on the Pierrot walking down the streets.
• Top-down view of the Pierrot's feet as he stops.
• Pierrot looking up, the camera tilting up as he looks at the sky.
• Pierrot seeing a balloon stirng in the sky.
• Detailed shot of the balloon with a happy face.
• Pierrot holding onto the balloon string and becoming coloured.
• Pierrot walking down the street.
• Pierrot meets a boy sitting in the streetsand holds out the balloon to him.
• Balloon duplicates, and the boy takes the duplicate balloon and becomes coloured.
• Pierrot continuing down the street and meeting another person.
• Pierrot holding out balloon to the person.
• Balloon clones again and person becomes coloured. (This step is repeated three times.)
• Pierrot stops and looks up.
• he sees a balloon string in the sky.
• Detailed shot of the balloon, which now has an angry face. As the balloon has given away part of itself, it becomes angrier.

Animatic - Characters and setting

Setting: Cobbled streets with a city background. The cityscape will be silhouetted in black with white squares representing windows. The entire background will be in monochrome.

Characters:

• The Pierrot, who acts as the main character of the story.
• The Boy that the Pierrot passes the balloon to.
• The Balloon represents different emotions.
• The other characters in the story that recieve a duplicate balloon as Pierrot passes it to them. As the Pierrot holds out the balloon for the people to take, the balloon clones itself and they recieve a duplicate of it.

Animatic - Prelimanary story

A sad Pierrot walking down the monochrome streets. A balloon witha happy face on it pops out from the clouds. The Pierrot catches the balloon (which is in colour unlike the rest of the background) and when he catches it, a smile hits his face and then he suddenly comes into colour as well. The Pierrot then passes the balloon to the people around him and they become happy as well and colour appears in them.
Once the balloon is passed to enough people, another balloon appears from the clouds with a different expression on its face, an angry one, and the cycle starts again.

Generating Ideas

At the moment, I am still struggling to come up with a concept for the animatic. To combat this, I used the website "Seventhsanctum.com" to help generate ideas that I could use in my animatic. However, I found that this website did not help very much as the ideas that the website generated were either too vague or were too detailed for me to implement into an animatic. I think that I will need to try and brainstorm ideas on my own as the requirements for the animatic has to be met.

To generate a concept for the animatic I will have to keep the story simple, but it must have enough depth to hold the attention of the audience. I will need to further my consideration of possiblilties to create a story for my animatic.

Areas to consider

I think that the areas that I must consider while working on my animatic are:
Characterisation and purpose,
Aim,
Inspiration,
Style and tone.

I think that I will need to research these elements so that I can implement these into the story that I will be creating for my animatic. I intend to come up with an idea that I can change into a story, which I can then use by creating a storyboard to define how the story is broken down and how the action that is taking place in the story is played out in the animatic.

The main points that I will need to consider is the story and the depth of personality of my characters. The characters must have a detailed background profile so that they are given a sense of life.

At the moment, I am still considering the creative possibilities that exsist and which themes I wish to address in the animation. I intend to use a particular theme or prompt as the basis of my animatic and then use this prompt to create a story which I can then animate.

I think that the breaking down of a story by using a treatment to identify the key points, then creating a storyboard of the key moments is the best way for me to start thinking about my animation and what it is that I wish to achieve in my animation.

Considering Possibilities

I haven't really decided what I want to do in terms of my animatic yet. At the moment, I am merely considering the options, putting a lot of thought into the required elements and how I could use these.
I am considering the elements of my animatic and, most especially, the creative possibilities that are avaliable to me.