The pic that started it all.......

Hey guys, just thought as reference to include the image that I pitched to Tom last year that gave the theme of the short film I wanted to make. Gonçalo Pereira created this image called "Rabbit Menace". You can find more of his awsum stuff on http://rawgon.blogspot.com/

And here is some more concepts of the same project

Sketchy sketchy sketchy

So. Here's the world's roughest animatic. I knew there'd be a good reason behind doing this, and a lot has to do with the sort of music we'll have at certain points. Needless to say I'll be watching plenty of action comedies for inspiration...

My version of the storyboard trims down to 2:20 without any soundtrack reference, just going by what feels good. On and off I was listening to some of our inspirational songs (which I have more of btw), but there's no real continuity in listening reference.

I think this gives my idea across better than my disjointed storyboard did, so I'm really interested to hear what you guys have to say now that I at least think it's coherent.

Another inspiring short

Here's another short film I just saw. It also has a mix of 2D and 3D, but it's much more angled to the 2D side of things. Good reference for character animation and design none the less. It's got a good comical feel to it too, if there's some way we can encapsulate that somehow, that would be cool.

Knight Fever - Written, Directed and Animated by Christopher Minos.

War stories

Image via Wikipedia

This is a number of weeks overdue to be posted, but better late than never, right?

I just finished watching the Incredibles with dear little sibling, and I remembered there was a story I was going to post up. It's late partly because a) I got called into work a lot, and b) I forgot due to point a), which brings me to point c): I have an amazing lack of short term memory.

So I was watching the Incredibles and reminiscing on how fantastic and memorable the story is, how flawed and brilliant the characters are, etc. etc. etc... It got me thinking about how we can make a great story that's interesting, and with some great design opportunities.

Which is sort of opposite what I was thinking when I re-read this story idea I had...

This is a more whimsical film, that has a good wartime moral, but isn't too heavy handed, and can still be funny.
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We can see a tranquil setting, a green field with a tree, birds and butterflies. An explosion suddenly fills the screen, transforming the green landscape into a destroyed battlefield. (using the awesome gw2 trailer idea,) we see a montage of scenes of battle. The soliders battling are basically the same, except for the colour of their uniforms, orange and blue (or whatever colour looks awesome).

An Orange soldier is preparing for battle. He is remarkably smaller and less adept than his other soldier companions. As he finishes preparing himself, he pulls out and looks at a picture of his family. He is forced to quickly put it away as he is thrust into the battlefield. In his haste, he trips, or does something equally as clumsy, and faceplants in the dirt.

He sits up and looks around. The explosions and gunfire are suddenly gone, echoing in the silence. Over the other side of the hill, he sees another soldier dressed in Blue, similarly looking around, lost. They both freeze when they see eachother. The Orange solider looks between his gun and his adversary, hesitating. The Blue soldier fumbles with his gun, and accidentally fires into the sky.

Terrified, both soldiers are spurred into action, running headlong towards each other, firing blindly, not hitting anything. Orange trips again and faceplants in the dirt. Purple arrives in front of Orange at point blank, and tries to fire several rounds at him. He fails, and his gun clicks with an empty barrel.

Orange quickly realises his advantage, and jumps up, aiming at Purple. Purple cowers. Orange can't look as he pulls the trigger.

There is an odd sound as Orange's gun jams. He examines his gun, hitting it, trying to fix it. Purple looks up, surprised and curious. Purple holds out his hand, offering to help fix it. Not thinking, Orange hands it over. Purple fiddles with it for a few seconds before handing the gun back, fixed. Orange accepts it gratefully, and both smile before they remember where they are.

Both clumsily jump back to their respective positions of aiming and cowering. Orange aims again, but still has to look away. Purple looks up timidly, and motions to wait for a second. He casually pushes Orange's gun barrel aside as he reaches for a pocket.

Orange shoots, still looking away. He opens his eyes an looks over to see Purple still alive, clutching a photograph. Orange is dumbstruck. He lowers his gun and reaches for his photograph. (A few shots of each photograph in here to show some similarities...) After looking at his photo for a moment, Orange throws his gun away and helps Purple to his feet.

... then there's shaking hands or something, and walking into the sunset, possibly turning into a nuclear blast. Seeing the blast, they both make all haste in the opposite direction.

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So that was an idea I had. That said, I've also done some concept work for our other ideas, which I'll post up after I've scanned them. Which won't be tonight. But soon. Sooner than the last gap between posts.

Inspiring Pidgeons

A brilliant short film called Pidgeon Impossible, plus some useful behind the scenes stuff.

http://www.pigeonimpossible.com/