Post Production!

The process I used after animation is one that I have done so many times and one that I will continue to do so in the future. This involved adding effects on Adobe After Effects and then adding sounds on Adobe Premiere Pro. This finishes the production off professionally. I added the ghosts and the magic protruding from The Magical Musical Adventurers recorder. I masked the ghosts to make it seem as if they emerging from under the ground in a ghostly way. I formed the magic by creating a beam with a glow effect and then adding a scatter effect to it. I then found the required sounds effect from the internet and edited them into the footage.

Animating!

All the preproduction work was complete and it was time to animate. I initially contemplated between doing the animation either on the lightbox or Adobe Flash. I felt more confident drawing the characters freehand so thought that the lightbox would be best, but after considering style, I thought that the line achieved with Flash would suit the project. I have also never used Flash for a project like this so thought it would be good practice. Whilst using Flash I learnt new techniques and processes such as symbols. This made the animation process much more simple and added a smooth feel to the animation. I drew all the animation without any colour and then filled it in when the animation was complete. I thought this way it would be easier to change the animation if needed.

The Backgrounds!

The drawings of the backgrounds were very much a formality. I had already gathered the style of the animation through the character designs. I decided to do a sophisticated three-tone block colour style that I knew would fit perfectly with the characters. I also knew how many backgrounds I needed by reference from the animatic. I drew some shot layouts and whilst doing this I decided to change one composition. I haven’t used layouts before but they are useful because I may have decided to change the composition whilst animating and this would have been costly on time.

Shot Layout

Background 1

Background 2

Background 3

The Animatic!

I have created animatics in previous projects and found that, when drawing directly from the storyboard, I needed to add additional shots to make it flow and make sense. Animatics are always essential in these types of projects as they can highlight timing to help with animating. I did experiment with producing dope sheets for the sequence but I found that it was delaying the process this way and decided to time the animatic perfectly, as I have done in other projects. I think I will use dope sheets when working with a team on a project like this because it will be a more detailed reference for the animator in the group. I added a wash of colour to the animatic to give me a clearer idea on how to create the background that will be used with the animation.

Dope Sheet Experiment

Animation Sequence Animatic

Storyboarding!

When I came to storyboarding the script, I started with a storyboard template with a stiff boundary. I did find, with this template, I tended to want to draw the shots very detailed and spent a lot of time doing each one. This meant that it took me quite a while to draw just the opening sequence. I quickly scraped the template and I hand drew my boundaries and roughed out the story. I decided to focus and nail the particular scene that I was going to animate. However, as I focused on one scene, some of the characters I had created became unnecessary. In future, I will use this experience to decide on the scene before I create the characters. I received feedback on the rough storyboard and changed it accordingly. This was a much quicker and more coherent process than I had previously put to practice. Once I had my final roughed storyboard, I digitally returned to the template to create an animatic.   

Template Storyboard

Rough Storyboard

Character Development!

From the completed script I had all my characters identified in my episode. I bought a bigger sketchbook to create more refined sketches than what I had done so in the small book. I developed each character from initial concept to final simplified shape with minimal lines, ready for animating. I did refer back to my smaller book to make quick sketches. I liked the combination between the different sized books as my drawing naturally changed to fit the change in size. I think I will adopt this process in future units.

Early Concept

Early Concept

Character in Scenario

Final Concept

Character in pose

The Script!

I then thought it was time to write the script. I was quite excited about writing one, as I have never done so before. I soon became engrossed and found the writing process very enjoyable. I wanted a script that had very little plot holes and this frame of mind inspired me into creating a detailed story for the episode.  In previous projects I found myself storyboarding a story and essentially making it up as I drew each shot. This is not a great way to go about the process, as the story can become weak and loose continuity. I did find, however, when storyboarding the script, that I could have written more direction on specific camera angles to aid the process. Overall the script to storyboard was successful.

Extract from scene 4 of the the pilot episode of The Magical Musical Adventurer