Informal Animation Lecture and New Synopsis

Last week, one of the third year animators, Benwyn, set up an animation meeting in A09 for yesterday afternoon (Wednesday 9th Nov) to present our work together for feedback and discussion where students may feel less inhibited.

The session went great, and I got great positive feedback on my synopsis as well as suggestions and I gave my advice for other films as well so it was a good opportunity to voice those opinions.

This is the synopsis I wrote after my tutorial with Leonie and what I presented (unfortunately without visuals) to the rest of the group.

SYNOPSIS - 9/11/11

Beneath an oak tree, a little girl (Amber) and a tree Spirit collect small acorns, unaware of each other. As they draw near, they reach for the last, and also the most perfect, acorn. After a brief struggle, the Spirit emerges victorious and scurries away with the acorn. Amber sulks. The Spirit hesitates and reappears to offer her the acorn as a gift. Amber is delighted with the present and the Spirit digs a hole for her to plant it, but Amber strings it onto a necklace instead. Although confused by the girl's actions, they play together until the end of the day.

Amber returns to the tree every day to play with her new friend, through snowy winters, blossoming spring, scorching summers and golden autumns. Each day, the Spirit gives her an acorn as a gift to plant, but Amber continues to string them onto her necklace.

One Autumn, the girl is swinging on a tree swing and the branch snaps, sending her tumbling down the hill. The girl is hurt and upset, but the Spirit is angry at her for breaking the tree. Amber leaves, crying.

That night there is a terrible storm, Amber looks out of her bedroom window in concern. Outside, the Spirit tries to stay out of the rain and tend to the tree when lightning hits it, cleaving it in two.

The following morning, Amber returns to the tree to play with the Spirit, but it is too late: the tree is destroyed and there is no sign of the Spirit. Quietly, she sits by the charred tree trunk and cries.

The Spirit returns one last time, faded and sapped of energy, to firmly gives her the last acorn. Amber takes it slowly, and instead of threading it, she plants it in the ground. Taking her necklace, she snaps it to drop all the other acorns into the hole too.

Later they return to the hill to see a tiny green sapling growing from a huge pile of acorns! They dance around it and Amber accidentally steps on the little green shoot: oops! She takes her foot away and is relieved to see it's still ok, they dance happily again. 

END

I prefer it much more to the versions I had before and everyone seemed very happy with what I was doing with it now and how clear it was. They suggested that the acorns in the beginning be really small and deformed so that when Amber and the Spirit fight over the last one, it is the most perfect, shining example of an acorn that any child would fight over. It was a good suggestion and I added it to the synopsis above.

The rest of the week will be spent re-boarding my entire film and putting it in an animatic for next Monday (14th November).

Poster Pitches

Today we sketched out poster ideas for our films. I drew some thumbnails in pen, aiming for a more 'teaser' poster approach, where you don't give much away in the film and keep the characters quite mysterious. Some of them are aimed at children, while others are perhaps more dark/suggestive to draw in an older audience.

I started small and drew some of the best ones a bit bigger as well. My personal favourites are the bottom left poster with the simple tree/swing and the one above that where the spirit is shown in Amber's shadow.

I've also simplified my working title to "Great Oak, Little Acorn" as previously, "Great Oaks From Little Acorns Grow" suggested some kind of investment and wasn't quite mirroring the story. Still, it's just a working title for now so further changes may be made.

You'll also notice I'm drawing the Spirit as a tear-drop shaped ghost at the moment. This is purely for early representation purposes as the look of the Spirit has not yet been finalized.

I'll be adding more poster ideas as I go, but for now I'll be concentrating on nailing down the story and drawing storyboards for our seminar next week.

Ideas Pitch

Hello and welcome to the production blog for my final film at Newport University. :)

Today was the pitching session for my fellow third years and I. Overall our ideas were well-received but there is still much to do to make our films stand out from the crowd!

My film is about an unlikely friendship between girl and tree spirit, how they grow up together and eventually move on from the loss of that friendship.

This is the synopsis that I presented today:

Upon a hill grows an ancient Oak tree, which also happens to be  home to a playful tree Spirit. Amber, an imaginative and curious youngster, befriends this Spirit and through the years and seasons they form the strongest of friendships. Eventually Amber reaches adulthood and although her personality is no different from the little girl she once was, the Spirit knows it’s time for her to grow up.

One night, the Oak and Spirit that was once the centre of Amber’s life is struck down by lightning. Heartbroken at the loss of her dearest friend, she breaks down. But when she sees a tiny sapling tree rising from the destruction, the seed of change starts to grow inside her.

And here is some of my initial concept art for my main character, Amber, and the grand old Oak Tree.

My feedback basically suggested that I put limitations on my animation to reduce the workload and avoid the "full" Disney-style animation that I'm used to as I'm working individually on this. Possibly even animating mostly in silhouette... all these decisions will be worked through in the coming months. All my progress will be posted here so do check back for more updates.

Thanks for reading, see you again soon!
Gemma