I’ve considered the ideas and approaches I could take from feedback, and I’ve decided that I’m going to commit to my first idea! Hopefully I’ve explained a the idea of the story below a bit to make sense of where I want to go with it.
Main Idea
This project is going to an animated short, a pitch/pilot video to be used as proof of concept for a potentially either a film, web series, or graphic novel/web comic I’d consider producing in the future. The goal of this project is to highlight character animation and animal/creature animation and design, as well as add a bit of commentary that could be applied to real world issues/scenarios.
Medium and Scope:
I’m leaning towards doing 2D traditional digital animation, but originally, I wanted to make the project as a 3D animation.
I’ve been wanting to realize this in a 3D platform (with a potential 2D animated Opening/Closing sequence), as I hadn’t really made a many 3D animated videos outside of seconds-long character showcases. I could look for free or inexpensive assets to use for this project, but there are original characters that I’d want to make, and with about four characters we’d be following in this story, it could take a bit of time to model on its own to get ready for animating unless I start modeling them asap this semester. I already have 2 character modeled, but I’ve been wanting to remake them. Three of the characters are animal character, one being a bird, so that would be interesting to play around with tool to flesh out fur and feathers just right, and I’d also need to figure out voice syncing for dialogue.
For this project, I want to hone in on the animation aspect, with character expressions/movements/interactions, and want to have as much time as possible to focus on this. When taking this into account, I want to have my production process be as streamlined as possible, as time management is especially valuable in a project like this, which is why I’m deciding to aim for a 2D animated approach. I’m confident in character design and have drawn/animated these characters several times before, and I’m experienced in Adobe Animate if I had to use that as the main software for animating. I’ve primarily used Animate for my animations, but I’d like to explore other software for animating, and it’d be a nice experience to learn new apps and have the versatility from knowing different applications anyhow.
Depending on how quickly things are complete, this is subject to change from 2D to 3D animation, but for now I’m keeping it at 2D animation, and there’s still plenty more for me to discover in the medium regardless.
Resources & Equipment:
Animation Software – I already have Adobe Animate for doing 2D animation, but if I can get access to other programs, I’d like to try and incorporate them in some way, and I definitely need to explore environment design if I want to make this world feel alive, or at least believable for characters to move about in.
Script/Story/Writing – I have a general idea of where I’d want to take the story, and in the instance of this pitch/pilot, I’d be revising a short side plot that the characters experience mid adventure in this greater story. I’d just need to write up a script for scene direction and dialogue.
Pre-Production & Storyboarding – I have photoshop for storyboarding and laying out character sheets, environment backdrops (this will take place in a jungle setting), and other designs.
Music/Recording Software – I have Audacity for recording voice actors (around 4 including myself) and creating other sounds/ambience, but it wouldn’t hurt to explore more powerful software if I can get access to them. I have a music DAW (Mixcraft Pro Studio 8) and a personal MIDI piano (Arturia MiniLab model), that I can use to acquire or make additional tracks.
Project: Animated Pitch/Pilot
Project Title: Beyond My Walls
Beyond My Walls is based on an unpublished novel I wrote, set in the future of an alternate timeline in which humans have attempted to, simultaneously, abandon and control nature.
Premise: In an alternate timeline, humanity has advanced in technology slightly earlier and faster than in our own, but with limitless ambition and complete disregard for their impact on the world, humanity had exhausted all carbon-based resources (flora, fauna, fossil fuels, etc.) and nearly brought about a mass extinction event like never before. In attempts to finally “make amends” and find a renewable yet unharmful energy source, humans discovered a new subject of matter that has an unfathomable ability to export neurological emissions and redirect DNA. Humans have harnessed this through a new technology that can extract human brainwaves in abundance for a renewable energy source. They’ve also learned that this energy can be on the overexpansive population to morph people into various species of animal as a way to occupy several niches in different ecosystems and “restore” the planet’s biodiversity. Of course, this became a highly unethical injustice that’s been kept in secrecy, until an inquisitive girl discovers the truth after leaving home and falling headfirst into the natural world humanity has since distanced itself.
The Story
The Main Story – The story takes place in a near-distance future (around 23rd century/ 2200s). Humans guilt ridden by their past actions either hug the sky or cling to remote sanctions of the world in an attempt to remove themselves from nature with as little physical interaction with it as possible. The people in this world found use in this neuron-based energy extracted from brainwaves, but have been led to believe this is an unharmful, “eco-friendly” mechanism used on normal animals. They have no idea that this technology is quite lethal, and can only be extracted successfully in a specific way. The human brain alone has been found to miraculously survive this ordeal, but only in a fixed state of consciousness. This is why so many people have been [involuntarily] morphed into animals, since their physiology generally takes enough excess energy away from the brain to fuel other parts of the body (since animals don’t always need to rely on intelligence as much as humans do for survival), and this keeps the hyper activity of the human brain from turning the extraction tool into a volatile, self-destruction device that would fizzle out extraction and otherwise kill person subjected to it. This twisted story for how this energy source is utilized has been going on for centuries, as not many people were brave enough to question it and live to tell the tale. That is until Robin, a sheltered but overly curious girl, decides to leave home in hopes for a new adventure. She gets more than what she asks for when she ends up in the jungle below, and learning the truth behind it all after encountering the people, morphed into animals, who inhabit the world, and are in need of help. How does she know this? Because, somehow, she can talk to them!
Main Themes/Moral/Lesson
For the most part, this story falls with the action/adventure or fantasy/science fiction genre, but adds subtle commentary on the humanity’s relationship with nature.
It’s a beautiful world we live in, but we often take it for granted. It’s an unnerving but crucial fact that we need the Earth much more that it needs us (or any lifeform in particular). Species have come and gone on the planet, and it merely just lets us live on its surface, to put in a poetic sense. That’s not to say it wouldn’t “appreciate” our help when necessary, but humans tend to impose themselves and often push far past boundaries than needed, regardless of their intention. Some of the best interests in mind can actually lead to the most destructive outcomes, and sometimes it is best to leave things to work themselves out. There’s a delicate balance to nature that’s rooted in an existence regulated by a raw, chaotic cycle of give and take, and while you can suppress it, there’s no way you can have ultimate control over nature. In the end, it does what it wants; you can only hope to slow down the process. In relevance to humans and their relationship with nature, it begs the question how we interact with our unpredictable world — What exactly justifies for us intervene as bystanders in the game of life? Do we/should we step in and try to control/guide it at every turn, or do we just accept it as it is and leave it be?
Pitch/Pilot Synopsis
This is a few chapters into the story already, structured as one of those lower points in one of the characters’ development. This scene center’s around Robin’s character arc, as at the beginning of the story, while intuitive and eager to help, has been rather sheltered in the urban jungle, and hasn’t quite grasped the concept and danger of its natural counterpart just yet, and has made several mistakes that’s put the group in danger before. She’s traveling with her newfound animal friends when they encounter another animal in distress (trapped, predator attack, etc.) She goes over to try to help it but the animal lashes out at her instead. One of Robin’s friends rushes in to fight off the enraged animal, but gets wounded in the skirmish. He then gets into a short, heated argument with Robin about situational awareness and is fed up with her needlessly jeopardizing the group. He then collapses from exhaustion and hunger, and the group settles down for the night, where after calming down, Robin and her friend have a heart to heart discussion where he gives her a lesson on the reality, and the brutality, of the world that they [the people morphed into animals] live in.
The Characters
In this pilot, there would be at least 4 characters featured (and potentially one to two other unnamed, unspoken extra/background characters for the sake of carrying the sequence)
1 human character, 3 (or 4 including the extras) animal characters, 2 move bipedally (1 can fly), 2 move quadrupedally, and 1 can move in both forms of locomotion.
Cast List: 4 voice actors. 1 female, 3 males (I may be voicing one of the characters myself)
Animal characters include a black leopard, a capuchin monkey, and a bearded vulture. (the 4th unnamed animal character is a species TBD)
* There is a fictional language that is apart of the world’s lore, and several of the animal characters can speak it outside of English. They also have non-human names with meanings that correlate to the grammar in that language. As a result, some characters may break into the language through little quips, phrases, or short sentences. Not anything too confusing/complex, more like exclamations or simple catchphrases.
Proof of Concept
Some Character Designs/Sketches
