Dylan J. – Final Concept

*This concept is subject to change, but this is a general breakdown of what I want to do/ how I want to go about my thesis project.

Main Project Projection:

This will be a 2D animated video that will serve as a pilot pitch. This pitch would be used as a proof of concept used as a foundational premise for [hopefully] either a film or web series. Currently I’m planning to animate this tradigitally (traditional frame-by-frame on a digital platform) in Adobe Animate with other Apps like Photoshop or After Effects for extra compositional effects, although I may switch/use other apps as well I might discover along this production journey. Since animation can be time consuming, especially 2D traditional hand drawing, the duration of the video will be short, or as long as the script would be, which in theory I’m not aiming to make it too lengthy. I’d be aiming around 5 or so minutes, but if it spans any longer, I would be adamant about keeping it at least under 10 minutes. Hopefully I can fashion the script in a way that it wouldn’t expand to such a length. As mentioned before, there will be a script, with dialogue/interactions between a small number of characters. Animal characters will be present in this pitch pilot, as I’m looking to specialize in creature animation and will be primary focusing on internalizing the animal moment in these characters, and will be showcasing both bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion.

Inspirations, Aspirations, and Additional Features:

This project and story are based off of a fiction I wrote a few years ago, and in a way, it can be considered a passionate film adaptation of that fiction. I think this would be an interesting break away from other thesis projects that have done animated films (either 2D or 3D), as I’ve not really seen any that were animal centric or applied to a story driven setting rather than showcasing them as models or in demo reels. Animals have always been a captivating subject for me, and I typically draw/animate them predominantly, whether they are modern, prehistoric, or speculative. They offer unique possibilities for character designing, and can be used to propel the story in different creative approaches that any audience can tap into (the Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling is a big inspiration for me, showing how you can characterize animals in different degrees that while they are still wild beasts, they still faces struggles and challenges that carries a level of humanity so real that you can identify with it seamlessly, and that’s just baffling and amazing to me.). Its a limitless potential for storytelling that you can use to make virtually anything.

Being that this would be a pilot episode pitch, I’d also like to add in audio such as music and ambience. I have a music DAW in which I can use to make soundtracks for the project along with the help of storyboarding to time it correctly. The characters in this episode will also be talking and share dialogue amongst one another. I’m actually planning to voice one of the characters anyhow, but I would still need to look for at least 3 other voice actors to get voice recordings to use in the animation.

*Some stretch goals I’d like to add is an Opening and Closing Sequence with music tracks I’ve made for the project. If I can’t do this in full, I’d try to fashion it in the form of brief credits (thanking my voice actors, what programs I used, etc.)

The Hurdles of Story, Worldbuilding, and Consistency:

*Okay, so the story behind this project is HUGE, but I’m trying to condense in a way that’s highlight what’s happening just in a particular moment in the story. This whole episode/pilot/pitch only serves to introduce us to the characters and get a general idea of how their world functions. We’d just getting a sliver, a taste of this story and what it’s world is like. I won’t be trying to drop this whole grand adventure because it would just be too much to explain and digest in under 5 minutes. The goal is to simply gauge interest from the audience in this animation.

This animation is adapted from an unpublished fictional novel I’ve written. The catch is, this story has an expansive world and a considerable amount of lore to be explained. As a hyper-quick synopsis, this story takes place in a sci-fi future in which humans have been turned into animals as a means for extracting a new energy source. Already, that sounds like a lot to take in, which it is— this story is meant to be part of an ongoing trilogy or series, but in order to introduce this in a digestible manner, I’d have to heavily condense it, which is what I plan to do. The story in itself being too much to convey in just 5+ minutes in its entirety, but the allure to this story is the mystery behind it. You uncover the lore through the characters and environment, which gives me leeway to how I can project the pilot episode. Through this, I can pick a certain point in the story where there’s enough to introduce the world to the audience while not overwhelming with information. It’s a fine line regarding adequate “Show not Tell”, where the idea is to pinpoint or devise a part in the story where I can still get the point across of what the world is like without overexplaining it, which is what I’ll be aiming to do when I’m writing the script, designing concepts, and storyboarding for the animation.