Saturday, May 22, 2010

Animatic!

Here it is!




Feedback (especially about timing, poses, expressions) would be greatly appreciated!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Story Boards!

Alright, sooo, I have over 100 storyboards and pictures are a pain to add on a blog especially if you want them in a specific sequence. So I have uploaded them to my photobucket account. Just a note: they're ordered backwards for some stupid reason and the scanner bleached some of my linework too... Click here to see them!

And let me know if any of the storyboards aren't reading (like poses, expressions, backgrounds -the very few actually shown-), especially since there will be no dialogue in the short.

The storyboards may feel drawn out (lol pun) but we had to draw out all the key poses of the characters. just wait til i make the animatic!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Story Beats

So here's a rundown of what each shot will consist of


1. Outside shot of a fancy Italian restaurant, slow zoom in

2. Cut to inside the restaurant, pan across as we see rich, snobbish people eat

3. At end of pan a curious kid is peeking out from the kitchen

4. A hand from inside the kitchen snatches the kid back in

5. The hand belongs to a waiter who gestures the kid to stay in the kitchen

6. The waiter returns to his duties and the kid sighs in boredom

7. The kid looks around for something to do

8. He spots a big pot of cooked spaghetti with a chef’s hat beside it

9. He puts on the hat pretending to be a chef.

10. He twirls up some spaghetti onto a plate, leaving the fork in the spaghetti

11. He turns around to look for some spices, the spaghetti starts moving

12. With his back turned, the spaghetti is attempting to get up

13. The boy turns back around

14. In shock, he drops all the spices

15. A man made from the twirled spaghetti is stumbling about the plate

16. The boy notices that the spaghetti man is blind and spots a bowl of olives

17. The boy places the olives in place for the pasta man’s eyes

18. The spaghetti man adjusts his eyes and looks up at the boy

19. They exchange smiles

20. Ecstatic over his new creation, the kid looks for someone to show the spaghetti man

21. He sees the waiter pass by

22. And runs to him and holds out the plate

23. Without glancing over, the waiter assumes the plate is an entrée, placing it on a silver platter with a cover

24. The kid does a double take

25. The kid rushes over to the kitchen window and peeks out

26. He spots where the waiter went and panics

27. Inside the enclosed silver platter, the spaghetti man is confused and scared

28. The lid is lifted and the spaghetti man looks up in the blinding light

29. A fat man holding his fork and knife readies to eat the spaghetti man

30. Back in the kitchen, the kid readies to bolt out of the kitchen

31. Before he can dash out, the waiter enters, with the door smacking the kid down

32. The kid gets back up

33. And readies to go out again

34. But the waiter, with a new entrée now, stops the kid from going out once more

35. The kid looks around the kitchen for a solution

36. And he sees the giant pot of spaghetti

37. Back at the table, the spaghetti man dodges a striking fork

38. The fat man strikes again with the knife

39. The spaghetti man takes out the fork in the back of his head, blocking the knife

40. The spaghetti man jabs the fork in the fat man’s thumb

41. The fat man yelps

42. The fat man strikes again

43. Spaghetti man falls, his fork knocked out of his hands

44. The fat man goes for the final blow

45. A giant crash is heard in the kitchen, the fat man halts the knife an inch away from the spaghetti man

46. Through the kitchen door, a giant spaghetti monster leaps out roaring, the boy riding atop

47. The entire dining room screams

48. And they all flee from the restaurant

49. The spaghetti man gets up

50. And the kid scoops him up and hugs him

51. Then the monster, now friendly, hugs the two

52. The waiter looks at them angrily

53. The kid shrugs with a “Sorry” look


And then Credits.


Thoughts and suggestions on the story would greatly be appreciated! Especially since I'll be storyboarding all this immediately!

Ok, Big Change

So I decided to completely change my idea (and with a week left in concept, oh boy!) I've got the story down for sure and all that's left are turnarounds, storyboards and still frames from the short. And I'll keep the background inspirations cuz I'd like to incorporate them with this new short.

Here's some of the new characters:


So the basic run down of the story is that a bored kid (in the top pic) makes a man made out of spaghetti (also in top pic) come alive. The kid wants to show off his creation, and the waiter (2nd pic) mistakes it for an entree. And so the kid saves the spaghetti man by creating a spaghetti monster (top pic once more) that scares off the entire restaurant.

I'll post up the story beats shortly!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Background Style Inspirations

I'm not necessarily sure how I want the backgrounds to look, but here's some stylistic inspirations.

First is Chris Reccardi's and Lynne Naylor's short, "The Modifyers." I instantly fell in love with the backgrounds. The lines are gorgeous. And the use of shapes, especially in the buildings, is great. The buildings have great designs. The color palettes are gorgeous, but I feel they're a bit too mute for what I wanted to go for. Here's the short.









I also really enjoy Brandon Ragnar Johnson's backgrounds. His backgrounds feel like they're alive with great rhythm and movement. The colors are a treat, more along the lines I'm looking for. And he too works great with different shapes. My only gripe is that they feel too busy with details. Here's his blog.







I'd love to combine the first example's building designs and lines with Ragnar's sense of movement and color palettes.