Project Overview
Originally I was going to create a comparison-style project between a high school-created animation & a university one but I changed direction late into my proposal assignment, the change had me dropping the high school animation entirely & only doing the university animation which was not a rewrite of the high school one but a brand new screenplay, Unfortunately, this means I had already done a lot of work for the high school side of the project so what does that mean is it worthless?, No it’s not all the work I did was useful because I plan to revisit the high school project either in a future university project or a personal one.
This change in direction came about as I was writing the draft & screenplay for the new university animation, I wanted to focus solely on this animation instead of dividing my attention because I saw the potential the animation had which means I will also have a full 10 minutes to create the animation rather than the old 7 minutes, This animation will be created from a brand-new original screenplay using my many years of learning new skills and watching animations, this particular animation I am hoping will be the cornerstone of my portfolio which will show employers what I am capable of, The genre that this animation will be a Medevil fantasy since I will be taking heavy inspiration from some of my favourites animes.
My story has 3 Adventures that have been tasked with investigating a set of ruins that appeared out of nowhere, these ruins are hiding a secret & they need to find out what it is, however they run into problems from hordes of monsters that appear out of nowhere where did they come from? that’s what they need to find out.
I spent more than a few days trying to create a storyboard but it seemed more of a hindrance to my work so I decided against my former judgement to scrap the entire thing, I even went ahead and decided to not make any large movements when attempting to make the little bit of the storyboard/animatic that I did make but even that didn’t help in the end I thought it in my best interest to refocus my work into something that will bring results instead.
In a future week, I think I’m going to record myself doing every action & timing each one to either redo the storyboard/camera movement test later or simply know how long each action and scene should last rather than just guessing.
After I wrote my initial draft of the story I revised it into a version that had camera movements & script which looked ok to me but my supervisor said I should write it more professionally & she was right because this new version is written like a screenplay and it looks so much cleaner and more understandable.
Key Research
I’ve decided that Audience research currently is not that important for my project since I am not making it to be targeted at any particular age group or any particular people, The only ones this is being created for are myself, my teachers & any potential employers, since it will be uploaded to portfolio sites with complete documentation for them to view & see that I can into the mainstream market & be part of their team without too much being changed, so I’ll be creating the animation professionally.
Stereotypes & Tropes
In the genre that I will be using, medieval fantasy, There are four main key stereotypes & tropes that are very common though one of these is not entirely just for this genre but they are as follows:
- An overpowered Main character, these characters never had to do much to gain there power which makes them have weak character development, though it can be used correctly most people seem to misuse this trope which has lead it to be viewed as bad by the community & fans, I will not be using this since I have no idea how to pull it off in a good manner.
- Most medevil fantasy's contain magic and that magic is usually split into 4 or 6 elements, these elements never change instead they are only relabeled the elements, though there can be more than 6 the main ones are as follows:
- Herems, Its a trope that's not only overused in Medevil fantasy but in all genres of anime, its where the main character is loved by every other character and most of the time non of these romantic paths lead anywhere because the creator lacked the ability to do anything with them.
- This last Trope is a little on the nose because it relates more to the subgenre Isekai [Transported to another world], since they use the setting of medevil fantasy too much its seen as a trope now rather than a genre & I understand that fantasy's do not have to be set in medevil times since you can rewrite almost any of them into a more modern one but I think it removes a lot of the fantasy stuff since we can relate to it more if its set in modern times.
Animation Market
The animation market is not only lucrative now with it being worth $391 Billion but it’s expected to keep growing to over $580 Billion by 2030 (Animation market – global market size, share, growth, trends analysis, regional outlook and forecasts 2022 – 2030) this massive boost in growth helps to emphasize the great opportunity I have when it comes to making and creating animation content for various purposes since I don’t have to be limited by joining an animation company, though its a stable position If I do so anything I create now can be used as a portfolio to show them.
Even on Youtube, there is a market for animation content since An article said that those who join YouTube’s Partner Program receive between $1,500 and $4,500(US) for every million video views (Amidi, How much money animated shorts earn on YouTube 2012) which means if you can find a good audience on youtube you could be making enough money to be self-sustaining.
Animation Style
Both animations will be created with a 3D style using programs such as Blender, substance painter & Z-brush, I plan to use anime as a reference point & there are a lot of 3D animes such as Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni) but not every one of them has been done very well, To avoid this whole fiasco of having bad looking 3D I will not be using Anime type textures.
I’m looking to get my hands on one if not two Xbox Kinects to be used as a cheap and dirty but still effective Motion capture system, which I can then use to record myself making the actions I will need for my university year 3 animation, this will be a new skill I will have to learn as I am creating everything because other than hand keyframing my animations I have not done any other kind of animating.
The year 8 animation will be a combination of Mixamo (Mixamo, 2022) animations, self-motion capture, hand keyframing & splicing, This means that I will not be making every animation myself for this one and instead be using found animations in between others.
Characters, Classes & Monsters
Work has begun on creating the characters for my university year 3 animation in Z-brush & I decided that there will be 5 characters in total 3 Adventurers & 2 Monsters, These characters will consist of a Paladin class character, a Sorcerer class character, a Ranger class character, an ogre monster & a goblin monster, the reason I have chosen these characters & classes is that they form a great dynamic without making the entire combo too strong rendering the adventure way too easy without any struggle, The paladin defends on the frontline allowing the sorcerer to go wild with magic and the ranger to pick off targets and back up the paladin, These two monster characters are seen a lot in medieval fantasy and I would say they are the most used creatures other than say dragons.
There were other classes to use since the ones I chose were from the Dungeons and dragons player handbook (Coast,, Dungeons & dragons player’s handbook, 2014) which I used as a reference point to help create my characters.
Animating probably won’t begin until I have the motion capture system however I plan to animate a skeleton rig with no character in place so that when my characters are fully sculpted and ready they can just be placed on top of the skeletons that have already been animated without too much hassle.
Claudine [Paladin]
Amaya [Sorcerer]
Alexander [Ranger]
Claudine was born into a noble family who wanted her to become a prestigious Holy Knight in service to the church
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Audio & Music Style
I want to try and obtain or create as realistic sound effects as possible for the animation, however, a lot of the sounds do not exist in reality and therefore I will need to take inspiration from existing sources such as games, movies/Tv and Anime.
I would like to use some talented voice actors, which will require contacting the drama department at my university and asking if anyone would be interested in auditioning for my animation, I created an A4 poster which could be printed and placed on the drama departments poster board or be handed out among the students.
I found a bunch of free sounds on Freesounds.Org (Freesound 2022) that could help me with my project & I detailed exactly how I think they could help me in a separate wordpres post.
When it comes to music I want to try and get a hold of a composer who will help me create them & there is one who is willing to help and I have emailed him about it, I Planning to have either a long continuous music score that changes or to have 3 or more short ones since I will need a buildup score, a battle score, a Spooky mysterious score and one that brings amazement, each of these are important and will help set the scene for my animation.
I’m looking to get a bunch of things to aid my animation and make it easier to make such as a cheap and dirty motion capture rig using a couple of Xbox connects, which work great with the software I am planning to use to create the animation, I will use this video from royal skies LLC (Blender + Kinect rigging & Animation (Part 1) – hardware 2020) to set the whole thing up.
Since I have two female characters And the motion capture rig will not be able to capture Jiggle physics nor do I own any to capture, I will have to hand animate the jiggle physics, but then again If I use another video from royal Skies LLC (Blender 2.82 : Jiggle physics (in 30 Seconds!!!) 2020) I can make it much easier to animate them.
(Blender + Kinect rigging & Animation (Part 1) – hardware 2020)
(Blender 2.82 : Jiggle physics (in 30 Seconds!!!) 2020)
When doing the motion capture I want it to be as realistic as possible when I make the animations so I’m looking to get my hands on some props, These two wooden prop sets are what I am looking at getting since they are great for what I am planning to make + they can be used in the future for more animations.
There are a bunch of addons I plan to use & get, to help me create this animation, the main two addons are:
- Vegetation, Which is a addon that comes with hundreds of customizable animated trees, bushes & flowers which will allow me to flesh out the forest I plan to create.
- Instant Imposters, This allows me to create extremely low poly models from extremely high poly ones using similar technology to photogrammetry.
(Vegetation V5 addon for Blender – demo 2022)
(Instant impostors | blender addon trailer 2022)
Reference's
Amidi, A. (2012) How much money animated shorts earn on YouTube, Cartoon Brew. Available at: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/how-much-money-animated-shorts-earn-on-youtube-58388.html (Accessed: December 4, 2022).
Animation market (by offerings: Software and services; by product type: 2D animation, 3D animation, motion graphics, stop motion, and other; by industry: Direct, education, media and entertainment, Aerospace and defence, automotive, healthcare, and others) – global market size, share, growth, trends analysis, regional outlook and forecasts 2022 – 2030 (no date) Precedence Research. Available at: https://www.precedenceresearch.com/animation-market (Accessed: December 15, 2022).
Blender 2.82 : Jiggle physics (in 30 Seconds!!!) (2020) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m0LyMiN-Ik (Accessed: December 4, 2022).
Artstation – overgrown ruin, Adrian Campos: Overgrown, Ruins, fantasy landscape (2019) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/503769908318343883/ (Accessed: December 7, 2022).
Blender + Kinect rigging & Animation (Part 1) – hardware (2020) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwNuXe9R17s (Accessed: December 4, 2022).
Coast, W.of the (2014) Dungeons & dragons player’s handbook: Everything a player needs to create heroic characters for the world’s Greatest Roleplaying Game. Renton, USA: Wizards of the Coast.
Coast, W.of the (2014) “Chapter 3: Classes,” in Dungeons & dragons player’s handbook: Everything a player needs to create heroic characters for the world’s Greatest Roleplaying Game. Renton, USA: Wizards of the Coast, pp. 45–119.
D.Gray-man (no date) MyAnimeList.net. Available at: https://myanimelist.net/anime/1482/DGray-man?q=d+gray+man+&cat=anime (Accessed: December 2, 2022).
Dance in the vampire bund (no date) MyAnimeList.net. Available at: https://myanimelist.net/anime/6747/Dance_in_the_Vampire_Bund?q=dance+in+the+&cat=anime (Accessed: December 2, 2022).
(2022) Freesound. Available at: https://freesound.org/ (Accessed: November 26, 2022).
Houseki no Kuni (no date) MyAnimeList.net. Available at: https://myanimelist.net/anime/35557/Houseki_no_Kuni (Accessed: December 2, 2022).
Jonru (2022) Goblin, Lexicanum. Warhammer – The Old World – Lexicanum. Available at: https://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Goblin (Accessed: November 22, 2022).
Lapetina, A. (2015) 12 incredible ruins you can easily visit, Thrillist. Available at: https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/most-beautiful-ruins-in-the-world (Accessed: December 7, 2022).
Mixamo.com. 2022. Mixamo. [online] Available at: <https://www.mixamo.com/#/?page=1&type=Character> [Accessed 25 november 2022].
Ogre (no date) Forgotten Realms Wiki. Available at: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Ogre (Accessed: November 22, 2022).
Paladin (no date) D&D Beyond. Available at: https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/paladin (Accessed: November 22, 2022).
Ranger (no date) D&D Beyond. Available at: https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/ranger (Accessed: November 22, 2022).
Sekirei (no date) MyAnimeList.net. Available at: https://myanimelist.net/anime/4063/Sekirei (Accessed: December 2, 2022).
Sorcerer (no date) D&D Beyond. Available at: https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/sorcerer (Accessed: November 22, 2022).
Templates – Photoshop Sports Event Flyer Layout (no date) Adobe Stock. Available at: https://stock.adobe.com/uk/search/templates (Accessed: December 2, 2022).
Trello brings all your tasks, teammates, and tools together (no date) Trello. Available at: https://trello.com/ (Accessed: December 1, 2022).
Vegetation V5 addon for Blender – demo (2022) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDtmLTS3tW8 (Accessed: December 8, 2022).
Wooden Toy Sword and knight shield with free scabbard sheath – etsy UK (no date) Wooden Toy Sword and Knight Shield With Free Scabbard sheath – Etsy UK. Available at: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1206501945/wooden-toy-sword-and-knight-shield-with?click_key=da099e1cd5b56992d599ac9e33ceb01d5a941cf6%3A1206501945&click_sum=561d0888&ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1&crt=1&sts=1 (Accessed: December 8, 2022).
Wooden Bow 3 arrows free personalization free UK – Etsy UK (no date) Wooden Bow 3 Arrows FREE Personalization FREE UK – Etsy UK. Available at: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/711578356/wooden-bow-3-arrows-free-personalization?click_key=52c384710d4e845ffe83691625b46906562530f8%3A711578356&click_sum=656794ff&ref=shop_home_active_8&frs=1&sts=1 (Accessed: December 8, 2022).
