Week 4 - Last week of pre-production

"History of Animation"- sequence

We have been very busy these last weeks getting the overall design right.  Sandra has been working on the pipeline test that is almost finished and soon to be uploaded. Meanwhile Stine created these designs on a light bulb for a sequence in the film. The light bulb is used as an example of different animation styles through time.



This is an Emile Cohl (1857-1938) - also called " the father of animation" - inspired drawing. 



Winsor McCay created an animation character called Gertie back in 1914 that
Stine incoporated into her drawing of the light bulb. 



Maybe you recognize this? This design is inspired by the third Mickey Mouse
film produced called Steamboat Willie (1928).



Again a Disney inspired style...



Modern take on how a light bulb would look like when done in
South Park cut-out style.

Stine blended the Aardman characters Wallace and Gromit into this
version of the light bulb.



...and of course a Pixar 3D take on how a light bulb would look like now-a-days.

Color board

The color keys and tones for the entire film are taking form adding to the different moods in the film.



Color board done by Stine Sæthre.

Pipeline test

This is the preliminary pipeline test for "The Story of Animation". The test is without sound and is the first actual test which means that a lot of changes might come later on in the production.




Animation by Sandra N. Andersen

Week 2 - Getting closer to the final design

It's getting there! This is our first test to see how the character merges with the background. This is the scene we're gonna use for the pipeline test in one week from now.

Bg - Susanne B. Olesen, Character - Jonas Mølgaard

Below you can see some value studies Stine did during the last week. Nice to see how the final images might look like.

Drawings by Stine Sæthre

Sandra did this amazing illustration coving all the ideas for the whole animation machine sequence!

Concept art by Sandra Andersen

Last but not least, here's one of Frederiks sketches for the Hallway bg:

Concept art by Frederik Storm

Week 2 - More character designs

Jonas, Stine, Frederik and Sandra are working hard on further exploring different takes for the character designs. We want to draw the main shapes of the characters without outline, then use lines within the coloured shapes. Even though the film is going to be animated in TVPaint, we want to achieve as much as a hand drawn look as possible.

Susanne have been working on color keys this week, it's very nice to get a feel of how we can use color throughout the film, and how it changes depending on the mood of the story. More to come shortly.

Week 2 - Monday - Character design brainstorm

Here's a few of the very first sketches for the main characters. Our reference is UPA, so today we have been brainstorming shapes just using pencil and paper.

The Story of Animation - Ready, set, go!!

Together with director David Tart, Tumblehead is in charge of realising the project. Tumblehead is currently working on the development of the different characters who are starring in the film, including the main character YOU. Drawings of all the characters are shown on the production blog. Tumblehead is very excited to be a part of this project, because it is a possibility not only to create a film with the creative value that Tumblehead strives for, but because the film also deals with a common problem that Tumblehead as a company often runs into. This makes the project very important for Tumblehead and for the people working on it.

Magnus and Jonas discussing the design of the main characters.

Stine hard at work, swinging the water color brush!

Dailies

Concept for the different envirenments in the animatic. In the bottom right corner you can see Sanadra's sketch of the "Animation Machine".

Skype meeting with David

Synopsis:

’The Story of Animation’ is an animated 3 mins short film directed by David Tart and produced at Tumblehead Animation Studio in Viborg, Denmark.
The story of Animation deals with the problems and questions that a possible client might have.

The film is therefore not about the history of animation, but shows the production process and the visual potential which animation films as a media contains. The film is targeted towards companies that might have an outdated view on animation as a communication form – a form that speaks to children only.
The film therefore introduces the animation branch and the companies to each other, so they can get a chance to learn each other’s worlds, language and competences - thereby figuring out how to solve tasks together.

The story follows YOU, the main character who has set out to produce an advertisement for a company that makes clever inventions. Faced with this new media, naturally, a lot of questions are raised that need answering; What style should you use? Who can you call? What is the process? How much does it cost? And isn’t animation just for children? Luckily YOU is guided by the all knowing narrator who explains the different processes and helps him make the right decisions.

The very first concept art made for the project, when it was called "Make It Move"

Artist: Magnus Møller

Character Design

The talented Sandra N. Andersen made a color test and a take on the design for the YOU character, and the director. Here's a few of her drawings from the first week: