Character Development

The character has changed for the better, visually. I am trying to make a more distinct and interesting face and overall design. I want a really simple overall design, but something that looks interesting.

Bah! What the hell? Why did that first one come through the wrong way round? So annoying.

Watercolours

Here are some Viola inspired pictures I did for my mother for Christmas. These are also kind of like concept pictures. Not treatment wise, just colours and energy.

Concept artsies!

Lots more concept art! And even some concepts for backgrounds...not my strong point. But they look really nice, I like working with oil pastels. I should try some character stuff with it.

I got into honours! Yay! That means that I can dedicate LOADS of time to this animation. :D How exciting! I am thrilled.

I was thinking of the characters jumping up out of the apartment and dancing on the rooftops when the musicians come in. The apartment is just too small and I would love a broader variety of locations.

More ROUGH Concept

More rough concept art. I'm trying to narrow down Viola's proportions. Should she be very long and thin? Short? Fat? My basic thoughts on her proportion is that she should have a thin, delicate upper body with a much larger, stronger lower body. So I'm trying to pin down what should be what and at the same time I'm trying to just mess around and see what I like. Because even if I settle on something now, there's no doubt that it will get changed later along the way.

I found a strings group and got their contact details...not sure if they're exactly what I'm looking for, but it's a start for the hunt. They don't have much original stuff, mostly adapted classical stuff and copyright issues aren't a problem. So maybe. But I'll probably end up using con students because they have a decent idea of how to record, whereas I do not.

I just watched the commentary for Disney's Tarzan (I know, I need a broader range of inspiration than Disney, but still) and they really planted their characters firmly in their world by way of lighting and many other things. So it got me thinking, I'd really like to play with lighting in this film. It would be quite appropriate too, the dull light inside the appartment versus the bright lights of Paris outside. And I want a lot of layers to her environment, to help engulf her in it.

Dialogue...I have a little smidgen in the script right now, but I'd love some more. I think it really helps bring a character to life and it really stands out in student films, most people shy away from it. Plus, it's what I love to animate most and am best at. I was thinking maaaaybe a few lyrics would be cool? Or perhaps just spoken stuff, no singing. And would it be in English or French? Have I already asked that here? I'm leaning more towards French, that would be pretty cool.

Rough Concept Art

Some really, really rough concept pieces. Just having a look at poses and the character design of Viola.

I want her hair to blow about everywhere as though she was underwater. So I went on youtube to have a look at a few clips from Disney's the Little Mermaid and Pocahontas for reference.

Little Mermaid: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=mGoXtSw0Ias

Pocahontas: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1cA9yJBslOU

There's also a girl that a watch on deviantArt who does some really great ballet stuff, so here's her gallery: http://hilarity.deviantart.com/ There's a lot of her stuff that I'll be saving away as inspiration, too much to upload, go look in her gallery.

I need some really excellent music for this. I wonder whether I should find a proffesional group in Brisbane? Hm...

Youtube Ballet Clips

Draft one of the script is done! I like it, but I'm sure it needs to be improved.

I've been looking on Youtube for more ballet clips and I've found some really great stuff. Ballerinas are so damn muscular and just incredible!

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=9IOBglx2X3I
I've always loved this piece and it's useful for Viola because it has the dynamic of the three dancers in there.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=WUrJuSh0evE
This is useful because there are a lot of dance moves that are not part of an actual dance. So it's sort of like a mini index of moves.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=loAL8fzfSqE
This is quite nice, it's all slowed down so I can see more clearly what goes where when people jump and twirl, etc.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=LnLVRQCjh8c
Not the kind of dancing I'm after, but pretty cool, especially seeing as they're missing limbs!

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_wVXSS5Wv34
More lovely dancing.

And that's probably enough for tonight. :)

The Beginning

I'm hoping to get into honours next year so that I have more time and resources to make this happen. However, even if I don't, this will be made!

So this first post (and the next batch) is some concept/treatment art as well as inspiring artworks and reference photos/videos.

These are some treatment pictures, I want the film to look like this. I'll be colouring it with flats and textures in Toonboom, like Burn the Witch. :) That top picture is a concept for the main character Viola and the bottom picture is the concept of the musicians. The middle one is just treatment stuff. The musicians are pretty spot on, Viola needs refinement.

Some inspiration:

http://www.frenchdrawings.org/

http://blog.empas.com/mipi06/read.html?a=4821607&c=327067

http://pageslap.wordpress.com/

And here is a really great ballet youtube video:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ0L24YbGGI

Ballet and dance will be a big part of this film. I am also trying to figure out where I can put dialogue in this film, because lip synch is my greatest strength. So of course I picked an idea that doesn't need any dialogue...and would probably work better without it...Hahaha. Go me. If I do put dialogue in though, will it be in english or french? Who knows.