This week started with a generating ideas class with Jane. This allowed me to discuss my ideas and what I wanted to get out of this project. In this class, I talked with Elisha about her project based on youth. I was really interested in the visual aesthetic and possibility of animating in a children’s film style. So we decided to collaborate as Elisha specialises in modeling and look dev while I do character animation so it was a perfect partnership.

The main character style we were curating was inspired by Pop Mart adverts. We really liked the simplistic design which allows a realistic scope for the project. This will also help us when rigging as that is neither of our specialties. also allows us to stay away from hair sims and focus on perfecting our strengths.

The main narrative we are working on is a heist-style short film starring children around year 7 age. This allows a fast-paced and vibrant style that mimics how life feels as a child. This story surrounding stealing also encompasses the idea of the child ego that we were interested in. We both work in retail which makes this project personal as we deal with children daily and allows us to draw inspiration from our real lives.

Thursday

after presenting our idea to sean he gave us the feedback that we should scale back and only do two characters and focus on the motive behind the heist. Also to focus on the humour and generate as many gags in our film as possible.

I decided to focus on character design while elisha focussed on the narrative over the weekend.

I was drawn to a sibling dynamic of a small girl who’s the mastermind of the heist while her quiet big brother was the brawn. I thought the contrast in size and silhouette would allow for some dynamic poses in my animation.

Modeling experiment