FINAL MAJOR PROJECT
For this project, I have decided to create an animation which is centred around the characters that I have created within the time I have studied at University. I aimed to create a fast paced colourful music video using the song "To The Bat Cave" by the artist Odd Chap.
I chose to work in 2D traditional animation using the program Toon Boom Harmony and have edited using After Effects. Backgrounds were created using the programs Medibang Paint and Photoshop.
Concept Sketches & Plotline
This animation shall be a music video based on a story that I have created. The character Rolfe - an old detective - is investigating a missing persons case. However, he is beginning to question what he really wants in life. He then discovers that a wanted criminal - Sammy - is roaming the streets (returning to the speakeasy). Sammy catches on that Rolfe is watching him and runs to the speakeasy but does not think about how Rolfe will know where they are based when Rolfe follows him.
At the bar, Rolfe realises that the missing persons are not missing but have moved into the speakeasy and are happier than ever. This again makes Rolfe question his detective position until Sammy and the bouncer Walter find out he has entered the bar. They chase him until Rolfe flies off to escape but instead of escaping, he runs straight into Giles' station.
Mood Board
My main inspiration was from the artwork in the Mickey Mouse Shorts 2017. This style is very bright and stylised. I wanted to keep a simplistic style so that I could draw the backgrounds rather fast as the animation had a lot of different backgrounds. I also took some inspiration from the textures in Steven Universe and Gravity Falls.
The characters are mostly inspired from my own art. I used a lot of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck references when creating these characters.
Character Studies
The main character that I am using for this project is a bat named Rolfe. He originally had a different colour palette but I found that it was far too dark and did not fit the character very well. I changed his palette to a pastel theme as I thought it made the character unique and stand out amongst the rest of the crowd.
I also believed that it would fit better with his personality - he is unique and rather strange in behaviour. He is additionally very on edge and eccentric but also has a great sense of humour. I believe that changing his palette also reinforced that he is not the bad guy as he is bright and positive.
As for Giles - the antagonist - I wanted his colours to be dark. When developing this character, he was originally more charismatic and outgoing. I created the backstory where he has a dependency for alcohol and believed that darkening his palette would give him more of a dark and depressing tone to the character. He is serious in nature and very pessimistic.
I wanted his colours to be the opposite of Rolfe's.
Animatic
I created an animatic to rough out the angles of my music video. I used the storyboard images to put them together. I originally wanted the video to be longer but found that to have a video with a good frame rate would take far too long to animate. This is why the final animation is a lot shorter.
I additionally changed the story of the final video to give the characters more of a personality. I found that in the animatic, the characters are not consistent in terms of expressions and body language. I changed Rolfe's characterisation the most because he appeared to be rather sinister in the animatic when in the final video it is a lot more clear that he is not the bad guy. I additionally lightened his colour palette to emphasise this.
I do wish that I had time to complete the final animation to the same length as the animation and shall improve on my planning in future projects.
BACKGROUNDS
The backgrounds in this project are heavily inspired by Mickey Mouse Shorts 2017. The lines aren't clearly defined and are colourful. The backgrounds are additionally not clean and have paint splotches spread everywhere to create a more unique look to it. As well as the Mickey Mouse Shorts, I also looked at Steven Universe, Gravity Falls and old Disney for inspiration.
The main goal for the backgrounds was for them to be colourful and playful to keep you interested. I do wish that I had more time to add more details to the backgrounds and shall aim to focus more on background work in the future in order to improve.
I did originally want the inside of the speakeasy/church to be darker but decided against it as the atmosphere was meant to be bright and fun. This is to show why the missing persons are there - they are having fun.