Planning an Animation (P3, P4, M2)
Learning Objective -
Learning Outcome 2: Be able to plan an animation to a client brief
P3: Develop concept ideas and sequence for an animation to meet a client brief
Purpose of the Short
My short is going to be used to advertise the BrainGoo Zombie March to the public. The short is supposed to notify my target audience of the details of the march regarding of what will be taking place, when it will be taking place and where. The short is also supposed to sere as the opening of the March's app.
Annotated Sketches
Medium
The promotional short is meant to advertise the BrainGoo UK ZombieFest March and is to be shown on a mobile device app and should be able to be accessed on mobile devices as well as computers, therefore it needs to be optimised for this purpose. The short is going to be made with clay figures in a clay stop motion style in which every frame would be a picture of the figurines moved slightly.
Story line
My production begins with with a seemingly cheerful scientist working on an experiment that is unknown to the audience due to his back being turned to the camera. A janitor enters and while working asks the scientist what he is working on, suspicious of his good mood. The janitor replies that the beaker he is holding contains a virus that will make people into zombies and that his evil plan is to make the earth's population zombies. Fearful for the human race, the janitor lunges at the scientist. In the fight, the beaker falls onto the scientist's neck and starts to cause a reaction. The scientist becomes the first zombie. Despite trying to fight off the creature, the zombie scientist successfully bites the janitor, turning him into a zombie as well. The two zombies leave to the laboratory.
The next scene takes place in an apocalyptic Leicester Square. The two zombies are walking, soon to be accompanied by others suggesting to the audience that not only has the zombie virus infested the world's population, but that the zombies have invaded Leicester Square and that the BrainGoo ZombieMarch will be taking place in this apocalyptic future.
Synopsis
A scientist who believes that he is doing the world a favour by creating a zombie virus is attacked by his janitor upon hearing the scientist's intentions. The scientist gets infected during the attack and as a zombie, bites the janitor. The two infected zombies leave the lab and begin the zombie apocalypse. It is suggested to the viewer that the apocalypse is taking place in Leicester square hence the Zombie march.
Target Audience
The short's primary target audience and therefore the march's primary target audience being adults aged 15-40 horror enthusiasts. This age was determined by estimating the age of most people who grew up with horror classics and are young enough to enjoy dressing up as their favourite horror characters in public (similar to the target audience of conventions such as Comic Con). A secondary target audience would most likely be the primary's young children who would have been exposed to the genre because of their parent's fascination with it. Because of the target audience's age, they would likely have access to their mobile phones/the internet therefore be likely to access the video and therefore the information about the march ultimately adhering to the client brief.
Potential Hazards/Risks
The clay I'm working with could potentially go stale overnight resulting in the figures not being as malleable as they could meaning I'd have to remake them most likely having their appearances change in the process. This is a medium scaled risk.
A risk that I would be taking while making my claymation could be the possibility that I set my camera to video instead of photos resulting in all of my hard work useless and causing me to remodel and remake the entire production from scratch (as characters get damaged in the filming process). This is a medium scaled risk.
The Running Order of the Project
Equipment Required
Camera- To take pictures of the figurines
Final Cut Pro Editing Software- To edit the sound, photos and graphics together
Photoshop- To make the backgrounds
Clay- To make the figurines/props
Skeleton Figurines- To make the figurines more malleable with more humanoid joints
Microphone- To record foley sounds/character's voices
Personnel Required
If this were a professional production, I would require:
Two voice actors- To voice the characters/foley noises
A set designer- To make the sets required realistic
A clay modeller- To make the clay figurines/props
An editor- To edit the production together
A photographer with stop motion experience- To photograph the scenes and move them in the way scripted
A script writer- To professionally write the script
M2: Complete a SWOT analysis for the intended animation for the client
Strengths- Most advertising campaigns don't include stop motion. Because of this ZombieFest March's creativeness, people will find it more appealing as it is unusual (which are people's first instincts to do on the internet). Stop motion also allows for easy comedic effect.
Conventional horror movies don't include stop motion animation. By using the technique, I am representing the project as light and child like (the connotations included with the genre and therefore the production). This would mean that if in the event a child sees the production and their parents have complaints, it would be easier to deny that the production was only meant for adult audiences because of the animating technique. Because the advertisement is meant to be viewed on both mobile and internet devices, an added strength of the increase of viewership is included with the brief as the higher the availability of devices increases the amount of times a video can be viewed.
Weaknesses- Because the video is supposed to be the loading screen of an app, users may get annoyed that they'd have to see a 30 second- 1 minute video before accessing the features they downloaded the app to get. Stop motion is a lengthy and time consuming process that requires much planning and patience.
Opportunities- Because the video is going to be viewed on mobile phones and computers, it would attract more viewers than an advertisement in a cinema.
Because the video is put on the internet and no budget is being put into advertising the short, it would only be viewed voluntarily by the viewer meaning that the negative connotations put with pop up advertisements wouldn't exist with my short most likely improving the public's overall opinion of it. The main potential of ZombieFest would be trying to copy Comic Con (their main competitor's success) by expanding to other movie genres such as Comic Books and action films. This would not only expand the marketing opportunities but also ZombieFest's audience.
Threats- Comic con offers a similar experience to the ZombieFest March. The convention includes the same features of the march for television, movies, comic books and horror films. Because of the larger criteria, Comic con is appealing to a wider target audience most likely bringing in more funding meaning they could spend more money on their advertising short than BrainGoo UK. This would most likely result in my target audience going to Comic Con rather than the ZombieFest March. The main threat to the ZombieFest march would be the annual Comic Con which takes place in London as well as most major cities. Because of the increased brand awareness Comic Con has and its similar take on urging participants to dress up as their favourite characters, it would be the main threat to ZombieFest.
Learning Outcome 2: Be able to plan an animation to a client brief
P3: Develop concept ideas and sequence for an animation to meet a client brief
Purpose of the Short
My short is going to be used to advertise the BrainGoo Zombie March to the public. The short is supposed to notify my target audience of the details of the march regarding of what will be taking place, when it will be taking place and where. The short is also supposed to sere as the opening of the March's app.
 |
| Picture of me making a character with human features (despite her being a zombie) |
 |
Character design. As shown in the design, the joints of the characters should, theoretically, move similarly to that of a normal person's limps. This is because the characters have human bodies (even when they become zombies) so their movements would realistically be similar to humans. |
 |
| Janitor Expressions |
 |
| Scientist Expressions |
Back plates
 |
| Leicester Square |
 |
| Apocalyptic Leicester Square I decided to make two versions of Apocalyptic Leicester Square in an attempt to make the flames present seem like they were moving, similar to real flames. The idea to have an Apocalyptic Leicester Square came to me to further implement the idea of time passing by, rather than solely relying on the added zombies. |
 |
| Laboratory The laboratory needed to have a ground present for the characters to stand on. Neither the laboratory nor the Leicester Square pictures had been taken by me, but were rather public domain images found on Google images. |
 |
| Mood Board
From the mood board I learnt that in the majority of zombie films, the zombies are depicted with light skin, exposed dark veins and red (supposedly blood) around their facial features. The mood board also helped me find out that regardless of content in the films, zombie movies tend to be darkly lit suggesting that there's always a dark undertone of the films.
|
 |
| Storyboard |
 |
| Storyboard |
At the end of the production, the details of the march including the time, place and features will appear on screen theatrically.
Script
 |
| Monday.com list of tasks I have to complete. |
Medium
The promotional short is meant to advertise the BrainGoo UK ZombieFest March and is to be shown on a mobile device app and should be able to be accessed on mobile devices as well as computers, therefore it needs to be optimised for this purpose. The short is going to be made with clay figures in a clay stop motion style in which every frame would be a picture of the figurines moved slightly.
Story line
My production begins with with a seemingly cheerful scientist working on an experiment that is unknown to the audience due to his back being turned to the camera. A janitor enters and while working asks the scientist what he is working on, suspicious of his good mood. The janitor replies that the beaker he is holding contains a virus that will make people into zombies and that his evil plan is to make the earth's population zombies. Fearful for the human race, the janitor lunges at the scientist. In the fight, the beaker falls onto the scientist's neck and starts to cause a reaction. The scientist becomes the first zombie. Despite trying to fight off the creature, the zombie scientist successfully bites the janitor, turning him into a zombie as well. The two zombies leave to the laboratory.
The next scene takes place in an apocalyptic Leicester Square. The two zombies are walking, soon to be accompanied by others suggesting to the audience that not only has the zombie virus infested the world's population, but that the zombies have invaded Leicester Square and that the BrainGoo ZombieMarch will be taking place in this apocalyptic future.
Synopsis
A scientist who believes that he is doing the world a favour by creating a zombie virus is attacked by his janitor upon hearing the scientist's intentions. The scientist gets infected during the attack and as a zombie, bites the janitor. The two infected zombies leave the lab and begin the zombie apocalypse. It is suggested to the viewer that the apocalypse is taking place in Leicester square hence the Zombie march.
Target Audience
The short's primary target audience and therefore the march's primary target audience being adults aged 15-40 horror enthusiasts. This age was determined by estimating the age of most people who grew up with horror classics and are young enough to enjoy dressing up as their favourite horror characters in public (similar to the target audience of conventions such as Comic Con). A secondary target audience would most likely be the primary's young children who would have been exposed to the genre because of their parent's fascination with it. Because of the target audience's age, they would likely have access to their mobile phones/the internet therefore be likely to access the video and therefore the information about the march ultimately adhering to the client brief.
Potential Hazards/Risks
The clay I'm working with could potentially go stale overnight resulting in the figures not being as malleable as they could meaning I'd have to remake them most likely having their appearances change in the process. This is a medium scaled risk.
A risk that I would be taking while making my claymation could be the possibility that I set my camera to video instead of photos resulting in all of my hard work useless and causing me to remodel and remake the entire production from scratch (as characters get damaged in the filming process). This is a medium scaled risk.
The Running Order of the Project
 |
| Gantt Chart. Contingencies include spare clay and green paper. Both of which could be used to recreate models and the green screen in case I fell behind schedule or couldn't make them. The deadline for the entire production was January 3rd as it would give me a spare day to catch up on any task that I couldn't complete. |
Equipment Required
Camera- To take pictures of the figurines
Final Cut Pro Editing Software- To edit the sound, photos and graphics together
Photoshop- To make the backgrounds
Clay- To make the figurines/props
Skeleton Figurines- To make the figurines more malleable with more humanoid joints
Microphone- To record foley sounds/character's voices
Personnel Required
If this were a professional production, I would require:
Two voice actors- To voice the characters/foley noises
A set designer- To make the sets required realistic
A clay modeller- To make the clay figurines/props
An editor- To edit the production together
A photographer with stop motion experience- To photograph the scenes and move them in the way scripted
A script writer- To professionally write the script
M2: Complete a SWOT analysis for the intended animation for the client
Strengths- Most advertising campaigns don't include stop motion. Because of this ZombieFest March's creativeness, people will find it more appealing as it is unusual (which are people's first instincts to do on the internet). Stop motion also allows for easy comedic effect.
Conventional horror movies don't include stop motion animation. By using the technique, I am representing the project as light and child like (the connotations included with the genre and therefore the production). This would mean that if in the event a child sees the production and their parents have complaints, it would be easier to deny that the production was only meant for adult audiences because of the animating technique. Because the advertisement is meant to be viewed on both mobile and internet devices, an added strength of the increase of viewership is included with the brief as the higher the availability of devices increases the amount of times a video can be viewed.
Weaknesses- Because the video is supposed to be the loading screen of an app, users may get annoyed that they'd have to see a 30 second- 1 minute video before accessing the features they downloaded the app to get. Stop motion is a lengthy and time consuming process that requires much planning and patience.
Opportunities- Because the video is going to be viewed on mobile phones and computers, it would attract more viewers than an advertisement in a cinema.
Because the video is put on the internet and no budget is being put into advertising the short, it would only be viewed voluntarily by the viewer meaning that the negative connotations put with pop up advertisements wouldn't exist with my short most likely improving the public's overall opinion of it. The main potential of ZombieFest would be trying to copy Comic Con (their main competitor's success) by expanding to other movie genres such as Comic Books and action films. This would not only expand the marketing opportunities but also ZombieFest's audience.
Threats- Comic con offers a similar experience to the ZombieFest March. The convention includes the same features of the march for television, movies, comic books and horror films. Because of the larger criteria, Comic con is appealing to a wider target audience most likely bringing in more funding meaning they could spend more money on their advertising short than BrainGoo UK. This would most likely result in my target audience going to Comic Con rather than the ZombieFest March. The main threat to the ZombieFest march would be the annual Comic Con which takes place in London as well as most major cities. Because of the increased brand awareness Comic Con has and its similar take on urging participants to dress up as their favourite characters, it would be the main threat to ZombieFest.
Comments
Post a Comment