FINAL ANIMATIC: THE MYTH

Workshopping

Final Script

References


Character Design

Concept Art


Storyboards

Kou Ying

Gloria
Shi Jun


Logline

A little boy, Kayden, gets lost in the forest and encounters a mysterious being in the woods, a legend that was well known in the villages.

Synopsis

It is believed by the villages, that deep within the forest, witches live. One day, a little boy Kayden and his older brother, Elmer, both venture into the forest, in search of herbs and other ingredients. Kayden who was so caught up in the task of finding mushrooms, unknowingly drifts from Elmer. He spots an unusual creature in the distance and realizes that it reminds him of the legend his brother told him about. Filled with curiosity, he follows the creature, leading him to a treehouse. Hiding outside of the treehouse, Kayden peers in and to his horror, sees a menacing shadow looming against the wall. Frightened out of his wits and assuming it is a witch from the legend he has heard, he attempts to escape. However, just as he was about to leave, the creature comes out of the treehouse and both Kayden and the creature gets shock, alerting the Penelope, a little girl in the treehouse.

Extended Synopsis


Final Animatic

Edited Story

Synopsis

In Ruth’s world, every child had their own pet. When they were born, they would grow up together with their pet. Their power would increase as their pet grows. For Ruth, she had her foxes with her. They were her best companions. However, it all changed when Ruth fell sick. She could not wake up with whatever methods tried. Until her mother went to see King Casper. He wanted to exchange the cure with Ruth’s foxes. Their parents followed and Ruth finally woke up. When she realised that her foxes were being sent to the King, she was depressed. She found out from the elder master that Ruth’s illness was caused by the King’s magic. He was doing that to many people to get more pets. Therefore, he would become the most powerful person. Ruth decided to take a revenge.

Edited Script

 

Recess Week Homework

That night it was different

#1 John and his friends were on a trip when he saw those miniature figures at night and he knew that it would bring something unusual for them.

It was the summer holidays when John and his two friends, Lyn and Mike went to the far off hill for a trip. They did not regret about that destination as the view from the hill was incredible amazing. It was not a place where many people stay as they only saw one simple and crude house at the mountainside when they drive up their way. They arrived at the evening, settled down under an old willow tree and ready to enjoy their day. They started the barbecue and had a small drink outside their tents. The sky was soon darkened and they went to sleep reluctantly. However, John could not get to sleep and he went for a walk into the hill. It became darker as the moonlight was blocked by the thick clouds. The narrow road was lit up with a bright flash and a clap of thunder followed. John switched on his torchlight and covered himself with his hoodie. Just as he was going back to the tent, something unforgettable appeared in his sight. A role of shiny miniature figures were moving orderly into the trees. They disappeared into the trees. John could see them even the rain made his vision blur.

John remembered that he had read from somewhere that those miniatures were an omen that something ominous would happen. He was worried and fell asleep.

“ John! Get up! It’s a landslide!” Lyn shouted.


Thats not the way I remember it

#2 Nic had lost his memories from that car incident. He never thought that Peter who looked after him for years was the main culprit of the whole incident.

Nic had experienced a serious car incident 10 years ago. His head was injured and he was asleep for 8 years. When he finally wake up, he realised he had lost all his memories. It was Peter who kept looked after him for these years. Peter was Nic’s best friend and they always spent their time together. It was that day when Nic met Tom, his cousin who worked at Peter’s car repair company, reveals the true story of the past incident. He told Niu that it was Peter who caused the incident and Nic’s parents were all passed away from that incident. Peter made a mistake while repairing Nic’s car and therefore, the brake pedal of Nic’s car did not work. It was unbelievable for Nic as he was always thankful towards Peter and actually he concealed the truth from him. It was not the way he remembered it. Anger and bitterness had preyed upon Nic. Nic confronted  Peter and Peter had confessed everything to him. However, Nic would never forgive him.


They wouldn’t leave me alone

#3 In this world of spells, every child had their companions. However, Ruth’s foxes could never accompany her but they had saved her.

In Ruth’s world, every child had their own pet. When they were born, they would grow up together with their pet. Their spells would increase as their pet grows. For Ruth, she had her foxes with her. They were her best companions. However, it all changed when Ruth fell sick. She could not get up and the medicines did not work for her. Until an elder master told her parents that there was only one cure which was to send Ruth’s fox to the King Casper and he would save Ruth. Their parents followed as they had to save their only daughter and the foxes agreed with that. Ruth finally woke up but she could never see her fox again. She could not believe that they left her alone.


Script based on story #3


Storyboard based on #3

 

 

Week 6: Storyboard for ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’

When I got the assignment of visual metaphors, I thought of creating some stereotypes like using tatoo or scars (Muriel had been quarrelling with Seymour and hurt by him accidentally but she did not care about that) which would bring out the characteristics of Muriel. So actually we should create some actions or behaviours that happens and include them in the storyboards.

Week 5: Story Beats

Prompt: No matter what, I got to get in there.

#Logline 1: That day, Leo started the journey on his own adventure which he dreamt of.

Leo was lying on the sofa and browsing through the small words on the ‘Traveller’s Journal’ while his mum told him to go and get his homework done. He answered her but never move at all. Just then, his eyes stopped at photograph. Under the photograph, the captions wrote ‘Roatan – The Island Jewel Of The Western Caribbean’. Leo teared the page from the magazine and went back to his room. His mum peeped at him and smiled.

He quickly typed in ‘Roatan’ in Google and he was so attracted by it. This was where he dreamed to be lived in. He started a crazy plan and he saved all the information about it. The next day, he told his best friend, John, about his great plan. John was cautious about it as he was worried that Leo could not make it on his own and there would be lots of unexpected danger during his trip. Leo decided to not care about John and go on himself no matter what.

He booked the air ticket and printed the map. Got every ready and sneaked out of the house. Jon was successfully arrived at Roatan. He encountered many problems but he also enjoyed his first trip on his own. It was awesome when he thought back many years later.


#Logline 2: The unexpected fire totally changed Jon’s life and took away his loved one.

Returning from one whole day’s work, Jon was exhausted. A man hit him on his right arm as he ran forward. Jon’s suitcase dropped and as he looked in front, there were two ambulance and the crowd were gathered just below his apartment. A strong sense of smoke made Jon choke. He walked nearer. The crowd were murmuring and looking up the building. Jon’s eyes wide opened as he saw the dark and broken window with that looming behind the flames. He pushed away the people and dashed straight towards the entrance. It was already sealed to keep out of people. The police grabbed Jon’s arms and told him that the fire was too dangerous and he could not go in there. “ Are they out of the house? My wife and daughter!” He could not hold back and cried to the policeman. “The rescue team just go up, believe in them, they will get them out…” However, Jon knew that most of the people of the apartment were already evacuated except them.

Jon could not wait anymore. He used all his strength and broke free from the policeman. He dashed into the entrance and ran up the staircase. The fire had engulfed the small house. Jon could not stop coughing and as he finally reached the seventh floor, he saw a fireman was carrying a little girl with his hands. The little child was in pain and there were some parts burned. “Where’s Nat?” He dashed into the house and the other fireman pushed him out. Jon broke down as he knew that he would never see Nat again.


#Logline 3: The cat Tito finally found its chance to experience the human life however its plan was still failed and discovered by its master.

Tito was a small brown cat, it was lived with a Grandma in an old house in a small city in China. One day, it was playing outside the house as there was guest that wanted to ask Grandma for a favor. Tito strolled at the corridor and it heard something inside the house as the door was opened a little.

“ Please, can you save my son. I know you do it easily with the special medicines you refined. I knew that were all stored in the next room.” The woman begged. However, Grandma was indifferent about what she said. “ Alright, I will exchange with you. I will give you this precious medicine…It will turn any living things into a human.” She told Grandma secretly. Grandma seemed interested and nodded. The woman passed it to Grandma. Tito ran away and hide behind the pillar. Grandma and the woman came out and walked to the mysterious room where Grandma had never let anybody in. Grandma unlocked the door with her keys and both of them went in.

Tito started to follow Grandma and it wanted to know where she keep her keys. Tito finally got the chance to steal the key when Grandma wassleeping. Tito took it from her inner pocket and went to the special room straight. Tito finally opened the door. There were so many small medicine bottles and Tito saw the one that it remembered it saw on that day. Tito grabbed it quickly and turned back. In its astonishment, Grandma was already standing at the door.

 

Week 4: Interiors of ‘The Perfect Day For Bananafish’

Here are the two illustrations that I did for the interiors after I read the story. Actually I feel the start of the story are quite realistic (the chatting part) but the ending is unexpected though. I used some reference images and added in some objects and conditions of the objects tally with the descriptions of the places in the story. I did hatching with pen as I had not get my markers yet. It was irritating to draw with pen when I need to be careful with the lines. Should try to practice on the random style with pen.

Muriel’s hotel room

Lift scene-Seymour heading back to the hotel room

Week 3: 3 Storyboards

Here are the 3 versions of storyboards I had done with the story. From Jesse’s opinion, we could try to compose it in the way that we could never think of. After the exercise, I realised that there are many ways that we could use to show a single scene. Different arrangement of the characters and camera views, different dynamics of the sequence all make it a different feeling.

Version 1

Version 2
Version 3

Think I should try with markers or something new and not always pencil~

Assignment 1: Sequence Analysis

Analysis

Storyboarding is a stage of planning where it helps the crews, audiences to visualise the film before the shoot. By using storyboards, it saves the trouble of complex explanations and questions of the director, actors and the crews. I have learnt the different types of shots and the use of compositions to show the importance of the people in a scene.

The first sequence I reversed is from Hitchcock’s <Notorious>.



In this sequence, I realised that there are not too much movements on the camera. Except the first part where the camera pan from the second floor to the lobby and to the key in the hands of the main actor. It is straight forward to bring out the theme of the sequence to the audience.

It also make use of the foreground, mid ground and background to make the shot more interesting. For example, in shot 19, the foreground was blurred so that the eyes will be focused at the main actor. The foreground gave information of the location and what was happening there.

Hitchcock also played with the POV of the actors. For example, it is in the male actor’s POV when he is observing the two of them exchanging the key. Shooting from the actor’s POV, the audience will get their emotions better.

Second sequence is from Hayao Miyazaki’s <Ponyo>.

In this sequence, I feel Miyazaki like to use many long shots and establishing shots. Since it is an exterior scene and it has to show the sea monsters chasing after the boy as he took Ponyo away. The backgrounds really beautify the animation and immerse the audience in its visuals.

There are a lot of movements in every shot. From the character’s actions to the backgrounds like waves, moving water and wind. Every second is a painting.

For the front part, the camera stay still to have the characters move around in the frame. As the boy is still exploring and it is still in a calm stage. When the monsters start to chase the boy, the camera follows him to bring out the tension and nervousness.

Overall, by studying the storyboards, it helps understands why they shoot some scenes in that way. It makes the audience understand the story better.