Tech Dystopia: Characters, Beatboard and Storyboard Process W10 & W11

Beatboard

These are my beatboards after last week’s consult, sorry it took so long!! (it’s mostly the same just that I tried to add more detail and adjusted some of the angles)

Board 1: Owner comes home with a new virtual pet

Board 2: Old cat gets neglected as its owner gets distracted by the new pet (will be longer as I need to build up the feeling of neglect)

Board 3 (choice 1): Old cat tries to gain attention from its owner by being affectionate

Board 4 (choice 2): Old cat tries to attack new pet

Board 5 (2nd choice 1): Old cat tries to destroy the power point that gives the new pet ‘life’

Board 6 (2nd choice 2): Old cat confronts the new pet in a fight

Board 7: Old cat is thrown out of the house

 

I think that this animatic would be better made for an animation then a film, as it is easier to animate a cat’s actions and expressions, then to film it. I think that the genre of animation would evoke more sympathy for the cat (since we can see its expressions in a more exaggerated manner), but also makes it a bit comedic at the same time. In terms of the action in the animatic, I think that the medium of animation would also help to enhance the drama between the old cat and the virtual pet.

 

Characters

For the cat’s design, I wanted it to be a chubby and mature/ old cat. I also wanted it to give off a grouchy vibe since it was being neglected by its owner, and was trying to regain the love of its owner. Hence, I looked at “The Cat Returns”, a movie where cats are being humanised, each with their own personalities. I chose to reference Muta’s and a bit of The Cat King’s facial expression and shape, as I found them to have qualities of what I was looking for. I also looked at drawings of fat cats by Alex Plante for inspiration.

 

 

For the virtual pet, I looked at different toy robots of different forms, and tried not to stick to a specific animal design. Since it is a futuristic pet, I combined the references I found together, to create a creature that does not resemble anything we have now.

 

 

When it came to the design of the ‘owner’, I wanted to make it half-human and half-robot. I was inspired by the anime ‘Dororo’, where the one of the characters, Hyakkimaru, was born without any limbs and lived with prosthetic ones, until he was able to kill the demons which took his limbs. I also looked at human-like robots, and combined the two visuals.

 

 

Storyboard (not finished)

  1 comment for “Tech Dystopia: Characters, Beatboard and Storyboard Process W10 & W11

Leave a Reply

Skip to toolbar