Jay and I had finished the motion storyboard, but the draft version of the motion storyboard didn’t seem to be paced well enough for the ending Jay had designed, and the transition wasn’t natural enough.
Here is our first version
As there were more movements, the key pose and polish of the final animation needed to be done by everyone, so when Sean finished his beginning part, he went to design the male character’s design, and I would finish the later part with Jay to speed up our progress.
This week we are going to sketch out all the storyboards in general, and next week we can move on to the 2D motion storyboards. Considering that the final previs will be in 3D, the final presentation will most likely still be modified, with some deletions and changes to the pacing and story, so we are not drawing too much effort to make the 2D characters beautifully drawn, but rather focusing on explaining the shots clearly, the movement of the characters and their placements, which are the most important.
I studied some videos on design ideas for fights before I drew them, for instance:
I referenced a lot of animation styles and fights, but I still had to design many of the fight scenes myself. Therefore, the images I had in my head needed to be supported by similar films or actual shots, and I searched a lot of references.
Of course, the most important thing on the Lens is composition and framing, and I will keep revising it while considering what kind of framing will be more comfortable, not just using distant shots, close-ups and fixed shots, but also combining some motion and empty shots to make the picture layered and comprehensive.
I ended up drawing storyboards, combining action, shots and building a simple 3D scene with reduced transparency to make it easier for others to read and understand.
Next week I will be working with Jay on the first version of the new motion storyboard, combining the images from the previous Sean drawings and my storyboard with Jay’s.
Based on the storyline, the animated previs we created was mainly a short film with no dialogue based on fighting, it was the design of the fights that dominated the short film, so the reference style and directional markers for the fights were important, and after refining the plot, I created a general feel for the video clip.
Using some animated footage references to form a general story line, as well as designing some combat traits for both characters, I gave both characters a combat style. Although there is only one line in this clip, the body language of the characters can already bring a lot of characterisation and personality to the characters.
We divided the work up, with sean working on the beginning of the intro, and me working on the middle and second half, with the transition between the two storyboards to be combined later. My next task was to look for battle references and find gaps in my camera language design to improve my storyboarding skills.
One of the important tasks in the second semester was a collaborative project to bring the ideas we liked and the directions we wanted to explore into the team work. When I found the idea of showing two bounty hunters in a cyberpunk alleyway, I said I would like to join yann’s team to work on this previs animation project.
I personally like sense of lens and I was interested in working as a storyboard artist in the future, in addition to just tweaking the movement of the animation, so after some discussion, I took on the role of previs storyboard for the team, discussing the plot with sean and visualising the images. In addition, the sound effect is added to the final previs.
The robot man was destroying the robots in the alley, hitting the robot so hard that it smashed the wall through the hole.
Then the man threw it into a bin. There were some robot limbs scattered in the bin.
The mechanic took out a cigar, lit it, took a deep breath, and then raised her head to emit smoke. Looking up, she saw a masked girl standing on the roof with a short knife. The girl crouched down and rushed towards the mechanical man. The man dodged in a hurry and the cigar was cut into two pieces.
The girl fell and rolled up, her back to the man.
The man steadied his panicked figure and spat the cigar to one side.
The girl slowly rose to her feet, revealing the sign behind her.
Upon seeing this, the man gave a look of disdain and said, “Bounty hunter.
The two men confronted each other in a gesture of pre-battle calm.
the near future.
postmodern, science fiction, cyberpunk
A deserted alley in a modern city with a few small shops or signs.
In the future era of high technology and low living, the emergence of intelligent machines will bring new contradictions to society. The renewal of the governmental justice system can hardly match the development of technology. The consolidation of social classes further leads to chaos and excessive disorder brings about a new order. The intrigues of the upper classes have also come up for discussion, and professional killers seem to have become an integral part of every upper class force. The government’s tacit approval of the bounty hunter system has provided a new outlet for the underclass, keeping society somewhat stable but cold.
The masked girl is a bounty hunter, eccentric and agile. She grew up in the slums and was influenced by hip-hop culture. Dressing more freely, her clothes will have many cultural elements on them and she uses a short knife. On missions, the costume is more capable, she wears a mask to cover her face and does not speak.
The robot man is a professional killer with a strong body and a cold face. He is usually responsible for dealing with people or robots who hate the upper classes. His frequent killings have made him brutal and although the job has brought him money, it has also taken his arm, but luckily he can replace it with a high-tech metal arm. Metal arms offer greater strength and defence.
Finally we will have a weekly discussion on Fridays to wrap up and move the project forward.