Animatics

In the pre-production the storyboarding stage amy be followed by simplified mock-ups called "animatics" to give a better idea of how the scene will look and feel with motion and timing. An animatic is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence with a rough dialogue and/or rough sound track added to the sequence of still images (usually taken from the storyboard) to test whether the sound and images are working effectively together.

It allows the animators and directors to work out any screenplay, camera positioning, shot list and timing issues that may exist with the current storyboard. Editing the film at the animatic stage can avoid animation of scenes that would be edited out of the film. Animation is usually an expensive process, so there should be a minimum of "deleted scenes" if the film is to be completed within budget.

Often storyboards are animated with simple zooms and pans to simulate camera movement. These animations can be combined with available animatics, sound effects and dialog to create a presentation of how a film could be shot and cut together. Some feature film DVD special features include production animatics.

This is an example of an animatic made for a scene in Iron Man 3 -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiZRuOxiCGw

This is my animatic for my short film -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lliaoad4ikY

Ancillary Tasks

Brief

A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options

• a poster for the film;
• a radio trailer for the film;
• a film magazine review page featuring the film.

I am going to do a poster and a film magazine review page for my short film.
I choose these two to do because these are the areas I think I can best portray my skills in.
I have had lots of practice in putting a poster together as I did one for my AS work and also one as a preliminary to this A2 coursework. As well as these two, for my drama group I made a poster for our performance of the Grimms Tales.
I also want to do a film magazine review page because in contrast to the poster I have only done this once before, a magazine article advertising a car company.

Script for Bernie the Brave.

Intent

Through this script I want to convey the narrative of the story, I also want the audience to be sympathetic towards the little boy.
Because I want to aim it at a younger audience, by using humour I lighten the mood at the end of the film.
My script could also be interpreted as having a moral that anyone can be a hero.

Characters

Girl
Boy
Bully 1
Bully 2
Bully 3

Plot

A young boys teddy is stolen by three older bullies, a young girl notices them teasing him and tries to help save the teddy. In the young childrens imagination the situation is changed into a fantasy fairytale where the teddy is a baby and the three bullies are a three headed hydra, the boy a knight and the girl a princess. The girl slays the Hydra and saves the teddy and returns it to the boy.

Script

(Boy is alone, playing with his teddy. Three older boys see him and approach him, joking and laughing to each other)

Bully 1: (to young boy) Hey, is that your sisters?

Bully 3: Yeah teddys are for girls, are you a girl?

Boy: (quietly) N-n-no

Bully 2: (to other bullies) I bet he's given it a name.

Bully 1: Here I think it looks like a (snatches teddy from boy, looks at it) Mr. Buttons!

Bully 2: (takes teddy from bully 1 and holds it up above his head) 

Boy: (reaching up, still quietly) Please... no!

(All the Bullies laugh and tease, they pass the teddy around. The young boy still quietly asking them to stop and give the teddy back)

Bully 1: (in a mocking baby voice) Oh do you want Mr. Buttons back?

Bully 3: Haha, I think he's gonna cry!

Bully 1: Cry baby

(All the Bullies start teasing and calling names, you see the boy become more scared and recline within himself)

All: Little girl, cry baby, ...

(Around the corner a young girl hears the Bullies, she goes and stands behind them with her arms crossed and a brave face)

Girl: (loudly and confidently but still scared) Give him the teddy back now!

(All the Bullies stop and turn to look at her)

Bully 2: (to other Bullies) Are you kidding me? (to girl) Go home.

Bully 3: (Mockingly) Does your Mummy know where you are?

Girl: (not quite so confidently) Give it back.

Bully 1: Don't be a silly little girl, what could you even do?

(the bully tries to tear off the teddys ear)

Boy: (reaching out) No!

Girl: (with renewed confidence) GIVE. IT. BACK.

(woooooooooooooooooooooooo fantasy time, the boy turns into a knight, the girl turns into a princess, and the three bullies into a three headed hydra and the teddy wrapped up like a baby)

Short Animation Film Examples

In my short film I want to include some animation. The style I want to do my animation is like an animated paper model.

Roy - this is a clip from a CBBC show which mixes animation and live action.

Shoe - I really like the style of this one and it is how imagine mine looking.

Munro - This roughly drawn style also appeals to me and I think I may do something similar.

Magical Umbrella - This is not how I  first imagined my animation looking but I do like the style and I think I will explore it more as another option.

Real Short Films Examples

Themes that will be in my short film: swapping roles, girl and boy, young actors, children, bullying, fantasy, hero, evil vs. good, happy ending.

Love is all you need: swapping roles, bullying, young actors

Imagination: fantasy, boys and girl, children

Water Song: evil vs. good, fantasy

Imagination: fantasy, boy, children, hero

I don't want to go back alone: girl and boy, young actors, happy ending

Photoshoot - final 6

We choose these photos as our favourites from the shoot because they all show best what we were originally trying to display, and they will work with how we want to edit them and what we have in mind for the final poster.

Superhero poster - photo shoot planning

List of things for shoot

White shirt 

Waistcoat/corset

Bracelets 

Ribbon

Feathers

Tophat

Dark backdrop

Lamps for lighting

Make up ideas for the shoot: 

From these I know I'm going to use the colours gold brown and black and I may also add a small amount of dark purple or blue depending on what we have as the background colour.

Short Film idea and storyboard.

Storyboard: 

Another idea I had was that I change around the roles of the girl and the boy. So the boy is playing with the teddy and the girl is the one who slays the hydra, but the boy is still dressed as the knight and the girl the princess. This idea challenges stereotypes and breaks away from the cliche knight and damsel in distress. 

Possible Titles

Bernie the Brave

Bella the Brave

Chloe the Courageous

Caty the Courageous

Superhero poster 2

"Five out of twelve are breaking fourth wall.

The majority have the title of the film on the bottom of the poster. 

*All but one are wearing black leather.

** These two are very similar in the way they are laid out and the NVC of the characters.

*** All but one show at least one characters face.

**** Only two show more than one character."

Just his expression and his hand show his power and there just happens to be a half crushed car in the background, so it gives the impression he is the one crushing it.

I like the lighting in this picture and the overall colour scheme.

I like the juxtaposition of the fact there doing community service but have powers, I think its mostly the posture of the characters that says the most about who they are.

The first idea we discussed was that our superhero doesn't have to have super powers, and that our teenage heroine could be like batman and have lots of gadgets and rather than armour a dark coloured hoodie so their face is in shadow. So they're secretive, like an online superhero and it could take place in a urban setting. We dismissed this first idea because the convention of a teen in a hoodie screams urban gang movie more than superhero, and therefore would not show our audience what our film was about.

Our second idea was a superhero who can control time. With a victorian, steampunkish feel, with a brown, orange yellow colour scheme to it. The background to the poster could be pieces of a broken clock or pocket watch, and the only thing that shows it's her power could be the fact her eyes are closed and/or her hand is doing something.

Super Hero Poster

Initial ideas

• Female superhero
• Tag-lines - 'Another breed of human beings', 'it is not human'
• Examples - Superman, X-men (storm, jean, marie, mystique), Spiderman, Avengers (Black widow), Batman (batgirl, cat woman), Sky high, Arrow, Smallville

Red orangy colours, cat like pose, wearing heels

Blue, 'o' like cat eye, moon shows night, metropolitan 

Black, blue sky, heels, frame at an angle

***high heel signifier of female, black, red lip print also female

gun, red hair, block black background

**blue and red, explosion

****blue light, yellow eyes, red

black and white, uncoloured

*red clothes, red and black

blue/turquoise, sexuality of woman, shadow different

****cartoon look, shows powers

**black, blue tinge, white

• Black - Power, mystery
• Blue - trust, confidence, loyalty
• Turquoise - Feminine appeal
• Red orangy - energy, demanding of attention
• Red - rebellious, energy, strength, power, violence
• White - innocence, youth
• Yellow - betrayal, hope, deceit, hazard, friendship

Five out of twelve are breaking fourth wall.
The majority have the title of the film on the bottom of the poster. 

*All but one are wearing black leather.

** These two are very similar in the way they are laid out and the NVC of the characters.

*** All but one show at least one characters face.

**** Only these two show more than one character.

Before the Storm AS film - Poster

• use similar location to that in the opening sequence
• natural colours
• show character
• Don't give much away - mystery

Real Examples:

 

 

From these examples I might use:

• the silhouette's of the characters
• the 'all good children' title in two colours
• ratings and reviews
• main actors names
• festival selections
• age certificate
• a sans serif font
• one overall colour tone
• one photo
• movement
• credit block
• film tagline

Ideas:

 silhouettes (one could be looking over shoulder), the sky clouded and stormy

looking over shoulder, sense of mysteriousness

more distance from the camera, trees relating to opening

green foresty background (ivy leaves), portrait (Game of thrones style)

Things to include on the poster:

 ratings

 age certificate

festivals

 companies

 credits

Final photos to choose from to use for the poster:

I like this photo because there is a sense of loneliness, also the posture of the character shows the emotions of the film that i want to convey to the audience.

I like this because there is motion in the photo and you are left wondering whether the character is running away or towards something and what that thing could be.

I like this photo because it is more unusual because it is an extreme close up shot, I also really like the bold colours (blue and green) in this photo.

Questionnaire:

Which of these portrays the most emotions?

1 - 3 votes

2 - 3 votes

3 - 2 votes

Which of these grabs your attention most?

1 - 1 vote

2 - 4 votes

3 - 3 votes

Which of these photos do you think would be best for a poster for a film?

1 - 2 votes

2 - 4 votes

3 - 1 vote

I am going to use the second photo because there is more action and my questionnaire shows it grabbed the most attention because of the movement. The people I asked also said it is the photo they can see as most likely being on a poster for a film.

Final Poster: