Telling Tales - Week 4

Storyboard refinement

At this stage, even though we had made quick progress in the pre-production stage, there were many questions and plotholes in our story - events that didn't make sense. This was because the initial script was quite loose and undefined.

What went well:

• Communication among the team was swift and efficient, problems were quickly resolved
• The story became stronger and easier to understand, getting rid of the cheap trick and loopholes.

What could be improved:

• As a director, I realised that the roles hadn't been assigned efficiently; instead of assigning everyone the same jobs then choosing the best aspects of it I should've assigned more specific roles and trusted that the team would be happy with the outcome.

Telling Tales - Week 3

Storyboarding

I had been drawing storyboard panels since Week 1 since I'm a "visual script-writer", and by Week 3 we each had a rough version of a storyboard.

We had slightly different views on shot progression, camera angles etc, but we mixed the panels and used the best parts.

Reflecting upon what I learnt last year during storyboarding, I made my storyboard assets on different layers. I feel my organisation skills have improved since.

What went well:

• Storyboarding drafts separately brought new angles and ideas.
• Separating assets to layer will make animatic easier.

What could improve:

• My storyboards were excessively detailed need to simplify them to only show motion and lighting, 
• The script could've been clearer to make storyboarding easier.

Telling Tales - Week 2

Character Design

This week we designed a character each, in an Adventure time/Steven Universe style.

I designed the Beast;

Upon feedback from my teammates, I finalised this:

What worked well:

• Consulting my teammates before finalising the design meant I could make it match the art style and complement other characters,
• The character development sheet helped us know the Beast's motivations, even though the story barely highlights any of it's backstory.

What could be improved:

• Characters have similar shapes, forms could've been exaggerated to create more diversity,
• The colour schemes of the characters weren't complementary, assigning the role of character design to one person would yield designs that fit better.

Telling Tales - Week 1

Story Pitching & Script Development

We pitched stories (that were based on rolling themed die) to the class:

I pitched:

This is the story of a little girl and her friendship with an ancient beast. Unknowingly, their fun causes chaos in the town. Will their friendship survive under the iron fist of the warrior king? Will the true beast finally be revealed?

After discussion with my team, the story is now:

• in perspective of the king, 
• a mythical twist to the story of Gelert.

What went well:

• Input from team members provided new, interesting perspectives, 
• Story had defined structure; beginning, middle and end.

What could be improved:

• Audience and genre needed to be outlined earlier,
• Scripts got too confusing and longer than the limit, needed to be more concise,
• Due to need for a plot twist, antagonist and protagonist characters weren't decided.