Process

Communicating visual ideas can be challenging. Whether working with storyboards, style frames, or filling the role of designer myself. The first thing I try to get right is the animatic. Thinking relatively, an animatic is like an animators sketch of their ideas. It’s purpose is to give everyone an idea of the direction the animator wants to move and to get the timing correct to each scene, color isn’t even important yet. Not much actual animation goes into an animatic usually, this avoids wasting time going in a direction not everyone likes. Completing an animatic usually takes 1-3 hours, if the design is already completed ahead of time. This animatic took me a day to complete since everything was made from scratch and I made the design. For the project below I was given the voice over and no direction from the client. Not having any direction can be a great, very freeing, but it can also be a huge challenge to an animator. Based solely on the voice over I made some design choices, picked some stock music, and laid it all out to have something to react to.

If at first… - Animatic #1

Based solely on the voice over I thought this piece would be on a darker, more serious side. The feedback I got from this animatic was mostly negative, there were moments people liked but overall it wasn’t well received. There was a point where the idea of starting over with a new direction was the answer. I believed in the structure of what I was making so I continued with the idea, took the feedback constructively, and came back with a new animatic.

The rework - Animatic #2

Instead of going with a complete redesign, I took the feedback notes for my inspiration. To break it down. No one really liked the negative destruction of the “You.” in the beginning. Everyone wanted some some icon to identify as a foster home, or family. Lastly the music made it sound dark, almost political, not a feeling people wanted. The first shot was probably where I put the most thought into for the rework, I wasn’t happy with it either at this point. I wanted to make something more figurative. I started to think of how life can take you for a loop and you’ll end up in a place you didn’t expect. I knew I wanted to use simple geometric shapes, since that’s a style I’ve been working in lately. Did you know that a heart is two circles and a square? What a perfect fit. The music was a big consideration, I picked something much more alive and inspiring. I was also trying to sell my creative on this one, so I expanded ideas I had even further. Adding in extra animation to really sell my vision. You can see the transformation.

The final

The second animatic was accepted and so I moved forward with completing the animations. Once that version was approved by the clients I worked with my sound designer to bring this final version together. You can see the piece kept it’s core structure of the second animatic I pitched, showing the importance of getting it right. Even if it’s not the first time.