Animation Year 2

Feedback from this week’s interim (19.04.23) : 

Animatic with music pass 1 was shown. They said the music flattens everything out, in order to fix it they suggested that we try to do the following when we can:
1) adjust some scene timings so that they’re faster or slower depending on what they do narratively for the film
2) try and play around with volume and fading the music in and out at certain points to highlight certain events
3) cut the music differently so it accompanies the action better, (since the music slows down moments that are meant to be more speedy)
4) add foley and other sound effects alongside the music to accentuate actions such as the car speeding away and the audience cheering (we were planning to do this anyway)

Since I was the one who cut the music, I will edit it with Lucy again when we have more stuff animated.

Feedback from sound session: 25.04.23
Think about music motifs and how they can be used to accentuate the narrative
Edit the music so that there’s a clearer distinction between us entering her fantasy vs the reality.

Feedback from acting for animation 27.04.23
tie down the ending, to make the story feel more whole we should show that the tent represents both Meryl’s dream and also an open realm of opportunity. (To maybe hopefully instil a sense of hope in the audience potentially?)

The surroundings are also a character

Feedback from final interim 23.05.23: 

General feedback from Dan, Stuart, Izzy: 

Cut it down even more so it’s about a minute for the submission (this super short version will also be useful for showreel purposes potentially, according to them), focus and decide on what moments to include and what to focus on finishing for the hand in so that the story is still told to completion in this version.

Recut music and add sound effects (obviously)

Su Lynn’s feedback:

For the tightrope scene, instead of a full body shot, implement a close up of Meryl’s feet walking instead in order to 

1) cut down the workload 

2) show more emphasis on this moment and give more tension

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X0OKXC8lHo&ab_channel=Kikuo
https://twitter.com/si_ku?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
https://twitter.com/kikuo_sound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JuU_ggV340&ab_channel=ManlyBadassHero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utCfqksg0FA&ab_channel=%E3%81%AF%E3%82%8B%E3%81%BE%E3%81%8D%E3%81%94%E3%81%AF%E3%82%93%2FHarumakiGohanOfficial 

https://wiki.puella-magi.net/Gekidan_Inu_Curry

https://lolitafashion.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000035888 (clown lolita images)

Bibliography of reference links:

Prince and the dressmaker (graphic novel)

https://brownsugar7.amebaownd.com/
https://brownsugar7771.wixsite.com/mygallery

https://www.san-x.jp/characters/

https://jellybeet.com/about-sentimental-circus/

http://clownsgallery.co.uk/?i=1 (egg registry)

https://twitter.com/okazakiokaa?t=lp9jHiS08kGHPGUBojR_8w&s=09 okadayo

https://youtu.be/NruXhuaaQaM gugugaga

https://youtu.be/jKh-DP89FPY sundown

https://youtu.be/QTxvUA4l0Vs nilfruits ∴煮ル果実「命辛辛」with Flower 【Official】ｰ For dear life

https://instagram.com/goatpierrot?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= goatpierrot

https://instagram.com/two.teddies?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Two teddies

https://www.instagram.com/reel/ConOKHCtZ4P/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= (reel by bela_illustrator)

Super flat https://hyperallergic.com/11659/wtf-is-superflat/
Russian and Czech animation
Inucurry
Moving picture book 

Kikuo

09.03.23

Thinking of a title for the project: The tears of a clown

11.04.23

His main suggestion was to introduce Meryl earlier so we are going to reimplement Meryl’s shadow during the beginning scene to have her presence there. And also have the “backstage area”‘s background design be more ambiguous as to whether or not its backstage of a circus (it could in reality be Meryl’s bedroom cupboard)

I want to keep the beginning scene because I think keeping the main focus on Trinket initially helps to make the whole theme of switching places in our film even more deeply ingrained.

Stuart misread Trinket’s expression to be one of anger during the scene where she invites Meryl to do a routine with her. We will try to actually apply this with more subtle expressions to indicate annoyance like twitching eye/eyebrows etc.

He wasn’t entirely sure about the tent metaphor but for now we are going to keep it in because it’s key to showing Meryl’s delusion at the moment.

12.04.23

Personal edit to keep in mind for the animatic: 

Just before Trinket hops onto the swing, have her juggle and it be more polished so it can contrast with Meryl’s failure.

(Little guys playing xylophone to fit the music track)

Her juggle is her elegantly catching the balls before she jumps on the swing

Tutorial with Izzy

Why was Meryl sneaking in? 

She is young, not allowed to go circus, pyjamas indicate that she snuck out/not really meant to be there

Suggested points in the film where we could show that the whole thing is a dream: 

When Meryl grabs the tent, the surroundings can change appearance/ the audience can jumble about/blur in order to show this and also focus on Meryl

(Could be a glimpse of the fact that the circus tent is actually her room)

At the end when she is sitting alone in the audience area, could look more like her room or have room like props as an indication of the fact she never left to go to the circus. Desolate feeling to contrast the wink and cheery music. This will also create a clearer emotional journey in the film itself.

08.03.23 Interim 1
Feedback was much more positive compared to before, recommended references are the following:
Slava snow show https://slavasnowshow.com/en/
Tim Walker, Boris Labbe

Comments made:

Feedback from Noc:
To develop our setting more and make things less vague potentially, we could do some world building to really consolidate the idea that clowns in our world have a different role and overall have a better rep so we aren’t tied down by the whole creepy clown thing (which is not something we are interested in pushing too far with our animation) Also lose the connotation that clowns themselves are a joke, bc Meryl and Trinket’s dream is something that is serious and as characters they take it seriously too. 

(Also could lean more into the fact that they are two circus performers, since their designs are also not conventionally clown like)


Dan(?) said to not forget that contrast is important so ‘it doesn’t feel like we are just eating a mouthful of sugar’. This has been acknowledged and we will continue to take this general point into consideration.

Ayan said she agreed with this opinion, stating that she ‘likes cute clowns, but she likes cute clowns that aren’t always 100% cute more’

She also raised the idea of potentially showing trinket to be frustrated during the part of the story where she is burnt out. It’s a common emotion to experience when one is tired and in that state. This was useful since while writing the story and concept for these two characters, this fact completely slipped my mind. As a pair, we will definitely explore this idea further.

Our vision for the story is for it to be heart warming with a clear message about acknowledging the difficulties of following one’s dream. I think that is strong enough to stand on its own without the need to add many creepy elements.

Current thought process:
Inucurry is our main inspiration – > their roots are in russian and czech animation and the moving picture book look/aesthetic -> they’re a good example of the Superflat style of animation and art – > which in turn links to and is a byproduct of kawaii culture (both me and lucy grew up admiring this) -> lolita is a fashion subculture which we both admired growing up too (And I actively partake in this as well). Due to the origins of this subculture being an act of rebellion against japan’s ‘if any nails stick out they get hammered down’ mentality, it directly links to the universal experience that girls have growing up that is the expectations to look a certain way etc and how society hates teenage girls no matter what we do. -> Clown Lolita is a subgenre of lolita that links back to how we want to create an animation that empowers and inspires people who watch it.

This helped us narrow down our target audience to now be: People (more specifically young women in their 20s) that would attend animation film festivals to be inspired. The goal for the film would also be to highlight stuff like how confidence and anxiety is an ongoing problem that every person faces and needs to overcome, how fashion can empower a person due to self expression and how it can be an act of rebellion too.

Clown as a motif and how trinket as a character desires to make people laugh and be happy. 

Focusing more now on art direction and the history and aesthetic of clowns rather than story? But obviously still having likeable characters

Fantasy setting, can lean away from realism and into more exploring style

https://americanliterature.com/author/loretta-ellen-brady/fairy-tale/the-tale-of-punchinello23.02.2022

Thinking about it more, I think that the story could be about burnout and the importance of not sacrificing yourself entirely for the sake of another person instead of confidence loss. And also about like, picking your problems i suppose (like, the whole ‘you’ll always have problems no matter what so why don’t you pick which ones u want instead of being forced into a box u dont want’)
Could also have the underlying theme of ‘running away to join the circus’ and the positives and negatives of it, having a parallel to real life like, chasing your dreams is good but there’s always consequences too

The entire story can be from trinket’s pov, but throughout u can also see meryl’s reactions and stuff to things. So you can pick up on what her side of things is like if you pay attention to it.

Trinket can start off as a girl who dreams of becoming a clown to make others happy but she can’t because of societal expectations of being a successful/normal girl (where the clothes symbolism can start, hyper feminine/ exaggerated clown lolita clothes for those who have found their own happiness and dont care anymore about following those expectations. At the same time we could also show that even tho this is the case not everyone accepts it (those that think that the aesthetic is unapproachable due to how exaggerated it is) and that’s okay)

Meryl begins as the punchinello of the story, coming every night to meet with trinket and dance etc, until she can’t anymore. (then they effectively switch places, and trinket finds out that the life that meryl lived was good but also had many hardships since she was also responsible for repairing the clothes and appearances of the other circus members (these other members can be implied to be/or actually are toys or puppets, but it’s whatever bc the story won’t be grounded in reality anyway so it can be up to people’s interpretation. The thing that matters is, Meryl was with caretaker and now she’s no longer there)

When Trinket first takes Meryl’s place, everything is fine at first but as the days go on and the other members need the repairs she can’t keep up because she isn’t used to it and starts to struggle.

Meryl is unwell but probably still watching at this point, seeing that yes they still need her, but while she is recovering the importance of not over exerting yourself

Keep this ending: I think it would be nice for the animation/story to end on an abrupt note, like just before Meryl starts performing again, the animation just ends so we never find out if she did a good or bad job. Because it doesn’t matter, what matters is that she made the choice to help her friend despite her own fears.

27.02.23
Made a script today with all the relevant events

^ Same as above but with roles reversed, with Trinket as the seasoned performer (Punchinello) who helps Meryl (Beppo) who dreams of performing

Vintage and fantasy setting

Facial markings could connote feeling

Kinda visual storybook animation style as well as the Inu Curry influence

Could be held up like puppets, has weird illustrated background elements, as well as regular 2D anim for character moments obvi

Overlay textures still

Like in the PDF, starts in Meryl’s bedroom, she is dressed as a regular girl but the Mise-en-scene shows her interest in the Circus (ticket, stuff in room etc)

She then either imagines going to the Circus or she actually goes, not sure yet. She sees Trinket performing

Maybe it shows the real Circus but then zooms out to Meryl’s tiny version

I’ll try to explain why we originally had roles reversed but we changed them lmao

28.02.23

Trinket suffers from burnout as she performs during the day then at night when she should be resting

Meryl longs for something she cannot have

Together they heal woohoo

(Anything in bold was written by Lucy)
Blog entry/idea and story development 17.2.23: 

I took keyleigh’s idea about making an animation about an old cat who gets adopted, my idea about a duck who gets and new raincoat, and Lucy’s love for clowns and combined them to form the following:

Maybe we should make an animation about an old animal who gets adopted to become part of the circus and they get to shine in their own way?

Keyleigh decided to leave to work on her own project by herself so to take her out of the equation the idea is now: 

Working title of the film: (not here yet)

The story will be set in a circus environment, trinket performs with maybe another character (like a stage partner) but the 2nd main character will be a tailor who makes all the outfits for trinket because she has confidence issues about performing directly on stage so she gets to show her work by making cute outfits for trinket.

The main ‘conflict’ of the story will be that trinket’s usual stage partner gets an injury and the tailor has to step up and perform in their place.

Meryl (tailor character name)

Jingles (name for trinkets usual partner)

To add more dimension to Trinket’s character, I was thinking we could make it so that off stage she is not as confident to add a contrast to Meryl being comfortable offstage providing backup for her to shine. 

So at the end of the film it’s satisfying to see them both together and confident.

^ what way could we show being confident/unconfident off stage ? :>

Using clown makeup in the design as symbolism and whatnot is also an idea that we could take forward into our character designs I think.

Sound direction: We are opting to make the film with little to no dialogue with focus on the music being the thing to assist in setting the mood and emotions presented in the narrative.

Art Direction: many little guys

Colour journey = Blue/purple -> More pink hues 

Backstage area is quite cool toned, whereas the main ring has a lot of warmth

Also just need to brainstorm how to directly tie into the brief / make sure that we are referencing something that is ‘personal to us’ or we feel strongly about

Obvi one aspect is the tailor being shy or nervous and not being able to perform, maybe due to stage fright/crowd anxiety etc. But she is able to put that away in order to help Trinket and her partner in a moment of need.
Maybe we could show something like, the tailor used to perform in the past, but gave up due to some kind of incident? Which would explain why she still has the skills to perform. Or it could just be that she was always used to being backstage dat’s fine too

The tailor uses her clothing to kind of ‘hide away’ at first

I really like the overlaid textures style, maybe we can figure something out

(21.2.23): 

After today’s presentation we got told our idea was “too generic” and we needed to do more research which is what we were planning to do already but okay stuart whatever.

The idea we presented was in its most early state anyway, we didn’t want to narrow it down too much too early.

To develop the idea further and make it even more personal, I talked to Lucy about my past experiences with performing as a violinist (both solo and as part of an orchestra.) 

The main points being the following:

How it started off okay, but the more I took lessons, the more I wanted to quit due to pressure to do well and pressure to succeed.

When performing by myself in monitored conditions I always messed up slightly due to stage fright and anxiety. Even though the mistakes were slight, it always felt like the deepest humiliation. 

When performing in a group, I could hide behind others but I felt like dead weight and a fraud because no one detected my mistakes whenever I did make them. I didn’t feel worthy of being on a stage that prestigious. (It was at royal albert hall) 

The character could either have a series of small blunders like how I did, or one big incident could happen to cause her to not want to perform and take on a bigger role.

Also, if the setting being a circus isn’t too important, we can move it to be a theatre/stage environment instead and keep the clown aesthetic throughout. Either that or we need to think about what type of circus to set the story in, a traditional one or a non traditional one like for example the concept sentimental circus has for their mascots (abandoned toys who come together to form a circus group)

Could be a more made up environment like, the tailor repairs the clothes of many (potentially performers? Or maybe clothes for toys or something) and ensures that whatever she repairs can have a good life and make each act memorable (focusing on what Stuart said about the idea of repair being interesting) but at the same time she neglects and hasn’t repaired anything of her own for a long time.

One day her old friend from the circus comes back (trinket) and when the tailor goes to see her again for support an incident happens that causes her to need to step up and perform again

I think it would be nice for the animation/story to end on an abrupt note, like just before meryl starts performing, the animation just ends so we never find out if she did a good or bad job. Because it doesn’t matter, what matters is that she made the choice to help her friend despite her own fears.

Need to flesh out Trinket’s backstory, motivations and how she relates to us in some way as well: Maybe she felt insecure on stage but the tailor made amazing outfits that gave her confidence? 

Stage show setting?

Lucy and I are planning on working on the film more over summer to get it to the standard that we envisioned.