Planning

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Planning and Storyboarding
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1.1 Planning to Create
Steps for creating a successful animation

• Come up with a premise (idea)
• Develop a story from the premise
• Create a storyboard from the story
• Model props, environment and characters
• Create materials for your objects
• Set the stage
• Animate

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1.1 Planning to Create
Steps for creating a successful animation

• Create soundtrack
• SFX (Video Post, Render Effects)
• Render!
• Edit and tweak
• Re-render

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1.1 Planning to Create
Why Create A Short Animated Film?

• No real answer to that question but...
• Making an animated film lets you tell a story
• Forces you to understand the process as a whole
• You get to have total control - You are the Grip,
  Prop master, Lighting Guy, Soundman, Cameraman,
  Director - You have the final say of what goes in
  your animated film
• You get to do whatever you like - you can be as
  surreal, wild, gross and as funny as you want!

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1.1 Planning to Create
Why Create A Short Animated Film?

• To have something to enter into contests and
  festivals
• so youll get noticed
• get a job
• acquire fame and fortune (it could happen!)
• Because you can and want to create
• To have fun and learn!

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1.1 Planning to Create
Why Create A Short Animated Film?

• Whatever story you decide to do, keep it simple!
• Dont bite off more than you can chew!
• If you start big you never get your story
  complete
• an animated short does not have to be long to be
  good
• 30 seconds minimum
• maximum 2-3 minutes in length

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1.1 Planning to Create
Creating Characters and a Story

• The first thing it making an animated short is
  figuring out what the story will be about
• your film has to be based on two things -
  Characters and the Story
• they drive each other
• if there is no story, there is no characters to
  inhabit it
• if there are no characters, there is no story to
  describe them
• You need to develop the characters and the story
  at the same time!

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1.1 Planning to Create
Creating Characters and a Story

• As you go along you refine the characters and
  story so it works as an animated film
• the characters you use or create drive their
  personalities
• the situation you put characters into impacts the
  way interact or respond to the story
• Add twists - Miscast your characters to warp
  their personalities, for instance - A Superhero
  with the personality of a...

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1.1 Planning to Create
Creating Characters and a Story

• a story always has a beginning, middle and end
• your story should have conflict between its
  characters and their environment (drama or humor)
• The hardest part about creating a story is
  figuring out what your story will be about...

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1.1 Planning to Create
Creating Characters and a Story

• What could a story be about? Well, here is an
  idea
• What if you had a hyperactive Baby trying to
  catch an elusive Baby Bottle?
• Could you imagine the conflicts or gags you could
  set-up with that idea?
• That short one or two line statement or idea is
  called the Premise.

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1.1 Planning to Create
Creating Characters and a Story

• In order to get ideas for an animated short you
  need to brainstorm premises.
• 1. Take a piece of paper write down as many
  ideas as you can for a simple story.
• 2. Keep your sheet(s) of paper to add to it if
  more ideas come to you
• Eventually one of your ideas will strike you as
  The premise for your film.
• Remember to objectively try and picture how each
  premise can develop into a story that you would
  want to tell.

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1.1 Planning to Create
Developing your premise

• Once you have decided on your premise you have to
  figure out how you will execute it.
• What do I have to create?
• Will my characters have clothes, hair and
  accessories?
• What kind of environments will they inhabit?
• Lighting and SFX concerns
• can the computer and/or software handle the task?

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1.1 Planning to Create
Developing your premise

• Are you up to the requirements for the project
  (are you up for the challenge?)
• How long should it be (production time, rendering
  time)?
• Not all stories are told in a few minutes, so...
• focus on one set of characters and one conflict
• simple is better! (KISS)

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1.1 Planning to Create
Developing your premise

• Flesh out your story so you know the exact
  sequence of events (beginning, middle, ending)
• Take my idea of the baby and the baby bottle.
  What could happen there?
• The baby could stalk the bottle and when he or
  she corners it the frightened bottle it defends
  itself by squirting the baby in the face!
• See how the premise gets fleshed-out,
• Ideas spawn from the main premise.

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1.1 Planning to Create
Developing your premise

• Sketch out your ideas to visualize how your story
  might look
• Brainstorm more ideas to help flesh out your
  premise.
• Keep the good material, weed out the bad to make
  it simpler!

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1.1 Planning to Create
Developing your premise

• 1. From your list of premises pick one that might
  develop into an interesting story.
• 2. Take some post-it notes or paper and using
  your premise as a guide write or draw points on
  separate cards describing actions or events that
  could be in your story.
• 3. Generate lots of ideas. If no ideas come from
  your premise, pick a better one!
• 4. Take your stack of ideas and make sure to
  organize them into a rough outline of the story.
  By doing this you should get a good idea of how
  things will look.

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1.1 Planning to Create
Developing your premise

• Here is a list of ideas of how my film could go
• W.S. of living room/cut to MCU on corner of
  couch/baby peeks head out/cut to MCU bottle
  trying to cautiously sneak around a corner to the
  living room/follow bottle to corner/cut to
  reaction shot of baby seeing the bottle/reverse
  baby scooting along side of couch cornering
  bottle in the corner/OTS baby bottle looking for
  an escape route sees none and as the baby reaches
  for him he squirts the baby (camera) in the face
  and escapes (the milk spray used as a natural
  wipe to white). (All written on separate cards of
  course!)

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1.1 Planning to Create
Creating your Storyboard

• When you have a firm idea of what your story is
  about, you have to create a storyboard.
• Your storyboard is your blueprint you use to
  construct your animation.
• Storyboards are simple, shot by shot, action by
  action diagrams of what you want to do in your
  animation.
• Always create a storyboard before you begin
  animation.

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1.1 Planning to Create
Creating your Storyboard

• Use a stack of cards or post-it notes and draw
  each shot, one per sheet.
• Stick your shots, in order, on a wall, sheet of
  paper or bulletin board.
• Your storyboard does not have to be a work of
  art!
• If you cant draw use stick figures!
• People usually dont see your storyboards for a
  personal film.
• Make sure your storyboards are acceptable if you
  have to present them to a client.

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1.1 Planning to Create
Creating your Storyboard

• Storyboards are the only way to properly plan!
• The storyboard is one of the last steps in
  pre-production.
• Changing a storyboard is easier and less costly
  than changing your animation later.
• Your storyboard dictates what you do- What you
  have to build- How many shots to animate-
  Length of the final film

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1.1 Planning to Create
Creating your Storyboard

• Create your storyboard
• Use you outline that you created from your
  premise to create your storyboard.
• 1. Work out the story points visually on post-it
  notes (one post-it note per shot or action). You
  might need more than one panel for longer shots
  that contain more action.
• 2. Stick your drawings on a piece of paper or the
  wall. Re-work any shots that are out of place.
• You should now see how your animation will look,
  shot by shot!

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1.1 Planning to Create
More Stuff to Consider...

• Record Your Soundtrack
• Not all animated films have dialog.
• Some of the best animated shorts have no dialog
  at all.
• If your animation has dialog record it after you
  are happy with your script and storyboard.
• Record audio at CD quality (16 Bit 44 kHz)
• Edit your dialog with a sound editing program for
  timing/mixing purposes. This track will be used
  for the dialog track for your piece.
• For sound EFX, lift from CD or create your own.

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1.1 Planning to Create
More Stuff to Consider...

• Render your animation
• Render animation to low-res for tests
• Note any flaws

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1.1 Planning to Create
More Stuff to Consider...

• Edit and tweak
• Fix any imperfections
• Tweak if desired

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1.1 Planning to Create
More Stuff to Consider...

• Re-Render!

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