For my Final Major Project, I will be creating an animation/cartoon. I will be drawing inspiration (excuse the pun) from some of my favourite animators and cartoons, as well as art styles in Anime.
The theme of the project will be a mix of two quite different things. Scary, mysterious, dark. And light hearted, comedic. I want to create a world that, perhaps in reality, would be terrifying, but make it look charming and fun.
I developed this idea when I was creating another cartoon. The cartoon was animated with out of context audio clips of funny conversations I've had with people. The conversations often had dark or adult humour but my most used animating style made all of the characters look quite cute. I thought this weird blend of cute and dark worked quite well and I wanted to create a full idea based on it. There are a few other cartoons that have managed to pull this off. Such as
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
This is a cartoon set in the real world, about two normal children (Billy and Mandy). The thing
that makes their lives so different is that they are best friends with Death himself, Grim. The
universe this cartoon is set in is quite split. When the characters are out and about, there’s
little difference between this and any other cartoon. But when Grim’s own affairs surface
around the children, they are put through adventure after adventure, travelling through strange
worlds, fighting demons, mages, or even clowns.
Why is this useful for my work?
This cartoon has a very outstanding way of showing a change in
atmosphere. When in the normal world, doing normal things, everything
is drawn very round and bouncy. The colours are highly saturated and
there’s little shading and more highlighting. However, when something
dangerous, strange or just generally ‘otherworldly’ happens, the
animation style changes. The animation becomes much darker with
more use of colours like purple, red and dark blue. The characters are
drawn with more edges and the animation is speedier.
Something worth pointing out is that Grim’s style, regardless of what world he is in, is always the same. Grim is almost a conduit for a natural transition between styles of animation. The only thing that changes on Grim is the level of shading, which I think is more to keep him looking in place with the other characters.
Another thing about this cartoon is that is takes menacing looking characters (for example, Grim) and gives them a friendly personality. It turns our character judgments over and adds depth to them. It also makes the story more original as 9 times out of 10, Grim is the nice guy in the cartoon. We sympathise with him for putting up with Billy, and Mandy is usually the more evil of the three.
Danny Phantom
This is a story about a school boy with a unique ability to become a ghost at will.
Danny’s father is a ghost fanatic and builds a machine in an attempt to contact the
ghost world. When the machine fails, Danny goes snooping around and accidently
launches the ghost portal with him standing half way through the machine as it
opens. The result is him being able to change back and forth. Danny uses his
powers to stop other ghosts that have escaped to his world to terrorize others and
send them back.
Why is this useful for my work?
Similar to The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, this show has it’s own way of drawing and animating strange and unusual things. There’s an entire ghost world in this show and it, as you’d expect, is a lot different from the normal world. There is also the way that certain things from different worlds look when they cross these worlds. Things can wind up looking different on the other side, for one thing Danny. Danny’s whole anatomy changes when he becomes a ghost and as such he goes from being a normal school boy to being a snow white haired ghostly hero. This show, like the last, will help me define my cartoon’s world better and help me bring it to life in the way these have.
Invader Zim
This cartoon is about an alien from a far away galaxy who lands on earth on a mission to
gather intelligence and destroy. Zim and his robot GIR try to fit into the normal world and
on the way, meet some strange characters.
Why is this useful for my work?
The colour scheme used to show aliens, alien planets or alien technology is how I think I
should be making my cartoon. The purple and green adds an element of strange without
making the cartoon creepy and the saturation of the colours makes it both menacing and
adds charm.
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto
This is the most relevant of what I have looked at so far. El Superbeasto is a
movie star, superhero and wrestler. He lives in a world full of monsters,
ghosts, goblins and ghouls. But in this world, they are just as normal as any
other human in our world. There are several wacky storylines in this
animated movie, including stopping the terrible Doctor Satan, defeating an
army of Nazi zombies, saving a damsel in distress, and enjoying hot wings
with cheese.
Why is this useful for my work?
This ‘haunted world’ has a very similar colour scheme to what I have looked at previously. It is dark,
shadowy and comprised mainly of secondary colours.
All of the characters have a strong aspect that makes them more individual in the story. They all
have several sides to them, and are very well written.
Most importantly, this world is full of strange creatures that are given a human side. There are
werewolves relaxing in bars with snake people, there’s a frankenstein monster, a swamp hag etc.
All of these characters coexist as if it were more normal that our own everyday life. This abnormality
makes it easy to write ludacris stories about nearly anything I want. In a world where you can play
tennis with a robot and have a dance off with a vampire on another planet, the sky's the limit for
potential stories.
TED
Although TED is a live action story using CGI, the style of the characters and the
narrative are part of my inspiration here. TED is, if you try to sum it up, a story about a
teddy bear who gets kidnapped and his best friend has to rescue him. However, when
you get more in depth, TED is about a talking teddy bear who swears, takes drugs,
parties with his friend and fights a lot. A creepy old man steals the talking bear and his
friend tries to save him, attacking the people that took him. The film is a comedy with
very adult humour.
Why is this useful for my work?
TED takes something that is considered cute and turns it around, aiming it at adults instead of children. His chcracter is designed to even look cute, but this bear has a very agressive adult mind. This is how I want the characters of my world to be designed.
For this project, I will; be using the following software:
Adobe Flash Professional CC
The main program I will be using for this project. Adobe’s Flash is used by every big name in independent animation and for good reason. The IU is quick to grasp and it offers effects and tools that other programs do not offer. I will be using this to animate the entire film.
On top of this, if I decide to try a new effect or learn a new skill in the program, I won’t have to look far to find a tutorial as it is the most used animation software out there and as such, most animation tutorials are done with Flash.
Adobe Audition CC
I will be recording, editing and exporting all of the audio I capture with this program. Like most Adobe products, it is easy to learn and has a wide variety of effects for me to use and edit quickly. It also has all of the necessary exportable audio formats for what I need too.
Manga Studio EX
I realise that the title of this program makes it sound like something you give to your 13 year old sister for her birthday so she can draw bad Anime; contrary to what you might think though, this software is excellent for vector drawing and as such makes is a fantastic for creating great backgrounds. It also comes packed with more preset brush types by default than Adobe Illustrator, so it’s easier to work quickly and not fuss with brushes.
Adobe Photoshop CC
This program will be good for several things. Firstly, I can use it to add filters to my backgrounds and give them a warmer, colder, brighter or darker atmosphere.
Secondly, I can use this to collect images for character reference and put my storyboards together.
Adobe Premiere Pro CC
This is the program that I will be using to finalize my FMP. When all animation is exported, I will add in all audio using Premiere Pro, add titles, and any extra final touches before exporting it as a full video.
CeltX
For fast and easy script writing.
And I will be using this recording hardware:
RØDE NT1-A
This studio microphone is used by most indie animators, voice actors, game developers, podcasters and let’s players. It delivers high quality audio with no background noise and is equipped with a shockmount and pop shield. This will be perfect for my animation as I can record everything at my desk and edit the audio to suit the context of the video.
Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet
A graphics tablet I can draw my animation on. Easy to use and will increase the quality and speed of my production.
Production Schedule
As an animation, this project will require a lot more time at my desk than a film will and will be a slower process in most ways. This means I will have to stick to a schedule where I am constantly creating and adding to the project. I am a fast worker when it comes to computers which is useful, but I will still need to dedicate lots of time to this.
Budget
As an animation, the usual costs of going on location or hiring actors is low to none. The only thing I will be paying for during this project is the microphone.
RØDE NT1-A - £125
Microphone Arm - £20
Phantom Power Mixer - £15
Permissions
Again, as an animation, there is no need to go on location or complete any kind of risk assessment.
Copyright
With known styles in my work, I will have to be careful with what I draw. I will need to add an original edge to each drawing I do. But there is no specific copywrite I should be concerned about.
Audience
My target audience for this will be people who enjoy cartoons, specifically more adult aimed ones. (For example Family Guy, South Park, The Simpsons, Rick & Morty, Bob’s Burgers, Archer or Robot Chicken.) Mostly younger adults. From 20 onwards. Adults who are fans of dark humour. People who enjoy fantasy stories, character depth and light hearted naratives. People who enjoy turning their brain off and watching something that doesn't require a lot of thought to enjoy.
Distribution
The best way to get this cartoon out there is through YouTube. Animations that have had time and effort put into them get a lot of attention and due to the way YouTube's payment system works now, there aren't a lot of animators active on the site (compared to previous years). With so many people interested in animation and so few doing it, this is a great chance to get Finn known. And the same goes for Vimeo, although I feel YouTube is better suited to this.
Animated film festivals are of course another great way to generate buzz on the project. Some of the festivals I have looked at are:
Animex International Festival | http://animex.tees.ac.uk/student_awards.cfm
Chester International Film Festival - Animation Showcase | http://www.festival.chesterfilmfans.co.uk/
Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival | http://encounters-festival.org.uk/
Newgrounds
Newgrounds.com is a website dedicated to the content creators. It's known as being a 'by us, for us' website, where anyone involved in any kind of media can freely upload their content and share it. Some of the animators on this website have gone on to becoming internet stars. Two examples being:
Egoraptor
Egoraptor is an animator who makes cartoons about video games. Mostly known for his cartoon series 'The Awesome Series', which parodies video game naratives, he is also a famous Let's Player on his YouTube Channel 'Game Grumps'.
Harry Partridge
One of the most talented animators and entertainers on the internet. Harry Partridge started on Newgrounds, expanded to YouTube once he was popular and is now working with the BBC as well as other television companies to create more high quality content.
Newgrounds is responsible for hundreds of artists showing their work off and getting it known quickl;y by the right people. It's also a sort of social network for creatives as many of the things posted on the site are colaborations. Many of my favourite animators (including OneyNG, Psychicpebbles, RubberRoss, Egoraptor, Harry Partridge and Arin'sMind) have collaborated to expand their audience and they always rank at the top of the site for best content creators.
Bibliography
Animex International Festival [online] available from <http://animex.tees.ac.uk/student_awards.cfm>
Chester International Film Festival [online] available from <http://www.festival.chesterfilmfans.co.uk/>
_ (2004-2009) Danny Phantom, Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Encounters Short Film Festival [online] available from <http://encounters-festival.org.uk/>
Newgrounds (1995-) Newgrounds [online] available from <http://www.newgrounds.com/>
_ (2001-2003) Invader Zim, Nicktoons Productions
_ (2001-2007) The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Cartoon Network
TED. (2012). [film] Seth MacFarlane
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. (2009). [film] Rob Zombie
YouTube (2014) Does Indipendent Animation Have a Future on YouTube? [online] available from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi6FcI2wFrw>
YouTube (2006-) Egoraptor [online] available from <http://www.youtube.com/user/Egoraptor/>
YouTube (2008-) Harry Partridge [online] available from <http://www.youtube.com/user/HarryPartridge/>
YouTube (2009-) OneyNG [online] available from <http://www.youtube.com/user/oneyng/>
