My Role on the Production

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Right at the beginning of trimester, I was invited by Lucas to join his idea on the Environmental Storytelling project. I was onboard with the idea as I liked the premise and setting, the only problem for me was that it was going to be created in a 3D environment which is out of scope for my specialisation. I didn't need to think too in-depth about what I was going to do, after all; the assignment is environmental storytelling. There are multiple options where I can implement my specialisation into the project as a 2D artist.


Once more students were invited into the group we had a discussion on what roles we were going to undertake. I could implement my specialisation by doing storyboards and visual storytelling, this left me in charge of the overall narrative for the project. Before I even began sketching any of the visuals, it took a few revisions to get a written narrative that was suitable for the assignment. I received feedback from the other group members to see if there was a general consensus to the story, and implement any ideas they had that would effect the environment. Majority of the time, the ideas were fantastic and I was onboard with them. I wanted a nice working environment where I'm not dictating the whole story, and everyone gets their ideas in. It broadens the creativity, and I believe it yields a better outcome.

My main input into the ES project involves a motion comic to play at the beginning, it provides context to the accident before the world opens and the player character sets off to look for their brother. The audience will gain an understanding to the character's motives and why they would set trail to this old log cabin. I can't say for certain whether whoever goes through the ES experience will grow more attached to the main character, but we'll have to see. I'm bias and I can't test this, I wrote the story and created the characters; so I have grown a little attached to them, especially if I understand them better. 

I haven't gotten to the stage of placing my drawings into Adobe After Effects, but I have been looking at how different motion comics are played on YouTube. I need the full page I'm creating to have a consistent layout so the camera can pan smoothly between each panel. I had been referencing a lot of Avatar The Last Airbender's comic books and Ethan Becker's animatics, which is a main point of inspiration for the art style I have going as well. 
Nickelodeon. The Promise. Avatar the Last Airbender

The Name of the Wind [Animated] Ethan Becker

Outline what you are producing in your environmental storytelling project and how your work will enhance the final project as well as your Spec work and how you will improve your techniques (APA Citations Required)

There are a couple of reasons why I chose these particular art styles. Although it doesn't quite suit the atmosphere of the Environmental Storytelling project, we have two other 2D artists where their art style is not too far from this one. The main point of reason for design choice is that it is simple and the quickest way for me to draw, especially on a time crunch. There's something about this art style that draws me to the characters as well, it might be how charismatic the style is; being a very exaggerated design choice. For storytelling it is interesting to think of emotions in story terms. By this, they go through changes based on events that happen (Glebas, 2009). I took this into account with the motion comic I'm making, there's the shot where the avalanche starts coming down. I didn't make the characters immediately react to it, there's a delay in their actions as it's a sudden event to comprehend. You can slowly see the panic start building up in them before they make their next move. To a degree, I think this opening motion comic will aid in whoever experiences the Environmental Storytelling to be more understanding of the characters.

The duration of this trimester, I had improved in my storyboarding already. I learnt a lot about cinematography, more specifically camera angles and dynamic shots and started to experiment a lot with them. Since the trimester is specifically focused on visual storytelling, and the tip that comes from a lot of storyboard artists; is that the story should be completely understandable without words, based on the storyboard alone. If it isn’t, change it. The visuals should be able to convey the story (Simon, 2012). The storyboards I've created this trimester do not have a lot of written explanation to them, as I'm trying to convey as much information in the visuals as possible. If whomever views my storyboards and understands what is happening, I've successfully captured a wordless, voiceless great story.




References

Becker, E. (2019, May 9). The Name of the Wind [Animated]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgZ2de3-ssI

Big Heart Media. (2010). Using storyboards in project planning. Teachers TV/UK Dept. of Education. https://southernsaelibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/829688221

Glebas, F. (2009). Directing the story : professional storytelling and storyboarding techniques for live action and animation. Elsevier/Focal Press.

Nickelodeon. (2012, January 25). The Promise. Avatar the Last Airbender; Dark Horse Books.

Simon, M. A. (2012). Storyboards : Motion in art : motion in art. CRC Press LLC. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sae/detail.action?docID=282097

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