Should I Animate a Music Video or a Cartoon?

Sasiton Wallace

Computer Applications 11

Mr. Shappell

Stuck Between Two Choices

The time that has passed between the last blog post and now have been a big struggle for me. It’s difficult for me to stay committed to a project and find ideas that I can work with for a long time. My mind jumps around too much. I have a lot of good ideas that could be transformed into an amazing story for my animation, but I can only choose one. I want to make a mini cartoon but I struggle with creating stories that follows the traditional “plot line” (rising action, climax and falling action). I also want to make an animation that will tell a story with pictures and music. I’ve been thinking about compromising the two ideas together and settle with some sort of action packed animation with character conflict and some sort of important theme.


Within the 2 weeks, I’ve been planning and plotting out possible animation ideas. It has been really hard for me to find a strong, stable animation I can work with. Instead of jumping around from scrap idea to scrap idea, I’ve narrowed down my choices to two:

QUICK OVERVIEW: I need a song that captures a story of a girl and boy - The boy is living in a dark grayscale world, while the girl is living in color. The animation is gonna be where they're living in their own little world surrounded with people like them, but the twist is the girl need to feel a little sad because It's ok to cry and the boy needs to cheer up because there's happy things in life. some filler stuff then eventually, their worlds will collide together (it will be like a connection in Your Name).. And then it will be like an emotional realization that they need each other to feel complete?

Possible Songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Mtin2YslA (Joji - Sanctuary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGgJpRuv1uo (Lily Potter - Oblivion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXGycbkbtW0 (It’s you - Ali Gatie)


QUICK OVERVIEW: The first episode of a cartoon. The story idea is about a group of villain wannabes that are trying to get out their recruitment video and make more people like them join. These villains are out cast by society, heroes, and the super villains. They want to prove to the world that they can be the most evil and contribute into the villain society. Each member has their own little quirks, but they all have one thing in common… They all have stupidly overpowered superpowers that they don’t use properly (or don’t know how to use/forget to use). This recruitment video will show the origin story of these villains (introducing the “headmasters”). This means backstory and how they got their superpower. And of course, in every villain show must be a hero. Rather than a hero the world loves and adores, this hero is someone society hates. They call him “hero” to mock his passions and failures. This hero is also really bad at his job, but the villain wannabes mistakes him for the city’s most strongest/valuable member of society… Voice Acting Crew: Zinel, Tucker, Sebby, Hadas, Mookie…


A big part of my heart really wants to animate to option 1 because I have a really motivating long term goal: Christmas or birthday present for my friend. I have a very close friend that I really love and appreciate. They light up my world and give it color when everything feels gray. I feel like if I chose option 1, I’ll be more motivated to give it my all and make sure the animation isn’t sloppy or incomplete. I want this animation to be well-crafted and presentable appreciation gift to my friend. This spark will probably be able to drive me throughout the semester and keep me trapped on one project.

Another part of me want to animate a cartoon (option 2) because I will be able to involve my peers, teachers, etc… On top of that, I believe a cartoon will be in the best interest of my audience (classmates). The cartoon will be engaging (hopefully bringing out a few chuckles here and there) and entertaining. I personally believe if I take the risk and go with my first option, my classmates will be uninterested with the story.

This conflict between the two options leave me at a roadblock. I am legitimately unable to move onto the next portion of the project because I cannot decide between a cartoon or animated music video. Since I love both ideas, I might as well let a simple coin flip end all my problems to help me move on…

The Flip
Heads = Option 1
Tails = Option 2

I had a 50-50 chance of getting option 1 or option 2. After flipping my 1 shekel coin, it was decided that I will work with the opinion 2. I’m glad I won’t struggle anymore with deciding which animation idea I should settle with. If I hadn’t come up with a solution sooner, I would probably stretch out this short term goal and go over my schedule for this project.

Since I have the basic story idea down I sent out a mini forum to my voice actors to fill out. This communication allows my friends to contribute their own creativity and personality into my project. I believe this will create life into the characters, in other words, the animation will be more than just pictures moving. I can not start any animation because my voice actors still have to fill out the mini forum and sketch out a mini character design for me to work with. I told them the deadline is today - So far I have ¾ . There’s a chance I will be getting more forums but it all depends on who is really interested.

Luckily for me, everyone on the crew managed to turn in their mini character sheet. I just have to come up with my own character and the minor characters that will take place in the short cartoon. I’m still open to anyone that wants to join my project (this means voice actors and help with story plot/script).

During my weekends I’ve been getting inspiration by looking at animators for the cartoons I love to watch. First, I watched the first season of Bee and Puppycat. The animation style is very simplistic and the adventure/story that unfolds within the 5-6 minute episodes. I hope that my cartoon will be able to capture what the entire “show” will be about yet leave the audience wondering what will happen next. Second, I watched a video of how the creators/animators of We Bare Bears and The Amazing World of Gumball put together an animation. I learned how these animations go from a storyboard > storyboard with audio > Lineart / Coloring > and eventually the final product.

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cpdAodx0Kk&t=2s (We Bare Bears)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6KcCz4IKGY (Amazing World of Gumball)

I’ve made small changes to my original plan after watching these videos. I never realized how difficult animation can be. I thought it was going to be straightforward: I come up with a story, I draw a storyboard, I make an animatic, and then I move onto the finish project. First off with the story, I made a journal where I document every idea that pops in my head late at night. It’s really difficult for me to stick to an idea and create a solid story plot I can follow through. Instead of jumping around, I’ve decided to take the ideas I currently had and narrow down to a plot that I liked.











Goals

Now I can “officially” start on my project and start drawing out the characters and storyboard for my animation. For the next few classes, I hope to fully develop a story using the characters that were submitted. I also want to exercise my art skills and begin to find a certain style that pleases me.

My short term goal for this session will be drawing. I want to start looking at inspiration. I’ve been wondering something more simplistic such as Adventure Time or Steven Universe, rather than a much more detailed and rich kind of animation. I understand that I only have a couple of months to finish this. I don’t want to stress myself out trying to make every since frame covered in detail. Another short term goal will be drawing the character(s) themselves. After finding the right art style, I believe I can start sketching the characters in different poses, style, clothes, etc..

My long term goal involves the story plot. I want to start going into detail with my story. This means plotting out the rising action, climax, and falling action. For this episode, I want to give it meaning and direction. I don’t want my animation to be random and confusing. I want meaning to the madness that I’ve created.

Small Patch Notes
I changed my programs because they require a heavy duty laptop/computer to run properly without lagging too hard. Sadly, my laptop can only take so much before giving in to exhaustion. There’s a chance I might even 

Firealpaca got replaced with Krita (a much more animation friendly program).
Blender got replaced with Adobe Premiere (Blender is still in its early stages and is causing a lot of problems for my laptop).