Year 3 - Major Project: Scrapped Ideas & Scrapped Audio
This page will serve to host all unused animation/project ideas for the final project of the BA. Project ideas were scrapped during the pre-planning phase of the module, where I was finalising a project idea. Animation ideas were scrapped because I either didn't like the idea, or I found better material to use.
Scrapped Project Idea: Animated Music Video
Initially, before starting the project, I had the idea to create an animated music video, taking inspiration from fan made 3D animated music videos uploaded to YouTube. After talking with Ben about this idea, we both agreed that it was a little too ambitious, as many factors played into what I wanted the animation to look like. Such as characters, staging (one continuous shot, or multiple environments).
I did make a rough storyboard (before presenting the idea) whilst listening to a song. Looking back, there would have been too much work to do regarding modelling that more focus would be on that rather than animation.
Scrapped storyboard for the music video
The main issue with this idea was copyright. Seeing as though I wouldn't own any of the music I'd use in the video, it could potentially put me at risk of legal action.
Inspiration:
These are the videos that inspired me to propose the idea of making an animated music video for my final project.
Scrapped Project Idea: Animation About Dreaming
Another idea I had around the same time as the music video was an animation about dreaming, where the environment would change around the character. This idea had the same issues as the music video idea, where it focused too much on modelling an environment (and animating that environment to a believable degree), it was also way too ambitious, so I decided to scrap this one too.
I didn't get farther than typing a short synopsis of what the animation would consist of, so it wasn't a very stable idea from the beginning. I'm relieved that I didn't go through with this idea. Going back and reading it now that I'm underway with the narrative animation project, I'm not as fond of the idea as I was when I came up with it.
Idea Synopsis:
No spoken words (no lip sync). Would need music and sound effects to carry the animation. Create own sound effects?
Animation would consist of the world changing around the character who is daydreaming. Animation could start from a school/workplace setting (looking out of a window or sitting on a rooftop looking at the sky). Daydream is broken by a cold can (drink) touching the back of the daydreamer's neck - bringing them back to reality.
Model the environments.
Environment ideas:
Hilltop - sat underneath a tree. Could start animation here?
Sky - Ground underneath character breaks on the hilltop - they fall through.
Underwater - After being in the sky fall into the ocean
Jungle - Trees grow around the character from the ocean floor. One grows underneath them, bringing them above the surface of the water.
Start animation from Hilltop - have ground fall apart underneath the character, transitioning to the sky?
Scrapped Animatics for Narrative Animation
The following are scrapped storyboards/animatics for the Narrative Animation project (the idea I chose as the final project). These went unused either because I didn't like the idea or structure of the animatic, or just because I had other animatics/animations I found more enjoyable to work on.
Scrapped Animatic: Est. 2009
This was one of the first animatics I produced for the (Year 3 Final) Narrative Animation Project. The gist is, green has a business that has existed since 2009. A passerby isn't impressed by this, as he feels 11 years isn't long enough to warrant an 'Est.' sign for the business.
I never got to blocking this animation out as I started working on the first animation: Gamer Pad, due to finding the dialogue to be the funniest out of the first batch of audio I sourced for the project. Whilst working on Gamer Pad, I found more audio to work with on future animations, leaving 'Est. 2009' to go unused.
Audio source for 'Est. 2009'.
Scrapped 'Est. 2009' animatic.
Scrapped Animatic: Laser Tag
Like 'Est. 2009', this was also one of the first animatics I created for the (Year 3 Final) Narrative Animation project. This animatic also went unused for the same reasons as the previous animatic. I found audio that was much easier for me to work with in terms of creating scenarios that I enjoyed.
Audio source for 'Laser Tag'.
Scrapped 'Laser Tag' animatic.
Scrapped Ideas for Narrative Animation
During the very early stages of developing this idea (late January - early February 2020), I thought it would be a good idea to find an unrigged character model, rig it, and use it in a test animation. This idea didn't get very far with my lack of rigging ability. I did manage to somewhat rig a character, but there were so many issues and the rig was so bare bones that it just wasn't worth the effort. Not to mention that the rig didn't have any facial features, such as eyes or a mouth - these were just textures on the face. Using something like this for a narrative animation, where the characters needed to have facial animation, seemed like a waste of time.
The project files for the rigging can be found on the project's Trello board.
Scrapped Idea & Blockout: I Can Kill Ya
I came across this audio whilst I was already working on the first animation of the project: 'Gamer Pad'. The blockout is very primitive and not very dynamic. Initially, I liked what was being said in the audio clip, having enough of an idea to do a blockout, but I ended up not liking what I came up with. Due to this I decided to focus more on the first animation, rather than doing two at once..
This animation would have Zelda sizing up Link, determining that she can easily kill him. The main reason I didn't want to continue this was because the situation was too close to the source material - it didn't feel original enough. That and the whole thing was too static.
I never made an animatic for this animation, and just went with what I had in my head. I don't regret not using this, as by the time the first animation was done, I had already found audio I wanted to work with more than this one; that being the audio used for the second animation: 'I Kid You Not, Sis'.
Audio source for 'I Can Kill Ya'.
Scrapped blockout for 'I Can Kill Ya'