Production Diary

Week 1 Coming up with a story, 4 ideas

In the first week of production, I will come up with 4 ideas and plan the different aspects that I could
include in each one. From here, I can then pick which idea is the strongest and develop this further
as the weeks go on. Below, I will list the possible ideas that I could produce for my final animation
project:
1)
2)
3)
4)

Pirates
Victorian/Georgian/Edwardian
Fantasy
Cartoon/ Anime

Influences: Fable, Zelda, Mario, Final Fantasy, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter,
Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider.
Idea 1) Tyrant King/Queen Power meets poor or vulnerable person who changes their
perception of life
So there is a contrast between the strong (King) and the weak (vulnerable person) perhaps the
King only thinks about power and is about to kill the weak, but sees something in them? Maybe a
talent? And hesitates. Is his power/status all that he wants?
Idea 2) Loss of memories when they meet certain people or places it triggers a memory
Idea 3) King Midas? Myths and Legends Greek/Norse
Idea 4) Siblings get separated but leading alternative lifestyles
Alternative Idea 4) Siblings find a music box that can grant them one wish however, it goes wrong
and curses them. How will they overcome this obstacle?
Idea 5) 7 Deadly Sins

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Week 2 Narrowing the 4 ideas down into 1 and start to think of the content involved.
In week 2, I will narrow these ideas down to one and will elaborate on this story. Below I have
provided the details of the final story that I will concentrate on for my final story:
Intro: Delivery service, poster of a bird? The boy is in his room maybe sorting the letters/scrolls.
Then the bird arrives and lands on him and gives him the scroll. When he reads it, he receives
shocking news and leaves the house in a panic, rapidly grabbing his stuff. The camera zooms in the
scroll that the boy slammed on the table in distress. The scroll looks hurriedly written and tails off at
the end.
Middle: The boy is running across the terrain/landscape the sky goes from day to night. The boy
then arrives at a mysterious looking castle/ruin. At first he is scared, but quickly remembering why
he was there, he enters. Walking into a large room, the boy approaches 3 strange but beautifully
carved stones. Out of curiosity, he touches one but arrows shoot out at him. He dodges quickly out
the way and leans on the wall for support. His hand graces a secret switch and in the middle of the
room, a raised platform appears with a sapphire blue mask. The boy puts the mask on and
immediately, he can see that the stones are actually a puzzle and must be put in order. Once he
touches them in the correct order, the wall moves upwards leaving a darkened room beyond. The
boy enters cautiously.
End: The boy enters the room and sees a shadowed figure in the distance. The figure looks up slowly
and begins to get up into a fighting stance. The boy looks shocked, and can see that the figure is also
wearing a similar looking mask, but different colours. The figure begins to move but the boy quickly
takes off his mask and the figure stops. He then takes off his mask and it is revealed that it is the
father.
For next week, I will look into the designing of these characters and will roughly map out the
storyboards so that I can visually begin to see how it will work.
Overall, I think that I will produce my final animation in 3D but with 2D looking textures. However, I
will need to do some experimentations of this in the future.

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These are the first concept ideas for my main characters. Overall, I liked the idea of creating a Father
and Son character so I will use the designs displayed here as a starting point. Also, even though I like
the Victorian style or dystopian style to some of these characters, I would like to go more with a
fantasy/cartoon theme.

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Week 3 Finalise the story

For week 3, I will finalise my story so that I can begin to work on the characters and other concept
designs. During this week too, I will need to plan a script if I am going to do voice acting and I will
need to plan what the cameras are doing and what each character will be doing at any point. Next, I
will create a logline that will contain the summary of what my story is about and I will start to think
about possible locations and character designs that I will include. For next week, I will start to think
of the main protagonist and the father character and will start to sketch out the basic storyboards
with mood board reference.

Logline
Upon receiving a mysterious note from his Father, a young boy must depart on a quest in search of
him and discover the ancient treasure that lies within a haunting Castle.

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Week 4 Start to think of the main protagonist, sketching rough sketches of the characters involved
in the story. Create mood boards including inspiration. Rough storyboards.
In week 4, I will begin to sketch out ideas for the main character. Following the plot of the finalised
story, I will create numerous designs for the main protagonist and his father. For my first initial idea,
I was thinking on basing my characters off a futuristic/fantasy type look as this is the genre that most
interests me. This is where I will begin to create mood boards that will reflect this type of style. In
particular, I am influenced by the video games called Zelda, Fable and Paper Mario TTYD so I will use
this as a starting point. Furthermore, I will research their concept art and colour schemes in order to
get a feel into this genre. Also, I will look at different films that portray this type of genre, for e.g.
Tomb Raider, Avatar and Indiana Jones in order to look at the locations and puzzles/ruins. In other
research that I gathered, I looked at Labyrinths as I thought that this type of maze puzzle would be
interesting to do and explore. However, even though this idea would be interesting, I think that it
would be time consuming and perhaps not as engaging. Although, I have still produced some
sketches of designs that I could have possibly done. Lastly, in terms of the puzzle element of my
story, I also looked at riddles as I thought this would be interesting for the audience to figure out too.
After researching different types of riddles, I thought that it might be quite interesting to link this to
the mask idea that I had thought of previously. This idea took the form of the eyes. However, I still
think that the audience would not engage with this as effectively so I will look for more inspiration.
For next week, I will start to map out the storyboards and how each shot will look.

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In the following images, I have begun to elaborate more on the boys character, looking at
proportion, age, hair and eye details and clothing. In relation to the first image, I like the style that
he has been drawn in and I will continue to develop this in the coming weeks. I will then decide on a
colour scheme for him and what his personality is going to be like.

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Week 5 Concept Art designs Edited character designs and start experimenting with colour
schemes.
In week 5, I will continue to develop my basic ideas for character designs whilst experimenting with
different colours for the outfits. For the boy character, I have created digital and pencil drawn art of
several outfit designs that I think would represent a boy aged 10. Although, whilst reflecting on
these designs, I feel that I still need to improve them. For e.g. the shorts may be too short so making
them just above the knee/just below the knee may be better. Also, I discovered that the blue colour
scheme may look the best for the boy character after contemplating the overall stories theme. I
tried different combinations of colour schemes for his outfit, for e.g. greens, reds, oranges but I felt
that these didnt really fit his character. However, It was through this experimentation of colour that
I discovered that maybe the reds may be better suited for the father to represent his personality or
of the impending danger. In addition, I have also started to design some of the other details that will
be needed in my story. For e.g. the masks and puzzle stones. Gaining inspiration from fantasy Video
Games, I liked the idea of incorporating elements into my story. As a result of this, I created a
puzzle that involves the main protagonist to press the correct element stones in order. These
stones include water, earth and fire. Also, in terms of masks I researched different types of masks
such as African masks, Japanese masks and Chinese masks. Although, because I then thought that I
was using elements, I thought I could incorporate this into the mask design. For next week, I will
neaten up the rough storyboard and look into the colour schemes that I will use for the masks.

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Week 6 Concept Art designs Edited Character designs, finalising the main protagonist including
colours and basic features. Start planning landscape concept art. Finish off storyboards.
In week 6, I will continue to finalise specific features of my final characters that I will use for my story.
Throughout the weeks, I have been making fine tweaks to the boy character, for e.g. the eyes. This
was because it fell more into the manga category and I needed to try and stylise him more. Also, I
experimented more with the colour palettes of his clothes, skin, hair, boot and eyes in order to see
which one would fit best with the mood board of the story. For my story, I dont want to make it
look too realistic, instead, I would like to stylise it but make it simple yet effective. In terms of the
landscapes, I will continue to research different types of ruins and castles that I would like to base
my location off and will try to think of a colour palette that would fit with the theme. Overall, I
would like to base my theme off a fantasy/cartoonish vibe but also with a hint of adventure like
Tomb Raider or Indiana Jones. Furthermore, in terms of my research, I will also look at the ways I
could frame each shot so I will look up the 180 degree rule and the rule of thirds. I will provide
documents of this in my blog. For next week, I will continue to work on my storyboards and finalise
all of the story and the details that will be included in each shot.

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Week 7 Developing landscape designs, digitally draw storyboards

For Week 7, I will develop the landscape designs that I had created in the previous 2 weeks whilst
experimenting with different colour schemes. This will be created in photoshop. In particular, I will
work on the scenes inside the castle/ruin location and on one of the landscapes that portray an
establishing shot of the scenery as the boy wonders across the plains. For the castle/ruin location, I
researched spooky/dark looking locations because I wanted it to look intimidating and mysterious.
With this in mind, I experiemented using dark blues and purples in my scene in order to portray the
mood I was looking for. Overall, I think this was a good experiement although I may adjust the colour
schemes slightly in the coming weeks. For e.g. the contrast/brightness of the blues and purples to
create a cooler tone. Also, I will be working further on the character designs and will finalise the
colour palettes and features of the boy and father. All in all, I think that for the boy, I will stick with
the mid to light blue colour schemes to match the theme of the story and for the father, I will
contrast this with reds. I was thinking of using reds for numerous reasons. Firstly, it could be
interpreted as being something warm as in the son is getting closer to finding his father. Although,
on the other hand it could also mean that there is an impending danger that is awaiting in his path.
Lastly, I have been continuing with the storyboards and have managed to finalise the overall plot of
the story although annotations to the final cinematography (e.g. camera angles etc...) will need to be
put in. For next week, I will need to complete this and start working on the animatic.

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Week 8 Character Sheets, start the animatic
In week 8, I will continue to develop my character sheets, looking at the key poses and facial
expressions of my characters ready for future reference. In order to create these sheets, I will
research other concept art online in order to see the kind of standard that is involved when doing
this. Also, I will continue to develop the type of style that I will use for my animation, for e.g. I have
been paying a lot to shading this week as I wanted to explore the realistic yet simple look. With
regard to previous designs that I made in the earlier weeks, I have produced new versions of these
that match the new style that I will be going for. Also, I have done this with the colour palettes and
location designs. For next week, I need to carry on with my animatic and produce some
music/soundeffects that will be included in my story.

Week 9 Finishing first pass of animatic

For week 9, I will complete the first pass of my animatic in order to get a rough idea of how the story
plays out and timing. In this version of the animatic, I have drawn just the basic outlines of the
backgrounds and characters and have included the in-betweens of the boys movements in order to
illustrate the actions clearer. Overall, I think that this animatic was good to work with as the timings
helped to convey the story of events that happen in the narrative whilst also looking at what kind of
situations/sceneries the boy will be in. Although, if I had to criticise this animatic, I would say that I
needed to include sound as I think this would have helped to explain the story and events better.
Also, it may have been more helpful with regard to timing the animatic up and getting a rough idea
of the mood and tone that my story will be based on. At this moment in time, I am still undecided
about whether I am going to include voice acting in my story however, I think that I will just focus on
the soundtrack.
Week 10 Begin final Animatic and more Design Sheets
In Week 10, I will start doing the final animatic with sound and within this, I will include tidier
drawings of the characters and locations and soundtracks that I think will best convey the mood and
tone I am looking for. With relation to the feedback I received from my peers, I have changed
specific shots in my animatic in order to convey the scene a lot better. For example, for the shot
where they boy first stands in front of the towering wall in the castle, at first I had him just standing
there in a middle shot, although I found that producing a low angled shot made the wall look a lot
more intimidating. This fitted more with the tone that I wanted. Furthermore, as well as starting my
final animatic, I will continue to produce design sheets for my locations, characters and props. In
particular, this week I will produce another turnaround sheet of the Dad character as I wanted him
to look older and perhaps more heroic. As a result of this, I studied proportions of adult males and
created a new design which I think suited his character more. Also, I looked at how I wanted him to
be put across to the audience so I looked at different postures and poses in order to illustrate his
personality. In addition, as well as the Dad, I also wanted to adjust the appearance of the boy
character a little bit further so that he looks more like a 10 year old boy. Interestingly, as a result of
this, I found that by slightly changing the eyes, clothes and size helped to do this. Also, I added
shading so that I got a better idea of the material of the clothes and how they would reflect the light
and shadows. In terms of the location sheets, I used the reference that I had collected in previous

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weeks, and began to sketch and colour them in Photoshop so that I could use them in my final
animatic. I found this very useful for the animatic as it gave me a better understanding of the
environments that the characters would be in and also looking at the colour palettes in order to
relate back to the mood and theme that I am going for which is fantasy crossed with cartoon.
Similarly, for the props or objects that the characters would be interacting with, I created design
sheets so that I had an idea of what they would look like and also how they would relate to the story.
This was useful too as for example, for the desk in the boys room, at first I had difficulties with the
proportions and angles of it in relation to where the boy was positioned. As a result of this, I then
created a design sheet so that I could relate back to it and get a better idea of how I could draw it to
suit the scene.

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Week 11 Final Animatic and more design sheets
In week 11 I will finish the animatic and will create more design sheets for certain aspects of the
story. Firstly, with relation to the animatic, I have completed the final designing of the backgrounds,
locations, objects and the characters in each shot and have included the final sound. For each of the
shots and in-betweens of the animatic, I coloured each one in order to get a better understanding of
how the scenes will be lit and of the colour scheme that I am going for. Also, as I progressed doing
this, I found that there were still some scenes and shots that I wanted to alter slightly so I did this
too. For example, for the scene where the boy hears the squark of the bird and it cuts to the bird
flying outside in the sky, I positioned the bird closer to the house in order for that scene to make
more sense. To begin with, it was unclear how the boy could have heard the birds squark from so far
away so this needed to be addressed. Moreover, I edited some of the expressions of the boy in order
to display his emotions a lot more. In the first animatic, as the drawings where only sketches,
sometimes it was hard to understand what the boy was feeling at that particular point, however in
the new animatic, I have looked at this and changed it. For example, for the scene where the boy
tentatively approaches the main door entering the Castle, I made sure that his face looked a lot
more apprehensive and perhaps terrified of what might be beyond that point. With regard to the
sound, I researched many different soundtracks in order to find the ones that I thought would best
suit my animatic. Overall, I think that the soundtracks that I had picked suit the mood of the story
and illustrate what I am trying to convey. For example, at the beginning of the animatic, I wanted to
go with a much more light-hearted and uplifting sort of soundtrack to show where its being set and
to relate to the characters. The scene contains pleasant scenery of a sunny day and warm shades of
greens, blues, browns and yellows to illustrate the house, trees, sky etc In contrast to this, nearer
to the end of the animatic when the boy gets reunited with his Dad, I wanted to soundtrack to be a
lot sadder in order to convey the emotions that he feels at that specific time. Even though he is
relieved to see that his Dad is not in danger and is shocked to see him after all these years, he is still
wary of the scroll that he had sent him earlier on in the story. Lastly, I have continued working on
numerous design sheets as certain ideas came to me as I progressed in the animatic. For example,
even though I liked the design of the Dads mask, I still felt that I could make feel even more
mysterious with relation to hiding his identity. Also, I researched different types of masks in order to
get a better feel of what theme I was going to go for.

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Week 12 Hand In