It’s Worse in the Dark: Minor Proposal

By Odette Brown

An Animated short: Full Story with Character Animation

An Idea Synopsis:

My idea is to make an animated short film that tells a story of someone experiencing
loneliness and fear, and through exposure, overcoming those feelings. The story will be told
through a teenager named Drew who is feeling isolated, alone and missing their dad, with
the only thing to comfort them being a small, portable light. Drew then will have to confront
their fear, when they are absorbed and isolated by the dark, and forced to roam outside
their room to find help or try and help themselves. I want the idea of light and darkness to
be the two major components in the film, with the darkness being Drew’s internal fears of
being alone and helpless, while the light is their only idea of safety, which they see within
the portable light and don’t feel inside themselves. It’s a personal journey that I want to be
abstract and not very obvious to the viewer but to also have Drew grow and develop in the
traditional filmmaking style.

The Outcome:

I will be modelling two characters for the story, as well as making two individual rooms, one
for Drew which will feature more heavily and be more personalised and detailed, such as
modelling individual items that Drew can interact with and move around and the room for
the dad, which is used more for his introduction, so I will be projection mapping a lot of the
detail into an outline of a room, rather than modelling it in 3D like Drew’s. There are also a
lot of lights in the film, so I am going to be focusing on how to create an ambient, and
claustrophobic scene, while also making the film viewable.

At the end of this project, I am hoping to have modelled, rigged, and textured Drew my
protagonist, their room and also the props such as the portable light by the Minor deadline,
as well as any project improvements from the Online Greenlight review in early January.
This is so I can begin animating the majority of my film, as a heavy portion of the film
contains Drew, and so for the rest of it, I can begin modelling, rigging and skinning the dad
character, who doesn’t appear until the end. This way, I can also spend more time on my
thesis, and also making any more story improvements to the Pre-Viz before I started moving
onto the official film.

A Publishing Context:

Because of the personal and not explicit way I am telling the story, as well as the inspiration
I used to come up with the concept for this story, I would say the film wouldn’t be suitable
for a younger audience, but because of the journey and the personal achievements of Drew,
I think it would be suitable for teenagers, so I would market it towards 14-20+ year olds. The
 film could also be viewed by a younger audience, because it doesn’t have anything explicit
or rude in it that would restrict an age group, but because of the heavy use of shadows and
light, I don’t think a younger audience would be too comfortable with it or understand the
underlying story.

Because it is a short film, I would be able to enter it into a lot of festivals, but because of the
ambiguity of the story, I think it would be better for me to enter it into either the Edinburgh
International Film Festival or the Copenhagen International Film Festival because they are
more suited to Indie, small films, rather than bigger, more high budget films.

The Technology:

I am planning on making two characters, Drew the protagonist and their dad. I plan on both
fully modelling, rigging and skinning them in Maya, using the Jetpack Jones tutorials,
because I will need a lot of precise rigging around the face and the fingers, because the film
has a lot of close-ups of Drew, to emphasise their fear.

There are also two rooms, one is Drew’s which is very detailed so I it will be 3D and have a
lot of individually modelled items to make it look more realistic and interactive. The second
is the dad’s which is used more as a background, so I will probably have the wall and the
items be projected using projection mapping, with the only 3D element being the bed,
which the dad sits on.

Finally, the lights, of which there are three off. One is the under-door light, which I have
trailed in a pre-viz and am happy using three-point lights placed near the door to give the
illusion of there being anther room there. The second, is Drew’s portable light, which is
more prominent, so I have also tested this in the Pre-viz and am happy to model and use
three spotlights parented to the model, as the light itself, while, when the light then breaks
the second act, having one spotlight be parented to a small cylinder so it can be seen and
moved around easily. Lastly, is the one I haven’t tried yet, which is the light being an actual
person, so for this I am considering at this time, applying the light in post using Adobe After
Effects because I can’t think of a way right now to have the light consistently show on the
character in Maya, in the way I wanted it to in the animatic.

Timetable for Project:

23rd Nov Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2020

Model Head Model

Morning Thesis Modelling Thesis Head Thesis Modelling
7:00 Research Head (Drew) Minor (Drew) Research Head
-12:00 Support (Drew)
Class all Day
Afternoon Thesis Model
12:00 – Class all Day Model Head Tutorial Thesis Head
6:00 (Drew) From 2pm (Drew)

Evening Modelling
Class all Day Thesis Thesis Model Head Thesis Thesis Head
21:00 - Research (Drew) (Drew)
Thesis

30th Nov Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2020

Model Head
Morning Thesis Edit Pre-Viz Thesis Model Thesis Modelling
7:00 Research and Story Minor Head Research Head
-12:00 Support (Drew) (Drew)
Class all Day

Afternoon Thesis Model

12:00 – Class all Day Model Head Tutorial Thesis Head
6:00 (Drew) From 2pm (Drew)

Evening
Class all Day Thesis Thesis Edit Pre-Viz Thesis Thesis Modelling
21:00 - Research and Story Head
Thesis (Drew)

7th Dec Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2020

Thesis Model Head Thesis Modelling Modelling

Morning Research Edit Pre-Viz Thesis Draft Head (Drew) Head
7:00 and Story Minor Due (Drew)
-12:00 Support
Class all Day
Afternoon Thesis Thesis
12:00 – Class all Day Model Drew Tutorial Thesis Draft
6:00 (Head) From 2pm Due

Evening Thesis Edit Pre- Modelling Modelling

Class all Day Thesis Thesis Viz and Head (Drew) Head
21:00 - Research Story (Drew)
Thesis

14th Dec Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2020

Drew Body Model Drew

Morning Drew Room Drew Room Drew Room Body Model Room (Drew) Room
7:00 Modelling Modelling Modelling (Drew) Modelling Modelling
-12:00

Afternoon Body
12:00 – Body Model Body Model Body Model Drew Room Model
6:00 (Drew) (Drew) (Drew) Modelling (Drew)

Evening Drew Body Model Drew

Drew Room Body Model Drew Room Body Model Room (Drew) Room
21:00 - Modelling (Drew) Modelling (Drew) Modelling Modelling

21st Dec Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2020

Body Model
Morning Drew Room Body Model Drew Room (Drew) Drew
7:00 Modelling (Drew) Modelling Room
-12:00 Modelling
Afternoon
12:00 – Body Model Body Model Body Model Drew Room
6:00 (Drew) (Drew) (Drew) Modelling

Evening Body Model Drew

Drew Room Drew Room Drew Room (Drew) Room
21:00 - Modelling Modelling Modelling Modelling

28th Dec Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2020

Morning Thesis Body Model Thesis Body Model UV and Rigging and UV and
7:00 (Drew) (Drew) Design Skinning Design
-12:00

Afternoon Rigging Rigging

12:00 – Body Model Body Model Body Model Body Model and Rigging and and
6:00 (Drew) (Drew) (Drew) (Drew) Skinning Skinning Skinning

Evening
Drew Room Drew Room Drew Room Body Model Thesis UV and Thesis
21:00 - Modelling Modelling Modelling (Drew) Design

4th Jan Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2021

Thesis Rigging and

Morning Rigging and Thesis Skinning 3D OGR Minor Minor
7:00 Class all Skinning DEADLINE Improvements Improvements
-12:00 Day Minor
Support
Afternoon Thesis
12:00 – Class all Rigging and Tutorial Thesis 3D OGR
6:00 Day Skinning From 2pm DEADLINE

Evening
Class all Thesis Rigging and UV and 3D OGR Thesis Thesis
21:00 - Day Skinning Design DEADLINE

11th Jan Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2021

Thesis Rigging and

Morning Thesis Thesis Skinning Rigging Thesis Rigging
7:00 Class all Day and and
-12:00 Minor Skinning Skinning
Support

Afternoon Thesis Rigging

12:00 – Class all Day Rigging and Tutorial UV and and
6:00 Skinning From 2pm Design Skinning

Evening Rigging
Class all Day UV and UV and Thesis Thesis Thesis and
21:00 - Design Design Skinning

18th Jan Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2021

Thesis Facial
Morning Facial Rigging UV and Facial Facial
7:00 Class all Day Facial Rigging Rigging Design Rigging Rigging
-12:00 Minor
Support
Afternoon Thesis
12:00 – Class all Day Facial Rigging Tutorial Facial Facial
6:00 From 2pm Rigging Rigging

Evening
Class all Day Thesis Thesis UV and UV and Facial Facial
21:00 - Design Design Rigging Rigging

25th Jan Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

2021

Morning Minor
7:00 Submission
-12:00

Afternoon
12:00 – Minor
6:00 Submission

Evening
Minor
21:00 - Submission