As part of the Unit 5: Animation project it was the aim to produce an original one minute hand drawn 2D animation

with the aid and direction from two words identified at the beginning of the project. Giddy and Pot Plant are the qualities in this case. This Art of documents the process undertook to arrive at the final animated result.

To try and form a storyline/scenario for the project a range of research into giddiness took place eventually landing on the idea of the stereotypical giddy female. This was then applied to flowers, looking for a type of plant that would be both good to animate but also to convey the correct emotion. However, this idea of the giddy female was put aside for the story that follows on the next page which seemed to be more complete.

EXT. FLORISTS DAY TRAFFIC NOISES. SHOP BELL. MUFFLED CHATTER. The setting is established with the florist window, full of a wide variety of plants. CROSS DISSOLVE INT. FLORISTS DAY WEBSTER THE YUCCA PLANT stands alone when something on his right grabs his attention. He stretches over to get a clearer look and is stunned by what he sees. DELILAH THE DAFFODIL stands in the distance displaying her elegance off. Webster SIGHS with awe. DING. He is struck with an idea. Beside the front window Webster goes about making himself look presentable pulling his leaves to try and flatten them. PINK. It doesnt go as planned. Webster checks himself out before beginning to strut along the table top towards Delilah. Delilah performs a double take to check she is really seeing what she thinks she is. Webster arrives beside her and creates a heart shape with his leaves however this is not revealed just yet. 90 DEGREE CAMERA TURN Delilahs face is now shown inside the heart Webster made. She giggles and leans towards him. Delilah leans right in to give him a kiss. Webster is sent into shock, his leaves shooting into the air. 360 DEGREE CAMERA TURN He travels across the table top dizzily with a heart following him. The heart pops snapping Webster out of his stupor. Realising what he has achieved Webster leaps out of his pot in celebration launching into the air. He performs a flip and proceeds to bounce about the table. He performs spins then leaps up landing back into his pot where Delilah stands beside him. Delilah leans in for a second kiss. HEART SHAPE FADE OUT

Research into how a character becomes giddy through a romance seen can be seen in the first influence map. This would help with poses and exaggeration. Tom and Jerry was a key influence when it came to Websters giddy characteristics because there are episodes full of Tom trying to achieve the attention of elegant female felines. The court jester also seemed suitable with the silly/ nerdy sense that also wanted to be achieved. When it came to Delilah the hourglass figure was a must in portraying the elegant female, it would just have to be applied to a plants shape.

Once decided that a daffodil would be used as the object of the giddy pot plants affection it was time to figure out a design. How to simplify it, make it suitable for the type of animation that was going to be produced but also make sure it stayed recognizable as a daffodil. This plant would also be female so this had to be conveyed.

These early sketches represent the start of Delilahs development into an original character.

A problem with the original designs of Delilah was that they were too accurate to a real daffodil and did not feel like they could sit in a 2D animated world. To help rectify this watered down acrylic paint and a think paintbrush were used to loosen up line making which really exaggerated the daffodil form and producing something more appropriate.

To develop Delilah further plasticine was used to help elongate her figure and test out key poses for the storyline. The plasticine could be manipulated to help arrange the regular stance for Delilah helping her become more feminine.

Resulting from the experiments carried out this is Delilah now with a more feminine form through her vase shape and the formation of her leaves and stem to represent the female hourglass figure and the bust.

The final design for Delilah from side/front/back views. It was decided that she should have a larger head than stem to compliment the story.

Once a final design for Delilah was decided with the help of the plasticine models emotion/action sheets were produced to express how she moves. The silhouette sheets aid to see how well the actions read.

It was thought a spider plant would be appropriate to show the giddy nature of Webster with the crazy hippy hair like leaves. However, early it because noticeable that for the kiss a spider plant would not be suitable as it did not have a face. Therefore, Webster the yucca plant was born with his long neck and added pivot point to create a face.

These sketches show early Webster before troubleshooting.

The main reason and advantage of modelling Webster in plasticine was to see how his leaves would work. It also allowed testing of movements through a series of stop-motions. The stop-motions can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/ui5kscwfQsM http://youtu.be/jETnMqEkEyo

The tests carried out for Websters character have led to being able to see easier how his leaves would move as well as how his pot could bend and stretch. This is the design that was taken forward.

The final design for Webster from side/front/back views. He was given very large leaves to show his out of ordinariness and to also use to help convey giddiness during animating.

A similar approach to the emotion/action sheets for Delilah was taken here but Webster proved more complex due to the fact he leaves his pot to carry out some of his giddy acts.

Spread out cycle showing each movement.

It was important to figure out how the characters moved/walked/interacted and so it was an opportunity to create a walk cycle for Webster due to his strut. The addition of feet popping out from splitting his pot in half adds to his silly and geeky nature. Whereas, Delilah does not walk in the story which is why her emotion/action sheets would prove most significant and useful in relation to getting her character across. Final walk cycle can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/PIYVDcCn8GI

Cycle sheets overlaid to show the process.

Once the script writing and character designing was complete it was important to combine both to create a storyboard which would be used as a closer reference when it came to producing the animation. Creating this storyboard also allowed the production of an animatic to test out whether the story makes sense in that order, sound effects, music/soundtrack and timing. The final animatic can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/tVAnp9wIX6c