Design Development For Una

I decided the previous designs for Una were too complex and I felt her character should be less disagreeable, with a more sympathetic look. I played about with a more abstract look but then drew back to a more human semblance, but far simpler in form than my earlier designs. On the last page of development shown I was beginning to feel like I was on the right track, with the hair being a defining feature.

There Was Once A Girl Who lived In The Sun....

I'm not going to delve too much into the plot of this story, as, as I say, I may well do something with this in the future. But basically it was about a girl, Una, who lives in the Sun. The Sun is a floating structure in the sky that is full of candles. Una's job is to light the candles at sunrise and blow them out at sunset, in order to create day and night, 

She has been doing this all her life, all alone. She has always dreamed of just taking a risk and leaving the Sun, venturing down to Earth, to freedom. Eventually she is tempted out by a boy on Earth who spots her in the Sun. But when she leaves the Sun and throws open the exit door (that has never been opened before) wind blows into the Sun.

Una goes down to Earth and has an amazing time, But back in the Sun all the candles are getting blown out. The Sun emits less and less light until everything goes dark. Una freaks out on Earth, believing her risk taking has doomed the world, throwing it into darkness. She runs back towards the Sun but trips in the dark and is knocked unconscious.

 In the Sun, there are only a few candles left alight, but instead of the candles getting blown out, they are knocked over by the wind. The candles set alight the Sun, the growing fire rushing through it.

On  Earth, Una regains consciousness as the Sun explodes in the sky, so that it becomes a big ball of fire that emits an incredible light, much brighter than the light given out by the Sun before. The Sun continues to burn happily in the sky as Una smiles: she can now remain on Earth as the Sun is lighting itself - her risk paid off.

So I then began developing Una, a sad, pessimistic, lonely girl.

I was inspired by steampunk, the cold war era and celtic art, so was trying to combine elements of these within my designs. Oh and obviously I wanted to make this in stop motion with puppets.

As you can see in these initial drawings, shown below, I enjoyed the prospect of her having hair resembling a stylized Sun. I also thought she could wear a fireproof suit so as to avoid burns and smoke. At this stage I wanted her to give off a fed up vibe as she is so sick and tired of being in the Sun.

Hello Again

Hi!! So despite a lack of posting over the Summer I have actually been doing lots of animation related things. I have been developing ideas for my third year film. I worked a lot on one idea, which involved the sun, a girl and a considerable amount of fire, but then decided that it was not the right time to make this story. I've put it in a metaphorical drawer in my mind for now.

I then came up with another idea, which just felt....... right. It felt like me, whereas the other idea always felt a little distant somehow.

So now will follow a dramatic explosion of posts, as I try to encapsulate at least some of the many thoughts that have been spiralling around in my head into tiny bite sized chunks of intelligible text.

Colouring!!

This is the last piece of work for my second year as an animation student!

These images really benefit from being coloured, it gives them a lot more energy and depth.

Scrawling On Windows

Concept piece of Eliza looking depressed in rainy old England. She is drawing stick figures of animals in the condensation on the window, which would then come to life in a miniature animation. 

Chasing Birds Script

This is the final script for Chasing Birds which we handed in for our Pre Module. If Chasing Birds does get made as a final film next year, this script will have to be revised a lot, but I feel that the basics are there.

Inky Transitions

A concept to show the scene where Eliza climbs down inky vines that have formed from the zebra's stripes. This allows her to transition from one scene to the next without having a cut. I like this image as it has quite a cutout feel to it, like I've grabbed loads of different coloured papers and collaged them together.

Frolicking With Zebras

Concept piece of Eliza running with zebras. 

African Sunset

Here we have various versions of a concept design for Eliza in Africa. I feel the first one works the best as it is the most dramatic lighting wise.

Chasing Birds Revisited

For Pre Production we developed our Chasing Birds story even more. Here are some character development drawings of Eliza.