For my project I wanted to look into aesthetic considerations that explored the dynamic movement and environment of my characters and how the lighting might be developed later on in 3D space.
I thought the most appropriate setting would be a theatre stage, perhaps reminiscent of that in ‘Vaudeville’ theatre. A stated by Crafton “Although `Vaudeville was nearly defunct at the time, cartoons from the 1930s through the 1960s riffed on its memory” (2013, pp.7).
In regards to Vaudeville’s English context the term describes ” a catch fall for musical comedy” (Cullen, 2006 pp.12), which suits aesthetically the genre in which I intend to make my film. This is particularly prevalent in my plans to incorporate ‘trap doors’ and value comedy over morals. While this may be unachievable for my current modelling abilities, I feel the heavy felt curtains and the grandiose atmosphere created by the French influence is a great place to start building references. I do feel that perhaps the elaborate-ness of the vaudeville stage may not be befitting of my overall film aesthetic due to my simplistic character designs, and may take away viewer focus from my animated performance.
Below I have drawn and environmental concept work which indicates the rough style and lighting I would like to incorporate into my work going into the modelling and pre-visualisation stage. This piece also helps me gain a clearer understanding of the differing character personalities of the two skeletons while utilising only the movements of their eyebrows. The main thing I wish to take into consideration is the heavy use of spotlights, which potentially, will behave like their own characters within the piece, which I intend to explore more in the storyboard and animatic of my film. These lights, as well as concepts of the ‘trap door’ which will seemingly have a mind of its own. One of the key things I wish to conceptualise is the absence of visual audience within the scene. The use of sound will be the main and only implication of audience engagement as I feel this separates the scene further from the ‘real world’ and allows more for modelling time. I also believe the disembodied voice adds a ‘ghostly’ effect which strengthens the uncanny implications of the dead.
An important step when creating computer animation is to create a character turnaround sheet so you can begin to gain a rough understanding of all angles of your future model. I will utilise this going forward into my character modelling stage, and also make more reference to the real anatomical skeleton to get a further level of accuracy than that provided in these drawings.
References
.Crafton, D. (2013). Shadow of a Mouse: Performance, Belief, and World-Making in Animation. United States: University of California Press.
.Cullen F. (2006). Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopaedia of Variety Performers. Taylor & Francis Ltd.