The Expendable Subject
Brainstorm
To begin, I identified my goal and then proceeded to develop a narrative that would help me achieve it. I found brainstorming to be the most effective method for generating ideas, allowing me to capture any thoughts that came to mind as I went about my daily activities.
Synopsis
After finalising my narrative, I created an overview of the story to pitch to others and gather feedback on how to improve it. This feedback helped me refine my story before moving onto designing assets.
Mood boards
I created two separate mood boards for inspiration purposes. The first was a comic art mood board, which influenced the layout of my comic panels and visual style. The second was a title card mood board, which influenced my 3D camera movements and overall theme.
Comic Script
To structure each panel and guide my storyboard sketches, I wrote a comic script that specified the position of each object. This script also helped me ensure a consistent visual flow throughout the panels.
Storyboard
To prepare for sketching my storyboard, I searched for images on Google to use as references, particularly for my character's poses. These references served as inspiration and helped me plan out the shots. The storyboard was then created as a visual guide, which I used during my photo shoot and incorporated into my animatic.
Monologue Script
The monologue script was written to explain the protagonist's experience to the audience. In order to fully engage viewers and leave them on the edge of their seats, I aimed for a dark and dramatic tone.
Animatic
The purpose of the animatic was to ensure that the monologue script was in sync with the storyboard. To better visualise the final product, I replicated the camera movements that I had initially planned to incorporate into my animation.
Photoshoot
After researching and gathering the necessary props, I organised a photo shoot with only two people, adhering to Covid-19 restrictions. The resulting images closely matched the storyboard frames and were intended to be used as reference images when creating the final comic illustrations.
Comic Process
When creating the comic strips, I had to follow a repetitive process for each image to achieve the desired look. Firstly, I removed the green screen from the photoshoot images and placed the characters in their designated positions within the comic strip images. Secondly, I eliminated any green spillage that remained on the characters. Lastly, I transformed the graphic style of the comic strip images into a comic or cartoon-style to match the desired aesthetic.
Comic Strips
After designing each comic image, I arranged them into their respective comic panels, providing me with an overall view of how my comic designs would look when combined. Then, I imported each image into Adobe After Effects to commence the animation process.
