ANIM321-Creative Development for Filmmaking Animation- Proposal

Here is my edited and updated proposal:

Working Title- “Sun Showers”
Summary- A 3-4 minute animated short called “Sun Showers”, about a fox demon’s life with a human as the substitute for a runaway bride.
Working Log Line- “What started out as a source of amusement for the demon, eventually evolves into something more.”
Description- This animated short is about the sweet life of the newlywed fox-demon wife and human husband. The fox makes an effort to keep up her disguise as a human to fool her husband and everyone else and avoiding the growing unfamiliar feelings she starts feeling for her husband. The story incorporates a few Japanese ideas including the shrine setting, demons and the "kitsune no yomeiri" or "fox's wedding" story and the idea that a fox's wedding occurs during "sun showers", showers that happen on a sunny day.
Context and Influences- The idea of this film originated from the influences of Japanese culture. The interest in folktales and stories of myth has led to my decision to include Japanese influences in this project. Another interest is the idea of half human, half animal creatures. The majority of the characters will be these half human, half animal creatures, while the rest are fox familiars and humans. This story doesn't relate to any personal problems or anybody in particular, but the storyline is a bit cliché in most parts. Most influences are from the Japanese comics and cartoons.
Visual Treatment- This animation will be animated and coloured in TVPaint, other programs that might be used include Photoshop, Paint Tool SAI and After Effects. For the colouring process, a simple yet slightly painterly method will be used. Nothing overly complicated, digital colouring will be taken as far as they can with the skill level of digital colouring I have. There won't be anything out of the ordinary regarding lines and shapes; everything will look as close to the actual object as possible, but perhaps with a slight cartoon-y/ Japanese animation/comic feel to it.
Sound Treatment- The voice acting of the characters will mostly be done by some friends. Sound recording will most likely be done using the school’s recording studio. Music/sound with a Japanese/Asian feel to it will mostly be used throughout this animation, especially in scenes such as the wedding scene or locations on the shrine. For music and some sounds, I will start off by finding some musically talented people/friends to help me in composing something to go with the animation, although I will most likely end looking for a composer. Due to the trickster nature of the main character, the voice will be light, playful and sound someone around the ages of 18-25 years old and gradually become more mature, (26-35 years old), yet still maintain the initial characteristics of a sly, fun-loving, trickster fox character. As for the main male character, I plan on using a male voice that is not too high/low and sounds gentle, patient and has a teasing nature to it. Because the rest of the characters are minor characters, voices that fit the age/feel of the character will be used.
Budget- I intend to keep the budget of this film as low as possible, but the minimum amount I plan on spending will be around $3500, while the maximum is in the $4500-$5000 range. With this amount I plan on leaving enough money, perhaps ~$2000-$2500, for a new laptop/computer and other electronics should I find that I'm in need of them. I will need to do research on a reasonable amount to pay for certain things such as a composer if I choose to use one but I feel that around $500-$700 will be enough and can be negotiated and adjusted accordingly. For posters/CDs/name cards etc., I will leave around $200-$300.

-Possible electronics costs $ 2500.00
-Possible money for composer 700.00
-Possible advertising costs 300.00
Total- ----------------------------
$ 3500.00
Agreements- I intend to stay away from using anything that requires acquiring “difficult” permissions as much as possible. Though any agreements that are necessary will be posted and or included on my blog and in the animation credits and will mostly consist of permissions to use the voices of the chosen voice actors and anything I may use from a composer. Anything else that may seem similar to other stories and scripts images, music etc. is purely coincidental.

ANIM321-Creative Development for Animation-Senior Animation Project Proposal Draft-part 1

So here's a draft of my project proposal, I will add more in future posts:
-Working Title- "Sun Showers"
-Summary--A 2-3 mins animated short called "Sun Showers" about a fox demon's life as a human's bride.
-Log Line-"What started out as a prank, eventually evolves into something more".
-Description-This animated short is about the sweet life of the newlywed fox-demon wife and human husband. The story incorporates a few Japanese ideas including the shrine setting, demons and the "kitsune no yomeiri" or "fox's wedding" story and the the idea that a fox's wedding occurs during "sun showers", showers that happen on a sunny day.
-Character Dynamics-*will be posted on separate post*
-Context and Influences-The idea of my film originated from the influences that Japanese culture has had on me. I've always been interested in folktales and stories of myth, which has led to my decision to include Japanese influences in my film. Another interest is the idea of half human, half animal creatures. The majority of the fox characters will be these half human, half animal creatures. My story doesn't relate to any personal problems or people I know, but the storyline is a bit cliche in most parts. Most influences are from the Japanese comics and cartoons that I watch.
Visual Treatment-This animation will be animated and coloured in TVPaint, other programs that might be used include Photoshop, Paint Tool SAI and After Effects. The visual treatment for my story hasn't really been researched enough quite yet. For the colouring process, I plan on using a simple slightly painterly colouring method. Nothing overly complicated or too elaborate, I will take it as far as I can with the skill level of digital colouring I have. There won't be anything out of the ordinary regarding lines and shapes, everything will look as close to the actual object as possible, but perhaps with a slight cartoon-y feel to it. ex. a bush will look like a bush.
Visual Research and Support Materials-The visual research for this animation hasn't been researched enough yet. There are currently only some Japanese shrine settings and traditional clothing references found to help with setting and character designs. *images will be posted on separate post*
Sound Treatment-Again, the sound treatment hasn't been researched enough quite yet. I know I want music with a Japanese/Asian influence, to fit with the setting. I will try to find people to help with voice recording for the characters. For music and some sounds, I will try to find some people who are musically talented to help me composing something to go with the animation. If this fails, I will look for a composer. Because my main character is a trickster fox character, I want the voice to be light and playful and sound like someone around the ages of 18-25 yrs old and gradually become more mature,(26-40yrs old) yet still maintain the initial characteristics of a fox character. As for the main male character, I hope to be able to find a male voice that sounds gentle, patient that is mid-tone. Not to high/low. Because the rest of the characters are minor characters, voices that fit the age/feel of the character will be used.
Production Schedule-*will be on separate post*
Budget-There isn't an exact amount for the budget planned out yet. I plan on leaving enough money, perhaps ~$2000-$2500, for a new laptop/computer and other electronics should I find that I'm in need of them. I will need to do research on a reasonable amount to pay for certain things such as a composer if I choose to use one but I feel that ~$500-$700 will be enough and can be negotiated and adjusted accordingly. For posters/cds/name cards etc I will leave ~$200-$300.

-Possible electronics costs- $ 2500.00 -Money for possible composer- 700.00 -Advertising- 300.00 TOTAL- ---------------
$ 3500.00
Agreements-Any agreements that are necessary will be posted/included on this blog or in the animation.

ANIM321-Creative Development for Filmmaking Animation-New Idea

So, as I was working on my new animatic for this week, I came up with a new idea that I like more than what I currently have in mind. The decision to make this change came from the fact that no matter what I came up with, I wasn't satisfied with how it was going. That and the story still lacked an obstacle/goal that I had come up with myself.

Halfway through making my animatic I came up with this idea and have decided to stick with it.

Idea- fox= trickster/sly figure. It decides to play a trick on an unsuspecting groom.
-a Japanese style, human wedding takes place on a Japanese shrine that is guarded/inhabited by normal foxes and fox spirits/demons
-on the day of the wedding, the bride chickens out and decides to runaway, moments before entering the shrine
-a fox spirit notices and takes interest, decides to play a prank on groom by taking the place of the runaway bride for a few decades
-wedding goes off without a hitch
-life together is great, except for certain instances where the fox's true identity comes close to being revealed. ex. obsessive addiction to tofu products, tails/ears/claws popping out at random times
-one day the fox feels tired of the prank and having to keep up with the disguise, decides to runaway
-turns out hubby had figured out the fox's true identity a long time ago and still loves the fox
-hubby eventually finds the fox at her shrine, tells the fox his feelings
-the two reunite and have a new wedding, this time the fox is in her true form instead of the disguise
-wedding takes place on the fox's shrine and occurs during a sun shower (shower that happens on a sunny day)
-groom comments on the 'fox's wedding'
-happily ever after~

ANIM321-Animatic

So, here's my latest update. It's an animatic that displays my idea for my 4th year grad film. First thing I made using TVPaint. I'm liking it so far. Its currently not timed very well and is fast paced, I was more worried about getting it all in at this point. There's no sound yet. Unfortunately I can't seem to upload a video directly onto my post... the button to upload videos isn't there... so here's a link to the animatic. I will upload a video directly onto my blog if I figure out what the problem is, I believe it has something to do with the fact that I'm using the old blogger layout settings.

*EDIT* ended up making a vimeo account, hopefully the embed for the video I have placed works... *EDIT*

ANIM321-Creative Development for Filmmaking Animation-Animatic from Sandy Sou on Vimeo.

ANIM321-Creative Development for Filmmaking Animation-Dialogue Updates

Wheee... long time since the last post. It is official, I'm quite behind in the dialogue assignment. I've been prioritizing other assignments and fell behind...=.='' I'm currently learning TVPaint, I'm liking it so far though the interface is a bit confusing at this point. So far bits of the animation for the dialogue has been done, just need to finish animating and start colouring it.

On another note, I finally have an idea for my grad film. I was thinking of creating a story about the Japanese story of "kitsune no yomeiri" or in other words "the fox's wedding". The story will include the characters I created for the dialogue, along with some other minor characters that may make small appearances. I have created some drawings for character design and settings but will not be posting them yet. I have also included a link to wiki's definition of a fox wedding, in case more information is needed. Fox Wedding Wiki

My idea for the story was that the cat character I have created is playing and exploring the shrine grounds it lives on. Then a sun shower happens, which is sometimes considered a sign that a fox wedding is occurring, and the cat notices the fox spirit character and a few others enter the shrine house. The cat is curious about what she sees and follows the spirits inside to find herself transported to another realm after passing the door. There she witnesses the wedding between some of the higher level fox spirits.