Mindmap

This work was done by four people, and the key words we chose were space, dolphin, diamond, dark, and light. These five words were chosen by all four of us, therefore we tried to choose the words that may have connection in between, also we decided to use dolphins as the main characters of the story. Because there are so many stories that can be created with these five words, we used a mindmap to discuss the plots where each person can have a place to come up with our own ideas and discuss them within the group to finalize the storyline.

In addition to writing down our ideas, we also used the 3 acts structure that we learned in the stopmotion rotation to organize our thoughts after the discussion. This was a good way to organize our thoughts because it gave us a general outline of where we wanted to go with the story. Then we wrote down the more detailed content in a list and discussed the approximate length of time that each of them might take. Since we only had 20 seconds for the whole animation, we needed to distribute the time very carefully to avoid not being able to finish the story.

I think this list works very well because it not only summarizes our whole story, but also helps us to distribute our work. We planned to have four people draw different parts of the storyboard separately to save time, therefore we chose what we wanted from the list and decided to bring the results of the storyboard to share with the group in the next class for discussion.

Storyboard

We combined all the storyboards that we created separately together but organize them into more detail and finalized version. I think this arrangement is very efficient because the four of us don’t need to get together when making the storyboard, which saves time that might be wasted.

However, before we started to draw the animation, we were asked to explain the story to the teachers and get their permission to do this story. When the teachers heard our story, they did not criticize it, but they said that our story was not clear enough and that some parts needed to be changed. Therefore we decided to discuss it face-to-face again in class and cut out any unnecessary or redundant plot to make the story clearer. I think this was useful because through communication again and again, also getting feedback from other people is important. Because this work is not for us to see after all, that other people’s opinions are very significant. After this time we asked our teachers to give us advice and feedbacks more frequently so that we are able to revise the parts that didn’t make sense or didn’t work well before we did too much. I think through this, our story will become better and better.

Moodboard

We each made a mood board about the animation, and we looked in different directions so that we could better sort out the effect we wanted. My part was the characters, and I looked at a lot of different styles of characters for reference, some cuter and some more realistic. This was also a thing that we did have a discussion on. The style that most of our group mates usually in our own artwork was a more cartoonish and unrealistic style. However to challenge ourselves and fits the theme better, we decided that the more realistic dolphins were the ones we wanted to use in this animation. I think it is important to work outside of my comfort zone and try a different style.

Character Design

Since the main idea of our story is about two completely different dolphins with completely opposite emotions and colors, we had to include those elements in our character design. My team member Georgia and I were responsible for the character designs, therefore we each created one. My idea came from the drama mask, which is derived from the ancient Greek Comedy and Tragedy masks. I have always thought that these masks not only show a very dramatic expression but also bring a sense of weirdness and pomposity to people. Therefore I wanted to apply this sense of dissonance to our dolphins because both of them lack a certain emotion, which they should look abrupt and extreme, and maybe even a little scary

I really like Georgia’s design of the light dolphin’s eyes. I think the star-like eyes fit our story and theme better than the smiley eyes I draw in my design. At the end we decided to use Georgia’s design for the light dolphin and use my design for the shadow dolphin. I found this session very interesting and it make me understand how collaborative work is made. By having several people constantly designing and discussing, it is possible to come up with the best result, but it is also all about communicating ideas and respecting others’ ideas.

Since we are planning to have four people drawing one part each, it is important to have a unified style. Therefore my team member, Georgia, drew two reference sheets based on the design we discussed, and we also ensure the brushes and the sizes that we are using are the same. This is a very important part because, without these reference sheets, the four of us would have a really different style. Although sometimes when different styles collide together it will bring contrasting effects to the work. However we wanted to be as unified as possible and have everyone involved in all parts of the work, so this method was the most effective way to achieve this goal.

In fact, drawing the dolphin was an unexpected challenge for us, as its shape and movement were very difficult to show with simple lines. In order to create a smooth animation, we looked at and researched a lot of real-life videos of dolphins and studied how their body parts behave when they move differently.

Animated Storyboard

This is the animated storyboard we made, which effectively gives us an idea of what each part will look like when it is animated. Through this method, we can see how smooth the story is and whether the camera angle is reasonable. In particular, the four of us were in charge of different parts, therefore if we didn’t discuss the transitions and angles well in advance, it cause the whole animation to be abrupt and unreasonable. When I saw this animated storyboard, I was very excited because I could see from it what our final work would look like.

Lineart

Since our color section needed to be unified, we decided to gather all the animation lineart together before we started coloring. I think this was a good decision because although we had an animated storyboard, it still going to look different in the final outcome.

For the animating software, we used Procreate because it is software that all four of us are familiar with. Moreover, this is software that can be used on the iPad, it is much easier for us to draw during the holidays and saves us time from coming to school or taking the computer around. However, the problem with Procreate is that it is not professional animation software, and it does not have some of the features that professional software has. In addition, the coloring process in Procreate is a little bit difficult, therefore I think it is a good idea to make sure the line art is correct first in order to avoid making mistakes that need to change all the parts including the colors.

Animating Process

This was one of the most frustrating and difficult parts of this entire project for me. This was a scene from a bird’s-eye view, and I had to draw the emotions of excitement and fear when two groups of dolphins meet each other. For the first version, I didn’t draw from any reference but started drawing directly.

This was a mistake I made, I should have watched more videos to understand the trajectory for this kind of species that I am not unfamiliar. Because of this mistake, when I finished the drawing I realized that the way I drew the dolphins swimming was wrong, I thought they were moving their tails from side to side like normal fish, but after research, I realized they were moving by tapping their tails up and down. This discovery not only made me have to redraw the whole animation, but also made me find a more difficult challenge. There were really few films that captured dolphins swimming from a top-down view because not much of them can actually be seen when they are moving like this, therefore many photographers prefer the sideways angle. This made the finding reference process even more difficult.

With the help from my team members and teachers, I found a few Gif pictures that matched the angle, so that I could better observe and follow the movement of this creature. However, because we did not add shadows to our animation, it was difficult to show the feeling of the dolphin’s tail moving up and down with only lines. I think I didn’t have a good grasp of the fundamentals of animation, I wasn’t able to show the movement by changing the size and timing. In the end, it took a lot of trial and error to come up with a version that I was relatively happy with.

After this whole frusturating process, I found the importance of observing and practicing. I reflected that I should check and watch more often in order to understand more about the activities of my surroundings that may help to improve my animation skills. Secondly, I should always prepare corresponding reference drawings before each drawing to avoid relying only on my imagination and making mistakes like this one. But in fact, after practicing many times, I think my dolphin looks much better than the first version, which is probably one of my gains from this challenge.

Coloring

There are three types of dolphins in our animation, light, dark, and diamond dolphin that is formed when they are combined. Instead of painting directly, we choose to use the clip mask function to clip the PNG file onto the dolphins. This way, when they swim, the pattern on their bodies will not change, which gave a sense of contrast to the animation. Since this method requires first filling in the pure color to the lineart and then using the clip mask function to clip the texture, the quickest way to do this was to use the paint bucket to quickly fill in the lines.

However, the part where my dolphin was behind the crystal had a more complicated coloring process, because the crystal itself was within our 3D background, which was the responsible by my other groupmate. Therefore before she finished the 3D model, I won’t know what the crystal will look like. Because I want to fit the crystal into my work, my lines were not closed and I couldn’t use the bucket function, this means that I had to spend more time on coloring by filling the color by hand. However, there were some miscommunications throughout the process, the final crystal did not match my dolphin animation, which means I had to redraw that part. However, I considered the second version looks better than the first, which was kind of a surprise to me.

Name of the Animation

Our movie’s name is Stenellar, this name came from the scientific name of the striped dolphin, which is Stenella coeruleoalba, and the word “Interstellar” could be related to the idea of space and stars. This name clearly shows the setting of our story, and it really suit the style of our animation too.

Music Design

Our music is produced through the software Garage Band. We wanted to have that feeling between the ocean and space. We didn’t want real music, but a sound like nature or dolphins chirping. We wanted to create an ethereal, mystical atmosphere through the background sound, and I think our final result was successful, the sound did pair well with our animation.

Final Outcome

Story Behind Our Animation

This story we want to express is a story of finding oneself. The light dolphins represent extreme happiness, they are always happy. The shadow dolphins, on the other hand, are in extreme sadness every day. These two extreme emotions are not good, because for the light dolphins who are happy every day, the sadness is actually hidden inside their hearts, and we want to imply that those who seem to be lively and outgoing on the outside, but actually suppress the pain inside for a long time, even they do not know how to express themselves. As for the shadow dolphins, they are wrapped in sadness every day and always think they are not good enough. These two psychological states will bring negative effects to the body and mind. Therefore, the “crystal” we designed in the middle of the story represents the opportunity to solve their problem. For the first time, they discovered that they can have different emotions. For the light dolphins, their sadness is accepted and understood. The shadow dolphins discovered their own goodness and were inspired by the positive energy of the light dolphins. Under the such positive influence, they become diamond dolphins. This diamond dolphin represents a state of relief after they have found a more comfortable way of life and a healthier body and mind.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Overall it was a special experience and I am satisfied with the final result. I really like the color tone of our animation because it fits our intergalactic theme very well. As for the improvement, I think the first thing is my timing. My animation is not smooth enough, because I don’t know how long each action and frame should be. In this part I really need to do more practice in my own time. In general, I think we can add more details to make the picture more rich, but now I think it looks a little monotonous. Moreover, for people who are watching it for the first time, the story may be a little hard to understand, and it is really difficult to tell the story clearly in 20 seconds, so we should make it simpler. According to the feedback of our screening session, many people mentioned that the color of the shadow dolphin was not clear enough, this aspect we can improve by adjusting the color. In my opinion, if we make the final diamond dolphin with more details that make it jump out, it will bring more surprise to the audience and will have more contrast with the previous story.

Overall Reflection

I think I have learned a lot after this, not only technically, but I think I have also improved socially and in terms of communication. I can express myself better, I was afraid to express my opinion before, but this time I think the tolerance and patience of my group members made me feel more confident that I was able to provide my idea to the group. I think I benefited a lot from this. I also think the final screening session helped me a lot, I think all the groups were very talented and I think I really got inspired and motivated by these great works. This is a mutual learning and motivating process, which makes this project more worthwhile.