THE CURE - DIPLOMA DOCUMENT by BLIND ARTIST

DIPLOMA PROJECT The Cure SPONSOR : Self - Sponsored

Volume : 1 STUDENT : KAPIL GOPINATHAN PROGRAMME : Post-Graduate Diploma Programme GUIDE : AJAY KUMAR TIWARI

2014 COMMUNICATION DESIGN (ANIMATION FILM DESIGN)

National Institute of Design Ahmedabad

The Evaluation Jury recommends KAPIL GOPINATHAN for the Diploma of the National Institute of Design IN COMMUNICATION DESIGN (ANIMATION FILM DESIGN)

herewith, for the project titled " THE CURE " on fulfilling the further requirements by

Chairman Members :

*Subsequent remarks regarding fulfilling the requirements :

Registrar(Academics)

The Cure

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

III

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Acknowledgement A single person’s effort is never enough to make a film and a list of few names is never enough to make an acknowledgement. I am afraid I cannot thank people enough by typing just a few names in this sheet of paper to show my gratitude to them. Firstly I would like to thank my guide Mr. Ajay Tiwari who gave me timely advice and also immense amount of freedom to put forth my thoughts without inhibitions. I would also like to thank Mr. Sekhar Mukherjee who inspite of not officially being my guide, helped me throughout the entire process. Thanks to all my classmates, my seniors and my juniors for their ceaseless encouragement , help and support. I would like to thank Mr Dhiman Sengupta, Mr Kaushik Chakraborthy and Abeer Gupta for their valuable insights and advice during my time at NID. Thanks to Gautam , Rajesh Thakre, Dava and Chewang, for sharing their views and inputs for making this movie happen. I can’t thank my best buddy Sreenath M.S enough for always being there for me, helping throughout the research, journeys and script edits and as a good critic , Dileep for providing me immensive support by using his mastered artistic skills in making a fantastic animatic and music for my film .

How can I forget my parents’ endless, constant support. Thanks Apa for not giving up on me and believing in me, supplying unlimited energy and your ever helping hands, you are really my superman! Amma without you I would have starved to death on my production days, with your gentle yet constant reminders you helped me to stick to my dead line, without which I would have still been limping with the film. Kavitha (Eenu) my sister thank you for all your support, efforts and help with technical assistance. I can’t thank my family enough, as without them I wouldn’t be who I am today. I would also like to thank Sri Pradyumna Vyas (Director, NID), Dr. Vijaya Deshmukh (Registrar, NID) and Vijay Singh Katiyar (Education Chairperson, NID). Last but not the least i would like to extend my gratitude towards NID especially Animation Film Department, for giving me this wonderful opportunity to be a part of it and for all the priceless memories I have gathered here in the last three years.

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Content 1. Introduction 2. Project Brief

1 2

3. Inspiration

What I believe in

The beginning

Birth of a story

How the story evolved

4. Research

The Nilgiri Mountain Railroute

Visual Reference

Sketches - Field Study

Study of stopmotion puppets

5. Preproduction

Final script

Story board

Animatics in Bleender

Animatics in Blender editing

Blender Animatics clips

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Character Designs

Char # 1 The Protagonist

Char # 2 Friend

Char # 3 Child

Layouts and blueprints

Train, Station , Forest , Cabin, Toilet

6. Production

2D cell animation

101

Experimental animation(smoke in glass)

102

Puppet animation / Stopmotion animation

104

7 . Sound design

114

8 . Post production

Compositing ,Vfx and editing

115

9 . Arts and Stills

116

10 . Conclusion

129

11 . Reference

Film Reference

131

Web Reference

137

Image source

138

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

VII

VIII

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Introduction I am a dreamer, a day dreamer, have always been one. I never thought I would end up making an animation film one day! Pursuing a BSc. in Hotel and Hospitality Administration, working as a pastry chef in the middle of 12 hour long night shifts, i was day draming, lost in my own world, letting those croissants burn in the oven, I was always damn dreaming! But how could I turn them into reality, I badly needed a medium where I could fantasize without any limitations. Ahhh..... there it was “animation”.... a perfect medium to express myself. From my head chef’s rebuking shouts to the story teller today i don’t know if it was the spark of his frustrated yellings that fuelled this young dreamer to arrive where he has today . I am not afraid now; there are no more “master chef!!” shouts to wake me up from my dream world. Yes, from there my journey began, as a pastry chef to a creative chef :) As Sekhar Da asked me on my interview “so now you want to cook stories?” Yes I am cooking now, baking the secret ingredients and essences from my dreams into my own stories. You don’t need “wings” to fly in animation ....just fly...

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

About the Project Synopsis: This fiction fantasy film is about a man’s journey to an unknown destination in search of a cure. The story reveals as he tries to hide his deformity and force himself to be like others throughout the journey. He finds himself caught up in a desperate metaphysical adventure, a drift between real and imaginary world and realizes that his travel leads him to a path of self discovery. The film ends as he ultimately realizes “That there is nothing wrong with him and we should learn to enjoy the life as it is”. Film Duration: 7 – 10 Minutes Target audience: For all groups Visual Treatment: Mix medium (Puppet animation, Experimental, 3D, CGI) Project duration: 6 months

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

TIME SCHEDULE

Project Budget

JANUARY PRE PRODUCTION

FEBRUARY

Research Script Story Board Animatics

1. Cost of Studio material: 2. Cost of model/prototype Production 3. Post-Production 4. Cost of NID machine time: 5. Cost of service outside NID: 6. Documentation charge (Rs. 3000 x 2): 7. Travel/ conveyance expenses:

Rs. 40,000/Rs. 20,000/Rs. 10,000/Nil Rs. 20,000/Rs. 6,000/Rs. 10000/-

Total

Rs. 91,000/-

8. Contingencies (10% on the above items)

Rs. 10,600/-

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

PRODUCTION

Cell animation Experimental Set design Stopmotion animation

Grand total Rs. 1,16,00/(One Lakh fourteen thousand eight fifty only)

POST PRODUCTION Compositing Editing Sound Editing

DOCUMENTATION & SUBMISSION

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Inspiration

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

I should thank Danny Gregory for his wonderful book - “The creative License” for giving me the initial spark to come up with this story. I should say, a short passage from this book gave me a push to kick start my narrative. Thanks Danny Gregory. I should thank all my friends for giving their valuable suggestions and inputs for helping me put this story into perfect shape - a short that could enable me to say my own story and express my feelings, the way I think and see things. I chose Stop Motion because it’s a medium I am comfortable with and also gives me an opportunity to play around while telling my story . Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

WHAT I BELIEVE IN Ironically our society tends to portray artist as dreamers but those who suppress their creativity are actually the ones living in a dream, an artist is someone who sees and feels reality very intensely. Creativity doesn’t mean just making up things out of

air. It means seeing and feeling the world so vividly that you can put together connections and patterns that help to explain reality . It means you see the beauty in the world rather than trying to hide from it, its scary isn’t it ?

Danny Gregory - “The creative License”

THE BEGINNING I believe myself as a craftsman rather than an artist. One thing that make me happy rather than doing anything in my life is creating new things out of anything, even from scraps, I really enjoy doing it. So when it came to my final animation diploma project , I want to do something which I always wanted to do. Marrying my craftsmanship with the medium of animation to tell a story, to play with the medium so that I can enjoy the process, frankly I would say, in the beginning I never bothered about story line much, the idea was blindly do some gags or short so I can make sets ,props and rigs, and shoot around with camera and lights.

But as I am a big dreamer, I dreamed my film a kick ass one like any ambitious animator do. Thus the second thought struck my mind, even if I am putting this much effort to the production I should be more fair about the story line too. Then gradually I realized, its not that easy to cook up a good story as I do making things with my craftsmanship. I would say I spend most of my time in this project for the story part. Struggled and struggled a lot to come up with the story line from the initial concept and still struggling .....

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

BIRTH OF A STORY

I am not that sort of an adventurous traveler, but I have travelled as far as I can. I remember my childhood days , once when my family took me to the railway station to see off my father for his work tour and by the time my father boarded the train and it started moving, I yelled and started running behind the train. Once the train left the sta-

tionally I kept myself away from them. But after my graduation I got a job in Mumbai and was forced to set camp to Worli (place in Mumbai). Thus the villain came back to the story again, as I am not that rich I was forced to travel by train. I couldn’t afford a flight being much expensive. Thus we met again, 3 days in train from my home to my new home, first I felt so strange travelling with strangers then slowly I realized the only familiar person I know in my journey is this so called villain “the train”. Three years of frequent journeys, to and fro made us good friends, I felt more comfortable with its company , it introduced me to more people, gave me new friends, From them, it made me learn more facts about myself, life, people and customs. We explored more places, witnessed more situations and so on. I don’t know how my hatred changed to compassion and one of those journeys motivated me to leave my job and tion another one arrived from the op- chase my dream, made me do what I posite direction , I got confused and really want in my life. I followed that one yelling like a mad dog chasing cars on the streets . I Hence I ended up in NID, but even now think I made a connection with trains we travel together . The old fear nevfrom that time . Till my high school er bothers me now, only the people I I never travelled in a train as far as I travel with does. But it’s a new learning remember. Frankly I was scared of isn’t it. That’s how I decided I wanted those gigantic machine, I never want- to make something related to these ed to travel in one of those ever. Inten- journeys, any funny or hectic incidents

from them. So that was the initial spark, I decided “ THERE WILL BE A TRAIN “ – in my first movie

OK then what ,the train wasn’t enough for a story. There should be some core concept to hold the story line. A strong concrete pillar to hold the structure, with salt and pepper to enhance audience apatite. That’s where I really struggled. I took bits and pieces from my own life experience for those ingredients. But the dish which I was making was unknown to me . Wonder what I am cooking, is it a sweet and sour fiction, a pungent thriller or a sweet and tempting comedy. My creative kitchen was about to shut, there were no sparks for lighting up my stoves to cook anything.

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

HOW THE STORY EVOLVED STRUCTURE Who, Why, How, When, Where and For what - stitching up answers for all these questions took a lot of time than I thought. If you want to tell a story, consider yourself a common audience to whom you are catering the story, or just tell the story to someone who doesn’t have any clue about the story or film making so that you ask yourself / they throw you some genuine questions regarding the story and tell you what doesn’t make sense in it. As a creator you know what you are doing and every bits and pieces are very clear in your mind, But it’s not all what you want. It’s what the audience need to be clear what they are, isn’t it .Maybe be that’s the ultimate aim. If you can come up with a synopsis then you are done.

I always failed to make others understand what I really wanted to say. The ultimate challenge was to make it happen. This excel sheet is a tool which made me more clear to come up with all details and what I want to make. It helped me to make a skeleton for the movie , and made me discard all those details ‘What I wanted to tell in this movie and reason for doing so.’ It’s more like a brain storming. And it worked well.

SYNOPSIS This fiction fantasy film is about a man’s journey to an unknown destination in search of a cure. The story reveals as he tries to hide his deformity and force himself to be like others throughout the journey. He finds himself caught up in a desperate metaphysical adventure, a drift between real and imaginary world and realizes his travel leads him on a path of self discovery. The film ends as he ultimately realizes “That there is nothing wrong with him and learn to enjoy the life as it is”.

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Research

This journey is the life blood of the story. Journey to an unknown place brings an excitement to the narration. The journey/story begins on an evening and ends at night with the magic of the darkness and mystic of our heart .The story can be treated on a mystical note, a journey to our own mind, revelation of the truth, existence and over all the life we choose to lead as an individual in a large society. The perfection of the story telling through visual film making come from the details which you deliver throughout the films , irrespective of itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visuals, Sound ,feelings. So in order to generate these elements a film maker should understand and experience the inside and outside of the story which the story teller wants to deliver. Thus it is much important to experience all these aspects oneself before he/she does the entire story telling process.

The Nilgiri Mountain Railroute The purpose of this trip was to experience the full length of the Nilgiri Mountain Railways. The last time I had been to ooty was during my school days thats was around ten years ago. I found it is much important to experience myself to carry a journey in train through a similar landscape compared to that of the story. The line from Coonoor to Mettupalayam is risky to travel on rainy seasons because of landslides. So summer was the apt time to visit the place. Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

I took a train from my home town Trivandrum to reach Coimbatore, from where I took a bus to Conoor, a TNSRTC bus heading to Ooty. There I managed to get a local lodging for one night stay, so that I can catch the first train to Ooty. For my surprise the first train wasn’t at early morning and needed to wait there for the train a couple of hours, which actually provided time for doing some sketches and taking some snaps of both train and station for further reference.

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

As the major part of my story happens inside a train and it’s auspicious journey through a floral rail route ,this journey was unavoidable for the narration of the script as well. I found a ticket in 1st Class Sitting from Conoor to Udhagamandalam / Ooty on the 13th April 2013 morning. The two and half hour journey was a beautiful experience, the hill rail route covering many tunnels, Eucalyptus plantations and narrow bridges. The morning chill of Ooty hills added flavours to my journey.

Referring to the places which offers the hilly train journey in India. I found a few states in the North East and Metupalayam - Ooty are the only places having hilly rail routes in India. As I am from Kerala I found it appropriate for me to choose Metupalayam - Ooty rail route as it was more easy to access. I would like to thank my fellow friend Sreenath for being a co- traveler with me always

and supporting me throughout the journey as a side kick, companion, a good critic and a guide as well. The 1 week trip really helped me a lot for deciding up on the geographical references related to story which have got a major importance in the story line hence it helped in spotting sites reference for the sets as well. Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

VISUAL REFERENCE

In this animation short, many of the films location are directly taken from the places where I have been to. Understanding the feel and ambience of a place is very much important to re-create it. To get the feel of dark woods I travelled to Eucalyptus plantations of Kodaikanal, pine forests of Ooty and Meenmutty forest reserves near Ponmudi in Kerala. The station where the opening scene of film starts has the exact reference & a caricatured replica to the Conoor Railway station in Tamilnadu.

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Sketches - Field Study

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Study of stop motion Puppets

Existing Armatures for puppets Referring to the existing puppets in animation industry. I found majority of the stop motion studios use armatures, which are made of ball and socket joint I found it appropriate for animating the puppet so accurate and smooth. But the real problem I faced was it is not cheaper and readily available in India, so I should have to buy ship it from somewhere else. Thus I was forced to think 18

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Self made Armatures for puppets about an alternative, later lots of research I found my NID seniors had used another technique for making the armature. They made the armature with cut MDF sheets for sockets and beads as ball joints with cycle spokes for the bone structure. I found this method more feasible and cheaper to access. So my target was to make an armature system .using this technique for my film.

DRAWBACKS The major drawback of this armature was, it gets loosened very easily after repeated movement while animating. Once I covered the armature joins shaping body mass it was impossible to tighten the screws holding the joint. The entire process was a failure because of this problem as is couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hold the position while animating. So after studying the problem i came up with a new armature solving it. In the new armature system i used more MDF cuts with plastic joints and glue for more hold, for periodic tightening the joint screw an access option was made on the body shied made of foam and would also help in attaining the position as it is so light in nature .This new armature provided more freedom to animation and maintenance as well.

I got inspired by the technique used by LAICA studios replacement mask technique for facial animation. Even I found it too tough to attain desired feelings in puppet while animating expressions, I tried my level best to make a set of face masks to overcome that. Two mould was made for moulding the facemasks, smallmagnets were used to ease fixing the mask to the puppets scul . Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Final Script

Final script ACT ONE

Scene 1 EXTERIOR : Railway station. The story starts in an uncrowned railway station. (A gloomy evening). A pan shot: from rail tracks to the station platform revealing the station name sign board waiting shed on the background. (Cam _ 1)

The Protagonist sitting in a bench on the waiting shed with a carry bag and his suitcase kept next to him. He seems little bit confused and occupied with a sheet of paper holding in his hand. POV revealing he sheet of paper he holding is a map (magical map) with a caricature of a happy smiling person on the bottom left corner who gets animated smiling and waving him and showing gesture like calling him by hand . Cut back to Protagonists mid shot revealing his face with a plaster, he touches the plaster and looks back to the map cut to the map {establishing the fare and clear skin of the characterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face} A tilt down shot from behind the clock ticking to

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

6’O clock. followed by the gibberish announcement of the loud speaker .The Protagonist looks towards the cam(clock)

POV of magical map, a blinking dot approaching towards the station [ VFX - mark in the map/ SFX sound of train approaching].

Cam rotates all around the cabin as he looks around , the cabins other seats seems to be occupied with luggage’s , a small hold on the seat number where the luggage’s are kept and looks up to the upper birth, another character with a news paper on his hand looks towards him with an angry expression. cut to.

Cut back to Protagonists [mid shot] looking on map , the evening sunlight light falling on his face gets irrupted by the passing trains shadow in a loop.

TILT UP CAM from other side of cabin: The Protagonist looks down and keeps his luggage beneath the seats and adjusts himself sitting next to the boy with his suitcase on his lap.

Back to (Cam _ 1) the train comes to halt in the station, stops with squeaking sounds of the engine wheels - SFX.

Mid shot : of boy and Protagonist sitting together, The boy keeps looking at the Protagonist ,and as the Protagonist turns right to look the child with a warm smile ,the child turns away his head looking to other direction as he doesn’t like to make a company with him.

Cut back to Protagonists mid shot looking back to the map

Scene 2 Train interior - Corridor

The Protagonist entering into the train with his luggage’s walking towards the cabin {camera} , camera turns with him as he turns towards the cabin door. POV- He slide’s opens the door, < CUT > as he enters the cabin.

Scene 3 Train interior - Cabin POV- opens the door as he enters the cabin. A lady is sitting next to the window seat and next to 22

her a small boy playing with a balloon. They looks towards the Protagonist.(cam).

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

he realises the negligence and his face turns sad and looks down to his suitcase holds it tight and sits. CUT TO - The train whistle(SFX) and steam exhaust with the sirens to start.... CUT TO - The wheels turns with the engine shafts. CUT TO - View through the window as the station passing by. Side shot{mid} of

PROTAGONIST

looking at his

suitcase , he looks up to the upper birth man TILT UP : The upper birth man seems slept, covering his face with the newspaper . Side shot{mid} of boy playing with balloon. Side shot{mid} of lady next to window busy doing her work -------------------. CUT TO - View through the windows train travels through hills and woods. The sun sets behind the hills.

Scene 3 EXTERIOR -

TILT UP: tracks in between dense woods, Train approaches towards camera with lights on. Passes over camera.

Scene 4 Train interior:

Close up of light A popping up sound is heard ,the PROTAGONIST looks alarmed with a jerk, the suitcase in his lap jumps little bit suddenly, he holds it firm, his eye balls looks here and there wondering anyone noticed it or not ,he turns towards others wondering did anyone noticed it. It seems the boy haven’t noticed , and he is busy with his balloon. Protagonist takes out the map again and looks into it POV - the shining dot is moving through the rails on the diagram.

Protagonist again touches the plasters on his face and moves his fingers over the suitcase, looking at it. make some incident in which the balloon got busted because of the PROTAGONISTs activity............ Sudden sound of balloon burst, The PROTAGONIST turns towards the child. CAM pan to child’s face. CUT TO - Childs face ,stars crying Mid shot of boy and Protagonist - Protagonist turns towards cam as he wonders what to do to console the child. He tries to console the child , he try making faces to child to prevent him from cry, he changes his faces expressions gradually to grab his attention , his weird expressions seems no effect to the child’s cry Suddenly a mole pops on the other side of his face(where there is no plaster).{with the similar popping sound} The child’s face changes to a surprised look , The Protagonist got stuck on the pose both his eye ball rolls towards the direction of the mole, another mole pops up all of a sudden. The excited child laughs and claps his hand watching what he saw. PROTAGONIST got alarmed and again the bag starts to jump on his lap, he grabs the bag and try to condemn it.

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Protagonist looks around It seems everyone is noticing him now, the man on upper birth, the lady and child staring at him CUT SHOTS he covers the moles with his left hand gets up from his seat holding the suitcase, opens the cabin by sliding the door in a hurry and runs out of the cabin.

MATCH CUT: POV of Protagonist , the box is full of bottles with moles ,the cam establishes the Suitcase interior showing each materials inside the case, Bottles with mole, Scissors ,Knives, Plasters, a childhood photograph of Protagonist and his friend with lots of moles on their face smiling and posing for the photo(the friend : one whose photograph was therein the map).

Scene 5 MOVING TRAIN :

CUT TO : MID shot: Protagonist keeps one of the bottle on the sink and a plaster role, POV from mirror: Protagonist standing with scissors staring at camera, he aim it towards the mole.

EXTERIOR - Inside view of train through the windows PAN SHOT - PROTAGONIST running on corridor with his hand covering his face. SHOT SLIDE CUT INTO :

Scene 6 TOILET - INTERIOR

Long shot : He pulls opens the door and gets into the toilet, shut the door and leans on the door with his back holding the suitcase on his chest with both hands. Camera panâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s as he moves from there to his left towards the shelf next to the sink and mirror. PROTAGONIST keeps the suitcase on the shelf. SIDE SHOT: MID - Protagonist starts examine his face on the mirror. POV from mirror: Protagonist touches his face and seems sad sawing those moles in his face, his facial exp changes into an aggressive one, he turns towards the Suitcase , unlocks and opens it. 24

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

CUT TO : Close up of Protagonist face :as the scissors blade is about to cut the mole it starts glowing. CUT TO : Close up : The bottle with moles are kept on the sink also glows CUT TO : MID : The Suitcase loaded with Bottles glows. CUT TO : MID : Protagonist back side sill wet on the cutting pose and full glow on background.

Scene 7 EXTERIOR : MOVING TRAIN :

The glow is coming out from the toilet window ,(sound a train approaching from a distance) It got blocked by another goods train passing on foreground , the glow flashes as it is revealed by

the goods trains containers gaps in between exposing the light towards CAM. --------------CUT TO BLACK---------------------------------------------------

END OF ACT ONE ACT

TWO

TILT DOWN : To the sink where the glowing mole is felt and gradually fading down, Protagonist’s hand comes into frame and picks up the mole. CLOSE UP : of Protagonist holding the bottle in front of his eye’s and put’s the mole into it, the glow fades out from the mole and gradually dies. CLOSE UP : of suitcase where Protagonist keeps back the mole bottle in it. POV from mirror : He turns back to mirror with a sad expression on his face, he touches his checks establishing there is a new bandage on his face , then he slowly opens his shirt revealing more bandages in his body all over his chest. He looks down to his chest he close his shirt looks back to mirror /cam takes a deep breath. CUT TO : CLOSE UP : of suitcase closing....>>>> MATCH CUT

Scene 8 INTERIOR : TRAIN CABIN >>>> MATCH CUT

TILT UP CAM from other side of cabin: The child is sleeping in the lower birth and lady on upper births. he enters into the cabin and looks at the boy . CUT TO : MID :Protagonist’s POV of the child sleeping in the seat. CUT TO : The lady sleeping on upper birth. CUT TO : The man is sleeping covering his head with news paper on upper birth. CUT TO : MID :Protagonist’s POV of map in which the dot approaching to a bridge followed by a tunnel. TILT UP CAM from other side of cabin: the Protagonist Look’s up, he sits on the seat next to the child MID SHOTR of Protagonist sitting holding his suitcase close to his chest, he leans towards the case gradually as he fall to sleep.

Scene 9 EXTERIOR : THE TUNNEL

POV from trains 3rd compartment moving through a bridge and approaching to a tunnel, as the train enters the tunnel light fades into black.

: slide opening the cabin door

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Scene 10 DREAM SEQUENCE 2D in experimental line drawings on Kari (smoke on glass) The train getting out from the protagonist’s ear, it runs on surface all around the face cheeks and nose. As the camera follows to trains POV giant moles pops up from the landscape. one of the mole pops up from the rail in front of train breaking the rail lines, as train approaches to the giant mole and about to hit scene cuts. Fade to black.

Scene 11

CUT TO : close up of Protagonist’s eyes opening in a jerk as he got scared by the night mare/ a shuffling sound on Background as the bag is rumbling. his eye ball moves down top his lap amused what’s happening. MID SHOT : The Protagonist’s suite case is shaking and jumping vigorously on his lap , the box jumps off from his lap. CUT TO: MID SHOT: GROUND LEVEL : The suitcase falling in the ground, next to the cabin door POV OF PROTAGONIST: Box start’s rolling towards the cabin door, as its trying to get out from the cabin , keeps rolling. CLOSE UP OF PROTAGONIST in an amusement, wondering

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

what is happening. Then he looks to the map in his hand. MID SHOT:POV to map : The magical map showing it reached the destination in the woods. The indicator point is blinking vigorously as its telling him something. CLOSE UP OF PROTAGONIST : He looks up from the map ,and turns to the side windows , checking where he have reached. POV through the window ..... LONG SHOT: There is some fancy glitters happening in the woods , as he can vaguely see them the train passes the scene gaining more speed. As the place is falling back ,he get’s confused what to do. CLOSE UP of PROTAGONIST , looking down case.

to his

Scene 12 INTERIOR : TRAIN CORIDOR : TILT UP:

Protagonist got pulled out by the bag to the corridor and dragged . TRACK SHOT: POV of Protagonist as he is pulled towards the door by the suitcase through the corridor . LONG SHOT: Back profile shot of Protagonist standing next to the exit door.

Scene 13 EXTERIOR: WOODS:

Long shot of train door opened by Protagonist, he

leans forward and looks towards the lights in wood passed by CAM ZOOMES BACK , trees passing in the foreground as camera pans with train.

trains engine starts the lights reflection on the trees next to track gradually diapers as the train moves away.

CONTINUE : Scene 12

Darkness ,only the Protagonist’s foot steps are heard as he is running.... he gets lost in the darkness, his footsteps declines. DARKNESS

Again Back profile shot of PROTAGONIST standing at the door and looking out. retains steady position and looks up here and there inside the compartment. CLOSE UP of pull liver. POV of protagonist from pull liver. CUT TO : Train tires squeaking and stopping in rails with sparks.

MID SHOT of suitcase , light emits from the case , CAMERA pulled up as he raises the case to his head level to check out what is happening. case fading and glowing, suddenly it pull Protagonist to a direction...

INTERIOR : TRAIN CORIDOR : Shoulder shot of PROTAGONIST looking to the lights in woods from the moving train.

Scene 14 EXTERIOR : STOPED TRAIN IN WOODS

LONG SHOT TRAINS SIDE ANGLE , a box got thrown from trains door , it felts down on the track in the dark. CLOSE SHOT of fallen luggage box, the Protagonist’s jumps down next to it, close up of his leg reaching the ground. He picks up the luggage and runs towards the woods where he saw lights. POV camera pulled back, as he runs away from the train . MID camera pulled back with Protagonist, as he runs away from the train .Train on Background.

Scene 15

LONG SHOT : Trains siren sounds with whistle,

CUT TO: LONG SHOT: Protagonist is been pulled to different places in the woods , right to left of screen FOREGROUND, left to right MIDGROUND, right to left of screen BACKGROUND.

Scene 16

MID SHOT: Protagonist stops in middle of the woods as suddenly the suitcase’s pull stops. LONG SHOT: Protagonist pulls up the case and looks at it curiously. SFX: A distant sound interrupts him {owl/wolf howl} MID SHOT: Protagonist looks at the direction of sound , as he was afraid, he slowly steps backwards by keep looking at the sounds direction. SFX: Another sound interrupts him from behind very next to him in the bushes ,

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

MID SHOT: With a jerk Protagonist turns and looks at the bushes , of that excitement what he had seen protagonist falls backward to the ground.

tagonist fly’s in mid air, The suitcase is opened and all the glowing moles are also suspended around him.

CUT TO > TILT UP MID : Protagonist looking to cam from the ground holding the suitcase (light still emitting)

CUT TO : CLOSE UP: one of the glowing jar falls on the ground and breaking…

MID: Protagonist’s POV: There is something glittering in the darkness, it appears to be some glowing red eyes staring at him.

CUT TO : CLOSE UP of broken bottles CUT TO : CLOSE UP of protagonists face as he is lying in ground , one of the unbroken container rolls towards him..(LIGHTING)

CUT BACK TO > TILT UP MID : Protagonist looking to cam from the ground holding the suitcase and gathering his carry bag by the other hand , as he couldn’t find his other bag, he looks at the direction where the bag had fallen.

MID SHOT: The protagonist picking up the bottle and sits up holding it, and looking to it emotionally. the opened bag and other broken bottles are shattered all over the place in his background.

PROTAGONIST’S POV: MID: Another pair of glowing red eyes staring at him next to his carry bag .

LONG SHOT : A POV of someone else looking where protagonist had fallen ,lights can be seen from the broken containers, silhouette of trees, rocks and bushes on mid ground.

CUT TO: TRACK SHOT> Pullback : MID shot of protagonist running, holding the suitcase in his front , scared and yelling. Simultaneously turning his head back checking, is he been followed. CUT TO : CLOSE UP of protagonist’s footsteps running. SLOW MOTION as his foot hits a rock in the ground…. CUT TO : SLOW MOTION , MID SHOT > Tilt up the pro-

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

CLOSE UP: of protagonist looking at the glowing mole container holding on his hand. gradually some bouquet of different colored lights are appeared on his distant background and moving here and there (camera blur).Protagonist keeps looking at bottle as he is unaware of the other moving lights at his back. TRACK IN : POV of someone camera approaching, towards protagonist from his back. sitting in ground, holding the container.

CUT BACK TO > CLOSE UP : Protagonist looking at the glowing mole container holding on his hand. Bouquet of different colored lights background are now approaching towards him .Protagonist lifts his head with an excited expression as he realized that something is approaching to him from behind. CAM PULLED BACK TO A LONG SHOT: revealing the Background with different colored lights approaching him from different direction in the dark woods. Protagonist turns back in a swift action.

nist looking at him with amusement, gradually his facial expression turning into a relaxed happy smile. Suddenly a glowing mole pops up from his face. ZOOM IN to the mole and freeze. The protagonist smiles ,DIP TO BLACK. ***************** THE END *****************

MATCH CUT : TRACK IN: POV of stranger approaching to protagonist, who just turned back and looking at Camera. as the cam reaches very next to him, protagonist looks excited all around him .Towards the lights.. TILT UP: POV of protagonist as he looks up. To an empty frame five hands with glowing bottle lanterns enter into the frame, Then slowly revealing five characters entering tothe frame from all three direction holding different colored glowing bottles. (The lighting should only be sufficient in a way to vaguely reveal the character one who is in the middle in the search party, who is protagonist’s child hood friend who send him the magical map.) He looks at him with a warm welcoming smile.(all of them do have glowing moles allover their body) CUT SHOT’S showing their moles glowing. TILT DOWN: POV of friend: CLOSE UP> of protago-

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Story Boarding

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Animatics in Blender

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Blender I have used 3D Software Blender for making a timed animatic for the movie.The software provided immense freedom to explore lighting , timing , camera angles even video and sound editing.I have chosen Blender to make the animatics because it is an open source software as well. The final rendering was done in Previs - Blender I Took a free rig called ‘simple boy’ from www. blendswap.com and duplicated it with different colors and scale for different characters and used live painted textures for facial expressions. The Modeled backgrounds and props are given single colors. Later the Key poses and simple animations were rendered with minimal effects like glows and streaks. The Final animatic is Edited in blender and rendered previs with sound effects. 60

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blender screen shots

Video editing in Blender Previs:

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design Design,

Kapil Kapil Gopinathan Gopinathan II PGDPD PGDPD Animation Animation Film Film Design Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 II Diploma Diploma Documentation Documentation II National National Institute Institute of of Design, Design

Kapil Gopinathan Gopinathan II PGDPD PGDPD Animation Animation Film Film Design Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 II Diploma Diploma Documentation Documentation II National National Institute Institute of of Design, Design Kapil

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design, Design

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design,

Kapil KapilGopinathan GopinathanIIPGDPD PGDPDAnimation AnimationFilm FilmDesign Design‘11 ‘11IIDiploma DiplomaDocumentation DocumentationIINational NationalInstitute Instituteof ofDesign Design,

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Character Design CHARACTER #1

THE PROTAGONIST Being a lonely child from his childhood he lacked the warmth of relationships and proper company of friends. He only owned one or two of them whom he adored and cared a lot. Being so silent and emotional from his childhood he lacked confidence, which made him in turn run away from any sensitive situations. He always cursed his character and behavior. He always tried to run away and hide himself from others. Taking everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s response to him so personally he thought that there is something wrong with him which made him stand away from others .As one of his best friends unexpectedly left him all of a sudden during his childhood to somewhere unknown, he felt heartbroken and in deep vain. He took the blame to himself for his friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sudden disappearance because of his character. He always wished to become like others around him as he was leading a very stressful life .To his surprise he gets a letter from his friend who left him during his childhood . He also finds some kind of a magical map attached with the letter and an invitation from his friend stating that there is a solution to the problems he is facing. Being suffocated by his present monot-

onous life he is forced now to take any chances to fix himself. He sets start to this adventurous journey to the unknown places to see his friend, to fix himself for whatever it takes.

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

THE PROTAGONIST - Model sheet

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CHARACTER’S PROP’S

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Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Character Design CHARACTER #2

THE FRIEND

A fun loving ,Caring man full of joy and adventure. He lives on his own and want to cherish and enjoy his life in full whatever it comes .He never bothered about others and what society thinks about him. He understands his own strengths and deformities and posses high self esteem and value for other individuals. Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Character Design CHARACTER #3

THE BOY

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Expression sheet

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Layouts and Blue Prints

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Map : Woods 96

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Magical map Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Lay out: Toilet

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Layout: Train interior - Cabin

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Production

Production is an art and aesthetics which helps to create interest and engage the audience throughout the film; it is an important part of the film. It is the stage where a filmmaker executes the planning done during pre-production. Basically it is the process of filming and animating the characters with necessory means which narrate the story to the audience. I had decided much before that , the medium for film will be in stopmotion, but I wanted to explore more mediums and include them as a part of this movie. The end film is a mix medium animation short film including three different mediums Stopmotion, 2D cell animation and Experimental (Smoke in glass).

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2D Traditional cell animation:

I have used the traditional cell animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand and then digitized. The sequence of the protagonists friend delivering him an important message in a magical map is done in cell animation. I Wanted to suite the specific visual with the visual medium ,so I chose to do it in traditional cell animation.

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Experimental Animation

A long ago promise and I still remember the question, that Shakher asked me in the interview of my NID Admission “What do you want to do in Animation?” . As an amateur Animator the answer to his question was not clear in my mind. I blindly(unsure/uncertain) said “I want to do something new in animation” but, I really don’t had any clue how. He asked me “ what you mean by, to do something new, did you mean experimental” As I was really inspired by the film Chai break (sand animation by NID), I also wanted to do some experimental animation, so I said “Yes” to his question. The panel concluded my interview saying “so we will be expecting an experimental animation from you. Best of luck”. For my story, I started looking for a medium where I can experiment with but the funny thing is, when I start thinking about it, I always think in linear and end up with existing mediums. In the search for a new medium I was reminded of one of my childhood episodes. Kerosene lanterns were an integral part of my 102

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childhood days. Me and my sister used to study under the light of kerosene lanterns. That experience was awesome. The dull yellow light, the smoky kerosene smell, the antique look of the lantern, all of them had their own class and charm. Whenever we got bored with studies, we played with the lantern. What we did was funny. We would block the lanterns smoke with a piece of paper. After sometime the paper would’ve a thick layer of dark soot over it. We would use it as a canvas and draw images over it using twigs. We used to make sceneries of night, houses, stars, moon and the list goes on. And the most important part was, we were very excited to see the white lines on the black sheet, it would looks like the negatives of photographs. Those experiences make me think more about it and finally decided to use it as the medium for my experimental animation

Process

Instead of paper, I used glass sheet as the canvas. Hanging a glass slide above the dense smoke of kerosene lantern create a black film in the glass sheet. Once the dark layer is formed the frames were drawn over it and then captured keeping it over a light box. After each frame, the glass is replenished with the smoke and drawn again. The 400 frames were created as this. As compared to the traditional light box method , in this method it was really challenging to keep the track of actions while animating cell by cell. In traditional light box method there is onion skin to for the last frames action reference, but here, as it’s a black canvas there wasn’t any clue for it, only the previous line’s track and guessing were possible.

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Claymation / Puppet Animation

Since majority of the visual medium of my film was stop motion, I decided to make replaceement maskâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for animating expressions, adjustable puppet characters were made with the help of boll socket armature which could help to animate them frame by frame.Exploring new methords to make animation easier was fun. 104

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Armature and Model making:

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Finished Puppet

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Breaking down the complex engine locomotive part was a hell of hard task so i made I simplified it for the purpose of this film as i only needed a few mid shots of the engine movement. So i didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go for much detailed study and

mechanism.I found it is better to make the parts diagram as per the characters size ratio Digitally (in vector format) and get it laser cut in MDF (Mediumdensity fiber board) assembled and painted latter .

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STOPMOTION ANIMATION

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Since majority of the visual medium of my film was stop motion, I decided to make miniature sets with the relevece of references I took on my research, I

have used Dragon frame Stopmotion animation software and Canon550D DSLR camera with 18”55 and 50 mm macro lense’s and adaptors for the shoot. Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

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Sound Editing Sound is an important part of the film as it explains those emotions which a visual fails to communicate and sets the mood to the film as well. As the backdrop of the story is a small town , I had to record some environmental sounds of some place which would help to create the ambience in the film. The majority of this filim’s scenes happen inside the train’s cabin it was essential to record live sounds directly from a running train, these sounds were recorded accordingly during my train journeys. The film doesn’t have any spoken dialogues. So recording them was not required. But it is based on body language and facial expression and therefore the responsibility and role of sound attains importance to show the emotions, mood and enhance the feel of characters in the scene. I was thinking parallel on sound design while working on the phase of story and storyboard. I compiled some scratched soundtrack to get the appropriate feel of the story at the stage of Animatic. After deciding on the accuracy and improvement I finalized the sound design and planned to record the final sound separately and furnish it to the film. To enhance the emotional feel I badly required the help of music in my film. I obtained professional assistance from one of my friend Dilip to achieve it.

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Compositing & Editing Compositing & Editing is the chemistry of the film which helps to make the film visually strong and beautiful. There are some effects which are strongly required in the film but they might be very difficult to animate on light-box/Stopmotion, here it is compositing which helps the filmmaker to obtain the exact desired effect. According to the guideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suggestion I mixed hand drawn 2D classical Animation with stop motion, and a small footage of experimental animation also. The combination of these three gave the proper feel to my film and made it easier to convey desired message to the audience. The task of merging two different layers at a same frame is quite complex, it will be a disaster if it is not treated maturely. So it was essential to plan the compositing before you actually apply it.

Premier Animatics

After completing Animatic I started to think about the look of my film and the possible editing and compositing format and other requirements.I achived the desired out put by using Adobe after effectss and Adobe premier. Some cleanup was also required to be done in the film at the time of editing.

After effects

Premier Final editing Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

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Stills and Arts

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Conclusion

Well, I cannot begin to tell what all I have learned from NID. When I joined NID in 2011, little did I know that one day I would be able to make a film all by myself. I could never have figured out how to dig out a concept from my very own complex mind’s confusing thoughts and pitch it in the form of a story. I expected I could develop my artistic skills by constant practice and I did achieve that by constant hard work, but somehow I had a reservation towards softwares, I considered them mere tools to sculpt my imaginations but eventually I learned they had a bigger role to play in the making of a film as they could provide endless possibilities and scopes to realize one’s imaginations and deserved more credit than I gave them. Now I am happy to be able to build a story by myself and make it into a short animation film in the medium which always fascinated me. Working on this project was a great experiment, struggle and a lot of fun which summed up in nothing less than a amazing learning experience. Perhaps one of the most important lessons I have learned working on my film, never

set a big target with limited resources .Bothering too much about Perfection slows down work’s pace. so one have to get it out of the head first. At the end, what matters is the end product, so both compromise and improvisation have to be done. To be a good creator one has to be opened to critics, both good and bad. Listening to critics made me more realize about what all areas I am good at and what all I should have to improve. Surprisingly, sometimes it might open new possibilities to the film. I felt in my two and half years of stay here that NID is a platform which gives you a wide vision and opportunity to cherish and flourish as an artist. Anyone who is willing to keep their eyes and ears open and keeps a positive attitude towards art and design there is no better place to be than here. The amount of experience and exposure which I got from here has really broadened my views, both in terms of design and life. I have never been to an art school before, this was my first experience of its kind and I can happily say that it was wonderful.

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References

• Film References • Book References • Web References

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Madame Tutli-Putli

Madame Tutli-Putli is a 2007 stop motion-animated short film by Montreal filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, collectively known as Clyde Henry Productions, and produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). It is available on the Cinema16: World Short Films DVD as well as from the NFB. Madame Tutli-Putli boards the Night Train, weighed down with all her earthly possessions and the ghosts of her past. She travels alone, facing both the kindness and menace of strangers. As day descends into dark,

she finds herself caught up in a desperate metaphysical adventure. Adrift between real and imagined worlds, Madame Tutli-Putli confronts her demons and is drawn into an undertow of mystery and suspense. The National Film Board of Canada presents a stunning, stop-motion animated film that takes the viewer on an exhilarating existential journey. The film introduces groundbreaking visual techniques and is supported by a haunting and original score. Painstaking care and craftsmanship in form and detail bring to life a fully imagined, tactile world unlike any you have seen.

The Necktie

A mixture of puppet and hand-drawn animation, The Necktie is the story of Valentin and his quest to find meaning in his life. Stuck in a dead-end job, he has forgotten all about the things that used to bring him joy. Years pass, and boredom replaces all his aspirations and hope for the future. It is only on his 40th birthday, when he rediscovers an old ac-

cordion hidden in the depths of his closet, that he regains his lust for life. i feel NFB again came up u with a stunning stopmotion short using minimal animation to tell a beautiful story, the innovative method of telling story with two medium mixing together encouraged me to try the same in mine also by using 3 different mediums.

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Paranorman ParaNorman is a 2012 American 3D stop-motion animated comedy horror family film produced by Laika, distributed by Focus Features and was released on August 17, 2012. The voice cast includes Casey Affleck, Tempestt Bledsoe, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Bernard Hill, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kodi Smit-ProtagonistPhee, Jodelle Ferland, Elaine Stritch, and Tucker Albrizzi. It is the first stop-motion film to use a 3D color printer to create character faces, and only the second stop motion film to be shot in 3D. The film received a largely positive critical response, while it was a modest box office success, earning $107 million against its budget of $60 million. The film received nominations for the 2012 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film.

Their film ParaNorman is amazing. I’ll say it again “Amazing”. Its breath taking cinematography and fluid animation is jaw dropping. The detail in the complex artistry that it takes to make even 10 seconds of a film let alone an hour and a half is staggering when you realize that every piece of every prop, puppet,and scenery were hand made. camera work mixed with amazing artistry equals a classic.

Coraline is a 2009 American stop-motion 3D dark fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman’s 2002 novel of the same name. It was produced byLaika and distributed by Focus Features. Written and directed by Henry Selick, it was released widely in United States theaters on February 6, 2009, after a world premiere at the Portland International Film Festival. The film was made with Gaiman’s approval and cooperation.

lion worldwide. Coraline won Annie Awards for best music, character design, and production design and received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Animated Feature.

I personaly found this film hilarious in the terms of story, gorgeous production design, playful sounds and cute characters. A remarkebal set design where we can see the extremely realistic elementsas the part of set which makes the visual pragmatical and the wonderful lighting which inhance the visual magicaly.

Coraline

Coraline received universal acclaim, and made $16.85 million during opening weekend, ranking third at the box office. As of September 2009, the film had grossed over $120 mil132

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Corpse Bride Corpse Bride, often referred to as Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, is a 2005 British-American stop-motion-animated fantasy film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton. The plot is set in a fictional Victorian era village in Europe. Johnny Depp led an all-star cast as the voice of Victor, while Helena Bonham Carter voiced Emily, the title character. Corpse Bride is the third stop-motion feature film produced by Burton and the first directed by him (the previous two films, The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, were directed by Henry Selick). This is also the first stopmotion feature from Burton that was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was dedicated to Joe Ranft who died during production.The film was made in the year of 2005 by Directors Tim Burton and Mike Johnson. It was a Fictional Stop motion animation film.

It is the story of Victor, who is getting married to victoria, performs dis¬astrously in the wedding rehearsel.He accidentaly puts victoria’s wed¬ding ring on the skeltal finger of the enchanted corpse bride by mistake while practicing his vows, thus they get officially married but victor is scared of the land of dead and realizes that victoriais his true love. Soon he finds out the way to return back to his own world.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is made in 2009 as American Stop motion anima¬tion film, based on the novel by: Roald Dahl. The film was Directed by: Wes Anderson and produce by: Regency Enterprises and Indian paintbrush.

I feel the film is the unique example of stop motion technique where we can clearly see the patience of animators, character designers and production designers. Composition, Lighting, Expressions, Set de¬signs were marvelous. I was quite impressed to see that they actually used the fur for the fox, it gives the feel of animal body’s tactilebut at the same time it is a challenge to handle or animate the material.The fact the director decided to work in fur it is quite impressive and remarkable.

The film was crafted fantasticaly and the smooth and comical anima¬tion of the dead creatures creates interest in the story, very good plot and characters, evocative sets, vivid colors, inspired songs, meticu-lously crafted the world where whimsy/ fancyfulness and cheerfullness createdrama.

Fantastic Mr.Fox

The Story is about a fox who steals food each night from three wealthy Farmers.They get fed up with it and try to kill the fox. Therefore the animals dig a hole and try to save themselves underground.

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The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu?) is a 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and is animated by Studio Ghibli. It is the final film directed by Miyazaki, who announced his retirement in September 2013. The film is a fictionalized biography of Jiro Horikoshi (1903–1982), designer of the Mitsubishi A5M and its successor, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero; both aircraft were used by the Empire of Japan during World War II. The film is adapted from Miyazaki’s manga of the same name,

which was in turn loosely based on the 1937 short story The Wind Has Risen by Tatsuo Hori. I always had a passion towards Miyazaki films. Studio Ghibli always inspired me with their works , their artistic skills to create breathtaking visual delights were amazing. No other studios other than them should have mastered visual color pallet much better.IOI have taken Visual reference have been taken from this movie.

The Illusionist (French: L’Illusionniste) is a 2010 BritishFrench animated comedy-drama film directed by Sylvain Chomet. The film is based on an unproduced script written by French mime, director and actor Jacques Tati in 1956. Controversy surrounds Tati’s motivation for the script, which was written as a personal letter to his estranged eldest daughter, Helga Marie-Jeanne Schiel in collaboration with his long-term writing partner Henri Marquet, between writing for the films Mon Oncle and Play Time.

is a real magician. Originally intended by Tati to be set in Czechoslovakia, Chomet relocated the film to Scotland in the late 1950s. According to the director, “It’s not a romance, it’s more the relationship between a dad and a daughter.” Sony’s US press kit declares that the “script for The Illusionist was originally written by French comedy genius and cinema legend Jacques Tati as a love letter from a father to his daughter, but never produced”.

The Illusionist

The main character is a version of Tati animated by several people under the lead of Laurent Kircher. The plot revolves around a struggling illusionist who visits an isolated community and meets a young lady who is convinced that he 134

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

It was amazing to watch and study Jacques Tatis movie. His signature style of acting and film making always inspired me. Imagining the protagonists visual’s I always ended up relating with Tati abting. refering his movies like Mon Oncle, The Traffic , Play Time etc helped a lot.

The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger is a 2013 American action western film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films and directed by Gore Verbinski. Based on the radio series of the same name, In the 1930s, an elderly Tonto tells a young boy the tale of John Reid, the Lone Ranger. An idealistic lawyer, he rides with his brother and fellow Texas Rangers in pursuit of the notorious Butch Cavendish. Ambushed by the outlaw and left for dead, John Reid is rescued by the renegade Comanche, Tonto, at the insistence of a mysterious white horse and offers to help him to bring Cavendish to justice. Becoming a reluctant masked rider with a seemingly incomprehensible partner, Reid pursues the criminal

against all obstacles. However, John and Tonto learn that Cavendish is only part of a far greater injustice and the pair must fight it in an adventure that would make them a legend.

Amélie (French: Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain) is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre.

Best Film at the European Film Awards; it won four César Awards (including Best Film and Best Director), two BAFTA Awards (including Best Original Screenplay), and was nominated for five Academy Awards. A Broadway adaptation is in development.

It tells the story of a shy waitress, played by Audrey Tautou, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation. The film was an international co-production between companies in France and Germany. Grossing over $33 million in limited theatrical release, it is still the highest-grossing Frenchlanguage film released in the United States. Amélie won

I felt other than a Romatic comedy it as well as a musical movie, i was always an addict to air instruments i felt in love with the amazing back scores which plays an important role with the visuals in it. i took musical reference from this movie to make own music for my animation film.

I personally love this film because it’s marvelous art direction. Walt Disney art directors have done a marvelous job in this film. The trains opening sequence made me wow and inspired me to make my set to reality. The way they articulated their production was brilliant. I have taken color pallet reference from this movie. The color key reference from this movie plays an important role in my project well.

Amelie

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Mary & Max

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a 2011 BritishAmerican action mystery film directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Joel Silver,Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin. It is a sequel to the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes, based on the titular character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The screenplay is written by Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law reprise their roles as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson and were joined by Noomi Rapace as Simza and Jared Harris as Professor Moriarty.

Mary and Max is a Australian Black Comedy Drama Film which was written and directed by Adam Elliot and produced by Melanie Coombs in 2009. It is a tale of Friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Marry, a lonely eight years old girl and Max a forty four years old, severely obese man.I like the charac-ters and artwork of the film. 136

Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design ‘11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design

Holmes and Watson join forces to outwit and bring down their most cunning adversary, Professor James Moriarty. Although influenced by Doyle’s short story “The Final Problem”, the film follows an original story and is not a strict adaptation. I referred this movie’s cinematography and screen play for my animation movie. Some of the visual reference were also taken as well.

I personaly found this film hilarious in the terms of story, gorgeous production design, naratiom, playful sounds and cute characters. The set design ia remarkebal, where we can see the stylised elements as the part of set which makes the visual pragmatical and the all these wonderful elements inhance the visual magicaly.

Bibliography Book References

Web References

1. The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to Be the Artist

http://www.laika.com http://stopmotionmagazine.com http://www.aardman.com/ https://www.nfb.ca/ https://vimeo.com/ http://www.youtube.com http:// wordpress.com http://www.fanpop.com http://www.stopmotionworks.com http://lalanj.blogspot.in http://www.tumblr.com http://www.animated-divots.net http://en.wikipedia.org http://giftingdeadbirds.wordpress.

You Truly Are / Danny Gregory

2. The Art of Cars by Suzanne Fitzgerald Wallis ,Michael Wallis ,John Lasseter

3. The Art and Making of ParaNorman by Jed Alger , Travis Knight , Chris Butler , Sam Fell

4. The Advanced Art of Stop Motion Animation. 5. The Art of Stop-Motion Animation By- Priebe, Ken A/ Boston. 6. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. 7. Cracking Animation-Aardman Peter Lord & Brian Sibley/ London / 1998.

8. Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance Berry JC Purves/

com http://www.pixmule.com http://www.stardust-memories.com http://www.rottentomatoes.com http://www.metacritic.com http://www.animateclay.com http://www.zeroshortfilm.com http://www.imdb.com http://osakapop.com http://www.listal.com http://www.awn.com http://www.freesound.org http://www.animationsupplies.net http://www.studiolighting.net

UK / 2008.

9. Dream World (Production Design for Animation) By: Hans Bacher 10. A Century of model animation Hurryhausen, Ray/ US: Watson/ 2008

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Image source http://luckypennylayne.com/2012/04/page/3/ http://instagram.com/theboxtrolls http://instagram.com/paranorman http://instagram.com/coraline http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Coonoor/blog-752595.html http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Coonoor/blog-822389. htmltp://gcmouli.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/chayya-chayya-live/ http://pratheep.com/nilgiri-mountain-railway-2 http://www.inknouveau.com/2010/04/ink-review-j-herbin-eclat-de-saphir.html http://download.blender.org/institute/BlenderDesktopLogo.png

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Thank You

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Kapil Gopinathan I PGDPD Animation Film Design â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11 I Diploma Documentation I National Institute of Design