Synopsis An animated short in which the story is based in China, narrating the connection between a young woman and her grandfather through their shared love for the piano.
Research Environments Color Character Development Script Animation Stills
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Research & Inspiration The research for our project revolved around movies based on classical music, more specifically around narratives focused on a grand piano. The movies we looked at, all told stories of the interaction and the feelings of attachment these characters have for their pianos. We took a lot of inspiration from many shots involving the characters and the pianos, with a focus on lighting and composition.
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6 Room Concept/Digital - Luca Biasci
Environments The design of the house was originally supposed to be a combination between a western and chinese interior, but later it became predominantly western based as we found no real difference between the two. The house is quite small with only a few rooms, and an upstairs that is never shown through the project, to solidify the idea of a moderately wealthy family. The piano room is the biggest one as it is the focus of our narrative and where most of the scenes are based. The living room is also quite simple with only a handful of furniture.
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For the lineart we wanted a clean look that didn’t try too hard to look too realistic but more of a stylised aesthtic that gives every room character and better fits the project. For many of the piano scenes we had to rely on reference through either real life pictures of grand pianos or thanks to a 3D model that we could use with absolute total freedom. This allowed us to gain a proper understanding of the perspective we needed to use for each shot and helped us throgh its development.
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Background Design/Digital - Luca Biasci
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10 Background Design/Digital - Luca Biasci
The piano rooms were very delicate to work on, especially in the use of colour which had to be extremely effective. A blue-ish tone takes over every colour used for everything in this room, as it is meant to invoke a much colder feeling than the warm rooms that are shown previously. There are other objects in the room that tell a story of a man who was very passionate about music, but not too many so to not steal the attention away from the main instrument, the grand piano.
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12 Background Design/Digital - Luca Biasci
The airport scenes were also of a different nature, with a focus on an almost colorless and completely desaturated environment, portraying the detachment of the character from her surroundings. This is doe to show how the house has a completely different relation than the airport, as it is a familiar and comfortable place while the other is a foreign location with no emotional interaction whatsoever. Some colour is still found just to show that it isn’t fully black and white.
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14 Background Design/Digital - Luca Biasci
Colour The colours used for the rooms are extremely important as they portray the emotional state of the character as she walks through them. The main difference is found between the entrance of the house (including the living room) and the piano room. Theformer is supposed to be and fel much warmer as it represents a place of comfort for the protagonist while the latter is cold and reminiscent of the loss she just experienced.
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Character Development The initial design was based on the initial story, about a student studying a music degree in Vienna. She felt the only way to express herself was by combining instruments from western culture with ones from her hometown. In the intial sketches, she was a talented but shy girl who doesn’t have the courage to express her ideas.
16 Character Concept/Traditional - Yixing Qin
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With this design we wanted to create a visual that reflected the girl’s characteristics. As we developed and changed the narrative, we also altered her design. Among all the studies, we finally decided on one that was simple but effective, featuring an autumnal outfit with a mature face compare to the initial design.
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Character Design/Traditional&Digital - Yixing Qin 19
Based on the initial sketches, the design of the kid comes from a reiteration of one of the team memebers, who used to attend piano lessons during her childhood. The design emphasizes the character’s nature as an ordinary girl who still enjoys her life without responsibilities. Many of the colours used for the outfit symbolise the connection between her and her grandfather who at the time used to dress her up himself. Shorter haircut also signifies her young age compared with the longer hair of the adult design.
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Character Design/Traditional&Digital - Yixing Qin 21
The design of the grandfather was based on research on typical outfits of chinese elderly, to give depth to the context of the story. Specific work has been done on the hands of the character which contrasts with the others involved, especially within the close-up shots of them playing the piano. His appearence seeks to engage the audience to feel empathy towards the narrative.
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Character Design/Traditional&Digital - Yixing Qin 23
Script INT. ENTRY HALLWAY [The living room and entry hall are lit by warm lights but are dimmed, the room has a comforting atmosphere of familiarity but is offset by the darker tones.] YUN walks into her home with a small suitcase in one hand and a plane ticket in the other. She throws the ticket into the bin by the door and drops the suitcase so that it falls over. Absentmindedly she drifts in to the room ignoring to take her shoes off, her mind is in a daze. As she approaches the end of the hall she notices a door that had been left ajar. [The music study is one of the largest rooms in the house. With shelves that go up to the ceiling overflowing with music sheets and books on music. Scattered across the floor are stacked and loose music sheets surrounding the variety of instruments that lined the edges of the room. On the walls opposite the door are two large windows that reached from the floor to the ceiling moonlight streams in cutting across the room reflecting off of the closed black piano in the center of the room. With the cold moonlight as the only light source the dark room feels uninviting in comparison to the dimly lit living room that feels lived in, the music study feels empty, like a void.] She peers into the room slowly opening the door and letting the light from the living room create a path to the piano. She approaches the stool closing the door behind her and sits. She lifts up the lid to reveal ivory coloured keys that reflect the soft moonlight, they appear inviting, so she slowly begins to play a melancholic sounding piece. [Piano music is now playing] As her fingers skate the keys she thinks back to earlier that day. INT. TERMINAL, [Piano music continues] [The terminal is a cold behemoth, filled with glass and steel, even the seats look hard and unfeeling. The huge windows let in bright white sunlight causing the terminal to further look desaturated of colour.] As she runs through the terminal she is panting to get to the gate. However the air hostess can’t let her pass. Devastated, pacing her way back to the waiting area frantic and panicked she pulls out her phone to call her grandmother as she struggles to stand still.
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YUN [Panicked] Hey! It’s me. I’m sorry I’ve missed my flight how’s Grandpa doing? [Both she and the music goes quiet] We cut away to see her silhouette from a distance. She collapses, defeated to the floor and squats down to make herself as small as possible. INT.STUDY She stops her playing having cut off the music. She looks up from the piano and looks forlornly around the the room. The door clicks open. [The lighting in the room shifts to an ethereal day time with the shot change as warm light brightens the room from outside filling the air] In walks a child. Yun whips her head round and stares at the child as the child looks back up at her inquisitively she shuffles along the stool so that the child can get onto the stool with her. We cut away to see the child sitting next to not Yun but her grandfather as he shows her how to place her fingers on the keys. The two of them begin to play a simpler and happier piece that gives the room a nostalgic feel. [Piano begins again] As they run their hands along the keys the grandpa looks over to indicate to the child that she is doing a good job with a smile. We cut to where the child is sitting to see Yun sitting in her place. Yun gives a still slightly solemn smile back at her grandpa, happy that she is playing the piano with him again. We start to focus our shots and attention on Yun as she plays gradually making the grandpa less and less visible as the piece is played. We focus on the grandpas hands on the keys as they begin to fade out. We cut to YUN’S hands as they continue to move along the keys. We cut back to the grandpas hands again as he lifts them of the keys ending his part of the song. The music changes from a duet into a solo as we focus on YUN playing. [She is immersed in her own world and the atmosphere and air around her continues to be war and comforting as she plays the notes.] We cut to see her play her final note of the piece, lit by the warm light coming from outside. [Piano ends]. Its now dawn. [Orange light begins to stream in pushing away the blue from before as she is snapped out of her fantasy and back into reality.] She closes the lid of the piano and slides her hand slowly off of the cover. She turns to look out the window realising that she’s been up all night playing the piano. Her face stays out of
Colour Script/Traditional&Digital - Guy Rathbone 25
26 Concept Art/Traditional&Digital - Guy Rathbone
The colour script is used to reflect Yun’s emotional attachment to the world around her at that moment in time within each scene. Her initial somber and distant connection with the piano room, is refelected in the dark blues and muted light due to the fact she associates the location with her grandfather and by extension his passing. However when she begins to consider the happier memories and times spent with her Grandfather the room becomnes warmer and fills with an optimistic light and atmosphere.
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