Animated Storytelling: Simple Steps For Creating Animation .

Take for instance the story of a bear cub lost in the woods. Say the cub facesoff against some dangerous predator during the night and by dawn finallymakes her way back home to her family of bears. The moments where coloris important seem straightforward: when the bear cub gets lost in the woods,when the cub fights off a dangerous predator, and finally when the cub arrivessafely back home. If these key moments are to be represented by solid hues,which would they be?I encourage you to go with your gut in answering that question, break somerules, and be creative. However, if the ideas aren’t flooding in, it doesn’t hurtto start your color thinking with popular symbolism that permeates Westernculture. Red represents menace, anger, or danger, like Darth Vader’s red lightsaber or Captain Hook’s red hat and jacket. For instance, you may think touse a splash of dramatic red when the bear cub is fighting against the violentpredator.Symbolism, however, may not always best serve the scene. What about whenour bear cub gets lost in the first place? For the disorientation and fear that thecub may be experiencing, consider changing the value of the existing green sothat the whole forest goes a bit darker when the cub realizes that she’s lost.Finally, for the cub’s return home, it may be neither hue nor value that bestenhances the moment. Perhaps a change in saturation will work best. Throughthe cub’s travels the forest may have become desaturated to imply the sadnessof the lost bear cub, but when the cub finally discovers home the forest couldreturn to a saturated green. It will infuse your shot with sudden optimism andjoy as the cub runs back towards her family.Choosing the right hue, saturation, and/or value for the key moments in yourstory will help to amplify the emotion that you’re going for and will also clarifyintent. You can assign to a color any meaning you’ve chosen—you simplyhave to define and establish it and be consistent with how you use it in yourfilm. Whether you choose Western culture’s symbolism or you assign your ownmeanings, it’s important to consider saturation and value as well as hue—andmost importantly go with your gut!60Animated Storytelling

Supporting ColorsOnce you’ve identified the hue, saturation, and value for the key moments inyour story, go ahead and fill in the rest of your scenes with solid colors in thesame way. Treat your key moments as the stars and choose colors that act assupporting characters. You may wish to avoid hue, saturation, and value levelsthat compete for attention with your star’s key scenes.Jiali Ma, Black BirdChapter 4 – Color Sense61

Color Me AwesomeNow that you’ve completed your pre-color script, it’s time to move on to thebig time and complete your color script. With your PCS as your guide, pull upyour original storyboard sequence and begin to work out the colors for eachboard. The principal color that you already selected will help keep you focusedon the look you’re going for in each scene. Take the colors that you identifiedin your PCS and integrate them into the board. Once you do that it’s timeto select colors for the supporting cast of characters, backgrounds, and propsin each shot. Again, I urge you to go with your gut and always consider storyabove visual awesomeness. And oh Remember the important and simple tips I’ve outlined on the followingpages when organizing color for your films. They represent the wisdom ofexperienced art directors and production designers whose decades of heartwrenching trial and error led them to see the light. Take heed of their tips, orelse their endless suffering will have been all for naught!PLEASE NOTEIn print, colors arecreated by mixingpigments onpaper. Mix too many pigments andyou’ll get black.In motion, light isused to mix color. If you mix toomany colored lightsyou’ll get white. Asa result, printand motion function in two different“color systems.”Motion uses the additive color system called RGB(Red, Green, Blue).Print uses the subtractive colorsystem known asCMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow,Black). Long storyshort, if you notice a weirdchange in your colors when transitioning from printto motion, your files may have changed from RGB toCMYK. Most programs will compensate for this shift,but if things lookodd, you may want to go back andchange your source files from CMYKto RGB.62Animated Storytelling

Kim Dulaney, Airbnb. Lead art direction and design. Character design byLauren Indovina. Directed by Marco Spier and Marie Hyon. Produced at PsyopTip 1: Limit Your PaletteIn still artwork, the eye has time to explore color and investigate composition.With animation (and all film), movement and the passage of time create the needfor a continuous and clear focal point. You want your story to read quickly andconsistently from scene to scene. Distracting the viewer’s eye with unimportantobjects that are colorful is the first way to lose the attention of an audience.Simply put, in choosing color, less is more. Too much color variety in a shotconfuses the eye, just as too many flavors on a plate of food will confuse thepalate. It’s best to take a minimalist approach to color and start with as fewcolors as possible. It will be far easier to add colors later in the process than totake them away. Limiting your palette will allow the viewer’s eye to quicklyprocess the moving images and focus on what is most important in your story.Chapter 4 – Color Sense63

Tip 2: Support (Don’t Upstage) Your SubjectBe careful with adding too much color to backgrounds and props when youhave a colorful moving subject. Moving subjects are your stars and needspace to breathe—they should be supported by their surrounding colors,not upstaged.One way to please your attention-craving star is by designating an open areaaround it. This area is called a white space (though it’s not necessarily white).Your subject will thank you for the wide-open stage where they can best beseen, and even if your audience’s eye does wander, it will be thankful for a littlerest in your white space.Another way to limit the visual competition around your subject is by usinghigh-contrast or complementary colors. This will help to solidify figure/groundrelationships around your subject and will make your subject pop. Highcontrast is especially important for kinetic type, logos, and broadcast graphics,since words take more time to comprehend than singular objects and thereforerequire clear figure ground relationships.Kim Dulaney, Eno. Lead art direction and design. Directed by LaurenIndovina. Produced at Psyop (above and opposite page)64Animated Storytelling

Chapter 4 – Color Sense65

Tip 3: Select One Thematic and One Accent ColorWe went over this during your pre-color script, but I can’t stress enough howimportant it is to choose a dominant thematic color to unify your entire piece.Doing this gives you a basis on which to establish your palette and offersviewers a theme through which they can experience your piece. Once you’veestablished your thematic color, you should focus on selecting an accent color.There are many ways to pick color pairs. Try complementary colors, analogouscolors, colors next to each other on the color wheel, whatever. From thisdominant and accent color all other color decisions are derived—so choosecarefully and choose early.Ariel Costa, Pixel Show66Animated Storytelling

Von Glitschka, Tire GoblinTip 4: Use Saturation MindfullySaturated colors are so energetic that they can steal the spotlight if used in thewrong place. Use saturation in important places and moments when you needa character or story point to pop. Rely on it too often and the eye will tire out.In other words, use restraint with saturated colors and save them for when theywill help focus the eye and move the story.Tip 5: Use Surprise Color for PunctuationA surprise or unexpected color is one that differs so greatly from your overallpalette that it jars the eye. When placed at a key moment in your story, asurprise color can enliven your motion work, tie together a key idea, and eventrigger the climax of the story. Warning: Much like saturation, surprise colorsare very powerful, so use with great restraint.Chapter 4 – Color Sense67

Kim Dulaney, Linda Loves. Lead art direction and design. Directed by JordanBruner. Produced at Passion PicturesTip 6: Design for MovementIn each of your boards, identify what will be moving and what will remainstill. When choosing color, make sure that the colors in your backgroundsand still objects do not compete with the colors in your moving subjects. Thegoal is to draw the eye towards your subject and to not allow the less importantstill objects to distract from the action. Think about desaturating the colors inyour backgrounds or still objects, and let your star have the spotlight.68Animated Storytelling

Tip 7: Make Your Own RulesAs you’ve figured out by now, color is complex. Steadfast rules to using colorin motion can be counterproductive to finding the right combination for yourfilm. When it comes to color, uncomfortable combinations and new kinds ofusage may make for interesting design. When using color, feel free to makeyour own rules for a project—just be consistent with them so that your pieceis unified.COLOR RECAPation, and ValueColor Vocab: Hue, Saturphasize Key MomentsMake Color Scripts to EmTip 1: Limit Your Palettestage) Your SubjectTip 2: Support (Don’t Uploratic and One Accent CoTip 3: Select One ThemdfullyTip 4: Use Saturation Minlor for PunctuationTip 5: Use Surprise CoentTip 6: Design for MovemRulesTip 7: Make Your OwnASSIGNMENTSubvert a nursery rhyme, make a color scriptSubvert a simple nursery rhyme by translating it into a film genre, such ashorror, comedy, musical, action, sci-fi, or Western. First, write a three-actstructure—one sentence per act. Next, select a dominant color for your piece.Then, make a simple pre-color script for your story. If you want a biggerchallenge, try storyboarding it in full color!Chapter 4 – Color Sense69

INDEX2D CGI animation, 118, 1192D stop motion animation, 117, 1183D CGI animation, 118, 119, 126, 1273D stop motion animation, 118, 119Aaccent colors, 66additive color system, 62advertisementsairline ad story, 6–7, 9, 25–27creating for a place, 14–15airline ad story, 6–7, 9, 25–27Airbnb (Dulaney), 63Allen, Rama, 71, 72animatics, 50–51animation process, 129–139roughing out your work in, 133–136short with a message creation, 139soundtrack development in, 137–138starting and managing, 130–132animation techniques, 113–127assignment on, 127case studies about, 124–127conforming or adapting, 120–122format considerations, 114–115overview of styles and, 117–119story considerations, 116workarounds and, 123–124anticipation, 133asset management, 13atmospheric music, 94audio. See soundBBack, Frédérick, 117background colors, 68backing up your work, 132Backseat Bingo (Blazer), 143“bad” art, importance of creating, 74Battista and Frederico (Bruner), 75beaded necklace structure, 29, 30–31148Animated Storytellingbeats, 18–19Beckett, Samuel, 74Big Idea, 4–5Blackbird (Ma), 61blur effects, 136book ending structure, 29, 32–33Borge, Richard, 40Borst, Phil, 24–25branding processmotion graphics and, 108–109taglines and, 8Bruner, Jordan, 68, 75Bucher, Stefan, 78, 79buddy stories, 35CCaliri, Jamie, 25–27cel animation, 117CGI animation2D CGI, 118, 1193D CGI, 118, 119, 126, 127Chinese calligraphy, 120, 123cinematography, 44Clair, Patrick, 98clarityover cleverness, 9in staging process, 46CMYK color system, 62Coleman, Ornette, 93collage style, 118color, 55–69assignment on using, 69creating scripts for, 58–62designing for movement using, 68hue, saturation, and value of, 57limiting your palette of, 63making your own rules for, 69print vs. motion systems of, 62saturating mindfully, 67storytelling power of, 55supporting subjects using, 64–65

surprise or unexpected use of, 67symbolism related to, 60thematic and accent, 66tips for using, 63–69Color Blind (Borst), 24–25color scripts, 58–62examples of, 56, 59, 61pre-color scripts and, 58–61principal colors in, 60, 62process of completing, 62supporting colors in, 61, 62comfort zone, going beyond, 74–75coming of age stories, 35complementary colors, 64composing shots, 43–44concept art, 9concept development, 2–9creative brief in, 2–4honing your pitch in, 7–9summoning the muse in, 4–7continuity, 48–49directional, 49issues with, 102spatial, 48–49temporal, 49contrasting music, 94Costa, Ariel, viii, 16, 36, 54, 66, 70, 86,100, 112, 128, 132, 137, 140countdown story structure, 29creative brief, 2–4, 116cue cards, 18–19Cytowic, Richard E., 97DDaily Monsters Project (Bucher), 78, 79dead zones, 46decentralizing subjects, 135dialogue, 95–96diegetic sound, 89–90directional continuity, 49directional movement, 134–135director bio, 142Disney, Walt, 37–38drawing style, 42Dulaney, Kim, 63, 64, 68, 108, 109dynamic framing, 44Eediting your work, 131–132effects added to shots, 136elevator pitch, 8emotions and music, 93ending your story, 22–23Eno (Dulaney), 64environmental design, 102–108assignment on, 110–111physical laws in, 104–105social laws in, 106–107time and place in, 103–104visual laws in, 107–108experimentation, 11–12, 71–85applying to current projects, 80–83assignment utilizing, 85creating “bad” art through, 73expanding your skill set with, 74–75with movement, 82–83with non-digital sources, 85with personal projects, 79with sound, 99with transitions, 80–81with work you want to be hired for,76–79Exquisite Corpse (Waldron), 32–33Ffailing better, 74, 75Feed Your Creative Brain (Costa), 137Feed Your Creative Brain (Scirocco), 83file management, 132film & type style, 118“first love” story, 5–6, 8–9fluid transitions, 80–81, 118Foley sound effects, 92follow through, 133Fong, Karin, 89, 120–122framing process, 44–45, 135GGilliam, Terry, 117Glitschka, Von, 67God of War III title sequence, 120–122good vs. evil stories, 35Index149

HMhand-drawn animation, 117, 118, 124Hayes, Isaac, 93Heart commercial (Caliri), 25–27Hemingway, Ernest, 7Hendrix, Jimi, 72, 76Herman, Gregory, 76, 77, 79Hertzfeldt, Don, 117high-contrast colors, 64honing your pitch, 7–9hue, 57Ma, Jiali, 61Macro Study (Herman), 76, 77Mad Men opening titles, 116Makeshift Satellite (Walzel), 56McKee, Robert, 95The Mill, 109Miyazaki, Hayao, 114Morton, Louis, 30–31, 59, 82motion graphicsbranding and, 108–109narration/voiceover for, 96, 98three-act structure and, 20movementcolor selection and, 68composing directional, 134–135experimenting with, 82–83muse summoning, 4–7music, 93–94contrasting, 94quiet or silent, 94scoring to themes, 93as sound effects, 92See also soundMusic Studio (Thawilvejakul), 14muting soundtracks, 138IImaginary Forces, 89, 120, 121, 122Improv comedy, 101–102influences, 10–11inspiration, 28–29, 30Interim Flight (Janicki), 131Into Mister Sharky’s Mouth (Thawilvejakul),103JJanicki, Maciek, 126, 127, 131Jaws (film), 7, 8, 92Jimi Hendrix (Wright), 72–73Jiron, Miguel, 124–125journal writing, 34KKeesling, Brooke, 102, 105Key, Francis Scott, 72key poses, 133kindness theme, 24–25kinetic type, 118King, B. B., 93LLancett, James, 84, 85Leaf, Caroline, 117Linda Loves (Dulaney), 68live-action footage, 123, 124love stories, 5–6, 8–9, 35150Animated StorytellingNnarration, 96, 98natural world, 107networking, 143–145non-diegetic sound, 89–90non-digital sources, 85nonlinear storytelling structure, 28–33chart describing, 29examples of using, 30–33importance of proficiency in, 30inspiration as basis for, 28–29, 30Nose Hair (Morton), 59OOFFF Film Festival, 108–109Olympians (Pan), 80–81online networking, 143outsourcing work, 124Overcast (Lancett and Weston), 84, 85

Ppackaging your project, 142–143palettes, limiting color, 63Pan, Hsinping, 80–81Paper City (Janicki), 126, 127Park, Ed, 72Passion Pictures, 68Passer Passer (Morton), 30–31, 82personal projects, 79PES, 119physical laws, 104–105Pixel Show (Costa), 66placesad creation for, 14–15creating times and, 103–104planning your project, 1–2plots, 8, 35Pott, Julia, 117, 144, 145pre-color script (PCS), 58–61pre-production, 1–15asset management in, 13assignment on, 14concept development in, 2–9previsualization in, 9–12previsualization, 9–12being influenced in, 10–11design process in, 12experimentation in, 11–12Psycho (film), 92Psyop, 63, 64puzzle story structure, 29Qquest/journey/voyage stories, 35quiet music, 94Rrags to riches stories, 35rebel stories, 35rebirth and redemption stories, 35References file, 10Reiniger, Lotte, 117Reservoir Dogs (film), 94resolution in stories, 22RGB color system, 62role reversal stories, 35rule of thirds, 44–45Ssaturation, color, 57, 67scaling subjects, 135–136Scirocco, Alberto, 83Selick, Henry, 119Sensory Overload (Jiron), 124–125sharing your project, 145Sheehy, Sterling, 43, 52, 105, 106ship of fools plot, 35silent music, 94skill set, 74–75social laws, 106–107Sony PlayStation, 121, 122Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Tchaikovsky), 93sound, 87–99assignment on, 99dialogue as, 95–96diegetic vs. non-diegetic, 89–90editing or modifying, 137–138experimenting with, 99Foley effects as, 92leading with, 89–96motion graphics and, 96, 98music as, 93–94power of, 87–88sound effects as, 91–92timing and, 50–51, 99, 138See also musicsound effects, 91–92spatial continuity, 48–49Spielberg, Steven, 7staging process, 46–47still images, 123stop motion animation, 117, 118, 119story ideas, 34–35story kernels, 34Story (McKee), 95story structure, 18–27beats in, 18–19three-act, 19–27storyboarding, 37–53assignment on, 53continuity in, 48–49details required in, 42–47Index151

storyboarding (continued )drawing style for, 42examples of, 40, 43, 52framing process in, 44–45origins of, 37–38revisions process in, 41–42shot composition in, 43–44staging process in, 46–47thumbnailing and, 39–41timing and animatics in, 50–51transitions in, 48storytelling, 17–35about your film, 143assignment on, 33brain as wired for, 5classic plots for, 35journal writing for, 34limitless possibilities in, 17–18nonlinear structure for, 28–33story structure and, 18–27subtext in dialogue, 95–96subtractive color system, 62summoning the muse, 4–7supporting colors, 61surprise colors, 67Švankmajer, Jan, 119symbolism, color, 60synopsis of proj

58 Animated Storytelling Create a Color Script Let’s pull out those cue cards again. This time, instead of blank ones grab your completed storyboards. If you’ve already attempted to make an animatic, then your boards likely will be scanned a