Animation Development - Animation Pitch Evaulation - Mathew Ball

Pitch Presentation, 2017 - reference aside

As part of a creative industry full of diverse styles and approaches towards creating the illusion of movement, there is a process that is common towards building an idea for a new television show or a film, which is known to people as a pitch. This is when an individual combines a collection of created content, in able to sell their idea towards a studio for it to make it happen. In this assignment given we were given a task to come up with an idea for an animation, which could be for either a television show or a feature film. I created a story surrounding a boy named 'Kai', shot down to earth in order to keep safe from his fathers creation which went out of control. The title of my film was called 'The Chronicles of Kai, A Tale of Two Tribes'.
When coming up with the idea for my feature film,  the scope that would be surrounding the basis of the story would be either science fiction, or an adventure. By combining them together I went onto creating the title 'The Chronicles of Kai, a Tale of Two Tribes'. I was inspired by the film that was adapted from the story by  C.S Lewis known to people as The Chronicles of Narnia, the lion the witch and the wardrobe. (Johnson, et al., 2006.)
The film inspired me to base my characters around battle and warfare. The clothing that has been put onto my line-up of cast, all have a twist from the costumes from Narnia but also from sources via the Pintrest application. The choice of weapons ranging from Kai to Tyler, the majority have resembled their battle gear, and have weaponry inspired by the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe film (Johnson, et al., 2006.)
This maybe, but in a selection of concept art has been inspired by science fiction, which will be explained in this evaluation.
Designing my characters for the story was a developmental process, with an adequate space of time to finalise all back-stories and visual appearances.

 Pitch Presentation, 2017 - references below


The first character for my plot was the main boy in the entire story, which of course was Kai. He was inspired by Kubo; from Kubo and the Two Strings (Kubo and the Two Strings, 2016). Kubo has a costume that portrays similar characteristics to an adventurer. He was on a quest to find his parents, therefore the costume designs and similarities of the plot was inspired by this three-dimensional animated film. 




Moreover there was the main villain of the story, the savage known as Bulgrim the leader of the Mechnaitaurs, was designed to surround the Greek myth known as the Minotaur. The design and name which surround the Mechnaitaurs, was inspired by the film starring Arnold Schwartznegger titled 'The Terminator' (The Terminator, 1984) By combining a robotic theme and Greek mythology creature would allow the film to be diverse by putting two genres together, and appealing to a much broader audience in the potential future of my animation idea, if gone into production. This was a success with a range of facial and character concept art, and representing my study for the main antagonist effectively. In addition to this, there is also the protagonist by the name of Jinar.

Jinar is a humanoid alien life-form, which was inspired by the character of Paul in Edgar Wrights 'Paul', in relation to his looks (Paul, 2011). Moreover I have designed him to portray the role of a human that went into space, got captured by aliens and was used for experimentation. Therefore he has the physic of a man, and the assets of an alien from out of space to represent his back-story more effectively. This allows more than one character to look distinctive, therefore attracting audiences from different genres of film. As jinar is the main protagonist in the stop motion short, there is also Kai's class-mates from the science academy, which are the brunette girl Aliya, and the Long haired rocker Tyler.

Firstly Aliya was mainly inspired by Susan in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Lewis). The choice of weaponry with the bow and arrow made her a resilient character, that was equipped with suitable weapons not too gruesome but at the right level of violence intended. The whole story of her falling in love with Kai was developed into the plot because it intrigues people who would not usually go for the science fiction film genre, therefore attracting audiences of another genre; such as Romance.

Finally there was Tyler. His appearance was designs to represent a typical student. Being into a lot of music, and letting his hair grow gives the comedy side of the story, reflecting on personal experiences from my first year of university. Furthermore, his war attire upon the visual character design drawn out shows a cloak which he ties around his shoulders. It makes him have a sense of style, and making him stand out from the other characters in the film. Overall all characters have been designed from my inspirations stated, however more studying into the backgrounds of the sub division characters would need to be revised more for the future, to allow more depth into the film overview.




As it is set in the year 3000, my intentions were to make the story futuristic but historical at the same time. The first piece of stage setting art is the galactic war. It contains Bulgrim's 'Beetle-Borg' in the top left, and the Utopian Dragonflyer in the bottom right. These were made to be based on animals, which was to be easily adapted in order to create spaceships for a futuristic story, whilst resembling animal life from their past at the same time.

Pitch Presentation, 2017 - references below

Tor and Utopia have been made to resemble the protagonists and antagonists. Bulgrim's planet of Tor has spikes around the planet to represent he is evil, and utopia looks like earth to represent where Jinar developed his newly-found planet. All of the mentioned have been made for the future in mind, with a consistent and distinctive look to them all, they can all visualise which planet represents good or evil.


In addition there is the book case entry to the depths of the academy, and the cave that contains the broken Utopian dragon-flyer. The wardrobe from Narnia (Lewis) inspired me to include an entrance to another part of the story, therefore visually demonstrating the middle of the plot for the audience. Moreover the cave that the ship lies was reflected on the recent reboot of Saban's Power Rangers (Power Rangers, 2017), where Alpha and Zordon's Command Center is inside a mountain. This helped me to demonstrate the secret hide out for the protagonist, in order for a flashback to occur when Jinar and Kai are reunited, in order for this flashback to happen.

https://youtu.be/3k1H5M7zPcg?t=45s - Saban's Power Rangers (Power Rangers, 2017)





5          Conclusion

Overall the pitch content was made effectively. It was made professionally and adequately for the required task. All concept art and research has been highlighted and discussed into detail therefore it was successful. Although the designs could be cleaner, and some animated demonstrations may have benefited my pitch more, in order for it to sell more towards my audiences in the perceivable future. In addition my presentation didn’t go to plan, due to my nerves getting the better of myself, and didn’t get the points across that I should have done. Workshops are needed to reach my desired targets and more time management and organisation skills are a room for improvement. Also a variety of methods can represent my idea more and sell it more. For example modelling the ships of the protagonist and antagonist would make my slide show more visually consistent. Although this was due to timing constraints, which I need to manage more in the future.
Johnson, M., Adamson, A., McAlpine, D. M., Moore, P., Steuer, P., Peacock, A., . . . Lewis, C. S. (2006.). The chronicles of Narnia. ([DVD]. ed.). Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Home Entertainment :.
Lewis, C. S. (n.d.). The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe (Large print edition. ed., Vol. 2).


Pitch Presentation, 2017

(The Terminator, 1984)

https://youtu.be/3k1H5M7zPcg?t=45s - Saban's Power Rangers (Power Rangers, 2017)


Comments