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Love, Drugs and Violence - Themes

After getting the necessary feedback from the lecturer, I decided to change the story slightly, especially my characters’ backstory. 

I thought it would be interesting to introduce drugs as part of the recurring theme/motif in my adaptation. It isn’t a new concept, however, as Stevenson’s novella also discusses drug addiction a lot in Victorian England. Like Dr Jekyll, Elizabeth in my story is suffering from the same symptoms. She needs to take those drugs to suppress her dark desire, trying to keep others safe from her monstrous self. However, despite her intentions, her reputation is still viewed as negative, which continues to fuel her monster side. 

Elizabeth is a drug addict and is engaged with John, a writer. John does not know about her monstrous side manifesting, but supports her as Utterson would probably do if Jekyll shares his secret with him. They love each very much, to the point that even the idea of separating from John pushes Elizabeth over the edge; she transforms into Hazel to confront her obstacle to true peace/love: Dr Lanyard. As said in the previous post, Hazel/Elizabeth operates as the ID, only wanting to fulfil the hunger/urge for pleasure. 

I wanted to explore the possibility of a female character that could unleash a “reign of terror that only monsters can.” Instead of becoming monstrous because of a male character or “menstruation,” I want it to simply be the dark desire that female spectators want to see on screen. It could be the desire for control, sense of reason, or even by her psychopathic/sadistic nature. It would also make an interesting symbolism in portraying current issues in society such as gender or race. 

Examples of horror films that uses familial love/motherhood to depict female monsters (as monstrous-feminine), and also inspired me:

Mama (2013) dir. Andy Muschietti

According to Creed, she argues that many female representations (in horror films) revolve around “the mother as originating womb... as outside the patriarchal family constellation... the mother as sole parent.” Despite the maternal power and normality of it, it is still perceived as a negative thing. Her physicality is still objectified, and female sexuality is still demonized. In this film, Mama takes the two abandoned girls under her care, and becomes murderous (and jealous) when one of the girls begins to spend time with another motherly figure.  

Mon mon mon Monsters! 怪怪怪怪物! (2017) dir. Giddens Ko

This Taiwanese film was a very interesting take on monsters, evilness and family love. Despite the title suggesting that the flesh-eating ghoul sisters are monsters, the film highlights how humans are even more sinister and evil than they appear. The protagonist is a meek student who is often bullied by a group of teenagers, before their attention switches to the younger sister-ghoul. The group of teenagers manages to kidnap and torture her. Despite knowing that the ghoul is in pain, the protagonist realises that she took his place in the “chain of sadism.” If he saves her, he will become the target of bullying again. If he joins in on torturing her, he will be safe. The desire for survival overrides what is morally good or bad, making either characters somewhat ambiguous. 

As said in a review by Rob Hunter about the film:

“The empathetic among us will identify immediately with [the protagonist] as he’s abused by classmates and ignored by adults, and our inclination is to root for him against the bullies. It’s only natural, but Ko knows another truth — given the opportunity, the bullied and downtrodden will sometimes gladly become bullies and oppressors themselves.”

Another aspect I love was the bond between the two sisters. Despite their cannibalistic nature, their simple love makes them somewhat different from the group of bullies. When the younger sister gets kidnapped, the elder sister becomes distraught and saddened, and searches for her. There were two scenes which really showed the elder monster’s true “human” nature.

As the elder monster wrecks havoc at an after-school program in a classroom, she slaughters everyone except for a pair of sisters. As the sisters cling onto each other tightly, the elder monster simply looked at them with sadness and longing. She spares them because then she would’ve been the same as the bullies, taking away someone she loves. 

The other scene is near the end, where as the protagonist rips open the curtains, the sun hits the younger monster. She starts burning, screaming in pain. The elder sister tries to free her, but her fingers turn to dust. In a final act to “save” her, she embraces her sister, shielding her from the sun and bursting into flames in the process. 

Despite their feral nature, her familial love and parental instincts kicked in, pushing her to act in a ‘good’ way. In the end, it seems they are more human than the other characters. 

References:

https://philosophynow.org/issues/92/Let_the_Right_One_In

Creed, B., 2015. The monstrous-feminine: film, feminism, psychoanalysis, London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

https://curve.carleton.ca/system/files/etd/8bcdc079-0a56-44e8-91be-19ae1def3ca5/etd_pdf/bd4daa51465d414874bf63aad7eb7c95/freitag-unleashingthefuriousfemininetheviolenceof.pdf 

https://filmschoolrejects.com/mon-mon-mon-monsters-review/ 

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Final - Base Colors + Shadows

I have finally completed the base colors and shadows of the third sequence. In this version, I decided to cut out the front portion of the sequence where the character is walking across the screen before doing a double take towards the camera. I couldn’t really figure out how the walk cycle for my character who was such short stubby legs. The frames were also in fours, while the joyful jump are in twos. This resulted in the first half looking choppy and the second half looking somewhat smooth. I have tried fruitlessly on working with twos for the first half, but it still didn’t look good. Thus, I decided to cut the scene shorter than expected. 

Despite the big cut, I think the scene still seems ‘finished’ overall. I am not entirely bothered by the shortness of this sequence as my other clips are quite lengthy.  Moreover, by the end of this week, I should be able to apply sound foley design to this sequence and hand in on time. 

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Texture Trials

During post-production on the character bestiary sequences, I did some experimentations with textures so see which fits better. I have tested out numerous royalty free images, and I came down to the last two here. The bottom one is the original one that I used during my development, while the upper one is new. The upper texture is more like a reptilian dragon, while the bottom is more of a scaly fish. 

In the end, I decided to go with the original one because of the rounded scales. Not only does the semiotics of it suggest a more friendly and open character, but it also suits the character’s overall design and appearance as well. While I really like the first one’s unique appearance, the jagged and sharp edges makes it a little too noticeable and distracting. The overall jade green colour also changes the hue of my character’s colour palette.

One of the problems that I had to overcome was the size of the original image. The original image was too small to cover so much surface area of my character. To combat this, I went on Photoshop and duplicated the images until I have a 1080 x 1920 size of the scales. 

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Final Sequence 2 w/ Audio

This is the second animated sequence done with sound design. For this design, I wanted some outdoor ambience of a park as this is where the picture was originally taken. 

I had a number of audio clips pre-recorded during Christmas break so I could choose and edit them during the post-production stage. I decided to add in the ambience of an outdoor with a bird chirping loudly (and someone speaking) to add to the overall atmosphere. The noisy bird is what causes the character to be awaken from his deep slumber. However, I think it is a lot louder than I expected overall.

During post-production, I have also added an overlay filter on top. I’m not sure whether it made it less colourful or dulled the whole sequence. For improvements, perhaps I could map out the lighting and shadows in the photo and try to apply it through the filter to make it more realistic of the 2D character interacting in a 3D environment. Moreover, I also lowered the scales’ opacity a lot more than the first sequence due to the character’s quick movements. 

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Masculinity/Femininity and the Horror Genre

While developing and writing my original story adaptation, I was comparing my characters and the original cast from Stevenson’s novella. One of the main things that changed between the two casts is that my Jekyll character is a woman instead of a man. 

From there, I looked at how the original cast with little to no women fared in the story compared to mine. In the novella, Stevenson depicts his story without any prominent female characters. Without any female characters, it seems Stevenson only wanted to get his story told. The usual elements that are associated with women (i.e romance, family, drama, emotions) are entirely removed, hence the story is told in a direct and straightforward manner. Even the characters are more work-driven without the presence of female characters, making their characters slightly dull and unexciting. 

The only female character that showed up in Chapter 4 is immediately associated with romance, beauty and emotions. 

“It seems she was romantically given for she sat down upon her box, which stood immediately under the window, and fell into a dream of musing.” 

“...never had she felt more at peace with all men or thought more kindly of the world.” 

She became aware of an aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair...the moon shone on his face as he spoke, and the girl was pleased to watch it, it seemed to breathe such an innocent and old-world kindness of disposition, yet with something high too, as of a well-founded self-content.” - (pg 21.)

While it was Stevenson’s intention to deliberately remove these elements that would ‘distract’ and further complicate such a straightforward story, many films today would overuse female characters in their plots, especially in horror films. 

In the article Monster Pains: Masochism, Menstruation, and Identification in the Horror Film by Aviva Briefel,  she states that are two types of monstrous suffering: Masochism & Menstruation.

Masochism is the central identity for male monsters, who "initiate their sadistic rampages with acts of self-mutilation." Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931) shows an example of how the masochistic monster takes pleasure in the pain they inflict on themselves, which is the core part in what makes them monstrous. 

For females, they commit violent revengeful acts based on her suffering from abuses of others, including rapists. The audience generally accepts a male killer due to his masculinity of rage and sexual frustration. Yet, when a female is the killer/monster, the audience believes she is like this because the male is her source of anger. For example, in Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971), Sister Hyde’s desire to kill people comes entirely from Jekyll’s “sexual side.” Despite her actions and personality being somewhat masculine (thanks to Jekyll’s influence), her outer appearance and seductiveness reveals a more “lewd and consequential side to desires.” (Reed, E. 26)

Female ‘monsters’ will only engage in masochistic acts when she is coerced or is trying to terminate her ‘monster’ side.  

Menstruation is said to be the start of the ‘monstrous feminine.’ Briefel suggest that when a girl reaches puberty, they are seen as monstrous. The identity as a monster is fed through their menstruation. 

One such example is Carrie (1976). Shelley Stamp, a professor and leading expert on women in film literature, states that the film “is not about liberation from sexual repression, but about the failure of repression to contain the monstrous feminine." Instead of empathising/identifying with Carrie as she becomes the ‘monster’ (due to the constant bullying,) the audience should be afraid of her destructive powers.  This is to show what happens if women gain power and are not repressed: destructive and monstrously powerful. 

Basically, the female monster is unable to control her emotions when pain occurs, whereas male monsters are unable to feel pain.

I wanted to see what would happen if a woman was added into the formula of the story. How would one character change the whole plot line? If Jekyll had wife (and accomplice), would he have still have died? Would he have been caught? Would Jekyll succeed in separating his good and bad side if there was someone to help him?

Thus, in my story, I added a simple crush between the two main protagonist (Elizabeth and John). By adding the small theme of a potential romance, the plot immediately becomes much more complex than just a simple murder for something else. By having John be in love with Elizabeth, his motivations and goals are blurred between what is right and immoral. Since Elizabeth committed monstrous acts of murder in her “Hyde” state (and with no memory/conscious of it), John has a dilemma. 

Moreover, it also makes the motivations/goals of Elizabeth more ambiguous. Is she taking advantage of John’s utter devotion to her, or is she trying to stay sane when he is around? These are some of things I want to explore in my story adaptation and final essay. 

Reference:

Briefel, A., 2005. Monster Pains: Masochism, Menstruation, and Identification in the Horror Film. Film Quarterly, 58(3), pp.16–27.

Grant, B.K., 2017. The dread of difference: gender and the horror film, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

Reed, E., 2011. The Violent Mr. Hyde Versus Feminism: Horror cinema’s response to female sexuality in film adaptations of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Available at: https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/10692/ViolentMrHyde.pdf?sequence=1.

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For further research on my story adaption and on writing a screenplay, I decide to look at a real life example. I chose Let Me In due to its themes and stylistic choice. I would have used Let the Right One In, but their transcripts are in Swedish. Parts of the translated novel are also used as part of my research on how to write a compelling story with a complex female character. 

By having some sort of “guide,” I was able to write my screenplay more confidently. As an animator, I wasn’t used to writing screenplays, which was basically a storyboard but through descriptive words and directions.  Moreover, I was also used to writing in the style of a novel rather than a descriptive screenplay, so it was useful to see how the screenplay translates itself into a real live action film. 

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Final Sequence 1 w/ Audio

Here is the final (first) sequence completed with sound design! 

The sound design consists of ambience of a busy teahouse restaurant. For the design, I simply went to a busy restaurant during Chinese New Year and recorded 20-30 seconds of the atmosphere. This resulted In a lot of people talking, utensils being used and generally a bustling atmosphere. 

The character sound effects were done by changing the pitch of some existing royalty free sounds I found. The cloud forming and the bun being lifted off also have their own design.

Overall, I am really happy with the final outcome for this. This sequence is by far my favourite one as I enjoyed making it. I also think the overlay filter on top helped make the scene more well-rounded and finished when there isn’t. 

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Sequence 3 - Line art

I have drafted and finalised the line-art for the last sequence.  There is still some clean-up for the waist below as it walks toward the centre, but those should be an easy quick fix. 

The red lines in the background are there to help me determine the character’s height as he moves across the screen, and where he should stop in the middle. As the deadline approaches, I hope to finish this and colour it in time for post-production next week. 

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Texture Trial 2 - Moving Character vs Still Character

While the texture image works well with the first sequence, I went and tested out on a character that moves more freely across the screen.

I applied the same process for the first sequence to the second sequence as seen above. While I think it looks a little disorientating and even comes off slightly as “lazy” for texturing, I think with the right editing and effects, the texture will work well with the movement. For this sequence, I think the texture’s opacity is too high, and the audience attention is immediately drawn to it instead of the character. Perhaps by lowering it and adding another layer of filter to make everything blend together, the character will look better.

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Final Character Performance

After finalising the lip sync movements and syncing it with the movement, I can finally say that I am done with the animated sequence. During the last few times I worked on this, I told myself to try and keep everything as simple as possible. In the end, I ended up not doing the shadows for the speaker character. I think it still works well with or without it. It doesn’t distract the eye as much, which is why I added shadows for the secondary character on the couch. Moreover, I also painted a simple background of the carpet and a door to make the scene less drab. 

Overall, there could definitely be a lot more improvements for this. One of the main things I could improve is the shape/size consistency. The speaker’s head and body changes shape throughout the sequence a lot. I only realised this after taking a slight break. It didn’t occur to me when I watch it again with a fresh set of eyes. 

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Weekly Summary 16

09/02/19

Character Bestiary:

During this week, I polished my second sequence and continued drafting the third one. During the week, I had to chance to experiment during post-production in After Effects. I wasn’t sure how to apply the texture for the character. If things do not go well in After Effects, I was planning on drawing the scales roughly around the character to show the visuals of the characters’ skin texture. However, the lecturer taught me how to use the alpha track matte in After Effects to make the texture stay along with the colored section of my character. 

Moreover, I am still struggling to figure how the actions portrayed in the third sequence. While it is still in its rough draft, the deadline is still coming up. To further help me with finalising the action, I should look at existing characters or real life people performing a similar stunt for reference. I should particularly look at the landing of the character as it still seems too slow and ‘floaty.’ I hope to continue tweaking some of the follow-through and anticipation of the character’s jump and finish the line art by then. 

Character Performance:

After finalising the speaker’s lip sync, I finally colored the character in. However, instead of following the same colouring routine as the reactor up front, I chose to use flat colours instead. This is due to the fact that I wanted the whole sequence to be even more simpler, as well as the fact that colouring a character that moves around a lot takes time. Following my character sheet’s colour design, I applied the base colors and made a simple background of a living room in which these roommates stay in at. 

Overall, I think there could a lot more improvements to making the animated sequence a lot simpler and smoother. I thought that perhaps I could have used a better brush to outline the character because the pencil tool is sort of messy looking at the time. I did want to use the pen tool due to the lack of texture, so I went and experimented with something different. Another issue that could be improved is my drawing consistency. With the use of a rough guide in the background, I could have drawn my character moving around but in the same style of consistency. This allows the whole animation to look better and having a better flow. 

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Weekly Summary 15

02/02/19

Character Bestiary:

I have finalised the second sequence’s line art and started to add flat colours to it. During the lesson, we continued to work with our sequence. I haven’t touched the first sequence for post production yet, but I will start experimenting with the editing soon. Moreover, I noticed that my second sequence seems to still look like an animatic with jagged movements and no smooth transitions between each frame. I combated this by adding some more in-betweens on certain actions during the sequence, and extending the time frame for the ones where the character stays static. An example would be when the character gets up to stretch. At first, there was only around four keyframes that highlights this change. I added another four to see whether it works. I played around with extending and shortening those frames to see the movement’s dynamic. 

Moreover, I have also started drafting out the third new sequence. With the new change of the photo and angle, the dynamic action of the character also changed. Right now, I only have one draft, but I will continue refining it and see which dynamic movement works best. 

Character Performance:

During this week, I finally had the change to add the lip movements to the speaking character.  Despite having a mini dope sheet and the full script of the dialogue, it was pretty difficult to sync the words with his speech. Not only was there a lot of repetitive words spoken in a fast pace, the man’s voice stutters many times. The audio clip has a sense of the man being defensive and seems to be arguing to someone. There was no pause or silence at all during the clip. When I added all the lip sync to the character and played it back, it looked very weird because of the lack of the neutral state of the lips. Moreover, I hope to improve this by continuing to refine the lip sync and start to colour the final speaker character. 

I have also finished applying the final colours and shadows to the secondary character aka the reactor. Based on the individual tutorial sessions, the character should move a bit with his hands or blink as to make him slightly more dynamic in the scene. This also encourages believability in the scene as the concept is one roommate ranting to the other while he idly channel surfs on the television. Furthermore, I hope to finish and finalise the animation sometime next week as the deadline approaches. 

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Screenplay - Links/Themes

As I continued developing my characters and researching for the story adaptation, I came to revelation about the behaviour of the characters in the novella and how I adapted it in my original screenplay. 

Freud’s Three Parts of Personality says that the human psyche has three elements: Id, Ego and Superego. By analysing these three components, we can understand why humans behave or think the way we do. As I was doing my character profiles, I found it interesting that each element can be assigned to the main characters in the novella in some way.

Elizabeth (Dr Jekyll/Hyde) - The ID

Contains the source of ‘psychic energy’; innate and biological instinctual drives since birth.

Operates on the unconscious part of the psyche.

"Seeks immediate gratification of all needs, wants, and desires.”

Impulsive, irrational and self-serving.

Chaotic and unreasonable.

Immediate fulfilment of those desires is not always possible (especially in a strict society with rules,)  thus causing psychological tension that needs to be discharged.

Freud discusses Primary Process, “the need to act on an urge that is dangerous or unacceptable by creating a mental image of the desired object to substitute for the urge, which helps relieve anxiety and tension.”

Daydreaming and masturbation are the two common examples of this process. 

Jekyll & Hyde novella linkage

Dr Jekyll goes through all the experiments to satisfy his dark urges by being Hyde. 

Hyde operates on a mostly unconscious/subconscious psyche.

Hyde’s actions are feared/frowned upon in Victorian society; outside of rules and morality. (Moral Fear/Panic)

John (Mr Utterson) - The EGO

Directs the energy supplied by the ID to the behaviour to satisfy the urges in a socially acceptable way.

“Controls approaches to the discharge of excitations into the external world.” (pg 2)

Delays urges/action until practical or appropriate.

Represents reason and common sense. 

Serves the external (real) world, the ID and the SUPEREGO.

Jekyll & Hyde novella linkage

Mr Utterson is a man who follows and maintains the rules in a strict Victorian society.

He wants to satisfy his curiosity of Jekyll’s secrets but pushes those urges down to avoid gossip and maintain his friend’s reputation. 

Goes to investigate on his own with help from Poole.

Harold (Dr Lanyon) - The SUPEREGO

The internalisation of cultural rules and moral values that are shaped by parents and others in the environment.

Acts as the ‘judge’ for the thoughts and actions of the EGO and suppresses the urges of the ID.

The EGO is driven by the ID, but is confined by the SUPEREGO.

It may persuade the EGO to turn to moralistic goals rather than simply realistic ones and to strive for perfection.

May struggle to contain the harmony between the two elements, causing anxiety (moral, external)

Jekyll & Hyde novella linkage

Dr Lanyon follows a Hippocratic oath, which stopped him from exposing Jekyll’s secret due to his morals.

Lanyon embodies rationalism, especially in his medical field. His ideal views are so high of a standard, that when Jekyll proves him wrong with his “supernatural” science, he simply broke down (anxiety.)

Overly strict or harsh superego may cause inhibition, rigidity, or unbearable guilt.

I thought this was an interesting concept to link the characters together as a concept (like assigning them to each of the Seven Sins.) By linking them to these components, it made it much easier to understand my character’s personality, motives and behaviour around them. This quote from the online journal sums up well of how each of psyche components interact with each other:

“The SUPEREGO works in contradiction to the ID because it strives to act in a manner that is socially appropriate. As a consequence of the SUPEREGO conflicting with the demands of the ID, the EGO often has to mediate between the two.” (pg 2)

This can be taken literally as the characters. Between the death of Dr Lanyard and Elizabeth’s condition, it forces a dilemma on John to choose between his urges (love) and his morals (murder is wrong.)  Moreover, this suggests that the idea of the duality between good and evil seems less convincing as everyone has an ID that expresses a immoral urge that is suppressed by their EGO and SUPEREGO.

Reference:

Siegfried, W., 2014. The Formation and Structure of the Human Psyche. Athene Noctua: Undergraduate Philosophy Journal, (2). Available at: http://www.fau.edu/athenenoctua/pdfs/William Siegfried.pdf [Accessed February 6, 2019]. 

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These are some of the notes I made to help further establish my stories and characters for the story adaptation screenplay. The first image is a rough timeline of what happens in the story. The second image is a character profile of the main cast. The cast includes Elizabeth (Jekyll), John (Utterson), Hazel (Hyde) and Harold (Lanyon). 

I made many changes in the timeline. One of the problems I found was that it was too long and coherent -- it was a clear start to finish kind of story. Since the screenplay is an adaption of a short story, the timeline should be much shorter of what really happens on screen. To overcome this problem, I cut out the first chunk of events that happens in the timeline and have the story start in the middle. However, I am still figuring out the story’s ending and the true motive of Elizabeth’s character. 

Character Background/Profiles

Elizabeth (Jekyll’s counterpart)

Motive: 

To suppress Hazel as long as she can.

To avoid detection by the police and others 

Background:

Suffers from a mysterious condition that turns her into Hazel (Hyde’s counterpart).

Takes doses of drugs to suppress transforming into Hazel.

Not taking the daily dose of the drugs result in symptoms such as heavy headaches, fuzzy memory, depression, intense mood swings and actions --> Becoming more like Hazel (as one).

Personality:

Generally nice and friendly

Sarcastic with dry humor

Melancholic

Laid-back

Can be flirty

Slightly distance herself from more intimate relationships

Actually insecure and has a rare soft side

Hazel (Hyde’s counterpart)

Motive: 

To satisfy her insatiable hunger and bloodlust

To survive (the fight or flight instinct on overdrive)

Background:

Elizabeth operates on a mostly subconscious state; fuzzy memory when transformed back.

Deep part of her recognises John as an ally (friend); thus not intentionally hurting him. (This shows how much their relationship means to Elizabeth on a deeper level.)

“Hazel Bite” is an anagram of Elizabeth.

Personality:

Apex predator with deadly instincts

Sly, cunning and menacing

Operates as the Id -> primitive and instinctual part of the mind; contains aggressive and sometimes sexual drives (something that society forbids/looks down upon)

Every impulse drives her to seek the thing that will satisfy those demands, otherwise will experience tension or ‘unpleasure.’

John (Utterson’s counterpart)

Motive:

To try to do the right thing.

To potentially find love/someone who cares about him.

Background:

A writer who is struggling to find a story to write; goes back to his hometown for inspiration

In love with Elizabeth (may or may not be reciprocated)

Operates as the Ego (wants to satisfy his desires under a socially acceptable society) 

Personality:

Slightly boring/unexciting but awkwardly loveable

A loyal and caring friend

Shy and quiet

Prefers order and normality

Avoids confrontations

Prefers to have a sense of control

Afraid of the unknown

Harold Lanyard (Lanyon’s counterpart)

Motive: 

To get more money to leave town.

To help others (secondarily)

Background:

A psychiatrist

Grew up with strict overachieving parents -> shaped his view of his job (only for money)

Same class with John and Elizabeth back in high school

Everyone sees Dr Lanyard as an honest and kind-hearted doctor.

Operates as the Superego (works to suppress the urges of the id and tries to make the ego behave morally, rather than realistically.)

Personality:

Slightly corrupt -> doing it for the money rather than care

Hides this corruption through his public appearance and job.

Additional Notes:

Difference between men and women

If women were given power over the other

Attachment to one thing can bring out the worst in people.

Elizabeth’s relying on the drugs to suppress her “Hyde.”

Could also be attachment to being the ‘perfect’ member of society, causing further anxiety and hidden frustration.

Obsession with our public appearance to others may be bad if revelation of gossip about them is known. 

References:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html 

http://www.noteaccess.com/APPROACHES/ArtEd/ChildDev/TheorPerson.htm

https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-id-ego-and-superego.html

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Screenplay - Animation/Art Styles

For the animation style of my story adaption screenplay, I wanted to go for a style that is a hybrid between CGI and 2D. I want the characters and the setting to be stylised to look unique, but not entirely photorealistic nor cartoony. The intention of the chosen style is to suggest the “duality” of human nature through the two different mediums. Moreover, the uncanny valley can also be used more naturally through the graphical style of the characters. It is very much similar to Tim Burton’s style but more proportioned and realistic. I have compiled some animation and art styles that I really liked and thought it would serve as the visual examples of my potential screenplay adaptation. 

Oceansize (2008)

The Coma: Cutting Class (2015)

Rapunzel Juan Pablo Machado (2018)

Examples of work that uses a 2D/CGI style:

The Walking Dead: The Final Season (2018)  

7TH AEON (2018)

While the colour palette won't be as neon and bright as the one above in 7TH AEON, the color will mostly consist of a desaturated palette with lots of dark tones. Lighting will play a huge role in showing shapes and portray images and meaning. 

References:

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Sequence 2 - Flat Colored Version

I have finally finished the second sequence’s basic flat colours! With the deadline approaching fast, it is good that I am almost halfway done with the second sequence. I hope to get the shadows and any lightings needed in the scene out of the way so I can start compositing on After Effects for post-production.

I also hope by the end of this week, I can finish this and the first sequence’s post-production with texture and sound. This way, I can start the final week with only one sequence left to finish and the other projects. 

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Post-Production Experimentations (Filter Overlay + Textures)

Since I have finished the first sequence for production, it was time to tinker in After Effects for post-production editing. In this clip, I experimented with shadow making and alpha track matte. 

The simple shadow was done using shape layers (with the pen tool) to highlight around the desired area such as the hands on the table. Then, the effect Gaussian blur is applied and opacity is turned down low to get the shadow effect. This is only one of the many ways to do simple shadows on moving images. 

The textures was done by duplicating the green coloured layer and applying it above the texture image to preserve its consistency of colour. The texture layer is then switched to alpha track matte, where now the image is overlaid on top and can be edited without hindering any of the colour layer below. The opacity is also lowered to get the right effect. Effects and presets can be played around to see which suits the style better.

I think in this sequence, the texture works well because the character does not move as much in the scene. However, the outcome may look very different on my other sequences because the character moves a lot more than this one. I shall experiment more with the style and even trying animating the textures in After Effects to see if it works well.