#i love it when i repeatability enter an animatic with the idea of it just being like a storyboard JUST being stills

[yoylechess]

bruhsjshshhhhhhjdh

[zarvasace]

Vidow Animatic Thoughts (pt 2)

(continued) Still long, so under cut.

part 1 // part 2 // part 3

Chorus 2

Last part mentioned the tears, so I won't go over that again (other than the fact that I like how they move! I think that turned out well.)

We also see Shadow as a whole figure again here, perhaps indicating that Vio's reality is collapsing, that he's entered a sort of dreamlike state. He gets up from kneeling (I like how that flow ended up, by the way) and stands there for a second.

We've been right there with Vio this whole time, but now we face some uncertainty as to what his next move will be: continue to brood and try to move forward (or in the past, he is still facing left...), or do something about it? Is "doing something about it" even a good idea?

We see Shadow again, and this time when he touches real!Vio, Vio touches him back to hold his hand. The white circle is meant to show the moment Vio decides. Vio also smiles for the first time, and we see him from the front, facing right nor left.

And then he stands dramatically with what might be magic or just representations of his emotions coming into play. Really, this shot is just meant to say that hey, Vio's decided something, and he seems happy about it. He's confident in his next step.

The final time we see his face until the end, and it's a liiiiittle ominous. What he's decided may not be good. That's the next narrative question. There's also more white here, showing that change and that he's still really sad despite his manic smile. We don't know his mental state anymore.

Interlude

I love this part. I love that the music picks up a little. These shots are also fun environment shots. Things are really getting more detailed in my art now, which wasn't really intentional but serves to amp up the intensity a bit, I think. We see several items that come into play later: candles, herbs, a dagger, a book, most with little flashes of white. I think this is probably the prettiest sequence in the whole thing.

It's not clear if the candles and herbs are in Vio's room or not, but the book definitely is. That's the post of his bed. He's been studying this, but hasn't actually done it for some unknown reason.

Vio's intentions are pretty obvious at this point to people familiar with fandom interpretation, but it hasn't been outright stated, so it's still a little unclear. I could be trying to fake you out again, who knows? There's still uncertainty as to what he's doing, and definitely uncertainty as to if it's even a good idea. Things are ominous and dark right now. Vio does not look like he's doing well, and a mentally unwell Vio is not uh. Not good.

People familiar with canon and fanon may be even more concerned, because some of you have seen the directions this has gone before: Vio exchanging his life or well-being for Shadow's, Vio burning things down, Vio becoming a villain in his own right... lots of possibilities. We aren't sure exactly what'll happen, even if we might have a good idea (and a hope.)

The music picks up again, and we get some repeated shots, intensity heightened. Vio is walking again, but not for as long. He's in front of the (not bright) window again (with smoke clinging to him.) Notably, he's facing right, this time. He's leaving his room and going elsewhere. He's leaving safety and entering the unknown.

The key sort of parallels him opening his bedroom door earlier but also signifies that he's going somewhere private. The bag falling to the floor means that he's arrived, and is a callback to the bow and quiver falling to the floor early in the video. He's ready.

Bridge

And then the guitar solo picks up!! When I came up with this part, on song listen like five in the car, I laughed out loud because it was glorious. I hope I captured some of that drama here. I'm not perfectly satisfied with the timing of the "drawing the circle" part, I think it went too quickly, but by then I'd already synced up the candles to the music, and I didn't want to take the time to mess with it. You can really tell that I started getting fancier in here, almost every individual frame in this part is edited somehow.

The words in the magic circle are Latin: "obumbratio die bris" means "shadows die twice," which is apparently the name of a video game? I dunno, I just saw it as a suggestion on Google Translate and ran with it, it sounds appropriately fancy. There is also "reduces eum" which is Google Translate Latin for "bring him back." Which gives it away, if you can read Latin that fast. XD

The magic circle is white, and some of the last white period, potentially signifying that the magic circle is the cumulative product of everything trying to get Vio to change, to notice something different, to move on. (I don't think this is moving on, exactly, but it is him taking action to change his circumstances.)

The candle flames are black, mostly for contrast, but also because this whole thing is "lit" by Shadow. He's everything here, not physically but definitely spiritually. Also I really like the way the candles and flames appear on cue with the music. :)

And here we get some payoff with the interlude stuff earlier: there's the book, a candle, some of the herbs and jars we saw. It's just various magic stuff. The book has a visible S and R, though the rest of the title is obscured. It might say "shadow revival" or "shadow resurrection" or "shadow recall" or something like that.

I like the way that plant burns, it looks cool. And all the stuff falling into the bowl took forever, that's probably the most complex sequence of the entire video. But the flowing liquids and shaking powder certainly look quite good! It's very clear now that Vio is doing something complicated and magical, and maybe dangerous (black-burning candles might be some kind of dark magic, right?) The more complicated magic is, the more risk it poses, or maybe the more problems can arise. It's not clear exactly, yet, what this is meant to do, but it's implied. And we still don't know if it's a good thing or not.

At least Vio is determined, and no longer constantly distracted.

I don't really like the way that mortar and pestle bit moves, but I also didn't know how to do it better without rearranging everything, so I decided to just leave it. Gets the point across: he mixed the stuff.

And here's the dagger back, too! At least it's just his hand. (: (also if you haven't noticed, Vio is consistently left-handed! I use my own hands for reference so I did have to flip a couple drawings. oops.) He closes his fingers around the blade, but I faded that out pretty quickly so the viewer knew that I wouldn't show the actual wound. Also I think these hands look pretty good.

The first (and one of only two) appearance of red! It's blood! Dramatic! If you didn't know this was potentially dangerous to begin with, now you do! Blood is involved! Oh no! I made sure to leave the blood until the last shot before the lyrics started up again, since it's the most ominous thing so far, and that red has Consequences.

(continued in part 3!)

[i-also-miss-our-talks]

Do you have one in blue? ~ Tree Bros

In which the computer lab scene happens, but it’s Pastel!Connor and Emo!Evan created by @softmushie. I got really carried away by this so I apologize profusely. It was actually kinda hard to write? But yeah. I really hope you enjoy it and I really adore your AU and all of your artwork/animatics!

Also! Two A.M. cotton candy party headcannon was made by @volarfinch! Thank you for the beautiful idea that will forever be one of the best headcannons ever!

WC: 1,455

Warning: Swearing, Panic attack, Implied suicidal intentions

Masterlist

Part 2

Part Three

Also it’s midnight here and I really should be in bed (but sleep is for the weak) so sorry about the horrible writing! Okay. I’m done. Go read.

“So, what happened to your arm?”

Evan turned towards the sound of the voice and nearly had to squint at the sight. Through all the holographic hair clips and shining, colored streaks of hair, Evan somehow managed to figure out that the source was none other than Connor Murphy, the kid he pushed earlier that day. He scoffed and unconsciously scratched at the small amount of skin above his cast but beneath his elbow. “I fell out of a fucking tree,” Evan mumbled.

“You fell out of a tree?” Connor repeated. “That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m so sorry.”

Evan rolled his eyes. “Why are you sorry? It’s not like you pushed me out of the tree.”

Connor stood uncomfortable, shifting his weight from foot-to-foot. He gripped the paper in his hand a bit more tightly. “I see, uh, no one’s signed your cast.”

“Yeah. I know,” Evan said, tossing his bag over his shoulder. Why couldn’t Connor take the hint that he wasn’t one to make conversation with? Just let him grab his paper off the printer and leave for his next class. The sooner he got this school day over with, the sooner he could get into his moms medicine cabinet.

“Well, I’ll sign it,” Connor smiled, tucking a strand of pastel pink hair behind his ear.

“Oh.” How was Evan supposed to react to that? Connor—the kid who’s constantly picked on for his love of bright and colorful things. The kid who Evan had pushed earlier that day because he was so mad at some stupid offhand comment about his own looks that he had to take it out on someone else. The kid who just so happened to be the older brother of Zoe Murphy, Evan’s crush—wanted to sign his cast. “You don’t, um, you don’t have to.”

Connor shrugged. “You have a sharpie?” Evan dug into his coat pocket and pulled out the black sharpie his mom had gave him that morning. Connor grimaced at the marker. “Do you have one in blue?”

Evan frowned. “No I don’t have one in fucking blue.”

The taller boy smiled and set the paper he was holding down on the desk beside him. He swung his backpack off his shoulders, unzipped it, and pulled out his cotton candy covered pencil case. “I think Zoe gave mine back to me,” Connor said as he looked through the small case. Evan could see that the pencil case was filled with dozens of different colored sharpies. Some of the caps had small teeth marks from when Connor held them in his mouth while he was using the marker.

“Here it is!” Connor smiled and uncapped it. He carefully grabbed Evan’s cast and, in big, bold letters, spelled out “CONNOR” with a small smiley face at the end.

Evan raised an eyebrow at the size of the name. “Oh. Wow. Thanks?”

“Don’t mention it,” Connor said as he packed up his things. He gasped and grabbed the paper off the desk, handing it to the emo boy. “Here. I found this on the printer. I think it belongs to you? ‘Dear Evan Hansen,’ that’s you, right?”

Evan snatched the paper from his hands and stuffed it into his pocket. “Yeah. It’s just, um, it’s a shitty letter, paper I had to write for the, um, a class,” Evan managed to get out. He felt his palms start to sweat. Shit! Not here, not now! Please!

“Hey, are you okay?” Connor asked, putting a hand on Evan’s shoulder. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

Evan pushed him away and stumbled out of the computer lab. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Why did you have to have a panic attack now? And for some shitty reason, non the less! Connor hadn’t even read the whole letter! Probably? He did see it was my name. Shit. He read it, didn’t he? These thoughts ran through Evans head as he headed for the second floor boys bathroom. It was almost always empty which was great because Evan could go there when his panic attacks set in. He stomped inside and went to the back stall, stuffing himself into the back corner and tucking his legs into his chest.

He was so focused on leaving that he didn’t remember to close the bathroom door.

“Evan? I don’t really know what’s going on, but I don’t think I’m supposed to just leave you here alone,” Connor said as he entered the small bathroom. He closed the door and went to the back stall, kneeling in front of the slightly shaking boy. “What do you need me to do?”

Evan couldn’t answer. He couldn’t talk. Heck, he couldn’t even move his mouth. He just sat there shivering, trying to control his breathing.

Connor pulled off his multicolored vest and tossed it over Evan’s shoulders. “I know you already have a jacket on, but you were still shivering so this might help,” he explained.

Connor bit his lip as he watched the emo boy take big, gulping breaths. An idea popped into his mind. Connor went into his bag and pulled out his cotton candy pencil case once again, grabbing a purple sharpie from inside. He gently grabbed Evan’s cast and set it in his lap. “Hey, try this, okay?” Connor drew a small square on the underside of the cast. “When I trace the line up, breath in. But don’t let go until I trace the line going down, okay?”

Evan silently nodded, squinting through newly-forming tears to watch Connors square. He followed Connors instructions and was surprised at how well it helped to control his breathing. After 43 fully completed squares, Evan was breathing normally again. He was surprised when he heard his own voice thank Connor for helping him.

Connor smiled and capped the marker. “Don’t mention it. Again.” He put the sharpie away and pulled out a light green one. He started to draw a small vine with leaves on his forearm.

Evan watched, entranced by the calming stroke of Connor’s sharpie. He felt like a complete fool when he said, “can you draw that on my cast?”

Connor stared at Evan for a few seconds before breaking out into a giant grin. “Of course!”

The rest of the school day was spent hiding in the second floor bathroom. When the bell rang indicating school was over, Evan’s cast was covered in pastel colored flowers, sweets, different shapes, and even a mini self portrait of himself. Evan gathered his things and gave Connor his vest back. He was ready to go home and…oh. Right. His moms medicine cabinet. Evan forgot about that. At least today was a good day to end on, right?

“Do you want me to bring you pink or blue cotton candy?”

Evan looked at Connor with questioning eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Zoe and I are gonna have a two a.m. cotton candy party and I was wondering if you’d want me to bring you some tomorrow?” Connor explained, putting away his things and standing up.

“Why would you want to bring me some?” Evan asked and walked out of the bathroom, the pastel boy in tow.

“Because you’re my friend!” Connor said happily. “So, pink or blue?”

Evan shrugged. “Surprise me.”

“Okay. Yeah. Sounds good.” Connor spotted Zoe in the crowded hallway. “I’ve gotta go. But I’ll see you tomorrow, Evan!” With one last smile, Connor walked away from Evan and towards his sister.

When Evan got home that afternoon, he tossed his bag on the couch and made a beeline for his moms bathroom. She wouldn’t be home till late that night which left Evan with more than enough time to do what he needed to do. He opened Heidi’s medicine cabinet and scanned the contents quickly before finding what he needed; his moms sleeping pills. Unfortunately, the few Xanax Evan had left wouldn’t be enough to do the job. So these pills would be doing the honors.

As Evan reached for the pills, he couldn’t help but notice he used his broken arm. Of course, the first thing that caught his eye was the giant “CONNOR” on it. That’s right. Connor was bringing him cotton candy tomorrow. Evan didn’t know if he was getting pink or blue. With a sigh, Evan closed the cabinet and shuffled back into the living room. He plopped onto the couch and flicked on the tv, playing whatever show just happened to be on there.

Evan would have to wait on those pills for another day. After all, he just had to know what colored cotton candy his friend was giving him. Who wouldn’t want to know something like that?