The animation side of things! Read more in the Storyboarding tab!
It’s still early days here in the Filomena u L-bir horror short project. I’m a bit of a one person army here – since I wasn’t too bothered with an end date I didn’t feel comfortable asking anyone else to help, so it’s just me chugging along whenever I can!
Shot 2 is the main focus right now – through which I’ve solidified some of the background style!
Background & Concept
The goal is to explore Maltese Culture and history, so I started by looking into example of landscapes painted by Maltese artists to get a feel for common trends within the styles:
- Bright, unnatural colours
- Painterly quality
- Busy and Bold
These were the qualities I want to try and work into my background design. However, there is one thing that could potentially stand in my way – shot 01. I wanted to make a statement with my establishing shots, so it features the camera moving through the city of Valetta – the Maltese capital and location of the short – while it’s under construction. Makes a pretty statement and lets anyone with knowledge of Maltese history get a fun little Easter egg of when exactly the film is set!
But yes, the moving camera and animated background will somewhat limit how painterly the style can get – but I’m experimenting with it now!
The style of the backgrounds themselves haven’t fully been nailed down, but the colour palette has! I wanted to go ham with the bright unnatural colours, and the day, night and dawn settings of the film really let me do so!
Shot 02
The original shot 02! It’s changed quite a bit from here!
I wanted to show off a little more of Fiomena’s character early on in the film, and of course her besetting sin – her curiosity. She’s bubbly and energetic and always scampering around to explore the world, and I think the keyframes of the current version [as seen in my showreel] really show that. I’m so happy with how far this has come!
Background by Zuzanna Sobula from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.