Treatment

Paddle 51
Treatment

Substance of Expression

The animation direction I would like to use is an amalgam of Warner Brothers Looney Tunes, Disney’s Jungle Book, Richard William’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards. I would like to venture into the Chuck Jones style of pose to pose animation with fast breakdowns. I also like the way Disney animators have used expressive acting through their characters and I would like to explore those techniques. Richard Williams and Ralph Bakshi films also influence me in the way they breathe new life into traditional styles of animation. Also, cartoons such as SpongeBob and Ren and Stimpy have used detailed extreme close up hold shots very successfully and I would like to include one in my project. Furthermore, this project will be a vehicle to showcase my skills as a character animator, in clearly communicating through my characters, along with my compositional and draftsman abilities.
For the art direction of my project, I would like to employ elements of graphic and traditional animation to make a more hybrid style using strong shapes with a clear indication of anatomy in the characters. I would like to use simplified character designs that still are able to make strong poses and have a certain level of dimensionality. The facial designs should be able to show a wide variety of attitudes and expressions clearly. Chuck Jones Warner Brothers characters are a good example of traditional angular designs with simplified detail. Disney’s Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom is a good example of a more exaggerated graphic style I’m interested in. I think these styles could produce a streamlined look without a lot of detail clutter. Likewise, backgrounds and scenery such as Warner Brother’s incorporated some of the U.A.W. minimalism of basic shapes, textures and contour lines. I would like to explore this using color schemes with a variety of complementary and analogous harmonies. These background colors should contrast with the characters.
The cinematic direction of this film will best be represented in a variety of widescreen camera angles to gain interest. I would like to include some camera movement whenever it will help tell the story, but the majority will be from a fixed position so it doesn’t detract from the animation. I would also like to try depth of focus by blurring the background or foreground in a scene to bring the audience into the action. Next, I’m interested in colored lighting to create an emotional atmosphere during the story. Disney’s Fantasia and Sword in the Stone would be examples of dramatic colored lighting creating the emotional mood in a scene. Lastly, I’d like to research and experiment with some kind of animated effect such as water, fire or an explosion to enhance the story.