Pleased to see you up and operational again :) Okay, so in principle, the idea of an animation that borrows the language of a side-scrolling platform game by which to engage its young audience seems pretty sound to me. Just to be clear though - it isn't simulated game play we're looking at, it's a stand alone animation? I think it's worth reflecting at this point what the 'side-scrolling game' is giving you in terms of storytelling; it will restrict your camera, it will restrict the types of shot you can use, and it will mean that all the action will travel at the same 'side-scrolling' speed. All of these things may indeed be useful to you and your concept, but just be aware of the limitations of this strategy too.
One of the big challenges of this project is design; something tells me we're going to be seeing lots of nasty looking bacteria and smooth, white antibiotics etc, so pushing for an original, striking visual concept is going to be important. It looks like your antibiotics have these haloes around them - I like the look of those, but maybe you need to look at some further visual reference for your bacteria designs. I'm not quite convinced by that hugely spiky version, because it no longer looks organic, but rather crystalline. Can I suggest that you look at some real world reference by which to work up some designs for these organisms - for example:
look at insects, spiney fish, poisonous plants and so on.
In terms of your environments too - you've got to be careful that all those soft blobby backgrounds don't become boring and generic - particularly in the context of a 'side-scroller': there's an argument to really push the artistic licence and free yourself from sticking too literally to everything; the levels might be 'in the rib-cage' - a giant cathedral-like place full of arching ribs etc; you might have the brain as some electrical/electrified environment, full of sparks; you might use the mouth as a distinct environment, again with teeth as enormous buildings etc. I think you personally have to watch that you don't fall into the trap of 'not' designing anything, and look instead for imaginative ways to create an engaging world.
Your other issue for thinking about is how is the audience going to be 'told' what's going on and why - how is the informative content going to filter into your world? Again, the gaming idea can help, what with level ups and in-game style announcements, but again, I ask you, what is the point of creating an animation of a game that cannot be played, or rather anchoring an animation to the conventions of a side-scroller, when to do so limits your film-making choices?
I'm certainly not telling you 'not' to take this approach, but I am asking you to think about what it's really giving you.
OGR 03/03/2016
ReplyDeleteHey Danielle,
Pleased to see you up and operational again :) Okay, so in principle, the idea of an animation that borrows the language of a side-scrolling platform game by which to engage its young audience seems pretty sound to me. Just to be clear though - it isn't simulated game play we're looking at, it's a stand alone animation? I think it's worth reflecting at this point what the 'side-scrolling game' is giving you in terms of storytelling; it will restrict your camera, it will restrict the types of shot you can use, and it will mean that all the action will travel at the same 'side-scrolling' speed. All of these things may indeed be useful to you and your concept, but just be aware of the limitations of this strategy too.
One of the big challenges of this project is design; something tells me we're going to be seeing lots of nasty looking bacteria and smooth, white antibiotics etc, so pushing for an original, striking visual concept is going to be important. It looks like your antibiotics have these haloes around them - I like the look of those, but maybe you need to look at some further visual reference for your bacteria designs. I'm not quite convinced by that hugely spiky version, because it no longer looks organic, but rather crystalline. Can I suggest that you look at some real world reference by which to work up some designs for these organisms - for example:
http://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-photo-macro-view-of-a-purple-sea-urchin-paracentrotus-lividus-mediterranean-sea-vermilion-coast-france-73246441.jpg
look at insects, spiney fish, poisonous plants and so on.
In terms of your environments too - you've got to be careful that all those soft blobby backgrounds don't become boring and generic - particularly in the context of a 'side-scroller': there's an argument to really push the artistic licence and free yourself from sticking too literally to everything; the levels might be 'in the rib-cage' - a giant cathedral-like place full of arching ribs etc; you might have the brain as some electrical/electrified environment, full of sparks; you might use the mouth as a distinct environment, again with teeth as enormous buildings etc. I think you personally have to watch that you don't fall into the trap of 'not' designing anything, and look instead for imaginative ways to create an engaging world.
Your other issue for thinking about is how is the audience going to be 'told' what's going on and why - how is the informative content going to filter into your world? Again, the gaming idea can help, what with level ups and in-game style announcements, but again, I ask you, what is the point of creating an animation of a game that cannot be played, or rather anchoring an animation to the conventions of a side-scroller, when to do so limits your film-making choices?
I'm certainly not telling you 'not' to take this approach, but I am asking you to think about what it's really giving you.
So, a bit more thought and a lot more design!