Now that you've experimented a little with cel animation, it is necessary to do a bit more planning before commencing a larger project. You need to develop the story, determine how the story is presented, and develop the storyboard.
Planning an animation starts with an idea. The idea is expressed in the form of a story. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The story can be simple or complex. It can be very straightforward, or it can be convoluted. The more complex the story, the more work required to animate it.
It is best to express the idea in as few sentences as possible. Stick to the key concepts, or action points. For example
Resistors at Work or Resistance is Not Just for Dissidents
An energy source, for example a battery, is applied to a resistor. The energy is measured in Volts (think of it as pressure).
Energy, in the form of electrons, flows through the resistor
The resistor converts some of the energy to heat (it gets hotter).
Electrons leaving the resistor have less energy than when they entered.Hot Chocolate gets Suspended
Chocolate powder is added to hot water
The mixture is stirred thoroughly
The mixture is uniform
Time elapses
All the chocolate settles to the bottom of the container
The water is clear again
The key to effective animation is having a clear understanding of what you are trying to say.
When the story is determined, the presentation needs to be sorted out. Is it serious, comedic, happy, sad? What devices will be used to illustrate the key ideas?
Using the Resistors at Work example above, possible presentations include
One
The battery and resistor are characters with legs, arms, etc. The resistor is asleep
The battery walks up, holds both the resistor's hands in its hands and forces electrons through the resistor
The resistor starts to turn red and sweatTwo
The battery, resistor, and wire are just objects
The battery contains very energetic little electrons. They are characters with arms, legs, etc that like to march around very quickly and precisely.
The wire is a hollow tube
The resistor is a corridor with protruding hair-like filaments that electrons must push aside to get through.
An animated character connects the battery to the resistor with the wires.
The electrons march energetically into the resistor
The electrons work hard getting through the resistor, getting overheated as they do. The resistor gets hot
The electrons exit the other side and go back to the battery, looking tired and dragging their feet, where they get rejuvenated.
As you can see, many approaches are possible. Developing the animation storyboard will provide additional ideas for expanding the approach, and for modifying it.
The storyboard is a standard sheet that has places to indicate key frames and anecdotal information about them.
Figure Storyboard Template
Used with the example above, it might look like this
Figure Storyboard Example
Storyboards enable you to think through the elements of the story and work out the details of the presentation. Elements for a great storyboard include
The exposure sheet is a complete list of cels, along with information about how they are used, sound, voice, and other effects. Exposure sheets are created for the camera operator to use when filming the animation. A typical exposure sheet is shown below.
Scene | Title | Animator | Footage | Sheet # |
Action | Dialogue | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Bkg | Camera Instructions |
1 | |||||||
2 | |||||||
3 | |||||||
4 | |||||||
5 | |||||||
6 | |||||||
7 | |||||||
8 | |||||||
9 | |||||||
0 | |||||||
1 |
Explanation of terms
The purpose of this activity is to gain experience with planning an animation. Please complete all steps. You will need to open and print a number of copies of the storyboard template and the exposure sheet template.
There is no self test for this lesson.