Note: thought I had posted this last year but turns out I didn’t, whoops!
This is a year 1 animation project that I am belatedly including on my portfolio blog because I like it and worked hard on it.
Starting off:
When I thought sense of place my mind immediately went to world-building and character/set design, the fantastic and the strange if you will, something supernatural.
Looking out the window at sunset into the hills my mind just pictured a giant taking a casual stroll across the moors in the dying daylight.
So that is what I drew, using Posca paint pens (ppp) I pictured a little cabin in a vast plain with mountains in the distance just being witness to an ancient force of nature wandering passed as the sun goes down, neither malevolent or benevolent.
Taking most of my inspiration from the Hilda comics and animated series as well as a touch from the Norwegian mockumentary/horror comedy Troll Hunter, I wanted my giant to be as big as a mountain and just as ancient. The design did end up being a bit similar to the Giant in Hilda, I wish I had in hindsight incorporated more earthy elements to it like trees sprouting from their head or craggy rocks defining their face more.
Designing my woodsman, I wanted to try and go with a more anachronistic design so as to create a juxtaposition between the human who doesn’t quite belong in this ancient wilderness compared to the giant who is practically a force of nature.
Johnny and Stephen are 2 of my lecturers, Johnny is quite lanky and tall so I used him as partial inspiration.
I decided to split my woodsman into 2 characters.
One who represents old wisdom and that lost connection with nature that the younger generation must reconnect with in the form of the grandmother who in her old age has her grandson come to live with her in order to help care for both her and the house in the middle of no-where.
The second is the grandson, someone who is a bit lost in his sense of place in the world and has decided to come care for his ageing grandmother in her remote home in the wilderness. He needs to reconnect with the world and will see some wonderful things that will help him reconnect with the Earth.
Storyboard 1
Storyboard 2:
This sees the Grandson arriving with supplies and greeting his grandmother at sunset , probably after a long time apart and just finishing his long journey.
Much the same as the first he’s shocked by the giant’s presence it I just didn’t feel the contrast of his misplacement in this new life like the first storyboard and I wasn’t sure how to finish it off in a timely manner.
Final storyboard:
This is now set at night under the full splendour of the night sky, and the cabin in the woods is now a cottage in the mountains (I thought, mmh what would the grandma be doing out there in the wilderness and I just thought Sheep! I just picture her weaving in a cottage by a wood fire).
I mainly took inspiration from the Scottish highlands for this as the Caledonia mountains can truly seem like an otherworldly place. Maybe hiding the footpaths of giants?
Animation Backgrounds:
The night time is actually a reference to my own experiences. When I was 9 I went on a trip to the Lake District (a national park far away from light pollution), I saw the true night sky for the first time in my life and was struck by how it made me feel so small but also so mesmerising. I have never felt such a sense of wonder, I still look at the night sky and the few stars I can see in wonder.
That’s why I decided to incorporate that feeling into my story, with the grandson being in awe of the night sky he hasn’t before seen. That feeling of being dwarfed by the world then given a literal form when the giant comes by.
Final Animation: Star Gazing.
A young man checking on the sheep before calling it a night is mesmerised by the night sky but gets disturbed by an unexpected passerby.
