As our last term project, I’ve been assigned into the “Lip Sync” elective. Our aim in this project is to create a 1-2 minute lip sync animation with animating a recorded dialogue. During this project, I have teammed up with my parter Brandon.
Dialogue
The dialogue which we are going to animate involves 2 people talking about the conflict between Ireland and England.
Conflict between Ireland and England
In the early nineteenth century the British government fully endorsed laissez-faire economics and the policy of non-intervention. By the end of the century, however, the growth in social policy legislation reflected an increased willingness to curb at least the worst excesses of a market economy. Peter Gray’s (Southampton and conference host) and Virginia Crossman’s (Warwick) papers well illustrate this shift. Gray detailed the changing interpretation of the Famine amongst British and Irish economists. In the 1850s, the Famine was celebrated as an opportunity for Irish regeneration. By the 1860s there had been a decline in providentialist thought and the Famine came to be seen in increasingly negative terms. Clearly, laissez-faire policies had not worked. Crossman showed that in the late nineteenth century, the government was much more willing to intervene in large-scale economic crises and provide a wide range of emergency relief.
Reference: History Ireland, Victoria’s Ireland – Britishness and Irishness, 1837 – 1901, Available at: https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/victorias-ireland-britishness-and-irishness-1837-1901/ (Accessed: 12 April 2021)
Initial Idea
As our initial idea, we have decided to create a ritual ceremony between the ghost and the girl. We agreed to animate one of the speakers as a ghost and the other a normal girl. We will animate them as they are having a session in between.
Mind Map
As our mind map process, we have decided to write down every possible word which was related to the dialogue recording.
Moodboard
As our moodboard process, we have searched the possible inspirations for our animatic. These includes clothing from the Victorian Era and Cartoon show style inspirations which we are going to get help from while creating our animation.
Thumbnail Sketches
As the thumbnail sketches, both Brandon and me sketched our own version of it. Brandon’s style replicates more of a cartoonish style while mine is a bit more detailed. We then have agreed to move on with the cartoon style while creating our animatic.
Victorian Era History
It was the time of the world’s first Industrial Revolution, political reform and social change, Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin, a railway boom and the first telephone and telegraph. But the Victorian Era—the 63-year period from 1837-1901 that marked the reign of England’s Queen Victoria—also saw a demise of rural life as cities rapidly grew and expanded, long and regimented factory hours, the start of the Crimean War and Jack the Ripper.
Victoria, who ascended the throne at age 18 following the death of her uncle, William IV, is Britain’s second-longest reigning monarch (surpassed by Queen Elizabeth II). At just 4-feet-11-inches tall, her rule during one of Britain’s greatest eras saw the country serving as the world’s biggest empire, with one-fourth of the global population owing allegiance to the queen.
Reference: History, Victorian Era Timeline, Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/victorian-era-timeline (Accessed: 13 April 2021)
Victorian Era Clothing
Despite the prim and proper feminine ideal of the time, fashions of the Victorian period created an often exaggerated, ostentatious look. Tight corsets, gigantic hoop-skirts, and outrageous bustles make today’s fashion trends look sedate by comparison.
Clothing styles were dictated by propriety, and stylish garments were a sign of respectability. The copious amounts of fabric used in the creation of Victorian skirts usually meant that most women owned few outfits. Detachable collars and cuffs enabled a woman to change the look of a garment for a bit of variety. Of course, wealthier women owned more garments that were made of finer fabrics and used more material and embellishments.
Reference: Bellatory – Dolores Monet(2021) Victorian Era Women’s Fashions: From Hoop Skirts to Bustles, Available at: https://bellatory.com/fashion-industry/Fashion-History-Victorian-Costume-and-Design-Trends-1837-1900-With-Pictures (Accessed: 13 April 2021)
Caroline Character Designs
After researching about the Victorian Era and their clothing styles, I have moved on to create the girl character in our animation. Since everything about the character will belong to the Victorian Era, I have decided to name her according to that time. After researching about the Victorian Era names, I have decided to name her Caroline, which is a popular name from that time.
I have created 4 different designs in total, each one being a dress. In that era, people used to wear dresses all the time so her clothing is also a dress. I have given each design a different twist and a different colour scheme. I am proud of the character designs as I believe I did a good job representing the Victorian Era clothing style.
After I have shared my designs with Brandon, we both decided that we should continue designing and exploring the first one.
Silhouettes
After we decided, we have moved on to the next step which is the silhouette making. We were discussing about the personal traits of Caroline and we have written down 5 different traits which belongs to her. These traits are;
- Introvert
- Friendly
- Considerate
- Free Spirit
- Talkative
After, we have started to create our silhouettes by imagining how would Caroline pose to these words.
Afterwards, we have decided to explore the “Introvert” position and create iterations of it. Both me and Brandon explored different costumes and props to Caroline with the Introvert pose.
Colour Experimentations
As our next step, we have explored different colours on Caroline. We have continued to colour on the model of Brandon’s.
Final Design of Caroline
After we finished the colour experimentations we have both come up to an idea. Both Brandon and me wanted a more popping colour rather than brown. So, we decided to go with the dark green one, which belongs to my iteration.
Turnarounds
After finishing the final design of Caroline, I have moved on to the next step which is creating turnarounds for her. This stage is really crucial in terms of the production as it is really important to see each side when animating.
Ghost Girl Designs
As our second character design, we have moved on to create designs of the Ghost girl. Brandon has taken action in this character as he designed it. After he has created 4 different designs, we both shared our ideas together to choose one of them. I really liked the third one and Brandon has agreed to continue with that design.
Silhouettes
Concept sketch
Colour Experimentation
As the colour experimentation process, Brandon and I have agreed to use only one colour for the ghost girl character. The main reason behind this is because ghost characters in general have the same colours revolving around blue, pale turquoise and white. So, we decided to go with the blue colour.
Final Design
As we both agreed on the third design, we decided for that to be our final design.
Face Expressions
As the next step, I have created the face expressions of the characters which me and Brandon designed.