Production Under Way

My Flash animation, "Barghest" is now well under way. I will be animating about three shots a day for the remainder of the week in order to be finished with animating by Friday. Tune in later today to see a clip from the film!

Puppets

Yay, I can start animating with puppets today.

Background

Here's what I have so far for Backgrounds. I'll upload the finished BGs later today.

Barghest Character Design pt. 2

Sorry for the mess, I wanted to get these in as few scans as possible! Also, the puppets for Rachel (the Barghest) are complete as well. I'll images of them later. These are links to the images on my Photobucket account, as Blogger does not seem to be working properly.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/RCEverboundVenvel/rachel_faces1.jpg


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/RCEverboundVenvel/rachel_faces2.jpg

Barghest Turn Around

Character turn around for the Barghest, code name "Rachel".


(c) Shannon spoler

More Inspiration

Being the absentminded airhead that I am, I almost forgot to mention another bit of inspiration for "Barghest"; Yume Nikki, a freeware game by Kikiyama for windows that can only be described as very, very surreal. Looking at this strange game helped give me ideas the background that will be used in my animation. Being a Mac girl myself, I have not been able to play it yet myself, but I've watched videos, such as the one below. 

WARNING, GAME SPOILERS!

Animatic

Here's an animatic of my storyboards, to help me figure out timing.

Workin'

Workin' on the characters!

Scheduale

Here's how I hope It'll go down:

Feb 9-14: Draw out characters (rig if time permits), study canine and old lady movement.

Feb 15-21: Rig characters, start rendering backgrounds.

Feb 22-28: Finish backgrounds, begin animation.

March 1-7: Animation.

March 7-14: Hopefully the animation will be finished, record voices, composite in After Effects.

Storyboards

Here are the storyboards for "Barghest" My printing is horrible, I know, but it's quicker than the text tool in Photoshop....Blogger has some strange HTML issues.

I'm currently working on my storyboards. I should have them scanned later today or this weekend.
That's all, folks.

Script: Barghest

Speaker

BARGHEST: (Sniffing) Hrrmmm…

Sound Effect

Wind over grasslands, BARGHEST’s canine foot fall

Action

W/S of BARGHEST cresting a bluff in a graveyard. She sniffs the air, and cocks her
head to side.

----------

Speaker

OLD WOMAN/ BANSHEE: Aye, skeletons in the graveyard…Old bones in the ground…’Nother skeleton a-goin’ in the
ground soon.

Sound Effect

Wind over grassland, footfalls of OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE

Action

W/S of OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE hobbling along a path through the graveyard.
---------

Speaker

BARGHEST: Uwee he hee…!

Action

C/U of BARGHEST’s smirking face.

----------
Sound Effect

BARGHEST’s canine footfall

Action

W/S of BARGHEST descending the bluff, moving off camera.

---------

Speaker

OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE: Alas, but it ‘twas a long life for such a woman.

Sound Effect

BARGHEST panting, footfalls of OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE, Doppler effect on BARGHEST’s footfalls

Action

C/U Upshot of OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE walking along, BARGHEST approaches from behind w/a blank expression.

------------

Sound Effect

Wind over grasslands

Action

W/S of OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE and BARGHEST. They have stopped in their tracks on the graveyard path.

Sound Effect

Wind over grasslands, ruffling of cloth

Action

C/U Down shot from BARGHEST’s POV of OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE turning her head to look behind her.

------------

Speaker

BARGHEST: GRRRRROOOOOWARRRG!!!

Sound Effect

Otherworldly howling

Action

C/U Upshot from OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE’s POV of BARGHEST twisting her face into a horrible expression.

----------

Speaker

OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE: EEEAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIGH!!!!

Sound Effect

Hellish screeching

Action

M/S of OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE and BARGEST as OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE reveals her true form with a horrible scream. BARGHEST blown off camera

-------------

Speaker

OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE: ‘Nother skeleton in the ground by mornin’…

Sound Effect

Church Bells (after white out)

Action

M/S of OLD WOMAN/BANSHEE resuming her walk on the graveyard path. Pan to BARGHEST,
dazed on the ground. Screen whites out.

------------------

© 2009 Shannon Spoler

More Tutorial Results

This is just STRANGE. However, I'm fairly satisfied with the result as this is my first freehand walk cycle in flash.



This next one is a lip syncing exercise. Obviously, I need more practice. Looknig at it now, it's her teeth that are the worst part. The top teeth should'nt move, the bottom ones should. Obviouldy I overlooked this fact in my hunger and exhaustion induced stupor. The sound was found on www.moviewavs.com, and is from Star Wars Episode One, I believe. The sound was used for educational purposes - this animation was made for a digital cell animation course at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Proposal pt. 2

In my animation, I would like to tell the story of a Barghest who is stalking a little Old Woman. The Barghest is the size of a calf, and she has the face of a young woman. However, she can contort her face into hideous expressions. The Barghest attempts to terrify the Old Woman with this ability, however, the Old Woman turns out to be another frightening being - a Banshee. With a single ear-shattering screech, the Banshee knocks the Barghest away, leaving the latter dazed. The Old Banshee hobbles off as the Barghest tries to regain her bearings.
For the backgrounds of my animation, I would like to create a surreal interpretation of the storybook British countryside. I am looking at the works of artists such as Max Ernst and Salvador Dali for inspiration, as well as the contents of my own strange dreams. I feel that an overall surreal air will suit my little faerie tale well.