At its simplest, an animatic is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence with a rough dialogue and rough sound track added to the sequence of still images to test whether the sound and images are working effectively together. The function of the animatics is to allow for the producers to work out any screenplay, camera positioning, shot list and timing issues that may exist with my current storyboard.
The first step to our animatic process was the storyboard. We created a storyboard from our trailer plot were we were able to generate ideas to a picture sequence.
Completing the storyboard we were able to work out our shooting schedule. Within the shooting schedule we matched each location for the shots together and went from most important pictures to least important pictures. We then considered our actors as a group. We decided we had to consider an actor that can sustain our timing schedule and match the characters target age. We chose our actors from our media group enabling us to keep a good timing schedule. Our next step was our photo shoot. During our photo shoot we did come across a relative amount of rain which caused us to postpone a shoot. However we were able to catch up on lost time. We all took part in the photography of the animatic sharing the responsibility of each shoot. Towards each shoot we tried different types of shots this then allowed us to visually see which photo worked effectively and best for the animatic. Finishing the shooting we put the shots into the editing suite, as we edited the pictures and sound we became more familiar with editing transition. At this point we were able to revise our ideas visually on the screen and caused us to rethink our ideas. Although we were forced to revise our original film plot and generate a new idea for a new plot we benefited from the experience in the editing suite.
We created and developed the narrative for the animatic through the storyboard. We cut out pieces from the storyboard and rearranged them in the appropriate order. From this we were able to see what works and what doesn’t work. We were also able to witness that that the storyboard reveals too much of the plot and were able to take out some shots that would create the sense of enigma. For example we had a shot of our main character dying but we realised we wanted the audience to question on what will happen to the main character.
Within the animatic we had 4 different shoots at 4 different locations. We chose our actors regarding appearance of character keeping in the tone of the film and matching the age of the character. We wanted to get the age of 20 therefore we went with someone looking older for his age which was me. By choosing me we were able to follow the timing schedule. During the shooting process we changed the type of shot and angles used within the shooting. We also changed the location for a shoot when discovering construction in the way. The shots that we were unable to do were the train shots. We were unable to do these shots because they were unrealistic. After we finished the animatic we were caused to revise our ideas. This was caused because the animatic did not have the right codes and conventions of a psychological thriller. This was revealed due to the film matching the genre of an action adventure and not a psychological thriller.
We constructed the animatic by uploading all the photos and ordering the shots to a specific order. We were then able to add editing transitions, intertitles and a newly produced soundtrack keeping in tone with our animatic.
Choosing the length off shots began from the storyboard were we gave an estimated time for each shot helping us have a rough idea when going into the editing suite. When in the editing we were able to discover our length of shots were to long causing us to shorten the length of shot from 5 seconds to 3 seconds. We also made changes to transitions, at the beginning we didn’t start of great due to relishing as new software. However when we got more familiar with the editing process we were able to choose the right transitions. We were able to speed up our time regarding transitions towards us having a rough idea in our story board of were we wanted them and how long we wanted them.
For the film title “Retribution” we went for the colour red we chose the colour red because it reveals blood and violence. We had this towards a black background to emphasize the serious of the title that we intended to bring. Within the animatic we also used intertitles to communicate to the audience. We used a black font for the intertitles showing keeping the serious tone throughout the story board.
The choice of soundtrack was not at all its best however it did have a positive effect on the animatic. . We created a fast track which adapted well with the fast pace editing towards the end. We also introduced a heart beat when we had a photograph for someone dying. This did however decrease the serious nature of the photograph.
These two shots below show the alter ego aspect of the film, without revealing too much. They are ultimately our greatest shots towards a target audience and our chosen genre of a psychological thriller. It makes the audience think twice about the main character and think that it isn’t him causing all the destruction.
This image makes the audience feel concerned for the character and trying to adapt a relationship between the audience and the character. This is caused by making the audience question why this happening to him.
This shot reveals a man dying and makes the audience feel sorry for the other character because they can see a bond between the two character and see that he is about to loose a friend.
T This image shows the man being haunted by his alter ego; however this shot could be a lot better as the face expressions of the characters do relinquish the seriousness of the photo.
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