Project Description

For my Senior Project, I created an animated Storyboard for an Original Show Concept I have been developing since 2017. This is my first time stepping into the wider world of animation production, specifically focusing on transforming a script into a completed visual scene.

I started this project as any video must begin: I wrote a script. While initially I wanted to create a sort of music video to visually tell the story of who my main characters are, my mentor and I decided to instead create a short scene to better showcase my skill in writing as opposed to my skill in art or visual design. Once the script was completed and fine-tuned, I began to rough out the digital storyboard.

I used an open source program called Storyboarder by Wonderunit to create the digital boards. The shot generator in the program allowed me to create and use 3D models as a base for all the characters as well as “set the scene” so that I could sufficiently suggest movement in accordance to the script.

Once the storyboard was complete, I edited it into an animatic. For those unfamiliar with the term, an animatic is the rough draft of an animation, showing how a character will move and behave in an animated piece without all of the smooth motion. Animatics vary in detail from being choppy, note-ridden versions of a polished animation to be a highly detailed storyboard with a few key frames. Because my emphasis is on the writing as opposed to the animation, I opted for the latter.

My final product is a nearly three-minute video, subtitled with the dialogue of the script. It straddles the line between animated storyboard and an animatic due to the camera directions, simple motion and lack of sound design, but I am pleased with the way the visuals I created complement the script and display a plan for this to potentially become an animated scene.

My Goal

The primary goal of this project was to further my understanding and experience in producing animation. With my emphasis being on Writing Creatively for Film and Fiction, I wanted something that not only showcased my skill in being able to write a script, but also show how that script is turned into animation. A storyboard is the first part of the visualization process and an animatic is the next step before smooth animation can begin.

I am not the strongest visual artist; it is not my emphasis. But I wanted to show how a script can be visually interpreted and how I interpreted the action of my own script when it came down to the final product.

My Booth

Project Materials