Developing my Animation: Initial Ideas, Influences and Storyboarding

The topic I have chosen to explore for my animation as a part of the final studio brief is 'surprise' and for this I referred to Every Frame A Painting's video on Chuck Jones of Looney Tunes fame.  In it, the author breaks down Jones' visual comedy structure as setting up the audience to make an assumption with a familiar setup and then proving it wrong in a comedic and unexpected way. 

My plan is to adopt this formula for my own short 5-10 second animation. The formula of 'Assumption vs Reality' is a flexible one which I feel can be the source of a multitude of jokes and humorous sight gags. As for the pacing of the animation I am looking towards more contemporary forms of comedy, particularly on the internet. 5 Second Films I feel paces their skits well over a short period of time and often follow this formula whether intentional or not. 

Another comedic internet persona, this time from an animation background, whom I am basing the structure of my animation off is OneyNG, whose often crude and shocking humour translates well in bite-sized chunks, with the end title card often acting as an abrupt punchline in itself, which is a trope I hope to adopt for my animation. The simple aesthetic I feel also compliments the brevity of the joke, so I will keep in mind this simple approach to art style when developing my final animation as to not overcomplicate the process.

For my storyboards I want to be able to effectively communicate the joke without relying too much on the sound. While hopefully there will be sound in the final piece it is important to me the character's body language reflects what is being said and is as expressive as possible. As this is a short 10-second animation, I plan for the staging to be simple, with emphasis placed on placement in a scene over camera movement and fancy cinematography. As for colour, to compliment the brevity and simplicity I am going for with this animation I will use dark blue/purple tones for the scene to provide a stark contrast to the fire and flames.