Feedback was mixed. While the client liked the general idea, they raised a few issues with me to address before moving forward...
The building being projected onto is made of dark brown brick, so I should focus on using bright colours which will stand out against the dark background.
Lose the gross close up of the inside of Santa's mouth. (Not appropriate for the brief)
Simplify designs to be big in the frame with strong, easily recognisable shape. Focus less on details. (Projector is SD, not HD so it'll be easier to focus on simplifying designs.
Design for Xmas pudding which would ultimately have to be simplified for final animation. Initially I was planning to incorporate more texture into the designs of the assets, though this in the end probably wouldn't have showed up on the projection. Ultimately I ended up anthropomorphising the design of the pudding, giving it large cartoon eyes in order for it to show up better on the SD projector, this also gives the animation a bit more of a classic 'Cat & Mouse' character dynamic.
For this project I very much wanted the story to be informed by the visuals as I feel visual storytelling and art direction is my strong suit and I will be undertaking this project largely by myself; hence why I let concept art and character designs inform the plot.
The basic outline of the plot is fairly simple; a French Sausage Vendor attempts to serenade a blind woman with a romantic meal, the meal goes south and Monsieur Sausages ends up having to dispose of the woman’s poisoned guide dog in a sausage, which he then serves to the blind woman.
The structure of the plot, starting off fairly straight-faced and romantic before escalating to pure ultra violence and vulgarity, with this sudden shift in town being the punchline of the piece, was inspired largely by shocking early-2000s internet web animation, notably ‘Chucks New Tux’ by Harry Partridge, which follows largely the same plot structure.
I opted for my animation to be board-driven rather than script driven, as much of the action unfolds in a largely non-verbal way. For me personally this is also an easier way of working as I am a very visually oriented creative. I did however create a plot outline and break down the action to bullet points in order to inform the visuals of my storyboards.
My statement of intent served as a way to formalise my pre-production up until this point; setting in stone most of the fundamental design choices and creative decisions.
Statement of Intent in Full- Read Below
Extended Practice- Working Title: Monsieur Sausage
Est Run Time: 2 mins approx
Medium: 2D Digital Animation
Genre: Dark Comedy
Setting: 1950s-60s in a small town in the French Alps.
Aesthetic: Classic Disney/Sylvain Chomet style.
An animated take on Truffaut/Godard, employing much of the same techniques used in the era in regards to shot composition, while leaving out some of the more fly-on-the-wall editing trademarks in order to maintain a strong sense of composition and layout, as well as to allow the character animation room to breathe. (Pans from Establishing shots, frames-within-frames, 4th-wall breaks, movement where there would normally be an edit and vice versa; yes. Multiple edits within the same shot and shaky cam; no.)
Character animation is nuanced and detailed, with focus on physical performance and body language; harkening back to classic Disney. Lots of overlapping action and weight being thrown around, complimented by characters constructed with primitive shapes with a strong sense of silhouette and solid contouring.
Synopsis:
A humble, middle aged Sausage vendor falls in love with a young blind woman after she stops by his Sausage stall one day. Enlisting the help of a young beggar boy whom he has taken under his wing out of pity, in an attempt to serenade the young ingenue, Monsieur Sausage prepares a romantic meal in order to woo his would-be sweetheart.
The meal does not go as planned however, leaving Monsieur Sausage and his young protege to dispose of a dog’s corpse before his dearly beloved notices something is amok. After feeding the young lady’s deceased guide dog to her in the form of a massive sausage, Monsieur Sausage bids farewell to his muse and his young protege who has now been tasked with remaining the stand-in for the blind woman’s now deceased and at least partially digested pet.
Characters:
Monsieur Sausage: On the surface, a bumbling, altruistic, fatherly, middle-aged Sausage vendor who is generally well liked by the townsfolk, ultimately guided by an intense and burning desire to plant his ‘sausage’ in ‘a lady’s bun.’
Ingenue/Love Interest: Naive young ingenue in her mid 20s. Free spirited and just going about her life in spite of her blindness when she first crosses paths with Monsieur Sausage. Has a close relation with her guide dog whom she has had since she was a teenager.
Guide/Sausage Dog:
Young Beggar Boy: A street beggar whom Monsieur Sausage takes pity on and is training to be his protege. Generally, shy and hesitant; does what Monsieur Sausage tells him as he owes him so much.
Statement of Intent
In deciding what I wanted to do for my extended practice I reflected on my previous two years of projects, weighing my strengths against my weaknesses to come up with an idea for a project which would push me technically while reflecting my strengths creatively. Having been to Manchester Animation Festival for the past two years in a row, as well as Annecy Festival earlier this summer, I’ve been envisioning my Extended Practice project in the context of the Student Film Showcases they put on, showcasing a playlist of graduation films from all over the world, which I find to be some of the most enjoyable and memorable of the festival, for their experimentation and often pronounced artistic voice. For my Extended I intend to emulate that feeling; to create a grad film to submit to MAF or Annecy which hypothetically could be showcased in that context.
I feel that working on a narrative-based short film, around 2-3 minutes long, is the best course of action for showcasing what I believe to be my technical strengths; character design, art direction and layout. While admittedly not the most technical animator on the course, I do like to think I have an eye for aesthetic, which is why I want to produce a short animation with a strong visual aesthetic and sense of narrative which showcases these strengths. In regards to the narrative itself, I want to try and showcase as much diversity in my character animation as possible while focusing on delivering a high quality product; quality over quantity, so narratively I am going to try restrict the number of locations (sets) in my animation to around 2 or 3, allowing me to explore in greater depth aspects of the mise-en-scene such as lighting and composition.
Throughout my time on the course so far, I have enjoyed working in a narrative context the most and feel my work is completed to a higher standard when I have a collaborative partner to fall back on and bounce ideas off. While I do like having control over the pre-production aspects, I do find I complete work to a higher standard with another set of hands helping me out, particularly in regard to character animation. While not a formal collaboration, I have agreed to help out a friend who ‘specialises’ in technically-minded character animation for his project in exchange for assistance on mine. I feel that this sort of partnership complements both our strengths as practitioners while also giving us both the breathing room required to flourish creatively.
