Initial brainstorm
In our brainstorm, Inguna and I thought about mythical creatures that we'd like to create, eventually coming up with the idea of melting sheep. We were very focused on the movement of our creature, and the 'uncanny' feeling that Michelle had emphasised, so we wanted to create a dreamlike atmosphere.
Due to the nature of After Effects, initially we considered the fact that it would be easier to use vector shapes to create the animation in order to keep a consistent style and create an illustrative feel. Moreover, it would be easier to keep everything digital rather than combining print.
However, we realised that the idea of vector clouds was too graphic, and in order to achieve the surreal feeling we were after, the imagery needed to be more believable, and therefore more linked to the real world. For this reason we moved on to using pictures of real clouds and manipulated them using Photoshop.
We chose a candyfloss pink colour in order to reflect how candyfloss is spun together-moreover, the colour created quite a childish, dreamlike atmosphere. We then realised we could use one of the tools in After Effects to make the cloud appear as if it was melting, through carefully placed keyframes.
Then deciding that it would be more effective to have white clouds on a pink background rather than keep the clouds pink themselves, we began building imagery which would feature in the final piece. In order to vary the colours and extend the dimensions in which the animation existed, we decided that the sheep would turn grey as they began to melt, signifying a loss of life.
To maintain the illustrative feel we drew the sheep's head and limbs in Illustrator, as well as the vines attached to the sheep. This illustration/real life hybrid worked extremely well to create a surreal atmosphere that lulled the viewer into a false sense of security. We decided to animate the legs in a kind of swimming motion, which added a 'cute' factor, again, contributing to the childlike aura of the animation.
For our interim crit, we presented a storyboard detailing the imagery of the project. Michelle then suggested that we study the 'barometz' myth, which told of a lamb like creature growing out of a plant, but then dying after it was detached from the plant's vines. We decided to put our own spin on the myth by having the sheep fly up into the sky as clouds, and then when they melted it would be them 'dying' as the flew free of the vines.
When animating the final piece we introduced popping sounds as the sheep came away from the vines, which turned from a harmless into quite a sinister sound once the animation was fully viewed, as it signified the ending of life for the sheep.
For the soundtrack, after looking through various relaxing piano music and wind sounds, we settled on ice cream truck music. We used the program Audacity to slow it down completely, turning it from a happy children's tune into creepy, taunting, tinkling notes. The sound was the perfect final touch to the animation, which turned from a dreamy, ice cream themed lullaby into an uncannily dark tale of the barometz.