Storyboard

Here is a storyboard for my animation. Having concocted a few initial ideas, I chose to pursue that which followed the fable closely. (Please click the image to enlarge it).

The Lioness sits with her cub and is approached by a vixen and her numerous cubs. (2-4 i think).

There is a close up of the Vixen's face as she mocks the quantity of the lioness' litter against her own.

A pan shows the litter she (speaks) of, with them fidgeting.

There is a close up of the Lioness who is smug, and not bothered by the vixen.

She imagines the Vixen's cubs grown up, scavenging for scraps in an urban area, low to the ground and thought of as scum.

(With a possible cut to the lioness' face again with a change of expression from sadness in mockery, to evil in her eyes, an fire as she thinks about...)

She then imagines her own cub grown up, the majestic, powerful KING OF THE JUNGLE surveying his domain, the many acres of land that he claims as his own.

Thoughts On My Animation

I have been thinking about my animation on and off for the last week, and have decided on my fable. I have chosen the Vixen and the Lioness; "Quality is better than Quantity". This is a very meaningful message, and I think I can portray it well.

I think I will try to keep to the fable as it reads as best I can, although not with speaking animals. I may just have subtitles, or I could not use words at all and try to make the eyes do the talking with close up shots. For example the Vixen with a wide smile on her face, whilst the Lion looks almost not acknowledging her expression. It would be easier to not have to worry about speech, but I think this could give the animation a lot more impact. If the characters look cartoon like then I could get away with voices, but if they look more realistic, a voice may make it less effective.

It did also cross my mind to maybe change the animals (I enquired as to whether we could, and as long as the message is conveyed well it is acceptable to do so), although I don't think I could portray the message of quality better than with the majestic Lion, king of the jungle. I may change the vixen though, if I could find a suitable replacement.

Starting to animate in 3DS MAX

Today I learnt the basics of animating in 3DS MAX. I have done two tutorials working with a sphere bouncing, one is more realistic than the other:

(ABOVE) This ball moves around the plane, rotating as it goes, and changing size.

(ABOVE) This ball simulates a ball bouncing. I did use the Graphic Editor to adjust the curvature of the bounces, but I think it could look more realistic.

Below is a screenshot of the Curve Editor in use.

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I believe I have chosen the fable I wish to animate for this project, although now I have found that I do not need to stick to the animals that are mentioned in the fable, (so long as the moral or message behind the story is clear), this presents me with a whole new set of choices and decisions to make!

My next post will detail my choice and ideas for the animation.