Story Acts Breakdown with Star Wars as an example

Whilst digging deeper into concept art and pre-production, I still go and review the main concept behind the project..I look back through my notes and see if the story could use some tweaking..Is there even a core idea I want to convey? Should an episodic format be treated differently than a feature length or self contained short film? Perhaps..

I’m lucky to have come across these videos by Doug TenNapel (Earthworm Jim) talking about storytelling in a lecture he has done in Art Institute Inland Empire…Some very good points within the 52-minute lecture…certainly great watch to those who are interested in storytelling in general..I plan to re-watch it over and over just to have it simmer in my thick skull..Also, bonus video of him talking about his process of making a graphic novel. Enjoy!

Doug Tennapel speaks at the Art Institute Inland Empire from santosh oommen on Vimeo.

http://www.vimeo.com/8640621
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAUi7Nn3LM

Winston's expression sheet

Dylan Expression sheet

Here are a few expression sheets for two of the main characters for the yet untitled animated project I’m working on…Notice that they are both drawn on a legal pad…I have found it more freeing to draw on a cheap legal pad to develop concept art designs, there is less pressure to the artist compared to the amount a blank piece of white paper imposes. It’s just more relaxed and worry free…and i find that it helps to bring about ideas locked inside your head into the surface. However, these drawings do still need to be cleaned up and drawn on blank white paper once the designs have been finalized…until then, I’ll stick to the legal pads..

During the course of brainstorming and developing the initial idea, I stumbled upon the fact that a big part of it bears a resemblance to another online animated series (I didnt know the series existed before hand)…I almost came close to scrapping the project and call it quits..Yet low and behold, while looking through the notes i scribbled down; I came across a subplot I jotted down and realized that it actually had more potential and meaning compared to the initial concept of the show…Some more characters emerged and a few more ideas for story lines popped into my head. So the lesson here is: First, don’t give up, and second, don’t be afraid to scrap your initial story concept if it means developing a stronger idea that has more potential.

storming my brain for ideas

I’m using every little free time I have brainstorming for this little animated show idea i have…I can’t give away any specific details yet besides the fact that it’s going to be done in 2D with some 3D elements discreetly used…The above image is a “mindmap” of the ideas i have brewing: regarding plot/gag ideas/character profile….on the other side of that page is actually the mindmap for the first episode…

I plan to produce this all by my lonely self and possibly do the bulk of the voices…I could possibly lure some of my friends to do voices for me if I bribe them with some sweet lovin’…we’ll see. As of right now, the whole concept is still just a bunch of encircled words with arrows pointing at them…I haven’t even done character designs yet, but in due time. The main concern right now is to develop the idea and make sure its interesting enough since I’ll be slaving over this, drawing till my bleeding fingers fall off..

One of the things I’m really excited about is that the show calls for a lot of different character designs…Its always fun coming up with wacky characters, but I’m sure I’ll be kickin myself once it’s time to figure out who’s going to do the voices for them…

Regarding the length of each episode…I plan to keep each of them 3-4 min…MAYBE 5 min max…this is a one man show afterall…and release them online (i.e. YouTube)

-A!