CT5ANIGP - Wendigo - Pre-production: Storyboard and Animatic

University of Portsmouth - Animation Yr. 2 - Animation Group Project


STORYBOARD:

I contributed to the making of the storyboards and animatics by drawing the story as I imagined it. During the production, I made 2 main versions of the storyboards.

Version 1:

Version 2, mainly containing modifications of the ending:

After receiving feedback, I thought that crows would help with setting the mood. That was a risky decision, as it would increase our work load. In the beginning we also had plans to introduce another character (dog, daughter of the hunter), to make the ending more dramatic, but we also dropped those for the same reasons. 
Implementing the crows, in such a way to make sense, proved to be a tough task. I knew that I wanted them towards the ending, so we could emphasize the feeling of mortal danger, but that would have been a bit too abrupt, without any anticipation.

The solution came from an unexpected source: one of my favorite anime, that I was rewatching at that time: Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid. The first episode of this season begins with a shot of the background which is reflected in the crow's eyes, followed by a shot of the crow looking around, then by another which shows the crow flying away, dodging a direct hit from an RPG. 

This was exactly the type of introduction that we needed, because it could firstly offer a good transition from the background (establishing shot) to the hunter and secondly, the anticipation, as crows are symbolizing death and misfortune. 

The introduction ended up looking like this:

My early animatic: