My undergraduate thesis project is actually a project that fellow SJSU A/I major Brandon Coates and I started to create this summer. We wanted to create a 30 second short that encompassed everything that we wanted to create. I am a 3D animator who wanted to animate a female lead, animals, and action, and try to animate a 30 second animation in 3D by myself. He is an illustrator who loves to paint and wanted to create a large foreign world. Thus what was tentatively titled "At the Wood's Edge" was born.
The project was only in the very beginning stages once school started and has since become mainly my project. It has started to change a lot as the first few weeks of school has passed but here I will post the early concept art he created as well as the original story we were going for.
The project was only in the very beginning stages once school started and has since become mainly my project. It has started to change a lot as the first few weeks of school has passed but here I will post the early concept art he created as well as the original story we were going for.
All concept art above done by Brandon Coates
The World:
The setting is a very far post apocalyptic future on a planet that is not Earth. It has been an extremely long time since the event that changed the world, and thus everything from the futuristic society of yesteryear is completely overgrown with plants and trees. If you were to look at it, at first glance you might think that it is a strangely shaped forest, but look closely and you would see that there were once buildings and cars there.
There are a few tribes of people that still survive, and our focus is on one of the few tribes who took refuge in the center of a magic forest. The people know that there were once people in the past and that they are now gone, but they don't know what happened to them nor are the completely concerned with it. Their biggest concern is protecting the circle of giant trees that they live in, because those trees protect them from the nasty creatures outside. They do have to go out for some resources and supplies though, and that is where our main character comes in.
Our girl is named Esta and she is about 14 years old. Her tribe of people can utilize magic, and they have to go out to find the magic gems that they use to replenish the forest's power as well as protect themselves and the others. Her tribe is very small with few children, and only the young are strong enough to forage outside. At 14 she has recently started training to go outside, but is unexpectedly forced to go outside a year earlier than planned because the previous group who went out haven't returned in the time frame they were expected.
The Character:
Esta's special quality is not that she is the most powerful or strong, but that she faces adversity for the good of her people even though she is afraid, scared, and anxious.
Personality: Child-like wonder, emotional, reserved, determined
The setting is a very far post apocalyptic future on a planet that is not Earth. It has been an extremely long time since the event that changed the world, and thus everything from the futuristic society of yesteryear is completely overgrown with plants and trees. If you were to look at it, at first glance you might think that it is a strangely shaped forest, but look closely and you would see that there were once buildings and cars there.
There are a few tribes of people that still survive, and our focus is on one of the few tribes who took refuge in the center of a magic forest. The people know that there were once people in the past and that they are now gone, but they don't know what happened to them nor are the completely concerned with it. Their biggest concern is protecting the circle of giant trees that they live in, because those trees protect them from the nasty creatures outside. They do have to go out for some resources and supplies though, and that is where our main character comes in.
Our girl is named Esta and she is about 14 years old. Her tribe of people can utilize magic, and they have to go out to find the magic gems that they use to replenish the forest's power as well as protect themselves and the others. Her tribe is very small with few children, and only the young are strong enough to forage outside. At 14 she has recently started training to go outside, but is unexpectedly forced to go outside a year earlier than planned because the previous group who went out haven't returned in the time frame they were expected.
The Character:
Esta's special quality is not that she is the most powerful or strong, but that she faces adversity for the good of her people even though she is afraid, scared, and anxious.
Personality: Child-like wonder, emotional, reserved, determined
Original Story:
Our original plan was to be like a trailer as if this were to be a part of a feature film. The short was to be able to stand well on its own as well as fit a part of a bigger story.
Originally, the short was to start immediately with Esta running from black dogs that left smoke trails behind them. She would then use her magic staff to hit a rock and make it grow legs and come to life. She would then hop on its back and use it to out run the dogs. After a while though, the rock runs out of magic and collapses and she starts running on foot again. The dogs start gaining on her and they get closer and closer... but she luckily steps within the circle of magic that surrounds the forest and the dogs hit the force field and turn to smoke. She then walks between the large protective trees, looking behind her, and then walking into the forest. End card would say "At the Wood's Edge"
Our original plan was to be like a trailer as if this were to be a part of a feature film. The short was to be able to stand well on its own as well as fit a part of a bigger story.
Originally, the short was to start immediately with Esta running from black dogs that left smoke trails behind them. She would then use her magic staff to hit a rock and make it grow legs and come to life. She would then hop on its back and use it to out run the dogs. After a while though, the rock runs out of magic and collapses and she starts running on foot again. The dogs start gaining on her and they get closer and closer... but she luckily steps within the circle of magic that surrounds the forest and the dogs hit the force field and turn to smoke. She then walks between the large protective trees, looking behind her, and then walking into the forest. End card would say "At the Wood's Edge"
I timed out the original storyboards by Brandon Coates to create this animatic