Character Design - Elephant

Here is the character design for my elephant character. I wanted to keep the character looking as realistic as possible so that it links in aesthetically with the rest of the animation. 

I gathered lots of references of Elephants and produced the character designs below:

Character Design - Mother

The character of the mother is also important concerning the story and the audience. I am going to ensure that the face of the mother is not seen by using specific camera angles. The reasoning behind this is again so that the audience are able to empathise, by not giving the mother a face, I feel that the audience could view the mother character as being their own mother which again would heighten the impact of the events in the story. I researched images of 'mother characters' so that I could find a generic 'mother symbol'. From doing so I noticed small consistencies within these images such as fuller figure women and women with pinafores on, these seem to be universal symbols of a mother figure.

Character Design - Baby

The baby is an important character in my animation. I want the audience to be able to relate to and empathise with the baby so that the impact of the story will have more effect. To ensure this, I think that the baby should be as 'neutral' as possible, I do not want to give the baby an identity so the audience are able to place themselves within the character. As I do not have a baby or know anyone who does, I again had to conduct this research using google to ensure that when I design my character it is accurate.
There are many things to consider such as proportion therefore I used some images as reference and produced these character designs again using Corel Painter.

The character looks generic with no reference to gender as I want all audiences to be able to identify.

Research - Environment - Elephant's Habitat

For the final scene, I am going to show an animal that has been killed with it's baby. I have already researched models that are available for me to use - modelling characters is not one of my strengths - and I have found an elephant. I was particularly looking for an elephant or a big cat of some sort, I feel that people may empathise more if it is a 'cute' animal. I think that an elephant would be good to use and I don't want to replicate the lion king as it is unnecessary, also, there is a saying that "elephants never forget". I remember seeing articles that suggest that this is true and even researched slightly into it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1285532.stm

I think this is important as it reinforces the idea that we are all the same and that animals do have emotions just as we do therefore it is just as upsetting for them to see a loved one die.

I want to show the elephant in it's natural habitat therefore researched this.

Research - Environment - Nursery

I have decided to set my scene in a baby nursery, I have chosen this because I want the scene to be peaceful and not too distracting for the viewer in order to lure them into a false sense of security to add to the 'shock factor'. I have an idea of a contemporary, tranquil nursery and the best way to access images of this kind is through google. I searched the words 'Modern', 'Contemporary', 'Elegant' and 'Nursery'.

Here are a few examples of the kind of visual that I think would be appropriate:

I think they all look quite peaceful but will also be a good opportunity of me to apply my skills.
I have decided on the bottom left image as I feel that this is the kind of peaceful visual that I hope to achieve, there are some aspects that I will change however I will use this one particularly for reference and inspiration.

From this, I have completed a concept piece for my nursery environment:

I painted this concept using Corel Painter of which I am a huge fan of as it offers many different medias to use. I will use this concept as a guide for my modelling.

Research and Idea Development

I have been looking at different WWF adverts to get some inspiration and to see the different styles in which they attempt to reach the viewers. I also viewed their website to gain a good understanding of exactly what it is they do and what they stand for as I wanted to ensure that my advert would portray this. I have begun to think of ideas of which I have discussed with several people as I wanted to make sure that the story would be appropriate. I personally have a strong opinion that all living creatures are equal and should be treated so, I think that WWF endorse this idea from viewing their material. In particular, one advert that I thought was particularly effective and similar to my ideas was this one: http://youtu.be/JsViKFU63i4


"Our ultimate goal has always been “people living in harmony with nature” - so we're about respecting and valuing the natural world and finding ways to share the Earth’s resources fairly." - WWF


I have been thinking of effective ways to reach an audience and in my personal opinion, I am either affected by humour or sadness. Humour is difficult to execute correctly, also I don't think it would be particularly appropriate as the fact that there are many beautiful animals so close to extinction is extremely sad and serious. I also want to produce an advert that people can relate to therefore are more likely to empathise. When I think of 'sad' things that I have seen involving animals, I immediately think of Disney films such as The Lion King, when Simba attempts to wake up his dad. This impacted me particularly as the thought of experiencing what Simba was, was extremely saddening. http://youtu.be/LGtJn-L5xEs

Considering all of this, I have constructed a story involving a human baby crying in it's cot, the mother comes in and tends to the baby until the baby is no longer crying. Whilst this is happening, there is an outside view through a sniper scope with focus on the mother. As the tension builds and the viewer is unsure of what is occurring, the mother places the baby back in the cot and then gets shot. The message that I wish to convey is that it is not acceptable to do this to humans so why is it acceptable when it comes to animals? The baby in the cot would not be able to survive on its own, would a baby lion be able to survive without it's mother? Probably not.. I am thinking of having a scene with words of these effects and then a scene involving a wild animal that has been killed with it's baby next to it to reinforce this message. I have considered that this may be slightly blunt therefore I plan on implying the death with specific camera shots as I feel that showing the murder may be over the top. I feel comfortable with this idea as I feel that it will convey an effective and appropriate message.

The next aspect that I need to consider is the production of the animation. The purpose of the animation is to showcase my skills that I have developed therefore it would make sense to use my strongest skills which would be in 3D animation, in particular Maya. I have been focussing on developing my skills with Maya and in particular the renderer Mental Ray for around a year as I substantially enjoy producing 3D environments. I also want to challenge what I have learnt and my skills even further therefore I am going to attempt to construct a photo-realistic environment to the best of my abilities.