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The
creation of multimedia projects requires several production steps.
In an effort to briefly describe a few of these steps, I have detailed
the process I went through in creating the Flash animation 'Strike
Up The Brand' which is posted on the Multimedia page of this web site.
Client meeting In this particular project, a Seattle based business theatre producer subcontracted me to design a unique animation for their client, Washington Mutual Bank. Together we met with the Washington Mutual project staff and it was agreed that a web based 'teaser' animation was needed to advertise a new intranet web site... A site which was to be used to honor select, valuable employees. The logo name for the new employees' honoree program would be 'Strike Up The Brand!'. Oh...And, the client wanted the animation to be humorous... no problem! Brainstorming With the logo name in mind, I came up with the idea of using a marching band and carnival motif to deliver the animated message... Of course, at this point, there was no copy / message provided by the client; so, it was up to me to come up with one and have it subsequently approved when I delivered the first storyboard. After a couple of reworks I eventually came up with the following copy: |
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Storyboards During the course of penning the copy shown above, I began to visualize the characters, props and layouts that I wanted to use to deliver that message. I quickly drew 'thumbnail' storyboards, such as the one shown below, to keep my ideas 'fresh'. Later I judged which ideas / 'shots' could be successfulIy animated within the Macromedia Flash program and could also succinctly deliver the message. |
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| The thumbnail storyboard also enabled me to determine how many characters were to be involved in the animation and in what capacity they would be required to animate. With this information, I created a more detailed and larger storyboard that the client would eventually see. In this larger storyboard, I revealed rough character designs and backgrounds: a two man marching band, a limousine, and some carnival characters marching through the streets of a large metropolis... truly a fun cast with which to deliver the message. | ||
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Here
are a few panels from the 'detailed' storyboard.  |
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Here
are several of the character sketches.   |
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Character Designs Once I had the storyboard and the character sketches approved by the client, I proceeded to create the characters within the Flash program. I knew which characters and props were to be animated, so I assembled them accordingly (dividing parts and creating joints etc.). And, of course, the fun part was adding the color to the characters, which completes their definition. |
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Layouts Knowing the colors used in the cast of characters, I was then able to begin development of the layouts / backgrounds on which the cast would be animated. I referred to the detailed storyboard and expanded upon the backgrounds that I had created there. Drawing on paper (I conceptualize better on paper), I created detailed backgrounds that I subsequently scanned and imported into Flash. Inside of Flash I then laid out the line work and played with the colors to compliment the cast of characters already developed. |
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Animation Once I finished the layouts, then I knew exactly how the 2D characters and props were to be positioned and animated on the screen. For the more complicated characters, such as the drummer, I created 'pencil tests' (inside of the Flash program) of the character's movements...This character required a 'looping' animation. Once I was happy with the flow of the pencil test, then I replaced it with the drummer character that I had already developed... moving arms and legs etc. to match the pencil test. |
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Sound After finishing the animation and scripting, I turned over the Flash file to the skilled hands of Tom Smurdon, audio designer extraordinare. (Check out Tom's company web site www.nodrums.com.) Tom came up with a great sound track... mixing the music of a marching band with the sound effects of a carnival atmosphere. |
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