Final Directors Commentary

Directors Commentary

Introduction:

This is the introduction of our film “Never Give Up”. We chose to do the introduction like this as we thought it was creative and would enable a good first impression. We chose the natural brown colour as the books cover as the animation was set in a natural environment, which was the park.  The purple trim was chosen as it attracts both boys and girls, which is our target audience. We used black and white writing is easy to read and then we decided to make it shade in to give it a bit of class. This scene means a lot to Georgia and I as it was our first time animating something like this. We had to solve the problem of keeping the book in the same position after gluing which we did by moving the book as little as possible when we decided we wanted to glue something down. To animate this scene we had many practices to make sure the final scene we put in our actual final movie was of high quality.

Scene 2:

Scene 2 is the complication of the story. At this point of the animation the boy has just bought his balloon and then the dog with the lead comes and trips him over. We decided to put the complication close to the start of the animation, as the rest of the scenes are ways in which he try’s to fix the problem and get his balloon back. We chose to have the dog as the problem as it was another character in our film and it suited our target audience. Children are interested little animals such as cats and dogs and this would then attract them to our film. This scene was filmed with simplicity as it was very plain and was filmed from a level angle. We had to solve the problem of getting the lead around the boy’s legs without him falling over. This was hard as it was a very small gap where we had to put the lead for our fingers to fit. We overcame this by using a toothpick and dragging it around slowly without it braking.

Scene 3:

This scene was one we had to add in as we realised we missed the boy sitting up from when the dog tripped him over and he let go of his balloon. We added this in as it made the animation as a whole make a lot more sense. This scene was filmed from ground level as we were looking at the boy as he stood up. This scene was also very simple as it was a last minute add in. This was one of the problems we had to solve and we did by luckily by having enough time at the end to film it.

Scene 4:

Scene 4 was the start of the complex scenes. In this scene Georgia and I had to use fishing line to make the balloon float through the sky. This was very difficult, as we had to hold the fishing line and move it a tiny bit and try and take a picture without it moving. We ended up doing two of these scenes as the first one was a bit dodgy and was more of a learning experience. If we had more time to complete our animation I think we would have liked to have shot this scene again and have made it even more precise and smooth as it would have made the animation as a whole better quality.

Scene 5:

This scene is when the boy is walking along and discovers that the balloon has got stuck in the tree. This scene is one of the smaller but more complex scenes. Scene 5 was the scene Georgia and I used Photoshop to insert a light bulb. We decided to do this as instead of the character just looking up at the tree we really wanted to emphasise the fact that he was thinking. After he had thought of solution of how to get the balloon out of the tree he then walked off towards to the left to find what he needs.

Scene 6:

Scene 6 is shot at a medium eye level height. This scene is the scene Benji has his first attempt at throwing the ball at the tree to get it down. This attempt is a fail with the ball rebounding and going off the set towards the camera. The boy then also goes off the set towards the camera to retrieve the ball. We used the technique of using fishing line as an invisible support for the ball. This scene was difficult as the person holding the fishing line had to try and only make very small movements and keep it still when taking the shot. This scene also took a few practices to get it of a high quality.

Scene 7:

This scene is Benji’s second attempt at throwing the ball at the tree to try and retrieve the balloon. He fails this time as well with the ball rebounding off the set. With this scene we used the same technique as scene 6 by using the fishing line to support the ball while we took the picture. This scene was also shot at a mid angle level and is a small scene which is pretty much a replica of scene 6.

Scene 8:

This is scene 8 one of the final scenes that Georgia and I produced. In this scene Benji decides he is going to give up and forget about his balloon as much as he does not want to. His body posture also contributes to making the audience aware of the way he feels. He sits down on the ground between the two trees (the tree where the balloon is stuck and another tree) and crosses his arms. This scene then leads onto the next scene which is where Benji begins to cry. This scene is shot at a mid range angle and is very short.

Scene 9:

This scene is just a follow through scene after scene 8. Benji now begins to cry in this scene and bends fully over to express his full emotion. This really lets the audience know that he is really upset at this point in time and is on the verge of giving up. But this is when the solution arises and it happens naturally. The wind blows the balloon out of the tree that is when we used the technique of fishing line again to help support the balloon. Benji then turns towards his right to discover what has happened and that the balloon has now come down beside him. This scene was shot at a mid angle range the same as all the other scenes. We chose this mid-angle range as it displayed simplicity and this contributed towards out target audience understanding the animation as a whole better. Scene 9 is the last scene of animating with the actual clay figures and set as the credits and the closing is displayed in the brown book.

Credits:

This scene is the final scene of our animation. In this scene it is pretty much a finally with someone closing the book as if it was a storybook and then the credits appearing. We decided the book idea would be a good starting and finishing point for our animation “Never Give Up” as it would start and end on the same note. This scene meant a lot more than any of the other scenes to Georgia and I as it was our final scene we had to produce after 2 terms worth of work. Finishing this scene was such a stress relief for Georgia and I knowing we had completed everything we needed and all we needed to do now was put it together with a soundtrack. With this final scene we really brought the whole animation clay feel back down to Earth as it was again the book idea. The idea of the credits we thought of to combine the ideas of the book, animation and also bring in the aspect of it being similar to a movie.