Process
Storyboard
I belive the most important step of this process is the planning. I tried to work on this without having made a storyboard first and it was just not going well. I had no direction or style, I felt like I was going nowhere. I sat down and made some rough illustrations to create a style, then I put together a storyboard. After I had completed this, it was much easier to just focus and get the work done. I was pleased with how I brought the panels of this storyboard to life.
Illustrations
I did a lot of experimenting, but I eventually settled on a style of illustration. I was very simple, I used blocks of color with broken up linework around it. The background illustrations do not have any line work while all of the main ones do.
Editing
I have only been using Adobe After Effects for about a month now. I really only know the basics right now. It was not that difficult to comprehend though, once it was taught to me, the idea of time and keyframes just made sense to me. It has many similarities to written music. Each keyframe is like a note on the staff that plays its part at a set time, each frame is like a beat. Thinking of it in this way helped me really have control over what is happening at what time. It all kind of clicked.
Finished
I had a lot of fun on this project, even though it was very time consuming and I had some major life roadblocks along the way. I powered through and I am really happy with how it turned out. I enjoyed animating the ball and chain the most. I've discovered that time based mediums come sort of natural to me. I only know the very basics right now, but I am excited to learn more about these programs.
