Animated short: Spark
Implementation of the design/animation principles
Advanced study in Graphic Design class/passion project
Description
With this piece, there was no immediate source of guidelines that needed to be followed, as long as they showcased principles of design.
Challenge
Find a way to condense my ever-expanding vision into a short, while also maintaining consistency in the designs, story structure, music, and locations.
Solution
Condense the short to being no more than two minutes, and focus on only one specific part of the short, relying on simple, cartoonish designs, and exaggerated movement/timing to convey the story in as overt a show-don’t-tell manner as possible.
Inspired by stories such as the 2008 Pixar film Wall-E and the 2024 Dreamworks film The Wild Robot, the art direction and world were intended to be metaphorical and meaningful in nature, while also having slight bits of comedy and a softer look in order to attract people of all ages. Focusing on designs that had a mystical or sci-fi element to them allowed easy conceptualization of elements, as well as greater consistency in managing them all together.
Structuring the Spark
An Animated Sense of Wonder
The final variation of the short ended at 1:20, focusing on the first half of this proposed short to emphasize all of the story elements in an easily digestible manner. The application of Cosmo, the main character, discovering something he has never seen before grounds the story, accentuating the classic 5-point story structure, with the plant serving as the hero’s disruption of the status quo.