This is the work I did for the Animating Appeal & Entertainment class instructed by Bill Haller. It was also reviewed by Eric Huang, Luke Randall, and Taran Matharu.
Among multiple audio clips and various ideas, this one was approved by Bill. The audio had the texture and overlaps we were looking for and it was within the allowed duration of this assignment. The setting that I envisioned for this audio had the potential to involve the characters in the situation they are conversing about. To better integrate the audio into this mini story, I tried to shift it away from its podcast origin by adding forest ambient sounds and effects. The joyful music was added to emphasize contrast between the characters’ meditative and calm state at the beginning and their frightened and unsteady situation at the end.
While working on the layout and exploring various story endings, I was also considering the visual and rendering aspect. I aimed for a minimal setting, just enough to illustrate the risky environment the characters are in. This was intended to reduce the non-animation workload and also to avoid unnecessary visual elements that could distract from the animation details in this short scene. Here are a few visual references that inspired me:
Here are some of the blocking and spline passes: