CT6MAJAN

REACT Charity Campaign

UP736065

2016

Our brief for this project was to create an animated advertisement for the charity REACT. The campaign was to be a maximum of one

minute long, preferably thirty to forty seconds, and should aim to increase both awareness of,

and donations to, the charity.

REACT was created to help refugees fleeing conflict access education. When forced from their homes young people no longer have access to proper schools or textbooks. They often become excluded from their

national curriculum and are therefore unable to gain necessary qualifications for most professional employment later in life.

REACT strives to support refugee teachers and students by providing educational resources.

They also aim to provide shelter and medical aid, but I wanted to focus my campaign on their educational provision as it is not something I was

aware of refugee charities providing this extensively.

They have recently set up three libraries for refugee children in Greece with donated books in the children’s native Arabic, and sent over 5000

textbooks to over 60,000 Darfuri refugees in Chad.

http://reactweb.org/

So what makes a good charity campaign?

I have little experience with good charity adverts – often they invoke guilt in the audience they want to donate to them, or use emotionally manipulative

imagery or circumstances to push people into giving. This tends to put people off giving, as do depressing campaigns. From my research, the audience wants to feel that they are doing something worthwhile and

positive, so need a positive video to persuade them of this. Humour is often a good tool.

A good advert will be something different, something fresh. No statistics or numbers to bore the audience, who probably have little desire or ability to

comprehend them.

A good campaign:• Has a strong narrative• Is a conversation starter• Creates an emotional connection• Has a clear call to action – website, phone number for donations etc.• Shows thinking outside the box

Initial ideas:Focus on

books/education

They construct buildings –schools, hospitals, etc. out of books. The people we want to donate are there handing

the books to them. They build the future out of books?

Literally?

They use the books to build the future in their imaginations?

Unsatisfying

Show donation book?

Show effect education has on recipient’s future

Someone posts money into letterbox/machine and a book pops our the other end to the refugee child?

Use the pictures and diagrams in the books to project a new future

over their ruined past?

Like a hologram

See the collapsed structures rebuilt better – like watching the destruction on rewind, but it gets improved on

what it was before.

They make the pictures come off the page and out into the world – they then become real things

Or start with successful future and tell story backwards so we see the impact the education had but in a less expected way

– makes it a little different.

Take these two forward

• Young (around 8) refugee girl sitting in a camp• Drawing pictures in the sand? With a stick?• Book magically pops into existence in front of them• Is curious – opens book – book glows, lights up face etc.,

look of amazement! • Over-shoulder shot so we can see the book?• Draws pictures from the book in the air – leaves glowing trail like magic spell –

solidifies into real things – buildings, plants etc.• We see this become a real future?• Do we see the donation become the book? Otherwise how do the audience

understand the connection?

• Is a weak idea. Lacks some clarity. Doesn’t really make sense unless you understand the charity’s work already.

• Will not go forward further.

- Making pictures appear out of the book into the real world:

• Begin with shot panning shot over nice futuristic city• Clean and sustainable energy and materials, happy people. Schools, roads, libraries, parks,

families and groups of friends together in these spaces.• Camera comes to rest – we are in front of a new hospital that’s being opened.

• Zoom in on one member of assembled staff. They look excited and happy.• Flashes back in reverse chronological order to points in their life leading up to this

moment. Helping an elderly patient – interning – graduating – exams – research –textbook work – hand up in class – taking notes – studying diagrams.

• Suddenly stops.• Small tired child sits on ground in refugee camp looking defeated.• A gift-wrapped book pops up in front of them. Surprised, they open it, and their face

lights up in wonder. • Over the shoulder shot – the environment changes to a temporary classroom, and the page

of the book turns. It has the same diagram they were studying before.• Goes to black; sentences fade in and out to each other: ‘you can help’ – ‘provide textbooks’

– ‘provide the future’. Then brings up React’s logo and donation pathways – phone, website etc.

- Successful future and tell story backwards:

First storyboard:

First storyboard:

• No.• It feels a little strange, a little too precise, almost. Too focused on one

person.• Very weak. Would make terrible campaign.• Include others from the expositional shots? – the photographer,

business man, surgeon, architect, reporter etc.? – would make it tooheavy, complicated and overdone. No time or necessity for it.

• Splice nice city & opening of new school/hospital/library etc. with oldcity falling apart around them? – focus needs to be on textbooks,though.

• ‘we will rebuild’ – ‘you can help’ – React – donate – etc. ???

As I was struggling with my story, I thought it would be prudent to start visual research instead. I had no intentions of changing my

core character, and her environments would likely not be differing much either. I hoped this would help inspire me, and also when I did

pin a story down, I would only have to refine my designs.

An important factor for any advert is identifying your target audience, so you can tailor the ad to appeal to them. Also in this project, as it is half of my final major project, I need to tailor it towards what I want to do professionally in the

creative industries. I have a great interest in sci-fi and fantasy, so am considering altering my story to be more fantastical. This would have the added bonus of narrowing down my

advert’s market for me, as not everyone would find this appealing. When I enter the industry professionally I do not want to be an animator. My interest lies in directing and visual development paths. Because of this I want

my advert to be low on animation, so fairly simplistic in design, whilst remaining visually interesting. Excessive design should never distract from a

core narrative.

Visual Research:

One of the visual inspirations I had in mind for this project was the video game ‘Journey’ created by

.I like its minimalist colour palette and simplicity of

design. Its environments are especially important for me, as they’re very beautiful and evocative without being

particularly detailed. This is something I would like to do with this project. Despite being low on detail, the

environments have a soft, natural, organic feel that I like.

The simple shapes, and focus on light and tone give the

game an ethereal feel; something which would link nicely with my fantastical approach to my advert’s

narrative. I will experiment with

environments designed digitally, like in this game, because you can achieve a

certain softness whilst retaining clarity in a way that

is exceptionally difficult to replicate in traditional

materials. However, I shall experiment with those too, to see if I can discover a more unique, interesting visual for

my own work.

For my character I also wanted something simple, but cute and

expressive without being too tricky to animate well. I’m very inspired by the

design of Saoirse from Cartoon Saloon’s ‘Song of the Sea’. I like her

rounded appearance, as it easily conveys the age and innocence of the character. Also her facial features are

very minimalist, but remain expressionistic.

Also for character design, I looked at the BBC children’s cartoon ‘Sarah & Duck’. Sarah’s head and eyes, both round and large compared to

the rest of the body, are the same design principles applied to Saoirse.

Sarah’s facial features are even more minimalist,

but still manage to showcase a full

range of expressions.

Early character sketches:

The first sketches were investigations into shape and form, to discover the essence

of my character.

Shape theory –boxy but rounded –

reliable and strong, yet

friendly and soft. Loses some

roundness as she gets older.

To keep my designs rounded to imply softness and approachability I tried

working a human figure into a pod. These ‘podular’

designs I found to be quite limiting, and often looked strange when turned into a human. It would work better for a more abstract design, which I am not currently

pursuing.

Now that my story and design were becoming more solidified, I thought it was past time that I look at real-world references. For the campaign to ring

true, it had to be grounded in present time and circumstance. I decided to

base mine on the refugees forced into existence by the Syrian conflicts, as

they currently have a strong presence in the public eye, and will be

recognisable to most of Europe.

Initial character designs:

Experimentation with head shapes, some expressions,

and hairstyles.

‘final’ design

When I came to more concrete designs of my character, I realised I actually had no idea

what children actually wear, so more research was essential.

Trying character clothing designs:

The sketch on the right is the most promising, but I also like the costume of the one far left – the colours link to pieces in the story.

I also digitally coloured my favourite head design from earlier.

It didn’t come out as flat or muddy as my digital art usually does, but I am still reluctant to

use it in my animation.

A piece of work I find to be continuous inspiration it ‘To This Day’; a spoken word

piece, written by Shane Koyzcan, and produced visually by Giant Ant, with animated segments

created by over 87 different animators and artists around the globe. Because of this, each section is different in style, so rich ground for

creative catalysts and experimentation inspiration.

The texture in the above picture has a really nice raw feel, and an interesting roughness which is something I will look into

replicating somewhat when I design my environments for the girl’s refugee situation.

Also, the paper-cut and silhouette techniques used in the top right shot produce a very interesting look, which I may also look

into further.

This particular sequence from ‘To This Day’ continues to fascinate me. The girl seems to fall backwards 90° and land horizontally in the video, but when this is broken down the thing that moves is actually the background. Rotating this is

much easier than actually animating the character falling, and is a very interesting way to intimate movement.

This way of motion; moving the environment, not the character, is very interesting to me. I find precise character animation very difficult to get right without it feeling stilted, so creating a larger background and moving that around would be much better for me to create something more professional-looking. I also enjoy the use of colour and media in

this section – isolating the character, out-of-place in her environment, by excluding colour from the background, and the soft, dream-like appearance from the chosen media.

Using real-life models and shadow-work is something I actually

experimented with last year, and it did produce some interesting results, so I may try this again,

most likely for any destroyed environments

I might have.

The city-scape effect created by layering these cardboard cut-outs gives a really

nice sense of depth and light.

This is from another of Koyzcan’s spoken word pieces, this one called

‘Shoulders’. Again, I really enjoy the mix of materials that have been used to craft this animation,

particularly the fluid way the inks and paints seem to blend and flow. It lends a nice natural energy to the animated movement, and the soft, painterly shapes, textures, and forms very

much appeal to me and my aesthetic sense.

Further to my research into Koyzcan’s work I had a look at paper-cut techniques. This can be animated in a stop-motion way, or loaded into Adobe After Effects and animated on layers there,

which is the approach I would take.

It can look really professional, and you can implement some nice textures with traditional materials

before scanning the pieces.

I discovered the method by accident, trying to use left-over acrylic paint on my palette. Palette knives could

create slightly 3-dimensional textures which were perfect for backgrounds. If the paint was spread flat, shapes could be cut out and placed on the backgrounds. The example

on the right shows how easy this method made it to build up depth in an image, with only a few pieces of paper. Great for environments, not so much for characters.

Papercut tests:

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China is a 2.5D game developed visually by Climax Studios. Their use of ink and watercolour for the backgrounds to invoke traditional Chinese art gives absolutely beautiful evocative results, and the layering to intimate

depth works very nicely. I think this is the way I shall go about building

my backgrounds, with layers of images compiled and composited together. I was already looking

into experimenting with paint, but I think now I will consider ink as well.

‘The Little Prince’, released 2015 and directed by Mark Osborne, was produced using a mix of 3D CGI and hand-made stop-motion techniques. The stop-motion is the truly beautiful part of the film, and each model has its own natural feel. The use of papers and other traditional materials to create both

the characters and environments crafts a very special experience and very interesting textures. I will probably not use stop-motion at all, but I will be experimenting with a

similar method of environment creation.

Another application of the layering technique to create dimensional

backgrounds can be found in many music videos created by

WeWereMonkeys.

Most of their work is created digitally, using Photoshop and

After Effects and some 3D programs. Their work has lovely

textural qualities, but is also reminiscent of shadow art, with high-contrast elements blocked out almost in silhouette. The

motion is slow, and limited, and most action is panning cameras. This would be a useful way of working for me to experiment

with, as I have no confidence in my animation skills.

Environment research:

Syria before conflict

Environment research: Syria during conflict

Jhdrfuiskxlcm osch was essential.

Environment art:

Digital colouration of photographed pencil sketches. This one on the left came out rather nicely. It has quite a

painterly look, but is maybe a bit soft for my animation’s subject. The other two sketches looked bad.

An experiment in creating patterns and textures with acrylic paint applied by palette knife, and mixed on the page.

This looks very promising – the colours have blended in lovely ways, and can give the appearance of a layered environment.

Mood tests with rough digital painting:

These were experiments to try to capture the atmosphere of the film. The mountains at the top are too

visually busy to be in this animation, but have some interesting textures.

The scene on the right depicts the character standing amidst her destroyed home, and was a test to show her size

relative to the destruction. It didn’t really work out, but does have some

nice atmosphere.

This method of background creation is particularly good for distressed

environments, and the textures you can create allow you to keep detail to a

minimum whilst retaining visual interest.

The broken buildings on the left were created with a sponge.

Watercolour tests:

I have more skill in traditional art media than in digital, so I was hopeful that this method would produce results that would be suitable, when refined, for a final piece. The

mountains and ruined city in particular look wonderful, and I will try some more of these layered up to give more depth. They have a certain energy that compliments their subjects.

Applying the watercolour with a sponge had created and interesting mark, so I

investigated mark-making a little further. I hit upon the effect seen in detail in the top left by turning a fairly dry sponge pressed to the paper. I experimented

with colour to see if it would be a viable option for interesting skyscapes, and

whilst it is interesting for cloud detail, I do not think it would be appropriate for

a whole sky; it would be too overwhelming visually. It did, however, make nice smoke. It could possibly be

used very dry and repeatedly for sand or concrete or some similar texture. It

definitely has a particulate look to it. A sky would need to be soother, and may

be better with digital art or a wash.

More experiments on the right show further the unsuitability of this sponge method for skies. Below left is a smoke test. This may work

well with an animated mask.

Environment sketches –tests with hatching shading –

comic-inspired.

I digitally coloured one of my sketches. it has less

clarity and interest than my watercolour tests, and loses

almost all of the atmosphere.

My initial development for the advert’s narrative isn’t really working, so I’m going to try a different approach.

I liked the magical elements in some of my original ideas so I’m going to explore these further.

To complement this narrative choice I will employ traditional art media to create the environments, with characters and any effects animated in 2D and composited on

top.I have more confidence in my abilities in these styles, and hope they will allow me to create something more professional looking, and also something very visually special.

I find my digital art and animations can easily come out stilted and generic, so I’m hoping that a more organic art style will inspire more fluid animation with the focus

more on expression than perfection.

Choosing this type of narrative means I can narrow down my target audience. My campaign will be aimed at young professionals, likely 25 to 35 in age, with an active

interest in sci-fi and/or fantasy media. They will live in Western Europe or possibly the Northern Americas.

To make the advert visually appealing to them, my art style will take visual influence from comic book art, and magical effects in recent films.

New Ideas:

“There was once a book…”

Wizards? Spellcasting –building their new lives?

• Quick pan of magical city• Brief focus on children – learning to apply their magic

• World falls• They stand in the ruins

• They have nothing – their magic no longer works because they do not know how to control it

Bring back the magic

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reactweb.org

• Child conjuring little green ‘fire’• Splice shots of happy times (learning magic in school or

from their parents) with flashes of darkness and fear• Slow shot of ruins• Child’s magic sparks out. There’s a destroyed book in

front of her – pages drift away on the wind• Child curls up; shot goes dark.• New scene in new classroom – children given new

books.• Whole class learns magic again – we follow the spells

out into the world ad watch them form a nice future.

New storyboard:

I am not fully sure of this idea, but need to move the project forward so will develop it

further. The narrative works better than before, and it properly conveys the education

side of things.

Comic Art:

Moebius – artist.

He uses the same fine-lined outlines and gradient washes as many modern comic books, but with far less dramatic inking and almost no crosshatching, having subtle shadows instead, created

by the colours.

Actually creating my advert to look exactly like a comic book would be far too time-consuming, and would narrow the

audience more than I would like. My work will take influences only, mostly in the form of environment art; the simple

gradients and paint textures, with some fine line-work over top. My characters will be stylised, but highly simplified for ease of

animation, as they are in actual animated comic adaptions.

Instead of the carefully detailed linework in the left image, mine would be more like the image above. In animated comic-based films the art style is always simplified, as can be seen in the screenshot below.

Initial comic art experiments:These were created with

fineliners and brush pens. The magic works quite nicely,

especially the pink one top left. The blending works mostly on

the character, but I had problems getting the colours right.

It was a good technique for achieving the magic’s glow.

Blending tests

It could also create visually interesting environments. The tent at the top was

over-lined, so doesn’t look as

good as it did, but the colours blend nicely. The rubble pile worked better, and incorporated

some cross-hatching detail.

A concept piece for the inside

of the girl’s home when she

was younger;

before the conflict.

The brush pens and

fineliners were particularly good for destroyed exterior

environments.

Brief flashes of destruction between good memories

Revised Storyboard:

This condenses the previous board down considerably, and is clearer, making more sense.

The magic is one of the core elements of the story, symbolising the girl’s education. I will

create the magic effects in Adobe Animate. The environments will be made from paper textures,

so there will be a really nice differentiation between the world and the effects the characters

can have on it.

This is the type of magic I am

envisioning for the girl

Refined character designs – also show

development through age.

I’m having trouble structuring the narrative to read well and be easily understood,. The more I read through my idea the weaker it sounds. The film is over-complex and unclear. It

has no feeling or emotional resonance. I find this idea weak, and have been inspired by an alternative route.

A much simpler better way of doing it would be an abstract campaign.

I was further inspired by ‘s ‘Journey’,

and want to create something more removed from any ‘real-life’ situation. Not only will this make the advert

applicable to all the refugees React caters to, but will also be more intriguing for the audience, as it will not be clear what the film is about. The film will still focus on the girl,

and magical elements surrounding her, but in a very different way. It will symbolise the individual’s journey, and

their quest for knowledge.

With my new, simpler idea came more design freedom. I decided to dispense with the real-world geographical attachments, thereby making my campaign more generally applicable. The films still starts and, in fact, ends in the desert, but my girl traverses through different environments

in between.

Final Idea:

Each environment will be different, and will have its own colour palette and textures. She will grow and change as the film progresses, picking up

knowledge along the way.

More of a shot-breakdown than a storyboard. Allowed me to arrange my composition and environments. I wanted my character’s journey to seamlessly transition across the

screen, so she will leave one environment in the same place on screen as she enters the next. Creates a quick, flowing journey for the audience to follow easily with little effort.

This will be the idea that becomes my final campaign.

It is short, but says all it needs to, and is easy and

pleasant for the audience to follow.

The backgrounds will be made from scans of my painted textures, and the characters and

magic will be animated in Adobe Animate.

Visual Research for new idea:

Environment colour palettes:

Sequence boards for asset breakdown for environment construction:

Paper and paint texture tests for environments. Very

successful.