ANIMATION DIRECTION - Ector The Dragon Hunter

Ector, The Dragon Hunter is Finally Finished.

This is a 18 weeks Project.

Week 1
We got our Team Name, Rolling Tales Production,
the start of this week, we had the draft synopsis.
Characters of the story were based on an old script i wrote - Dragon's heart.
we got the main characters, and wrote a new story line.
Because we thought of our target audience was the age group between 5-12.
A young dragon hunter, Ector, is going into the forest and slay a dragon with win Princess Floree's heart. Princess Floree was upset because she don’t want to marry a killer. But the ending is Ector didn’t kill the dragon, the dragon turn out it’s only a kitty size. Ector keep it alive and the dragon become a pet. And they lived happily ever after.

Going thought the Character Design, we got research on an animation film - Swan Princess.

 We looking at the style of their clothing, their moments, etc.

After the research, I start drawing out the 1st stage of the characters.

Ector

The Dragon

Princess Floree

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Week 2 

We start writing/typing out the script. There was a brain storming time, we try to get the story match with the target audience we aim. The following days we started colouring for the characters. I choose purple and red for the main theme. These two colours can be bright, 1st of all, we were thinking the purple might darkling the character - Floree, when it come with the background, but it stand out really great in the progress.

The characters we had can be easy animating in 2D cut out.

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Week 3 

I made some business cards and sticker for promoting. And we got ourselves some 2nd year assistants for this project at the start of this week. And the following days I start storyboarding.

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Week 4
We having our 1st meeting with the 2nd year assistants.
In the meeting we chat about the story, and about the characters.
And we set our roles for this project.
We got Nathan and Emma working on the background, and Oliver for the 1st stage animation assistant.

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Week 5
We start working on the animatic with the story board.
We set up the animation will be about 3 minutes long, the story line is a bit long, so i had a meeting with Teagan and we talk about the intro with the soldiers can be cut out and focus on the main characters. We also have another idea about using live action or stop-motion in this project; we thought it would be more interesting for the outcome.
We made a group on Facebook, so the team can communicate.

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Week 6
We had our 2nd meeting with the group. We had a chat about the storyboard will be changed.
we re-write the script, we changed the intro, focus on Ector's quest.

 

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Week 7
I had a meeting with my co-director about the new script. Then this following week, I’m working on the characters, i developed them with more details and colour them with shade. I start working on their joints. And pass it to my co-director to test animate it. We learn to use Animate Pro with Teagan.
Also, I start writing this blog.

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Week 8
We had a meeting with Emma, we chat about the background, and what sort of style we need.
The following days I was working on the characters' joint again.
And having a meeting with Cindy, who help us with the music in the animation. We had a chat about what kind of style music we needed. We talk about the storyline and the emotion of the characters. We want to use the music to tell the story.

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Week 9
The storyboard has change again, the animatic cut down to 1.30 mins.
We want it short and clear as we can.
We cut the character - King and the castle scene at the start.
And we start Animating.

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Week 10 - 17 Animating
Week 12
we made a list of the scenes and we started Animating.

Week 14
Cindy has changed some background music. She wants the music match with the animation.
Week 17
We start recording the music.

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Week 18
The Animation is finished. We found some of the scenes need to be Fix. Edited the music we got, then we start editing the animation scenes together.

 

The Final Animation 

Ector, The Dragon Hunter

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 This 18 weeks Animation Direction project is a really good experience.

I had an opportunity to gain my management skills.
In the Team – Rolling Tales Production
I am the Director, and I had to design the characters, storyboarding, and contact with the 2nd year assistant animators.
At the start of this project, there were problems and brain storm, I had to deal with problems, and need to plan ahead, all these kind of things are new and it is a great time to learning how to do this on the right way.

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