Everybody Wants to Rule the World

I'm going to be working on an animation that I'm thinking of calling Everybody Wants to Rule the World as the title of the blog suggests. And this blog post will tell the story of  Everybody Wants to Rule the World. So um enjoy the process and learning about what I do! Hopefully you will also learn from my mistakes and know what not to do. Or just learn how to fix random problems that come up as I will surely run into some issues along the way. I always end up running into some problem.

This is part of a duo project. Torn To Pieces will be the companion to this project. Have fun cross-referencing these blog posts.

Ok this is going to be very weird. This animation and post are about depression and depression is not a happy, fun, or great condition but I will use exclamation points and most likly be using more jovial language and this may be confusing. I'm not trying to make light of depression or have contradictory tones or language (I realize that I may not succeed in this and I hope no one takes offense). I'm happy about this project because this is something that I'm excited to be making and to be doing and I know several people who battle depression and I want to make something that will inspire hope(let's hope I my goal is met. I will be getting feedback in case I don't succeed the first time.). I feel like I should say that I do not mean to offend anyone.

The Project BEGINS
 So at the end of my junior year of high school (2014-15 school year) my animation mentor says, hey all of you should think of awesome ideas to make animations from next year. You should have like 3 ideas that somehow relate to each other. So I did. And sadly one idea has to be let go due to time restraints. Darned deadlines!!! But hallelujah graduation! This one gets to survive! So YAY!

For this project there will be a person with depression. Depression will be a shadow that comes from their mind. Depression and the person will battle for control. Person will win. At the moment the song I'll play in the background is 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' by Lorde (FYI, this paragraph was taken from my earlier post Triad Project. Look at it for more info. I shall try to transfer all needed info to here but I might forget stuff. Good idea to read that post, but if you don't that's ok too.).

SYTYCD-Jim and Ariana

I found inspiration from the show So You Think You Can Dance(SYTYCD). This from season 12 Top 16. The dancers are Jim Nowakowski and Ariana Crowder. This routine is choreographed by Sean Cheesman (awesome last name right?). Click here to watch the routine.

Because of the content of the animation, this definitely a piece for an older audience.

Pre-Production
I did a little bit of research on depression to gain some knowledge and not be guess what it'd be like to have depression, as I don't have it. Some of peers are willing to give me insight and give me feedback if I ask for it. So thankful that they are willing to open up to me like this.

I was thinking of using the song 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' by Lorde. Why? They used it the SYTYCD routine. You don't need to. Well I like it. I think it will help send the video home to people. I know that music effects people in ways that nothing else can. I want think that this song will further my story.

I have some concept art for this project!!!! I have drawn depression. This was hard in the beginning. Over the summer when I was originally thinking of what I could do for my duo project, I struggled to come up with a way to create depression. I wanted it to be tangible and real and it felt like it was just so abstract. As I am a person who has never dealt with depression I had and will never know how to best visually represent depression and to best show viewers what depression is and the battle that it really is.

Story Boards

page 1

page 2

When I storyboard I watched the Sean Cheesman routine to get an idea of when certain things should happen. I timed everything out on a piece of paper. Then I got my storyboard paper. I filled it out with my ideas and some rough sketches of how I wanted things to look. I always have a digital copy of my storyboard just in case I lose my physical copy. I try to keep my physical copy somewhere I will always remember it just in case my file management on my computer fails. Luckily I haven't, well, actually I have. Never mind. Um during the Stop Motion Project last year, my group didn't scan our storyboards in at the beginning of the project when we first made them. So when we went to do it at the end we found out that we lost them. Then at the end of the year, right before graduation, I found them. Karma hit. Kinda funny, but not going to happen again. Don't be stupid with your storyboards. They are your friends! Gosh I'm going to be relying on my storyboards so much.

Modeling  
I have modeled this project as well as TTP. I'm a lot less worried about EWRW than I am with TTP. Maybe because the rooms are a ton simpler than TTPs. I actually only have one room for EWRW. It is a bedroom for the girl in the bedroom. I tried to use lots of blues and darker colors when texturing as I thought that for depression, sadder colors such as blue and black would help with the tone of the animation. I a simply decorated room. There is her bed which is made, a dresser, and a clothes hamper. Like I said, really simple. I like it and I think it will be easier to work with than having more things in it.

I also modeled a girl. I have her in a long sleeve blue shirt and black pants. I don't have shoes on her as she isn't going anywhere except around her room. Her hair texture doesn't want to stay so I will faf with it until I figure out how to make it work or get fabulous new technology.

I made a shadowy figure to signify depression. As I won't be animating until after I get back from Christmas break, I will do more research on depression so I can get an idea how he should behave.