VISUAL DIARY
Pham Hong Diep Truc - s3976232
Assignment 2: Motion Graphics
Design and Computing 2: 3D and Effects
Inspiration
The story was based on my own experience in the past weeks. I was overwhelmed and
stressed out of my mind because of the Blender assignment. I went to school every single
day of the week, from morning until late afternoon so I had absolutely no time for myself.
And every time I came back home and saw my two cats sleeping soundly, I couldn’t help
but envy and wish I was them.
Narrative
A tired university student wishes she could turn into her cat even if it’s just for one night.
Story
A girl after spending a long day at school went home tiredly. Before going to bed, she saw
her cat climb up next to her and she light-heartedly said out loud “I wish I was a cat”. Later
that night she had a dream where she actually turned into a cat. She was ecstatic. But
afterward, the alarm went off and she was woken up from her dream.
Character
• A girl roughly based on myself.
• Her cat in real life.
• The cat she turns into.
Moodboard for Character Style
• The main character is illustrated in a Bauhaus-inspired styl: clean, simple, with
little detail, and uses geometric shapes. But instead of geometric shapes, I will use
mainly organic ones because I want my work to look slightly softer than the normal
Bauhaus style..
• The background will be flat color with no outline to make the main character pop
out. Also, it will only consist of two colors max, or maybe only one. The further away the
object is, the lighter in shade it will be to create a sense of depth.
• For the dream, I want to change to a different palette. The background will be
black with gradient blobs swirling around. I also want to add a dotted/grainy texture to
the gradient. The change in color + texture is to differentiate dream from reality.
Moodboard for Night Scene Moodboard for Dream Scene
Moodboard for Background Style
Script
1. Actual footage of me typing on a computer, then I dragged the mouse and knocked
the eraser off the desk. The eraser falls then the scene cuts to the animation. The eraser
turns into a ball.
2. The ball falls and bounces up again, turning into a smaller ball, then the character
pops out (the ball materializes into the main character). She sighs and drops to a tired pos-
ture.
3. She walks tiredly forward where a door frame appears (camera moves along). She
goes through the door and her living room fades into the scene (the camera keeps moving
from right to left). She stops in the middle of the room; her cat goes up to greet her.
4. She starts doing her normal routine: eats dinner, does laundry, continues her work,
and brushes her teeth. The character will stay still in the middle of the frame and the back-
grounds will go in, stop a bit, then out (right to left). There is also a clock (this will stay still
alongside the character), every time the scene changes, the clock also changes to a differ-
ent time.
5. After the brushing teeth scene is a backshot of the character looking at her bedroom.
The next scene is a close-up shot of the alarm clock on her bedside table. The clock says
12:00. She sighs and then plops onto the bed. Her cat climbs up with her purring. She pets
the cat and says, “I wish I was a cat” (only text in the middle of the scene).
6. (Start of dream) Her eyes close then everything fades to black. Then when she opens
her eyes again, she has turned into a cat. Next is a sequence of cat activities: grooming,
scratching pole, loafing on top of clothes. As she advances forward the thing slides into the
scene (like in 4).
7. She then smells something up ahead. She follows the smell. Cut to a shot of her face
with her eyes shining. She sees a white room with a single bowl of cat food in it. She jumps
down and goes up to the bowl.
8. (Turns into a nightmare) While she is eating, there is suddenly cat food that falls on
her head, then many more until the room is flooded. The character struggles to breathe. The
cat food swallows her whole.
9. (Back to reality) A shot of her startled awake. The girl wakes up right on time with the
alarm clock. It turns out her cat is sitting on top of her, which is why she dreamt of her being
suffocated. She smiles and sighs. Cut to the scene with the sentence “I wish I was a cat”
(like in 5). Credit rolls. End.
STORYBOARDS
Feedback
• Look up Character Animation tutorials.
• Cut down some of the scenes because the script is a bit too long -> not enough time.
• The color palette for the dream scene might clash with the style.
Solutions
• I decided to cut the laundry scene (10).
• Merge the scenes (17) – (21) to be only two: the character floats through the dream
realm and suddenly smells something. She then goes to investigate.
• There will probably be some more minor changes when I do the actual motion graphics.
SKETCHES
CHARACTER SKETCH VECTORIZED VERSION
Girl Girl as cat
Here is the background made in Illustrator. I’ve simplified it to focus on the main character.
• The left palette is for the foreground objects.
• The right palette is for the middle ground and background objects. It’s more desaturated
to create depth and to further indicate the main-sub elements.
I have two options: keep all three scenes in the same color palette, or gradually change the hue
to be more purple before transitioning to the bedroom which will have a purple + yellow color
palette. The latter option also illustrates time passing more clearly, in addition to the clock.