A PAW OVER DARK
story lead // story art // character design // writing // animation
[ Aug 2022 to May 2023: Story Leading my BFA Film ]
Character Design
The incredible Chloe Bennet was responsible for Massidog's final design but I DID contribute this monstrosity. Glad the nipples made it to the final design.
The Comedy Sequence
This is a lighthearted and funny sequence that I boarded for the film where Massimo, the thespian, loses his audience to Dog.
The Surreal Sequence
As story lead, I was responsible for reworking the surreal sequence. Since we did not have any official music yet, I used Vivaldi's "Winter" as a placeholder to get a rough feel for the escalation.
These were the directors' notes I needed to hit -
- It could be no longer than 50 seconds
- It had to incorporate the surreal vision of the directors
- It had to clearly depict a horrifying transformation of the main character into a dog
- It needed to depict an identity conflict within the character
- The intensity of the sequence needed to escalate and climax
-The transitions needed to be plussed
(For reference, here's what the surreal sequence looked like pre-rework! Credits to co-directors Dorian Saisse, Marisa Molson, and storyboard artist Craig Corpuz. This sequence was a team effort!
Animation
Here's 7 shots that I rough animated for the film.
Check out the exaggerated facial expressions on 2_09.
And the Looney Tunes-esque animation of Dog on 9_03.
OH! And the overlapping action of the nipples on 9_02.
Very demure. Very mindful.
The Final Shot
The first image is my concept art for the BFA thesis pitch of the film.
The second image is what the co-director, Dorian, sent me in the early hours of the morning.
The third and fourth images are what made it into the final credit scene of the film.
I painted over Dorian's photo and matched the major landmarks of his face. He then superimposed the paintings onto the video of him just breathing for a full minute, creating the weirdest and most depressing credit scene ever.
Poster Design
I also designed these cool posters.
This was a collaborative effort between Marisa Molson and myself, and the title font was designed by the incredibly talented Veronica Czaja.
