This week found me completing the illustrations for the final section and adding motion to them. It was also to once again look at the project as a whole. I wanted each section to be distinct, but to also work as a cohesive piece. More on that later….
The Fox in America section was fun and also a challenge. The story for this one is a tale from the Ho-Chunk tribe (sometimes known as the Winnebago) of North America. This tribe has occupied the northern Mid-West of America for millennia. My grandfather lived in northwest Wisconsin, and I spent many summers there as a kid. I wanted to capture the dense pine forests and rolling hillsides I remembered, and visually depict the bleak winter landscape I had only seen in photos.
The fox discovers a Ho-Chunk village in the chilly late autumn.
Another challenge in this section was that it required quite a bit of dialogue between Little Fox and a recently deceased member of the tribe. It was fairly simply to create a separate layer for each character’s jaw and then situate the anchor point so that it could move with the voice over using Rotation keyframes. I took this opportunity to let the fox break the fourth wall and make subtle gestures and facial expressions to the viewer.
Little fox gives us a glance when speaking to the ghost.
With this section mostly complete and in motion, it was time to address the overall piece. After some feedback, I dropped the black title screens in each section and instead opted for a small banner that quickly moved in and out from the bottom left. This allowed for additional scene-setting without slowing down the story.
Location and date in animated paper banner
Another issue I will be addressing in the following week is consistency in style. As mentioned before, I want the sections to be distinct but cohesive. More than I expected, this plays into the level of detail in the illustrations. Note the difference between the two frames below, one from Greece, one from Japan. In order to make things look more uniform, I need to bring these two styles a bit closer together.
People of Thebes in the Greece section
Kitsune and her unsuspecting victim in the Japan section.
Along with uniformity in style, I need to address the overall audio. With voice over, music, and effects now in place, I need to ensure levels are set correctly. I am struggling a bit with the back and forth between Premiere and Audition, but hope to get these things ironed out shortly.
The introduction is another section that needs something. The screen recording I spoke about next week is neat, but doesn’t warrant the screen time it gets over the entire intro voice over. I want to keep the general effect, but add something that really hooks the viewer’s attention. I have some ideas that require some experimenting.
All in all, everything is in place, but stylistic adjustments need to be made. With the exception of the intro sequence, I feel that the coming stages of this project will be based around smoothing out rough edges. It is satisfying to see everything in order, but it is clearer than before what needs work. I hope to have a more polished (and better sounding) fox stories for next week.
Until then, happy daylight savings! My pets unfortunately don’t observe it.