COP3 Practical - Persp Thumbnails

After creating the flat perspective boards I was able to see how I could improve the storytelling of the composition through different camera angles and choice of composition to show the action in the frame.  Even though the flat perspective boards were kept quite linear in places, which I found extremely difficult to avoid, I was able to see how I could solve this problem with the next set of boards. 

I preferred the ending of this board compared to the previous flat perspective thumbnails. I didn’t like the overall camera angle of the chest being opened and revealing the content, I changed this scene considerably in these boards. For instance, using a low angle on the chest, made the merchant seep into the background creating a form of shallow space, emphasising the power and revealing a mystic tone to the treasure. Additionally, I changed the view point from looking through the key hole before one of the main characters reaches to open the chest. I quite liked this effect as I was able to use narrative retardation and a different form of framing to create tension towards the viewer. 

Notes:

+ Starting with the same first panel as the flat perspective boards, the beginning panel differs through the use of the camera following this bolt to the location of the tower, revealing the main characters of the plot, as well as setting the scene and main premise for the plot. This sense of perspective was inspired by both Pre-Raphaelite and Romanticist movements with their use of primary planes and framing of the panel. I used the primary planes to depict the illusion of depth that would tell the viewer the distance that the characters would have to travel, making the foreground and middleground bigger than the background plane enhances the illusion of depth. I was inspired by the Over the Garden Wall storyboards, through how they depicted the characters movements in the notes beneath the panel however I wanted to show this in a panel. I created a longer thumbnail frame to sequentially show the key walking frames of the characters as they reach the Tower.

+ The second board was influenced through narrative retardation and awareness of space much like the flat perspective boards, however I changed the angle of the camera movement to pan out higher and backwards so that the spectator was left peering into the frame through the window of the tower. I wanted to experiment with this effect, to see whether or not the viewer would feel disorientated or excluded from the rest of the information that could have been given if the camera stayed with the characters. This use of deep space worked successfully however from creating the merged perspective I contemplated that the overall the sequence would not work with the target audience that I initially intended. The effect did enhance the ambience of the scene and compared to some of the dark sequences used in Over the Garden Wall, I decided to keep this in.

+ Pudovkin influenced the later sequences in the boards through the silent dialogue that was shown between the merchant and the characters, in addition to using a triangular framing with the positioning of the characters to visually tell the audience who is involved in the conversation and who the characters are talking to/about within the silent dialogue. This use of triangular framing was inspired from John Martins positioning of characters and figures in his piece Manfred and the Alpine Witch, examined in my dissertation.

Referring back to Pudovkin, I used his form of editing narrative in experiment by cutting to the character, to the objective, back to the character and then the objective again. This worked surprisingly well as when I began to draw the sequence I was unsure of the results however this sequence shows the viewer exactly what the merchant is talking about to the main characters and his intentions. 

Board 1

Board 2

Board 3

Board 4

Board 5

Board 6