Environments

The whole animation is about Bea leaving a cold,grey world, and entering a world full of colour and light. I wanted to reflect this in the colour scheme and lighting.

In the beginning of production Bea started in her dull grey room, trying to make origami. The paper plane she threw out of frustration then lead her out into the world. This has changed a little bit now in the Animatic, and I've tried to minimise the amount of time she spends in her room at the beginning. I have also cut out the part of the story where she was making Origami because it complicated the story and meant a great deal more animation would be involved.

Also in the early stages I planned for a chase through a small maze of streets. This involved passing through a giant red Japanese gate, which I found a photo of in reference photographs a family member took on their trip in Japan. The chase has now been moved to an outside area that slowly gets more colourful as time progresses. This takes place along an overgrown path which Bea playfully uses as stepping stones. I also tried to get a sense of scale into the shot, much in the same way Studio Ghibli do with their environments.

Finally the Garden that is the most colourful, vibrant and lightest area of the animation. I originally wanted pools of water with a waterfall, and a big expanse to show. However trying to simulate water in that way doesn't play to my strengths. So I've reworked the scene into layers which can appear to be bigger and further away than they actually are. Are there is still water in the scene, but this can easily be a moving texture or a very simplistic simulation. I tried to get a number of Japanese Garden iconography in there too just to make it a more interesting composition. I will colour the final image once the Animatic is finished.

Now onto the Animatic! It's 80% finished so I will upload it soon.