Assignment 5: Thumbnail Storyboard Exercise

Early in the week, the facilitator will assign a synopsis to you for creating rough thumbnail boards to establish visual direction (that was assignment 4). Create the thumbnail boards, scan them, and post them to the appropriate Discussion Thread, by Day 5.

Review and critique the thumbnail boards of the student to whom your synopsis was assigned and provide feedback on how well your idea was captured by the end of the week. Also suggest improvements.

Assignment 4: Synopsis Exercise

Think of a small story that can be told by a 30 sec - 1 min animated sequence. Write a synopsis of this story including the basic elements of storytelling as described in the lectures. By Day 4, post the synopsis to the appropriate Discussion Thread.

NOTE: you will storyboard this for assignment 5.

Author: Sean C. Madigan
Date: Jan 13 2006 12:16AM
Subject: Sean's Synopsis
Message:

This is a part of a story line I have been developing for one of my favorite songs that I hope to animate someday. Music that I really like tends to inspire me more then anything else. The topic of the story involves another favorite of mine, the computer game Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries.

A mercenary unit is being brought to the planet Solayce 3 to help protect a group of terra-formers from invading pirates. On their way they receive word that the settlement has come under attack from the pirates and the mercenaries are needed ASAP. Their meager defenses and little-to-no training won’t stand up long against the ferocious fast method of the pirate’s invasion. Fortunately the mercenaries are just about to enter the planets atmosphere and are prepping their mechs for the high altitude drop from the transport ship to the surface. Mechanics and engineers move quickly and decisively throughout the hanger, loading weapons, attaching drop jets to the mechs without built in jets, and performing final checks on the computer systems. The pilots are performing the visual checks of their mechs and entering the cockpits for final drop checks. One way transmissions from the surface are being piped into the cockpits to give the pilots what little information is possible about the conflict below. The mechs start to shake with the turbulence of the transport ship entering the lower layers of the atmosphere. They are almost to their drop altitude as the mechanics and engineers evacuate the hangar. Once those hangar doors open, unless it’s nailed down or weighs over 20 tons, it’s sucked out of the ship. The flashing red lights turn green to signal all hatch doors are secure and the captain’s voice can be heard on com’s. His voice sounds solid and undaunted by what awaits them below. This helps to soften the edginess in the other pilots. The signals roars through the hangar and the doors open. Even though the mechs weigh from 30 to 80 tons, the sudden air pressure change jolts all of them. The pilots move to the edge of the hangar floor and prepare to jump, just waiting for the signal from the captain. A sudden roar comes across the com’s, “NOW!”, and all the mechs step off the hangar floor into the air……..

To Be Continued………