Numerous points were raised during the pitch day concerning a number of aspects with my idea to the panel. Primarily:
-Whether I will be living up to getting the Maya-Part done.
-Finding the best possible way to retain the stylisation as the idea transcends from 2d stills into 3d animation.
-Controversy surrounding the
Lymphocyte's physical character traits.
As I've hit the point in which I've nailed the idea down I will be aiming to essentially spend almost every single day to make this final animation shoot for galaxies beyond moons. I'm interested in seeing this project complete considering the ambition I have towards it.
In terms of stylisation I've mentioned some possible paths I may be taking in terms of that in my
last blog post. Saying that, Kay, Andriana and Paul have been helpful in regards to idea, direction and general feedback within this aspect so I'm confident in solidly nailing it soon. I'm aiming to get a specific and polished idea of what I want to achieve by the end of this week, if not earlier.
In regards to the Controversy surrounding the
Lymphocytes physical character traits:
It's worth mentioning again that the demographic that this animation is directed towards is Primary School Children, From the ages of 8-12.
The controversy during the pitch was that the physical characteristics of the Lymphocyte's character design, specifically the Minigun and Cigar, has the possibility of being too offensive for this animation's key demographic.
I was given numerous alternatives:-
- Choosing an older demographic - Which I strongly dislike, it runs the risk of not being nearly as interesting from an artistic merit. As well as re-doing the script as I would possibly have to go into greater detail with the technical aspects of fighting infection within the body. Essentially I would be starting over again, if not trying to recycle and build upon what I've currently have.
- Removing the Cigar and the Minigun completely. - Which I believe will lose a great (if not all) amount of character personality. The primary focus point of the Lymphocytes within this animation is that they are the big climatic badass heroes within this animation. It's like an Arnie
carrying a tree trunk over one shoulder. Removing it would make the character as dull and awkward as Michael Cera.
- Removing the cigar and turning the minigun into something else - Like a
Nerf Minigun which runs the "Play it Safe" method. I dislike this as although it will lower the controversy, I can certainly predict a huge.. huge blow to the attraction within my key demographic.
- Remove the cigar and keep the Minigun. - To be fair, I'm lenient with removing the cigar, as it's a trait that seems to serve as a compliment to holding a big weapon. So I'm "on the fence" with this one
- Be stubborn and do nothing. - I like this idea. However, as well as keeping the lovely constant buzz of controversy - showing primary school children characters with Cigars and Big Weapons, there runs the risk for potential loss of client base within the demographic. Children may love it but Parents and Teachers (dependant on how lenient they are with violence and smoking) may not. This is important as I'd imagine the method used to push this animation out will be crossing upon Parents and Teachers at some point, what is more concerning is that they will also have the dominant voice in if Children be allowed to watch it or not.
