'Why did you do that , Richard?' 'Glad you asked. Heres why'.

I already knew a bit of the origins of my rhyme and with a bit of research and a peek at the other histories i still liked the idea of the black death. But instead of the standard plague story i wanted to put a twist on it... say, that perhaps the doctors, who i found out wernt really doctors but doctor rejects or trainees, were the cause of the plague in an attempt to further their own career. This is why they are portrayed as Mr. Rat and Mr. Flea, as the plague came on fleas upon rats. This theory of the rhyme being based on the plague is the most popular one but probably not the correct one my research uncovered. The rhyme being written 200 years after the initial plague. I also wanted to get across an idea of unstability. The bad guys dressed up (albiet unconvincingly) as good guys to gain your trust. I wanted the audience to be afraid of Mr. Rat and Mr. Flea. My animation style may look a mess but its based heavily on one of my favourite animators, David Firth, who uses a cross between photography and sketches to make a surreal atmosphere. This heavily impacted the choice of sounds i used, sticking to horror or creepy.

Thats why.

almost done.

just a couple of screenshots. i like the green and how it contrasts realy well against everything else.

some concept scenes and thier respective sillouettes

We all fall down.

These are some of John R. Dilworths works. His style is kind of gross and his characters rather unnatural. Id quite like to base Mr. Rat off of his style.

I traced some of Johns rat drawings to get an idea of how he shapes his characters. The most eye catching style is when the eye sticks out at some horrible angle. 

So i tried it on my own basic rat design from the last post and ended up with this sinister looking fellow.

Now weve got my near finalised storyboard. My final animation wont be exactly like thgis but it gives me a good basis for what i need to try and learn in the engine and what kind of images and backdrops i need to illistrate.

Ive tried to use a range of different shots and angles depending on what the characters are doing and what i want the audience to look at. Some are from the girls point of view for a more foreboding overpowering feel from the antagonists and some over the shoulder to make the girl seem more innocent.

I want the audience to want to yell at the girl to get away from the antagonists, to cringe when she interacts with them, as if she really obviously shouldnt be and the audience hate it.

Ashes, ashes...

I did some experimentation with some first gen concept sketches.

Let it be known theres even more notes and little sketches ive done... theyre in another book on the otherside of my room at the moment... so... you may get to see them later.

 Here we have on of the main Antagonists, Mr. Flea. Sketching Flea is going to be kind of difficult and even then it wont look as good as say... if i got a photograph of a flea and animated that! It would also clash horribly (awesomely) with the sketched Rat next to him.

 And this charming Antagonist os Mr. Rat. Flea and Rat are both the cause of the plague that the rhyme presumably describes. In this first idea the Rat and Flea are both masquerading as doctors during the plague, handing out posies (which were claimed to ward away the sickness) but the posies are infested with the plague and Flea and Rat are actually spreading it purposefully, whic is made easier by the fact they are believed to be doctors.

 General notes.

 My first idea, came to me in the shower, is a story abut a little girl who goes to the 'doctors' during the plague in 1663 (i think) to get help for her father. The doctors are Mr. Rat and Mr. Flea, who give her (infested) posies to take back to her father and keep her 'safe' from the plague, thus spreading the plague.

These here are a small experiment on how i can use text style to portray emotion and feeling without the sound of ones voice. The text will be different depending on what each character is saying and how they might be saying it, angry, scared, quiet, loud, etc.

These are some images of a flea i could superimpose onto a doctors robes to play Mr. Flea. It is my understanding that i would have to cut up the image in photoshop to allow me to animate the limbs of the mouth. 

And this is a good example of using different sections of photos to make an odd but effective looking character. This is from David Firths 'Not Stanley 4' (i think. It could be 5).

A pocket full of posies...

Seeing as text has to be a large part of the animation, instead of the characters talking I'd like to do something else. Almost like a silent movie. The leading idea in my brain space so far is if they open their mouth and text floats out. 

The text will have to be stylised in such a way that it portrays how the character might be talking. To maintain the creepiness I want I will want the text hand drawn but to look uniquely different to the environment and still easy to read. 

This one I love. 

Ring around the Roses...

Im liking the idea of Ring around the roses for my rhyme. i already know a bit about it and it fascinates me (mainly the black death theory).

I also looked into a couple of the others but still my brain is fizzing with creepy pasta for Ring a Roses. Especially considering the style of animation i want to emulate. A chap called David Firth.

David Firth is a Youtube animator who specialises in creepy animations. He uses a mix of styles to create an interesting feel to his videos, like the use of animating photographs into sketched or even microsofts 'paint' painted enviroments.

His works dont often make all that much sense.

Here is one of his most recent works. the unnatural way that he contorts a standard photo of someone aids in the awkward, scary feel of the animation. Its called 'i am not a serial killer'

And here is one of his older posts, mixing standard shape animations with scans and photographs of sketches or textures. The clash of noticeably different animation techniques (if thats the right word) is a sweet way of doing whatever it is hes doing and im going to try and emulate the feel of his videos in my own. 

Its called 'sock 4'