Major Project 1/Task 1: Proposal Development

03/02/2025 - 17/02/2025 (Week 01 – Week 03)

Shao Han / 0369187

Major Project 1 / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylors University

Task 1: Proposal Development

CONCENT

• INTRODUCTION

• TASK 1: PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT

Requirements

Process

• SUBMISSION
• FEEDBACK
• REFLECTION

INTRODUCTION

TASK 1: Proposal Development

Requirements:

For Animation Projects

1. Animation Title – A finalized name for our project.

2. Logline (50 words) – A short, compelling summary of our story.

3. Synopsis (500 words) – A detailed description of our story’s plot.

4. Story Theme – Identify the central theme

5. Character Description with Moodboard

• Provide visual references and a written description of our characters.

• Include:

• External Features (appearance, clothing, unique traits).

• Internal Features (fears, strengths, weaknesses, motivations).

• Want vs. Need (What does the character think they want vs. what they truly need to grow?).

6. World Description with Moodboard – Describe the environment and setting of our project, supported by concept art.

7. Summary of Story Arcs – Break down the major story beats, including:

• Inciting Incident – What event pushes the story forward?

• Three-Act Structure – How does the story develop from beginning, middle, to climax?

• Character Development – How do the characters evolve throughout the story?

8. Script (2-3 minutes) – Write a script for an introductory sequence or key scene.

Process

Week 1

I served as the director, animator and compositor in the team, and assisted when necessary. 

Since the theme of our work was proposed by the two art directors and approved by Mr. Kamal, the main script was created by them, and Yifan and I supplemented and improved it.

After confirming the theme in the first week, we asked Mr. Kamal for suggestions on the script. Mr. Kamal said that the script needed to be optimized and the content was a bit boring. We should add some interesting plots. We need made in-depth descriptions based on this.After that, add the content of the script to the file.

This is the draft document provided by us.

Week 2

My main task in the second week was to sketch the characters. Based on the references found by the two art directors, I started sketching.

Fig2.1 Character image reference,Week 2 (10/02/2025)

I first drew a rough image of the character and asked the team members to confirm and make suggestions for modification. During this process, I found that my understanding of the character image was wrong. The protagonist should be a strong man with a body shape similar to Tadashi. The character sketch I drew only referred to Tadashi's clothes, and his body was too slender.

Fig2.2 First character sketch,Week 2 (10/02/2025)

According to the suggestions, I widened the character's shoulders and made the muscles of his arms more obvious, making the character look more robust with an inverted triangle shape.

Since the protagonist is relatively young, I chose a brighter blue to highlight this feature and also to contrast with the red flames.

Fig2.3 Second character sketch,Week 2 (10/02/2025)

After getting the confirmation, I started to draw the rest of the character sketches. Because the protagonist is a firefighter, I need to draw his image in a fire suit. 

Since the clothing structure of the reference picture given by the art director is relatively complex and blurry, I found other clearer fire suit pictures on the Internet to assist.

Fig2.4 Clothing reference,Week 2 (10/02/2025)

After finding the reference, I started to sketch the image of the protagonist in a firefighter suit.

Fig2.5 Firefighter uniform image sketch,Week 2 (10/02/2025)

There is another important character in the story. He is a mentor respected by the protagonist. He is serious and steady. So when drawing the sketch of this character, I chose a darker color as the main color of his clothes to highlight the character's calmness.

Fig2.6 Mentor character sketch,Week 2 (10/02/2025)

Final character sketch

Fig2.7 Character sketch summary,Week 2 (10/02/2025)

Week 3

In this week's class, Mr. Kamal told us that we need to modify some content information in the ppt. What I need to do is to assist in modifying the pictures in the ppt to make the ppt more beautiful.

By flipping through it, I think there are fewer fire protection elements in ppt, so I can add some related patterns appropriately, so I found a picture of the flame on the network and extracted the flame part in Photoshop.

Fig3.1 Flame material,Week 3 (17/02/2025)

After extracting the pattern in Photoshop, I found that the width of the pattern was not enough, so I copied and adjusted it to make the pattern better fit the size of the text box.

Fig3.2 Pattern extraction,Week 3 (17/02/2025)

After resizing the text box, I found that the text accounted for a small proportion, so I found a simple firefighter profile picture in the material library and added it.

As the original solid color background is relatively monotonous, so I added the fire station picture to the background to achieve a harmonious picture by adjusting the transparency.

Fig3.3 Picture adjustment,Week 3 (17/02/2025)

Personally, I prefer to adjust the picture to be simple, so in the later improvements, I deleted some of the patterns that I thought were more complex, and replaced some elements that were simple and consistent with the theme. 

And modify the details, such as changing the rectangular text box to the rounded text box and changing the position of the characters to achieve the harmony of the picture.

Fig3.4 Detail modification,Week 3 (17/02/2025)

Later, I adjusted several ppt according to the above steps. Finally, I completed some of the ppt changes at the suggestion of other members.

SUBMISSION

Fig4.1 Ideation notes,Week 3 (17/02/2025)

Fig4.2 Proposal development,Week 3 (17/02/2025)

Fig4.3 Miro board,Week 3 (17/02/2025)

Fig4.4 Presentation slides,Week 3 (17/02/2025)

GOOGLE DRIVE LINK

FEEDBACK

Week 1

General Feedback：

The plot of the story is a bit monotonous, you can add some interesting content to make the whole story more attractive to others.

Week 2

Specific Feedback：

The character's appearance is not quite consistent with his age. Miles in the script is a man in his 20s. I can draw him more mature. The character image needs to have more memorable points so that the audience can remember it at a glance.

Week 3

General Feedback：

The slides can be made more beautiful, with some patterns added.

REFLECTION

Experiences

In this group project, I generally drew the characters. It was something modern for me and an opportunity to memorize. When I work with a group, I have to be make designs that coordinate how the group works and what they want.I too need to make beyond any doubt the character fits well within the story. I discussed the character's background, personality, and appearance with my team to ensure our design matches the story and animation style. This experience helped me get better at design and showed me how important it is to work together with others in animation projects.

Observations

Amid the extend, I taken note that great communication between group individuals is exceptionally critical for effective character plan. By talking with the journalists and others, I found that distinctive thoughts can rouse better approaches to make characters. The writers' conclusions made a difference me get it how certain characteristics can way better appear the character's identity. I taken note that in a group, everybody has their claim way of working and considering. In arrange to induce things done, it is vital to be adaptable and make changes when vital.

Findings

This task gave me imperative encounter in character plan and collaboration. I found that timely criticism and plan alterations are the key to progressing the quality of the work. Within the future, I will pay more consideration to group communication to guarantee that the plan meets the in general needs.