Initial Story Ideas and Character Designs

The story was built up from extracts from the book, and character designs were based on several character descriptions, these are listed next to the characters in the final designs in the character bible pages. The book opens with the feelings of loss and the traumatic incident, at first i storyboarding a brief version of the fist few pages of the book, however the traumatic scenes were too intense and didn't suit the emotional theme of this animation.

Printed Extracts of Bloody Love

Paradigm and the Five Stages of Grief

Once i had the basic story in mind and most of the extracts decided on, i began storyboarding initial drafts. below is an example, but the expressions and slow moving camera movements needed developed further.

Scenes i took out entirely were too off the topic or would've required a longer story which i hadn't the time frame to create. back flashes to memories or the actual death would interfere with the basic storyline that i already set out for the animation.

 

As the story progressed so did the stories dialogue. Ive included themes of the five stages of grief and a few of the key words i thought really portrayed the despair and worries of someone processing loss.
The dialogue/narration sums up the scenes and acts as it progresses.

Below are guides of both the class room and the house, this is how i planned and kept track of all the camera movements, therefore not repeating or forgetting certain angles.

 

Character designs were inspired by the book, however only a small handful of the books characters are shown. The emotive design and roll over effects were taken into account when designing these characters, due to the nature of the animation and its purpose. 

main character