brain stormings

Here are examples of team work and script and deign researches using "brain stormings"
(sorry for the French)

Story board

Personal story board:


Arnaud Boulanger's story boards:

Script atmosphere

The script takes us in the near future which is a challenge in terms of production design. Indeed, not only must it be in the near future but also in an environment that is an old subway station. So we had to make a lot of researches about subway stations, while trying to show the “abandoned” side of the old stations but in the near future. So, a lot of objects will refer to the future, like for example holograms or a special machine that is used to order burgers... Old items such as posters or buckets and rags will be kept in the décor. The most difficult part was to combine the past and the future while staying uniform and to let the essential appear. Nothing must be left at random and everything should absolutely bring something to the script. Almost all the objects in the station and inside the dining car will be studied and designed to handle with the following contrasts: futuristic / values / Past dirty.

There were a lot of researches for the ambiance and render style too on mainly pictures and others shorts films and animation films. But all these atmospheres will be introduced later in the short film production.

E.g.

Here are some rough atmosphere paintings:

Car design (inside)

For the inside of the dining car, a lot of research has been done on the internet because it is a particular design that is needed. Everything had to be converted into a restaurant, but later also in a home. A lot of documents and data sources were searched, for example to make the television, we wanted to get the old style back but we also had to add a touch of futurism. For the kitchen we wanted to base the design on a real French kitchen like the kitchen of the Pixar movie "Ratatouille" which helped us a lot in the conception of a lot of kitchen utensils. Using different kinds of materials we tried to make an old kitchen in a futuristic way. Of course, the used resources were completed by researches on Google Image and other internet sites. Concerning the characters, the psychological profile of the chef was a lot of work. For example, we decided that he would be born from an Italian and American family. In the décor, the American side can be seen with the burger, the fridge and cans. The Italian side is reflected by the design of the chef, like for example the cap, the sideburns and his head.



Here some sketches:

Chef

As this is a cook he must have good hands and forearms while being a little chubby because of his depression about work and his bad nutrition. To help refine this design we have looked out a lot of information concerning chefs and during the research, I thought it would be a good idea to imagine that he was now working for the new burger company as a delivery boy which would explain his outfit. Another example, to keep this kind of retro atmosphere, we thought he would be wearing Converse shoes, with reference the film “I robot”, throughout the film. Other big contrasts that we can notice on the Chef is the remote control that is on his sleeve, which is a symbol of the future and also his retro helmet that bring back the old values. In terms of physical characteristics, the fact that he is depressed is shown by the fact that he is slightly tilted forward. The character has to seem tired but still lovable. That is why his whole shape is not very sharp but to support the fact that he is very tired, his facial features are more pronounced. The fact that his bust is very large and impressive with a small head shows that he has some good in him, the size of his torso indicates that he can be very open to people. His legs being a lot smaller and thinner makes him seem not aggressive at all and makes him look a bit lazy. A last thing that I wanted to show is a very characteristic nose that is closer to an animals nose than to a human nose in order to make the character look more real. For this I was especially inspired by the drawer of Black Sad, Juanjo Guarnido and also by some Disney movies.

More examples of "Blacksad"

Other inspiration:

Sketches: