A much bigger question for me was the line weight. I quite liked the idea of it representing a physical barrier. The boy is having to adjust to a new lifestyle, or even just finding that lifestyle, which goes hand in hand in finding one's identity in that as well. Lucky for me I had very recently watched the animated film The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales, which had a very lose line weight with a lot of empty spaces. This would perfectly represent the unstable situation the boy is in, so I decided to look at using a similar line for Reading Light.
(Folivari --)
(Folivari --)
From there I used a couple of drawings I'd already made and played around until I got to this:
On the right is the lined one, on the left a test shading I did.
This leads into another decision I made quite early on. The film would be in black and grey, low in contrast to look almost muddy. The reading light, which would shine on certain parts of the room from time to time would be the only diegetic light source. Wherever the reading light would shine, there would be a different colour palette used. My original idea was a warm orange/brown palette.
I was also playing around with the idea of leading the eye by using more or less detail in the line work and shading, potentially radiating from the reading light.
This is the first trial run of what a 'coloured' version might look like:
I didn't have much of a direction making this, what I tried to keep in mind was how the overall look of the room mattered, rather than the details and that I wanted to avoid colouring 'in the lines'.
Looking at this now I already realise that I missed some areas. I also don't like how empy the calls and the carpet looks. I might add some texture to the carpet and a few deliberate 'brush strokes' on the wall.
Looking at this a couple of days later, I also find that it might be too clear, too easy to see. I do want it to look quite flat. I might try to change the background to match the overall mid tone a bit more.
This is the new (and hopefully improved) version of the same still:
This is a lot closer to what I had in mind. It's all very dark and dull and through that lighter shades immediately draw the eye, like the bookshelf and the book itself. The light areas in his hair are not very obvious, but still help lead the eye to him.
The next two stills are from scene 6. They are the same frame, illustrating what the light from the reading light might look like.
This one (I apologise, it seems I exported this without a colour card, which is why it looks too dark. Imagine the majority of the image to look like the one underneath) reflects my original plan to use a orange/brown colour scheme. The problem I encountered was the fact that it struggles to fit into the rest of the black and grey colour story. I find that it seems to almost intrude. It might be because of the deliberately small amount of detail in the 'colour'. That is why I made the option below.
This version is still only in black and grey and the light simply makes things lighter and takes a bit of the contrast away. I find this version is a lot more pleasing to the eye, it looks more like one image, rather than a collage of colour stories. It's also makes it look very calm and settled.
That is why, for now, I decided to abandon the idea of introducing colour using the reading light and instead use it as you see above.
This does render the whole short film black and grey, but I am quite happy with that. I think the absence of colour helps concentrate on what is happening and again, carries a much more put together feel a lot of times.
It was suggested that I try to achieve a similar look by using a spotlight on After Effects. This would have the effect of a slight touch of 3 dimensionality and a softer and more consistent finish than hand drawing the light effect. However, because of that it might also stand out too much from the background. Because of the lack of time before submission I have decided to trial this idea with the first scene that I will animate. I will finish the line work and then play around with different settings of the (spot)light effect in After Effects. That way I can ascertain that it moves properly and does not stand out negatively from the hand drawn animation.
References
Folivari (--) The big bad fox and other tales. [Online] Available from: http://folivari.com/en/projet/the-big-bad-fox-and-other-tales/ [Accessed 30 December 2017]
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