PROTECTYOUR

THINGS

SOYEON LIM / THESIS 1 / FALL 2011 / JUN SASSA

THESIS 1 : FINAL DOCUMENTATION

CONCEPT

My thesis project is a public service announcement campaign, delivering an essential, but often forgotten message which we should all embrace: "Protect Your Things". The term "things" refers not only to material property that one owns, but also personal identity, relationships with other people, the environment, moral values and such.

GOAL / INTENT

The primary goal of this project is to deliver a thought provoking message through simplicity. One of the core ideas of the project, the strategy of building acquaintance using repetitive characters, is not to only make the message more relevant to children but is also an idea that takes the advantages of simplicity to tackle a straightforward but thought provoking message. Another goal is to build around the cause and effect plotting which is a simple yet effective strategy for a pedagogical delivery.  

- - - - - - - - - - -Even though the visual aesthetics and the tone of the animation may be playful the animation will not only target children but also adults because the "things" directed in the contents of the animation will be things that all ages should be mindful and protective of. 

RESEARCH / PRECEDENTS: CONTENT & STRATEGY

THE ‘STUFF ANTHEM’ NORTON

SAFETY @ WORK 2009 BRONZE AWARD

MTV: PSA SUFFER

THIS VIDEO CONTAINS A WELL THOUGHT OUT MESSAGE OF HOW WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF GETTING OUR ‘STUFF’ RIPPED AWAY FROM US.

THIS PSA USES A ‘CAUSE AND EFFECT’ PLOTTING. THE VIDEO IS SHORT BUT HAS A FULL PLOT, A FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT AND A LESSON.

IN THIS VIDEO, THE WOMAN IS DEPICTED AS EARTH AND DAMAGES ARE DONE TO HER. THE MESSAGE IS THAT THE EFFECTS OF WHAT WE DO TO THE EARTH CAUSES DAMAGE DIRECTLYTO OURSELVES ALSO.

RESEARCH / PRECEDENTS: CONTENT & STRATEGY

SESAME STREET: CONSERVE WATER

PILLS

THIS VIDEO SHOWS THE DIRECT CONNECTION OF OUR HABITS AND THE TROUBLES IT BRINGS TO NATURE. THE RESOURCES WE HAVE ARE ‘PIPED’ DIRECTLY TO NATURE THUS ARE LIMITED SO WE SHOULD CONSERVE.

THE PSA IS DELIVERED CLEVERLY ON ONE SET STAGE. THE NARRATION TELLS THE STORY IN A CAUSE AND EFFECT FORM.

ELEPHANTS PSA

THE PSA USES A FUNNY METAPHOR TO REFERENCE SOME STATISTICS.

RESEARCH / PRECEDENTS: STYLE

RE:PLAY FILM FEST: BUCK “LUMBER JACK’S WOOD FEST”

OTHER

FROM LEFT(CLOCKWISE):

YOSHITOMO NARA,HIDEAKI KAWASHIMA- I want to use characters that can be coordinated to fit all age groups.

MONSTERS- I want to use non-human figures for mycharacters but not animals or insects...Most likely monsters.

INDIAN FOLKART- I wish to use patternsto bring more textureto my graphics.

THE ANIMATION IS FUNNY IN TONE AND ALSO HAS VERY EYE CATCHING ASSETS. ALSO IT HAS A FULLY STAGED BACKGROUND.

ANTI- MARIJUANA PSAby AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

THE TRANSITIONS OF THIS PSA ARE VERY CLASSIC AND CLEVER, SUCH AS THE USE OF A SMOKE IMAGE WRAPPING AROUND THE EYE WHICH THEN LATER BECOMES DISTORTED, SHOWING THE LITERAL EFFECTS OF MARIJUANA USE.

MINDMAP

NARROWED DOWN TOPICS

After refining my thoughts through the mind map exercise, I came to a better and clearer thinking of what it is that I really desire to do with the thesis project. I have moved on from thinking broadly of what I wanted to approach to narrower conclusions of what I wanted to make and where I am standing with my abilities. I have not only found my standing point but now that I have pulled out a visual map of my thoughts, I also know what it is that I want to shoot for besides the abilities that I already have. Since I have worked previously on product commercials through some storytelling, I wanted to extend on the thought of telling a story with something that substitutes the product.

PROCESS : THOUGHT GATHERING

The very first questions about THESIS : What do I want to do?...

What kind of narrative can be effective/ suitable for the style?Should it deliver a firm message?Or should it be left as a narrative for entertainment?How fictional? Or how much should it mimic the real life within its limitations?How much detail? Mat or rich?Style?How much detail to the vector shapes?Lines applied to the illustrations to mimic the tactile style or kept as obviously computer generated work?Color scheme? Variety or kept at a limit?How 3 dimensional? Shadows?What effects can be created to emphasize force and action?Transitions? Cam movements, cuts, following an asset?Characters?What sort of character would deliver the narrative well in this style?How much movement or focus of the character is needed?Should it even be the character that delivers the narrative?Should the appearance of the character be limited?Or how much detail should be applied to the character?Should the character be out standing from the background? Or kept blended with it?Plot?What kind of atmosphere/ impression should be presented through out the first scenes to the audience?Does the story take place during the night or day? Does this even matter?How long is the time lapse of the narrative?Any voice incorporations?A narration or speaking characters?How dramatic should be the contents of the climax?Does the ending resolve a problem or left as is? Or does it lead to larger troubles?

PROCESS : DECISION

After more research and following the class's advices, I have found an interesting area I want to explore and pitch- PSA. PSAs feel like a mid point between commercials and narratives. I feel like it is a smooth way for me to translate from my original base to a new plate. PSAs substitute what would be in a commercial, a product, with a message.

PROCESS : THOUGHT ORGANIZING & DEEPER RESEARCH

PROTECT YOUR ______________.

IDENTITY

KEYWORD- “PHISHING”You are browsing wrong!

People can take steps to avoid phishing attempts by slightly modifying their browsing habits. When contacted about an account needing to be "verified" (or any other topic used by phishers), it is a sensible precaution to contact the company from which the e-mail apparently originates to check that the e-mail is legitimate. Alternatively, the address that the individual knows is the company's genuine website can be typed into the address bar of the browser, rather than trusting any hyperlinks in the suspected phishing message.

Ex. of the trustful: PayPalNearly all legitimate e-mail messages from companies to their customers contain an item of information that is not readily available to phishers. Some companies, for example PayPal, always address their customers by their username in e-mails, so if an e-mail addresses the recipient in a generic fashion ("Dear PayPal customer") it is likely to be an attempt at phishing.

Tricks are used to get you hooked... A link provided by an email from a bank with an embedded logo in the content and some words with warm regards 'for your safety' may seem trusty.

EXAMPLE

PROCESS : THOUGHT ORGANIZING & DEEPER RESEARCH

PROTECT YOUR ______________.

ENVIRONMENT

KEYWORD- “WHY NOT RECYCLE”THE TOP 5 REASONS WHY PEOPLE DO NOT RECYCLE

1. “Recycling is inconvenient.”This seems to be the number one reason why people don’t recycle – they don’t want to put in the extra effort. Some places have no pick-up. Some people say that they just can’t be bothered. Is that a good enough reason?2. “I do not have enough space in my home to recycle.”The lack of space is an issue for many. People don’t want to see garbage and with little storage space for recycling bins, the trash is an eyesore. Is that a good enough reason?3. “If they paid me, I’d recycle.”Some countries fine people for not recycling. Some regions pay for just bottle recycling (we know that works). Some areas have no penalties or incentives for recycling. Is that a good enough reason?4. “Recycling doesn’t make a difference. So why do it?”Misinformation about overflowing landfills, depleted resources and climate change has convinced some people that recycling doesn’t make a difference. They believe there is no problem. Is that a good enough reason?5. “It is just to hard to do.”Since there are so many facets to recycling – bottle, plastic and paper, it’s hard to decipher which kinds go where. Is that a good enough reason?

SOURCEhttp://www.care2.com/greenliving/5-reasons-why-people-dont-recycle-and-5-reasons-they-should.html#ixzz1bepI10Oi

PROCESS : THOUGHT ORGANIZING & DEEPER RESEARCH

PROTECT YOUR ______________.

BELIEFS

KEYWORD- “WORLD”PHOOLAN DEVI

This is a photograph of Phoolan Devi (a.k.a. The Bandit Queen). What I connotated From this portrait of her was the irrelevance of her young face and the bandit wearing she has on- the bullets, weapon and the thick bandana. Despite her youth, her world has dressed her up that way. Even though she earns the name Bandit Queen, she was to put on the heavy band of bullets around her chest to symbolize her insecurity and also as a form of a shield for her heart. After so much horrifying experience in her life I don’t think it was a choice for her to hold a rifle and to dress like a man in her male domesticated environment. And yet all the things she did were not only for women’s rights but also for the rightful governance for the people in her country. It is hard to imagine how over weighted the bullets may have been for her small shoulders but had no choice but to wear them to protect her outstanding beliefs. Even today, it is a law at most countries to be giving the same weight of rights to women, however, there is a hidden power overdrawing this matter at times, as Feminism is still a topic questioned and discussed as an issue not history and as this may be an old saying but is not “yet” outdated- “Breaking through the glass ceiling”.

PROCESS : THOUGHT ORGANIZING & DEEPER RESEARCH

THE MATTED VERSION OF RESEARCH-

SO “WHY?”

Your Environment - Why not recycling? (Individual scale)1. One person doing it isn't going to make a difference anyways..2. I'm not forced to, so why? - some areas fine people but for those who have no penalties they don't bother to recycle.3. I don't have time or space in my house to do so.

Your Family & Friends1. Afraid of your family issues (like fights which is something you do not want to tackle) interfering with your personal life and time - you have enough going on in your life.2. Too busy achieving personal goals so family and friend matters become secondary.3. The existence of the family and friends become so natural to you that you forget or do not imagine life without them.

Beliefs - Why do we not speak up?1. Conscious of others' judgement of you / Because you want to avoid being isolated from a group.2. Why should I be the one to stand up when eventually someone else will- not wanting to be the one to be taking the responsibilities once the belief is neglected or turned away by the majority.3. Afraid of the outcomes (often the consequence because it may cause interference with the law) or governance.

Identity - We mean to protect but we easily expose our identity to strangers, why?1. Online- we trust too much; we often expect that places like banks to have stronger surveillance but it is them that 'phishers' use the most to get us on hooks- they take advantage of our anticipations.2. It is hard to avoid tempting ads- this maybe due to curiosity or the hope that the ad will really bring advantage to you.3. And then there is the case where your identity is stolen by a theft forcefully even though you did not attempt to give it out.

WHY? Some research was done to better improve the “cause” portion of the plots.

Your Environment - Why not recycling? (Individual scale)1. One person doing it isn't going to make a difference anyways..2. I'm not forced to, so why? - some areas fine people but for those who have no penalties they don't bother to recycle.3. I don't have time or space in my house to do so.

Your Family & Friends1. Afraid of your family issues (like fights which is something you do not want to tackle) interfering with your personal life and time - you have enough going on in your life.2. Too busy achieving personal goals so family and friend matters become secondary.3. The existence of the family and friends become so natural to you that you forget or do not imagine life without them.

Beliefs - Why do we not speak up?1. Conscious of others' judgement of you / Because you want to avoid being isolated from a group.2. Why should I be the one to stand up when eventually someone else will- not wanting to be the one to be taking the responsibilities once the belief is neglected or turned away by the majority.3. Afraid of the outcomes (often the consequence because it may cause interference with the law) or governance.

Identity - We mean to protect but we easily expose our identity to strangers, why?1. Online- we trust too much; we often expect that places like banks to have stronger surveillance but it is them that 'phishers' use the most to get us on hooks- they take advantage of our anticipations.2. It is hard to avoid tempting ads- this maybe due to curiosity or the hope that the ad will really bring advantage to you.3. And then there is the case where your identity is stolen by a theft forcefully even though you did not attempt to give it out.

PROCESS : THOUGHT ORGANIZING & DEEPER RESEARCH

- DEVELOPING NARRATIVES -The main pin points of this project is to use simplicity but not loose the creativity,target all age groups and have a unified concept for the entire series. The very firststep in developing this series was to mat down all three plots before getting into any sort of composition framing or creating visual assets. The first few dives were made for the drafts (at first it was four topics- the three listed above plus ‘Beliefs’). After reviews, the fourth topic, Beliefs, is dropped from the list because it did not meetthe tone, in terms of content, of the other three. So in the following rounds of reviews,it was focused on three settled topics. Some pushes and pulls were made to bestmeet the main goals of this project. With effective peer and intructor reviews, the plots/ scripts found their forms. The plotting/ scripting serves as an essential bonestructure for all the upcoming steps.

DEVELOPING NARRATIVES

PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY.

IDENTITYMon is surfing the internet for job openings.Mons sighs deeply when he can't find jobs to meet his needs. Then he receives an email from the bank.An envelope pops up on the screen. The logo on the envelope looks a tiny bit different but Mon does not even catch it and without hesitating he opens the mail by clicking on the envelope icon.When he clicks, the envelope pops open with comments such as 'It looks like you are short of money' 'Well, we can help!' And then a hand comes out of the screen.Desperate for some help, Mon grabs the hand and is drawn into the screen.He enters a peaceful forest and a friendly looking being (A being dressed in white Nigerian traditional clothing: Nigerian Prince Scam) appears.The "Nigerian Prince" at first politely asks Mon personal questions.But as Mon gives more and more answers the forest gets darker and creepier. Pop up windows with suspicious ads peek through the trees and electronic hands from the pop up windows try to grab Mon saying things like "Hey Mon, tell me a little about yourself too!"The being also become aggressive when Mon hesitates to answer and make attempts to escape.Now the prince is wearing a black Nigerian clothing and laughing at Mon. In the being's hands are Mon's credit cards. As the prince laughs his face morphs into Mon's.Mon is now running to escape the forest and at far he sees a red lit up box with a white 'X'.Mon runs and presses the red box and is spat out back into his room from a pop up screen.Mon is breathing hard still frightened.Then the message appears "Just click out of it! Protect your identity."

PROTECT YOUR FAMILY & FRIENDS.

For the following scenes, everything is in color but Mon is seen in black and white-

Mon comes home and as he walks in his mother asks him questions like 'did you eat?' and Mon not answering or listening to a single one, walks away and shuts his door.Another day...Mon’s dog greets him to when he arrives home. But Mon inconsiderably ignors the greeting and walks away. The dog sadly watches as Mon walks away.Another day...When Mon comes home from work, Mon's little brother tries to talk to him but Mon shuts the door on him cutting off his talking. His brother sighs at the door.Mon, from work, is awarded the 'Best Grocery Bagger’ certiifcate.The moment he sees the letter, Mon brightens up and is saturated to full color. Mon runs home and happily waves it in the air to show his family. He looks at his brother and his dog but they are in black and white and don't even bat an eye on him. Mon looks at his mom in the kitchen and waves the letter at her. She looks at him for a second and without any reaction goes back to her activity, she is also desaturated to black and white.The message appears "Be there for your family and friends and they will be there for you."

PROTECT YOUR NATURE & ENVIRONMENT.

Mon buys a bottle of orange juice at a newspaper stand on the street. He drinks it all right after he buys it and tosses it in the recycling bin but he misses.He stares for a second and walks away with a careless face. Mon is walking down the street and constantly he throws reyclable waste in the air without looking at where they are landing. Various wastes are seen being tossed and flown in air.The scale of these wastes get larger (ex.: from a paper cup to a television). Mon comes home and as he unlocks his apartment door, the wastes that he threw carelessly into the air earlier, pours down on him out of the sky. We from a back view, Mon's head sticking out from a pile of trash in front of his opened apartment door. We see Mon's face again and this time his expression has changed to a surprised one. The message appears "Dump your trash not your environment."

- STORYBOARDING -Since the bone structure had been set, it was time to add some skin. The storyboardsset more precise visualizations of the scripts. The process took consideration of angles, techniques that would aid emphasizing certain ideas, what can be done tobetter explain characteristics... etc.- Putting the words now into pictures. Multiple iterations of the storyboards were made. From instructor and peer reviews, necessaryques were added as well as effects and ideas to bring entertainment. The storyboardshave been tweaking and polishing to as much details to refine sceneries to bestpresent the plots and as well as the primary intent of the project. As much as additional layers were added for stronger storyboards, a good amount of dust wasalso swept away for the most clear and refined, self explanatory storytelling. The storyboards, following numerous rounds of critiques, suggestions then adjustments,are just about to be completed with a few minor tweaks. The following are the latest in progress works of these boards. The IDENTITY script storyboards have been approved completely and the other two, FAMILY & FRIENDS and ENVIRONMENT, have received some last suggestions, which are included in followed captions.

STORYBOARDS

PROTECT YOUR ‘IDENTITY’

PROTECT YOUR ‘IDENTITY’

STORYBOARDS

PROTECT YOUR ‘FAMILY & FRIENDS’ Suggestions made from the latest presentation: -Have the dog be non existing creature like its owners -The order of showing should be mom, brother then pet -Mon should wear larger headphones -Repeat the house and bus station views repeated to clarify that things are happening on different days -In the last scene have Mon drop his arms

PROTECT YOUR ‘FAMILY & FRIENDS’

STORYBOARDS

PROTECT YOUR ‘ENVIRONMENT’ Suggestions made from the latest presentation: - Instead of Mon picking things from his pocket have him be interacting with the objects (ex.: Mon eats a hamburger then throws the wrap, plays the trumpet then throws it). - Before the larger things, like the TV/sofa, have the things that Mon is tossing into the air be obviously recyclable things

PROTECT YOUR ‘ENVIRONMENT’

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

- CHARACTER DESIGNS AND STYLISTIC DIRECTIONS -Now that the storyboards are nearly complete, some stylistic approaches were takeninto consideration as the next step. Without losing the idea of having a full potential even for the background elements and giving some fun aspects to the style, characters were developed from studying various pre known animation styles(Doraemon, Q-Taro, Garfield...etc.) as well as considering the personalities of the characters of this project. Since it is known now what kinds of expressions and background images (plus props) are needed from the storyboards, some facial expressions were experimented also. The designs were also made considering how these would approach to the audience- for example, Mon needed a look that wouldevoke sympathy in order to have the audience be engaged and feel related to him.The following are primary designs of the characters that are currently still being studied and practiced to meet its best aesthetics to the content of the animation.

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

WINTER BREAK: Finish completing all assets- seperate layers for the characters’ faces and body parts, finish background props. Complete static background images- house, forest, streets Create style frames to present

WK 1 through WK 4: Animate IDENTITY animation.

WK 4 through WK 8: Start animating FAMILY & FRIENDS animation. Adjust IDENTITY animation as needed.

WK 8 through WK 12: Start animating ENVIRONMENT animation. Adjust FAMILY & FRIENDS animation as needed.

*On WK 9: Start collecting/recording and incorporating sounds *On WK 12: All animations done with sounds. *On WK 13: Open up the following two weeks (week of April 8 &15) for clean up (minor fixes, duration fixes, sound adjustments, credits...etc.)