Animation Project (Treatment, Schedule, Storyboards)

Treatment:

The idea for this animation project originally stemmed from a concept I had, which was technology vs. nature in that a humanoid army of plants would battle an army of humanoid machines.  I was always a fan of films like “The Terminator” in which machines take over and battle humans or another enemy.  However, I started to do research into the concept of humans fusing with technology and ascending beyond that of standard humans, thus becoming “post-humans” or “trans-humans”.  This is the primary concept behind the project.

            This project will be following the development of these “trans-humans” through starting with the modern developments of mechanical prosthetics and the use of machine-aided suits that magnify strength.  Following the display of these, the project will delve into the realm of sci-fi with far more futuristic machine parts and the fusion of human DNA with DNA that produce mechanical parts, then showing the growth of this quasi-human baby as an embryo, and then on an assembly line with other babies.  The actual full grown post-human will be shown, a line of them similar to the still standing front lines of a colonial British army.  Following this there will be a battle between the humans that refuse to change and these futuristic hominids, in which the cyborgs are victorious.  After the victory however, they start to get sick and begin degrading, de-evolving into strange, tentacle-like machines fusing together and losing a clear consciousness.  This covers the entire planet with machines that destroy all resources, trees, water, and air, all for their consumption.  The view of the planet is shown, which barely resembles the Earth we know now, with only grey and black being the primary colors and “antennas” on either side of the planet.

            All I know is that this is going to be extremely hard to create visually, but I am more than likely going to draw out most of these characters, creatures, and backgrounds through Photoshop and use the 3D camera in aftereffects to craft the world.  I plan on the entire thing being a 1-minute montage with constant cuts towards the next idea, with only music playing in the background, probably some sort of electro-industrial to capture the mood.  I may possibly delve into rotoscoping slightly, but that is doubtful and I plan to use primarily images drawn in photoshop and scanned/taken from pictures (more than likely for use in the background).  First thing I’m going to start with is tests on these final machines (which I plan on being difficult to create) and creating the backgrounds and landscapes.  The people will be the later additions to the project.

Schedule:

Oct 25: Create tests for the project on aftereffects.
Nov 1: Start creating backgrounds for the project using photoshop drawing and scanning.
Nov 8: Continue backgrounds and start working on the characters.
Nov 15: Backgrounds should be finished continue/finish working on characters, import into aftereffects.
Nov 22: All characters should be animated and everything should be completed in aftereffects, import to final cut.
Nov 29: Finishing touches on final cut (music, cutting, etc.)

Storyboard: