Diorama Animation
Overview
To create a 15-second diorama with a topic/theme of choice. The diorama needed to include at least 12 key-framed items and fade in/out from black.
Research
The first step of research/brainstorming was to come up with a concept or story that could be 15 seconds long. I brainstormed some ideas of what assets I would want to create to make it fun and interesting. I knew I wanted my style/theme to be building all my assets in illustrator for a “PBS” look to it. The idea of something under the sea came to me so I researched cartoon scenes and started to think of “characters” and “assets” I can create and made a mood board.
Design Process
After coming up with an idea, a hermit crab changing his shell and swimming away on a sea turtle, I created a storyboard to map out each frame of the diorama. This shows each key point of what is happening throughout the diorama, along with notes of what is going on and if I want to include any audio in each part.
Next, is to create all my assets needed for the diorama. I built mine in illustrator. I created my ocean floor first and made multiple layers knowing I was going to parallax it in after effects. I then created the plants, fish, and seashells. I made the hermit crab and the turtle as well.
Challenges & Solutions
One of my biggest challenges was figuring out a way to make the hermit crab change his shell in an easy manner. The solution I came up with was to create another asset of just the body of the hermit crab, just a roundish red ball. I solved this by having the hermit crab walk away from his old shell and when he got to the new one his body disappeared and I had this red ball in the hole of the new shell to look as if he was crawling inside then his whole self reappeared as if he turned around and came out. I then added a “pop” sound effect to give it a fun and relatable sound to the action.
Final Outcome
The final composition is a 15 second diorama of a shell falling into the ocean floor, landing on a turtle’s shell. A hermit crab comes along and changes his shell then doesn’t realize he’s on a turtle and it wakes up and swims away with the hermit crab riding on his back. I found and included sound effects and music to fit a childish, fun vibe and wanted it to be a vivid, cute animation.
