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Organised Mess (Animation JAM)

  • penspeare
  • Jan 13, 2022
  • 19 min read

Updated: Jan 25, 2022

I'm dedicating this particular blog post to the production and planning sides of the project. The odd bit of design might weasel its way in but, for the most part, this is where the actual 'making of' and process will be documented.

(Take me to the Character Design blog post!)

  • Working out a schedule to stick to though, rather than something strict, I'll set it up like a "To Do" list. I work at least twenty hours during the weekend, have class on campus all day on Mondays, and set up Wednesdays and Fridays as "study days" to make progress on coursework. Tuesdays and Thursdays are generally rest days in this case, however; occasionally I might have work, so the study days will sometimes be sacrificed as rest days so I don't burn out

  • Having weekly "To Do Lists" with general outlines of what to do each day (and can be picked up on if they aren't completed on the set day, but liberties shouldn't be taken here), so they can be ticked off. I'll work it out here before I figure out where to put it in regards to the blog, but before that I'll use the desktop version of Celtx to make up a full production project folder, which includes a a scheduling feature on an easily readable calendar

  • I'm really, really bad for procrastinating from work by doing other work; go from one thing to another, then back to the original task. Another reason it's better to have a bit of a loose "To Do List" than a strict timed schedule for me. I want to use something that works for me;

  • ((Monday 15th November: Shot list; Designed mood boards; Storyboard thumbnails))

Initial proposed shot list

  • I'm worried it'll look boring with just two shots, so I'm considering shaking it up a bit:

  • Wondering if I should include an establishing shot at the start;

  • Drawing out the thumbnails earlier (15/11/2021), I was wondering about adding different shots in the middle to make it a bit more visually interesting. Conversely, I don't want it to detract from the rest of it in the false hope it fixes something that isn't actually broken;

Calendar schedule made on Celtx with its production features

I'm Getting Board of This

Minimalist shots is probably a terrible idea for someone who wants to focus on getting better at storyboarding, or making it one of their primary focuses but, in terms of being brand new to animation, I think it's better to be kind to myself and if I can keep things as simple as I can, then that's probably for the best. Instead, my focus is mainly on the art design, with particular concentration on the character conception stage, and developing the storyboards, despite the minimalism. It's a bit of a gag short, like early 2000s Internet cartoons where the shots generally remained static, and the animation was minimal and straightforward.


Although it is generally encouraged the vary the camera angle to keep what appears onscreen visually diverse, and to help it flow with the story, I am adhering to the advice of what I read in The Illusion of Life where, on page 53 it talks about the principle of anticipation, posing the question "is it funnier in a long shot where everything can be seen?"

I had attended some guest lectures on storyboarding, so I'll have a look at what they had to share as well.


Fergal O'Donnel expressed reason to consider the eye line. In his words, it was the idea that we're essentially all children and we should try to view the world, and subsequently the scenes, on the same level as them. I think this is applicable regardless, at least depending on what feelings you want to invoke with your piece because, as he stated, it keeps us "in the action with the characters" which is just right. We want to be able to empathise with the character on screen to a certain degree, as this also helps to suspend our disbelief and to therefore better enjoy the media we are consuming to, as Aristotle put it (or at least was paraphrased as such), it allows us to reach a state of catharsis.


Additionally, he notes how we should be giving our characters "space to move around and do their actions within the frame", which is further backed up by another guest lecturer, Sorcha McGlinchey, who talked about the use of "negative space [being] very, very important" for the likes of staging, one of the animation principles, and composition, as it "helps guide the eyes" and, after all, we are told time and time again to make everything onscreen as clear and concise as possible. Timing is everything alongside this, as with animation being such a quick medium, everything that the audience needs to see to allow them to stay with the story must be conveyed obviously. Fergal also talks about poses, how the action should be spaced out and that they should be "[kept] clear and concise"; they must be theatrical and larger than life. This is one of many reasons why staging goes so well with the animation principle of exaggeration. I'll talk about this more in the character design blog post that goes with this one, as it plays a huge role in it too.


Despite my piece being one continuous, long shot essentially, it doesn't necessarily mean that the storyboards won't be a useful asset to the making of it. Storyboarding is also about breaking up the script or sequence into individual actions, so every new action must be illustrated. Every new important aspect to note should be highlighted. Storyboards should serve as a visual method to walk us through the story and what is happening, so that includes: Motives; Actions; Consequences/Reactions, so anticipation will be focused on with its own panels (or "scenes", as they're known in animation storyboarding) to clearly and concisely demonstrate what is going on. I sound like a broken record here but, if you haven't already guessed it: clear and concise is the route we want to take for successful outcomes.



Guest lecturers on storyboarding:

Fergal O'Donnel "Give your characters space to move around and do their actions within the frame"

"Start poses and end them - space out the actions. Keep it clear and concise"

Erik Fountain - storyboard artist for Adventure Time

"Consider the eye line - it keeps us in the action with the characters"

Sorcha McGlinchey

"It's a good idea to think of characters' backstories to help with their design. Their character design should tell its own story, in a way. And so should their bedrooms/spaces. Explore different design ideas."

"Look into the psychology of colours"

"Look into colour temperatures for different times of day for characters and backgrounds, and also to reflect the mood of the character, or to dictate to the audience how they should feel"

"Sketch out basic scenes to see how they work to show the director"

"It's fine to play around with different styles during the development stages"

"Texture and shape language is very important"

"Negative space is very, very important for staging - as well as composition. It helps to guide the eyes"

"Composition - You want the images to be in harmony with, and to complement one another. Organise your mind, and allow it to be as clear to the audience as possible. It also adds a lot of depth."

"Mixing shapes, layered planes, midground focus, re-iterate form - framing to lead our eyes to what is intended to be looked at or focused on"

"Exaggerated foreground, exaggerated midground, interesting forms"

"Framing - consider your shape language!" "Colour Theory - General application of colour theory is the relationship between the colours on the page, and what makes them appealing"

Thumbnails detailing the main sequence of events in the JAM animation



  • Trying to work out the layout of the animation. It is, for the most part, one continuous shot, and what could appear in the scene

  • So far, I'm liking how the basic layout is

  • What about some personalised stickers on the back of Hedgehoge's monitor?

  • Some water with paracetamol to give better context to the scene?

  • I don't want to add too much so that it becomes distracting though


So, I drew out the animatic in Photoshop, then imported it into Adobe Animate with the mindset that it would be easier for me and therefore quicker, which it was a bit, but the file size is massive and too big to upload here even just as a gif, so I'll just throw in the stills as images for the time being (the animated gif is featured in the progress pitch found a bit further down in this blog post):

Digital thumbnails. I tried importing them into Adobe Animate, thinking it would make my life so much easier, but the file was HUGE!! so, it really, really didn't.

Slightly updated thumbnails with more annotations and camera direction

  • Talking to Sarah today (29th November 2021); think about a better establishing shot for the animation. It will not only make it a bit more visually interesting, but it will also better prevent confusing the audience if the PC tower isn't immediately clear to them

  • Zoomed out to see the room the character is residing in?

  • An exterior shot of the outside? Is it a studio? The character's home?

  • Sarah mentioned a title sequence, so that would be interesting too

  • At the same time, however, I sort of like the idea of it being a bit confusing at the start, so I might play around with that. I like the idea of a really mundane setting being engaged with by an interesting character (a colourful punk in this case), and open with a dutch angle. Make it more confusing! Then it's revealed to literally just be a stressed out punk doing office or PC work. This is probably a bit of a stretch regarding the them of Into the Multiverse, but I really like the juxtaposition of different worlds... even if it is only figurative. An eccentric looking punk doing a really mundane task. I started liking this idea as the premise of a series of shorts, akin to early 2000s Internet animations, like Foamy the Squirrel, Weebl Stuff, or when Newgrounds was in its prime before the rise of YouTube.

  • Not going to lie here, I've been bad and not been super strict to my schedule. That said, I've mainly been keeping it really general week by week. I've been using the schedule feature on the desktop version of Celtx as more of a diary than anything of what I've already done, or come to it on the day and add things in.

  • Mind you, I went in with the intention of keeping it a little vague so I could tick tasks off as I do them. In a way, I suppose, this is a good idea for future reference so I can get a better understanding of realistic capabilities and a better judgement of how to schedule myself in the future. Additionally, and either way, it certainly helps to figure out the process a bit better.

  • A lot of the time, the way I work can be a bit choppy. That is to say, I'll get bored with something, abandon it about halfway through, start another task, then go back to the first task once I'm bored or even frustrated with the second. I think this is a big reason I like traditional work a lot and use mixed media methods because I don't like the repetitiveness. I'm rambling a bit now though, but I will say that I've found the past few weeks a bit difficult with feeling tired. It doesn't help I'm not 100% confident with Toon Boom still either, so I find myself getting incredibly frustrated with it a lot, then I go off to do something else. It's both a flaw and a good thing depending on what way you want to look at it, because from procrastinating with one thing, I can be more productive with another. But, at the end of the day, the first thing still needs worked on

I was already halfway through making this when I thought to myself, "hey is there not already a downloadable template on Blackboard for this? or literally anywhere online?"

  • Still trying to work out the exact layout of the scene so I haven't drawn out the background just yet. The exact composition I'm working out as I go, especially considering I want to go with a German Expressionist aesthetic, and looking to Day of the Tentacle backgrounds as well as part of the inspiration for this. I want to warp and bend the background and props to frame the character, all the while adding a sense of weirdness to it all. At the same time, I don't want the framing to suffer because of it. I.e. bad negative spacing that detracts rather than adds (for example, there should be enough room for the character to convey their action and reaction. Here are the storyboards so far as I'm typing this. Some of the poses need work, but it gets the point across. Also, some of the action descriptions are a bit wordy at the moment, but it's more an annotation or notes for myself to take into consideration:

Page 1 of Hedghoge storyboards WIP

Page 2 of Headgehoge storyboards WIP

Started making some notes as I was trying to work out some issues and playing around with the composition:

Hedgehoge Storyboards (Page One of Two) annotated and amended; 2nd draft

  • Be sure to check the framing with both the Rule of Thirds, as well as the Fibonacci Ratio. They'll help to work out where to put everything if you're super stuck

  • It's kind of funny to me, the idea of the rotting into a Dutch Angle on the idle PC at the start, then her hand coming in... all implying something sinister or strange is afoot... then it turns out it's just a punk with a migraine headache doing a really mundane task. I love that sort of juxtaposition. There's something endearing yet hilarious about it, but that might just be me

Hedgehoge Storyboards (Page Two of Two) annotated and amended; 2nd draft

  • There's going to be (at the very least) a third page for these storyboards and, referencing the green annotations on the updated page two directly above, there are currently missing panels. I was, admittedly, being a little bit lazy and wanted to get the main panels out of my head and onto the page here

  • While I was drawing these out, I thought of a solution to the lack of anticipation just before the blast happens. I was worried about the blast happening completely out of nowhere and the audience being confused as a consequence to that. Initially I had only thought of the PC making "boot up" sound effects, but it would be much better if Hedgehoge actually reacts to that, as if to say, "oh, finally!", which is a good reaction, especially considering how long it takes to boot up in the first place; it adds a bit to the gag.

  • It blasts her face off mid-reaction but, of course, there is chance enough to get the point across so the audience is able to process her reaction




  • (08/12/2021) While I'm currently working on my storyboards, I'm remembering that I was going to originally write up a quick script based on the original comic strip, but ultimately decided against it, and stuck with the treatment on its own. However, I'm realising that it ended up being more board based, and that's fine. Due to the nature of it being highly gag-centric, ideas came to mind while I was boarding new panels. Steven Universe absolutely worked in this way, so find some sources to back this up!!

  • This is a good thing because a lot of the time I was wondering how to anticipate certain actions or reactions and what the follow through and overlapping action would be, but this is where the storyboards' importance come into play. Especially considering the animation is non-dialogue, which means there is no verbal communication whatsoever (with the exceptions of maybe an audible "sigh" or an inhale or exhale), so there is a pure reliance on body language, so anticipation is particularly important here.

  • Added more anticipation for Hedgehoge's reaction. First she reacts to the PC booting up. The audience can't see what's going on with the PC or the monitor visually, but we are given audio clues, such as the fan of the tower spinning, and the operating system starting up. Additionally, as The Illusion of Life states in Chapter 17: Acting and Emotion, we want to "show the change of expression that would reveal the character's thought process" which, I think, after the amended storyboards above and with the addition of the sound effects, will help communicate what the character is reacting to and her feelings on the matter as well. I also want to reference The Illusion of Life with the section Still Pictures and Limited Animation where they describe how "a picture that has no movement will go 'dead' on the screen in only a few seconds, no matter how compelling its elements [...] only two factors really can keep the footage 'alive': a story idea that moves the audience--" and this could something emotional, or simply even relatable, then the quote continues, "--or a soundtrack that has meaning of its own", which I mention because we will be hearing sound effects that imply that the PC is booting up. We can, however, also see Hedgehoge reacting to these sound effects, so we have an even better idea of, or confirmation of, what's happening, and soon what is going to happen. We see her impatience with her PC, then we see her reacting with relief that it's finally booted up. Again from The Illusion of Life, another section entitled Nine Economical Ways that Animation Can Build Emotions in the Imaginations of the Audience is the ninth point. It uses the 1955 Disney film Lady and the Tramp as an example, where it conveys a still image of the pound which "looks forlorn and mournful enough, but it was hearing the howling and barking and whining of the dogs that really told the story", that is to say, sound effects can really help convey and communicate what is going on onscreen to the audience. It sounds a little counter-productive (but it also filled me with a bit of ease too) considering this is animation, but limited animation in particular can benefit from this. As the title of the section states, it is economical but can build emotions or, rather, the story itself and carries it through to the audience clearly and concisely.


  • I got the idea for a much better anticipation for Hedgehoge's reaction to the blast for her eyes to start burning out first, to better ease in to that action. It also allows her to react to the light glare from the monitor, and gives the audience the change to prepare for what's about to happen!


  • I just need to polish them up now, and also refer to From Word to Image to make sure I'm making them to a good standard, especially formatting-wise, so they can be universally or more easily understood

The Industry Standard

I really enjoy looking through art books, if they are made available, of my favourite cartoons and films. I find it so fascinating to see how crews' brains work, and I like to draw similarities with my own habits, or pick up some new methods and techniques. Below is a few examples of storyboarding, thumbnailing, and brainstorming for Rebecca Sugar's Steven Universe:


Below is an example of a few storyboards from Tim Burton's Corpse Bride; in these shots, a dutch angle camera direction approach has been adopted, which complements the horror and elusive vibes that Corpse Bride has to offer. As I've mentioned previously and on numerous occasions, Tim Burton was heavily influenced by German Expressionism aesthetics, which is evident in these three storyboards alone when you consider how objects in the foreground warp and wrap around to help frame Victor and the overall scene, and adds further to the rotating, dizzy feel of the dutch angles. I really, really love dutch tilts, by the way.





  • I'm trying to plan what I'm doing on a week-by-week basis, as well as making note of any progress or problems I run into.

  • Life got a little bit in the way week beginning the 13th (well, it started the weekend before, but anyway), so I fell a bit behind this week. Came in on the 17th to do bits and bobs though, and review some of what I have, including the animation exercises. I feel a bit easier now, but will get back on it the week starting the 20th, as well as refining the animation exercises;

  • Ended up taking a two week break in addition to that because I didn't realise I needed written permission for specific dates and times to use the labs during the winter break. I work rotational shift patterns on a weekly-basis (please refer to "Hell" on the Celtx production schedule calendar) as well as managing my house, so it's a lot to juggle (this is one of many reasons I am (thankfully) part-time); I thought it was closed for four specific dates, and that I only needed to sign in/out of the building. That's what I get for skimming emails... so, that also put me a little bit behind. C'ést la vie, especially when you're as dippy as me; no point in fretting and better off focusing time and energy on things you can achieve, and work out what to do when problems arise. Panicking does nothing but puts you back further;

  • It's fine; I got some more research and reading done, as well as worked on some more design work to strengthen those areas a little. That said, I realised I'd neglected the background designs in favour of focusing entirely on the character design, and the storyboards themselves

  • Had a few instances where I had to use my old monitor-less tablet. This was... less than ideal, to say the least, but it's better than nothing, albeit incredibly frustrating to use

  • Below is a link to the "Progress Pitch" we did (uploaded on 3rd December 2021), which includes a really rough animatic. Though, to be honest, it's more akin to a super rough and basic animated storyboard. This was made before I'd fully fleshed out the boards:

The above contains some of the prep work or the pre-production work up until that point. Below is based on most of the more fleshed out storyboards I made after:

  • I used a combination of Adobe Photoshop, and Premiere Pro to create this rough animatic to get a general idea of how the timing should work. It was also to help me work out the staging and composition required; for example, how to frame the character, and how all the action within can be framed. It still needs work, such as warping the monitor and the computer desk around. I mentioned previously in regards to the German Expressionism-inspired backgrounds, such as from the old LucasArts Point and Click adventure games (Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max: Hit the Road) and how a lot of the background and foreground objects help to frame the main action and your playable character. It adds a playful eeriness to the scene which I find very interesting and cool;

  • I skipped the first shot or scene (according to Writing for Animation, panels are referred to as "scenes", and it's a strange adjustment coming from a Film and Television undergrad terminology-wise), and this turned out to be about 15 seconds long! Fifteen seconds is the absolute limit to what this should be! I even shortened the length of time each "scene" was exposed on screen, so the timing is a bit strange, or the anticipation may not be on screen for long enough. I laughed watching it back a few times though, so it's at least maybe, possibly on the right track

  • A lot of production work involves cutting things out. So, a lot of storyboard panels are often omitted in the final project if they just don't work, or due to timing constraints

So, as you've probably noticed, the animatic is currently without sound. It will help the timing and anticipation tremendously with the inclusion of appropriate sound effects, as they help as an audio cue as to what is going on in the scene, as well as complementing what is visually going on. A sound effect should occur, and Hedgehoge should react to it.

After all, as I've covered in the animation exercises blog post, Richard Williams noted how Bill Tytla described the "only three things" in animation:

  1. Anticipation

  2. Action

  3. Reaction

Sound effects play a huge role in this so, unless it was a silent film, it would be foolish to omit them. I looked into the video lecture Sarah provided to us on Lip Synching. Where my animation does not include dialogue and the lecture itself primarily is about speech, it does still include sound effects and the lecture also covers that. It mentions how dialogue, although it absolutely covers sound in a project in general: "[sound] will affect the timing, phrasing, and overall acting which you will be animating", which is just right. It is all about the audio cues.

It provided a link to free source sound clips on Free Sound, so I checked out.

I opened up my Word document with the shot list in it, and created a sound effects list just to give me something to look at, and work out exactly what I needed.


Sound effects list. The phrases in quotations were the fun things I typed into the Free Sound's built-in search engine!

Premiere Pro interface with the "Hedgehoge Has a Headache" animatic. Here's a view of all the sound clips I found, and subsequently chopped them up to sync up with shot cuts, play around with the timing, and to work as audio cues

Here is the first attempt with sound, and slightly amended timing (though it didn't do much but make it more fast-paced!):



She's supposed to be blinking out of sync, but it just looks like she's doing it really slowly. The finger tapping worked out nicely enough though!





I'm not really sure what's going on with her face lol but just playing around with it at this point to work out some squash and stretch within her facial expressions

I want to work on the animation more after the assignment, and maybe be a lot lighter on some of the constraints, such as the length, so it can give me better time to anticipate a lot of the actions (there is a lot going on in it, and it really hurts it in terms of being clear), but also give myself more time to work on background development for it. It's super basic at the moment, but it gets the general point across.

I'm going to copy and paste the description I put in for the video here for ease of access:


I didn't get it anywhere near as finished as I would have liked, but I managed to churn out what would be a pretty elaborate animatic, I suppose, so it gets the point across at least! Lots of character design elements and planning went into it behind the scenes, so that can be looked at on my blog (I'll link the two relevant blog posts at the bottom of this description). I really, really want to finish it properly at some point, because I was really enjoying how it was coming out. That said, the timing - more specifically a lot of the anticipation - is weak given the time constraints (10-15 second limit), though I may have just decided on doing way too many things at once while in the storyboarding stages. Too many gags, but I think the eye sizzling one is my favourite; the action that anticipates the face melting finale. I did like how the visuals go to black and the audio keeps playing though. I left that in because it made me laugh. I tried incorporating as much squash and stretch into Hedgehoge's facial expressions as I could, and tried having her react to the laser-glow of the monitor, and making that obvious. Staging was very, very difficult. The contents could really use with being sized down a bit so everything can fit better within the frame; it bothers me a lot that her hair doesn't fit within the composition as I had wanted, and I tried playing around with Toon Boom to get the desired effect, but it kept doing weird things so I ended up leaving it in case I made it worse. I want to start giving myself more little exercises and mini-projects to do to get better acquainted with Toon Boom Harmony; where I've been able to get used to the absolute bare bones with the two assignments for my Timing for Animation module, I'd love to be in a better, more comfortable place of understanding with it. That absolutely hinders my abilities, I think, and it becomes frustrating that I often feel a bit lost with the software even if I know what I need to do task-wise, and I find I'm easily overwhelmed with not knowing where to start looking with tutorials. Anyway, this little project made me laugh a lot. There's too much going on in it, so a lot needs cut (in fact, the opening shot was omitted entirely already!), or if I were given complete free reign of the task, I'd probably stretch the time limit out just a touch further to allow for more effective anticipation. The audio clips used were obtained from the free source, user uploading sound archive "Freesound.org".

(Take me to the Character Design blog post!)

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