Allison Simonette
Animator 3D Modeler Storyartist
Potion Commotion
BFA thesis by Allison Simonette
Thesis Statement
Visual learning is important for young children and even teens as it makes it easier to understand concepts and morals through storytelling. Children mimic what they see, so it's important for lessons to be easily understood.
Proposal
Create a 3-3 ½ minute short to teach lessons through animation for a young audience. Frame by frame animation done in ToonBoom Harmony Advanced, used alongside symbol animation used on specific props to keep proportion and animation easier.
Logline
When a young witch accidentally turns her sister to stone, she must overcome her impulsive decision making to change her back
Animation
How does visual learning come into play?
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Positive and negative transfers, These are elements of learning geared towards understanding material. There's a difference between knowing information versus just saying you have an understanding of it.
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Positive transfers refer to how well information is retained and vice versa for negative transfers.
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Motivation to learn
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Depending on what level someone’s at should determine the level of difficulty.
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That difficulty should push the recipient to want to learn and progress further
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So what’s this mean regarding children?
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Children mimic everything they see and hear. Learning opportunities have a greater success rate if if the experience is visual, tactile, or interactive. This can be beneficial for learning social behaviors and etc.
Inspiration
It all started with an idea. what was my story? originally it was an action-packed magical adventure, however, it wasn't working so I simplified it. I wanted to create a short film for a younger audience so I looked into shows for younger viewers. The goal of my film was to be able to explain the importance of taking your time and having patience, as well as cause and effect essentially. I researched how visual development works in young children, then took a look at many of my favorites growing up in the 2000s and 2010’s such as Gravity Falls, Infinity Train, Steven Universe, Hilda , and ChalkZone
Character Designs
Saige is your typical annoying little sister. She’s impatient, impulsive, and doesn’t like being told what to do.
Final Character design
Luna, on the other hand, is more mature, and a bookworm. She enjoys following the instructions and tries to keep everything on track.
Final Character design
Backgrounds
The backgrounds needed to be charming to match my characters. however, it needed to be different enough that the characters blended in but didn't get lost. Originally the setting of my film was outside in the sister’s backyard. this didn't make much sense so I moved them inside. There was an attempt to use a 3D background using Toonshaders, however, that didn't work so well and I made the decision to keep the backgrounds painted.
I research what location would be suitable for my story, and I came upon a small town in England that was perfect. I also decided on vault ceilings to add more of an attic feel to space.
Storyboards
The storyboard process was quite long. A multitude of revisions to the story later and I stumbled across the storyboard that finally worked. One of the most difficult parts of this process was figuring out the setups for gags and the pacing for the film itself
Props
Props are an important aspect of my film as they cement you into the world just as much as the environment itself. I used a lot of references found on Pinterest, and in the world to create the ingredients and types of bottles. Luna has 5 transformations throughout the film. Stone, stone horse, stone pegasus, a lamp, and confetti. Originally the props were going to have black linework then I changed the concept to be more lineless to fit the scene better.
