The storyboards and Ideas

Ok, so they're a little hard to see. Sadly; most of my ideas are conveyed via pencil sketches, with the handy support of my super-duper mechanical pencil. On paper; I therefore have a nice set of drawings to work and get ideas from... but after scanning... well; I think you can kinda see the result! I'm other going to have to take a photograph of the sheets (Which seem to come out clearer sometimes), or attach them to the file on hand-in.

Nonetheless; here are the sketches for the ideas surrounding DiscoverBot and his amazing adventures!

The first ident involved the discovery of a good old fashioned red button. This ident was pretty much a "must". Though slightly cliche; the notion of finding a random, tempting button which created an unusual effect on pressing was too much of a tempting idea to pass up. The most fun was deciding what said button should do! Several ideas were chucked around; but I eventually settled upon a lovely little idea of the button activating an electromagnet. This immediately opened up the opportunity of having DiscoverBot's hands flying off (Much like the first test animation); and ending up with the poor guy getting stuck to the electromagnet himself. Seen as you can't really see it: Here's the storyboard breakdown:

#1 Blank Screen with a big red button conveniently at arm-height

#2 DB walks in; spotting the button

#3 "Ooh shiny! Must push"

#4 Nothing... Hmm...

#5 Hammer the button repeatedly! That'll do something

#6 Button-pressing hand flies off

#7 "???"

#8 Other hand flies off

#9 "!!!????"

#10 DB now caught too and is starting to get pulled away; naturally he struggles...

#11 ... not very well. Bye bye

#12 Camera pans to see DB stuck to an electromagnet (Cue unanimous "Aaaah; that's what it was!")

#13 "Can I move?" Let's see...

#14 WHAT THE!!!???

#15 Space Station pulled in by the magnet crashes into the ground; sending DB and magnet off flying

#16 Debris and dust settles

#17 Charred panel with 'Discovery Channel' (Nice rhyme there) crashes down into the floor

#18 Thumbs-up from DiscoverBot! Yay!

Everyone loves a good lever. Always one of the most fun objects to use in a computer game. They drop anvils! They open trap-doors! They look funky! Yes, get your lever today! £9.99. Batteries not included.

On that note; a lever was one of the next ideas in the line-up. A mysterious lever and more fun to discover? Oh how tempting! To up the anti, make the lever near-impossible to pull. Leaves more room for a few good laughs and animating fun. But like before... what to happen when it's pulled?

The initial idea was to have a giant TV screen open up out a trap door on the floor (I'm liking my rhymes today...). However... something in my surreal and over-cartoonified mind shouted something a lot more interesting at me...

#1 Blank Screen
#2 Camera pans to see DB rubbing his hands in front of this highly tempting lever
#3 Gives it a tug
#4 Nothing...
#5 Pulls with 2 hands!
#6 Nothing...
#7 Plunges his full weight into it and heaves
#8 Finally succeeds; launching himself off the lever in the process
#9 Lands back on the floor with a lovely little thud
#10 Recovers... the lever is pulled!
#11 And it does..... what exactly?
#12 (Cue another) WHAT THE-!?
#13 SCHMACK! DiscoverBot is hit by a boulder. Insane and beautifully slap-stick
#14 Boulder takes DiscoverBot away; but leaves his hands on the stage
#15 A battered and rather dazed DiscoverBot staggers back on...
#16 ... and collapses onto the floor (Inserting Discovery Channel plug is still being planned)

Now the final ident! What to do? What other tempting mechanics to discover and explore? The well known ones have been done... but now what? One idea here was to have DiscoverBot examining a mouse hole; only for it to snatch up his hand and run off with it. That'd be quite a good one. It'd also be something different. The other 2 have pretty much been "Look at DiscoverBot press something and get wiped out!"; which might lose its appeal if done 3 times. My third idea was actually inspired by talking to a new set of students joining uni! I was drinking and introducing my charming self to a new batch of students; and they asked about my course. Needless to say; I emphasised the 3D side of things and chipped in references to Pixar-like software; because it's very impressive to hear. To which someone said "Oh, so you get to do things like 'Finding Nemo'?"... obviously; I doubt they were suggesting we made Finding Nemo; but the idea of animating fish seemed pretty fun. As you might have guessed from my previous assignment; aquatic life is so much more fun. So why not do the same here? Besides... swimming is a nice alternative to always having DiscoverBot walking. So taking this idea on board; I threw around a few concepts and ended with this one:

#1 Blank Screen with a light switch on the floor (You know; those white plastic ones on your wall)
#2 DiscoverBot walks in and spots the switch
#3 As always; goes over to investigate
#4 Steps on it to switch it... let's see what it does!
#5 Hmmm... nothing... Oh well... (Shrugs)
#6 As he walks off... he starts to float! And off he flies
#7 Waving his hands; he stabilises himself
#8 He then starts swimming. Going from right-to-left via breast-stroke
#9 And then back-stroke from left-to-right
#10 Suddenly; a little school of fish swim by
#11 !!!!!?????
#12 Discovery Channel then floats down beside DB

And that's the plan! Now to make life exceptionally easier; it'll be a good idea to build EVERY component of the idents before any animating takes place. Only when I have all of the separate items and components built, textured and ready; will any animating take place. That way; I can plunge my efforts into some heavy animation without having to stop and start adding new bits into the film. Let's begin!