The Other Side - Backgrounds

In order to nail the appropriate colouring and mood of the psych ward, I google searched ‘Psychiatric Ward’ and picked out my favourite images. I found that these images contained rooms and halls that looked cold, sterile and clean. The floors are very reflecting making them appear clean, the colours are light pastel (typically blue or green) 

I used watercolors to test the potential colour palette for the backgrounds. I tried out the pink first because it added a touch of childishness to the concept however I decided that it was a little bit too sweet for a Psychiatric Ward and decided to try a cool light green colour.

I proceeded to sketch out some shots from my story. I am quite satisfied with the results. The layouts are very simple and desolate which is exactly the feeling I wanted from the Ward. 

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Backgrounds:

Once I had decided on specific layouts for each of my drafted shots, I began to ‘render’ them by illustrating them full scale using fine liner and water-colour. I then scanned them into the computer and began to add a grungy texture as advised by Mat. I also filled the florescent lights with white as well as the sink. 

In order to easily texture the walls, I selected the window as well as the sink and placed them on different layers. Then I added a ‘texture’ layer and place it in between the background and the foreground. I added the texture and distorted the proportions in order to fit them to the dimensions of the room.

Here are two of the shots compared to one another:

The Other Side - Storyboards and Animatic

Storyboards:

Animatic:

After completing my storyboards for the animation, I created an Animatic that would illustrate the timing and overall mood of the short as well as give me the opportunity to incorporate some sound effects as well as an audio soundtrack. 

For the sound effects, I went to freesound.org and only downloaded the prominent noises. For the overall short, I added the opening credits track from Director Miloš Forman’s ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. The track was produced by Jack Nitzsche. To better fit the rhythm of the Animatic, I cut down the track and placed it accordingly. 

The Other Side - Character Design

Character Design:

 I designed a large character with a big droopy nose and sad little eyes expressed only in lines. Under his nose hangs a large jaw with no teeth. This character is meant to be frightening in his mass but still seem innocent and naive. I thought of these qualities while watching a documentary about children in mental institutions. What I noticed was that a lot of those children had grown into young adults, some of whom were very tall as well as physically powerful however they maintained a childlike innocence and naivety because their growth had been stunted. This character, who I am temporarily calling Billy is just a giant child who isn’t aware of his own strength.

The second character is a nurse. Although I took inspiration from the book and film ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest’ written by Ken Kesey, I did not assign this particular nurse the persona of Nurse Ratched from the novel. The reason for this is that I wanted there to be a warm relationship between the two characters. Billy is meant to love and trust the nurse because she is kind to him. However, she must abide by her responsibilities and give Billy his medication which he doesn’t like and which hurts and subdues him. The nurse cares for Billy and wants him to be better so she insists on the medication while Billy sees it as harmful to him. I wanted the nurse to appear kind and caring in her aesthetic. This nurse is very much the opposite of nurse Ratched in that she is honest, genuine and dearly cares for her patients.

Above Left: beginning of the story. The nurse calls Billy’s name as he sits in the corner weeping in his hands. He is immediately thrilled to see her. Although Billy is running to the nurse with open arms, the nurse will not hug him as it would be inappropriate etiquette and may disrupt the ‘Doctor-Patient’ relationship.

Billy:

Two mysterious hospital workers:

Character Inspiration:

Dr. Seuss

Charles M. Schulz

Don Hertzfeldt

Pixar

The Other Side - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

One of the biggest sources of inspiration for my story idea is the book as well as the film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest written by Ken Kesey and directed by Milos Forman.

Billy Bibbit is an innocent and naive man who is a patient at a psychiatric ward. Although Billy’s background and circumstances are not explored in the film, Kesey goes into a lot more depth concerning Billy Bibbit in the novel. Billy is a nervous stutterer and has a complicated and abusive relationship with his mother. 

'Because of the virginity he retains until he is more than 30 years old, Bibbit is perhaps the most repressed member of the group. His mother employs Oedipal tactics to keep Bibbit attached to her. This woman also maintains a close relationship with Nurse Ratched.’ cliffsnotes.com

Billy’s mother is extremely protective and domineering of him and is not tolerant of many women in his life. In fact, Billy’s first attempt at suicide was triggered by his mother’s aggressive insistence that he break off his engagement with a woman he was in love with because of her social status.

The two scenes I have posted in this blog are crucial to Billy’s story. The first, establishes his personality as well as relationship with his mother and Nurse Ratched. It also exemplifies the cruel yet subtly sweet nature of the nurse. The second scene ultimately leads to a chain of heartbreaking events. Billy, completely petrified at the thought of his mother discovering his one night affair with a prostitute kills himself moments after Nurse Ratched heartlessly threatens him.

I named my character Billy before I saw the film for the second time but I believe I thought of it intuitively because I had read the book as well as seen the film a long time ago and Billy’s story in particular had a large emotional impact on me. Billy's agonising cry as he is dragged away inspired the same from my character in ‘The Other Side’. 

Most of the other characters from the novel and film had a part in my inspiration for Billy. They are all well intentioned and vulnerable. 

Bancini (upper left) is a committed patient who walks around all day proclaiming that he is tired. He is tall and has a long droopy nose with big droopy eyes at either side of it. 

The Chief (upper right) is also a massively tall man, although he is quite stoic. At the end of the movie, he lifts a wash basin that nobody else had the strength to and throws it out of the window to make his escape. 

Martini (bottom left) is an awkward and smiley little man who acts like a child. Not in an obnoxious way, but more in a curious way.

Cheswick (bottom right) is a very passionate and compassionate patient who stands up for his friends. His agony when he was dragged to electrotherapy also informed my animation. In the novel, Cheswick ultimately commits suicide by drowning himself in a pool.

Process and Production - Simon Otto

Simon Otto is Director, Animator and Story Artist at DreamWorks. He is recognized for his role as the Head of Character Animation for the 'How to Train Your Dragon' movies. In this video, Otto opens up about his process of creativity. 

Skills of an Animator:

• Drawing
• Graphic sense
• Actors/Performers
• Music (for rhythm)
• Technical

Simon Otto:

• Has images of other artists hanging around his office for inspiration.
• Has books that he enjoys flicking through for inspiration.
• When animating, draws out key shapes and poses as well as acts out movements to get a better understanding of them.
• Draws from life (family, friends, people etc.)

Nuggets:

• Hook of the film
• Who is the main character? What is his motivation?
• Why are we telling this story?

The Other Side - Story Development

I have been listening to Pink Floyd for most of my life, so naturally, when I heard the words ‘The Other Side’ mentioned in our module briefing, I immediately thought of the song ‘Brain Damage’ on Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Mood’ Album. I became very excited and began brain storming for our new project.

On the left, I created a Spider Diagram listing anything I that comes to mind from the words ‘the other side’ other than Pink Floyd. I came up with a few options, four of which held some substance for me and decided to move forward exploring the first idea. On the right, I wrote out the lyrics to the song Brain Damage which is about insanity and mental illness. I listened to the song for a while, over and over again. While I listened, I drew up character designs that I thought fit the music. The blank faced little creatures were meant to represent insanity with their out of control antennas, blank faces as well as innocent aesthetic.

I resumed with some concept drawings, mainly inspired from specific lyrics that stood out to me from the song.

The following day, I began to research Psychiatric Hospitals and spent an incredibly sorrowful evening watching documentaries about the horrific abuse mental patients have experienced at the hands of emotionally detached health care ‘professionals’. The mental health system is still lacking in many important aspects today but have come a long way from how they used to be in the early 1700s.

After speaking to Mat, we came to the conclusion that the type of story and context I was building was becoming too complex. My idea was to narrow in on a Psychiatric facility showing ‘loony’ characters. Some look eccentric but physically well. Once fed their daily medication, they become subdued and certain facial features disappear as well as their antenna becoming short and straight. When the medication wears off, their facial features grow back and their antenna extends into an eccentric swirl once more. The ‘hopeless cases’ of the bunch receive something equivalent to a Lobotomy which would have been represented by a menacing suction plunger. This ‘Lobotomy’ procedure would drain all colour from the patients. Their faces will completely disappear as well as their antenna ill burn off leaving them as nothing but a blank and lost vessel. This is an idea that requires more than 3 minutes of animation, and I regrettably do not have enough time to realise the project. So I took it into a different direction.

The story I am choosing to pursue is one of a large but innocent and naive patient at a psych ward who has something of a friendship developed with the nurse. The nurse is kind, however she needs to do her job and give the patient his medication which subdues him and makes him unhappy.

Identify - The Lost Sloth

While stalking my favourite artists on Behance.net, I came across this gem that inspired my Apply animation. Posted by Bee Grandinetti who was recruited along with Max Stoiber to create a mini internet game. The objective is to locate the lost Sloth.

This is the setting in which we search for the Sloth with the use of a magnifying glass. I really like the two dimensional, geometric design as well as the contrasting colours. 

As you go, you can hear adorable noises which I cannot describe with any word other than ‘blorpy’.

If you do find him, he may be jamming to some music on a pole. I really like his bubbly body and squishy movement. I also like that the animation (although digital) seems imperfect if you take a closer look at the lines.

The Sloth design is simple, yet carries a lot of personality.

Bee Grandinetti on Behance The Lost Sloth (2015). [Online] Available from: https://www.behance.net/gallery/24727927/The-Lost-Sloth (Accessed 09/11/15).