Nobody

Password: MIA

This film was originally an idea I had for my storyboarding class. We had to make a music video and I thought it would be interesting to retell the cyclops story from the odyssey set to "Nobody" by Mitski. Here's my original animatic:

I had basic character designs when I did my first boards, but finalized them when I really got into pre-production. I was lucky to have minimal locations to design and kept them pretty simple. This was super helpful for integrating props that could later move without being too jarring. I made sure to consider the character when designing his home: What materials does he have? How can he make everything himself? Since he's a shepherd, he has access to wool and milk and I was sure to include objects made from these. The wooden objects I imagine he made from whole trees to support his weight.

Next I had to decide how these characters would move. I wanted to contrast Odysseus' sharp movements with Polyphemus' softer squishier bouncing walk. I chose a run cycle for Odysseus so I could reuse it, and oh boy did I at every possible chance.

Then it was time to animate! I animated traditionally in Toon Boom Harmony and made my backgrounds in Procreate on my ipad (to get away from my desk after a long day animating. Most of the compositing and Backgrounds animation (clouds and waves) was done in Harmony with some After Effects lighting done to further distinguish the night and day scenes.

And with 4 months of constant work, it was done! I hope you enjoyed it!

 Here are some of my favorite stills from the film: