My idea for animation style has been fluctuating a bit on this project. I couldn’t do 3D animation in time, I probably couldn’t do a full traditional 2D animation like Watership Down in time, also I’ve been concerned about what animation style would be appropriate.

I’ve been looking at alternative animation styles like Caroline Leaf’s technique of using sand.

But I think one alternative that I looked at which would be best for this is shadow animation. Specifically Chinese shadow theatre.

I think the use of shadow animation is a good choice for several reasons:
a) It can tell a serious/sad story well; it was first used in China when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty’s concubine died to ‘bring her back to life’.

b) It would be visually appealing to a younger audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZBr8IPNQ_Q

c) It has a lot of potential – for creating good visual effects and such.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPqKlJd2SAc

I was planning on using cardboard and paper and physically building and animating however I’ve decided to go digital with it. Partly due to time constraints and partly due to the potentially greater versatility of doing it digitally. I’m now trying to use a mix of shadow theatre (using 3D objects and lighting in After Effects) and simple 2D animation.

Note: these were just ripped & edited images for test purposes and aren’t in any way final.

A notable practitioner that uses shadow animation well is Lotte Reiniger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCR-GFKmMGU

For my character design when I actually create them I would like to use a ‘cardboard’-ish style, similar to that of Don’t Starve (videogame).

I think this style would work well with both the use of shadow animation and with the serious subject. Additionally it is visually appealing to a younger audience, some children’s shows that spring to mind that also use a somewhat cardboard-ish style (though not quite like Don’t Starve) are Sarah & Duck, Lily’s Driftwood Bay and Charlie & Lola.

Also, I think colour-wise I want to use black and white (grayscale) rather than full colour. I think it’s more effective in this case and will also look better with the use of shadows. I might also use red with this as in Schindler’s List, The Saboteur (video game) and other examples but I’m not definite on this yet.

Examples that employ some of things I’ve been talking about are The Circle Line by Adam Wells and the video game Limbo. Cardboard/paper sort of style, use of shadows/silhouettes, black & white, dark story etc.