On the Roof
Storyboarding | Writing | Character Design | Animation | After Effects
This is the film my teammates and I made for our second-year school program. It's about three best friends trying to break into the top floor of a school building at midnight. And when things are going well, a conflict emerges during the process.
Storyboards
Animatic
Full film
Character design
Color design by another member of the team, not by me.
June
Anne
1900
Early exploration for the characters
I once pitched to my teammates to make June, the confident one, has a big, visible scar on her face. Because I think she is so confident, that when people couldn't help but stare, she won't feel any sense of inferiority. She accepts it as part of who she is, just like hands or hair.
The idea didn't make it after the pitch. Because it might be too distracting for what we wanted to achieve. I totally agree. But the idea still holds a special place in my mind.
Superpowers
At the earliest stage of constructing the story, we planned to tell a story of the same three characters, but with each own unique superpower, living together after the world's end. That superpower concept didn't really work out, but it did lay the important foundation for the characters.
While each characters have their own special powers, they are no superheroes. Each character's power is being held back by their personalities in a way, yet it does need to fit the character.
Anne is capable of shapeshifting her body at will. She can hide in a tiny crack in a wall by shrinking down her body. She is shy, emotional, and afraid of conflict. Between fight or flight, she always chooses flight. This causes her never to think of shapeshifting her hand into a blade while facing danger.
June is capable of summoning a portal by sacrificing a few drops of her own blood. She is confident, logical, and a perfectionist. So creating a portal that connects two precise locations in a 3-dimensional sense fits her. But it also costs her a lot of energy. Because of all the pressure of being precise every single time. She can't perform it very often.
1900 is capable of producing duplicates of himself. He is laid-back, cheerful, and loves to fool around for attention. While having multiple self-functioning duplicates is full of potential as it sounds, he can unleash none of that. Because his mind is occupied by the need to amuse himself while annoying others. He tells bad jokes and has a bunch of duplicates clapping and cheering for him.
Original version of the film
