CHARACTER STUDIES - LINE UP

My stay in Denmark is now over. And what an extremely productive stay! Thank you so much Open Workshop! I wrote the script both in Portuguese and English, developed the character designs and line-up with Magnus Møller's help, and Henrik Sønninksen's help regarding the colours; Mads Juul completed an excerpt of the storyboard and animatic, and I also prepared other production documents such as technical description, director's statement, macro and micro budget, development context, the letter regarding Ricardo Cabral's participation as the background designer, amongst other documents. Bible complete! Now for the production funding! On a celebratory note I leave you here a sneak peek of the first draft of the character line-up.

Bristol, I missed you.

TUMBLEHEAD ANIMATION STUDIOS

One of the reasons I really wanted to return to Viborg was to work with the very talented tumbleheaders: Magnus Møller and Peter Smith. I will be writing the treatment for their next short film intitled "The SetUp", and Magnus has helped me a lot with the character development for 'Final Call'. We had such fun brainstorming sessions on the Open Workshop Kitchen table - accompanied by salad and Manchego. This is Tumblehead´s reel - a fun, varied, and strong selection of their works.

Tumblehead - Showreel 2010 from Peter Smith on Vimeo.

CHARACTER STUDIES - DIOGO

Here are some more of the early development studies made over the Open Workshop kitchen table. I had a hard time finding the design for Diogo but then the lovely Magnus Møller came up with the solution of blending two designs in one (we merged the two dogs on the right hand side of this page). And it worked! I will be uploading the first line-up soon so you can have a feel for the character development process. The character design process was very much a four-hand piece. Magnus is very talented and taught me a lot during our brainstorm and design sessions.

NØRLUM

Within The Animation Workshop setting there are several animation studios that were created by the alumni - some are yet start-ups and others are already more established such as Nørlum. I´ve had the honour of having Nørlum´s Creative Director - Jeanette Nørgaard as my Development Consultant for Final Call. Jeanette has advised me and guided me not only in regards to storytelling but also character design and other production choices. This is Nørlum´s reel:

BACKGROUNDS BY RICARDO CABRAL

One of the very first people to get on board this project was Ricardo Cabral, a very prolific, talented and internationally renowned illustrator from Portugal. When in Lisbon, Ricardo and I share the workspace of The Lisbon Studio with other artists, where we all develop our personal works as well as commissions and spontaneous collaborations. Ricardo will be making the backgrounds for Final Call with his very unique, dreamy touch and lopsided perspectives.

CHARACTER STUDIES - CATARINA

For the early character studies and character development I had the help of the very skilled and very lovely Magnus Møller from Tumblehead Animation Studios. These are some of the work-in-progress character studies Magnus and I went through before finding a more finalized look. The development process is so much fun, especially with the guidance and help of such a talented friend. I learnt a lot about shape, character and proportion.

SYNOPSIS

Final Call is a love story about Catarina (who´s a cat) who bumps into her old flame and 'might-have-been' lover Diogo (who´s a dog) at airport security. During a very awkward conversation (with heavy underlying subtext), and constantly interrupted by airport security staff and procedures, Catarina and Diogo realise they could have been together and that they made a big mistake due to a misunderstanding.

© Sara Barbas 2011

FINAL CALL

Final Call is the title of my new short film that is currently in development. As some friends suggested I have created this production blog where you can catch up with the process from early development to pre-production. And hopefully later into the production and post-production stages.

I am currently working on my project bible in Denmark, within the setting of the Open Workshop at The Animation Workshop in Viborg. The guidance, support and creative atmosphere and exchange have been incredibly invaluable and I think the project will be all the more stronger for it.