PRODUCTION - Animatic Progression

Reflecting the lengthy and arduous storywriting process, Guardian Angel went through multiple revisions regarding its animatic and script; in total, five different animatics were produced.

PRODUCTION - Animation and Concept Art

Although rotoscoping was accepted and embraced as a time-saving measure and quality retainer from the onset, the nature of the production meant that many parts of the animation still needed to be drawn by hand. Rotoscoping only covered the character's body animations, and were not involved in their clothing or hair. (This was one of the reasons why I was initially adverse to switching to Guardian Angel from Shards of Tranquility; as the latter was more optimized for rotoscoping, and did not require that many freehand drawings).

One of the most challenging parts to animate were the characters' wings. As per the advice of John Sinari, a guest lecturer that visited my animation class in semester A, I found that the easiest way to draw wings steadily between frames was to create a simplified bone structure first before animating.

Although Rotoscoping was important, oftentimes rough bone structures were still important and played an important role.  


On the other hand, bone structure was not always a savior. Some visual references could not be rotoscoped properly because the actress did not follow wardrobe instructions.

PRODUCTION – Management

With the prospect of having animation helpers, I realized that a unified organizational structure must be in place in order to ensure uniform quality and production pipeline efficiency. The creation of file organization structure and management systems were mostly developed in February (although some documents, such as the Production Index), and entailed the following steps.

• CREW LIST
• List of acquaintances who have expressed willingness/offering to support the animation production.
• Includes Name, Contact Info, Skill level, Suitability, Availability

• PRODUCTION PLAN
• Early document list roughly mapping out production pipeline schematics, from pre-production planning to post-production. Useful in the early planning stages to get an idea of the full lifetime of the project; discontinued after production entered full production phase as inherent design of document was unable to capture the nuances of animation pipeline.

• PRODUCTION INDEX
• An index (organized by shot) of all assets needed for production. This document was remarkable as it allowed certain assets (such as character hair or backgrounds) to be recycled, drastically cutting down the amount of work needed. It is estimated that roughly 50% of the assets required for production are recycled. It also provided a uniform platform to convey additional information, such as each shot's individual runtime, as well as notes for character animation.

• PRODUCTION DATABASE
• A series of folders on Google Drive accessible to all working parties (allowing them to upload, download, and modify documents as necessary.

• NOTES
• A series of documents providing detailed step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish assigned tasks. This also included lists on job allocation and rough progress tracking are also provided.

• SCHEDULE
  • A series of Excel spreadsheets put together in early-mid March providing much more in-depth progress tracking, as well as setting pace. Contains the following:
    • Calendar. Allows crew to tangibly interpret deadlines and workloads.
    • File Progress Tracker. Streamlined itinerary of the Production Index, organized according to asset (i.e. animations grouped by character, backgrounds, etc).
    • Scene Progress Tracker. Reorganized File Progress Tracker according to scene.
    • Crew Progress Tracker. Discontinued service after it became clear that nearly all of my friends had no real intention of contributing.

PRODUCTION – Rotoscope Shooting

It had been determined from fairly early on that the majority of the character animations would be rotoscoped from live action. Since I was not very confident in my ability to create beautiful character animations in an efficient manner necessary to meet the production schedule, rotoscoping was viewed as an ideal time-saving measure that did not compromise animation quality.

Since my original actress was no longer available (delays from switching to Plan B meant that we were unable to shoot with her before her study exchange tour), finding a replacement actress on short notice proved to be quite a challenging affair, with me finalizing production deals just days before the scheduled shooting period.

Synchronizing each production member's timeslots proved to be a delicate act: most of them had very compact schedules, making the times where all were available scarce and too little to be utilized effectively. To get around this, the shooting schedule was broken up and organized according to crew availability. For example, Woermann happened to be only available on the days that Jenner had class; therefore we shot Woermann's solo scenes during Jenner's class, and vice versa. This allowed us to capitalize on precious little time that the two actresses had together.

The shooting sequence was also organized methodologically; instead of shooting in chronological order, substantial time was spent determining each shot's required camera position and set up (complicated shots involving moving the camera were lumped together, while scenes in which the camera behaved similarly were also placed together to minimize downtime between shots).

For the production, we used the Canon 5D mk.II DSLR camera provided by the SCM Production Center. I had briefly considered using the C300 (as it had 4k resolution and could record up to 60fps), but was ultimately dropped as I realized that shooting would have been significantly more troublesome given the hardware's complexity and that editing would have also been substantially more difficult given the files' significantly larger filesize.

As some shots required dynamic uses of the camera, we had to also come up with ways to let the camera move around. To do this we employed three tactics:

• Jib. This allowed the camera to pivot around on a pivoting arm instead of being locked on a tripod swivel.
• Tripod wheel base. This allowed the camera jib assembly to “orbit” the actresses when needed.
• Track. This allowed the camera to traverse down a straight line. This was only used in scenes when using the tripod wheel base was not permitted or unnecessary.  

INSPIRATION - “Little Matchstick Girl Meets WWII”

Unlike my previous project, Guardian Angel was primarily inspired by a piece of music.  Thomas Bergersen’s music track Empire of Angels provided much of the backbone of the story’s gestation and development, as I relied on the soundtrack for action cues, scene moods, and pacing.  This unfortunately makes it difficult (if not impossible) to separate the film from the music piece.  

While listening to Thomas Bergersen’s Empire of Angels while on the the train, the song’s opening reminded me of the ending of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Little Matchstick Girl”, in which the spirit of a dying girl’s grandmother takes her soul away to heaven.  I had read multiple illustrated iterations of the story when I was young, so immediately I could clearly imagine what the scene would look like.

Although The Little Matchstick Girl was an excellent source of inspiration, it ultimately remained nothing but a springboard for my imagination, as the characters and settings gradually expanded and morphed into something almost entirely different; the opening scene is the only scene that bears any sort of congruence to the original material.  In the original story, the matchstick girl is fully cast as a victim of fate--her father beats her, and she is forced to sell matches in the biting winter barefoot after a bully attacks her; her role is passive as the story writes her only reacting, but not affecting the environment (an exception is made at the end, where passerbys express grief and regret for allowing the child to die).  

Guardian Angel subverts this by giving the little girl agenda; she does not just react passively to the environment.  Rather, Soul’s decisions end up carrying dramatic consequences for herself and those surrounding her, as her decision 1) to chase after the toy airplane during the bombing raid and 2) chase after the ghost fighter during their spiritual ascension both resulted in substantial suffering for the Angel; Soul earns her “happy ending” only after she personally realizes the effects of her actions and 3) chooses to abandon the toy airplane on the beach in favor of the Angel’s embrace.

Creating a well-balanced story was also an integral part of the scriptwriting process. Although I knew the story that I wanted to tell from beginning, it was only so in an abstract sense, and the script went through a great number of rewrites to bring out the motifs and themes I wanted to explore. Although I knew from the beginning that I wanted to juxtapose the tranquil beauty of the little girl’s ascension with the desolation of the world she had been living, it was only until the last few rewrites that some of the thematic details were put into focus. For example, the toy airplane the little girl chases after was originally a doll. Originally, I had figured that girls realistically would have preferred dolls over airplanes, but having the little girl running back to retrieve a toy aeroplane as enemy warplanes rain bombs from the sky creates a much more jarring contrast instead of a simple doll. This harsh irony strengthens and unifies the motif in the film as it is now intimately tied to the little girl’s character; this in turn strengthens the ending, where she decides to let it go.

Recently, I became interested in WWII military aviation--coupled with the fact that the story featured elaborate scenes of city-wide devastation, Guardian Angel was certainly destined to be set during somewhere between 1935 – 1945, or at least a combat situation involving propeller planes. Although I was personally more interested in Japanese military aviation of the time (I paid special attention to the A6M Zero Fighter), I felt that the nature of the story, as well as the visual images in my head were more fitting to that of the European theater. Second, I felt that setting the story in the Asian theater would have made the film unnecessarily controversial.

Prior to the decision of basing the story near the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, I had toyed briefly with the idea of designing my own featured aircraft instead of following historical accuracy. However, a few factors influenced me otherwise:

1. A videogame that I used to play, War Thunder, featured historically accurate 3D models of most WWII-era warplanes, ranging from bombers to fighters. Choosing real-life planes and being able to view said plane in 3D would eliminate the need to create my own concept art of the aircraft
2. Friends who were attracted to the Guardian Angel project due to the fact that it featured WWII-era warbirds were upset by my intention to design my own aircraft designs and thus depart from historical accuracy. I was therefore “persuaded” to make the easier choice and retain historical accuracy.
3. Personally, I read up on how Michael Bay received a lot of flak for taking “artistic liberties” while making the Pearl Harbor movie, and I did not want to make similar mistakes.  

SYNOPSIS / SUMMARY

Pt1.

A little girl, Soul, lies dying in the snow near a clock tower.  As her spirit leaves her body, she sees an angelic figure beckoning to her--although initially afraid, she eventually accepts and the Angel leads her away.  The two of them dance atop a frozen lake; Soul’s clothes change from dirty, torn rags into a gown similar to the Angel’s.  As the sun rises, it is revealed that the city is in fact ruined.  Seemingly unperturbed, the duo dance in the clouds above; when the sun shines on them, the two of them grow wings, and they shoot up into the sky.  

Pt2.

The two break through a water surface; in what seems to be a surreal netherworld, while admiring the view, Soul sees an airplane contrail and chases after it with the Angel in tow.  However, as they get closer, it is revealed that the airplane is hostile, which sends the Angel into a flashback.  The Angel then falls into the clouds below.  Soul gives chase, but as she breaks through the clouds she sees the city being destroyed by bombers.  Soul’s ghost then sees herself running in the wrong direction in an attempt to retrieve her toy airplane--with her mother/sister/guardian frantically chasing her.  She retrieves her toy plane right as a bomber drops a bomb near the clock tower.  Moments before the blast reaches her, the Mother voluntarily shields her from the blast with her own body, and is cut to pieces, and transfigures into the Angel before Soul’s eyes.  Now finally comprehending Angel’s nature and her sacrifice, Soul attempts to chase down the Angel, but ends up alone.  Soul begins to cry, but wakes up on a beach with the Angel standing behind her.  The two run towards each other and firmly embrace.  In an epilogue, the Angel and Soul are seen slowly walking towards a distant castle.  

BACKGROUND

When I first came to CityU, I wanted to study film and visual effects.  In high school, I was geared more towards live-action productions and treated animated “cartoons” as an immature afterthought.  I liked the old classics, such as Totoro and Disney movies, but generally regarded them as childish and simplistic, not to mention that the thought of working every single frame at 24fps was a colossally inefficient way of making film.  Many news articles that I read seemed to affirm this: that 2D animation was on the decline and 3D animation and CGI was the future.  

Things changed halfway through my studies as I came to realize how saturated the CGI market had become.  Second, as I did more theoretical research and hands-on experimentation, the more I realized that many fundamental aspects of 3D animation (such as walk cycles and weight) had remained the same irrespective of animation medium.  Exposure to deeper, more philosophical animated films such as Ghost in the Shell and The Wind Rises dispelled the notion that animated films were “for kids only”; in a stunning twist, I learned that Ghost in the Shell actually was a fundamental inspiration for The Matrix.  

Drawing characters frame by frame, the aspect of traditional animation that I had feared so much and as a result had repressed and shunned, eventually turned out to be its greatest strength and most mesmerizing experiences of all to me as an artist.  Up to that point, I painted motion only in general, sweeping broadstrokes with keyframes and interpolation, and had been left wondering why my animations felt insipid and dull, uninspiring and lifeless.  In comparison, the experience of seeing a pencil-drawn character slowly come to life is difficult to describe with words; one experiences a passionate mixture of exhaustion and euphoria, hatred and love; unlike live shooting, where a director learns to make use of whatever Lady Fortune leaves at his disposal, one watches one’s animation in the knowledge that nothing was left to chance, that there was conscious thought behind every brush stroke and nuance.  

By the time I had fully fallen in love with traditional animation, I was conflicted.  I still liked live-action films for their photorealism and cinematography, but at the same time, the animated classics beckoned me with visions of fantastical castles in the sky and a magically surreal, psychedelic allure that live-action, by nature, could not easily replicate.

Guardian Angel therefore can be said to be an attempt to be a bridge between both worlds.