There was a time I drew backgrounds and then uploaded them for people to see online… but backgrounds can be so boring by themselves. That’s when I realized that they are ‘boring’ because they’re only half of the picture! The characters are the other half.

I really like this shot of Marjorie and Louis, peering down into the den of the Prime Minister. Now I should point out that I have no formal training in film making, but I did want to talk about some of the choices I made in building this shot.

1) The shot is (what I might call) bottom heavy – meaning that both Marj and Louis, as well as the cave and sign are mostly on the bottom half of the frame. I feel like this emphasizes the gravity of not only them, but the cave as well.

2) Their shadowed faces contrast with the bright sky – giving the illusion of a heavy darkness that rests where they look. But although the sky is bright, it is only so by comparison. In fact, there are black clouds and whirl above them.

Hahahaha, OK so the more I write about this the more I realize I don’t know what the crap I’m talking about. To be honest, a lot of the work I do in animation is intuitive rather than conscious. I make decisions based on what feels right for the scene and the overall tone I want to establish for the episode. To any film students out there who might want their 2 cents in – go fer it!

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