Animated Storyboard

In addition to preliminary sketches, through the use of software dedicated to animation I can also create animated sequences for the purpose of visualizing in a more concrete way the final result of the product. In addition to animated sketches at this stage it is also possible to add simple sounds and visual effects so one can get an even more detailed idea of the final product. Thanks to the animated storyboard, you can also check the effectiveness of the different shots and the duration of your video or animation, so it also becomes easier to establish costs in a more detailed and precise manner.

René Magritte is among us

This project was made for an exhibition event at the LAC in Lugano, the René Magritte exhibition, and had, as an objective, its promotion through social media, with the creation of a viral video. I made use of animated sketches, because I did not want to put a brake on imagination and fantasy; I was also trying to achieve excellent special effects, without too complex technical constraints, so that I could focus solely on the power of the shots.

I believe that the power of a film/animation, be it short or long in length, has, at its base, a good subject and a good script, followed by a storyboard, which allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of the scenes, the shots, the timing of the sequences and, finally, to get an overview on the rhythm of the product.

If, on the contrary, technical aspects are essentially considered without meeting the necessary milestones, strong limits are placed on ambitions and, as a result, ideas are blocked, with no good stylistic and narrative coherence. The storyboard allows for open discussions within a team and for anticipating in advance the technical difficulties and costs of a film/animation.

The plot of this story is set in Lugano. I have chosen, for the theme, one of Magritte's most famous paintings: Golconda. The story begins with the characters in the painting, who fly above the Lugano sky and, as they descend, mingle among the people in the city streets. They finally go to the Lac Museum, precisely to admire the famous painter's paintings. But, in front of Golconda, unable to catch a glimpse of the characters there, they realize they have stepped out of it, as if they belonged to a parallel dimension. Finally, as if by magic, they will be sucked slowly into the painting and will be frozen in that moment again.

Setting up an exhibition of an artist is equivalent to bringing him back to life from a past, into which we can also dive, as if time were liquid. It becomes possible to have him among us or to immerse oneself with him in a certain historical period. It was very interesting to start from this famous painting and create an animation in which the viewer can contemplate, from the points of view of these characters, different scenarios and make surreal movements.

Finally, the choice to have them speak in Ticino dialect serves to create more awe in the viewers, precisely because of the strong contrast between their anonymous city clothes, Magritte's cosmopolitan surrealism, and the colorful, provincial, and almost abandoned Ticino dialect.

Although the soundtrack is rather simple, I think it contributes, nonetheless, to the atmosphere of the animation effectively, intriguingly, and takes away from the static nature of the drawings.